CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Billion-dollar exploits
A new trade agreement, to the tune of $1.6-billion, has been reached between Ghana and the United Kingdom, which will allow duty-free status and tariff reductions for certain goods between the two countries. The new deal is a post-brexit development, after which Ghana faced extra tariffs and paperwork. Ghanaian products that will now be tariff-free for the UK will include bananas, cocoa and tinned tuna. Their largest exports include fruit, mineral fuels and oil.
Military raid to be probed
Cameroon’s United States embassy has called for an investigation into a military raid on a village last year, in which soldiers allegedly raped at least 20 people. The details of the attacks only came to the fore after Human Rights Watch published a report at the end of February. According to the organisation, the information had been largely unreported because no comprehensive investigation took place, and because of survivors’ fear both of reprisal and the stigma associated with having been raped.
New hope for HIV
A new study has found that about 4% of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who had HIV were able to naturally suppress the virus without the assistance or intervention of medication. The study, which was published in ebiomedicine, part of The Lancet medical journal, has raised hope of finding better ways to control the virus.
‘Come see Marrakech’
A painting of the Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco, painted by British leader Winston Churchill in 1943, has sold for $11.6-million, setting a record price for his work. Churchill and United States president Franklin Roosevelt, to whom he later gave the painting, were attending the Casablanca Conference in Morocco at the time. Churchill reportedly told Roosevelt: “You cannot come all this way to North Africa without seeing Marrakech.”
French foul play
The death of Algerian freedom fighter Ali Boumendjel during the war for independence (1954 to 1962), which was “covered up”, has now been confirmed as a homicide by French forces, according to France’s President Emmanuel Macron. A statement addressed to Boumendjel’s grandchildren from the presidency stated: “Ali Boumendjel did not commit suicide. He was tortured and then killed.” Macron said: “No crime, no atrocity committed by anyone during the Algerian war can be excused or concealed.”
Avos vs ellies
The free movement of about
2 000 elephants in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya, along with two dozen other species of wildlife as well as cattle owned by local Masai, is at risk because of a growing demand for avocados. Agricultural company Kiliavo
Ltd owns about 71 hectares of land near Amboseli and plans to build nurseries to grow avocados. Conservationists are concerned about how its electric fence will restrict the elephants’ movements.
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