CONTINENTAL DRIFT

O Captain! My Captain!

Liberia’s new president, George Weah, has invited football manager Arséne Wenger to his inauguration on January 16. The besieged Arsenal coach was Weah’s manager at French side Monaco between 1988 and 1992. The Frenchman said he was invited to the inauguration but that he’d probably be busy on the day, joking that if he were to be suspended for his comments on referees, he will have time to go. After being named the Fifa World Footballer of the Year in 1996, Weah said of Wenger: “Arséne Wenger made me not just the player I am today but the man I am.”

His furniture’s a cash cow

Cameroonian artisan Nourou Mohamadou’s furniture is attracting clients, particularly hoteliers. He first visits the butchers in Maroua when they slaughter cattle and collects the horns. He returns to his workshop in the city’s artisanal centre and boils the horns to extract the bone. He then polishes and sandpapers the horns and starts to make his unique chairs and couches. A living room set can cost about $641.

Plants to save the day

Dr Segenet Kelemu, an Ethiopian plant pathologist, has been recognised in the Bill Gates’ Heroes in the Field, a list of unknown people working to improve people’s lives. Her work focuses on small-scale farmers. Kelemu grew up in a poor rural family and, after college, she worked abroad for 25 years before coming back to the African continent. She says: “Investment in African agriculture and research is actually investment for mankind as a whole.”

#TimesUp for Somali rapists