CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Wakanda forever

Rare images of the near-mythical African black leopard were released to the public this week. The photographs were captured by a British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-lucas at the Laikipia Wilderness Camp in Kenya. According to The Guardian, only one other report of a black leopard sighting had been confirmed with photographic evidence.

Sierra Leone says no to rape

Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has declared rape a national emergency following the doubling of recorded cases last year. Statistics reveal that reported cases of sexual assault have risen from 4 750 in 2017 to 8 505 in 2018, in a population of 7.8-million.

Bio announced that the sentence for the rape of a minor would be increased to a maximum of life imprisonment and a new police division would be established to investigate sexual abuse cases.

Abiy wins gender award

The prime minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, was awarded the African Union’s 2018 African Gender award during the 32nd ordinary session in Addis Ababa. Abiy has made major gender changes to the country’s leadership with the appointment of a 50% female Cabinet, the first woman president, Sahle-work Zewde, and the first woman chief justice. In his acceptance speech, Abiy said it “is impossible to establish a successful national renaissance” without the participation of women.

Mission for competition

Kenya’s second- and third-largest mobile operators, Bharti Airtel and Telkom Kenya, have announced that they will join forces to challenge Safaricom, the leader in the phone market. The joint venture will operate under the name Airteltelkom. Whether this merger will offer services to outperform Safaricom is uncertain, especially because the leading company is the trusted mobile network operator for 30-million of the country’s 46.6-million phone users.

Not-so-funny money

The Zimbabwean government has dismissed rumours that it will introduce a new currency. In a tweet the country’s information department said the reports have “no base in fact or reality”. The ministry’s tweet reads: “It’s unfounded Fake News.” Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank also chimed in, confirming that the country will continue using the multicurrency system.

A sorry state

The United Nations has said that Belgium must apologise for the atrocities it committed during its imperial rule over the Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). The central African country won its independence from Belgium in 1960, after decades of brutality. King Leopold’s rule over the country is especially infamous. The hands of men, women and children were amputated for failing to deliver their quota of rubber. — Briefs compiled by Mashadi Kekana and Sarah Smit, sourced from Deutsche Welle, Africa News, AFP, Quartz Africa