Mass AxiGye is the new ambassador of the Islamic republic of the Gambia to Ethiopia and the permanent representative to the African Union. The Gambia's main economic activities are farming, fishing and tourism. About a third of the population lives below the international poverty line. AxiGye said his focus as ambassador will be on historical events coming this year. Read More »

AUC Chair Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma welcomed Koffi Evariste Yapi Monday as the Ivory Coast's new ambassador to Ethiopia and permanent representative to the African Union. Zuma said she welcomed Yapi's input on AUC projects and hoped it would be a valuable learning experience for him. She will be watching to see what Yapi will bring to the table at the 26th African Union Summit. Read More »

The AIDF has released the agenda for its upcoming Africa Summit to be held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa. More than 250 representatives from government, non-government organizations and private sector companies are expected to come together to discuss how technological innovations and best practices could help enhance development strategy in East Africa. Read More »

Several West African institutions were included in the list of Global Trade Review's (GTR) 2015 Africa Leaders in Trade Awards. GTR is a major provider of news and analysis of events related to global trade, commodity and export and supply chain finance markets. The GTR 2015 Africa list was compiled using data from a poll of stakeholders in the African trade finance market. Read More »

Miners from Sama Resources Inc., a company focused on copper, nickel and gold mining, will seek base metals at a site in the West African nation of Ivory Coast after being approved for a new exploration license. The exploration site covers about 80 square kilometers and is situated next to the northeast boundary of the site covered by Sama's Samapleu Exploration Permit. Read More »

A delegation of 14 companies representing Scottish oil and gas interests will visit Ghana Jan. 21 and Jan. 22 to learn more about the Ghanaian energy market and look for local business partners. The Scotland government's SDI has kept an office in Accra since 2014 to monitor the country's interests in oil, gas and education. SDI will be in charge of leading the delegation. Read More »

Endeavour Mining Corporation removed itself from the Australian Securities Exchange Monday at the end of trading day. The company will also move its Investor Relations and Administrative offices from Vancouver to Paris, where the office will be lead by Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development Vincent Benoit, who joined the company in November. Read More »

Orange announced Tuesday its subsidiary Orange Côte d’Ivoire will acquire Liberia's largest mobile service provider, following a deal with Cellcom Telecommunications Limited. Orange officials said Cellcom Liberia's national mobile license and its large market share position it for current and future success. Liberia as a whole has approximately 66 percent mobile coverage. Read More »

With the recent opening of a branch in Sierra Leone, First Bank of Nigeria Limited has further cemented its position as sub-Saharan Africa's largest corporate and retail banking company. The branch is the result of First Bank of Nigeria's acquisition of ICB. The bank is now doing business as FBNBank Sierra Leone; staff is ready to serve clients in the public and private sectors. Read More »

Owners of small- and- medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) throughout Ghana are bracing for the struggles they may face after the nation's government announced a 27 percent tax that would be levied on all petroleum products. The announcement came as worldwide prices of crude oil plummeted. Some business owners aren't sure how - or if - their businesses will survive. Read More »

Production from the Mpungi field in the West Hub Development Project in Angola's Block 15/06, overseen by Italian multi-national oil and gas company Eni, has begun. During the first quarter of this year, the project is expected to produce about 100,000 barrels of oil each day. Eni has been exploring sites in Angola since 1980 and will continue to explore other areas of Block 15/06. Read More »

Telecom company MainOne announced Monday that an underwater communications cable connecting Lagos, Nigeria, and Kribi, Cameroon, was finished and put online last month. The new 684-mile cable will carry up to 12.8 terabytes per second of broadband connectivity to help provide the broadband access needed for Cameroon to accomplish its National Broadband Network initiative. Read More »

Hyperdynamics Corp. and its subsidiary, SCS Corp., leveled lawsuits against Tullow Guinea Ltd. and Dana Petroleum Monday, alleging Tullow and Dana did not follow through on the terms of a JOA. Hyperdynamics also claims that officials of the companies have refused to sign a production sharing contract with Guinea connected to a well-drilling project in offshore Guinea. Read More »

West African Resources Limited reported significant findings Friday on its Burkina Faso prospecting. Recent drilling extended shallow oxide gold mineralization at the M3 eastern zone. Follow-up drilling confirmed continuity of gold mineralization in the area. It is expected that oxide mineralization from M1 and M3 will continue to display similar metallurgical characteristics. Read More »

An international team from EM&I Group is preparing to begin baseline work on a FPSO project in offshore Ghana. "This is a significant project for one of our most important clients who chose EM&I because of our technical and high-quality offering and our ability to gather an international team of in-house professionals at short notice," EM&I Regional General Manager Peter Davies said. Read More »

The U.S. government donated 24 MRAP vehicles to Nigeria's military Thursday. The vehicles are worth $11 million and will be applied toward the anti-Boko Haram effort. The vehicles were delivered to Lagos and came out of the United State's Excess Defense Articles Program, which transfers unused U.S. military equipment to foreign governments. Another eight MRAPS will be delivered. Read More »

Aureus Mining Inc. recently became the owners of three mining exploration properties in Liberia, after purchasing them from Canadian entity Sarama Resources Ltd. As a condition of the sale, Sarama purchased an uncapped 1 percent net smelter return royalty on gold produced from the Cape Mount property in Liberia. Sarama's interests are focused in West Africa, mostly in Burkina Faso. Read More »

Ignitia recently joined a U.N.-sponsored program to alert West African farmers to local weather trends with SMS texts. BCtA strives to reduce poverty and improve lives through inclusive business models. Its current goal for the region is to deliver reliable and tropical weather forecasts via text messages to 1.2 million small-scale farmers in West Africa by the end of 2017. Read More »

As the African year of human rights and particularly women’s rights, 2016 will start with the 8th African Union Gender Pre-Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Jan. 17 to Jan. 21. Under the general leadership of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, AUC president and chairperson, the event is coordinated by the AU Commission Directorate of Women, Gender and Development; the GIMAC; and AU partners. Read More »

An offshore Guinea oil and gas exploration project led by Hyperdynamics Corp. is at a standstill after project participants Tullow Guinea Ltd. and Dana Petroleum recently refused to meet obligations or sign pertinent documents necessary to move the project forward. The project carries a September 2015 deadline. Up to this point, all work programs and budgets had been approved. Read More »