The 'Amazon Of Africa' Faces A Big Challenge: No Addresses

Viviane Lakpa, a 39-year-old “co-pilot” at Jumia, is responsible for staying on the phone with customers and figuring out where they live in a city with very few addresses. Anzoumana Gbane, 37, is the driver. (Danielle Paquette/The Washington Post)

BY DANIELLE PAQUETTE

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (WASHINGTON POST) -- She had eight hours, 32 packages to deliver and no addresses.

So, the woman on the front lines of Africa's burgeoning e-commerce industry in the Ivory Coast city Abidjan stayed on the phone, listening to directions: Look for the ice cream cart.

Viviane Lakpa's job was to find the customers - even if they were nowhere near the ice cream cart - and stay polite, even when they demanded to open an order before handing her money.

Few people in her West African city of 4.4 million have numbers on their houses. Credit cards are rare. So is trust in online shopping.

"You have to have patience," Lakpa said in her blue Mazda van crammed with microwaves, printers, shoe racks and soap. "Lots of patience."

Internet users in Africa now outnumber America's population by some estimates, but reaching that exploding market is among the continent's most pressing business challenges. Hopes of leaping into the world of same-day delivery are colliding with the lack of street signs, dominance of cash, threat of robbery and fear of knockoffs.

Labyrinths of red tape, meanwhile, stall packages at the borders, making it easier for someone in Ivory Coast to buy something from Germany than neighbouring Ghana.

Today only 1 per cent of goods sold in Africa are purchased on a screen, but if that share swells to 10 per cent - closer to US and European levels - McKinsey analysts forecast annual sales will hit $US75 billion ($110 billion), unleashing an economic boom and a new age of convenience on the continent.

Lakpa, 39, wants to make convenience her career.

She's one of thousands in the region who deliver goods by car, truck and motorcycle for Jumia, Africa's biggest web retailer with about 4 million users.

The fleet fluctuates with demand. Jumia enlists local firms to manage delivery staffers on contract in 14 countries. Pay, benefits and schedules vary.

Lakpa was on a two-week run that would net her 60,000 West African CFA francs (about $150), a step up from selling ginger juice out of her home.

She likes the revolving door of problems to solve. The go, go, go. Being a mum of four, she said, gave her the necessary skills.

"You have to communicate and be creative," she said on a recent route.

She'd never considered buying stuff online when two French entrepreneurs founded Jumia seven years ago in Nigeria. She'd walk to markets in her neighbourhood - or, on special occasions, ask someone to bring her something from somewhere.

"This is the future," she said.

Jumia became the first start-up from the continent to list on Wall Street this year, prompting pundits to dub it "the Amazon of Africa". Reporters deemed the event "historic". The firm's stock shot up. Critics noted that a digital marketplace steered by Europeans shouldn't be called African.

Both potential and struggle manifested in Jumia's first earnings report as a public company. Sales jumped by 58 per cent over the last quarter to $US268 million, executives reported in May, but losses deepened to nearly $US51 million from $US38 million.

Lakpa lives some of those losses.

She works in a team of two with a former taxi driver, 37-year-old Anzoumana Gbane. He sits behind the wheel while she talks to customers, trying to figure out where they are and what time they can meet.

"Hello," she says again and again on a recent summer morning. "This is Jumia."

One customer no longer wants her soap. ("Are you sure?")

One man doesn't recall placing an order. ("I have that you wanted this for Tuesday.")

Another woman won't answer her phone.

All in the span of 10 minutes.

Service cuts in and out. "Hello?" Lakpa says as they bump from a paved road to a dirt path. "Hello? I can't understand you."

People normally tell her to meet near a landmark - pharmacies, hotels, banks, schools.

They start the day at a college campus and wait six minutes for a student who bought a printer to meet them.

They park next in front of a hair salon and wait seven minutes to sell a phone.

They park next on a patch of gravel to drop off a lighter. No one comes. The phone rings. The customer is actually a half-mile down the street. They pull up. There he is.

Cash is king in Ivory Coast and most other African nations. No sale is complete until money changes hands.

Sometimes, this leads Lakpa inside a customer's house or workplace. She follows a lawyer into his grey office and watches him open a cardboard box.

No one speaks as he pulls out an electric kettle. His assistant rushes over, fills it up with water and plugs it into the wall.

"I want to confirm that it works," the lawyer says.

Lakpa keeps an eye on the clock.

Jumia's warehouse in the industrial Koumassi suburb has steel gates, concrete walls and a line of workers waiting outside just after sunrise.

They've come to sort packages, load cars, grab a new list of phone numbers and zip into the city, where they complete as many as 30,000 daily orders.

Half of Jumia's packages in Africa go to pickup centres. It's easier for rural folks, who sometimes lack reliable phones, to grab their goods from a physical location.

The other half is carried off by the contract workers. Many grew up in these neighbourhoods.

"You can never replace the local knowledge, the local interaction," chief executive Sacha Poignonnec said. "It's about the details."

The details separate good staffers from lousy ones, said Martial Ohoukou, who supervises the Ivory Coast delivery team. Some days, that's 100 people. Some days, 250. (Jumia won't disclose the exact number.)

Yes, they start as contractors, agents of the global gig economy. There are upsides (flexibility, good pay in a country where the average person annually makes $US1692) and downsides (irregular work, fear of messing up and never hearing from your boss again).

America's Amazon Flex and China's Alibaba follow similar labour models for what analysts call the last mile. But the work is much harder here. No one can rely on GPS.

"You have to be more than a common driver to advance at this company," Ohoukou said. "You have to know the products. You shouldn't be calling your supervisor all the time and asking, 'What should I do?'"

Those with tenacity can move up, he said. Salaried employees tend to work in management, marketing and human resources.

"My night manager started as a simple delivery agent," he said. "You can double your pay after two years or so."

The pressure stays on for Lakpa.

It's midday. Traffic clogs seemingly every road. She hasn't taken a bathroom break.

The delivery partners must finish by 4pm for security reasons. A Jumia driver was robbed and killed two years ago in Nigeria while toting iPhones.

They roll down the windows on the way to the next destination, a downtown marketing firm, and breathe the usual smog.

The place is called Zen Communications. Relief: It's just off the highway. Easy to find.

They slide into a parking spot. Gbane stays in the van. Lakpa grabs an orange bag with the Jumia logo. Up the stairs she goes to an office with no windows.

An IT manager in a Hawaiian shirt greets her. He's not smiling.

Before they can discuss today's order, he wants to raise a grievance.

"I've been waiting for a receipt for a printer since April," he said. "I can't do my expenses without it."

Lakpa nods. She understands. She'll tell someone.

The man doesn't seem to believe her. He repeats himself. He really needs to do his expenses.

Then he reaches for her bag and pulls out printer cartridges.

His eyes widen.

"Magenta?!"

He'd ordered black ink.

Lakpa stays calm. She's sorry about that. She'll get him the right colour.

"This ride has been harder than usual," she says, walking outside. Three hours have passed, and she has delivered only three packages.

Gbane starts the engine without a word.

They'd go on to deliver 16 of the 32 orders. Worry would grip Lakpa's gut. She was scheduled to work the rest of the week.

Washington Post

Ashland Lab Uncovers Secrets In Ivory

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Forensic Laboratory in Ashland tested this ivory carving allegedly sold to undercover investigators by Donald Frank Rooney. Washington Attorney General's Office photo

BY NICK MORGAN

MAIL TRIBUNE

A team of forensic wildlife investigators in Ashland is playing a key role in the prosecution of two Washington men accused of selling carvings made from elephant tusks.

Donald Frank Rooney of Everett, Washington, and Yunhua Chen of Seattle face felony animal trafficking charges alleging they sold the ivory carvings through online outlets, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Washington Attorney General’s Office.

The Snohomish and King county cases are the first criminal charges prosecuted under Washington’s Animal Trafficking Act, passed by voters in 2015.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in Ashland determined that carvings seized in Rooney and Chen’s cases were made from the tusks of threatened elephants from Africa.

Rooney was charged earlier this week in Snohomish County Superior Court on accusations he sold at least one Japanese-style “netsuke” figurine made of ivory to an undercover Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife detective on Oct. 31, 2017, after the detective allegedly found Rooney through a coded Craigslist post, according to court documents.

The attorney general’s office said it seized more than 1,600 items suspected to be made of ivory from Rooney’s manufactured home.

The wildlife forensics lab in Ashland determined that one of the three sculptures Rooney allegedly sold for $100 each to the undercover detective had originated from an elephant from Africa, according to Washington prosecutors. Tests on two other sculptures — one described as “kabuki with a rotating face” and the other as “old man holding mask” — were “morphologically inconclusive,” according to court documents.

Chen is accused of selling an ivory figurine to a buyer in Metairie, Louisiana, who paid $1,305 for it on eBay last July, according to court documents. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service agents seized the statue in Louisiana last fall and sent it to Ashland, where the crime lab determined it was made from African elephant ivory, with walrus tusk at its base.

Ken Goddard, who heads the Southern Oregon lab, said he couldn’t get into specifics of Rooney and Chen’s cases while they’re pending, but he said that reaching the lab’s conclusions took the efforts of different forensics investigators.

Ashland morphologist Rachel Jacobs determined that a carving Rooney allegedly sold, which was shaped like three men with a bowl, came from a living elephant species, not from an extinct mammoth, based on the placement and shape of tiny tubules found in cross sections of the tusk material.

They’re known as “Schreger lines,” according to Goddard, who said that he and deputy lab director Ed Espinoza developed the test in the early days of the lab, which has been in Ashland since 1988.

Elephant and mammoth tusks are chemically similar, Goddard said, but he and Espinoza figured out that elephant tusks have different shapes of tubules running down the length of their tusks compared to certain extinct species.

A cross section of the material makes their findings obvious, according to Goddard. If the lines cross at angles of less than 90 degrees, it is a mammoth or mastodon tusk. If the Schreger lines cross at angles greater than 120 degrees, resembling the shape of a roof drawing, the evidence points to elephant tusk.

Determining the type of elephant is up to DNA tests, according to Goddard, but ivory investigators don’t have much of the genetic material to work with compared to blood samples or other types of animal tissue.

“That’s trickier,” Goddard said. “We’d much rather use the Schreger lines.”

Investigators tend to find more DNA close to the elephant’s gum line, Goddard said.

Isolating and amplifying the DNA was up to Brian C. Hamlin, a forensic scientist with more than 20 years in the lab’s genetics section. Homicide investigators have similar challenges gathering DNA from tooth samples, Hamlin said.

Hamlin starts his tests by cleaning the ivory’s surface using bleach and sterile water, drilling into the ivory and dissolving the shavings in a chemical solution.

Using chemical reactions and automated processes, Hamlin separates the DNA from the mineral portions of the sample.

“What we end up with is generally pure DNA,” Hamlin said.

The purified DNA gets run through a sequencer, and the sample’s reading is compared with those of known elephant species the lab has on file.

According to court documents in Rooney’s case, DNA from one of the carvings matched that of the species Loxodonta africana, a threatened species better known as the African bush elephant.

Hamlin said he never starts an investigation with “an agenda” or any preconceived notions.

“The science and the agency have a story to tell, and I’m just trying to tell that story,” Hamlin said.

Oregon passed a law banning ivory similar to Washington’s in 2016. Other states that prohibit ivory and rhino horn trafficking include California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey and New York.

Hamlin said laws are changing and he is prepared for “an uptick in cases.”

“We’ve got a pretty standard technique that we’ve dialed in, and it works well,” he said.

Inspiring Innovation From IST To Africa

Jeffrey Kangar, a 2013 graduate of the College of Information Sciences and Technology, founded the newly-established nonprofit organization, Technology for Children: Africa.

BY COURTNEY ALLEN

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of profiles on College of IST students and alumni who are utilizing the skills and knowledge they developed at Penn State to make an impact in a variety of industries.

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. (PENN STATE NEWS)— Jeffrey Kangar, a 2013 graduate of Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology, has always held high aspirations to improve the world. As founder of the newly-established nonprofit organization, Technology for Children: Africa, Kangar is turning his dream into reality.

The organization, which he created with friends in 2016, provides technology platforms, develops curriculum, and partners with schools in societies that cannot afford to provide children with the most basic technology education — mainly in African countries like the Ivory Coast, Liberia and Ghana. Kangar’s spirit of giving is the foundation of his work.

"I think it's all based on your journey,” he said. “Everyone has a story to tell. Be it if you're born with a silver spoon or you're born poor, everyone has a propensity to make change within the community. I think it's all based on what you aspire [to], but everyone has an obligation to give back to society.”

Coming to the United States at 18 years old from the Ivory Coast — where Technology for Children: Africa will launch its first pilot location this fall with computers donated by Howard University — Kangar says he did not receive the highest caliber of education.

"We had Windows 95, maybe, so we weren't quite good with the education we needed from a technology standpoint,” he said.

His educational opportunities have improved, however, and Kangar now desires to give others what he did not have by using technology to inspire innovation in children.

“There still is a huge digital divide," he said, "so I talked to a couple friends of mine and we decided this is a huge opportunity to give back."

Connecting IST with a dream

During his time as an undergraduate in the College of IST, Kangar made connecting with advisers and professors a priority.

He credited these instructors with paving the way for his success. Professors like John Hill, retired senior lecturer in IST, encouraged Kangar to pursue an internship — an experience that he now cites as leading to many of his achievements.

"It was just amazing because of lot of schools don’t stress internships, but the College of IST [requires one to graduate], and I know why," said Kangar. "If you don’t have the ability to see how the company works before graduating, you'll set yourself up for failure. Just understanding that really helped me."

After interning at Cigna, a worldwide health services organization, Kangar accepted a full-time position as a project manager for the company’s international offices. In that role, he led the Cigna team in migrating and upgrading endpoints to Windows 7 from Windows XP, remediating applications for them to work on the new platform for over 14,000 endpoints internationally.

Though he enjoyed his corporate experience, Kangar says there were problems he wanted to tackle that were beyond the public sector.

"Public health is a big deal, but one thing that’s most important to me is innovation,” he said. “If there is not an avenue to tap into that innovation and data, it becomes hard for students to have a better future.”

Kangar emphasized that students must change their mentality on how to be successful. When speaking with current IST students, he shares tips such as being persistent with advisers, asking about resources in the college, and viewing college as the real world.

"Penn State is such a diverse school. There are people from India, China, Europe, and all [around the globe],” he said. “Being able to relate to certain groups of people within the College of IST and Penn State is something I really admired, as well as their transparency to change.”

"If they are lacking in some way or shape or form and you bring it to someone’s attention,” he added, “there is that ability to affect change.”

Changing communities

For Kangar, Technology for Children: Africa is more than just a nonprofit organization, it’s a means of bringing effective change to his communities — something he exhibits more locally as the president of the Penn State South Texas Alumni Chapter.

Kangar and the chapter’s leadership team are working to organize events that provide donations to firefighting groups for children that have lost a parent in the line of duty, advance learning and volunteer work with local retirees, and help with outreach for popular San Antonio community events.

“The South Texas Chapter is unique in a sense that we have a lot of alums in and out of the South Texas region due to factors like military and family relocation,” he said. “I was looking for ways to give back to the University wherever I was, and I happen to find myself in Texas.”

“This is my way of using my degree from Penn State to do that,” he added. “I have a great network of alumni to tap into and effect change."

When he’s not connecting with alumni in his home community, Kangar and his Technology for Children: Africa team regularly meet with prime leaders from the Ivory Coast. He has visited Africa five times in the last few months ensuring that the infrastructure he brings aligns with the land laws and policies within the country, all in an effort to make it easier and more fun for children to learn.

"I want to go as far as the skies will let me,” he said. “There is a huge digital divide in Africa, and I want every kid to have access to technology. That can help with a lot of things, such as making sure they are educated and that they can compete in their fields. I want to give them an avenue to increase their learning.”

Tissue-Destroying Ulcer Frequently Found In Africa Spreading Rapidly In Australia

BY MELISSA DAVEY

A boy in the Ivory Coast shows his arm, which has been damaged by Buruli ulcer. Researchers have called for urgent research into how the ulcer is spreading in Australia. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA (THE GUARDIAN)--A severe tissue-destroying ulcer once rare in Australia is rapidly spreading and is now at epidemic proportions in regions of Victoria, prompting infectious diseases experts to call for urgent research into how it is contracted and spread.

In an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) on Monday, authors led by associate professor Daniel O’Brien from Barwon Health said incidents of Buruli ulcer were on the rise but researchers were baffled as to why Victoria was being particularly affected. There have been no reported cases in New South Wales, South Australia or Tasmania.

In 2016, there were 182 new cases of the ulcer in Victoria – the highest ever reported by 72%, O’Brien said. But he added that cases reported until 11 November 2017 had further increased by 51% compared with the same period in 2016, from 156 cases to 236 cases.

“Despite being recognised in Victoria since 1948, efforts to control the disease have been severely hampered because the environmental reservoir and mode of transmission to humans remain unknown,” O’Brien said. “It is difficult to prevent a disease when it is not known how infection is acquired.”

The first sign of infection is usually a painless lump on the skin often dismissed as an insect bite. The slow-moving infection then burrows into a layer of fat located between the skin and the lining that covers muscles. It is in this fatty layer that the infection takes hold, spreading sideways and through the body, destroying tissue along the way, before eventually erupting back through the skin in the form of an ulcer. Those with the infection often have no idea the infection has taken hold until the ulcer appears. But when the ulcer does erupt, the pain can be extreme.

Anyone is susceptible. While the infection responds to a roughly eight-week course of antibiotics, in rare cases surgery to remove skin or even amputation is needed.

Prof Paul Johnson is an internationally renowned Buruli ulcer expert and has been studying the infection since 1993. He led the development of a highly-accurate diagnostic test for the bacteria that causes the disease and is now based at Austin Health in Victoria, where he is trying to understand why the infection is most common on the coastal Bellarine and Mornington peninsulas.

This has confused researchers because the disease is most often associated with swampland areas in tropical countries and it is found at the greatest frequency in Africa. Cases are also becoming more severe.

“It seems to occur in very specific areas of Victoria,” Johnson said. “If you don’t enter an endemic area, you don’t get the disease. But what is it about the area that contains it, and what happens to you that means you pick the disease up from that area? Those are the big questions we’ve been asking.”

He also said the infection had a “very odd” distribution. “When you enter an endemic area, it looks the same as the area you just left,” he said.

Johnson believes it is most likely the bacteria that causes the ulcer, Mycobacterium ulcerans, is being spread by mosquitos and possums. His research team caught a large number of mosquitos in affected areas and found a small proportion did carry the bacteria.

They then found ringtail possums in affected areas excreted the bacteria in their faeces.

“Our hypothesis is really that this is a disease of possums,” he said. “It sweeps through possums and contaminates the local environment through their poo including contaminating mosquitos, and people are picking it up predominately from biting insects, and maybe directly from possums.”

There could be other modes of transmission though, he said, and he said researchers did not know how possums contracted and spread the disease. Johnson said that unlike malaria, which is rapidly spread by mosquitos, transmission of Mycobacterium ulcerans appeared to be more inefficient.

The authors of the MJA article called for urgent government funding to research the bacteria and to carry out an exhaustive examination of the environments it is found, including looking at local animals and any interaction with people.

“The time to act is now,” the authors wrote.

Johnson agreed but added there were some precautions people in affected areas could take such as avoiding mosquito bites, cleaning and covering any cuts sustained outdoors, and going to the doctor if they had any concerns.

Squalid Libya Migrant Camps In Spotlight At EU-Africa Summit

BY LORNE COOK

President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera, center, attends a round table event at an EU Africa summit in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. Image: GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT/AP

ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (ASSOCIATED PRESS)  — European Union and African leaders pledged Wednesday to do more to help thousands of migrants stranded in squalid detention centers in Libya, the main jumping-off point for desperate people setting out in unseaworthy boats in search of better lives in Europe.

While youth and development are the main themes of the EU-Africa summit in Ivory Coast, migration is a key issue, pushed further into the public eye after recent footage of migrants at a slave auction in Libya drew international horror and condemnation.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said the security of Europe and Africa will "depend on our capacity to resolve the crisis in Libya and to bring an end, by all available means, to the inhuman treatment inflicted on migrants."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that "it's very important that we simply support Africans to put a stop to illegal migration, so people don't have to either suffer in horrible camps in Libya or are even being traded."

On the eve of the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron called the trafficking of African migrants a "crime against humanity" as he made his first major address on the continent in Burkina Faso.

Macron said he wants "Africa and Europe to help populations trapped in Libya by providing massive support to the evacuation of endangered people." He did not elaborate, saying he would formally detail his proposal during the summit.

Already Burkina Faso's foreign affairs minister has recalled his ambassador from Libya, calling it "unacceptable to have slaves in this 21st century."

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said that all Nigerians stranded in Libya and other parts of the world will be brought home and "rehabilitated," calling it appalling that "some Nigerians were being sold like goats for few dollars in Libya."

Europe has struggled to slow the flow of tens of thousands of Africans making the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean through development aid and other means, including funds to tighten border controls. But many Africans feel pressured to make the journey, risking death and abuse, saying high unemployment and climate change leave them little choice.

At least 3,000 drown or go missing annually in attempts to cross the Mediterranean, but with Africa's population forecast to rise significantly in coming decades many more are likely to take the risk.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has urged his European counterparts to work more closely with Africa on tackling migration and security, another issue high on the agenda as the threat of extremism grows in West Africa and elsewhere.

"What counts for us is the capacity to be efficient, pragmatic, in a win-win strategy that serves our mutual interests," Michel, 41, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

He, Macron and Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel — all aged around 40 — are seeking to distance themselves from Europe's dark colonial past in Africa, and connect with Africa's young population in the hope that tackling joblessness can help reduce migration.

"I come from a generation that sees Africa as a partner," Michel said. "There is no more room in our generation for nostalgia about the past or a sense of guilt."

Macron, 39, also emphasized his youth, referring to himself as the child of "a generation that has never known Africa as a colonized continent."

African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat warned that without a real change of policy and "without heavy investment in this youth, its education, its training ... Africa, and Europe by the way, don't have much of a future."

EU’s Desire To Contain Migration Is Africa’s Opportunity

BY ELISSA JOBSON

Migrants arrive at a naval base after they were rescued by Libyan coastal guards in Tripoli, Libya [File: Ismail Zitouny/Reuters]

ABIDJAN, COTE D' IVOIRE (POLITICO) -- To tackle some of their greatest challenges — including migration and terrorism — the African Union and the European Union need to focus on building a strategic relationship based on mutual interests rather than attempt to build an idealistic and illusionary “equal partnership.”

Equality should, of course, remain an aspiration. But the two unions are not the same. In economic terms alone, the disparity is striking: The EU’s 28 states boast a GDP of $17 trillion, seven times the $2.39 trillion generated annually by the 55 AU members.

For this week’s summit in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to be a success, both sides will need to set aside Europe’s colonial history in Africa — the proverbial “elephant in the room” — and overcome the deep-seated frustrations that have held back closer cooperation.

When it comes to migration, the EU and its member countries have money to spend, provided they can be assured of quick wins that will calm the fears of its citizens. Demographic and economic forces are also on the AU’s side — aging workforces in Europe will increasingly rely on migrants to keep the wheels of the economy turning.

The AU and African governments should leverage continued support for border control and fighting jihadists or terrorists to win increased EU investment in better governance, education for its growing population, job creation and more equitably-distributed economic growth across Africa.

To be sure, both sides will have to overcome plenty of mutual distrust. The imbalance between the two organizations makes it difficult for the EU to escape a “paternal” attitude toward its African partners. Discussions tend to be asymmetrical, heavily focused on crises in African countries and dominated by what the EU will and will not pay.

The EU is one of the AU’s most significant peace and security partners. Since 2004, it has provided more than €2 billion in assistance to African states. But it increasingly resents being treated like a “cash machine.”

With diminishing funds at its disposal — a situation that is likely to worsen after Brexit — the bloc increasingly wants a greater say in how its money is spent. This could heighten tensions with the AU, which wants to reduce its reliance on donors and take ownership of its own peace and security.

Where the EU sees a lack of clear strategic direction, especially when it comes to security, its African partners perceive the EU as imposing its own agenda on the partnership. The AU wants to see the EU open its borders and increase legal routes for migrants in order to help reduce people-trafficking and smuggling, rather than outsource its border defense to Africa.

African officials also resent Europe’s kneejerk “whatever works” approach to dealing with the migration crisis that saw more than 1 million refugees land on its shores since 2015 and balk at the tendency in Europe — especially among populist politicians and in the media — to link the arrival of African migrants to an increase in terrorist attacks on the Continent.

And yet, despite these points of tension, more binds these two continental organizations — geography, history and economies — than drives them apart. It is in both parties’ interest to make the partnership work.

However uncomfortable the discussion may be, migration needs to take center stage in Abidjan. The disturbing images of African migrants being auctioned off as slaves in the Libyan capital of Tripoli illustrate the urgency, gravity and complexity of the issue for both Africa and Europe.

Europe’s panic over migration alienated many of its African partners, but it also offers them a rare opportunity for closer cooperation.

It’s time to move past last year’s low point in relations, when a bruising dispute over the EU’s payments to the AU’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia soured the relationship. This week’s meeting — 10 years after the signing of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy — is a chance to reset.

France, Ivory Coast Vow To Strengthen Military Cooperation

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sunday, June 11, 2017.

PARIS (AP JUNE 11, 2017) — French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to strengthen France's cooperation with Ivory Coast on military and intelligence issues in an effort to help fight Islamic extremism in the region.

Macron said "we are facing a challenge, the fight against terrorism and for security in our countries and our region," according to a joint statement with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara following a meeting Sunday at the Elysee Palace.

Macron said both countries will reinforce their partnership on these issues in the coming weeks. Ouattara praised France for its military presence in the Sahel region and said his country will "do its part" in the fight against extremism in West Africa.

In March 2016, Islamic extremists attacked an Ivory Coast beach resort, killing 19 people, including tourists and special forces members.

Nigeria tops Ivory Coast 2-1 to reach African Cup semifinals; Drogba left without title again

TALES AZZONI FEBRUARY 3, 2013

NIGERIA'S EMMANUEL EMENIKE CELEBRATES AFTER SCORING THE OPENING GOAL AGAINST IVORY COAST DURING THEIR AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS QUARTERFINAL MATCH AT THE ROYAL BAFOKENG STADIUM IN RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, SUNDAY, FEB. 3, 2013. IMAGE: ARMANDO FRANCO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

RUSTENBURG, South Africa - Nigeria defeated tournament favourite Ivory Coast 2-1 to reach the semifinals of the African Cup of Nations on Sunday, keeping Didier Drogba and his teammates from lifting the trophy.

Sunday Mba scored the winner with a shot from outside the area in the 78th minute, helping Nigeria advance to the last four for the sixth time in eight tournaments.

Emmanuel Emenike opened the scoring for Nigeria with a long-range shot that was misplayed by Ivory Coast goalkeeper Boubacar Barry in the 43rd minute, and Cheik Tiote equalized in the 50th with a header from a free kick cross taken by Drogba, who might have had his last chance to win a trophy with his national team.

Nigeria will now play Mali, which eliminated host South Africa on penalties on Saturday in Durban. Burkina Faso and Emmanuel Adebayor's Togo will play the last quarterfinal later Sunday in Nelspruit, with the winner facing Ghana.

The match in Rustenburg was one of the most anticipated of the quarterfinals, with some of the tournament's top names facing each other. Ivory Coast had Drogba, Arsenal's Gervinho and Manchester City's Yaya Toure, while Nigeria was led by Chelsea duo Victor Moses and John Obi Mikel.

Nigeria had most of the chances in the first half but Ivory Coast improved in the second and threatened more often, especially with Drogba and Arsenal forward Gervinho up front.

But it was Mba who came up big near the end. He made a run through the Ivory Coast defence and cleared a couple of markers before getting near the area to fire a right-footed shot that deflected on a defender and went over Barry.

Emenike put Nigeria on the board after a free kick from about 30 metres (yards) away. Mikel just rolled the ball and the Spartak Moscow striker fired a powerful shot through the wall, fooling Barry as he tried to punch the ball away in the middle of the goal. The shot didn't appear to deflect off anybody before getting past just to the side of Barry.

Ivory Coast pressed forward after the goal and Tiote equalized with a header from near the far post following a well-placed free kick by Drogba, who earned the set piece when he was fouled just outside the area near the sideline.

The 34-year-old Drogba had the last chance of the match with a header that sailed over the crossbar in stoppage time.

The Title Is going To Nigeria: Emenike

By Ramatsiyi Moholoa/Sowetan Live 

IVORY Coast and Bafana Bafana are in dreamland if they hope to clinch the 29th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

Speaking after their 2-0 win over Ethiopia at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Tuesday night to qualify for the quarterfinals, Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike said they were equally hungry to end their Afcon title drought.

The Super Eagles last won the Afcon title back in 1994 in Tunisia with their current coach Stephen Keshi serving as captain.

"The game against Ethiopia was our toughest to date in this tournament. They are a good team but we played as a unit to advance to the knockout stages," said Emenike, who has scored twice in this tournament.

"The focus is now on the quarterfinal match against Ivory Coast here in Rustenburg on Sunday. It's one hell of a game that everybody has been waiting for. We are going to recharge our batteries after the win over Ethiopia.

"Ivory Coast have an array of big-name stars, but names do not play. It's all about commitment on the day. They have top players like Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Gervinho and Didier Zokora but we are ready. As a team we have been watching all their games; they have not been impressive," said the former Mpumalanga Black Aces striker who is now based in Russia.

Ivory Coast are chasing their first Afcon title after 21 years, while Bafana, who meet Mali in their quarterfinal in Durban on Saturday, won it on home soil in 1996.

Emenike said: "Just like Ivory Coast, Bafana Bafana are in for a big surprise if they think they will reclaim the title.

"The title is going to Nigeria this time round. We will definitely be in the final on February 10 (at the National Stadium) and will be crowned winners."

Nigeria's Class of 1994 included Keshi's assistant Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amunike, Sunday Oliseh and Jay Jay Okocha.

AFCON: Ivory Coast, Togo In Quarters; Tunisia, Algeria Head Home (Photo News)

Togo booked its spot to the quarter finals for the first time in the Nations Cup on a 1-1 draw with Tunisia at the Mbombela Sports Stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa Tuesday, January 30, 2013. Ivory Coast in encounter with Algeria at the Royal Bokafeng Palace Field, Rusenburg, South Africa, played a 2-2 draw with Algeria in a match  both teams didn't have to show up for Ivory Coast to qualify while Algeria heads home.

Leading the charge: Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast captain, was back to his best as he inspired a comeback from two down against Algeria. Mail/Getty

Algerian's Sofiane Feghouli (left) and teammates celebrate after opening the scoring in the 64 minute. Image: AP

Fanatic: Ivorian supporters shows where their loyalties lie during the Ivory Coast-Algeria match at the Royal Bokafeng Palace Field Wednesday, January 30, 2013. Image: AP

Dejected Tunisian player Zaihair Dhaouadi looks on as Floyd Ayite of Togo's celebration underway after a tie that sends Togo to the quqrter finals. Image: AP; courtesy of Daily Mail.

 Togo Emmanuel Adebayor celebrates with his Sparrow hawks teammates after a  1-1 draw with Tunisia at the Mbombela Sports Stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa Wednesday, January 30, 2013. Image: AP; courtesy of Daily Mail

With Togo's goalkeeper Kossi Agassa diving the wrong way, Tunisia's Khaled Moulhi saw his penalty cannon back off the post. Image: AP

Tunisia's Khaled Moelhi is distraught as goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha tries to comfort him. Moulhi missed a penalty with 12 minutes left that would have taken them through. Image: AP; courtesy of Daily Mail.

Ivory Coast players celebrate a goal during match with Ethiopia at the Royal Bokafeng Palace Field in Rustenburg, South Africa on January 26, 2013. Image: AFP

EU grants Ivory Coast 115 million euros budget support

Ivory Coast's President Alassane Quattara talks with European Commission President Barroso during his visit at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan October 25, 2012. Image: Thierry Gouegnon/Reuters

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The European Union granted Ivory Coast 115 million euros in budget support on Thursday, aiming to help the West African nation back on its feet following a decade of political crisis that ended in a brief war last year.

The world's top cocoa grower, Ivory Coast suffered from years of stagnation during the conflict which saw the country divided between northern rebels and southern government loyalists.

President Alassane Ouattara's government has received strong support from foreign partners since fighting ended and the economy is expected to record growth of 8.6 percent this year, following a 4.7 percent contraction in 2011.

"The European Union will remain beside Ivory Coast to help it quickly become once again a pillar of stability and growth in West Africa," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told journalists in Abidjan following the signing of the accord.

The EU, one of the West African nation's top donors, has mobilised 430 million euros to aid Ivory Coast's reconstruction since April 2011. The first disbursement of the new funding is expected before the end of the year.

Ivory Coast increased spending by 17 percent in a 3.814 trillion CFA franc 2013 budget adopted by the cabinet earlier this month that targets long-neglected infrastructure, power production and agriculture.

Memorable Images And Time (West African Leaders)

Jacqueline Kennedy chats with Mrs. Houphouet-Boigny (right) as they pose for photographers prior to a state dinner given by President and Mrs. Houphouet-Boigny of the Ivory Coast in honor of the Chief Executive and Mrs. Kennedy here tonight.Date: May 24, 1962. Location: Washington, D.C. Image: Bettmann


7/28/1966- Washington, DC: State visitor. President Johnson chats in his office with President Leopold Senghor of Senegal today after the African Chief Executive arrived for a nine-day visit. President Johnson welcomed President Senghor as "the head of a very friendly and vigorous African nation."


President John F. Kennedy greets the first Nigerian Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa at the White House.Date: July 25, 1961. Location: Washington D.C. Image: Bettmann


7/24/1958-Washington, D.C.- Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana shown during his White House visit with President Eisenhower today. He later told newsmen that the President was "sympathetic" to the economic problems of his newly independent African state.

Laurent Gbagbo bunkers down as assault steps up

Men captured by forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara are detained at a checkpoint in Abidjan yesterday. Picture: AP Source: AP

FORCES allied with Ivory Coast's internationally recognised President Alassane Ouattara vowed to launch new attacks overnight on the underground bunker where strongman Laurent Gbagbo remains holed up and refusing to surrender.

Already, airstrikes have pounded holes in his garden and destroyed his weapons depots, and fighters have encircled his home and stormed the gates.

But forces allied to Mr Ouattara, the recognised winner of last November's presidential election, fear killing Mr Gbagbo and stoking the rage of his supporters. About 46 per cent of Ivorians voted for him in the ballot that unleashed chaos.

Mr Gbagbo, 65, who has made an art of staying in power years past the end of his legal mandate, is now fighting for each day, even each hour. "He will not surrender," said Meite Sindou, a defence spokesman for Mr Ouattara. "We will have to take him."

Fighters loyal to Mr Ouattara have made it as far as the gate of the presidential mansion Mr Gbagbo has occupied for the past decade. They attacked it with a barrage of fire, and residents reported concussive blasts. They breached the perimeter only to be forced to retreat in the face of the heavy artillery unleashed by the ruler's inner circle of guards.

Mr Ouattara has pleaded with the international community for months to intervene and remove Mr Gbagbo by force, arguing it was the only way he would leave.

Mr Gbagbo still controls the Ivorian army and has repeatedly used its arsenal of heavy artillery to attack areas of Abidjan where people voted for his opponent. Security forces are accused of turning a machine gun on a group of unarmed women and lobbing mortars into a market.

UN attack helicopters, acting on a Security Council resolution, this week bombarded six arms depots in Abidjan, including a cache inside the presidential compound. "Obviously they didn't get all of it," said a senior diplomat. "When they came after him, he pulled out more stuff.

"Remember, he has had a long time to prepare for this."

Among the preparations was the choice of where Mr Gbagbo would make his last stand. He is said to be holed up in a tunnel originally built to link the president's home and the adjacent residence of the French ambassador.

Ivory Coast's first president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, built the tunnel so he could take refuge inside the ambassador's residence in the event of a coup, said Ivory Coast expert Christian Bouquet, a professor of political geography.

Hoha! (Pointblank): The Talkingheads on South Africa 2010

"I'm more of a realist. I don't think it will happen in 2010, but it will be something special if an African nation can win it because it's on the continent. I think if it was somewhere in west Africa, with the heat, then you could have said an African nation could win. But in South Africa it will be winter, so it will be more in the favour of the Europeans."

-------Steven Pienaar, South Africa/Everton midfielder predicting with certainty no African team will win the World Cup that begins next month when asked if he thought an African team could win the World Cup


"I think we can go far. Why not? First, it is imperative to go through the group stage. We need to concentrate on this target. We have three matches. First we need a win, and then a draw. This can send us through. Seriously, I think we will go through the group stage. Afterwards, I don't know how far we can progress."

-------Kafoumba Coulibay, OGC Nice/Ivory Coast midfielder when asked by Goal.com on how far he thought Ivory Coast will progress in the World Cup.



"The beautiful game in High Definition is truly a remarkable thing to see. Any football enthusiast will tell you the difference between standard definition and HD is night and day. World Cup 2006 was the first to be shown in HD, but it was rare. It was far less common for someone to own an HD television than it is now as they were more expensive and people had yet to see a need. HD programming was not yet easily available to everyone, let alone on ESPN. It was more common on the networks, which is why World Cup 2006 games being seen in HD were mostly on ABC . HD was still in the beginning stages just four years ago."

-------Jake Islas, European Premier League (EPL) Talk podcaster on one of his five reasons why South Africa 2010 World Cup will be the best tournament.


Ever since we first bid for the World Cup, this is a road we have travelled. There have been doomsayers, but we have so far proved those people wrong and we will prove them wrong again.
From the moment Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, this country was written off. But we have struggled hard. You cannot determine your lives by having people say, 'You cannot do this'. Because if we were to have taken that position, I would still be living under apartheid. There is only mild hyperbole in this invoking of history. The World Cup is a massive chapter in the development of the democratic South Africa, an event of infinitely greater significance to its hosts than to Germany in 2006 or to France in 1998. And it will continue to have its doomsayers, but you can only hope that in 49 days they are wrong."

-------Danny Jordaan, Chief Executive of South Africa 2010 on the critics and his organizing committee about the World Cup.

Photo-Up: World Cup Update

Didier Drogba (Chelsea/Ivory Coast) and Christiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal) covers the June issue of Vanity Fair Magazine.


Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan/Ghana) and Samuel Eto'O (Inter Milan/Cameroon) pose for Annie Leibovitz of Vanity Fair Magazine in June 2010 issue.


I'm not sure why as a die harder and one who has in-depth passion for the sport from childhood not to have made any commentary on the world's most watched sport, all along. But like the saying goes, "nothing spoil," and I will be definitely popping up with some detailed analysis. So stay tuned!

Nations Cup Finals, Third Place and all that 'Soccer' Madness

As I write, Ghana has just defeated Ivory Coast 4-2 in a robust match-up. Tough match, indeed, watching Didier Drogba celebrate the first goal of the Third Place match in a tense and physical display I had expected both teams to be playing in the tournament's final. I was wrong. But as game progresses, the Ivorian Elephants would lose steam when a Michael Essien assist would pave way in the 43rd minute of the Second Half which gave Ghana the lead with a magnificent Junior Agogo third goal in the tournament.

Just last night where I was hanging out, the discourse was Nations Cup and how a 'Nigeria' arrogance denied 'our' team a third trophy. But the fact of the matter is that, even though 'Naija' did not come out to play but to show off its 'elite football' class that never delivered from my earlier predictions, this year's tournament was the best I have seen, so far, besides the 1980 tournament which I watched every single match. It was electric. It had class and was well organized. A standard has been set for African football, and you bet, South Africa is going to explode with more soccer madness, come 2010.

I still remember the best squad ever assembled in 'Nigerian' football. Up until today, there is no comparison to the squad that Coach Father Tico had engineered matching up a nation of varied culture and ethnicity. Tico had prepared these 'lads' way back from the World Cup preliminaries but for that back heading into the post by Godwin Odiye, 'Nigeria' missed the World Cup. I still like that squad, though. It remains my favorite. Emmanuel Okala, (Best Ogedemgbe,) Patrick Ekeji, Godwin Odiye, Sam Ojebode, Christian Chukwu, Mudashiru Lawal, Segun Odegbami, Alloysius Atuegbu, Thompson Usiyen, Godwin Iwelumo, Adokiye Amesiamaka and the rest were the best back in the day and still the best ever assembled by a coach and its football organizing committee.

But what had happened today at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, Ghana, shows Africa has arrived and can be proud of staging a spectacular event in the ongoing continent's troubled history. Watching these games, to me, was like watching "The Road to Wembley," "Serie 1" of the robust Italian League, the Latin American Leagues, the Spanish Leagues and the hyped Major League Soccer of which former 'Nigeria' and Newcastle defender Celestine Babayaro has just joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in a star cast of 25-year-old Landon Donovan and a flamboyant, Hollywood-hyped-injury-prone David Beckham whose overrating bothers me.

It has been a breathtaking dribbling, attacks and goals from day 1 of the 2008 Nations Cup. The Third Place match got me and I had lost my breath because Ghana was my pick neverminding they lost out to an aggressive and lucky Cameroon. Ghana won pounding Ivory Coast to a humiliating 4-2 victory and lifting the Third Place Trophy.

Ghana: Richard Kinson, John Painstil, John Mensah, Hani Sarpei, Anthony Annan, Michael Essien, Eric Addo, Sulley Muntari, Haminu Draman, Junior Agogo, Baffour Gyan

Ivory Coast: Trasse Kone, Emmerse Fae, Marc Zoro, Christian Ndri, Arthur Boka, Didier Zokora, Abdelkader Keita, Salomomn Kalou, Siaka Tiere, Didier Drogba, Boubacar Sanogo.

Tomorrow in the finals, it's either one side will be making history if Egypt stretches its win to six or Cameroon will be equaling Egypt's win with a tie of 5 a piece. The aggressiveness of Egypt since the beginning of the tournament gives The Pharoahs an advantage and with Cameroon losing its key player, Reading defender Andre Bikey to a Red Card, Pharaohs shouldn't have any problem at Accra Sports Stadium where Ghanaian fans will be beating the moko moko le kind of congas and the Djangbesi dance. And if Egypt wins, a back-to-back repeat will be made going back almost 50 years when The Pharoahs did it in 1957 and 1959. Only three countries have made it back-to-back in the tournament's history. Egypt, 1957 and 1959; Ghana, 1963 and 1965; and Cameroon, 2000 and 2002.

Though Cameroon should be popping up with European-based players, Egypt's Skipper Ahmed Hassan and veteran Goalkeeper Essam Al Haderi will not be moved by Sam Eto'o' and Mexican-based Alain Nkong's attacking force. My multi-ethnic neigbors are worried I might bring down the house in tomorrow's final. If olakooooooo and gooooooooooooooooal does not bring in the authorities for disturbing the peace, why should my chants of moko moko leeeeeeeee be a big deal. All in all, the tournament "is" great!

The Line: Egypt by 2

Photo: BBC Sport