Exit Mugabe, What Next for Zimbabwe, Hope or Mirage?

Robert Gabriel Mugabe resigned as president of Zimbabwe with immediate effect on Tuesday after 37 years in power, ushering in a new era for a country as uncertain as it is hopeful.

“…I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 (1) of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation as the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe with immediate effect. My decision to resign is voluntary on my part and arises from my concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power that underpins national security, peace and stability,” he said in his Notice of resignation as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe as read by the country’s National Assembly Speaker Jacob Mudenda.

However, Geoffrey York a journalist with The Globe and Mail’s Africa correspondent writes that “But every indication from Zimbabwe’s political and military elite is that the coup is simply replacing one faction in the ruling party with another. The personalities will change, and there will be some changes to economic policy, but the heavy-handed methods of running the country will remain.”

Other developments from Zimbabwe as reported by Reuters Africa, Zimbabwe’s former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa,is expected to be sworn in as president following the resignation of Robert Mugabe, will return home on Wednesday, a ruling party ZANU-PF official said.

US airstrike in Somalia kills more than 100 al-Shabaab militants

More than 100 al-Shabaab militants were killed Tuesday in a US airstrike on a camp in Somalia, US Africa Command said in a statement, the latest in a series of strikes against the al-Qaeda-affiliated group and ISIS fighters in the war-torn country.

The strike on an al-Shabaab training camp was carried out by a manned aircraft, according to a US defense official. Read

Two Chinese men charged in Manhattan federal court with international corruption & bribery schemes involving UN, Chad, Uganda & Chinese conglomerate.

Chi Ping Patrick Ho and Cheikh Gadio allegedly conspired to bribe African government officials on behalf of a Chinese energy conglomerate.  Wiring almost a million dollars through New York’s banking system in furtherance of their corrupt schemes, the defendants allegedly sought to generate business through bribes paid to the President of Chad and the Ugandan Foreign Minister. Read:

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Travelling in Africa remains inconvenient and costly.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called for bold actions to improve connectivity, market access, and cost reduction in Africa’s aviation sector.

Pierre Guislain, AfDB Vice-President for Private Sector, Infrastructure, and Industrialization, made this call at the third ICAO World Aviation Forum in Abuja.

Guislain emphasized the critical role aviation can play to boost economic growth by integrating the continent’s fragmented markets.

“In the past ten years, AfDB has provide about $1 billion to the African aviation sector. We have invested in airport construction or expansion in Morocco, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Ghana or Kenya, and in the improvement of air safety and navigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and West and Central Africa,” he stressed.

“We have also provided financing for aircraft acquisition by Ethiopian Airlines and Air Cote d’Ivoire.”

“We all know that travelling in Africa remains inconvenient and costly. Today, a two and half hour flight from Lilongwe and Johannesburg costs 3 times more than a similar flight from Rome to London, for example,” he noted.

Opening intra-African aviation and lifting remaining traffic restrictions is still a priority nearly 20 years after the Yamoussoukro Decision signed by 44 countries.