🔅 China-Africa Lending Hits A Low & The Biggest Fraudster In The World
Plus, The UN's Slavery Reparations Recommendation & How Elephants Name-Drop
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Malindi, Kenya
Markets:
🟢 Nigerian SE: 68,359.22 (+0.71%)
🔴 Johannesburg SE: 73,908.03 (-0.13%)
🟢 Ghana SE: 3,159.77 (+0.18%)
🔴 Nairobi SE: 98.18 (-0.44%)
🔴 US S&P 500: 4,424.52 (-0.65%)
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IMF Admits It's Not Cut Out for Climate Change | The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just announced that they won't be leading the charge on climate change. Kristalina Georgieva said that they "only do what we are good at," and they're leaving the climate finance to other institutions like the World Bank. The US is one of the IMF's biggest funders, and they've been pushing to refine the IMF's mission. But Georgieva said that climate shocks can't be excluded from policy decisions, and that conversations about policies must include climate issues. The IMF is known for its low-cost loans to governments in distress, and they have roughly $1tn (£807bn) in lending power.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
Brief & Bright: Africa's Top Five
Chinese Lending to Africa Hits Lowest Level in Two Decades
China’s lending to Africa has hit its lowest level in nearly two decades, data shows. Last year, Chinese lenders provided just $994 million in loans—the lowest since 2004. It’s a dramatic decline from the 2016 peak of $170 billion. What’s behind the drop? It could be that African nations are struggling with debt crises, such as Zambia becoming the first African country to default during the pandemic (Kenya, Ethiopia, and Ghana are also in a bit of trouble). But it could also be that China’s own economy is facing headwinds, and so lenders have been “redeployed” to focus on the domestic economy. Still, there’s hope that China’s interest in Africa will continue, just in a form different from large-scale infrastructure projects. Chinese lenders might now be focusing on smaller loans and on social and environmental projects.
War Crimes Continue in Ethiopia Despite Peace Accord
“The signing of the agreement may have mostly silenced the guns, but it hasn’t resolved the conflict.” Unfortunately, it looks like the peace accord signed in Ethiopia nearly a year ago hasn’t done much to end the war crimes in the northern Tigray region. UN-backed human rights experts say at least 10,000 people have been affected by rape and other sexual violence—and the situation is “extremely grave”. According to the report, troops from neighbouring Eritrea, and militia members from Ethiopia’s Amhara militia, are the worst offenders. And when it comes to accountability and trust in the justice system, it’s lacking. The commission has only found 13 completed and 16 pending military court cases addressing sexual violence. The Tigray War was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between forces allied to the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.
Elephants: Not Just the Smartest Animal on the Savannah, But Now the Most Name-Dropping
Elephants aren't just the smartest animal on the Savannah—it turns out they might also be the most name-dropping. Researchers have found evidence that wild savannah elephants in Kenya call out specific vocal sounds for each other, which they use to communicate. If this is true, elephants would be the only known non-human animal to communicate with random names. Dolphins can also call out others by imitating their unique whistles, but this is different from the abstraction that involves the kind of name-calling we humans do. That’s right—these giants are calling out each other just like we do. With all the time they spend in search of food, calling each other by name would be a useful way to keep tabs on the herd. Although they are known for their loud trumpet-like vocalizations, the vast majority of their communication can't actually be heard by humans. Instead, these large mammals mostly produce low-frequency rumbles, which can deliver messages to the feet of other elephants as far as six kilometres away. Talk about staying in touch.
The Biggest Fraudster in the World: How Emmanuel Nwude Stole $242 Million
This story has it all—fake identities, international bank transfers, a John F. Kennedy Airport arrest, and a prison sentence. It’s the story of Emmanuel Nwude, the fraudster who pulled off the third-largest fraud ever recorded: a whopping USD 242 million. Nwude assumed the identity of Paul Ogwuma, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and tricked Nelson Sakaguchi, director of Brazil’s Banco Noroeste, into investing in a fake airport project in the mid-90s. The fraud came to light when a Spanish financial services company attempted to acquire Banco Noroeste, and it wasn’t long before a multinational criminal investigation team was on the case. In the end, Nwude was arrested at JFK, served 25 concurrent sentences, and was released in 2006. And if that’s not wild enough for you, Nwude recently claimed that he had no idea about the scam...
The UN's Slavery Reparations Recommendation
The UN has something to say about reparations for the enslavement of people of African descent: Maybe. In a report released on Tuesday, the UN said that while it can be difficult to assess the economic damage caused by colonialism and slavery, countries should still consider providing financial reparations. This isn’t a new conversation, but it has been gaining more attention lately, especially after the EU said in July that Europe's slave-trading past inflicted "untold suffering" on millions of people and hinted at the need for reparations. The UN’s conclusion? It’s complicated, but states should still consider a “plurality of measures” to address the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, including pursuing justice and reparations. Between 25 million and 30 million people were forcibly uprooted from Africa during the slave trade.
Food for Thought
“Everybody loves a fool, but nobody wants him for a son.”
— Ivorian Proverb.
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