Africa

The European Union should work together with partners in Africa to secure electoral systems against cyberattacks and to prevent the spread of false and misleading information. This is also in line with European interests and values.

Some of the world’s most important and most recently recognized peatlands can be found on the African continent. They are home to unique and rare flora and fauna – and threatened by the oil companies’ greed for money.

The peatlands of Africa's Cuvette Centrale in the Congo Basin store more carbon than the rainforest that overhangs it. But peat is only valuable as a carbon store if it remains water-saturated and untouched in the soil. What has kept the peat locked up until now is the lack of roads and other infrastructure. Irene Wabiwa Betoko, International Project Leader, Congo Basin Forest of Greenpeace Africa, talks about the threats facing peatlands in the Congo Basin and discusses ways to protect them.

Africa will host international climate talks on 6-18 November 2022 and the African Union has been busy trying to get the rest of the world’s attention on the continent's expectations in the lead up to COP27. Of course, COP27 expectations are matched only by their disappointments. However, Africans are not leaving the fate of its people to chance.

In Africa, fewer pesticides are used than in other regions of the world. Nevertheless the 33 million smallholders are increasingly becoming the focus of pesticide companies. There they also sell what has been banned in the European Union.

In the months of July and August 2022, Senegal and Kenya will hold their general elections. However, the big question remains: Where do Senegalese and Kenyan women stand on their quest to parliamentary mandates and political offices?

The UK’s plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda – even before their applications have been concluded – may have been halted just in time this time, but the government is still pushing forward with its controversial plans.

While nearly 82% of Europeans are fully vaccinated, this is the case for just 11% of Africans. This vaccine gap could overshadow discussions between the heads of state of the two continents at the summit to be held in Brussels on 17 and 18 February between the European Union and the African Union. France, which currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, has been called upon to act to waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines. Emmanuel Macron is the champion of the “global licence” project.

Four civil society representatives ask MEP Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA) about the Covid-19 vaccine patent waiver, as the wane of some countries’ Omicron winters poses a new threat to global vaccine equity.

We are experiencing two very different pandemic realities between low-income and high-income countries. Unfortunately, instead of seeking a solidarity-based response, the international community has once again demonstrated its disunity in this health crisis. The task now is to regain credibility and rebuild trust.