Eleven countries are planting a wall of trees from east to west across Africa, just under the southern edge of the Sahara desert.

The goal is to fight the effects of climate change by reversing desertification.

A film by Amelia Martyn-Hemphill for BBC World Hacks. Like, Share, Engage. </s> Video

Eleven countries are planting a wall of trees from east to west across Africa, just under the southern edge of the Sahara desert.

The goal is to bring the dry lands back to life.

A film by Amelia Martyn-Hemphill for BBC World Hacks. Like, Share, Engage. </s> A terrible sense of déjà vu hangs over the Horn of Africa, where fears are growing that a severe drought could soon become a famine. Two years of below-average rainfall have pushed Somalia and Ethiopia to the brink of starvation and nomadic families, who move with the seasons in search of fertile land and fresh water, have faced the heart-wrenching choice between feeding themselves and feeding their animals.

The goats were first to die, followed by the cows. Now even the bodies of drought-resistant camels lie beside shriveled cacti at the side of the road. For families who rely on these animals for meat, milk, transportation and trade it’s the equivalent of losing their entire life savings.

Now, with nothing left and no food to fuel the onward journey, they’ve settled in camps, living in makeshift tents, waiting for aid to arrive. In Awdal region, near the Ethiopian border, 1,200 people have gathered at the newly emerged Quljeed camp, without a single toilet.

It’s estimated that the people here have lost 5,000 animals between them and hundreds, if not thousands of goats, cows and camels, are buried in mass graves beside a sprawling jumble of circular tents made from branches stuck in the ground and covered with sheets.

Mum-of-three, Nimo Mohamed Abdi, 32, has not yet found any sheets so she and her children sleep on dry earth beneath a dome of twigs, entirely exposed. “Three months ago we had 150 goats, 20 cows, 10 camels and three donkeys. Now nothing remains. Everything died,” she said.

“We were living by the coast then and the animals died so quickly, one after another, that we could do nothing with their corpses but throw them into the sea. I’ve been here for 25 days. I don’t know what the future holds for us”, she added.

The UN estimates 4.7 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance. In Somalia and Ethiopia, where recurrent droughts are linked to El Niño climate fluctuations, the situation feels hauntingly familiar. In 2011, following a similar two-year drought in southern Somalia, warnings of an impending famine went unheard. The resulting crisis claimed more than 250,000 lives.

While water restrictions are being felt across Southern Africa, the need in Somalia and Ethiopia is dire. Islamic Relief South Africa has therefore launched our Water for Life Campaign, which enables every person – Muslim or non-Muslim – to play a role in saving thousands of lives in the Horn of Africa.

To find out how you can get involved visit our website at www.islamic-relief.org.za or call 0800 111 898

 [Source: Islamic Relief] </s> The Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd), on Monday said Lake Chad was shrinking and had put sources of livelihood of 40 million persons under threat.

He said that the lake had shrank by more than 80 per cent.

Dambazau made this known in Abuja while declaring open “Policy Roundtable on Transition from an Environment Dominated by Military Operations to Post-Conflict Civilian-Led Governance in North-East and Lake-Chad Basin Region’’.

The roundtable, organised by Ministry of Interior in collaboration with United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) was aimed at deliberating key recommendations for establishing sustainable peace in North-East and Lake Chad.

“The North-East and the entire Lake Chad Basin has been ravaged by environmental degradation resulting in desertification due to climate change, which sees the advancement of the desert at the rate of 600m annually.

“A major consequence of this impact of climate change is the shrinking of the Lake Chad by more than 80 per cent.

“What this means is that the over 40 million people that depend on it for fishing, irrigation and other economic activities, are denied their main source of livelihood.

“It is now universal that climate change fuels conflicts, and this is evident in the whole of the Sahel region of Africa,’’ he said.

According to the minister, President Muhammadu Buhari is now leading the campaign for the recharge of the Lake Chad using the Congo River estimated to cost about 50 billion dollars.

He added that the discourse should make the issue prominent on the agenda for discussion, and commended Buhari for his leadership toward ensuring that Boko Haram insurgency was completely wiped out.

“Our security forces, especially the military, have made lots of sacrifice in this regard, including paying the supreme price.

“The frontline states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa have without doubt, put tremendous efforts to fight the menace of Bokon Haram,‘’ he said.

Dambazau also thanked the respective governors of the frontline states.

He urge stakeholders to deliberate on the research findings and come up with recommendations and implementation strategies that would assist government in formulating policies on durable peace in the North-East.

Earlier, Amb. Zango Abdul, Country Manager USIP, noted that the Roundtable was the second among events USIP organised to discuss the outcome of a research it conducted on the prospects of military-to-civilian transition in the North-East.

Abdul said that the main objective of the discourse was to share the research findings with relevant stakeholders with a view to articulating policy options for sustainable peace in the region.

‘’In organising this roundtable with our partners, the Ministry of Interior and CDD, USIP is indeed reinforcing its vision of a world without violent conflict,’’ he said.

He said the USIP had a duty to join hands with government and stakeholders to reflect on how best to design an agenda for the North-East after years of severe devastation as a result of insurgency.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that stakeholders from the security and law enforcement agencies, the military and other stakeholders attended the session. (NAN) </s> The President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump’s proposed 3 km sea wall at his International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland in Doonbeg, Co Clare has been scrapped, according to Friends of the Irish Environment.

In a statement the pressure group said that at the opening of the Public Consultation on revised plans for Donald Trump’s coastal defences at Doonbeg County Clare, “new plans were put on public display that showed that permission to construct a continuous 2.8 kilometre wall has been abandoned”.

The charity added that new planning permission is to be submitted shortly which will propose sheet metal piling and rock armour for 650 metres at one end and 200 metres at the other end of the dune system. Two holes will be relocated inland.

Save the Waves, who sponsored a petition that now has more than 100,000 signatures opposed to the original Wall, called it a ‘Good News Story’.

Director of Programmes Nick Mucha said: “This is a defining milestone for the campaign. It demonstrates the power of the international community to protect our coasts.”

He added: “The threat of Trump’s Irish wall has hung over Doonbeg like a dark cloud for more than two years.”

FIE Director Tony Lowes said: “There is no doubt the original proposal would have stopped the development of the dune system and scoured the beach, leading to a loss of one of the finest amenities on the west coast. While the sense of relief today is enormous – as is our gratitude to the international community- the current proposal will require detailed analysis in terms of the Conservation Objectives – and the impact on the protected snail – before we can comment on it.”

Donald Trump is scheduled to take office on January 20, 2017. </s> The coastal city of Cape Town, located in the Western Cape of South Africa, has issued new water restrictions as the city is on the verge of running out of water.

Cape Town officials anticipate the city’s water supply will possibly cut off due to drought on April 12 — otherwise known as “Day Zero.”

Residents of the South African city have been partaking in massive water conservation efforts to combat the area’s drought, but, according to Mayor Patricia de Lille, some people are “callously” using more than their current limit.

“We have reached a point of no return. Despite our urging for months, 60 percent of Capetonians are callously using more than 87 liters per day,” de Lille said last week.

Residents must use no more than 50 liters of water daily beginning Feb. 1, and the city plans to fine households that use too much water.

"We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them," the mayor said.

The original “Day Zero” was scheduled for April 21, but “due to a drop in the dam levels of 1.4%, Day Zero has, as of today, moved forward to 12 April 2018,” Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson said Tuesday, according to News24.

"Our main focus at this point must be on what we can do now to prevent our taps running dry by April,” Neilson said, noting that desalination and aquifer projects in Cape Town wouldn’t be able to provide enough water to prevent “Day Zero.”

“The people who are still wasting water seem to believe that Day Zero just can't happen or that the city’s seven augmentation projects — set to produce around 200 million liters per day — will be enough to save us,” de Lille said. “This is not the case and, while our water augmentation program will make Cape Town more water resilient in the future, it was never going to be enough to stop Day Zero.”

Cape Town, a major tourist destination and a city of 3.7 million people, has assessed 200 water collection points for residents as it prepares for the possible cutoff date.

Experts link the city's water shortages to factors including climate change and high population growth.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Donald Trump's proposed wall on the US-Mexico border was a campaign rallying cry

US President Donald Trump has told supporters that his proposed wall along the border with Mexico could have solar panels fixed to it.

Addressing a rally in Iowa, he said the panels would provide cheap energy and help to pay for the controversial wall.

He suggested the plan was his own, saying: "Pretty good imagination, right? Good? My idea."

However, solar panels have been included in designs for the wall submitted by companies.

During his campaign, Mr Trump pledged to build a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

He insisted he would make Mexico foot the bill, but President Enrique Peña Nieto has dismissed the idea.

Mr Trump told cheering supporters at a campaign-style rally in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday that he would "give you an idea that nobody has heard about yet".

"We're thinking of something that's unique, we're talking about the southern border, lots of sun, lots of heat. We're thinking about building the wall as a solar wall, so it creates energy and pays for itself. And this way, Mexico will have to pay much less money, and that's good, right?"

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Trump : "Pretty good imagination right? Good? My idea."

He added: "Solar wall, panels, beautiful. I mean actually think of it, the higher it goes the more valuable it is. Pretty good imagination right? Good? My idea."

More than 200 companies are believed to have responded to an invitation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to submit designs for the wall. Among them was one from Gleason Partners in Las Vegas that proposed a wall of steel, cement and solar panels.

The DHS told the BBC that 20 companies had been shortlisted.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The impact of the wall on wildlife: Victoria Gill joins scientists working in the Sonoran Desert

In April, US media reported that President Trump had raised the idea with Republican Congressional leaders in talks at the White House.

The idea of a solar panelled wall was also proposed in an article by an environmentalist and an academic last year in the Huffington Post and another article for the Wall Street Journal by two academics in March. </s> JOHANNESBURG, July 9 (Reuters) - After declaring an end on Monday to a costly two-decade military stalemate, Ethiopia and Eritrea - one a rising African star, the other among the world's most isolationist nations - appear poised to reap a lucrative peace dividend.

The dramatic announcement of an end to the "state of war" between the neighbours came at the climax of a two-day visit to Eritrea by Ethiopia's reform-minded Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has led the push for a pacifying of relations.

"This move opens prospects for real, regional economic integration. Get the economic underpinnings of the region right and you get stability," said Alex Rondos, the European Union's special representative for the Horn of Africa.

Eritrea, formerly a province of Ethiopia, waged a 30-year war for independence and seceded in 1993. But relations soon soured and around 800,000 people died in a 1998-2000 war.

Abiy has promised to finally implement the peace accord that ended that conflict, a move that could allow both countries to rein in defence spending and redirect funds to areas with greater long-term benefits, such as schools or roads.

"Having those resources on both sides channelled back to their economies is a significant positive impact," Belachew Mekuria of the Ethiopian Investment Commission told Reuters.

"You can't imagine how wasteful it is to secure a border which is more or less artificial."

Of perhaps even greater economic significance, however, was an agreement to jointly develop Eritrea's ports, a development that would give landlocked Ethiopia, among Africa's fastest growing economies, a vital outlet to the Red Sea.

Ethiopia is developing its light manufacturing and apparel sectors by building industrial parks that have attracted the likes of U.S. fashion giant PVH, Dubai-based Velocity Apparelz Companies and China's Jiangsu Sunshine Group .

It is also attracting significant foreign investment into agriculture and horticulture, making use of climatic conditions resembling neighbouring Kenya to become a major source of cut flowers to Europe.

However, for maritime exports Ethiopia has been heavily dependent on ports in tiny neighbour Djibouti.

According to the Ethiopian Textile Development Institute, it takes up to 44 days for clothing consignments leaving Ethiopian factories to reach buyers in Europe, compared to an average 28 days in Bangladesh and 21 days in China.

Eritrean ports could ease bottlenecks. And while the required upgrades are likely beyond the means of Eritrea, financial backing from Ethiopia could make them realistic.

"There are enormous potential complementarities between the two countries if the recent political advances are consolidated," said Andrew Mold, who heads the East Africa office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

In the first concrete signs of a healing of relations, the two countries re-established telephone connections. Ethiopian Airlines is also due to begin flying to the Eritrean capital Asmara next week.

Reflecting investor optimism, Ethiopia's dollar-denominated 2014 bond soared for the third straight session on Monday to trade at its highest level in 10 weeks.

Ethiopia faces heavy debt related to an infrastructure drive that included a $4 billion, Chinese-built railway to Djibouti. The need to finance further upgrades, this time in erstwhile enemy Eritrea, will test its borrowing capacity.

Though growth has averaged nearly 10 percent for the past decade - starting from a very low base - analysts say the Ethiopian economy is choked by dollar shortages caused mainly by heavy public investment in mega-projects.

Both sides will also probably face opposition to the rapprochement from entrenched hawks at home.

Two people were killed in a grenade attack on a pro-Abiy rally in Addis Ababa last month with suspicion falling on those opposed to the prime minister's reform agenda.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki's government is notoriously isolationist and its initial silence in the face of Ethiopia's overtures was interpreted by some as scepticism.

But its decrepit economy, which forces thousands of young Eritreans to flee every year, most of them to Europe, and the prospect of relief from international sanctions could give the government an incentive to stick to the deal.

"The economy in Eritrea is in very dire straits. It would be logical for it to also want re-engagement," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at London's Chatham House think tank. "But this will be a slow process with fits and starts." </s> President Mnangagwa poses for a photograph with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China, yesterday. — (Picture by Presidential Photographer Joseph Nyadzayo)

Tawanda Musarurwa and Fatima Bulla in BEIJING, China

 The 2018 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) was officially opened here yesterday, with Chinese President Xi Jinping pledging $60 billion in financing for Africa.

The money is expected to fully foster the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership, bringing the total amount pledged to the continent by the Asian giant to $120 billion since 2015.

At the 2015 Johannesburg Summit, President Xi made a $60 billion pledge in loans to African countries.

“The financing will be provided in the form of government assistance as well as investment and financing by financial institutions and companies,” President Xi said in his keynote address.

The financing includes $15 billion of grants, interest-free loans and concessionary loans, $20 billion of credit lines, the setting up of a $10 billion special fund for development financing and a $5 billion special fund for financing imports from Africa.

Chinese companies were also encouraged to make at least $10 billion investments in Africa in the next three years.

The Chinese President announced eight major areas of collaboration in the coming years.

These include launching an industrial promotion initiative through the China Africa Economic Expo in Africa to build and upgrade economic trade zones and agricultural modernisation.

In that regard, there are 50 agricultural programmes to be implemented, and a $1 billion emergency aid programme.

The agricultural programmes will see 500 senior agriculture experts being sent to Africa to train young researchers.

The second collaboration will be the launch of the Infrastructure Connectivity, which will drive key connectivity projects.

This will also support Chinese companies investing in infrastructure in Africa.

The Trade Facilitation Initiative is the third area of collaboration, which aims to increase imports of non-resource products from Africa.

The fourth one is the Green Development Initiative aimed at environmental protection, issues of climate change and wildlife protection.

Capacity-building is the fifth initiative which entails a plan to set up a China-Africa Innovation Centre. Under the same initiative, 50 000 government scholarships and 50 000 seminars and workshops will be hosted.

The healthcare initiative is aimed at upgrading healthcare services.

There are plans to build China-Africa Friendship Hospitals and the training of more medical specialists.

The seventh initiative, the people-to-people exchange programme, will see China establish an institute of African Studies among other issues.

The Peace and Security Initiative is the final initiative, which will see the setting up of the China-Africa Peace and Security Fund for peacekeeping, law and order.

“In order to achieve this, China will extend $60 billion which will include $15 billion grants, interest and concessionary loans, $20 billion in credit lines, $10 billion for setting up of a special fund, and then 45 billion for financing imports from Africa, and $10 billion for companies in China to invest in Africa in the next three years,” said President Xi.

In addition he said debt incurred by poor African countries due to mature by 2018 will be exempted.

The exemption will be granted to Africa’s least developed countries, heavily indebted and poor countries, landlocked and small island developing countries that have diplomatic relations with China.

African Union (AU) chairperson Rwandan President Paul Kagame said China’s actions demonstrated and showed the way in what is lost in not engaging and partnering with Africa.

“The China-Africa partnership has grown and is aligned with the AU’s Agenda 2063. It’s time for Africa to improve project management and increase participation in the private sector. We have to articulate the continent’s priorities, with focus to connectivity to the global world.

“The reformed AU will be more effective going forward. Growing ties with China don’t come at anyone’s expense, the gains are enjoyed by everyone who does business in our continent. We should strive to improve performance, tackling issues in a fair manner. Respect does not concern one side only but all of us. I salute President Xi’s personal engagement since taking office, he has visited every region of the continent including countries of every size and economic profile,” he said.

Co-chair of the FOCAC 2018 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the relationship between China and Africa was premised on principles of equality, trust, mutual respect and benefit.

He said FOCAC had grown since 2000 and the progress made demonstrated the tangibles of the partnership.

“The relationship between China and Africa is forged on the fundamental rights of Africa to determine its future and is premised on Agenda 2063. We are working towards and Africa of good governance, democracy, justice, rule of law and respect of human rights,” he said.

Indications from FOCAC 2018 are that the China-Africa partnership has broad vistas, and China and Africa can forge an even stronger comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership.
Africa's Great Green Wall is successfully reversing desertification.