YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – A ruined mining site rests at the heart of the village of Akak I, nestled on the outskirts of Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé. This quarry site is no longer active. After being completely mined by Transatlantique Cameroon Ltd, a subsidiary of the Chinese consortium Cameroon Meilan Construction Conglomerate (CMCC), it was abandoned. All […]
BATOURI, Cameroon – At Kambélé III, an artisanal mining site in the commune of Batouri, located 415 kilometers (268 miles) east of Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, male, female, teenage, and child gold miners are already hard at work on a sunny Thursday morning. Clothed in rags and without protection, they dig, comb, and excavate the gutted […]
Border closures, quarantines and lockdowns. These strict measures to fight the pandemic nearly brought domestic and international travels to a standstill in 2020. But despite the economic pressures felt by African airlines, there was a resolve for survival. Ethiopian airlines, Africa’s largest commercial airline, quickly diversified to cargo. It avoided seeking bailouts and laying-off full-time employees. In Northern Africa, Air Maroc offered free insurance packages to woe customers back into flight.
Passenger traffic for air transport dropped at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The International Air Transport Association said traffic in Africa fell by 89 percent. Nevertheless, in spite of this drastic fall, carriers on the continent made tremendous strides to survive. Africa’s leading carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, managed to close the year with profits of around 2.85 billion euros at the end of June. It’s still a shortfall compared to the forecast of over 3 billion e