Daily News on Issues Affecting Africa for October 21, 2014

Continue reading for a summary of recent news stories relating to some of the most pressing issues on the continent. We draw on a wide range of respected news sources, both from Africa itself and around the world. The themes of today's In the News post are: Somaliland hopes for independence, Libyan army support for ex-general Khalifa Haftar, Ebola and food security, farmers in Burkina Faso fighting climate change, Djibouti internet start-up and the struggling reputation of democracy in Botswana.

Somaliland inspired by Scotland and Catalonia independence campaigns

The recent high-profile campaigns for Scottish and Catalonian independence have buoyed hopes that Somaliland could soon gain independence from Somalia, according to the president of the self-declared country.

Somaliland is viewed by the international community as a territory within Somalia – a nation that is struggling to emerge from more than two decades of civil war. However, the former British protectorate boasts more than 20 years of relative peace and security as well as untapped oil reserves and mineral deposits.

To read more from The Guardian, click here.

Libyan army backs ex-general in battle with Benghazi Islamists

Libya's army said Wednesday it had thrown its weight behind renegade former general Khalifa Haftar after his forces launched a new assault to retake the country's second city Benghazi from Islamist militias.

Gunfire could be heard in several districts across the eastern port city from early morning Wednesday, a day after Haftar vowed to "liberate" Benghazi from the Islamists, who have seized control of large parts of the turmoil-gripped country.

Later, the army announced it had thrown its weight behind Haftar, who launched a first, unsuccessful, campaign against the Islamists in May, dubbing it "Operation Dignity".

To read more from France 24, click here.

Ebola hits West Africa food security

West Africa's Ebola outbreak, which has been disrupting agricultural and market activities, threatens to erode food security and negatively affect the livelihoods of millions of already vulnerable people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone unless more is done to meet their immediate food and nutritional needs, say aid agencies.

They say they are still calculating the number of food insecure households, but already the results of initial rapid assessments are worrying.

The World Food Programme (WFP) found that more than 80 percent of people surveyed via mobile phone in the eastern part of Sierra Leone say they have been eating less expensive food since the outbreak began. Three-quarters of respondents have begun to reduce the number of daily meals and portion sizes.

To read more from IRIN, click here.

Farmers in Burkina Faso outsmart climate change

Over the last three decades, Burkina Faso's poorest farmers have produced food for half a million people by restoring some 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of degraded land with innovative techniques to conserve water and soil, according to a report on Wednesday [Oct. 8].

The UK-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) think tank said Burkina Faso's subsistence farmers were leading the fight against climate change in the West African country, which is prone to severe droughts and increasingly erratic rainfall.
Amanda Lenhardt, research officer at the ODI, said farmers on the edge of the Sahel belt in Burkina Faso's Central Plateau region had made major strides in offsetting the worst impacts of climate change in "one of the world's most fragile areas."

To read more from the Christian Science Monitor, click here.

Djibouti internet start-up aims to boost broadband speeds across east Africa

Internet access in east Africa is still relatively slow and costly but a Djibouti-based technology start-up company has ambitions to help change that.

Djibouti Data Center (DDC), set up by a group of local and international investors 18 months ago, is the first data centre and internet exchange in east Africa connected to eight fibre optic cables that are part of the main internet route from Europe to Asia.

The internet route travels through the Mediterranean, Red Sea and into the Indian Ocean, passing by tiny Djibouti, which is sandwiched between Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.
African internet users have typically enjoyed little benefit from these cables passing along its coast because connectivity to them has been limited, something DDC aims to correct as it plans to expand from its home base into Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Somalia, which are all at varying stages of internet development.

To read more from Business Day, click here.

Botswana: Democracy Derailed? Botswana's Fading Halo

Botswana earned a reputation for political stability, electoral democracy, and economic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, when much of the African continent appeared to be mired in economic stagnation and authoritarian rule. This reputation has persisted despite contradictory developments.

Since the 1990s, many other African countries introduced multiparty elections, and economic performance improved across the continent. Over the same period in Botswana, corruption and mismanagement have become increasingly prevalent while the abuse of governmental authority have drawn attention to the absence of effective checks on executive power.

Many observers - foreign governments, international financial institutions, Freedom House, Transparency International, and academics researchers - tend to downplay these problems. They insist, by and large, that Botswana has remained stable, democratic, and well-governed relative to other African states. The southern African country continues to enjoy "a halo effect". But the halo has faded. Political tensions are much more serious and deeply rooted than most observers acknowledge.

To read more from allAfrica, click here.