Daily News on Issues Affecting Africa for October 7th

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: The ICC trial of Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, the case of Ebola in Spain, UN intervention in Mali, foreign aid towards environmental initiatives, UN development goals and the capture of a Shabaab stronghold in Somalia.

Spanish Nurse First To Contract Ebola Outside West Africa

In the first known transmission of the outbreak of Ebola outside West Africa, a Spanish nurse who treated a missionary for the disease at a Madrid hospital has tested positive for the virus, Spain's health minister said Monday. The female nurse was part of the medical team that cared for a 69-year-old Spanish priest who died Sept. 25 in a Madrid hospital designated for treating Ebola patients after he was flown home from Sierra Leone, where he served as the medical director of a hospital there treating infected Ebola patients, Health Minister Ana Mato said.

To read more from Huffington Post, click here.

There Before Ebola Had a Name

Dr. Peter Piot was just 27, a budding virologist with a thirst for adventure, when he was dispatched to the heart of Africa to track down a terrifying virus that he had helped discover. This July, the normally cautious Dr. Piot sounded one of the first alarms that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa was out of control. He publicly called it "a mega-crisis" that required military-like logistics and control measures like isolation and quarantine of infected individuals and their contacts.

To read more from The New York Times, click here.

Kenya 'not co-operating with ICC' over Kenyatta trial

Prosecutors have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to rule that Kenya's government is not co-operating with its investigations into Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's case. Mr Kenyatta is facing charges of crimes against humanity after being accused of fuelling violence after the 2007 election. More than 1,000 Kenyans were killed in the conflict. He says says the charges are political, and should be thrown out.

To read more from BBC World News, click here.

Mali PM: France, U.N. must step up fight against Islamists in Mali

Mali's prime minister said on Monday Islamist militants had been given an opportunity to return to the north of the country after France redeployed troops across the region and urged French and U.N. forces to go on the attack to stop their resurgence. Nine U.N. peacekeepers from Niger were killed on Friday when gunmen on motorbikes ambushed their convoy on Friday, the deadliest attack yet on them in the west African nation.

To read more from Reuters, click here.

Should donors peg aid to the environment?

It was recently announced that Norway will give Liberia up to $150m (£92.1m) over the next six years to fight illegal logging. We talk to government ministers, NGOs, climate change experts and thinktanks to ask whether donors should attach environmental conditions to aid, and whether it could be a viable model for the future of development.

To read more from The Guardian, click here.

Somalia: Somali Troops Secure Key Port After Capture From Shabaab

Somali military commanders Monday celebrated the capture of Barawe, the last major port held by Islamist Shabaab insurgents, as the government secured control of the town for the first time in over two decades.

The fall of Barawe is a major blow for the insurgents, and came just a month after the death of their leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in a US air and drone strike. "Somalia is waking to a brighter future," UN special representative in Somalia Nick Kay said, in a congratulatory message to government and AU forces.

To read more from AllAfrica, click here.

Will the UN's New Development Goals Downplay the Need for Gender Equality?

The Sustainable Development Goals for 2015 to 2030 will become the UN's development policy guidelines after the Millennium Development Goals reach their end date in 2015. But as the SDGs are drafted, there is a danger that women's reproductive rights — control of their own bodies — may be diminished in emphasis globally depending on how they are placed in the goals, according to Stan Bernstein, who worked on reproductive health with the UN Population Fund, USAID and many other organizations for three decades and is monitoring the negotiating process as an independent analyst.

To read more from The Nation, click here.