Efforts by West African states to assert their political sovereignty over former French colonial territories have gained new momentum. In Togo, RFI and France 24 have been recently suspended over claims of biased media reporting and in Niger, the government is reclaiming the Somair uranium mine from a French company.

In a recent interview, Dr. Abebe Genetu Bayih, the Local Manufacturing Coordinator at Africa CDC, indicates that the institution has prioritized eight vaccines for domestic production, stepped up training in biomanufacturing, and advocated for pooled procurement of vaccines.

• Rwanda’s opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire, has been arrested over accusations of participating in a plot to overthrow Kagame.
• Fathi Mohamed Abdi and Saadia Ahmed Omar are among Mogadishu’s most renowned female engineers, having led over 30 multimillion-dollar projects across the city.
• Mwape Chimpampa, a young innovator from Zambia, has developed organic sunscreen which is being incubated at the Zambia Research and Development Centre (ZRDC).

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Image: Political Map of West Africa. 28 February 2005. Photo credit: Botev, extracted from image created by the United Nations, public domain.