In two days time (20th March 2015), each candidate for the presidency of African Development Bank (AfDB) will have to submit a written statement describing their vision for the bank. In this interview conducted in French with our colleague Erik Nyindu of Voxafrica, Christina Duarte, the Minister of Finance and Planning of Cap-Vert and the sole female candidate to the presidency of the AfDB, discusses her personal-background, her ambitions for the presidency if she is elected as well as other leading issues in Africa.
Today we’re launching our series of Africa Nations Cup playlists — music to get you in the mood for the football, or to drown out the commentator if he’s annoying you during the game. First up it’s Cabo Verde, who have played brilliantly so far and have a huge game today vs Angola (check our team profile here)
Last week, legendary Cape Verdean singer Cesária Évora, nicknamed the “barefoot diva”, passed away at the age of 70 in Mandelo, São Vicente, the island were she was born. One of the many meanings of “Sodade” — that most difficult to translate Creole word — is a feeling of loss. Evora did not begin her recording career until 1988, and won a Grammy Award in 2004 for her album Voz D’Amor. She was famed for singing songs of longing with her rich contralto vocals. Her sultry voice was often compared to blues star Billie Holliday. her funeral is scheduled for Tuesday, December 20.
A $5m award for good leadership in Africa that was withheld the previous two years because of a lack of qualified candidates, was finally bestowed on Monday to Cape Verde’s former president for promoting democracy and development on his archipelago.
Jorge Carlos Fonseca, 61, Cape Verde’s opposition leader, won the island nation’s presidential election runoff by securing 54.90 percent of the vote to beat ruling party rival Manuel Inocencio Sousa, authorities said.
Native of Cape Town, Sean Jacobs lives in Brooklyn, New York and teaches in Manhattan. He obsesses about the relationship between politics and popular culture, but the main rationale for his blog is to comment on what passes for media coverage of the African continent.
Sokari Ekine is a Nigerian social justice activist living in Spain, with a background in technology, gender issues and human rights. She is interested in creating a community of grassroots African bloggers as a way for Africans to exchange ideas, share experiences and tell their own stories in our own words.
Rosebelle Kagumire is an experienced Ugandan Journalist. She won the best Journalist blogger English category at the Panos hosted competition in 2009. Currently she is a student of MA. Media, Conflict and Peace studies at University for Peace (UPEACE), Costa Rica.
