https://www.theview.africa/ A pan-African digital newsroom covering politics, culture, business, innovation and the diaspora, telling Africa's stories through African eyes. en Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:00:00 GMT https://www.theview.africa/icons/icon-192.pnghttps://www.theview.africa/ https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-anthropic-ai-partnership https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-anthropic-ai-partnership Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:40:14 GMT Innovation The non-binding deal covers skills, public services and safety, with any use of Kenyan data governed by Kenyan law. Kenya and Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI models, signed a Joint Declaration on AI in New York on 22 September 2026. It covers AI skills, research, public-sector uses, safety, education and health; any programme using Kenyan data will be governed by Kenyan law. The deal is non-binding, with no funding announced; it came days after an Anthropic report flagged a Kenyan actor using Claude for fake election posts. https://www.theview.africa/stories/dangote-ethiopia-djibouti-fuel-pipeline https://www.theview.africa/stories/dangote-ethiopia-djibouti-fuel-pipeline Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:40:14 GMT Business The 120km line and storage depots should cut Ethiopia's reliance on tanker trucks within 18 months. Dangote Group and Ethiopian Investment Holdings will invest $660 million in a fuel pipeline and storage linking Djibouti to Ethiopia, announced on 24 September 2026. The 120km pipeline will run from Damerjog in Djibouti to Dewele in Ethiopia and is expected to operate within 18 months. It aims to cut Ethiopia's reliance on tanker trucks, and follows Dangote's Lamu refinery groundbreaking in Kenya. https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-turkana-first-oil-december https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-turkana-first-oil-december Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:40:14 GMT Business Gulf Energy will start drilling in November, targeting 20,000 barrels a day at first and exports early in 2027. A drilling rig for Turkana's South Lokichar oilfields docked in Mombasa on 25 September 2026; drilling is due to start on 1 November. Developer Gulf Energy says Kenya remains on course for first commercial oil in December 2026 and first exports in early 2027. Output is planned at 20,000 barrels a day, rising to 50,000, well below the 700,000 the Lamu refinery is designed to process. https://www.theview.africa/stories/devki-kitui-cement-plant https://www.theview.africa/stories/devki-kitui-cement-plant Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:40:14 GMT Business The 3-million-tonne plant is due in mid-2027 and already employs about 2,600 builders. Devki Group is building Kitui County's first cement plant in Mwingi North, at a cost of about KSh50 billion ($385 million). The plant will make 3 million tonnes of cement a year and is expected to start in mid-2027. About 2,600 people work on the site now, and 3,000 to 3,200 permanent jobs are expected, The Star reported. https://www.theview.africa/stories/emirates-a350-nairobi-dubai https://www.theview.africa/stories/emirates-a350-nairobi-dubai Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:40:14 GMT Business From 25 October, one of the three daily Dubai–Nairobi flights will use Emirates' newest jet. Emirates will fly the Airbus A350 on flights EK717 and EK718 between Dubai and Nairobi from 25 October 2026. The 298-seat jet brings Emirates' Premium Economy cabin to Kenya for the first time. Nairobi will be the 32nd A350 destination; Emirates flies 21 times a week between the two cities after adding a third daily flight in July. https://www.theview.africa/stories/morocco-first-woman-prime-minister https://www.theview.africa/stories/morocco-first-woman-prime-minister Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Politics & Policy Fatima Zahra Mansouri, a former Marrakech mayor, must now build a coalition after her party won 97 of 395 seats. King Mohammed VI appointed Fatima Zahra Mansouri as Morocco's first woman prime minister on 29 September 2026. Mansouri, a lawyer and former Marrakech mayor and housing minister, leads PAM, which won 97 of 395 seats in the 23 September election. She is the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world and must now form a coalition to reach a majority of 198 seats. https://www.theview.africa/stories/burkina-faso-first-gold-refinery https://www.theview.africa/stories/burkina-faso-first-gold-refinery Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Business The state-backed plant aims to refine the country's gold at home, but it has yet to secure steady supply. Burkina Faso opened its first gold refinery, RAFFINOR-BF, in Ouagadougou on 28 September 2026, inaugurated by Captain Ibrahim Traoré. Reports put its capacity at 150 to 164 tonnes a year and its cost at $12 million to $19 million; the country produced more than 94 tonnes of gold in 2025. A 2024 mining code requires miners to refine part of their output locally, but steady supply for the plant is not yet secured. https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-us-critical-minerals-processing https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-us-critical-minerals-processing Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Business Kenya wants refineries built at home, with Mrima Hill's rare earths and niobium the biggest prize. Kenya is in advanced talks with the United States on a critical minerals deal under which minerals would be processed in Kenya, Mining CS Hassan Joho said. Six firms from the US, Australia and China are bidding for Mrima Hill in Kwale, thought to hold rare earths and niobium worth tens of billions of dollars. Kenya expects to close the bidding in late October; mining is about 1% of GDP and the government wants 10% within a decade. https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-ucl-alimatravir-hiv-pill https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-ucl-alimatravir-hiv-pill Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Innovation Universal Corporation is one of three African firms licensed by MSD to make alimatravir, which is still in trials. Kenya's Universal Corporation Limited (UCL) has a royalty-free licence from MSD to make a generic version of alimatravir, an experimental once-monthly HIV prevention pill. The drug is in Phase 3 trials; MSD's licences with seven generic makers, including three African firms, cover 129 countries if it is approved. Unitaid is supporting UCL, Uganda's QCIL and South Africa's Aspen to prepare for production. https://www.theview.africa/stories/tullow-oil-half-year-turnaround https://www.theview.africa/stories/tullow-oil-half-year-turnaround Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Business Strong output in Ghana and high oil prices helped the debt-laden producer more than double its cash flow forecast. Tullow Oil made $4 million of free cash flow in the first half of 2026, against an outflow of $188 million a year earlier, its first positive first half since 2021. Production rose 7% to 43,700 barrels of oil equivalent a day, and net debt fell to $1.4 billion. Tullow raised its full-year free cash flow forecast to $170 million to $250 million and recovered $73 million in gas payments from Ghana. https://www.theview.africa/stories/lobito-railway-record-cargo https://www.theview.africa/stories/lobito-railway-record-cargo Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Business The line carrying DRC copper and cobalt to the Atlantic set monthly records in June and July and plans to double volumes next year. Lobito Atlantic Railway set all-time monthly records for international ore, about 27,000 to 29,000 tonnes, in June and July 2026. It targets about 400,000 tonnes in 2026, up from roughly 265,000 in 2025, with half expected to be DRC copper and cobalt. About $300 million of its $753 million financing has been drawn, and it plans to double volumes next year. https://www.theview.africa/stories/eastern-africa-power-grid-1-6-billion https://www.theview.africa/stories/eastern-africa-power-grid-1-6-billion Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Business A World Bank programme starts with a 1,000MW Uganda–Tanzania line, as the UN launches a global push for grids. The World Bank approved $1.6 billion for RETRADE-EA, a 10-year programme to link Eastern Africa's power grids, on 18 June 2026. The first phase funds a 260km, 1,000-megawatt Uganda–Tanzania line due in 2031 and aims for 5,000 gigawatt-hours of cross-border trade a year. On 23 September, UN chief António Guterres launched a Global Grids Accelerator to speed grid investment in Africa and South-East Asia. https://www.theview.africa/stories/zerobionic-sign-language-robot https://www.theview.africa/stories/zerobionic-sign-language-robot Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Innovation ZeroBionic is also building a database of African sign languages, which AI models have largely ignored. Kenyan startup ZeroBionic, co-founded by 22-year-old Norah Kimathi, has built robotic hands that translate a teacher's speech into sign language in real time. The hands cost about $350, work offline, translate with about 92% accuracy and are in use or on trial in 78 Kenyan schools. Deaf teachers in motion-capture suits are building a database of African sign languages, which most AI models do not cover. https://www.theview.africa/stories/africas-business-heroes-2026-top-10 https://www.theview.africa/stories/africas-business-heroes-2026-top-10 Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Innovation Founders from eight countries, four of them women, will pitch in Kigali in December for $1.5 million in grants. Ten founders from Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Benin and Côte d'Ivoire are the Africa's Business Heroes 2026 finalists. They were picked from more than 24,000 applications; agriculture and healthcare make up 30% each, and four of the ten are women. They will pitch in Kigali on 1–2 December 2026 for $1.5 million in grants, with $300,000 for the winner. https://www.theview.africa/stories/africa-fashion-creative-economy-exports https://www.theview.africa/stories/africa-fashion-creative-economy-exports Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:11:07 GMT Culture & Identity Women make up most of the workforce, but creative businesses get less than 1% of venture capital. Africa's creative economy is worth about $58–59 billion, under 3% of the global total, and fashion and textiles about $31 billion a year. Women are more than 60% of the fashion workforce, but creative businesses received less than 1% of African venture capital in 2024. BCG estimates creative exports could reach $150–160 billion a year by 2030 if Africa doubles its global share to about 6%. https://www.theview.africa/stories/lamu-refinery-groundbreaking https://www.theview.africa/stories/lamu-refinery-groundbreaking Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:35:52 GMT Business The 700,000-barrel-a-day refinery is due in 2030, but a court has frozen the disputed land until a hearing on 14 October. President William Ruto and Aliko Dangote broke ground on the KSh2.2 trillion East Africa Oil Refinery in Lamu on 30 September 2026. The refinery is designed to process up to 700,000 barrels of crude a day for six East and Central African markets, with completion targeted for 2030. A Malindi court let the ceremony go ahead but ordered the status quo on disputed land until 14 October, after 133 residents said they face eviction without resettlement. https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-rwanda-fuel-deal-first-cargo https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-rwanda-fuel-deal-first-cargo Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:35:52 GMT Business The 40,000-tonne shipment is the first under a state-to-state deal expected to lift Rwanda-bound fuel through Kenya about tenfold. The MT Sea Wolf docked at Mombasa on 29 September 2026 with 40,000 tonnes of petrol and diesel for the Rwanda National Energy Company. It is the first cargo under three agreements Kenya and Rwanda signed in June, which route Rwanda's fuel through the Kenya Pipeline Company's network. Rwanda-bound volumes through Kenya are expected to rise about tenfold, to roughly 600,000 cubic metres a year. https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-economy-grows-5-3-percent https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-economy-grows-5-3-percent Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:47:51 GMT Business Every sector grew, led by hotels and restaurants, as lower interest rates helped credit flow again. Kenya’s economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter of 2026, up from 4.9% a year earlier, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Every sector grew; accommodation and food services expanded 14.7%, finance and insurance 6.3% and manufacturing 4.4%. The Central Bank of Kenya cut its rate ten times to 8.75% by February 2026 and has held it there since, citing uncertainty from the war in the Middle East. https://www.theview.africa/stories/iebc-registers-2-6-million-new-voters https://www.theview.africa/stories/iebc-registers-2-6-million-new-voters Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:47:51 GMT Politics & Policy The drive beat its 2.5 million target, with Nairobi, Kiambu and Nakuru registering the most people. Kenya’s electoral commission registered 2,612,725 new voters, beating its target of 2.5 million ahead of the August 2027 general election. Most were registered in a 30-day enhanced drive from 30 March to 28 April 2026, which added 2,345,476 voters. Nairobi (276,886), Kiambu (128,859) and Nakuru (102,207) registered the most; the total is nearly double the 2016 and 2021 drives. https://www.theview.africa/stories/kisumu-lake-victoria-water-project https://www.theview.africa/stories/kisumu-lake-victoria-water-project Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:47:51 GMT Business The project will more than double sewerage coverage in the lakeside city and cut water losses by 27%. President William Ruto commissioned the KSh8.4 billion Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Project in Kisumu on 14 September 2026. It will connect 53,000 more households to reliable water and 23,000 to sewerage, more than doubling sewerage coverage in the city. The project is expected to cut water losses by 27% and supply more than 7,000 affordable housing units and major health facilities. https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-tourism-record-arrivals https://www.theview.africa/stories/kenya-tourism-record-arrivals Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:47:51 GMT Business International arrivals reached 2.65 million in 2025 and rose another 11% in the first quarter of 2026. Kenya recorded a record 2,652,540 international arrivals in 2025, up 7.2% from 2,474,551 in 2024. Inbound tourism earnings rose 10.55% to KSh501.34 billion. Arrivals rose a further 11% in the first quarter of 2026, to 653,919, and the hotel pipeline is the largest on record. https://www.theview.africa/stories/agenda-1000-african-genomes https://www.theview.africa/stories/agenda-1000-african-genomes Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Innovation A Wits-led project sequenced people from communities almost absent from genetic databases, to make medicine work better for Africans. The Assessing Genetic Diversity in Africa (AGenDA) project generated whole-genome sequences from more than 1,000 people in communities that are largely missing from global databases. Participants came from Angola, the DRC, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tunisia and Zimbabwe, with coordination from Wits University in South Africa. The work, published in Nature, is expected to reveal millions of new genetic variants and improve disease-risk prediction for African patients. https://www.theview.africa/stories/africa-fossils-human-origins-2026 https://www.theview.africa/stories/africa-fossils-human-origins-2026 Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Innovation Jaws from Casablanca, 773,000 years old, sit near the root of our species; a jaw from Afar shows “Nutcracker Man” ranged far wider than thought. Hominin fossils from Thomas Quarry I in Casablanca, dated to 773,000 years ago, point to an African lineage near the root of Homo sapiens, according to a study published in Nature on 7 January 2026. A separate Nature study described a 2.6-million-year-old Paranthropus jaw from the Mille-Logya area of Ethiopia’s Afar region, about 1,000km further north than any earlier find of the genus. Both studies involved African researchers and institutions, including Morocco’s national archaeology institute, INSAP. https://www.theview.africa/stories/ska-mid-telescope-first-fringes https://www.theview.africa/stories/ska-mid-telescope-first-fringes Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Innovation Two of the SKA-Mid dishes in the Northern Cape worked together for the first time, a key step for one of the world’s biggest science projects. The SKA-Mid telescope in South Africa’s Northern Cape achieved “first fringes” on 7 January 2026, combining signals from two of its dishes to work as an interferometer for the first time. The two dishes observed a radio galaxy about 2.6 billion light-years away. When complete, SKA-Mid will have 197 dishes, including the 64 dishes of South Africa’s existing MeerKAT telescope. https://www.theview.africa/stories/julius-nyerere-hydropower-inaugurated https://www.theview.africa/stories/julius-nyerere-hydropower-inaugurated Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Business The 2,115MW plant on the Rufiji River is one of Africa’s largest, and was financed almost entirely by the Tanzanian government. President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly officially inaugurated the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant on 22 August 2026. Its nine turbines, all running since April 2025, produce 235MW each, for a total of 2,115MW. The plant cost TSh6.5 trillion and was built by Egypt’s Arab Contractors and Elsewedy Electric. https://www.theview.africa/stories/lobito-corridor-railway-financial-close https://www.theview.africa/stories/lobito-corridor-railway-financial-close Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Business US and South African lenders will fund the upgrade of 1,300km of track linking Angola’s Atlantic coast to the Congo border. The Lobito Corridor railway project reached financial close on $753 million on 3 July 2026. The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is lending $553 million and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) $200 million. The money will rehabilitate, upgrade and operate 1,300km of railway from the Port of Lobito in Angola to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. https://www.theview.africa/stories/raxio-380-million-african-data-centres https://www.theview.africa/stories/raxio-380-million-african-data-centres Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Business The operator, already in six countries, is heading to Tanzania as demand for cloud and AI computing grows. Raxio Group passed $380 million in committed capital in July 2026, after shareholders Meridiam and Roha increased their backing. The funding follows a $100 million package from the IFC and debt from Proparco and the Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund. Raxio runs data centres in Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, the DRC, Côte d’Ivoire and Angola, and plans a 6MW facility near Dar es Salaam. https://www.theview.africa/stories/cassava-ai-factory-south-africa https://www.theview.africa/stories/cassava-ai-factory-south-africa Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Innovation The Masiyiwa-founded company is building GPU computing hubs in South Africa, with Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco next. Cassava Technologies, founded by Strive Masiyiwa, launched its Nvidia-powered AI factory in South Africa in March 2026, with the Cape Town facility going live from May. It plans a second AI factory in Johannesburg with a 20MW installation, and aims to deploy 12,000 to 13,000 GPUs across Africa. Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco are the next planned markets; South Africa’s CSIR and the developer community Zindi are early partners. https://www.theview.africa/stories/spiro-215-million-electric-motorcycles https://www.theview.africa/stories/spiro-215-million-electric-motorcycles Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Business The battery-swap company already has 100,000 e-bikes on African roads and plans to enter Malawi, Mali and Ethiopia. Electric motorcycle company Spiro raised $215 million in equity in June 2026, led by Impact Fund Denmark and Equitane. Spiro has deployed about 100,000 electric motorcycles and 2,500 battery-swapping stations across seven African markets, with plants in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. It plans to expand manufacturing and enter Malawi, Mali and Ethiopia; it says riders can cut daily costs by up to 40%. https://www.theview.africa/stories/hyphen-namibia-green-hydrogen-afdb-grant https://www.theview.africa/stories/hyphen-namibia-green-hydrogen-afdb-grant Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:21:48 GMT Business Hyphen’s project near Lüderitz, valued at more than $10 billion, was one of four chosen from 81 applications. The African Development Bank selected Hyphen Hydrogen Energy for a $5.93 million reimbursable grant on 22 September 2026, after a $10 million grant in December 2025. Hyphen was one of four projects chosen from 81 submissions across 18 African countries under the Africa Green Hydrogen Programme. The project plans about 7GW of renewable power and up to 2 million tonnes of green ammonia a year; a final investment decision on phase one is targeted for the end of 2027.