- Zimbabwe has made history for hosting Africa's first-ever biofuel factory. The factory, the fifth in the world, was inaugurated in Transload, 15 km North of the capital Harare.
Built by a conglomerate of Zimbabwean and South Korean companies, the biofuel factory is billed to produce 100 million liters of bio-diesel a year. It will extract bio-diesel from processing wheat, soy and sunflower.
A successful operations of the factory will save Zimbabwe to not only forgo fuel importation, but it will also save about US $80 million annually.
The development comes at time Zimbabwe is battling with political and economic crisis caused by international sanctions.
However, the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hailed the inauguration of the factory.
"We have shown that the sanctions imposed against innocent people shall not weaken our resistance and desire to remain standing,” confident Mugabe said. He was optimistic that Zimbabwean "economy shall soon give the fruits of the seeds of progress that we have spread in all sectors of production."
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
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afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.