Africa

1. Boosting tourism
2. Banky goes to school
3. Friendly mosquitoes
4. Madagascar’s return

Also, farming with artificial intelligence in Kenya.

Welcome to Semafor Africa Weekend, where we’re always considering how the ‘Africa’ story is told. There are many debates about how Africa has been covered by powerful Western media organizations, such as the complaints about overrepresentation of war and disease. But a thoughtful piece by our friends at The Conversation Africa takes a closer look at that debate and questions how African media itself has absorbed many of the same tropes of Western media.

This is especially true when African media outlets report on issues in other African countries. For example, it’s unlikely newspapers in many West African countries will have reporters in smaller eastern or southern African countries. So their news reports are very likely pickups of international newswires. This often means — and I say this as an ex-employee of an international newswire — they will likely report accurately but perhaps instinctively focus on what matters to Western investors, risk analysts and readers on the Upper West Side of Manhattan than a reader in a Nairobi suburb.

This is why we try to always work with local journalists as much as we can to better capture the nuance and focus of a story and include what matters to people on the ground. As The Conversation’s authors write: “African news organizations must think of themselves as chroniclers of contemporary histories and builders of archives for future generations.”

🟡 Have you followed us on WhatsApp yet? What are you waiting for?

Welcoming more visitors

The number of tourists who visited Morocco in the first half of 2024, marking a 14% increase on the same period in 2023. The North African nation is hoping to close the year with 15.5 million to 16 million tourists, enabled by marketing campaigns, higher airline connectivity, and a focus on promoting Moroccan gastronomy. The country is aimed at attracting 26 million by 2030, when it will become the second African nation to host the FIFA World Cup after being named co-host of the 2030 edition alongside Spain and Portugal.

From Afrobeats to public policy

Olubankole “Banky W” Wellington is a Nigerian Afrobeats pioneer and actor who starred in Nollywood’s blockbuster The Wedding Party (2016) . He has also been an entertainment executive and signed Afrobeats superstar Wizkid to his first deal. Now, after a run for public office in 2019 and a 2020 Desmond Tutu Fellowship, he’s pursuing a master’s degree in policy management at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

💡 What inspired your switch from the entertainment business to public policy? My journey in the entertainment industry has been incredibly fulfilling. Seeing talent flourish and dreams realized has always been a driving force for me. However, I realize that true, sustainable transformation requires more than creativity; it demands systemic change. I have a deep desire to see an entire generation empowered to succeed, but I know that individual success stories can only go so far. For lasting change, we need policies that support education, entrepreneurship and social welfare.

💡What does Nollywood’s future hold on the global stage? There is a growing global appetite and audience for Nigerian and African content. Streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney have begun investing in Nigerian media, and I believe this is just the beginning. Nigerian films and music have crossed borders, pushed boundaries, and redefined narratives of what the world can expect from our country and continent.

💡With your policy hat on, what can the US do to more efficiently tap into Africa’s growing workforce? For the US to tap into Africa’s workforce, the mindset has to be one of partnership as opposed to exploitation. The focus must, therefore, be on policies that promote mutual benefit.

💡What Nigerian/African restaurant do you recommend in DC? The Continent DC, a phenomenal Nigerian restaurant and bar by Chef Tony. Another is a fantastic Kenyan restaurant called Swahili Village.

Djibouti trials GM mosquitos

Djibouti is trialing a new antimalarial solution that involves releasing genetically engineered mosquitoes into the wild.

The release of the variant known as the Friendly™ Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes started on Saturday in two neighborhoods in Djibouti City and will continue until the middle of 2025. The test is the product of a partnership between Djibouti’s National Malaria Control Program, public health group Association Mutualis, and British company Oxitec which produced the mosquitoes.

It would be the first deployment of this solution in Africa. More than nine in 10 malaria deaths occur in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. Various innovations are coming to the fore to tackle the age-old disease, notably the two vaccines that have gained the WHO’s approval within the last three years.

The mosquitoes being targeted for elimination in Djibouti are said to be very invasive types that thrive in urban areas, evading common controls like bed nets and pesticides. They are “derailing the fight against malaria across Djibouti and the region,” Colonel Dr Abdoulilah Ahmed Abdi, the health advisor to the president of Djibouti, said in a statement. He is hopeful that the Friendly mosquitoes will be a solution that advances the eradication of malaria in the country.

— Alexander Onukwue

Returning to Madagascar

France has taken the first step toward repatriating human remains taken from Madagascar while under French colonial rule from 1896 till independence in 1960.

After a scientific review, these remains would include the skull of King Toera who was beheaded by troops soon after France took control of the Indian Ocean island. It will also include the remains of two chiefs from Madagascar’s Sakalava ethnic group (pictured), reportedly currently kept at the natural history museum in Paris.

When French president Emmanuel Macron in 2021 declared that his country would correct some of the wrongs of its colonial past by the restitution of thousands of African artifacts, it triggered a Europe-wide movement to examine national collections. According to AFP, France has voted on several laws in recent years with the aim of returning artifacts held in its museums. But few items have been returned so far of the thousands reported to be in major French museums.

Weekend Reads

🇰🇪 The use of artificial intelligence tools in the farming sector is gaining traction in Kenya, and has led to a reported increase in the quality and quantity of crops. Carlos Mureithi writes in The Guardian that farmers in Kericho and Machakos counties use AI-powered tools to bridge the technical know-how gap occasioned by few agricultural extension officers, enabling them to determine the type and quantity of fertilizer to use, when to water their plants or the pests and diseases to treat.

🇳🇬 Young men from Nigeria’s disrupted northwest region are leaving home to seek work in the gold mines of the rebel-controlled and jihadist-infested central Sahel in Mali, reports Abiodun Jamiu in an investigative long-read for HumAngle. The gold mining industry there, the third largest in Africa after South Africa and Ghana, is widely acknowledged to be financing terrorism in the troubled region. The Nigerians often work in harsh perilous conditions in Mali’s southwest alongside young men from Niger, who also speak Hausa.

🇸🇸 The South Sudan government’s efforts to stamp out poaching of wild animals are being derailed by rising hunger levels and an increased number of heavily armed gangs poaching for profit. In an Al Jazeera feature, Mamer Abraham writes that despite pressure from environmentalists, the economic crisis affecting millions of citizens has made wild animals a source of food to local people, which is very hard for the government to stop.

🇬🇲 Many Gambians are surviving on remittances from relatives in diaspora who took the risky ride and crossed to Europe. Monika Pronczuk writes that nearly 60% of people in the smallest country on the African mainland are under 25, and nearly half of them are unemployed. But she notes that immigration to Europe has also exacerbated challenges back home, as the elderly are left to grapple with high costs of living and impact of climate change.

🇷🇼 In an essay in The Paris Review, Rwandan-born Scholastique Mukasonga reflects on her early childhood experiences from her birthplace on the banks of the Rukarara River in western Rwanda, her survival as a member the Tutsi minority group and being rendered stateless. Using the metaphor of the river that is the source of River Nile, she reconstructs her identity as an African exile, giving new meaning to what “home” is to her.

🗓️ Week Ahead

Oct. 6 — Tunisia will hold the nation’s first presidential elections since adopting a new constitution in 2022, with three candidates, including the incumbent President Kais Saied running for a second presidential term.

Oct. 7 — Bank of Uganda is due to announce its latest lending rate decision. In August, the bank cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 10%.

Oct. 7-10 — The African Oil Week conference will kick off in Cape Town.

Oct. 8 — Nigeria will begin vaccinations for mpox after regulatory approvals are concluded.

Oct. 8 — The Central Bank of Kenya is due to announce its latest lending rate decision. In August, the bank cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 12.75%.

Oct. 9 — Nigeria’s Federal High Court in Abuja will rule on whether to release Binance’s head of financial compliance Tigran Gambaryan or keep him in custody.

Oct. 9 — Mozambique will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday, with nearly 17 million voters expected to cast their votes marking the end of President Filipe Nyusi’s two-term tenure. There are four candidates vying but ruling party candidate Daniel Chapo, a former radio announcer and law lecturer, is widely expected to replace Nyusi as president.

For Your Consideration

Oct. 27 — Princeton in Africa’s 2025-26 fellowship application is inviting undergraduates (graduating by June 2025), young professionals and postgraduates to apply for its general and Nexus programs, respectively for those from US-accredited universities and African universities.

• China’s domestic struggles won’t change its trajectory in Washington.
• Gulf sovereign wealth fund in talks to invest in big US lender.
• Vance wants to be a ‘pro-family’ Republican. His party isn’t there yet.

If you’re enjoying the Semafor Africa newsletter and finding it useful, please share with your family, friends. We’d love to have them aboard, too.

Let’s make sure this email doesn’t end up in your junk folder by adding africa@semafor.com to your contacts. In Gmail you should drag this newsletter over to your ‘Primary’ tab.

You can reply to this email and send us your news tips, gossip, street food recommendations and good vibes.

— Yinka, Alexis Akwagyiram, Alexander Onukwue, Martin Siele, and Muchira Gachenge