Egypt: Six police wounded in twin Cairo bomb attacks

Egyptian police have been the target of increasing attacks

Six police officers have been wounded after two bombs went off in Cairo, the Egyptian health ministry says.

The blasts were heard at around 09:45 local time (07:45 GMT) in the Giza area and were around two minutes apart.

Local media report that the bombs targeted police vehicles stationed near a bridge.

Armed groups have stepped up their attacks in Egypt since the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi by the military in July last year.

A BBC journalist at the scene says there is little obvious damage to the area.

The attacks took place in Giza Square, a regular route for marches against the current government.

Anti-military protests are expected in parts of the capital later, after Friday prayers.

The current government has outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, declaring it a terrorist organisation. It accuses the movement of supporting attacks against the police and army - a claim the Brotherhood strongly denies.

Since Mr Morsi's overthrow, more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood - where the ousted leader hails from - have been detained in a crackdown by the interim authorities.

Madagascar: Island Stress

The fishermen in Sarodrano, a coastal village in south-west Madagascar, complain about their steadily declining catches. "On a good day, I used to catch 15kg of fish," says Melau Feaucre Johanison, a 39-year-old fisherman. "But if it is too stormy, we don't catch anything. There are some months when there is no fish at all."

Two widows, Josiany Celestinym, 60, and Vance Leonce, 41, are gleaners. They forage the shallow reefs at low tide looking for octopus, oysters and sea cucumbers. They also complain that the oysters are harder to find than they used to be.

The reasons for this decline - which researchers and conservationists agree could get far worse over the next decade - are many and various.

Together they tell a story of lacklustre monitoring, poor management and economic pressure in a country where, according to the World Bank, 92% of its 22m people lived on less than $2 a day in 2013.

The island nation of Madagascar boasts an astonishing array of plants, reptiles and mammals, including its famous baobab trees and lemurs found nowhere else on earth. But the island's geological features have also shaped an extraordinary marine life.

A wide western continental shelf is home to extensive mangrove swamps and coral reef ecosystems, which marine biologist Andrew Cooke, author of "Madagascar, a Guide to Marine Diversity", says are an important regional centre of oceanic breeding grounds, crucial to maintaining the ocean's biodiversity.

Unlike the rainforests on land, sea systems have the advantage that they can recover from degradation, Mr Cooke says. So while the rainforests on land need strict conservation, marine areas just need sustainable management.

Madagascar, however, is the world's fourth-largest island with a coastline of 4,800km, a vast stretch that the government in Antananarivo cannot patrol, police or monitor.

The country has just three vessels and nine speedboats to monitor domestic fisheries or protect its waters from illegal fishing boats, according to the University of British Columbia's Frederic Le Manach, lead author of a June 2011 study looking at fishing, hunger and political turmoil in Madagascar.

According to the study, published in the journal Marine Policy, fleets from Europe and Asia sailing Madagascar's waters since at least the 1980s have routinely underreported their hauls.

Madagascar

SADC Lifts Suspension On Madagascar 

Madagascar has had its suspension lifted by regional organizations following the restoration of constitutional order in … see more »

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Mali: German Defense Minister Expresses Support for Mali Rebuilding

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen has reaffirmed Germany's support for Mali's new government. During a visit to Bamako, she expressed "great respect for the method and manner" the country has rebuilt its democracy.

On Thursday, von der Leyen said that Germany wanted to help Mali get back on track as it rebuilds following an internal conflict that ended last year with French military intervention.

"This is above all important for the young generation," she told reporters after meeting with Malian Defense Minister Soumeylou Boubeye.

"The principle has to be help people help themselves, because this young democracy can only be stable if Mali has secured the skills for itself," said von der Leyen, who traveled to Mali a day after meeting with German soldiers in Senegal.

Troop mandate 'clearly defined'

Germany has had about 100 Bundeswehr troops stationed in the country since last summer as part of the European Union's EUTM Mali mission. Von der Leyen, who is on her first trip to Africa since taking office last month, reiterated Thursday that their job was to train Malian soldiers and provide medical support.

"Our mandate is clearly defined," she said.

Following her reception in Bamako, von der Leyen traveled to meet with soldiers at the German military's camp in Koulikoro, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of the capital.

Boubeye said the Malian military's cooperation with the Bundeswehr had been "exemplary and fruitful."

"The German instructurs play an essential role," he added.

'Potential for danger' remains

In January 2013, French troops intervened in the Malian government's fight against Islamist insurgents in the country's restive northern region. France helped to largely defeat the rebel fighters, though Mali continues to struggle for stability.

Though the country is now in a state of relative security, von der Leyen said the "potential for danger is still there."

"We have to stay vigilant, and pushing back [the rebels] doesn't mean that the problem is solved," she said.

Africa: Speaking Truth to Power Not Easy for African Think Tanks

At the opening of the first African Regional Think Tanks Summit in Irene, Pretoria earlier this week, renowned Cameroonian-born scholar Achille Mbembe described Africa as 'the epicentre of global change.'

He added, however, that this is not fully acknowledged because of the way the continent is portrayed. 'This [Africa] is where the most defining challenges of our times are being played out - sometimes with potentially global consequences and signification, and with increasing urgency,' said Mbembe, a member of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Stereotypes continue to plague thinking about Africa. 'African problems are persistently seen as problems that are happening elsewhere, from a place that is lagging behind,' said Mbembe, who is known, among others, for his 2001 book On the Postcolony.

He proposes a 'fundamental change of perspective,' saying that researchers in Africa should not only focus on problem-solving, but also deliver critical analysis and interpretation that will be relevant to those most affected by policies. He describes this as, 'Producing the kind of knowledge that gives a voice to the voiceless.'

So, who should produce this knowledge? And to what extent can such knowledge be truly Africa-centred if donors from outside the continent fund so many African research institutions and think tanks? On a continent rife with authoritarian regimes, the strengthening of think tanks - similar to the creation of independent media - is a high-stakes and highly political issue.

Meanwhile, think tanks are becoming increasingly influential worldwide. United States President Barack Obama reportedly doesn't make a decision without consulting them, while China is spending millions of dollars on setting up and supporting think tanks - a recognition of their impact as a sign of a nation's soft power.

Yet, think tanks in Africa are still few and far between. They are often underfunded and largely ignored; and not only by the notoriously anti-democratic governments on the continent.

James McGann, Director of the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme (TTCSP) at the University of Pennsylvania, says African think tanks lag behind those in other regions of the world, mostly because they are under-resourced, have a high staff turnover and lack basic communications tools such as proper websites.

Angola: No Investigation of Corrupt Russia-Angola Debt Deal

ANALYSIS

So it's over. There will be no further investigation - let alone prosecution - in Switzerland of the individuals and companies involved in a massive and extremely dodgy Russian-Angolan debt deal.

The news that activists in Angola and Britain had been fearing came on Monday when the Swiss Attorney General announced that no further action would be taken in relation to the criminal complaint that was filed last April by Angola's Maos Livres (Clean Hands) and Corruption Watch UK.

While the Attorney General issued a statement this week after apparently completing 'preliminary investigations' but the writing has been on the wall since the end of last year when Arcadi Gaydamak -one of the prime beneficiaries of the dubious deal - was not interrogated while in Swiss custody on an unrelated issue.

As the Attorney General's office states, "the criminal complaint was based on a newly published report about the Angolan-Russian debt agreement called 'The Corrupt Angolan-Russian Debt Deal', from which the complainants drew new information" relating to the 'Angolagate' scandal - information that the complaints believe justifies re-opening proceedings against the group of individuals who were involved in this deal - namely Angolan officials, owners of an intermediary company and Swiss bank employees - and conducting investigations into allegations of corruption.

However, the Attorney General made it clear that the "Swiss Federal Prosecution Authorities do not share this belief and... are of the opinion that the complaint does not contain any new information that would justify a re-opening of proceedings."

In addition, the statement argued that it was also not worth pursuing the case because it was too complex to be completed before the statute of limitations comes into effect in July 2015 and that it would only be possible to investigate activities from May-July 2000 since 'bribery of foreign officials' was anchored in Swiss law as a criminal offence on 1st May 2000.

It is yet a serious blow - perhaps the final one - to hopes that those responsible for looting the Angolan coffers will be brought to book.

As the report makes clear, over US$750 million ended up in the pockets of senior Angolan government officials (including $36.25 million that was tracked down to Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos) and in the bank accounts of dubious and unnecessary middlemen (such as Gaydamak). Swiss banks also played a critical role in the whole saga.

The Swiss authorities had an opportunity to investigate this huge corruption scandal more closely and give those involved something to fear.

But instead, they have taken the easy way out - leaving the beneficiaries of the deal to enjoy their ill-gotten gains and the people of Angola to imagine what could have been built with the US$750 million that were pillaged from the nation's coffers.

South African miners trapped in Doornkop Gold Mine fire

Doornkop Gold Mine overlooks Johannesburg's Soweto township

Rescue workers in South Africa are trying to free nine miners still trapped underground after a fire at Doornkop mine west of Johannesburg.

Eight other miners have successfully been brought to the surface, the mine owners Harmony Gold said.

"Efforts continue to establish the whereabouts of a further nine employees who are currently unaccounted for," spokesman James Duncan told the BBC.

The fire began on Tuesday evening about 1,700m (5,600ft) below ground.

Mr Duncan said rescue teams were struggling to access the affected area because of smoke and rock fall.

Mining is vital for South Africa's economy

There is some confusion about how exactly the fire began.

Harmony Gold has confirmed there was some seismic activity in the area.

South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers says this resulted in the collapse of underground rocks which caused the fire.

"It... caused damage to ventilation pipes, electric cables and water pipes. The damage to electric cables triggered fire underground which is still burning," the NUM said in a statement.

The eight workers who were successfully rescued on Wednesday had managed to reach a "refuge bay", where there was compressed air and water kept for such incidents.

The BBC's Andrew Harding in Johannesburg says the nine missing mine workers will be carrying their own packs of oxygen and Harmony Gold hopes they will have made their way to other refuge bays underground.

Our correspondent says the Doornkop mine is just outside the city, on the west rand - a rich but deep seam of gold.

In recent years the majority of deaths underground have occurred in illegal mines, he says.

The Harmony Gold team has left the "Mining Indaba", Africa's largest annual mining conference, being held in Cape Town.

The meeting has been overshadowed by a major strike which is currently crippling South Africa's platinum production.

The mining industry is a vital part of the South African economy.

Mark Lowen goes inside a South African gold mine

JD 'Okhai Ojeikere: Nigeria's top photographer dies

One of Africa's most prominent photographers, JD 'Okhai Ojeikere, has died in Lagos, Nigeria, aged 83.

His family announced that he had passed away on Sunday afternoon, after a brief illness.

He was best known for his series of about 1,000 black and white photos of African hairstyles.

Last year a selection of them was shown at the Venice Biennale. They were also exhibited at Documenta in 2007, and in many galleries and museums.

A selection of Ojeikere's hairstyle photographs was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2013

Ojeikere grew up in a village in south-western Nigeria and started taking pictures with a Brownie D camera when he was 20 years old.

In 1954 he began working as a darkroom assistant in the photographic department of Ibadan's Ministry of Information.

Five years later, shortly after Nigeria gained independence, he became a photographer for the Western Nigerian Broadcasting Services, and in 1963 he moved to Lagos.

"We had so many dreams at the time. We thought a country so rich in natural resources could really go ahead on its own. But our dreams were shattered by tribalism," he told the BBC's Manuel Toledo in 2010.

"Then came the military dictatorships, one after another, for so many years. It makes me sad to think that things have not changed much. You see the same elites holding on to power and getting richer and richer," he said.

"The state has never really cared about the arts here and, although we have many people who are very rich, we also lack good private institutions for the promotions of the arts," he lamented.

He began working on his Hairstyle series in the late 1960s after he joined the Nigerian Arts Council and began documenting the country's culture.

At the same time, he was taking hundreds of pictures - many still unpublished - of some of the now iconic buildings of Lagos as they were being built, including the National Theatre.

But he did not forget his village life and in his private album of architectural photos he kept some of ant hills. "For me, they're the first skyscrapers," he joked.

His family said that his burial arrangements will be announced later.