General

Interview: AI expert warns of ‘digital colonization’ in Africa

Artificial intelligence (AI) is ripe to help resolve certain major problems in Africa, from farming to the health sector, but Senegalese expert Seydina Moussa Ndiaye is warning of a new “colonization” of the continent by this new technology if foreign companies continue to feed on African data without involving local actors.

One of 38 people members of the new UN advisory body on machine learning, Mr. Ndiaye spoke with UN News about the landscape ahead, building on his experience in helping to drive Senegal’s digital transformation in higher education, serving as an expert to the African Union in drafting the Pan-African Strategy on AI and in contributing to the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI).

Senegalese AI expert Seydina NDiaye is one of the 38 experts of the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.

© Courtesy of Seydina Ndiaye
Senegalese AI expert Seydina NDiaye is one of the 38 experts of the UN High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.

 

UN News: How could AI help Africa?

Seydina Moussa Ndiaye: There are several African countries that are beginning to have a dedicated strategy for artificial intelligence. However, there is a pan-African strategy that will soon be published, with a continental vision of AI development.

More and more, young people launching startups are interested in this, and they have a real thirst for knowledge in the field of AI. This growing interest can be accelerated with international help.

However, there is a wall in some areas, and AI can in fact be used to solve certain problems, including in agriculture. In the health sector, AI could in fact solve a lot of problems, especially the problem of a lack of personnel.

The other element that is also very important is the development of cultural identity. Africa has been seen as a continent with a cultural identity that has not been able to impose itself across the world. With the development of AI, we could use this channel so that African cultural identities are better known and better valued.

Bernice Kula-Kula, a refugee from DR Congo, studies computer engineering, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence on a UNICORE scholarship, thanks to Italy with UN-support.

© UNHCR/Agnese Morganti
Bernice Kula-Kula, a refugee from DR Congo, studies computer engineering, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence on a UNICORE scholarship, thanks to Italy with UN-support.

 

UN News: Are there bad sides of AI threatening Africa?

Seydina Moussa Ndiaye: The biggest threat for me is colonization. We may end up with large multinationals in AI that will impose their solutions throughout the continent, leaving no room for creating local solutions.

Most of the data currently generated in Africa is owned by multinationals whose infrastructure is developed outside the continent, where most African AI experts also operate. It’s a loss of African talent.

The other important element to consider is in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. The power of AI combined with advances in biotechnology or technology could be used, and Africa could be the place where all these new solutions are actually being tested.

If it’s not supervised, we could end up with tests that would take place on humans with chips or even integrated biotechnology elements that we improve. These are technologies that we don’t really master well. In regulatory terms, there are certain aspects that have not been considered. The very framework for the application of ideas and existing regulations is not effective.

In concrete terms, and when you don’t control these things, it could happen without anyone knowing. We could have Africa being used as a Guinea pig to test new solutions, and this could be a great, great threat for the continent.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed interacts with Sophia the robot at the “The Future of Everything – Sustainable Development in the Age of Rapid Technological Change” meeting.

© United Nations/Kensuke Matsue
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed interacts with Sophia the robot at the “The Future of Everything – Sustainable Development in the Age of Rapid Technological Change” meeting.

 

UN News: Do you think that the UN’s new AI advisory group is going to be a platform that will allow you to put these problems on the table?

Seydina Moussa Ndiaye: Yes, absolutely. We’ve started our work, and it’s really very open. These are high-level people who understand international issues well, and there are no taboo subjects.

It’s important that the voice of Africa is represented in the group. International scientific cooperation will be strengthened and not limited to the major powers. At the international level, it includes everyone and also helps the least developed countries.

Currently, there is a real gap, and if this is not resolved, we risk increasing inequalities.

Source: UN, 2nd January 2024

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Angola, Nigeria

OPEC December oil output rises before new cuts, Angola exit – Reuters survey

A 3D-printed oil pump jack is seen in front of displayed OPEC logo in this illustration picture, April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) – OPEC DECEMBER OIL OUTPUT RISES BY 70,000 BPD FROM NOVEMBER TO 27.88 MILLION BPD AHEAD OF 2024 CUTS, ANGOLA EXIT – REUTERS SURVEY

OPEC oil output rose in December, a Reuters survey found on Friday, as increases in Iraq, Angola and Nigeria offset ongoing cuts by Saudi Arabia and other members of the wider OPEC+ alliance to support the market.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 27.88 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, the survey found, up 70,000 bpd from November. Output is down more than 1 million bpd from the same month a year ago. PRODN-TOTAL

The boost comes ahead of further OPEC+ cuts in 2024 and Angola’s exit from OPEC, which are set to lower January output and market share. OPEC’s market share has already been falling due to output restraint and the departure of some members.

In December, the biggest increases of 60,000 bpd came from Iraq and Angola, which both boosted exports, the survey found.

Nigeria also shipped more crude abroad without, as yet, beginning oil products output at its new Dangote refinery.

The Reuters survey, which aims to track supply to the market, is based on shipping data provided by external sources, Refinitiv Eikon flows data, information from companies that track flows such as Petro-Logistics and Kpler and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.

Source: CNBC Africa, 5th January 2024

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General

Economic review: 2024 and its key challenges [Business Africa]

After a tumultuous 2023 for African economies, 2024 is shaping up to be equally challenging.

2024: New Year, New Economic Challenges

The economic pace in Africa, slowed by the Covid-19 crisis and impacted by the consequences of the Ukrainian conflict, has been tested throughout 2023. As the new year approaches, the almost endemic inflation raises questions about its sustainability, prompting reflection on sectors deserving investment priority.

Rabah Arezki, economic expert and former vice president of the African Development Bank, sheds light on the challenges of 2024 in an Exclusive Interview with Business Africa.

Record US-Africa Trade in 2023

A review of US-Africa collaboration in 2023: a memorable chapter with the ratification of over 550 trade and investment agreements.

As the African population continues to grow, and its economic potential expands, the United States has shown a strong willingness to strengthen ties with the continent last year. More details with American analyst Calvin Dark.

In Search of Energy Self-Sufficiency: Challenges in Rural Communities in Congo

In the Republic of Congo, despite the proximity of pipelines, power plants, and high-tension lines, the electricity deficit persists in villages in the oil-rich region of Pointe-Noire, resulting in losses for local businesses. A report by our correspondent Cédric Lyonnel Sehossolo.

Source:  Africanews, 4th January 2024

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Ethiopia

Ambiguous Ethiopia port deal fuels uncertainty over Somaliland statehood

The agreement accentuates historical ties between Ethiopia and Somaliland – and historical hostility with Somalia.

 

Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi, right, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed attend the signing of an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on January 1, 2024, that allows Ethiopia to use a Somaliland port [Tiksa Negeri/Reuters]

On Monday, an agreement signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Muse Bihi Abdi of the breakaway republic of Somaliland preceded a shocking announcement that has already set the tone for interstate relations in the Horn of Africa this year.

The memorandum of understanding was for the leasing of 20km (12 miles) of Somaliland’s sea coast to landlocked Ethiopia. In exchange, Somaliland will receive shares in its neighbour’s flagship carrier, Ethiopian Airlines – and receive formal recognition as a sovereign state.

International recognition has been a long-sought goal for Somaliland, a region in northern Somalia that has enjoyed de facto independence since 1991. But the groundbreaking agreement has created shockwaves in the region and fury in Somalia, which views it as a hostile violation of Somalia’s sovereignty.

“As a government, we have condemned and rejected the illegal infringement of Ethiopia into our national sovereignty and territorial integrity yesterday,” Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement on X shortly after convening an emergency cabinet session on Tuesday. “Not an inch of Somalia can or will be signed away by anybody.”

In Ethiopia, where for much of 2023 the government stressed the economic need for a seaport and even subtly hinted at possibly invading Eritrea for access to the Red Sea, the deal is being portrayed as a victory.

But the terms of that victory differ for Ethiopia and Somaliland, and that could further complicate the situation in the coming days.

While Somaliland insists that recognition has already been agreed upon and settled, Addis Ababa has been reluctant to firmly address the matter of statehood. In a published communique, the government said it had yet to formally recognise Somaliland. But social media posts by Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Mesganu Arga this week appear to support Somaliland’s interpretation of the deal.

The ambiguity of the messaging continues to fuel speculation. A draft of the agreement has yet to be published, but all indications suggest that it would all but nullify a 2018 tripartite treaty cementing ties between Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, details of which were similarly never made public.

Pressure or patriotism?

Ethiopian officials have been far more eager to speak of the benefits the agreement is said to have secured.

“The agreement is mutually beneficial, and Ethiopia will share military and intelligence experience with Somaliland, so the two states can collaborate on protecting joint interests,” Redwan Hussein, Abiy’s national security adviser, said at the event announcing the agreement. “To facilitate this, Ethiopia will establish a military base in Somaliland as well as a commercial maritime zone.”

Abiy hopes the agreement can help kick-start Ethiopia’s revival after a year of worsening economic woes, internal conflicts and a breakdown in relations with Eritrea. Since the signing of the two countries’ widely heralded peace treaty in 2018, which helped Abiy land the Nobel Peace Prize a year later, Ethiopia has been keen to redirect its imports to Eritrean ports.

But this has never materialised.

Source: Al Jazeera, 4th January 2024

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Uganda

TotalEnergies to Review Land Buyouts in Contested Africa Projects

This photograph shows a general view of TotalEnergies’ well pad under construction inside Murchison Falls National Park in western Uganda on February 22, 2023.

PARIS — French energy giant TotalEnergies on Thursday said it had launched a review of its land acquisition practices for controversial $10-billion projects in Uganda and Tanzania slammed by environmentalists.

TotalEnergies is pushing ahead with its Tilenga drilling project in Uganda and the 1,443-kilometer (897-mile) East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) to transport it to the coast in Tanzania in the face of opposition from activists and environmentalists.

“This mission will evaluate the land acquisition procedures implemented, the conditions for consultation, compensation and relocation of the populations concerned, and the grievance handling mechanism,” the statement said, adding that it would submit its report by April.

Tilenga targets oil under the rich Murchison Falls nature reserve in western Uganda with a planned 419 wells, triggering fears for the region’s fragile ecosystem among the people who live there and environmentalists.

Drilling began in mid-2023 and production is slated to begin in 2025.

TotalEnergies, which is working with Chinese oil company CNOOC on the project, says that its 6,400-hectare acquisition plan affects “19,140 households and communities owning or using plots of land and includes the relocation of 775 primary residences.”

“To date, 98% of the households concerned have signed compensation agreements, 97% have received their compensation, and 98% of households to be relocated have taken possession of their new homes,” the company added.

Resistance to the project has rallied opponents of fossil fuel development as well as conservationists and those fearing the effect on local populations.

Human Rights Watch called in July for the plans to be halted, saying in a report that it had already “devastated thousands of people’s livelihoods in Uganda.”

The oilfield would “ultimately displace over 100,000 people,” it charged.

Four environmental groups — Darwin Climax Coalitions, Sea Shepherd France, Wild Legal and Stop EACOP-Stop Total in Uganda — filed a criminal complaint in France in September accusing TotalEnergies of “ecocide.”

A first case filed in 2019 was thrown out last year by a Paris court, while TotalEnergies says the Tanzania-based East African Court of Justice has also rejected a complaint.

Other aid groups and 26 individual Ugandans filed a further French civil case in June calling for “reparations.”

TotalEnergies said Thursday it had named Benin’s former Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou to lead its land acquisition assessment, calling him a “recognized expert in African economic development.”

Zinsou has worked with TotalEnergies in the past through his consulting company.

Source: VOA, 4th January 2024

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