22 Aug 2023 Nairobi (Kenya) Daily Nation. Government reveals plan to hand struggling millers to private investors, noting that debts owed by struggling state sugar companies will be written off by the government before they can be leased to private investors if the parliament approves a plan by the treasury;

22 Aug 2023 Kampala (Uganda) Business Recorder. Industry regulator Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) reports that July coffee export earnings increased by 26% year-on-year, helped by a 12% rise in volumes shipped thanks to a bumper harvest. The country earned $105m from the July shipments, up from $84m last year;

22 Aug 2023 Kinshasa (DRC) Africa News. The Constitutional Court begins the trial of former prime minister Augustin Matata Ponyo who is accused of embezzling $205m from the treasury;

22 Aug 2023 Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Reuters. United States-based non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) publishes a report accusing Saudi Arabia of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants including women and children who attempted to enter Saudi Arabia along the mountain border with Yemen. The 73-page report contains testimony from 38 Ethiopians who attempted to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022-June 2023;

22 Aug 2023 Nairobi (Kenya) The Star. Cabinet secretary for information, communications and digital economy Eliud Owalo confirms that government will collaborate with the European Union (EU) and China to advance its policy, legal and regulatory framework on data protection;

22 August 2023 Victoria (Seychelles) Seychelles News Agency. Malawian high commissioner to Seychelles Andrew Kumwenda says Seychelles and Malawi are to sign a general services agreement in various areas of cooperation;

22 Aug 2023 Mogadishu (Somalia) East African. Communications minister Jama Hassan Khalif orders a ban on social media platform TikTok and messaging channel provider Telegram citing their use as tools of terrorist organisation al-Shabaab ahead of a military offensive planned by president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud against the group;

22 Aug 2023 Kampala (Uganda) The Monitor. The High Court civil division will see an application by former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) director Richard Byarugaba to sue to attorney general and challenge the decision of labour minister Betty Amongi not to endorse his reappointment on 27 September. Byarugaba was replaced by Patrick Ayota on 18 August;

18 Aug 2023 Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) Daily News.  United Nations hails the government’s efforts to strengthen the environment for digital inclusion in the country through its recent launch of 5G technology;

17 Aug 2023 Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) Borkena. African Union releases a statement expressing concern over the continued military confrontations between the Ethiopian Defence Force and Fano Movement in the Amhara region;

17 Aug 2023 Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) Daily News. Tanzania Road Agency (TANROADS) project manager Barakael Mmari reveals that the execution of the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit Agency (DART) project phase four will officially start in September;

16 Aug 2023 Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) Daily News. Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) encourages insurance companies to place more weight on innovation and to develop products that will particularly benefit those in the low-income bracket;

16 Aug 2023 Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) The Citizen. Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) CEO John Ulanga points out business policies that need to be improved in order to stimulate economic activity and promises to continue addressing the challenge of little capital facing the private sector and the quality of products manufactured by some of its members;

16 Aug 2023 Kampala (Uganda) Central Banking. Bank of Uganda (central bank) reduces its policy rate by 50 basis points to 9.5%, the first cut in more than two years, following a tightening cycle in 2022 in which it raised the key rate from 6.5% to 10%;