Travelling bus fights digital illiteracy in Liberia

Ganta, Nimba County – In Nimba County, a yellow bus is travelling from school to school to teach students how to use computers.

The idea is the brainchild of Jeremiah Lloyd Cooper, a 36-year-old information and telecommunications technician.

The project began last November and so far the founder claims it has reached 1,000 students.

“I graduated from high school actually with no basic computer basis, knowledge. I didn’t even know how to power on a computer, but I went on to choose to study information technology at University level,” he said.

“And I was humiliated the first day that I got into the computer lab; my finger got frozen on the keyboard. I didn’t know how to type and it was humiliating, you know, I experienced. So ever since then, my dream has been to be able to extend computer literacy to children…

France eyes Ivory Coast after Burkina Faso boots out French troops

ABIDJAN/OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 20 (Reuters) - France's defence minister pledged on Monday to boost military support to Ivory Coast, as Paris adjusts its strategy in West Africa after neighbouring Burkina Faso ordered French troops to leave and vowed to curb a worsening Islamist insurgency solo.

Burkina Faso said on Sunday France's military operations on its soil had officially ended - marking the start of a new chapter in the Sahel region's battle with Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

The two jihadist groups have taken over swathes of land and displaced millions of people in Burkina, Mali and Niger.

It is not clear how the Burkinabe authorities plan to make up for the departure of some 400 French special forces from its territory, which saw the highest number of Islamist attacks in the Sahel last year with…

African Union reaffirms suspension of Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Sudan

The African Union announced on Sunday that Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Sudan will remain suspended from the pan-African organization following the summit in Ethiopia.

Mali, Guinea and Sudan were suspended in 2021, Burkina Faso followed a year later, after the military took power.

Speaking after the summit, the head of the AU's Peace and Security Council, Bankole Adeoye, "reaffirmed zero tolerance against unconstitutional changes of government", adding that it is ready to help the four countries "return to constitutional order".

On Saturday, member countries of ECOWAS also decided to maintain the suspension of Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea and impose travel bans on government officials and representatives.

The three countries had asked on 10 February for the lifting of their suspension from ECOWAS, but also from the AU, deploring the "sanctions imposed".

Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali juntas plan three-way partnership

OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 10 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, all ruled by military juntas, have proposed a regional partnership to facilitate trade and tackle insecurity in the region, they said in a joint statement late on Thursday.

The ministers met in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou this week to discuss collaboration. All three West African countries have experienced military takeovers since 2020, reversing democratic gains that had seen the region shed its tag as Africa's "coup belt".

Frustrations over governments' inability to protect civilians from a worsening jihadist insurgency spurred some of the putsches, which have led to economic sanctions and soured relations with regional and Western allies.

Foreign ministers Olivia Rouamba for Burkina Faso, Morissansa Kouyate for Guinea and Abdoulaye Diop for Mali noted "the need to set up and institutionalise a permanent coordination framework between…