AFRICA DYNAMITE 🌍

  Early Friday, July 8, 2022, the commander of Mbiame Gendarmerie Brigade, was ambushed and killed by separatist fighters at a checkpoint in Mbiame, a locality in the Bui division Northwest region. Separatist commander simply identified as “general no pity” claimed responsibility for the attack and displayed the body of the slain commander on social media. In a video circulating on social media, No Pity with his fighters brought a coffin and transported the corpse of Richard Bakodock to an unknown destination. Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions of Northwest and Southwest have been experiencing an armed separatist conflict since 2017.

Former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos has died, according to a statement from government officials issued Friday. The ailing 79-year-old leader had remained on life support for days in a Barcelona hospital, and his death was not unexpected. The statement from Angolan President João Lourenço called dos Santos “a statesman of great historical dimension, who ruled for many years with clarity” during oft-difficult times. Dos Santos served as Angola’s longtime leader from 1979 to 2017 before stepping aside. Dos Santos had been hospitalized in an intensive care unit after recovering from COVID-19 and a reported fall. He was in an induced coma at the facility in Spain. The dos Santos death followed controversy in recent days over discontinuing his life support measures, as well as charges of negligence from family members angry over his care.

  The country, which was the first in the continent of Africa to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in April 2022, announced its own digital currency, according to the nation’s leader. “Sango Coin will be the currency for the next generation,” President Faustin-Archange Touadera said in a virtual briefing .  The digital money may be widely available in 2022’s third quarter. “The Central African Republic sits on a mountain of resources — gold, diamonds, rare minerals, unexploited resources. Sango Coin will enable the direct access to our resources for the whole world,” Touadera said. Although Central Africa Republic is one of the first African countries to embrace digital currency, it isn’t the only. Afrotech previously  reported  that Ghana will also launch a new digital currency — e-cedi, which aims to move consumers away from decentralized crypto currencies like Bitcoin.

  South Africa became the third team to advance to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON). In Rabat on Thursday, Bayana Bayana defeated Burundi 3-1. As a result, South Africa strengthened their hold on first place in Group C, where they currently have six points after two matches. Morocco and Senegal are two more teams that have advanced to the round of eight in this competition. They have both won their first two fixtures against Uganda and Burkina Faso the other two teams in Group A. On Friday, Morocco and Senegal face off to decide the winner of the group.