Tag: Botswana

Africa
west africa

Uranium at issue in Great Game for West Africa

The ruling junta in Niger revoked the operating license of French nuclear fuel producer Orano at one of the world’s largest uranium mines. Russian companies have meanwhile indicated interest in picking up the lease for the giant Imouraren mine. However, exports are stalled by closure of the border with Benin, the vital sea corridor for landlocked Niger, as tensions mount between the two countries. The uranium dispute comes as French and US troops have been forced to withdraw from Niger, and Russian forces have moved in. The Pentagon’s AFRICOM commander Gen. Michael Langley has acknowledged that the US is seeking to establish new bases in neighboring West African countries, including Benin. (Map: World Sites Atlas)

Africa
KAZA

Fracking threat to southern Africa elephant refuge

Reports indicating that a Canadian oil and gas firm is planning to start hydraulic fracturing in one of Africa’s most critical remaining elephant habitats areas along the Namibia-Botswana border is raising alarm among global environmentalists. Vancouver-based Reconnaissance Energy Africa Limited (Recon Africa), announced that it is planning to drill oil and gas wells in the newly proclaimed five-nation Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which supplies water to the Okavango Delta, the world’s largest inland delta, and shelters Africa’s largest migrating elephant herd. (Photo: WWF)