The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), through its African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), convened a four-day Capacity-Building Workshop for the East African Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Communication, Trade and Investment on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.  The workshop is taking place from 28 to 31 July 2026 at the Trademark Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.

The workshop aims to strengthen Committee members’ understanding of the objectives of the AfCFTA Agreement, its Protocols, institutional architecture and operational instruments, and to deepen their appreciation of the relationship between the AfCFTA and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), particularly the East African Community (EAC). It is designed to enhance the Committee’s capacity to provide informed legislative and oversight support for the domestication and effective implementation of the Agreement in the EAC region.

As the implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement advances, the interface between continental integration efforts and existing regional integration frameworks has become increasingly important. The Agreement recognizes RECs as building blocks for the continental integration project spearheaded by the AfCFTA.

CANAL+ announces the acquisition of the exclusive rights, in all languages, to all UEFA Men’s Club competitions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Starting in mid-2027, the Group will exclusively bring the biggest matches from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League to its subscribers across more than 40 countries in the region until 2031.
The most exciting European clashes, the best English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese clubs, Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Serhou Guirassy, Amad Diallo, Bryan Mbeumo, Antoine Semenyo, Nicolas Jackson, Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Lamine Yamal, Erling Haaland, Michael Olise, Achraf Hakimi, Harry Kane and many more. All of them will meet up on CANAL+ channels.

In English-speaking and Portuguese-speaking Africa, SuperSport, the long-standing broadcaster of UEFA competitions, further strengthens its position as the leading sports platform and will continue to offer exclusive coverage of UEFA Men’s Club competitions to its subscribers. In French-speaking Africa, this new agreement marks the return of a full coverage of the UEFA Champions League on CANAL+ Sport channels and, for the first time, of the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League, on an exclusive basis in French language much to the delight of our subscribers.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has expanded its support to Alamata general hospital to help restore and strengthen life-saving healthcare services

The hospital, which serves as the main healthcare facility for an estimated 300,000 people in Alamata town and surrounding areas, has been facing severe operational challenges. These include prolonged supply chain disruptions, damaged infrastructure, limited referral capacity and a critical shortage of healthcare workers in addition to the limited resources. As a result, the quality of care has declined sharply, putting many patients – especially mothers, newborns and patients with life-threatening conditions at serious risk.

MSF began supporting Alamata general hospital in March 2026 and later expanded its comprehensive targeted support to the maternity and emergency departments as well as the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This scaled-up intervention aims to restore essential life-saving services and strengthen healthcare access for communities in Alamata town and the surrounding areas.

In Central Africa, commitments under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) have yet to translate into commercial reality at scale. To date, Cameroon remains the only country in the subregion to have traded under the AfCFTA’s preferential terms through the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI), a gap that underscores the urgency of accelerating institutional and operational readiness across the subregion, so that more businesses can access the continental single market.

To address this challenge, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) through its Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa, the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) and the African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) will convene representatives of National AfCFTA Implementing Committees from the subregion’s eight countries, regional economic communities, private sector and key institutional partners in Yaoundé from 4 to 7 August 2026. Held under the theme “Accelerating AfCFTA Operationalization in Central Africa: Strengthening the Technical Capacity of National Implementation Committees,” the seminar aims to enhance the effectiveness of these committees, the essential mechanisms tasked with translating the Agreement into practice through reforms, services to economic operators, and concrete trade-facilitating action. The seminar is organized in partnership with the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and in consultation with the AfCFTA Secretariat.