Gregory Warner

Young Kenyans Build Mobile Apps For Local Use

Gregory Warner — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:25:00 +0000

You're out navigating the jammed sidewalks of Kenya's capital city when you suddenly realize you're in desperate need of a toilet. You crane your neck over the crowds, vainly seeking a McDonalds, a Starbucks — no such luck. What next?

There could be an app for that.

Escape From An Eritrean Prison

Gregory Warner — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:50:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoeaVAtEhOc

Can Economics Save The African Rhino?

Gregory Warner — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:50:00 +0000

When Duan Biggs was growing up in the Kruger National Park in South Africa, he used to watch elephants and rhinos walking past his bedroom window. He left home to pursue degrees in biology and economics, and when he returned in 2011 the park looked and sounded "like a pseudo war zone," he says.

"There'd be helicopters flying overhead all the time," he says. "I remember one afternoon coming back to my home from a game drive and the bush was crawling with people with assault rifles, from the army, from the police, and from National Parks.

The Enemy Inside: Rhino's Protectors Sometimes Aid Poachers

Gregory Warner — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:05:00 +0000

It says a lot about the state of the war against poachers in Africa that the Lewa Conservancy, a private sanctuary in Kenya with 12 percent of the country's rhinos, recently appointed a CEO who has never studied zoology or biology. Instead, Mike Watson is an ex-captain in the British army.

His training has already come in handy. Take, for instance, a visit to a crime scene earlier this year: a rhino carcass splayed out in the mud.

Watson holds a black-and-white photo, a kind of rhino mug shot.

To Count Elephants In The Forest, Look Down

Gregory Warner — Sat, 11 May 2013 09:30:00 +0000

Imagine you're flying in a two-seater plane over Africa, and, in an effort to see how elephants are faring, your job is to count all the ones you see. Over the savannah, that's easy. But how do you peer into the forests, where all you see is treetops?

For years, the zoologists who tried to do this just guessed. But in the late 1980s, conservationist Richard Barnes devised a method to take an elephant census in the densest of forests.

To do this, he recruited young scientists. Winnie Kiiru had just finished grad school in biology and returned to her native Kenya.

With Robocalls, Eritrean Exiles Organize Passive Resistance

Gregory Warner — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:35:00 +0000

Tucked in the northeast corner of Africa, Eritrea is one of the most closed societies in the world, so much so that it's sometimes dubbed the "North Korea of Africa."

President Isaias Afwerki does not tolerate any independent media. The Internet is restricted. Reporters without Borders recently named it 179th out of 179 countries for freedom of expression.

It's illegal to criticize the government — which could mean something as simple as complaining about the city power outage.

787 Dreamliner Could Mean Big Things For Africa's 'Air Wars'

Gregory Warner — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:06:00 +0000

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish. The Dreamliner is coming back. FAA regulators have approved a fix for the Boeing Dreamliner 787, which was grounded around the world out of safety concerns. The first redesigned plane could retake to the skies as soon as this weekend out of Ethiopia. NPR's Gregory Warner explains what the world's most modern aircraft means to the cradle of humanity.

GREGORY WARNER, BYLINE: You know a sector is hot when it gets its own trade magazine.

Western Money, African Boots: A Formula For Africa's Conflicts

Gregory Warner — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:24:00 +0000

For the past six years in Somalia, Western countries have been putting up the cash and African nations have been supplying the soldiers, a formula that has pushed back al-Qaida-linked militants and allowed Somalia to elect it's first democratic government in 20 years.

"We can fix our problems in Africa," says Brig. Michael Ondoga, a contingent commander with the African Union Mission in Somalia or AMISOM.

What's Next For Congolese Warlord Now At U.S. Embassy?

Gregory Warner — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:34:00 +0000

Bosco Ntaganda, the Congolese warlord and rebel leader wanted by the International Criminal Court, showed up at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali on Monday in a taxicab. He was apparently unexpected.

"We did not have any prior notice or consultations with him to indicate that he would do that," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday. "He was a walk-in, in the truest sense of the word."

She said the U.S.

How Kenya's High-Tech Voting Nearly Lost The Election

Gregory Warner — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 20:11:00 +0000

It was supposed to be the most modern election in African history. Biometric identification kits with electronic thumb pads, registration rolls on laptops at every polling station, and an SMS-relayed, real-time transmission of the results to the National Tallying Center in Nairobi.

Ambitious? Of course. Only 23 percent of the country has access to electricity.

But Kenyans pride themselves on leapfrogging when it comes to adapting technology.