Week in Review: Crime, COVID and Cables

The Facebook-led 2Africa undersea data cable initiative announced that it will add three more countries to its list of landing sites across Africa. Seychelles, Comoros, and Angola will all be connected to the billion-dollar, 37,000-kilometer cable that will connect Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. In what is now an extremely rare example of China-Western technology cooperation, China Mobile International is a member of the project’s telecom consortium, which also includes Orange and Vodafone. (REUTERS)

The Kenyan government is falling further and further behind in meeting its financial obligations. Unpaid bills increased 8% in the first half of the year to $3.3 billion. Reduced tax revenue due to the slowing economy plus higher debt servicing costs, particularly to China, are contributing to the problem. Chinese loan payments totaled $285 million in the last fiscal year, 13% of the total paid in that period. (BLOOMBERG)