The government of Côte d'Ivoire said on Monday that China has written off 40% of the debt it was owed by the West African state, during a visit by the Ivorian foreign minister to the Asian economic giant. The cancelled debt amounted to €18-million and Beijing also extended a new €10-million gift to the country, the Ivorian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

China launched a domestically produced communications satellite for Nigeria this week, marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware, Xinhua news agency reported. The launch coincides with the opening of the African Development Bank's annual board meeting in Shanghai this week, reflecting growing African-Chinese ties.

Zambia has shut down a Chinese-run mine because of its contribution to air pollution which threatens the health of hundreds of residents of nearby townships, an official said on May 14. Chiman Manufacturing Limited, which mines manganese, was indefinitely closed on May 11 for failing to put in place air pollution control mechanisms, said Justin Mukosa, spokesman of the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ), a statutory regulator.

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has become the first tertiary institution in Ghana to acquire the services of e-campus network facility to support learning and research work among students and lecturers. The facility would also serve as a platform for distance learning and enhance research between the university and other academic institutions in Europe and North America through advanced technologies such as the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) aided communications.

On May 17 Uganda joined other countries in commemorating that 142nd anniversary of the International Telecommunications Information Society day held at the Hotel Africana. At the function the acting Permanent Secretary in the Information Communication Technology (MOICT) ministry, Dr. Godfrey Kibuuka announced that the Ugandan government has started laying a 2000sq.km national transmission backbone cable that will be ready for the CHOGM to be held in November.