a remote island of st hulu is a testament to the quality of the waters. one of the many success stories from a bastion of biodiversity starts may 20th on dw this as deed of the news, africa coming up on the program. is it a cool, casual, tentative, or just a clever con trick? the central african republic becomes the 1st african country to adopt bitcoin assets, official currency. so who will be the witness on who the lose us? did we thought when i was dialing and a customer gives me a note, i paid them back with colleen, but look at my phone, but it can't connect to the internet. how could i use crypto card saying,

you're gonna slap that tax on electronic cache? so what's wrong with that? gannons are crying out. as the levee rolls out, the government says it's needed to ensure development. but people see it's just pensioned the pennies from the pockets. i'm at work, they're just, i'm from law. well, we work hard and they want to just steal from us on walk. well, they're not satisfied with what they have. no, we can't bear this any longer any with i am eddie micah junior and you are welcome to the program. first off, a financial 1st for the continent, the central african republic has adopted bitcoin as legal, tender law make as unanimously approved a law legalizing the crypt currency alongside the c. f. a front. but on the streets

of bungie, bess bitcoin buffle meant a steed, abuse equal to chai reports. he though, monet crypto currency, i don't know what it means that i not been seal the is one of mediums of central africans who hasn't got a clue what the crypto currency burskey is. all about. bitcoin needs fust, keentonia. but in the central african republic, only 11 percent of the population have internet access. many do not even have the smartphones require to for the electronic transactions. they get guides and we thought when i'm handling unaccustomed gives me a note. i paid them back with coin. this is what is this crypto currency thing again, and i learned that you need an internet connection to work with crypto currency. but look at my phone, but it can't connect to the internet. how could i use crypto current st. paul, yeah, i do, i did that one. i mean, most parts of the country wearable control to february and very few have any

internet coverage at all. even here in the capitol, the bit rate is slow. it is hard to imagine how the coin is going to work on the vis conditions, but 7 percent of the population do have better internet access jungle. the niece is one of the lawmakers whole voted for the bill. he sais change is coming. the axis went and i believe it's a right not a privilege anymore. in today's economy, the government has invested with the help of the african development, beck, and many other partners to bring her optics. we are in the process of implementing fiber optic within the next 12 month of fiber optic will be operational in our country. so every one who has a me can get access to the internet. but the opposition rejects dinner low and plans to challenge it in the constitutional court isn't

all african republic has a currency. it is one of 6 central african countries that share the see if a friend backed by friends and faked to the euro. some members of parliament argued that the move is simply intended to got his common currency. although of speculative that bitcoin might be used to follow money from the central african republic to russia by passing international sanctions. will friends a bogo if financial analyst rejects claims of russian influence from going into roku low to see why people always saying rusher was influencing decisions taken by the central african authorities with no external influence has nothing to do with car adopting the crypto currency, low level without the advantage of the crypto currency here is that it is a currency that is virtual capable of major powers of long be news encrypted currency before it surfaced here in car n p. so it will main financial transactions can be secured by central african financial institutions who doesn't want anything to show him

a federal government. the government is presenting the adoption of the bi coin in the central african republic as a decisive step, opening up new opportunities. but bringing in bitcoin has 3 gut white spread doubts about the motifs. behind the move. i'm joined now by joy bureau at business correspondence from nairobi, kenya, hello, joy. now we had sylvie on the south of that report. she hasn't got a clue what crypto currency like bitcoin is. can you briefly explain how it works? right. any thanks for having me when and digital currency, or in this case crypto currency is a digital payment system that unlike usual banks that have to go through verification systems do not do that. so they do not rely on banks to verify the transactions. instead, they use encryptions, add to verify their transactions. a one has a public and

a private key that they use digitally. and this means you need to have access to the internet for you to be able to trade in crypto currencies, or in this case been crying. so you touch on so many different aspects of it, but it's not controlled by a central bank. so if you have money in your pocket, it's value is guaranteed by the central bank, but who guarantees but coins? well, the thing about crypto currencies, bitcoin being one of them or the most treated, one of the crypto currencies, is that there is no regulation. and it's only between you as the buyer of the bitcoin or transactional bitcoin that has a public and private key. it makes it risky because it's internet based and relies heavily on block chain technology. so should there be any kind of risk involved? is a possibility that one could lose all of the investment or all of the money. that's

that sounds scary. i mean, that's a lot of people talking about why. i'm wondering why the central african republic will even adopt a bit client us as legal tend and figuring out why we've also seen increase in the russian influence in the central african republic, which some commentators have linked with this move. what might bitcoin have to do with russia and sanctions? well, they say there's 2 ways to look at it. and one is with the ongoing functions that are being slapped on russia as a result of its war in ukraine. and that in itself has led to many african countries that are heavily reliant and funding from the west. and in particular, the united states of america, to now also that to take action on russians relations with many african countries.

and so this means that any transactions are going to be affected and trade in the u . s. dollar is also going to be affected. so that could explain why russia is being linked to the bitcoin adoption in the central african republic. because russia has tried as much as it could to increase its influence in central african countries, the central african republic being one of the countries where russia has invested quite a bit. and the other way to look at it is that russia is also trying to get at it's what an court enemies in the west, one of the country is being friends and dead them using the influence of bitcoin could explain why they are having much to say in terms or at least a suspicion that russia is having influence on this here, it's involvement in adopting bitcoin as legal tender. so briefly talking about a central african republic. it's a country that is origin, resources, diamonds,

golden, iranian, but also one of the poorest countries on the planet will benefit from this change and how so it's safe to say any that does inter african republic being a country, we've about $5000000.00 people and up a capita of about $525.00. that really doesn't guarantee the decision that has been made by the country in itself to adopt this over the c. if a frank. but then again, if you look at the number of uses in, of internet, in the central african republic, it doesn't exceed 600000 saw. that could mean that these same 600000 people are the people who drive the economy for lack of a better way to put it. but where does that leave the rest of the full 1000000 central african republicans? this means the inequality gaps are quite wide and could even widen more with the adoption of bitcoin as best as we see it. so many more questions, rocks factor,

due to time, will leave it here. joy bureau, there's no correspondence in my movie, kenya, thank you. now how would you feel if a government puts its hand in your pocket and for every $100.00 you had it took a $1.50 sounds a bit unfair to your hard won cash, doesn't it? well that's how many ghanaians see the new electronic transaction levy. that's a 1.5 per cent tax on all psalms in ghana, cities above the equivalent of about $14.00. for many it's an extra economic burden when cost of living is rising. our correspondence, isaac, elijah report to micro gonna on how it is impact and lives in the room. i read these has been in his knee armies daily routine for the past 16 years. serving customers out of his shop in ganawe's capital, a cra, he and his m please provide mobile money services. people can send money or make

cautionary throughout our school if he no fears, customers will stop using his services. if i'd reduce luca, how do i clear to full war coming in and out foreclosure? and if coming from wanted to our own, her almost demo and our return people to cover disclosure with da sudak one we've got 30 to 1000 up. we didn't approve of one month. if he's not picking this order, right, i'm sure i can push on the business gears and barrels broke out in parliament for the food critic. see? the new tax will hit low income people and small businesses. they had asked janice public finances. he's in a bad state and lawmakers who voted for the new taxi. it's a gently needed part of this money is going to support road infrastructure and

therefore we can't see and come follow through what these terms and policies will be useful. and ricardo hold the government accountable. author my committee here and not happy amend what again i'm into they're just general from law while we work hard and they want to just steal from us on what? well, they're not satisfied with what they have right now. we can't bear this any longer any to atlanta, georgia. no one. yeah. i'm gonna pay my bill. i just don't get it. we get charged for more by a money transfer is already to be charged extra. then i wouldn't need the service anymore. no more yet. and i mean, on the back end as is hoping to convince his customer base not to ditch his services completely. if they do all his daily source of livelihood won't be gone. let's talk more about the levy whit salon bronte who joins me now from a crock. ana, he is the vice president of the mighty africa, a think tank for policy and education. hello. hello. so people are clearly not

happy with paying taxes on electronic transactions. what is the major concern people have? so the purchasing power, little fuel that will be the same for the past 24 months. and or because the walk there's a poor performance of the local stores, reach the city a dollar and a major feed in carries. it means that this is impossible, has diminished significantly. and because they believe that this is not the best time to impose additional 1.5, live on all of your talk on his actions, we shall be coming. moto v is foremost, dan started today, understood, on the other hand, people want to develop, man, did he want to be employed in a government says it will use that money generated by the e levy for development projects and to reduce unemployment. so why are people not in support? the issue here is that the track record of the government in implementing

a symbol of policies of this nature, which where the flagship parties over time on the competing has been one where they have and up her own towards the tea lady. and because of that, a lot of them do believe that this policy might not be or their proceeds for the 11th might not be disbursed as well as the house intended or as they are not being tended due to the truck, right? or okay, a trust issue here in a nutshell, i you saying that the 1.5 percent tax on electronic payments is on fe and insensitive to low income people. yeah, absolutely. and the main reason here is because a lot of people who are lower income spectrum are the ones who actually need a lot of these things, very critically. as well as the fact that they are the ones who, when they move from a cash base economy, to attach this economy to benefit the most as they get some kind of surety or some kind of reduced risk under transactions that the make. and with the puzzle of this,

a lot of uncertainty as well as he just in the initial implementation means that a lot of people are now going to go back to the economy, which is something that the government had been working to eliminate the school by the past 7 years or so, all the gains that were made in terms of digitizing payments would not have been routed by this. as you rightly see, many people are now turned into the banks instead. so what impact code this is debbie have on a digital economy? so this is a very unpleasant news, especially after a lot of them have spent a hour and a school innovation and implementing this piece. and due to the fact that the local, the profits here all the proceeds are marginal. it means that these foods being white because some of the service charge is usually below a 100 because we do the equivalent of $13.00. a lot of the service charges are

actually fall is on the beach because a lot of the service charges are kept. you know, the tax on any amount and this is really a big blow to those who are in the intake and digital payments, etc. sound. so now i quickly on this one, is that a need likelihood that government might scrap this? is it too late? you think it's too late because i had a very good approach, which i still steam roll in. what you see through parliament. much the chagrin a much disappoint with a lot of people. they have also born down or treated literally any kind of a position to work with a far and for a lot of people while they have to swallow this up real time goes on. there's no way that government is looking to remain on this anytime soon. okay,

so long branch here, vice president of him money, africa. thank you for the insights. thank you sir. ah, now the lease as well press feet of index has just been published and it pains a mixed picture of countries across the continent. report is what are bought. it says that the tuition in 2 countries, egypt and every tre, yeah, is extremely bad. egypt is described as one of the world's biggest presence for journalists. eritrea has the 2nd lowest rank in the world, only north korea is worse. some african countries enjoy a guaranteed press freedoms. the report highlights the media on south africa and africa, most populous nation. nigeria has a rich and diverse media landscape. report us what our board assess. it is one of the one of west africa is most dangerous and difficult countries for journalists who are often watched, attacked

a be truly arrested and even killed. now in 2020 did abuse conflict zone, spoke to nigeria, mr. information line mohammed on the topic of press freedom, take a listen to what he said. i think when it comes to the level of the press, we do an extremely, very well if papers wrong fall of the law the most physical requests. but when you have that to be a 100 newspapers in the country, 2nd example, one is b, but i will scroll down with the i think should be fair to us that we have a very robust, free press. my next guest is a man who is well pleased to tell us about the state of nigerian press freedoms is one of nigeria, as most talked about investigative journalists, david on dean. welcome to d. w. news africa. now, we just had the nigerian information minister telling d w that a country was doing extremely well when it comes to press freedom. that was 2 years

ago. what's your experience today as an award winning investigative journalist? my experience is that i've had to leave the country now for the sake of my own personal safety. if i want to maintain my freedom and possibly my life, i simply cannot be nigeria. i currently live under asylum protection in exile in the country that i'm probably not allowed to name here. so my experience has been completely at odds with whatever it is a lie me does have to say. and when i will also mention is that even though you can be no longer have a puzzle, bombs being delivered to journalists or, you know, journalists getting bullied in the newsrooms by. so just, you know, building a 47 rifles in your thesis. it doesn't mean that nature has a free press in any way. can you tell us exactly what happened that made you flee? right, so on the 9th of october $22020.00. the major military carried out

a massacre of civilians announcing lamp or just as at the nike told plaza in legal states. now i was able to get access to information from the mobile network provider, which was at the center of the brouhaha, which essentially implicated the nigerian government in terms of who, who was responsible for sabotaging it's fiber optic cable infrastructure. because i think at that moment that the massacre, 2 people offered mass internet outages. so for basically for puts in this story out there, i knew that i was going to potentially risk losing my freedom and all my life. so i fled the country before putting the story out there on the face of it's things look good in nigeria, right? it has one of the most diverse media landscapes on the continent. the constitution also protects freedom of expression and opinion. is that nothing to celebrate? you say so nigeria has this thing called them isomorphic memory in developmental

economics. so which means that on paper it has all the paraphernalia and appearance is of a function in democratic society. so as he said, he has constituent a guarantee freedoms as a freedom of information act, the separation of powers, all that good stuff. in practice, the measure government is by far and away the largest medium at spending a jury, which means that even if they're not pointing a gun in your face, just the simple fact that the wheel the purse strings makes, is such that people self cents on a lot in the major media space, so yeah, they don't need to send to you directly. you essentially yourself, if you want to be able to be, you know, to make payroll next month. now your west africa weekly goes out on a subscription platform sof stock. how much of a game changer are online outlets like this? what they have done is that they have completely democratized the flow of information because the hyper independence of platforms like west africa, weekly,

as please them completely outside of the zone of influenza or control of any nigeria and public or private sector entity. so essentially, that makes in the jungle men's eyes. that means is very dangerous, because without going, for example, has a subscriber base of just about $21000.00 as that last week and a total, a global distribution list of in the region of a $100000.00 plus. so there's a large audience for it. and this is essentially media that is not controlled in any way during government is not funded, even with money that comes from nigeria in any way. so that's from the point of view of, of objective on my ass dress is good news. but from the point of view of and they drink, government is probably very bad news. so you on the 2020 people is journalism prize for informed commentary. and you've been a trailblazer for independent media, but you have more enemies than you want. i was clearly do you still have hope that things can change for the better in your home country?

yeah, i do. and i think when things will change for the better is when more nigerians develop a sort of political consciousness about what exactly the interaction is between things like freedoms and economics and the elections that the participates in very rambunctious every 4 years. because currently there's a sort of disconnect, people don't really seem to be able to link the electro choices they make with the outcomes like the like you massacre or willing of journalists or, you know, flat lining economy. so i feel as if, as people become more informed altogether, the internet is still pretty much in new space. in nigeria, most measures didn't have basically internet access to maybe around 20102011. so the countries just maybe like a decade old in terms of access to information. so i think over as time goes on, as people mature as more and more as they just say to becomes more information

saturated. i think naturally, people's political consciousness will start to revolve, and the country will start to make progress kicking and screaming. yes. ok. david hunt ain investigative journalist in nigeria. thank you. thanks for having me. i. and finally, the venice vienna lee has just opened feature in top notch artist from around the world. and uganda has opened its 1st pavilion in last summer. nice earning a special mention from the festival. that's the 1st time a newcomer country has received the saturn accolade. making it a double fast for the east african country and the featured. you've got an artist call in seconds. you go on a k, karen and i go it ends up process puts a focus on the work of local and regional ugandan craft women collaborators on

gatekeepers. of your local wetlands, drawing on the knowledge of ecological stewardship. the alley, pre her choice of sculptural materials, like back club, raphael, and the street and sustainability as a practice. call in sick as you go, work as an african sense for irreverence. here's the thing i saw that take draws on pop culture and the influence of the global mainstream. his manipulation of stock images becomes pure theater hacking identity to review the bias of entitlement and privilege. and that's how we wrap it up from all of our stories. go to d, w dot com, forward slash africa, or visit our facebook and twitter pages. we leave you with these images, all the work or goes to artists, congratulations to them and uganda, and see you next time, bye for now. with

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minutes on d, w to the point. strong opinions, clear positions, international perspectives with russia now pushing for full control of southern eastern ukraine. western countries are ramping up military support for key f. is the west becoming a party to the conflict. find out on to the point to the point. 90 minutes on d. w. ah . it and transformed into an orgy of hate and violence. the history of the ku klux klan, the oldest terrorist organization in the united states. it's members fight for

racist state, ruled by white supremacy. what we're talking about here is not only disorganized violence, it's not only terrorism. it's politics. found it over 150 years ago. it's repeatedly died out, but always been resurrected. the ku klux klan starts may 11th on d, w, and we're all set to go beyond the obvious citizenship and we're all in as we take on the way, we're all about the stories that matter. a policeman fuller with w fire made a

ah o. d, w. news, and these are our top stories. at least 50 civilians have been evacuated from ukraine's besieged seal plant in mario pole. the survivors have been handed over to representatives of the united nations and the red cross. the u. n says so far more than 500 civilians have been rescued from the as off stall plant where ukrainian troops are holding out against a heavy russian assault. cuban president miguel diaz canal.