Online magazine covering Africa launched

DAKAR: An online magazine analysing and commenting on events in Africa, established by French journalists, was formally launched in Dakar on Monday (7 March 2011) to give "an African vision of Africa" in its coverage.

"SlateAfrique is not a news site," Jean-Marie Colombani, a former editor of the French newspaper Le Monde and one of the magazine's founders, told reporters in Dakar.

"It is a magazine with commentaries, analyses, editorials, to step back and take the time necessary for reflection. Our public want to know more about what is happening."

Most of the contributors to the magazine, put on line on February 10, are Africans.

"We have 150 to 200 contributors living in Africa. SlateAfrique, it is an African vision of Africa," according to Claire Blandin, secretary general of the magazine, a subsidiary of the publication Slate.fr, which is itself linked to Slate.com, belonging to the US Washington Post group.

The site will offer "free and open access" and is determined to be Afro-optimist.

"The next development horizon is Africa, in particular French-speaking Africa. The continent is not a place where there are only civil wars and ethnic conflicts. We want to talk about this Africa, to follow its development," Colombani said.

"We cover all the countries but we put the emphasis on Francophone Africa," he added.

Source: AFP