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Fatmata Kabia

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Fatmata S. Kabia is an associate in Covington’s New York office. Her practice focuses on internal and government investigations and commercial litigation. Ms. Kabia has represented private and public companies, corporate directors, and individuals in a variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, benefits, and financial services. Ms. Kabia also has experience working in-house as part of the anti-money laundering group of a multinational investment bank. She provides an interdisciplinary perspective to advise clients, particularly on cross-border issues and financial crime compliance.

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What if a wall could restore degrading land or save biodiversity? Imagine that it stretched from Senegal to Djibouti, was about three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef, and made entirely of trees and vegetation. With an influx of funding from a coalition of international development banks and governments, that wall is one step closer to becoming reality.

In 2007, the African Union launched the Great Green Wall initiative, as part of Declaration 137 VIII. The goal was to restore Africa’s degraded landscape by planting vegetation about 10 miles wide and over 4,000 miles long in the Sahel region, at the southern edge of the Sahara desert.  The goal has since evolved to address not only degradation, but land use, peacebuilding, and climate change.…
Continue Reading Africa’s Great Green Wall

Can African governments head off a sustained spike in the spread of COVID-19 and recover economically in 2021? How will the Biden administration engage the continent? Will companies implement more effective due diligence efforts in their supply chains to prevent human rights abuses? What impact will efforts to battle corruption and mitigate climate change have in the coming year? Covington’s Africa Practice offers insights on these questions and other key issues that will define 2021 on the continent.

COVID-19 Recovery: Since Africa confirmed its first COVID-19 case in February 2020, every country has been affected, leading to over 100 million cases and two million deaths. The World Health Organization applauded African governments for their swift responses which curtailed wide-spread infections but contributed to the region’s first economic recession in twenty-five years. Over the last month, Africa has been hit hard by a second wave of COVID-19. Daily case rates have increased to almost twice the rates in July and August 2020, prompting South Africa, among other nations, to re-impose severe measures aimed at preventing deaths.…
Continue Reading Top Issues to Watch in Africa: 2021

Commencement of the AfCFTA. The landmark African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is slated to go into force on July 1, 2020. When fully implemented, the trade agreement will eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers, and substantially increase intra-regional trade to volumes worth over $3.3 trillion. Twenty-nine countries have deposited their instruments of ratification, and Eritrea…

Fires have ravaged Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, burning over 1,330 square miles of tree cover, and placing people, wildlife, and their habitats at risk. Experts warn that further degradation could inhibit the forest’s ability to release oxygen and absorb heat-trapping carbon dioxide—a key function for combatting climate change.

The fires in the Amazon…

Artificial intelligence and big data are some of the new technologies dominating discourse in 2018.  These technologies are expected to change the way that we travel, learn, and transact.  However, this forecast is less clear for the least developed countries (LDCs).

According to a United Nations study, science and technology and resource and development…

Hurricane Harvey bombarded the Gulf Coast of the United States, leaving more than 250,000 people without power and causing substantial financial, physical, and emotional damage in its wake.  Though record-breaking, Harvey was not a singular event.  In 2017, severe rain events like Harvey have impacted many communities and businesses around the world.  Africa is no…