Africa has about 5 percent of global air traffic but 20 percent of accidents and deaths in 2014.

Siddi Kone is an air navigation safety expert. He says many small airline companies that operate south of the Sahara Desert fail to follow international air navigation rules. He says they sometimes do not know where their planes are located.

He says air traffic coordination and communication must improve. He says planes cannot travel on the same routes as they fly over the continent.

Osei Bonsu is an expert on aviation in Africa. He says countries must work together to locate plane crashes and rescue survivors. He says training is needed to manage air traffic as flights in and out of Africa increase.

Air traffic controllers in Africa say they do not have enough workers, and they lack good communication equipment. Air traffic safety experts who gathered in Cameroon this week said some air traffic controllers use mobile phones to communicate with pilots.