Often the hardest thing is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn – David Russel
Posted in Africa on Oct 30th, 2009
The United Kingdom’s Home Office has declared it plans to resume the enforced return of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers to their home country. No date has been set yet, but immigration minister Phil Woolas said the returns would start “as and when the political situation develops”. Around 28,000 Zimbabweans have sought asylum in the UK [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 30th, 2009
A three-month investigation by the Liberian government has found an American rubber company guilty of polluting local water sources. The Firestone Rubber Plantation Company is located 48km south-east of the capital Monrovia and has been found to be contaminating creeks in the region with high levels of orthophosphate, according to the investigation’s final report. Tens [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 29th, 2009
A top British scientist has warned that global warming could cause severe floods, droughts and other extreme weather conditions in Africa. Professor Sir Gordon Conway, the outgoing chief scientist at the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID), says African communities need to develop more resilient lifestyles and livelihoods in order to face unpredictable effects and [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 28th, 2009
The son of ex-French President Francois Mitterrand and an ex-government minister have been convicted for links to illegal arms trafficking to Angola during a civil war in the 1990s. The two men appeared for sentencing in a Paris court yesterday. Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, who was African affairs adviser to his father at the time, was fined [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 27th, 2009
Uganda has said it will start registering all Somali visitors and refugees entering the country after Somali militants threatened to attack the capital Kampala. Islamist rebel group al-Shabab has vowed to bomb the capitals of Uganda and Burundi because their soldiers are supporting the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. The AU troops are backing [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 27th, 2009
An international human rights group has accused the Kenyan government of helping to recruit Somali refugees in Kenya to join the armed forces of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government. New York-based Human Rights Watch claim government-backed recruiters are approaching Somali men and boys in the Dadaab refugee camp as well as Kenyans from nearby towns. Top [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 25th, 2009
On April 1st, 1953, Chief Anthony Enahoro, a back bencher in the Central House of Representatives as it was called then introduced a private member’s Bill demanding for self-government for Nigeria by 1956. His historic motion was developed and later realised on 1st of October, 1960 with collected efforts and cooperation of our early nationalists [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 23rd, 2009
The level of penetration of mobile phones in developing countries has increased eight fold since 2000 and now stands at 48 mobile subscriptions for every 100 people. The finding is from the Information Economy Report, published today by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Africa has the quickest growth of mobile subscriptions in [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 22nd, 2009
Ethiopia launched an appeal today for emergency food aid to feed 6.2 million people threatened by hunger. The plea comes 25 years after a devastating famine in the country killed more than one million people. Ethiopia’s current plight is the consequence of a five-year drought that is affecting over 23 million people in seven East [...]
Posted in Africa on Oct 21st, 2009
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the region’s trade bloc, suspended Niger from the group yesterday in response to the country’s controversial parliamentary elections on Monday. Niger’s opposition boycotted the voting claiming it would allow President Mamadou Tandja to harden his grip on power. ECOWAS had called on Tandja to postpone the elections [...]
