Often the hardest thing is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn – David Russel
Posted in Africa on Dec 7th, 2009
South Africa has offered to slow down the growth of its greenhouse gas emissions if rich countries agree to expand aid for poor nations to cope with climate change. The South African presidency’s website published a statement yesterday pledging a 34 per cent reduction in projected carbon emissions by 2020 and a 42 per cent […]
Posted in Africa on Dec 4th, 2009
A group of Nigerian farmers are suing Royal Dutch Shell over an alleged oil spill in the Niger Delta region that they say ruined the livelihood of local villagers. The farmers claim that badly maintained pipelines of a subsidiary of Shell spilt oil that contaminated fish ponds and farms in Bayelsa State in 2005. Backed […]
Posted in Africa on Dec 3rd, 2009
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called yesterday for greater efforts to fight poverty and the social inequalities that leave people vulnerable to enslavement. His message marked the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, observed annually on 2 December. Poor and socially excluded groups, such as minorities and migrants, suffer most from new and […]
Posted in Africa on Dec 2nd, 2009
Several international aid agencies have ordered their workers in north eastern Central African Republic (CAR) to move to the capital because of security concerns. Humanitarian officials said the retreat followed recent clashes between rebel groups and government forces and the kidnapping of aid workers in the area. A previously unknown group, African Free Eagles, has […]
Posted in Africa on Nov 30th, 2009
The president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, looks set to win yesterday’s national elections with 96.7 per cent of votes, according to partial results posted on the government’s web site today. Nguema has ruled sub-Saharan Africa’s fourth-largest oil-producing country for the last three decades. Human rights groups claim the vote was unlikely to have […]
Posted in Africa on Nov 27th, 2009
The world’s largest diamond trading network has declared a ban on all gems from Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond fields because of what it calls “severe and continued human rights violations”. Rapaport Group’s RapNet Diamond Trading Network issued a ban on Wednesday forbidding its members from trading Zimbabwean diamonds. The call follows a decision earlier this month […]
Posted in Africa on Nov 26th, 2009
In a statement released a few hours ago in Abuja, aides of Nigeria’s sickly leader, Umaru Yar’adua, admitted that he is suffering from “acute pericarditis,” a heart condition that results from complications of Churg-Strauss Syndrome.
The statement was written by Yar’adua’s personal physician, Salisu Banye, but distributed by chief spokesman, Segun Adeniyi.
The statement amounts to validation […]
Posted in Africa on Nov 25th, 2009
Large sums of money promised to developing countries to tackle climate change aid are unaccounted for, according to the BBC. A BBC investigation has found that it is not possible to verify whether the 410 million US dollars a year pledged by industrialised countries in the 2001 Bonn Declaration has actually been paid or not. […]
Posted in Africa on Nov 24th, 2009
The number of new HIV infections around the world has dropped by 17 per cent in the past eight years, according to a new United Nations report. The figures also reveal a reduction of more than 10 per cent in the HIV death rate as a result of greater access to anti-retroviral drugs. Because fewer […]
Posted in Africa on Nov 23rd, 2009
The East African Community has agreed on a common market trade treaty that will allow the free flow of people, services, capital and goods across the region. The deal was signed last Friday during a meeting of the presidents of the bloc’s five member states: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It should be ratified […]
