Full Coverage: Africa

29.10.2004 Tens of thousands of women, girls, children and even babies raped and tortured in the Congo by warring factions have poor access to medical care, warns Amnesty.

28.10.2004 A coalition of more than 160 U.S. development and relief organizations is calling on President George W. Bush to provide more assistance to the more than 1.6 million people who have been forced from their homes in a brutal counter-insurgency campaign that the Bush administration has characterized as “genocide” in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

28.10.2004 Six African organisations demonstrating the innovative use of handheld devices in development have bagged 35 such devices each as prize of a competition hosted by bridges.org recently. The handheld devices will now be used in grassroots development projects.

27.10.2004

Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights - da Hrw

The fighting in Darfur is only one of several confrontations in the Sudanese Civil war, says Dan Connell, it cannot be solved in isolation. If a unified state is desirable, the international community will have to include Darfur and other regional conflicts in the ongoing peace talks between the Khartoum government and the people of southern Sudan, otherwise breaking Sudan into several autonomous states may be the only solution to the slaughter.

27.10.2004 Tunisia’s restrictive media culture may ruin its chance of hosting the second World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in 2005. The International Press Institute is urging the UN to shop for another host country if the Tunisian government cannot guarantee that its media and human rights groups will be allowed to participate without restriction.

26.10.2004 Providing information on websites is not enough for improving delivery of government services to the poor, points out a recent study on the usefulness of ICTs in improving governance. Citing the case of Mozambique, the report recommends integration of standardised information management practices in the government websites.

26.10.2004

Refugees from Darfur head for Eastern Chad © B.Heger/Exile Images / Exile Images

This much we know: more than twelve months on, the fighting and insecurity that sent Darfur people fleeing from their homes has not stopped. Relief workers do not know when the situation will improve but they plan to provide emergency aid till October 2005 and to help people rebuild their lives when they return to their villages.

22.10.2004 Depuis quelques années, la publication de l'Indice de perceptions de la corruption de l'ONG allemande Transparency International constitue un événement, qui draine un nombre important de journalistes. Le point de presse organisé hier à Yaoundé, par le président de la section camerounaise de Transparency International, Me Akere Muna n'a pas dérogé à cette tradition. Les journalistes de la presse nationale présents dans la salle attendaient avec une certaine impatience la position attribuée à notre pays cette année.

22.10.2004 Fresh crisis is brewing in Ogoniland as the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) issued oil multinational, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) a seven-day ultimatum, beginning October 16 this year, to withdraw all military and para-military forces deployed to protect the firms facilities in the area.

22.10.2004 A land tax on farms is to be implemented by the Namibian government. The aim of the tax is to address the “land hunger” that persists in Namibia against people who were previously disadvantaged under apartheid. The Namibian government has completed its valuation of the country’s commercial farms as the preliminary step to collection of the tax.

22.10.2004 The United Nations Human Rights Comission (UNHRC) has reviewed the Namibian government’s human rights record, and found that progressive gender laws have not prevented a rise in domestic violence. The government acknowledged that it was guilty of torture and trial delays, especially in connection with the acrimonious and controversial Caprivi Treason Trial.

22.10.2004 Fish don’t obey national boundaries, so the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) programme of the Global Environmental Fund brings together Namibia, South Africa and Angola to discuss sustainable management. The cold Benguela current supports a rich marine ecosystem contributing a significant proportion of GDP for these countries.

21.10.2004 The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) and ICOZA launched a new joint venture, called NGO.ZA, this afternoon in Johannesburg. In view of the fast-changing nature of ICT products and services and the growing ICT awareness and requirements of the South African NGO sector, SANGONeT conceptualised this new initiative aimed at providing the NGO sector with a wide range of affordable ICT solutions.

21.10.2004 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila has asked President Levy Mwanawasa to send a delegation to that country to investigate allegations of money and arms being used to destabilise Zambia. The allegations were made by former Vice President, Dr Nevers Mumba, who has since been fired from his government post.

21.10.2004 Zambia has declared HIV/AIDS a national emergency to drive HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention scale-up efforts and to start producing generic AIDS drugs locally. The emergency will be in force from August 2004 to July 2009 and local drugs manufacturers will be allowed to produce more affordable life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS in the country.

21.10.2004 The Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has said it is concerned over the government's apparent "lack of regard" for the "rule of law." LAZ's comments came in the wake of President Levy Mwanawasa's move to dismiss the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mukelabai Mukelabai, allegedly unconstitutionally.

21.10.2004 Zambia's efforts to improve the quality of school education are being hampered by harsh conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a new report by the development agency, Oxfam, has claimed.

21.10.2004 Zambia's efforts to improve the quality of school education are being hampered by harsh conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a new report by the development agency, Oxfam, has claimed.

21.10.2004 Ali Adam, aid worker and native of Khartoum, believes the conflicts in Sudan are not about religion (Christian versus muslim) or region (north versus south) but about power and wealth, economic imbalance and social marginalization.

21.10.2004 Put a smile on the face of a bereaved child by sending a bag with a year’s supply of services and care items. The Academy for Educational Development has launched the Orphan Support Pack program to provide children under five orphaned by AIDS with urgently needed services and care items.