Full Coverage: Africa

30.11.2004 Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in the world with many difficult development hurdles to face, but for the first time its major political parties have run campaigns about issues in a real climate of competition, says journalist Paola Rolletta in Maputo. Voters will choose lawmakers and a head of state Wednesday.

30.11.2004 As the new Somali president and prime minister begin to assemble their cabinet, with hopes of returning a stable government to Mogadishu in January for the first time since 1991, NGOs are demanding that women be given "significant ministries" to reflect their true position in Somali society.

30.11.2004 The prospects for peace are better now than anytime in the past 20 years; Sudanese leaders and the international aid community must seize this opportunity and come through for the people of the long-embattled country, the UN said Tuesday.

30.11.2004 Solidarity will be the theme when members of civil society demonstrate outside Zimbabwean embassies on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. New legislation seeks to further restrict civil society in the country, which has seen a steady exodus of skilled professionals in recent months and years.

30.11.2004 The epidemic’s impact on women and girls is the focus of this year’s World AIDS Day, and the IMF will be targeted by AIDS activists Wednesday charging that its policies exacerbate the problem in poor countries.

30.11.2004 Despite the threat of expulsion by the Sudanese government for making political statements, Save the Children continues to warn that the peace accord has had no immediate impact and that "ethnic violence and civil war will continue to complicate relief efforts".

30.11.2004 The unsuccessful, undemocratic and unfair policies imposed on copper-rich Zambia by the IMF and the World Bank have made it one of the poorest countries. The policies include trade liberalisation, removal of legal restrictions on prices, privatization and others.

29.11.2004 While the promise of a mine-free world is now "within reach," governments must do more to help landmine survivors and get mines out of the ground quickly, said campaigners at the opening of a major worldwide conference Monday.

26.11.2004 The Zimbabwe parliament has passed the controversial NGO bill on to its third reading. An amendment has been effected to clause 32 and this amendment means that there maybe a six months grace period for non-profit organisations to register under the new act.

26.11.2004 An estimated six million mines laid during 27 years of civil war still litter Angola's countryside. They have left a trail of physical destruction - disabling one in every 415 Angolans - as well as psychological trauma.

26.11.2004 Passions are heating up in the troubled region of Central Africa as Rwanda has threatened to invade neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo to track down rebels it claims are preparing an attack on Rwanda from that country. One Congolese official believes Rwanda is looking for a pretense to attack his country.

26.11.2004 In Zimbabwe, Pact, a U.S. non-profit, has partnered with three local organizations to create post-HIV test clubs called “Moving On.” With a cadre of local doctors, pharmacists, ministers, herbalists, and nutritionists, the clubs provide advice, referral services, peer counseling and access to affordable condoms to anyone who has taken the HIV test, regardless of the outcome.

25.11.2004 Participants at the first Round Table on Community Media and Sustainable Development held in Marrakesh have recommended a development fund for community radio in Africa. The Declaration of Marrakesh proposes a stronger partnership between civil society and donor agencies to support community media initiatives.

24.11.2004 As treatment of numerous HIV/AIDs patients in South Africa becomes unmanageable, an AIDS treatment program called Sizophila Project has started experimenting with cell phones to build an easy communication system between doctors and patients. The project implementing a database software and cellphones to track patient records and call medical attendants, has been successful in providing timely medical assistance to the patients.

24.11.2004 Robert Mugabe loves cricket but loathes the media, even to extent of excluding English sports journalists covering the tour of Zimbabwe which starts today.

24.11.2004 In the equation between European food subsidies and employment for Africans surviving on less than $2 per day, the sugar industry offers the greatest returns. There is a new European commissioner for agriculture. What hopes for a change of policy?

24.11.2004 Women's groups in Zimbabwe have welcomed the prospect of having a female vice president after next year's parliamentary elections, but concerns have been raised about not enough being done to promote the greater participation of women in politics.

24.11.2004 The Cameroonians of the Bakassi Peninsula have learned, like many other communities, that the prospect of oil can be more of a curse than a blessing.

24.11.2004 The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has awarded its 2005 Golden Pen of Freedom to Sudanese journalist Mahjoub Mohamed Salah, calling him a "pioneer and hero for the independent press." The announcement comes amidst a news blackout that is preventing the world from seeing the true story about human rights atrocities in Sudan.

23.11.2004 Au cours de l'année 2004, le CRDI a initié une série de consultations sur l’état des biotechnologies et des technologies émergentes dans les différentes sous-régions dans lesquelles il travaille.
La consultation de Dakar permettra de réaliser un inventaire aussi complet que possible des biotechnologies en usage en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre. Les diverses sessions prévues au programme devraient amener des précisions sur le type de biotechnologies prêtes à être utilisées dans la sous-région et celles qui nécessitent encore des recherches avant leur mise en marché. La consultation définira des éléments d'une stratégie pour le développement des biotechnologies en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre, précisera les questions de recherche prioritaires dans la sous-région et dégagera des axes d'intervention possible pour le CRDI dans les années qui viennent.