Full Coverage: Africa

30.07.2004 Authoritarian governments in many countries still control the free flow of information on the internet, shows a recently published global report by Reporters Without Borders. Besides, many democratic societies in Europe and America have started exercising surveillance on internet communication for controlling terrorism.

30.07.2004 Tanzanian Internet users, whose Internet Services Providers are peering at the newly launched Tanzania Internet Exchange Point, are enjoying up to 60 times faster access to local content, said Suhail Sheriff, interim chairman of the Tanzania Internet Service Providers Association.

30.07.2004 The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced the commencement of formal investigation into war crimes in Uganda this week. The investigation, prompted by a request from the government of Uganda, will look at the conduct of both rebel and government forces in the 18-year conflict in the northern part of the country.

30.07.2004 The UN Security Council will vote on the final draft of the U.S. resolution on Sudan this week. The resolution does not mention sanctions but threatens economic measures against Sudan if its government fails to disarm the Janjaweed militia.

29.07.2004 Common challenges to collective rights and survival affecting the indigenous Arara in Brazil, Mursi and Bodi in Ethiopia, and Veddah in Sri Lanka have been reported by Survival. Conflict and competing claims over land rights are the key factor in all three cases, threatening the livelihoods and long-term survival of the communities concerned.

29.07.2004 Nigerian education minister Hajia Binta Ibrahim Musa has said the country’s future educators must be computer literate by 2005 to be eligible for teacher training certification. At a meeting in Abuja, she said ICTs and distance education could be an affordable way of expanding and improving the quality of education in Africa.

29.07.2004

© ENS

The results of a recent poll conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) showed that most Americans support sending U.S. troops to protect civilian population in Darfur provided other nations contribute 75 per cent of the forces necessary.

28.07.2004 After more than 10 years of frozen cooperation, the European Commission wants to re-open consultation with Togo and has agreed a roadmap for the resumption of financial support. The key test is to hold free and fair elections within the next 24 months and European monitors will be working in the country over that period.

28.07.2004 Political talks between the Togolese government and opposition parties officially opened under pressure from the European Union (EU) despite the absence of main opposition parties.

28.07.2004 Togo's health ministry is throwing its weight behind new combination drugs in the fight against malaria but their high price-tags put them beyond the reach of many people, who turn instead to traditional remedies and black market medicines.

28.07.2004 The government of Zimbabwe plans to ban international human rights groups from the country and cut foreign funding to local organizations that promote human rights, according to a draft bill. Zimbabwe has long accused aid organizations of interfering in its internal affairs and has made repeated threats to restrict their activities.

28.07.2004 Recognizing the fact that many countries’ concerns about environmental protection are overshadowed by their need to alleviate poverty, a project by a U.S.-based international aid agency emphasizes the need to run economic interventions side-by-side with strong conservation education for longer-term benefits. Working with the East Africa Wildlife Society, the project has already succeeded in getting 16 areas set aside for conservation purposes.

28.07.2004

Millions still depend on food aid in Zimbabwe © IRIN

The Zimbabwean government is preventing humanitarian agencies from providing assistance to about 150,000 farm workers who lost their jobs and housing because of the government’s land reform program. The workers are former employees of commercial farms that were seized by the government and re-distributed to war veterans.

28.07.2004 Residents of South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo fled their homes in June when rebel forces attacked their towns. They returned home this month only to find they had lost everything to looting by government and rebel troops.

28.07.2004 The government of Zimbabwe plans to ban international human rights groups from the country and cut foreign funding to local organizations that promote human rights, according to a draft bill. Zimbabwe has long accused aid organizations of interfering in its internal affairs and has made repeated threats to restrict their activities.

27.07.2004 Poor and illiterate women and girls in Togo will soon be helped to learn how to avoid HIV/AIDS infection and care for those infected in a joint project between the UN and the Togo government.

27.07.2004 In spite of a heavy eradication program in West Africa run by the Jimmy Carter Foundation, guinea worm continues to threaten West African countries. The Foundation aims to eradicate guinea worm from Togo by the end of 2004.

27.07.2004 The cholera epidemic in Lome which claimed many lives in February 2004 was centred around households close to the polluted water of the city lagoon and illustrates the serious risks faced by the city's population.

27.07.2004 New research has revealed that the consumption of aflatoxins, which contaminate staple foods stored in hot and humid conditions, is associated with impaired growth in children in Togo and Benin.

27.07.2004 Rubbish, dumped in gutters, is choking up the crumbling sanitation works that poorly service the capital Lome, worsening flooding in the rainy season and encouraging the spread of disease, to the concern of residents and health workers.