Full Coverage: Africa

30.04.2004 En avril 1994, l'ensemble de la communauté internationale avait les yeux rivés sur les premières élections multiraciales de l'histoire de l'Afrique du Sud. Deux défis attendaient Nelson Mandela et son nouveau gouvernement : en plus d'avoir à garantir une réconciliation nationale essentielle, il devait rapidement s'attaquer à restructurer un système économique où la richesse des Blancs n'avait été « gagnée » que par l'exclusion et l'exploitation directe des travailleurs africains, métis et asiatiques. Dix ans plus tard, les inégalités s'aggravent.

30.04.2004 The African Regional Youth Initiative (ARYI) invites women to participate in an on line discussion on the priorities in the fight against HIV/AIDS and its socio-economic consequences on women living in the Central Africa region. The Women's Program of the African Regional Youth Initiative seeks to empower and raise the voice of women in Central Africa through capacity building and transformative leadership. The online discussion is in both English and French. It will last two months and a document will be produced as a key output. The discussion commences on 19 April 2004. For more information, please contact the ARYI Women's Program coordinator, Sylvie N Ngoueme, sniombo@yahoo.fr.
To subscribe to the discussion group, please send a blank email to:
aryi_womenprogram-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

30.04.2004 The strong prospect for peace in Sudan has been dealt a severe blow by the devastating conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, says Christian Aid. Whilst these attacks continue, government leaders and the main southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), have been negotiating a peace settlement in Kenya and are expected to reach agreement in the summer. However, as the devastating conflict in Darfur indicates, the war in Sudan is much more complex than north versus south - there are numerous conflicts which must be resolved if peace is to become a reality for all the Sudanese people.

30.04.2004 In the latest attempt to curb the circulation of small arms in Africa, foreign affairs ministers and other representatives from eleven countries signed a protocol on weapons control recently in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. But, the jury is still out on whether this initiative really has the ingredients for success.

29.04.2004 The Bush administration AIDS czar said in South Africa Wednesday that the U.S. supports cheaper, generic AIDS medication if their effectiveness is ascertained.

29.04.2004 The Sudanese government is stalling the entrance of U.S. relief workers to the Darfur region pending the onset of the rainy season in June. Weather conditions will make it even harder to deliver humanitarian aid after June.

29.04.2004 Paul Kingsnorth, author of One No, Many Yeses, finds that the once-radical ANC is now toeing the free-market line dictated by the West, and resistance is gathering pace.

29.04.2004 The International Federation of Journalists has called on the Sudanese
government to immediately lift repressive measures against foreign press
coverage of the unfolding disaster in the west of the country where
thousands of civilians have reportedly been massacred in a drama reminiscent
of the Rwanda crisis ten years ago.

29.04.2004 Finally, Bill C-9 will go to Parliament this week for third and final reading. That will end nearly a year of wrangling over legislation aimed at allowing the export of affordable generic medicines to developing countries. A coalition of NGOs welcomed this final step from Canada ... while urging other countries to do much better.

28.04.2004 Il signor Ahamed è un piccolo produttore di un villaggio del Mali: con due ettari di terra coltivata a cotone ricava più o meno 400 dollari l'anno, abbastanza per sopravvivere ma non certo per mandare i figli a scuola. Il signor Smith, proprietario di una fattoria da migliaia di ettari, riceve 500 dollari di sussidio per ogni due ettari di terra. Nel 2002 Smith si è visto aumentare il sostegno del governo federale mentre Ahmed si è visto crollare le tariffe del cotone sul mercato mondiale. - di Sabina Morandi

28.04.2004 Barely days after the U.S. lifted all sanctions against his country, Libya's Muammar Gadaffi is meeting with the European Commission President and the Belgian Prime Minister in Brussels this week. Experts on Middle East affairs trace his journey back to the international arena and why leaders of western nations are pleased about it.

28.04.2004 Amid all the gloom about war, global warming, and the spread of HIV/AIDS comes a glimmer of hope in the news from two key UN agencies that the number of measles deaths declined by 30 percent worldwide between 1999 and 2002. The World Health Organisation and the UN Children Fund (UNICEF) also reported that Africa, which suffers the highest rate of measles infection in the world, cut deaths by 35 percent over the same three-year period.

28.04.2004 Nei giorni scorsi una ventina di civili sono stati ucciso da ribelli hutu rwandesi nel Sud-Kivu. Sono seguiti scontri tra le truppe congolesi e gli stessi ribelli hutu che hanno subito 39 vittime. Altri scontri ci sono stati tra le forze dell'ordine e un gruppo di universitari di Kinshasa che protestavano contro i disservizi dell'ateneo a cui sono seguite delle espulsioni di alcuni studenti poi revocate dal ministro dell'Istruzione. A dieci anni dal genocidio del Rwanda e dall'elezione di Mandela, "dalla paura alla speranza per l'Africa" sarà tra i temi del World Social Agenda in programma a Padova nei prossimi giorni.

28.04.2004 This brief summarises research carried out in Tanzania, Uganda and Burkina Faso and other countries, asking where, how, and why open source software is being used in Africa. Researcher Martin Bruggink highlights the opportunities as well as the risks facing IT managers in African institutions who are thinking of making the switch to open source."

28.04.2004 Zambia's high court judge, Philip Musonda, has quashed Post columnist, Roy Clarke's deportation order because it was unlawful and excessive.

27.04.2004 Le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU, réuni ce matin en consultations à huis clos sur la situation au Sahara occidental, est saisi du dernier rapport du Secrétaire général, Kofi Anan, sur la question dans lequel celui-ci lui fait part de la réponse du Maroc, qui est disposé à accepter l'une des options prévues par le Plan de paix, soit l'autonomie, mais opposé à l'indépendance du territoire.

27.04.2004 In occasione della visita di Gheddafi alla Commissione europea - la prima da 15 anni - Amnesty International ha diffuso oggi un rapporto dal titolo "Libia: è il momento di rendere i diritti umani una realtà" che riporta le conclusioni della recente missione nel paese africano dove i delegati di Amnesty sono stati accolti con una disponibilità senza precedenti. Il Rapporto rivela però il perdurante di violazioni dei diritti umani e un diffuso clima di paura nel sollevare questioni relative ad abusi del passato e del presente.

27.04.2004 Amnesty international has released a new report detailing the organisations findings on its first visit to Libya 15 years ago. The report -- released on the day of Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi's visit to the European Commission in Brussels, his first to Europe in 15 years -- reveals a pattern of on-going human rights violations, a continuing failure to investigate and resolve past abuses, and a climate of fear in which most Libyans are afraid to raise concerns over current and past violations.

27.04.2004 As South Africa celebrates 10 years of democracy with grand festivities and speeches by everyone from Nelson Mandela to Tony Blair - it also marks the continent's progress on the path toward political freedom.

27.04.2004 Libya needs a comprehensive programme of reform to address human rights concerns, warns Amnesty International in a new report. The Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi made his first visit to Europe in 15 years on 26 April.