Full Coverage: Africa

29.07.2005 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Italian government on Thursday signed an agreement in Maputo, that establishes mechanisms of multilateral financing for a project to develop Mozambican human resources in the sphere of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

29.07.2005 This is a detailed report of the workshop “ICT for Rural Knowledge Management and Sharing: An input into poverty reduction strategy?” that was held in Uganda 11th – 15th April 2005.
The workshop emanated from the C3Net dgroup and was sponsored by Hivos.

29.07.2005 Over the past five years, Zimbabwe's economy has collapsed--causing the death of nearly 4,000 children per year. While President Mugabe blames the economic problems on external forces and drought, the Center for Global Development reports that government misrule has caused the county's woes.

29.07.2005 RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 28 (IPS) - The tragic situation in Africa has led AIDS researchers to ignore the realities of other regions of the world, including Latin America, local activists stressed at the end of a major international conference held here this week.

29.07.2005 On August 1-4, a fast and vigil will be held outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington, D.C. for an end to the genocide in Darfur. Africa Action asks you to show your support and get involved.

29.07.2005 Save the Children sta inviando in Niger aiuti alimentari di emergenza per garantire la sopravvivenza di migliaia di bambini gravemente malnutriti. 41 tonnellate di cibo sono state trasportate a Niamey, capitale del Niger, da un volo umanitario partito nei giorni scorsi da Ostenda (Belgio). “Ogni minuto che passa rappresenta un ulteriore rischio di vita per tanti minori” - sottolinea Filippo Ungaro, portavoce di Save the Children Italia. Sono 15.000 circa i bambini sotto i 5 anni a cui l'organizzazione internazionale indipendente per la tutela e la promozione dei diritti dei bambini, sta prestando soccorso nella regione di Maradi, afflitta da una grave carestia dovuta alla drastica riduzione delle piogge nel corso del 2005 e alla diffusione delle locuste.

28.07.2005 Mpumalanga communities in and around the farming town of Standerton, Africa will for the first time have access to cyber facilities at their doorstep.

28.07.2005 Twenty-four hours after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special envoy on human settlements called for an immediate end to demolitions and evictions in Zimbabwe, thousands of people on a settlement 20 kilometres from the capital watched helplessly as bulldozers destroyed their homes for the second time in a month.

28.07.2005 In 50 days time, world leaders have the opportunity to prevent food crises like Niger ever happening again by setting up a UN emergency fund, says Oxfam.

28.07.2005 After several southern African countries rejected food aid with genetically modified grain in 2002-2003, a heated debate was launched over biotechnology--with the public left uncertain about the truth. In response, IFPRI has brought together experts to discuss the political and ethical issues surrounding biotechnology and the future of Africa's food security.

27.07.2005 In seguito al Rapporto Onu sull’Operazione di demolizioni e sgomberi in corso in Zimbabwe, che "si stima abbia già lasciato 700 mila senza dimora e mezzi di sostentamento” e toccato in varia misura altre 2 milioni e 400 mila persone, i governi di alcuni Paesi occidentali, con in testa la Gran Bretagna, stanno proponendo al Consiglio di sicurezza di ascoltare Anna Tibaijuka, inviata speciale del Segretario Generale Kofi Annan ad Harare e autrice del rapporto sulle demolizioni. Nei giorni scorsi Annan ha accettato un invito del presidente Mugabe a recarsi ad Harare, ma la visita "non è imminente". Nel frattempo, il presidente Robert Gabriel Mugabe si trova a Pechino dove starebbe concludendo una serie di accordi commerciali e finanziari “di cui molto poco viene reso noto” – riporta l’agenzia Misna. L’Unicef denuncia che, in seguito agli sgomberi, più di 220mila bambini sono già rimasti tetto mentre l’accesso al cibo, all’acqua e alle cure mediche è reso quasi impossibile.

27.07.2005 Campaigners and police in Kenya have started advertising ‘rape red spots’ on the city’s billboards to warn and protect women. Winnie Onyimbo reports for InterWorld Radio on whether it’s doing any good. (realPlayer required)

26.07.2005 President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday urged African nations to agree on common Information Communication Technology (ICT) implementation strategies in Education, which must reflect on various core issues like education, development of sub-regional policy guidelines for effective partnership mechanism for cost-sharing, human resource development and optimisation of existing capacity in all areas of ICT use in education, an environment to reduce connectivity costs and supply of adequate band-with.

26.07.2005 African government to introduce reforms and initiatives in the information and communication (ICT) sector. As a part of this strategy Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service sector will get a new policy framework in two weeks time in Africa.

25.07.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Jul 25 (OneWorld) - Congress has done little to protect lives in Darfur in the year since it declared, unanimously, that mass killings there amounted to genocide, a leading U.S.-based advocacy group has charged amid an upsurge in violence in the western Sudanese region.

25.07.2005 Talouden nousu edellyttää liike-elämälle nykyistä suotuisampaa toimintaympäristöä, painottaa Maailmanpankin ja Aasian kehityspankin selvitys.

25.07.2005 "Murambatsvina - Spazza via l'immondizia". Non è una nuova campagna ecologica, ma lo slogan con cui il governo dello Zimbabwe ha avviato nelle scorse settimane, in pieno inverno, una delle più massicce operazioni di sgombero e demolizione di case e baracche che la storia, non solo africana, abbia conosciuto. Uno degli aspetti più preoccupanti della vicenda riguarda la crescente influenza cinese nello Zimbabwe. Il colosso asiatico in questi mesi ha infittito i rapporti diplomatici e commerciali con il Paese africano, incrementando fortemente gli investimenti. "In realtà - afferma Cesare Ottolini, coordinatore della International Alliance of Inhabitants (IAI) - quello dello Zimbabwe non è un grandissimo mercato, ma è fondamentale la sua posizione strategica". A conferma cita i continui viaggi di Mugabe in Cina e la crescente presenza di imprenditori cinesi in Zimbabwe. Nel Paese ci sono già comunità cinesi e imprenditori pronti a realizzare, sulle aree rese libere dallo sgombero, industrie nelle quali organizzare il lavoro secondo standard e condizioni di lavoro cinesi".
di Alberto Conci

25.07.2005 HP Invent and NEPAD e-Africa Commission have launched the first NEPAD e-school at Bugulumbya Secondary School in Kamuli district.

25.07.2005 Connectivity through mobile phones in Africa is growing at a very fast pace. 97% of all Tanzanians have access to mobile phones and this has led to the creation of a new sector within the economy.

25.07.2005 A stinging U.N. report released Friday condemns President Mugabe's urban clean-up operation, saying it was carried out "with indifference to human suffering," and was a breach of both national and international human rights law. The report calls for an immediate halt of the demolitions, urging the government to pay reparations to the affected and punish those who carried out the forced evictions.