Full Coverage: Africa

31.08.2005 Britain's Department for International Development is accused of spending UK aid money on a public relations campaign to pursue a privatisation agenda in Sierra Leone.

31.08.2005 Ihmisoikeusjärjestö Amnesty International kehottaa Euroopan unionia vaatimaan Algerialta, ettei se saattaisi voimaan uutta lainsäädäntöä, joka vapauttaa vakaviin ihmisoikeusloukkauksiin syyllistyneet vastuusta. EU:n ja Algerian kumppanuussopimuksen (Association Agreement) on määrä astua voimaan syyskuun alusta lähtien.

31.08.2005 Etiopian päministeri Meles Zenawin mukaan EU:n raportti Etiopian vaalikäytännöistä on roskaa ja koostuu valheista. EU:n päävaalitarkkailija Ana Gomes sanoi viime torstaina, että Etiopian vaalit eivät täytä kansainvälisiä vaatimuksia. Vaalien aikana raportoitiin useista ihmisoikeusloukkauksista, opposition jäsenten pidätyksistä ja vaalivilpin silminnäkijöiden uhkailusta. EU tukee Etiopiaa vähintään 400 miljoonalla eurolla vuosittain.

31.08.2005 International legal rights groups have called on Angola to reform its press and defamation laws and comply with a recent UN Human Rights Committee ruling that found the government violated an international human rights treaty when it jailed a journalist for criticising the president.

31.08.2005 Nigerian techies are developing the Solo, a computer that can withstand the dust, heat, and unreliable power supply common in their part of the world, and hoping the tropicalised PCs can connect greatly underserved Nigerians in rural areas with the rest of the country and the world.

30.08.2005 L’occidente è partito da una concezione paternalistica (presupposto culturale del colonialismo e del razzismo) esemplificata dalla visione dell’Africa come “fardello dell’uomo bianco” per poi finire, ai nostri giorni, in un atteggiamento “politically correct” secondo il quale gli africani sono assolti da ogni colpa e le responsabilità per i mali dell’Africa, passati ed attuali, sono tutte attribuite al periodo coloniale e, in ogni caso, ai paesi “ricchi”. E' invece indispensabile un approccio equilibrato. Ai paesi ricchi spetta il dovere di aiutare l’Africa a reggere la sfida posta dalla globalizzazione, a dotarsi delle condizioni per partecipare alla competizione e di creare le condizioni perché il terreno di gioco, e cioè il mercato internazionale, sia praticabile anche per le squadre meno attrezzate. Agli africani, però, spetta l’obbligo di impegnarsi prioritariamente per la pace, la tolleranza e la riconciliazione nei loro paesi. La pace, infatti, è l’unico, vero e indispensabile presupposto per il binomio “sviluppo-democrazia”.
di Mario Raffaelli, rappresentate del governo italiano per la Somalia

30.08.2005 Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has described as "garbage" a European Union election report that raised doubts over the fairness of the country's recent general election.

30.08.2005 A senior United Nations official has accused US President George Bush of "doing damage to Africa" by cutting funding for condoms, a move which may jeopardise the successful fight against HIV and Aids in Uganda.

30.08.2005 The Botswana government's attorney has dismissed foreign financial support for the Bushmen - with whom the administration is locked in a land dispute - as "Europeans telling us what to do and what not to do...but we really don't care, and we resent their involvement in our affairs."

30.08.2005 Five years ago the idea of digital television in Africa would have seemed absurd. Now two countries have announced their intention to offer digital television. Senegal seems to have been first into the game, launching a pilot at the end of last year with 200 trial subscribers.

30.08.2005 The crisis-weary African continent, which has two of the world's longest rivers -- the 6,400-kilometre Nile River and the 4,370-kilometre Congo River -- is suffering from a virtual economic paradox: a shortage of water amidst potentially plentiful supplies.

30.08.2005 The biggest thetha SANGONeT information communication technology (ICT) discussion forum with Civil Society Organisations of South Africa have started in Cape Town with an opportunity for the general public to learn about the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).

30.08.2005 The UK government was on Sunday blasted by development agencies for blowing £700,000 of a £3m relief project meant for Malawi—a country plagued by drought, HIV/AIDS, and a disastrous economy—on hotel bills and meals for U.S. consultants.

29.08.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug 29 (OneWorld) - The Ugandan government said Monday it had condoms aplenty even as a top United Nations envoy and U.S.-based activists charged that a U.S. emphasis on promoting abstinence was jeopardizing the East African country's previously successful efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.

29.08.2005 A study conducted by the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) with support from the Royal Netherlands Embassy, demonstrates that that one of the reasons why information and communication technology (ICT) projects in schools do not succeed is that principals are often not properly informed about what ICTs can or cannot do.

29.08.2005 The Seychelles President, Mr James Alix Michel, made an announcement at a recent public consultative meeting for an overall development.

29.08.2005 Afrikan mantereen tietoverkkoliikenne kulkee pian entistä lyhyemmän matkan ja tulee täten edullisemmaksi käyttäjälle. Tarjouskilpailussa Afrikan sisäisestä tietoliikenteestä karsiutui kaksi palveluntarjoajaa. Parempien yhteyksien uskotaan tuovan mukanaan kasvua ja lisäävän Afrikan sisäistä kauppaa.

29.08.2005 The first phase of Electronic Schools' (e-Schools) program of New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) initiated in sixteen African countries.

29.08.2005 Etelä-Afrikassa perustettiin kansanliike köyhyyttä vastaan. Keskusammattiliitto Cosatu johtaa kapinaa liittolaisensa, hallituspuolue ANC:n talouspolitiikkaa vastaan. 72 eri alojen kansalaisjärjestöä kokoontui maanantaina Kapkaupunkiin perustamaan laajan kansanliikkeen köyhyyttä ja työttömyyttä vastaan. Pitkään vireillä olleesta hankkeesta saattaa kehittyä jopa uusi poliittinen puolue.

29.08.2005 Uganda's anti-condom campaign coupled with the U.S. government shifting global AIDS funding from prevention to abstinence-only programs, are causing acute shortages of condoms in the country, and endangering Uganda's previously successful prevention efforts, says the Center for Health and Gender Equity.