Full Coverage: East Africa

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.

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

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.

29.08.2005 Six years ago in Northern Uganda, Sarah (not her real name), was abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group that forcibly uses children as soldiers, and in the case of girls, sex slaves. Now over 70 children, including Sarah and her five year old daughter, have been reunited with their families through World Vision’s rehabilitation program.

26.08.2005 The 2005 annual PICTA meeting will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethopia from 7 - 8 September at the UNECA headquarters.

26.08.2005 Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has called for an investigation after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria suspended all its grants to Uganda due to "evidence of serious mismanagement" of funds.

26.08.2005 Maailmanlaajuinen hiv/aidsin, tuberkuloosin ja malarian ehkäisyyn keskittyvä Global Fund on keskeyttänyt terveysohjelmien rahoittamisen Ugandassa. Brittiläisen Financial Times -lehden mukaan avun jäädyttämisen syynä ovat epäilyt vakavista taloudellisista väärinkäytöksistä. Financial Times -lehden mukaan kateissa on noin 280.000 dollaria.

26.08.2005 On 22 August 2005, a dual ceremony was held at Rimbaud’s House in the historic Ethiopian city of Harar to mark the inauguration of a UNESCO sponsored community telecentre and to present certificates to the first batch of graduates from the telecentre’s basic ICT course.

25.08.2005 When her husband contracted AIDS, Kenyan nurse Ruth Abwao Bandi saw his care neglected even by other health professionals. This negative experience turned Bandi into an advocate against stigma and she has formed support groups in her community to help people understand and respond proactively to the results of their HIV tests.

25.08.2005 Surveys by ActionAid International of residents in Harare, Zimbabwe, affected by the government’s so-called ‘Operation Restore Order' reveal that the devastating effects of the demolition are much higher than previously estimated.

24.08.2005 United Nations special envoy Anna Tibaijuka’s report on Zimbabwe's Operation Murambatsvina has continued to attract heavy media attention. But while the private media in the country have carried fairly investigative and balanced reports on the topic, the government-controlled media’s coverage is rigid, characterised by shrill defence of government’s implementation of Murambatsvina while simultaneously parading the clampdown’s mop-up successor, Operation Garikai, as a worthy programme.

24.08.2005 Le armi continuano a tuonare nel paese contro un centro di registrazione della Commissione Elettorale Indipendente. E le armi arrivano nonostante l’embargo, dai Balcani e dall'Europa dell'est con l’intermediazione di aziende con sede in Gran Bretagna. Per l’acquisto delle armi vengono usati i proventi del commercio illecito dell’oro e della cassiterite - utilizzata per la produzione dello stagno - che ha sorpassato il coltan, minerale famoso per la produzione di telefonia mobile, come ha documentato in un rapporto Global Witness. A raccoglierne i benefici c’è il Ruanda che secondo il professor belga Filip Reyntjens controlla il Congo attraverso il movimento ribelle congolese che fa attualmente parte del governo di transizione di Kinshasa. Per la “ Rete pace per il Congo” sono necessarie vere strategie di controllo per un mercato che invece si vuole assolutamente libero per vincere ogni forma di concorrenza.

24.08.2005 Global Witness denuncia il commercio illecito della cassiterite nell'est della Repubblica Democratica del Congo e conclude il suo rapporto con delle raccomandazioni verso il governo congolese, la comunità internazionale, i paesi vicini, i paesi di importazione e di trasformazione dei prodotti minerari e il Consiglio di sicurezza delle Nazioni Unite. il Ruanda è occupato semplicemente a svuotare l'est del Congo sotto il naso delle autorità congolesi e della Comunità internazionale che il Rcd-Goma si incarica di distrarre. Nel 1996, il 61% del prodotto interno lordo (Pib) ruandese proveniva dal diamante, dal coltan (colombo-tantalite) e dall'oro congolese. Attualmente, le esportazioni dei prodotti propriamente ruandesi rappresentano appena lo 0,4% del Pib,

24.08.2005 Ninety percent of Zimbabwean children affected by the government's home demolition campaign remain in school, said UNICEF Tuesday, and called on international assistance to support parents’ efforts to keep their children enrolled in school in the face of harsh economic realities.

23.08.2005 Zimbabwen kurjuutta paenneita on pelkästään Etelä-Afrikassa parisen miljoonaa. He tuskailevat nyt sitä, miten toimittaa rahaa kotiväelle ilman suuria kuluja. Taksi on ratkaisu halvimmasta päästä. Zimbabwelaiset pyrkivät viimeiseen asti välttämään virallisia pankkikanavia rahalähetyksissään, sillä keinotekoinen virallinen vaihtokurssi tekee siitä hyvin kallista.