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Photo credit for "Africa" graphic, above: © 2005 Jennifer Lewis
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DARFUR REBEL GROUPS LOOKING FOR AGREEMENT TO COOPERATE WITH UN FORCES Arusha, Tanzania, played host last week to leaders from "more than 10 Darfur rebel groups", as the groups held talks to work out common ground and a structure for negotiating peace with the Sudan government, in light of the coming deployment of 26,000 UN-mandated peacekeepers for Darfur. The conflict which began as an effort to stamp out regional differences and secure control for Khartoum has become a crisis of global interest and one which the United Nations now seeks to put an end to. [Full Story] UN SECURITY COUNCIL ORDERS 26,000 PEACEKEEPERS FOR DARFUR, LARGEST MISSION IN WORLD Darfur, beset by years of bloody internecine violence, with the Khartoum-backed janjaweed militia killing civilians in numbers the US government has officially declared to be genocide. For years, human rights groups have pleaded with the international community to intervene, with or without the support of the Khartoum government. Now, the UN Security Council has ordered the world's largest peacekeeping mission to secure Darfur. [Full Story] AFRICAN LEADERS DISCUSS PLAN TO UNITE CONTINENT UNDER SINGLE FEDERAL SYSTEM Libyan president Muammar Qadhafi is not the first to propose uniting the continent under a single government, but his proposal is bold from any perspective. At the African Union summit in Accra, the capital of Ghana, Qadhafi has proposed that African heads of state should begin the process of integrating the diverse governments and systems under one central, democratic government. [Full Story] DEVELOPMENT BECOMES A NEW GLOBAL IDEOLOGY Ideologically-driven revolutions have sought to implant Utopian movements where authoritarian regimes once stood, but all too often, they have brought about new authoritarian regimes, which view dissenters as immoral or unthinking pawns of the old regime, and therefore, a universal threat. Now, Foreign Policy magazine has asked the question of whether "development", as an international policy agenda, is becoming the new universalizing ideology, with all the relevant risks. [Full Story] MASSIVE EXPLOSIONS FROM MILITARY ARMS DEPOT IN MAPUTO A series of blasts in the center of Maputo, capital of Mozambique, left the population shaken. The explosions occurred in a massive military arms depot located near residential areas, in the Malhazine neighborhood. The government was immediately confronted with serious security concerns, but assured the public the explosions were the result of an accidental fire. [Full Story] ZIMBABWE OPPOSITION LEADER TSVANGIRAI KIDNAPPED, TORTURED, SKULL CRACKED This week, Zimbabwe's supreme court ordered the government to provide the detained opposition leader with legal counsel, access to family and aid groups, and immediate medical treatment. His wife described his condition as being unable to walk or see. The government denied him treatment for several days, and he is now in hospital with a cracked skull. [Full Story] FIRST JUDGES, NOW LAWYERS ON STRIKE AGAINST GOV'T AGGRESSION IN UGANDA On 1 March 2007, Ugandan security forces under the control of President Yoweni Museveni stormed the offices of the High Court, assaulted civilians, lawyers and judges, and re-arrested 6 suspects that had only just been granted bail. The action showed not only disrespect for the peaceful process of adjudication, but also for the legal independence of the judiciary in making its rulings. [Full Story] US GUNSHIPS STRIKE TWO LOCATIONS IN SOMALIA Even as Somalia is struggling to withstand a resurgence in the violence that has beset the country for over 15 years, as the transitional government attempts to establish itself in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu, after a ground invasion by neighboring Ethiopia, the United States has launched at least two airstrikes against positions in the area of Ras Kamboni, Badmadow Island, in the south of the country. [Full Story] DARFUR REFUGEE CRISIS WORSENS, STABILIZATION FORCE NEEDED The peace agreement signed between the main rebel faction in Darfur and the Khartoum government last May was tenuous at best from the outset, and seems in serious jeopardy of failing. The desperate situation in Darfur is now deteriorating, as violence against civilians not only continues but appears to be escalating, and foreign forces remain ineffectual. [Full Story] WAR TO UNDERMINE SOMALI FOOD, AID SUPPLIES After Ethiopia admitted to placing at least four thousand ground troops into Somalia, to aid the powerless 'transitional government' based in Baidoa, it became apparent that full-blown war had broken out between Somalia's neighbor and the militia of the Union of Islamic Courts, governing most of the country since early June. Now, aid groups say the fighting will disrupt efforts to get food and other aid to the millions of poor Somalis in need in the anarchic political and economic situation. [Full Story] ETHIOPIA INVADES SOMALIA, SEEKS TO OUST UNION OF ISLAMIC COURTS The Horn of Africa appears headed for open war, as Ethiopia has admitted, after a week of combat, that its forces are operating inside Somalia, in an effort to aid the powerless Baidoa government. Ethiopia has sided with the weak transitional government, itself exiled from the capital, while its neighbor Eritrea has provided assistance to the sectarian militia that has spent much of the year trying to pacify the country. [Full Story] RISK OF RETURN TO CIVIL WAR IN D.R. CONGO Reports suggest there is a new risk of civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the opposition party leader announced he rejects the election results that returned the presidency to Joseph Kabila. The Roman Catholic archibishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Frédéric Etsou, also denounced the election result as a rigged vote designed to deliver Congo's mineral wealth to western powers, telling Radio France International "results that are coming out are not the results that are being published". [Full Story] D.R. CONGO VOTES IN FIRST FREE ELECTIONS IN 40 YEARS The Democratic Republic of Congo voted Sunday in its first free and decisive presidential elections in four decades. It is hoped that a peaceful transition with a recognized, elected government, will bring peace to the war-ravaged country. More than four million people have been killed in civil war, just since 1998, and decades of instability and violent conflict have taken many more lives. [Full Story] DARFUR AGAIN VERGES ON MASS KILLING, MILLIONS IN PERIL The troubled western region of Sudan, Darfur, is again at the center of a kind of perfect storm of cynicism, ignorance and neglect. Even as the UN Security Council has voted to authorize a force of 20,000 "blue helmet" peacekeepers, incorporating the 7,000 African Union (AU) soldiers already in the region, Sudan's ruler Omar al-Bashir has ordered the AU out and massed 10,000 soldiers on the edge of Darfur. [Full Story] US SENATOR ENERGIZES CROWDS IN KENYA United States Senator Barack Obama has reportedly made a connection with the people of his father's homeland, Kenya. On the 4th day of his visit there, the Illinois Democrat visited the Kibera "slum", home to some 600,000 people, one-fifth of which are estimated to be HIV-positive, according to HIV/AIDS prevention groups. [Full Story] UN NAMES 10 MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORIES FOR 2006 Every year, the United Nations publishes a list of the 10 most serious stories most overlooked by global press, world governments and international bodies. The list often includes multiple crisis situations which could degenerate into full-scale war. Developing nations, whose situations are often misunderstood or dismissed by news media, as too complicated, intractable, or of marginal relevance, take the spotlight this year. [Full Story] UGANDA TO DESTROY 57,000 WEAPONS The nation of Uganda is taking important steps toward reducing the risk of regional arms poliferation, by destroying a stockpile of old and out-of-use weapons and weapons seized from illegal sources. The move is part of Uganda's pledge to the 2004 Nairobi Protocol, which required signatory nations of Africa's Great Lakes region to reduce the threat of proliferation of light arms across borders, to the peril of civilian populations and political stability. [Full Story] AMNESTY REPORTS INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRADE 'OUT OF CONTROL' Amnesty International has published a new report examining the international arms trade, and its findings indicate there is little control on the expanding web of private interests seeking to profit from a proliferation of dangerous weapons. The report also illustrates the ways in which this scattering of dangerous weapons has lead to severe human rights abuses. [Full Story] CHAD CONFLICT RISK IN TURBULENT REGION In the region of the Chad-Sudan border, it is Sudan that has won most of the outside world's attention in recent years. This has been due to separate civil wars with rebels in the east, south and west of the country, the peace deal with the southern rebels and the ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur. Now Chad, which has taken in huge numbers of refugees fleeing the genocide in Darfur, has a severe crisis with its own stability. [Full Story] WORLD WATER DAY HIGHLIGHTS EFFECTS OF POVERTY, CLEAN WATER SCARCITY ON 1 BILLION WORLDWIDE Parts of east Africa have not seen rain for six years and six nations there are facing extreme famine. Through events organized by UNESCO, the UN and NGOs are hosting World Water Day today, to raise awareness of the problem of scarcity of safe drinking water affecting an estimated 1 billion people worldwide. [Full Story] RARE QUAKE HITS MOZAMBIQUE, SOUTHERN AFRICA The quake shook buildings in the south of Mozambique, in the capital, Maputo, reportedly causing many to flee into the streets. The tremors were also felt in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The Save river quake was Mozambique's worst in more than 100 years. [Full Story] SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO DISAPPEARING AT ACCELERATED RATE Research and new images show glaciers famed as "snows of Kilimanjaro" receding at alarming rate, far faster than projections had suggested. Researchers at Ohio State University, who warned five years ago that the famed snowcap on Mount Kilimanjaro might melt or even disappear now say the melt is occurring, but at a rate much faster than expected. [Full Story] OBSERVERS WARN UGANDA ELECTION PROCESS NOT FAIR Uganda is a complex political fabric in a volatile regional patchwork. The nation has been ruled for 20 years by one man at the head of one party (NRM), and now President Yoweri Museveni will face his first multi-party election contest. Recent weeks have seen arrests, allegations of intimidation and use of single-party government structures to impede opposition campaigns. [Full Story] 4 MILLION KILLED IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO SINCE 1998 Ongoing armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken an estimated 4 million lives since 1998. Estimates range from attributing 2 to 4 million deaths to the 5 year war, to placing 3 million during the war and 1 to 2 million more in fractious post-conflict unrest and deprivation. The Lancet now reports 36,000 people per month are still dying from a combination of armed conflict, criminal violence, disease and malnutrition. [Full Story]
AFRICA SUFFERS SPREAD OF FAMINE, HUNGER As the world begins to focus on the nearly 3 million facing hunger in Niger and the catastrophic refugee crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan, an estimated 31.1 million people across the continent face food shortages. Even as war, corruption, international debt and AIDS weigh on the populations of the region, desert and famine are spreading beyond the control of local governments. Consequently, arable land, foodstocks and agriculture in general are suffering dangerous setbacks, making it increasingly difficult to feed African populations, some of which are growing rapidly. [Full Story] 'TREE OF LIFE' MAKES USED WEAPONS INTO SIGN OF HOPE In the wake of Mozambique's long civil war, lasting from 1976 to 1992, a group of artists set up the Transforming Arms into Tools project in the nation's capital, Maputo. Sculptors use decomissioned weapons, and parts of weapons to make art, expressing the possibility of finding new ways to secure and advance civil society. [Full Story] SOUTHERN REBEL LEADER NOW SUDAN VP IN UNITY GOVERNMENT Sudan swore in southern former rebel chief John Garang as the first vice president of its new unity government, on Saturday. Garang's taking office is a major step toward a civil process in the wake of a brutal civil war that lasted over two decades and left more than two million dead, but the country is still roiled by violence in Darfur in the west and now by conflict with rebel groups in the east. [Full Story] DARFUR REFUGEE CRISIS STILL STEEP, UNRESOLVED The ethnic cleansing campaign in Darfur, western Sudan, continues to this day, and new information is coming to light about the plight of refugees to the Chad border. Journalist Sorious Samura's documentary Surviving Sudan, presented on the Discovery/[NY]Times Channel, follows Samura's travels with a refugee family fleeing wartorn Darfur, heading for UN-sanctioned camps in eastern Chad. [Full Story] BURUNDI VOTE UNDERWAY National elections are underway in Burundi, with observers citing parties linked to the former rebel group Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) as likely to win a majority. The UN has called on all parties to accept the outcome of the vote, use election as opportunity to move toward lasting rule of law. [Full Story] LIVE 8 BRINGS MILLIONS TOGETHER TO HEAR ONE MESSAGE The Live 8 "global concert event", intended to raise awareness of the struggle of tens of millions of people in the world's poorest nations, just to survive, brought millions into the streets to hear concerts in 9 nations, and tens of millions of viewers on TV and online together to hear its message. The message was succinct and hopeful: Make Poverty History. [Full Story] UN REPORTS ANNUAL RECORD 5 MILLION NEW HIV CASES IN 2003 Even while other diseases are sweeping into the headlines (Malaria - Polio - SARS - West Nile), the UN reports that HIV, the AIDS virus, is spreading faster than ever. According to the new report, the UN found 5 million new cases of HIV infection worldwide during 2003. That's the highest number of new infections for any single year since the virus was discovered. The study also finds that 90% of those in desperate need of treatment are not receiving any. [Full Story] MALARIA PANDEMIC KILLS 2 MILLION PER YEAR Anti-malaria activist and missionary groups report malaria is world's unseen pandemic, killing millions but largely unnoticed in the developed world. In April 2003, the United States' Department of Health and Human Services reported that malaria "affects an estimated 500 million people and results in up to 2 million deaths each year", with 90 percent of those deaths concentrated in Africa. The same report estimates an average of 3,000 children are killed every day in Africa by malaria parasites. [Full Story]
DARFUR CRISIS IMPERILS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS The refugee crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan, is deepening, with more Sudanese seeking refuge in the dangerous neighboring country of Chad. The UN has designated the Darfur crisis the world's worst humanitarian disaster at present. The UN has cited incidents of mass killing that it classifies as ethnic cleansing, carried out by government backed Arab militia. The ongoing violence has made the distribution of aid extremely complicated... [Full Story] SWAZILAND NATIONAL EMERGENCY Swaziland is undergoing a severe and multifaceted national crisis. The UN has placed Swaziland with Botswana as the most AIDS-afflicted nation, with some 40% of adult Swazis infected with HIV or AIDS. Severe and widespread poverty is converging with the pandemic to create an unprecedented threat to the fabric of civil society itself. A reported 250,000 are now at risk for hunger... [Full Story] CRISIS IN WESTERN SUDAN: FOOD, EXILE, VIOLENCE The World Food Programme has said that some 50,000 displaced people in Western Sudan are in need of food aid. 875 metric tons of food were delivered to the region, to serve an estimated number of 50,000. Ongoing civil conflict in North Darfur has prevented delivery of UN food aid since November, putting roughly 1 million civilians at risk... [Full Story] REFUGEE CRISIS ON CHAD BORDER The World Food Programme reports a growing humanitarian crisis on the Sudanese-Chad border. According to WFP: "About 95,000 refugees (including up to 30,000 during December) have fled fighting between forces loyal to the Government in Khartoum and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), as well as tribal/ethnic clashes." Amid increasing violence, the refugee situation, with health risks and hunger, has deteriorated rapidly. [Full Story] FOOD AID REACHES SOMALIS AT RISK The UN World Food Programme has announced it successfully delivered food aid to 77,000 needy people in Northern Somalia. After negotiations with political leaders in Somaliland and Puntland, WFP was guaranteed humanitarian access to the hungry population. [Full Story] QADHAFI VOLUNTARILY ABANDONS WMD PROGRAMS In convergent broadcasts, Libya, the UK and the US announced a deal in which Libya agreed to let international inspectors to assist in its deactivation of weapons of mass desctruction research and development programs. The news follows at least 9 months of secret talks between the three nations, and some report the initial move was made in the summer of 2002 by Qadhafi himself. [Full Story] SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO MELTING The snows atop Mount Kilimanjaro, made famous by Ernest Hemingway's haunting story, are melting. The glaciers that crown the Tanzanian peak are disappearing, and scientists believe they are in danger of vanishing altogether by 2015. [Full Story] W.H.O. ANNOUNCES PLAN TO TREAT 3 MILLION AIDS PATIENTS The World Health Organization has announced a plan to train "barefoot doctors" (a term that orignated in China, meaning people without medical degrees) to provide care to AIDS patients in remote places throughout the developing world. The plan is designed to reach 3 million people suffering from the virus. [Full Story] KOFI ANNAN LAMENTS AIDS IMBALANCE, SWELL OF PANDEMIC UN Secretary General Kofi Annan criticized the global response to the AIDS pandemic, which killed 3 million this year alone. He said it was unacceptable that AIDS is manageable in wealthy countries, while it devastates entire populations in poorer countries, and called on African leaders to be more courageous in their efforts to talk about and to combat the disease. [Full Story] OBASANJO CALLS FOR DEREGISTRATION OF MINORITY PARTIES Nigeria's President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has called for revoking the official registration of political parties which he calls "non-performing". Various official entities and former officials within Nigeria have expressed support for his initiative, though the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has characterized the move as an undemocratic first step toward vertical alignment under a one-party system. [For more: This Day] IVORY COAST NEEDS PEACEKEEPERS The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) urged the UN to send a peacekeeping contingent to Ivory Coast to prevent a surge in violence which could erupt into civil war and destabilize the region. The request centered on the hope that the UN could provide broader legitimacy and greater force than ECOWAS in the peacekeeping mission there. [Full Story] CONGOLESE CHILD SOLDIERS DISARMED The UN reports that over 400 child soldiers were "demobilized" in the Eastern Congo, a region still plagued by instability and deprivation. The child rebels were offered humanitarian and food aid in exchange for their weapons, setting what might be an example for other such missions in war-torn, remote regions. [Full Story] BURUNDI COALITION GOVERNMENT The new Burundian government includes members of the rebel faction, the Forces for the Defense of Democracy. The FDD leader was appointed Minister for Good Governance, as well as 3 other FDD members to ministerial positions, though the 4 appointees are currently outside Burundi. Ongoing civil war has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives and constitutes another ethnic rivalry between the Hutus and the Tutsis, the same rivalry which resulted in the Rwandan genocide. [Full Story] E-MAIL ARRESTS IN ZIMBABWE 14 people were arrested in Zimbabwe for circulating e-mails that called for protests against President Mugabe. The e-mails reportedly called for mass demonstrations and violent resistance to overthrow the Mugabe government, which has become increasingly authoritarian in the face of criticism about corruption, incompetence and human rights abuses. [Full Story] NIGERIA STRUGGLES WITH RESURGENCE OF POLIO Nigeria is facing a new polio eradication campaign. Almost half the world's polio cases are in Nigeria. Neighboring countries are beginning campaigns to keep the disease from spreading. The World Health Organization cautions that failure will permit the disease to spread to Nigeria's neighbors, undermining decades' worth of public health efforts. [Full Story] VATICAN CONSIDERS GM CROPS African priests criticized the Vatican's recent conference on the acceptability of genetically modified crops for not including more priests who opposed their implementation. The conference was held in order to help the Vatican take an informed official position on the benefits or detriments of genetically modified crops. [Full Story] WILL ZIMBABWE SEE CHANGE? Today there is talk that Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe may be planning his departure from the political sphere. Though such would be good news for many of his constituents, it will not be an easy manoeuvre. Many observers and victims, both inside Zimbabwe and beyond, would like to see Mugabe tried for atrocities committed during his land-reorganization campaign, and others would like to prosecute him for the widespread corruption alleged to be associated with his government. [Full Story] WATER WARS One of the most dire struggles in the new millennium is the use, distribution, cost and funding of clean, drinkable water. Wars are being fought, weapons are being developed, for the sole purpose of controlling the essential resource of life-sustaining water. The world's most majestic rivers are being brought under governmental and industrial control through massive development projects and construction of mega dams. [Full Story] |
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