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Latest News | North Africa | Southern Africa | West Africa | East Africa | Environment | Health | Rights | Economics | Development | Energy | Population

Wednesday, February 08, 2012 22:16 GMT

Africa Latest News

By FREETOWN
Sierra Leone Drafts a Development Plan for the Next 50 Years - Fifty years ago when Sierra Leone gained independence after 150 years of colonial rule, with it came a feeling of optimism that along with a newfound control of its governance, the country would profit from its ample endowment of natural resources, like timber, fish, minerals and oil. Instead, in the last 50 years, the country has had 13 military coups and an 11-year civil war that left the economy in ruins and the country heavily reliant on foreign donor funding.
MORE >>

By BULAWAYO
Not Prepared for Floods Amid Conflicting Weather Forecasts - Sibongile Dube knows the devastation heavy rain can leave in its wake. A villager in the lowveld area of Mberengwa in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province, Dube’s home is one of many that were washed away by flash floods last year.
MORE >>

By MBABANE
Swaziland’s Cooperatives No Threat to Banks - Nomsa Tsabedze is one of the many people at the Bunye Betfu, Buhle Betfu Credit and Savings Cooperatives waiting to apply for a loan to pay for her children’s school fees.
MORE >>

By KANO, Nigeria
"Raining Bombs" Causing Hundreds to Flee Northern Nigeria - "I can no longer stay here in Kano as it rains bombs. The gun battles rattle us... Kano is no longer safe," said pregnant Funke Nweke of her decision to flee Nigeria’s northern state with her five-year-old daughter.
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By YAOUNDE
Cameroon’s Economy Suffers as Boko Haram Infiltrates Country - Ahmadou Lamine has been forced to close his business selling fuel imported from Nigeria, known locally as "zoa-zoa", because of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
MORE >>

By CAPE TOWN, South Africa
Social Media Shows Support for Africa’s Oldest Community Station - When a financial crisis threatened the existence of Africa’s oldest community station, Bush Radio, an outpouring of sympathy and appeals went viral on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. However, despite this outspoken support that showed that the station is worth saving, its future remains uncertain.
MORE >>

By DAKAR
Senegalese Students Call for President to Step Down - The friends of slain Senegalese student protester, Mamadou Diop, say that the 32-year-old master’s student was against injustice and that is why he was protesting against President Abdoulaye Wade’s bid for a third term of office.
MORE >>

By BENGHAZI
New Libya Off to a Shaky Start - It's been almost a year since Benghazi launched its uprising against former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi and three months since he was killed, but there is a growing sense of frustration in eastern Libya with the National Transitional Council. Two weeks ago, a group of protesters attacked the Council’s Benghazi headquarters as chairman Mustafa Abdeljalil was inside, forcing him to flee through the back door.
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By CAIRO
Chinese Feed Illegal Ivory Trade - The illegal trade in ivory continues in Egypt, with ivory products sold openly in local tourist markets by traders who operate with impunity, a new study by the conservation group Traffic has found.
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DEVELOPMENT-NIGER

By BOBOYE, Niger
Three Million Children Threatened by Hunger - Women have been left in charge of many of the households in the village of Zamkoye-Koïra, in western Niger, as food shortages have driven male family members to leave in search of work elsewhere. A national survey of vulnerable households shows that 5.4 million people face food insecurity across Niger.
MORE >>

Rights

By FREETOWN
Sierra Leone Drafts a Development Plan for the Next 50 Years - Fifty years ago when Sierra Leone gained independence after 150 years of colonial rule, with it came a feeling of optimism that along with a newfound control of its governance, the country would profit from its ample endowment of natural resources, like timber, fish, minerals and oil. Instead, in the last 50 years, the country has had 13 military coups and an 11-year civil war that left the economy in ruins and the country heavily reliant on foreign donor funding.
MORE >>

By KANO, Nigeria
"Raining Bombs" Causing Hundreds to Flee Northern Nigeria - "I can no longer stay here in Kano as it rains bombs. The gun battles rattle us... Kano is no longer safe," said pregnant Funke Nweke of her decision to flee Nigeria’s northern state with her five-year-old daughter.
MORE >>

By YAOUNDE
Cameroon’s Economy Suffers as Boko Haram Infiltrates Country - Ahmadou Lamine has been forced to close his business selling fuel imported from Nigeria, known locally as "zoa-zoa", because of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
MORE >>

By CAPE TOWN, South Africa
Social Media Shows Support for Africa’s Oldest Community Station - When a financial crisis threatened the existence of Africa’s oldest community station, Bush Radio, an outpouring of sympathy and appeals went viral on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. However, despite this outspoken support that showed that the station is worth saving, its future remains uncertain.
MORE >>

By DAKAR
Senegalese Students Call for President to Step Down - The friends of slain Senegalese student protester, Mamadou Diop, say that the 32-year-old master’s student was against injustice and that is why he was protesting against President Abdoulaye Wade’s bid for a third term of office.
MORE >>

Economics - Finance

By MBABANE
Swaziland’s Cooperatives No Threat to Banks - Nomsa Tsabedze is one of the many people at the Bunye Betfu, Buhle Betfu Credit and Savings Cooperatives waiting to apply for a loan to pay for her children’s school fees.
MORE >>

By KANO, Nigeria
"Raining Bombs" Causing Hundreds to Flee Northern Nigeria - "I can no longer stay here in Kano as it rains bombs. The gun battles rattle us... Kano is no longer safe," said pregnant Funke Nweke of her decision to flee Nigeria’s northern state with her five-year-old daughter.
MORE >>

By YAOUNDE
Cameroon’s Economy Suffers as Boko Haram Infiltrates Country - Ahmadou Lamine has been forced to close his business selling fuel imported from Nigeria, known locally as "zoa-zoa", because of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
MORE >>

By BENGHAZI
New Libya Off to a Shaky Start - It's been almost a year since Benghazi launched its uprising against former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi and three months since he was killed, but there is a growing sense of frustration in eastern Libya with the National Transitional Council. Two weeks ago, a group of protesters attacked the Council’s Benghazi headquarters as chairman Mustafa Abdeljalil was inside, forcing him to flee through the back door.
MORE >>

By LILONGWE
Malawi’s Consumers Have a Right to Fuel and Forex Black Market - The black market for foreign exchange and fuel is booming in the midst of an acute scarcity in Malawi. The shortage is so severe that even the Consumer Association of Malawi, an influential consumer rights body, has come out in support of the black market.
MORE >>

Development

By FREETOWN
Sierra Leone Drafts a Development Plan for the Next 50 Years - Fifty years ago when Sierra Leone gained independence after 150 years of colonial rule, with it came a feeling of optimism that along with a newfound control of its governance, the country would profit from its ample endowment of natural resources, like timber, fish, minerals and oil. Instead, in the last 50 years, the country has had 13 military coups and an 11-year civil war that left the economy in ruins and the country heavily reliant on foreign donor funding.
MORE >>

By BULAWAYO
Not Prepared for Floods Amid Conflicting Weather Forecasts - Sibongile Dube knows the devastation heavy rain can leave in its wake. A villager in the lowveld area of Mberengwa in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province, Dube’s home is one of many that were washed away by flash floods last year.
MORE >>

By MBABANE
Swaziland’s Cooperatives No Threat to Banks - Nomsa Tsabedze is one of the many people at the Bunye Betfu, Buhle Betfu Credit and Savings Cooperatives waiting to apply for a loan to pay for her children’s school fees.
MORE >>

By YAOUNDE
Cameroon’s Economy Suffers as Boko Haram Infiltrates Country - Ahmadou Lamine has been forced to close his business selling fuel imported from Nigeria, known locally as "zoa-zoa", because of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
MORE >>

By CAPE TOWN, South Africa
Social Media Shows Support for Africa’s Oldest Community Station - When a financial crisis threatened the existence of Africa’s oldest community station, Bush Radio, an outpouring of sympathy and appeals went viral on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. However, despite this outspoken support that showed that the station is worth saving, its future remains uncertain.
MORE >>

Health

By BULAWAYO
Not Prepared for Floods Amid Conflicting Weather Forecasts - Sibongile Dube knows the devastation heavy rain can leave in its wake. A villager in the lowveld area of Mberengwa in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province, Dube’s home is one of many that were washed away by flash floods last year.
MORE >>

DEVELOPMENT-NIGER

By BOBOYE, Niger
Three Million Children Threatened by Hunger - Women have been left in charge of many of the households in the village of Zamkoye-Koïra, in western Niger, as food shortages have driven male family members to leave in search of work elsewhere. A national survey of vulnerable households shows that 5.4 million people face food insecurity across Niger.
MORE >>

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA

By CAPE TOWN
HIV-Related Deaths Slow Economy - If there was no HIV/AIDS, South Africa would have 4.4 million more people than today, the size of a major city. This significant slow-down in population growth is causing a slow down in economic growth and resulting in social ills, researchers warn.
MORE >>

By PIBOR, South Sudan
Still Counting the Dead in Inter-Ethnic Conflict - In the ward of a partially destroyed clinic, Mangiro (who did not give his last name) sat on a bed next to his wounded nine-year-old daughter, Ngathin. The little girl is fortunate, she survived the recent inter-ethnic clashes in Pibor county that killed her mother and sisters.
MORE >>

By YAOUNDÉ
Stepping Naturally Away from Plastic - Maya Stella, a restaurant manager in the capital of Cameroon, no longer uses plastic to wrap the corn-fufu that she sells to her customers. She now uses banana or plantain leaves instead, because these are "natural and it is our African culture to use leaves in wrapping food."
MORE >>

Education

By ACCRA
Radio Static for Ghana’s Community Stations - There is a tension resonating through Ghana’s airwaves, an electric current fueled by rivaling interests between community radio advocates and Ghana’s National Communications Authority.
MORE >>

By MOGADISHU
Rebuilding Among the Rubble - With vehicles and donkey carts packed with their belongings, Somalis are returning, four years after they fled, to their partially standing, bullet-scarred and mortar-shelled neighbourhoods in former Al-Shabaab controlled areas of Mogadishu.
MORE >>

By MOGADISHU
Taking Schools Back From Militants - Schools are beginning to re-open slowly in areas of capital Mogadishu that were until recently controlled by the militant Islamic group al-Shabaab. But an estimated 80 percent of students have not yet returned.
MORE >>

By BLANTYRE
Women’s Education the Path to the Presidency - On an elegant veranda adorned with a red carpet, Malawi’s Vice President Joyce Banda recalls how her childhood friend Chrissie Mtokoma was always top of their class and how she struggled to beat her. But now decades later Banda is a likely contender for the country’s presidency in 2014, while Mtokoma lives in poverty.
MORE >>

By WASHINGTON
At the Nexus of Agrofuels, Land Grabs and Hunger – Part 1 - While the United Nations climate talks in Durban enter their ninth day of political feet-dragging, researchers and peasants around the world are busy connecting the dots between so- called "green climate solutions", industrialised agriculture and chronic hunger.
MORE >>

Environment

By CAIRO
Chinese Feed Illegal Ivory Trade - The illegal trade in ivory continues in Egypt, with ivory products sold openly in local tourist markets by traders who operate with impunity, a new study by the conservation group Traffic has found.
MORE >>

By OUAGADOUGOU
Water Shortage Threatens Wildlife - The story of a pair of buffalo aggressively prowling the edges of a village in eastern Burkina Faso is a warning sign of severe water stress in the region which threatens humans and wild animals alike.
MORE >>

By CAPE TOWN
Miracle Tree is Like a Supermarket - When a food crisis hits the continent, African countries tend to look to the international donor community to mobilise aid. But a fast-growing, drought- resistant tree with extremely nutritious leaves could help poor, arid nations to fight food insecurity and malnutrition on their own.
MORE >>

By RIFT VALLEY, Kenya
Key Lakes Succumb to Human Activities - Several years ago, Lakes Kamnarok and Ol Bollosat in Kenya were vibrant water bodies that supported and shaped the ecosystems around them. But today they are shells of their former selves, due to heavy siltation caused by human activities.
MORE >>

By VICTORIA FALLS
Brown Revolution Brings New Hope - Picking spots for cattle to graze could reverse desertification and even do its bit to retard climate change, new experiments in Zimbabwe have shown. It’s what is coming to be called the Brown Revolution.
MORE >>

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