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AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT: A CRITICAL MOMENT TO SUPPORT SUDAN
Wangari Maathai

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

For years, we have been hearing African leaders calling for African solutions to African problems. And for many more years, we have been waiting to see our leaders rise to the occasion and demonstrate strong leadership to resolve the many conflicts that are plaguing our continent. Sudan is one such conflict, writes Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate and founding board member of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. In 2008, she visited South Sudan, Darfurian camps in Eastern Chad, as well as Addis Ababa to meet with African Union officials on the Sudan crisis.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES NEW TOOL AGAINST POVERTY
Supachai Panitchpakdi

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

In many respects, the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) continues to be a great development success story. Over the past four years we have witnessed dramatic growth in the use of various ICT applications, notably mobile phones. Developing-country populations now account for more than half of all Internet users. Improved connectivity has also enabled more firms to gain access to critical information, finance and knowledge -all key factors for enhancing competitiveness, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

BEYOND THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM
Candido Grzybowski

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

The World Social Forum (WSF) constitutes a sort of workshop to forge a new political culture in which we recognize each other as equals and participants in a single planetary system. For transformative forces to emerge, it is necessary to forge a path beyond the WSF, not as a forum but as a generator of movements that take concrete actions to affect the power structure, in crisis though still alive and dominant, writes Candido Grzybowski, director of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE) and a member of the International Council of the WSF.

THREE REQUESTS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA
Mario Soares

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

I have been a sincere admirer of yours since the presidential campaign. I admire your humanism, your culture, your valour, and your style, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.

THE WORLD MUST BUILD A CULTURE OF PEACE
Anwarul Chowdhury

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, in December 1998, a group of civil society organisations launched a global campaign for the universal recognition of the human right to peace. They called upon all "to prevent violence, intolerance, and injustice in our countries and societies in order to overcome the cult of war and to build a Culture of Peace", writes Anwarul Chowdhury, ex- Undersecretary General and High Representative of the United Nations, and ambassador of Bangladesh to the UN from 1996-2001.

DOES HAITI EXIST?
Leonardo Padura

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

Until the fury of nature devastated the Haitian capital on January 12, leaving a toll of the dead still impossible to quantify, who talked about Haiti? Who remembered Haiti and its eternal agony? asks Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a dozen languages.

LEARNING TO BE HUMAN
Daisaku Ikeda

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

The smiling faces and laughing voices of children are the true measure of a peaceful and healthy society, much more so than any statistical indices, writes Daisaku Ikeda, a Japanese Buddhist philosopher and peace-builder and president of the Soka Gakkai International(SGI) grassroots Buddhist movement.

AVATARS OF HISTORICAL TRUTH
Leonardo Padura

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to see Katyn, the latest film of the great Polish director Andrej Wajda. Since then I have been haunted by the final scenes in which we "see" what we already know: the execution of 20,000 officers of the Polish Army by the occupying Soviet Army in 1939, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a dozen languages.

VENEZUELA SURROUNDED
Ignacio Ramonet

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, JANUARY 2010

Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution find themselves surrounded by no less than thirteen US military bases in Colombia, Panama, Aruba, and Curacao, as well as the aircraft carriers and warships of the 4th Fleet. President Obama seems to have given the Pentagon a free hand. Would the people of the world allow a new crime against democracy to be carried out in Latin America? asks Ignacio Ramonet, editor of Le Monde Diplomatique in Spanish.

EUROPE MUST REFORGE ECONOMIC APPROACH TO ACP COUNTRIES
Kader Arif

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, DECEMBER 2009

At a time when many are already thinking about the end of the economic crisis, few pay attention to the dilemma facing the countries of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific (ACP). Today, harbouring the illusion that their lack of financial development might insulate ACP countries from the global depression, western politicians have not budged an inch with regard to their policy on these areas, writes Kader Arif, member of the European Parliament and first Vice-President of the Joint ACP-EU Parliamentary Assembly.

YEAR ENDER - NOT YET OUT OF THE WOODS
Pascal Lamy

IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE, DECEMBER 2009

Actions taken by governments and central banks have restored some order in international financial markets, but we are not yet out of the woods, writes Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation.

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PERU: CIA, Military Trade Blame Over Missionary Plane Shootdown

ZIMBABWE: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Arrears?

Q&A: Creating Momentum for Women's Participation

ENERGY-MEXICO: Big and Small Firms Harness Sun's Rays

FINANCE: Fighting Off Looters in the Ruins

BIODIVERSITY: India Bans Farming of GM Aubergine

CANADA: Khadr Case Raises Broad Questions on Child Combatants

CHILE: Stop Treating Community Broadcasters as Criminals, Say Activists

CANADA: Foundation for "Political Warfare" Takes Cue from U.S. Strategy

POLITICS: Malaysia Faces Severe Test as Anwar Stands Trial

BIODIVERSIDAD: India dice no a la berenjena transgénica

PERÚ: CIA y militares discrepan en caso de avión de misioneros

PAKISTÁN: Parteras comunitarias contra mortalidad materna

SRI LANKA: La compleja ruta de Rajapakse

POLÍTICA-NICARAGUA: Corrupción en tiempos del ALBA

RD CONGO: Divergence sur l’évolution des violences sexuelles au Maniema

OUGANDA: : Le Diagnostic précoce du VIH flotte toujours

DESARMEMENT: Une approche unifiée nécessaire pour le désarmement nucléaire

SANTE-RWANDA : Laisser son bébé pour conserver son emploi

ECONOMIE : Des avis mitigés sur l'accession du Congo au PPTE

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