nyt movie Lydia Polgreen reports on the dangerous and ever-expanding conflict that has begun to engulf central Africa.
2008
Leaders, celebrities fight malaria (02:51) Report
Oct 21 - Bill Gates, Tony Blair and Peter Chernin raise billions to eliminate malaria.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair set up the Faith Foundation following the end of his term in office. The first mission of the Faith Foundation, is to end malaria deaths by 2010. Malaria claims 1 million lives each year, mostly women and children in
Tuesday 14 October 2008 Islamist insurgents attacked African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Monday. killing one civilian and wounding five others. Witnesses say the insurgents used artillery against a Ugandan contingent of the AU. The AU has been in Mogadishu since March last year and has about 3,000 troops. The violence comes one day after two peacekeepers were wounded by a roadside bomb in the city. Aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia because of growing insecurity largely blamed on Islamist militants, who have waged a guerrilla war since they were ousted from power last year by a joint Somali-Ethiopian offensive.
Investments set to grow in African agriculture
Skyrocketing food prices have prompted several international companies to consider investing more in African farming, the Financial Times reports. The Common Fund for Commodities, a United Nations branch, said it has received inquiries from multinational corporations interested in developing new African agriculture projects. Financial Times(5/7)
Friday 09 May 2008 Mr. Mugabe’s Cynical Plan
After years of enabling Robert Mugabe, it is time for South Africa and all of Zimbabwe’s neighbors to enable democracy.
Ian Khama, son of Botswana's first president, Sir Seretse Khama, was inaugurated as the country's new president. Festus Mogae voluntarily stepped down after ten years in office.
Reuters
Côte d'Ivoire faced violent protests against the high cost of food, leaving one person dead. Similar demonstrations have erupted in other parts of west Africa.
Syria hosted the 22-country Arab League's annual summit, but only half of the leaders turned up. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt sent insultingly low-ranking delegations in protest against alleged Syrian meddling in crisis-ridden Lebanon, which boycotted the meeting outright.
Sunday Feb 10, 2008 OTTAWA: AFRICAN AID INCREASED
The Canadian government has announced $400 million more in aid for Africa to stimulate economic growth and to fight hunger. Three-quarters of the amount will be granted to the African Development Bank to improve infrastructure and governance. Seventy-two-million dollars will be donated to the World Food Program to help victims of a variety of crises and conflicts, including $40 million for Sudanese refugees. At the last G-8 summit, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, pledged to double Canadian aid to Africa by March 2009 compared with its amount five years ago, bringing the total to $2.1 billion.
Monday 14 January 2008 Killing African animals may help conserve them
TOURISM is a ready source of hard currency for developing countries, but can tourist dollars encourage landowners to protect wildlife? Nature-, green- or eco-tourism has certainly taken off across the developing world since its inception in the 1980s. In many parts of Africa, photo-safaris and other forms of tourism that don’t involve killing animals have been hailed as an alternative to hunting.
Monday 14 January 2008 African growth is set to rise a record 6.4% Gloomy forecasts for the world economy—mostly attributable to the after-shock of the US sub-prime financial crisis—have yet to dent prospects for developing economies, and especially Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The World Bank believes that “strong fundamentals” in emerging markets have helped cushion the impact of the US slowdown, and in its latest forecast for the world economy—contained in its Global Economic Prospects report, published in January—the Bank sees only a modest, short-lived slowdown in global growth to 3.3% from 3.6% in 2007.
Friday 14 December 2007 Sub-Saharan Africa is becoming an increasingly attractive hunting ground African financial markets
THIS month Omar Bongo—the longest-serving ruler in Africa—celebrated 40 years in power in Gabon. In Libreville pictures of him hang everywhere. But outside the country, Gabon achieved a far more impressive landmark, when it raised $1 billion on the international markets—becoming only the third country in continental sub-Saharan Africa in two decades to issue sovereign bonds abroad.
Saturday 20 October 2007 More than a click to put Africa online WHEN it comes to computing power, the gap between Africa and the broadband world is still a Grand Canyon. Only 4% of Africans have access to the internet. They pay the most in the world, around $250-300 a month, for the slowest connection speeds. E-commerce barely exists. Nigeria's 140m-odd people have but a few hundred decently trafficked websites in their domain. Blogging is a vibrant but peripheral activity.
Kalongo, Uganda
at the base of Mount Oret, is just one of dozens of refugee camps in northern Uganda, packed with thached mud huts and overcrowded with people, including many former child soldiers, living in deplorable conditions. Video Photographs by Colin O'Connor
Tuesday 21 August 2007 China’s Trade in Africa Carries a Price Tag KABWE, Zambia — The courtyard in front of the Zambia China Mulungushi Textiles factory is so quiet, even at midday, that the fluttering of the ragged Chinese and Zambian flags is the only sound hanging in the air.
Monday 20 August 2007 Chinese Entrepreneurs Flourish in Africa
By HOWARD W. FRENCH and LYDIA POLGREEN
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese migrants are doing business on a continent that had been terra incognita
Monday 30 July 2007 Africans Are Wary but Hopeful, Poll Shows DAKAR, Senegal, July 24 — Despite a thicket of troubles, from deadly illnesses like AIDS and malaria to corrupt politicians and deep-seated poverty, a plurality of Africans say they are better off today than they were five years ago and are optimistic about their future and that of the next generation, according to a poll conducted in 10 sub-Saharan countries by The New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project. Multimedia
Tuesday 17 July 2007 Despite some improvement, African governance is woeful After deteriorating between 1998 and 2005, governance in Africa appears to have improved somewhat in the last year. However, governance standards for the continent are far from ideal.
Jul 16th 2007 UNDER BAD MANAGEMENT Despite some improvement, African governance is woeful
From: Desiree McGraw [mailto:dezm1@msn.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 12:53 PM
Subject: Aid to Africa
FYI for those of you who missed it... Below is the original version of my letter to the Globe published in yesterday's paper (in abridged form).
"As senior policy advisor on international cooperation in the Martin Government, I want to set the record straight regarding our aid policy with respect to Africa. Your claim that "Mr. Martin endorsed an agreement at the Group of Eight summit to double aid, while knowing full well that Ottawa's private figures no longer matched his public promises" is patently false and unfounded.
"When the 2005 budget was being prepared, the level of aid provided by Canada to Africa in the last completed fiscal year (2003-04) was expected to reach $1.4 billion; the budget committed to double that level to reach $2.8 billion by 2008-09. In fact, the final numbers for 2003-04 came in at $1.05 billion in Canadian aid to Africa. But these technical annual cash-flow issues did not change Canada's overall commitment to Africa. The Liberal commitment never changed- even if it meant making up for the shortfall through additional aid (beyond a doubling) to Africa. Indeed, our government was on track to exceed our target by the time we left office. Only the most mean-spirited government would rely on figures which would result in giving less aid to those who need it the most. This is but the latest foreign policy failure by the Harper government as it continues to diminish and distort previous Liberal commitments in its attempt to distract Canadians from its poor performance in the areas of environment, defense, diplomacy and now development."
Monday 21 May 2007 Africa’s Storied Colleges, Jammed and Crumbling DAKAR, Senegal, May 19 — Thiany Dior usually rises before dawn, tiptoeing carefully among thin foam mats laid out on the floor as she leaves the cramped dormitory room she shares with half a dozen other women. It was built for two.
Saturday 19 May 2007 Solar Flashlight Lets Africa’s Sun Deliver the Luxury of Light to the Poorest Villages FUGNIDO, Ethiopia — At 10 p.m. in a sweltering refugee camp here in western Ethiopia, a group of foreigners was making its way past thatch-roofed huts when a tall, rail-thin man approached a silver-haired American and took hold of his hands.
Friday 16 March 2007 36 Hours in Nairobi, Kenya
Spend a weekend playing with baby elephants, hanging out with giraffes, and then dine on all the ostrich and crocodile you can eat. Slide Show
SAHARA DESERT: A WALK IN THE SAND
A Canadian and two other men are attempting to become the first humans to cross the Sahara desert on foot. Quebecer Ray Zahab and his companions, one American and one Taiwanese, have covered 3,500 kilometres since they set out in late October, and they have about 3,000 more to go. So far they've had to deal with violent sandstorms, extremes of heat and cold, dehydration, fatigue, scorpions and spiders. They've also been welcomed with enthusiasm in the six African countries they've visited to date. Actor and producer Matt Damon will relate their adventures in an upcoming documentary.
Monday 06 November 2006 Chinese and African leaders meeting in Beijing Sunday wrapped up their biggest summit since the founding of Communist China in 1949. Deals worth $1.9 billion were signed between 12 Chinese firms and African governments and companies. On Saturday, Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged $5 billion in loans and credit to African nations and said China would double aid to the continent in two years time. China is keen to secure oil, gas and mineral resources from Africa in order to to fuel Beijing's rapid, raw material- intensive economic expansion. Rights groups say China's policy of non-interference in other nation's domestic affairs mean its engagement with Africa is bolstering governments like Sudan and Zimbabwe where abuses are rife.
Sat 04/11/2006 rci China is pledging to double its aid to Africa. The package, includes $5 billion US in credit facilities and an increase in the number of tariff-free African goods imported into China. Chinese President Hu Jintao made the announcements at a China/Africa summit in Beijing attended by more than fifty African leaders. Rights groups say China's policy of non-interference in other nation's domestic affairs means its engagement with Africa is bolstering governments such as Sudan and Zimbabwe, where abuses are rife. The West has long since curbed trade ties which such nations.
Mon Jul 03, 2006 David Graham Canada: Defined by Water in 2020 ...As the water table has dropped, water problems have become more frequent. We've had a boil water advisory for nearly a year, following the death of some of my compatriots and the serious sickness of nearly half the city. No-one is quite sure exactly what the cause is, but there is little doubt that the pipeline is to blame. cdlu.net/ My Heart is Africa
Sunday 23 July 2006 nyt U.S. Cuts in Africa Aid Said to Hurt War on Terror The U.S. has slashed millions of dollars of military aid to African nations, moves that officials say have undermined efforts to combat terrorist threats in Africa.
Thursday, June 29, 2006 Business Joins African Effort to Cut Malaria Companies are beginning to join forces with governments in Africa to mount regional campaigns against malaria
Tuesday Jun 20, 2006 Afghanistan, Darfur and Iraq remain in the news, none of it good - we felt that selecting a headline tonight would only provoke mentions of newer news on Wednesday. As always, we recommend Al Jazeera's coverage of Middle East and African issues (english.aljazeera.net/HomePage )
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 - Blood diamonds fuel abuses 3 years after accord
A deadly trade in blood diamonds persists three years after African governments and the diamond industry launched an initiative to prevent illicit gem sales from fueling African wars, experts say.
Sunday Apr 2, 2006 nyt The Siren Song of Mali Music lovers are making pilgrimages to this West African country, which some say gave birth to the American blues. With audio clips.
Tuesday Mar 14, 2006 CAMEROON Bird flu has appeared in Cameroon. The deadly H5N1 strain was found in a duck on a farm close to the northern town of Maroua near the border with Nigeria. Africa's first case of bird flu was found in Nigeria last month. Since then, it's also appeared in Niger and Egypt. Health officials fear that bird flu is spreading undetected in Africa because countries lack facilities to track it.
Tuesday Mar 14, 2006 rci Uganda is barring a Canadian journalist from re-entering the country. Blake Lambert reports on Africa for several major news organizations, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He'd been living in Uganda for three years. Uganda's government calls him an unwanted person who consistently misrepresented the situation in Uganda. Mr. Lambert describes himself as an even-handed reporter and says that the charges are ridiculous. Ugandan authorities have also put pressure on local journalists. Journalists are forbidden to comment on the forthcoming criminal trial of the leading opposition leader, Kizza Besigye.
Monday Mar 13, 2006 ts
Out of Africa
Turn to almost any page in
Scott Griffin's memoir? which chronicles the author's two-year journey from Toronto to Africa and back in his single-engine Cessna 180, and his adventures as a member of the Flying Doctors Service aid organization ? and the reader is granted a rare perspective: from 10,000 feet.
Monday Mar 13, 2006 Africa's first space satellite will be launched within three months. The satellite will have valuable communications functions. It will reduce Africa's dependence on European and American telecommunications, particularly Internet services, providing Internet connections at lower fees. The satellite costs about 200 million American dollars. Most of the cost is being paid by Libya and Nigeria. A director at the United Nations International Telecommunication Union, Hamadoun Toure, says that Africa has 13 per cent of the world's population, but represents less than one per cent of the Internet market. The I-T-U estimates that about 400-thousand African villages have no access to telecommunications at all.
Tuesday Mar 7, 2006 arc East Africa Must Get Drought Aid in Days – UN
EL WAK - Aid for victims of a drought across east Africa will run out in April unless help arrives in the next 10 days, a top official of the UN food agency said on Saturday
Saturday Mar 4, 2006 tech
Join the Geekcorps
Photos: Life in the Geekcorps Think your tech skills are underappreciated? Geekcorps wants you to take them to Zambia or Kenya for a month. Check out this gallery of Geekcorps volunteers in action.
Tuesday Dec 27, 2005 rci The European Commission adopted plans Monday to grant $197 million in humanitarian aid next year to 10 African countries. Relief agencies working with the EU's executive arm will use the money to help people affected by natural disasters, strife and other crises. The countries receiving the money are Burundi, Chad, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Monday Dec 26, 2005 Wed1242 Malawi Once again we are reminded that events in distant lands are subject to many interpretations and even eyewitnesses may not have a full picture. A case in point is Malawi where it is reported that a devastating famine is underway, brought on by erratic rains and an Aids epidemic that is destroying the agricultural work force. One Wednesday Nighter has just returned from that country and saw no signs of acute famine in the cities he visited, although noting that the southern part of the country has suffered severe droughts, and that the previous government pursued a misguided agricultural policy resulting in farmers ceasing to grow anything.
However, the World Food Program has said 2.9 million people in Malawi, are reported to be in need of urgent assistance "to be provided by the WFP because of the low agricultural production caused by drought, chronicle poverty and socio-economic collapse caused by wide spread HIV/AIDS disease.'' www.turkishpress.com There is a benign leadership which is under attack by the opposition seeking to dislodge it, so the situation remains fluid.
Monday Dec 5, 2005 rci African leaders have made a call on the international community to extend better trade terms to Africa. The call came during the France-Africa summit that was held this weekend in the capital of Mali, Bamako. For the first time, all of Africa's 53 states attended. Mali's president, Amadou Toumani Toure, told delegates that trade ties should be based on what he called "equity and justice." He said that Africa's agriculture was being prevented from achieving its potential because farmers in other countries received subsidies from their governments. French farmers are among the biggest beneficiaries of European Union subsidies. France's president, Jacques Chirac, said that African farmers deserved a fair reward for their produce, but warned against what he called "a hasty and generalized liberalization of agriculturual trade." On Saturday, Mr. Chirac urged action to end poverty in Africa and to stop human trafficking. more wn France
More hungry in Africa than in '90s
A FAO report released today says more people are underfed in Africa now than in the 1990s and malnutrition kills 6 million children each
Wednesday Nov 16, 2005 ts Familiar tale in Africa politics
Despite charges of corruption and human rights abuses, the man who has ruled Burkina Faso with an iron fist since 1987 appears headed for a third term in office, writes Karen Palmer.
Mention of the op-ed piece led the conversation to the paucity of good coverage of Africa in our media. CBC cringes at the thought of a documentary supported in whole or in part by CIDA, yet how else can CIDA get the message across? Stephen Lewis' Massey Lectures on Africa and AIDS were powerful beyond expectation, but it would seem that instead of building on these broadcasts, CBC is behaving as though the "Africa budget" had been used up. Is this due to journalists' long-standing opposition to Government money? And how ludicrous, when CBC IS the government, and the Government's money IS ours! We can hardly count on the print media, which has retrenched its foreign bureaus to a point that is embarrassing.
Thursday Nov 10, 2005 nyt Lobbyist Sought $9 Million to Set Bush Meeting By PHILIP SHENON The fee was to arrange a meeting between President Bush and the president of a small West African nation, documents show.
Thursday Nov 10, 2005 cbc
AIDS IN AFRICA How are you Siama? A multimedia presentation
Saturday Aug 13, 2005 ts African child hunger on rise, report warns Africa needs a major infusion of cash if it is to meet U.N. targets for reducing hunger over the next two decades, a report says.
Saturday Aug 13, 2005 ts Virtual medicine Computer databases are cutting costs and proving a valuable diagnostic tool in impoverished nations. They manage drugs, enhance treatments, and reveal trends. Rachel Ross explains.
Tuesday Jul 26, 2005 Truth Telling on Zimbabwe Africa's most prestigious leaders must challenge Robert Mugabe publicly about his dictatorial regime and the killing of his own people.
25 July, 2005 it Aid funds finally flow for Niger
Finally, donations of food and funding to help 2.5 million people facing a food crisis in Niger beginning to arrive.
The UN relief chief says graphic images of starving children have shocked the international community into response.
... more funds have been received for Niger in the last ten days than over the last ten months.
However, the body has still only received a fifth of the total $30.7m (£17.6m) it has appealed for.
Sunday Jul 17, 2005 rci Scientists have made a breakthrough that may help Africa and the rest of the developing world. An international team of scientists says it has genetically-sequenced three parasites that kill hundreds of thousands of people in the Third World every year. African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis are responsible for 150,000 deaths a year. African sleeping sickness reduces victims to a zombie-like state. Chagas disease damages the hearts and other internal organs of millions of Latin Americans, while Leishmaniasis, causes fever, a swollen spleen and disfiguring lesions. The scientists say they have discovered a "common core" of genes among the three diseases that could be used to develop new drugs or vaccines against them.
Friday Jul 15, 2005 bbc G8 debt deal under threat at IMF
Even before the ink has dried on proposals to relieve poor countries' debts to international lenders, the deal agreed by the G8 at Gleneagles is under threat.
A number of European governments are apparently having second thoughts about proposals for debt relief which formed a key part of the help world leaders offered to Africa at last week's summit.
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Tuesday Apr 5, 2005 Climate Change in Africa
Africa has contributed less than any other region to the greenhouse gas emissions that are widely held responsible for global warming. But the continent is also the most vulnerable to the consequences. As the G8 leaders meet in Scotland to discuss both climate change and Africa's development, see www.scidev.net/ms/climate_africa for a collection of news and feature articles that describe some of the complex links between the two issues.
African poverty is a complex and multi-faceted issue; the solution must reflect that. It may not lend itself to a catchy protest slogan, but it’s the truth.
MediaScout would love nothing more than to believe the coverage of the G8 and Live 8 events marks a new era in international reportage, where Africa is seen not as a monolithic construct but as a cornucopia of peoples and states with unique problems and challenges. True, many of the themes transcend borders and language—AIDS, corruption and poverty, to name but a few—but each manifests itself in a different way depending upon the history and situation in the various locales. “End poverty now” and “Save Africa” may make for catchy placards and wristbands, but the Big Six, and indeed the rest of the Western world’s media, must go deeper. If true reform is to come to Africa, Western aid must flow through channels of understanding. It’s easy to criticize Paul Martin and George W. Bush for not adhering to the 0.7 percent principle, but is a catch-all solution for the continent really the best approach?
Joe Boughner Maisonneuve MediaScout July 4, 2005
Tuesday Apr 5, 2005 AFRICA: Climate change becoming a matter of life and death
The dramatic impact of climate change in Africa
Experts say climate change is set to take a particularly harmful toll throughout Africa, where reliance on agriculture for survival and a dearth of technological innovation put millions of people at risk. Citing the melting ice caps of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, this IRIN report looks at the dramatic impact global warming is likely to have on the continent's farmers and others
Tuesday Apr 5, 2005 bbc Blair sets 5 May as election date
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged to make global climate change and alleviating poverty in Africa the focus of Britain's presidency of both the G8 and European Union this year.
February 10, 2005 UN New York, Senior United Nations officials sitting on the Commission for Africa launched by British Prime Minister Tony Blair will push for "a radical report" focusing on the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) that calls for increased assistance to developing countries, the head of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) said today.
Saturday, 5 February, 2005, bbc African treaty to protect forest Leaders of seven African nations have signed a joint treaty to protect their continent's massive rainforest - second only to that found in the Amazon basin.
They were joined by international officials as well as French President Jacques Chirac in the Congolese capital,
Friday Nov 26, 2004 Canada's foreign affairs minister, Pierre Pettigrew, has saluted the Dar-es-Salaam Declaration, in which 11 African heads of state last Saturday last Saturday committed themselves to working for peace in the Great Lakes region. Mr. Pettigrew's own statement says that Canada remains committed to helping the people of the region recover socially and economically from the wars that have ravaged the region. Canada co-presides along with The Netherlands the Friends of the Great Lakes grouping. The grouping created last year comprises 28 nations and 10 non-governmental organizations. Its mandate is to provide political, financial and technical support.
Jan 15th 2004 ec Making Africa smile
From The Economist print edition
Bad leadership has crippled Africa. But there are, at last, signs of recovery
“BLASPHEMOUS” was how the information minister described an article in the Zimbabwe Independent complaining about President Robert Mugabe's habit of commandeering commercial passenger jets for his own use. It was a revealing choice of adjective. Mr Mugabe's henchmen do not really think their leader divine, but they often suggest that he is infallibly righteous, and that those who defy him should be smitten. The Independent's blaspheming scribes were perhaps lucky to be released on bail this week.
BBC
Water across the world by bbc on slides
Killing African animals may help conserve them
Scott Griffin 
Photos: Life in the Geekcorps
And that Liberia has sworn-in the first elected African woman leader ? Brava Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf!
G8 debt deal under threat at IMF 
Climate Change in Africa 
AFRICA: Climate change becoming a matter of life and death
Blair sets 5 May as election date 
African treaty to protect forest 
Making Africa smile
