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TRADE-AFRICA: The Struggle Continues Over EPAs
30 08 2008 ACCRA, Aug 30 (IPS) - The economic partnership agreements (EPAs) are being given a bad name for nothing, according to Ghanaian parliamentarian JB Danquah.
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DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Ground Realities Stall Basket Fund Take Off
30 08 2008 HARARE, Aug 30 (IPS) - In 2006, there was shared concern among donors and women’s organisations over the fragmented approaches to gender and women’s empowerment programmes in Zimbabwe.
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POLITICS: Kenya Falters in Healing Deep Ethnic Tensions
29 08 2008 UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29 (IPS) - A power-sharing agreement between the opposition Orange Democratic Movement and the Party of National Unity in Kenya has failed at healing ethnic divisions in the one-time politically-troubled East African nation, according to a new report by Minority Rights Group International (MRG).
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POLITICS-ANGOLA: Some Parties More Equal Than Others
28 08 2008 LUANDA, Aug 28 (IPS) - It seems like a playground game. Every day, Angola’s main opposition party sends teams out across Luanda to hang flags, posters and pictures of their leader Isaías Samakuva.
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RIGHTS-SIERRA LEONE: Activists Will Accept Only Full Abolition
28 08 2008 FREETOWN, Aug 28 (IPS) - Sierra Leonean rights activists have served notice on the government that they will campaign against any attempt to retain the death penalty in the new constitution and insist the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are fully adopted.
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Q&A: "They Mobilised Violence For Their Own Reasons"
28 08 2008 NAIROBI, Aug 27 (IPS) - The text of the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation Accord, brokered by former UN chief Kofi Annan in March this year and released to the press in full last Sunday, identifies land as one of the central issues creating "economic, social, political and environmental problems" in the country.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Rights Work Hampered by Closure Threat
28 08 2008 DURBAN, Aug 27 (IPS) - The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) last week lifted a funding ban on its Centre for Civil Society (CCS) after national and international intellectuals protested loudly against the leftist centre’s potential closure. Yet, the uncertainty of the past few weeks has already impacted negatively on CCS’ operations.
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SIERRA LEONE: Commission Launches First Human Rights Report
28 08 2008 FREETOWN, Aug 27 (IPS) - A barefoot girl watches expressionless as men clad in expensive suits and women in designer clothes make their way on foot to the Community Centre in Kroo Bay, Freetown. They are here to launch the first ever State of Human Rights Report for Sierra Leone; Zainab, 12, is in the midst of another day on the narrow, muddy streets of the area, selling groundnuts to help support her family.
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RIGHTS-SWAZILAND: Women Challenge King Mswati
28 08 2008 MBABANE, Aug 27 (IPS) - Hard on the heels of the signing of the Gender Protocol at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit, Swazi women have challenged King Mswati III on the monarchy's lavish lifestyle in the face of abject poverty and disease.
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RIGHTS-KENYA: "They Mobilised Violence For Their Own Reasons"
28 08 2008 NAIROBI, Aug 27 (IPS) - The text of the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation Accord, brokered by former UN chief Kofi Annan in March this year and released to the press in full last Sunday, identifies land as one of the central issues creating "economic, social, political and environmental problems" in the country.
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DEVELOPMENT: Africa Still Hampered by Lack of Geographical Data
27 08 2008 CAPE TOWN, Aug 27 (IPS) - Geographic Information Systems (GIS) could play a vital role in improving agriculture and boosting food security in Africa. However, only a few African countries are capable of developing such systems, partly because of a lack of basic geographical data.
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DEVELOPMENT: Africa Still Hampered by Lack of Geographical Data
27 08 2008 CAPE TOWN, Aug 27 (IPS) - Geographic Information Systems (GIS) could play a vital role in improving agriculture and boosting food security in Africa. However, only a few African countries are capable of developing such systems, partly because of a lack of basic geographical data.
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SIERRA LEONE: Activists Cry Foul Over Mining Policy
27 08 2008 FREETOWN, Aug 26 (IPS) - In December 2007, unrest broke out in the diamond mining region of Kono in the east, between kimberlite mining corporation Koidu Holdings and locals in the lease area. The company had promised to relocate hundreds of community residents to make way for its mining operation but the slow pace of implementation of this pledge, coupled with the repeated blasts of dynamite in underground mining sites set the company and its hosts on a collision course.
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TRADE-KENYA: British Imports Losing Their Appeal
26 08 2008 NAIROBI, Aug 26 (IPS) - When Kenya purchased Toyota vehicles for its military forces, instead of the all-pervasive Land Rover, it signalled a seismic change -- in effect ending the most favoured status enjoyed by imports sourced from its erstwhile colonial master the United Kingdom.
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ETHIOPIA: Choosing Among One's Own Amid Food Crisis
26 08 2008 ADDIS ABABA, Aug 25 (IPS) - The global food crisis has forced families to make grievous choices. When Mulu Baboche travelled from the Ethiopian capital to visit her home town in the drought-stricken southern countryside, she found her brother weakened, his animals emaciated and his nine children wilting from hunger.
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SOUTHERN AFRICA: Free Trade Deal Full of Potential - And Danger
25 08 2008 CAPE TOWN, Aug 25 (IPS) - The launch of a free trade area (FTA) within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) has brought the region one step closer to a regional customs union by 2010. But the launch of the FTA at the recent SADC heads of state summit was met with mixed reaction.
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RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Hard Times Continue As Talks Drag On
25 08 2008 HARARE, Aug 25 (IPS) - There was jubilation at Gokwe Centre in Zimbabwe's Midlands province when the Herald newspaper published a story headlined "Deal Sealed" on August 13 -- a clear indication of the hopes Zimbabweans have pinned on the deadlocked talks over power-sharing between ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations.
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ETHIOPIA: Choosing Among One's Own Amid Food Crisis
25 08 2008 ADDIS ABABA, Aug 25 (IPS) - The global food crisis has forced families to make grievous choices. When Mulu Baboche travelled from the Ethiopian capital to visit her home town in the drought-stricken southern countryside, she found her brother weakened, his animals emaciated and his nine children wilting from hunger.
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MIDEAST: Egyptian Kinship with Fatah Hampers Mediation
25 08 2008 CAIRO, Aug 25 (IPS) - Following renewed fighting between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, Egypt has stepped up calls for dialogue and reconciliation. But critics say Cairo's partiality to Fatah -- which is backed, like the Egyptian regime itself, by the U.S. -- prevents it from mediating fairly in the crisis.
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TRADE-SOUTHERN AFRICA: FTA Will ‘‘Choke’’ Small Business
25 08 2008 JOHANNESBURG, Aug 25 (IPS) - The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that Southern African Development Community (SADC) governments agreed to will boost large South African companies’ reach in the region at the expense of small-scale producers and shops.
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RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Towards Parity For Women In Politics
23 08 2008 HARARE, Aug 23 (IPS) - In a highly contested election marred by violence and held under very difficult economic conditions, Zimbabwean women politicians defied the odds to participate as candidates in the March 29th elections.
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Q&A: Finding New Ways To Reach Farmers
23 08 2008 PRETORIA, Aug 23 (IPS) - When beekeepers in central and eastern Uganda got vouchers to go online at internet cafés, their most popular query was how to treat bee stings. A local agricultural information provider replied in Baganda, the local language.
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MIDEAST: A Civil War in the Making
22 08 2008 CAIRO, Aug 22 (IPS) - Recent weeks have seen the worst fighting between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas since the latter's takeover of the Gaza Strip last summer. Hamas accuses the "treasonous faction" within Fatah -- which worked with U.S. military intelligence in last year's failed bid to destroy the resistance group -- of instigating the violence.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Measuring the Carbon Footprint of Fruit and Wine
21 08 2008 CAPE TOWN, Aug 21 (IPS) - In an effort to stay competitive in a global market where increasing demands are made by consumers for 'green' products, South African fruit and wine farmers have launched an initiative to determine the environmental impact of their industries. The research could challenge the idea that exported products from the developing world have a higher environmental cost.
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POLITICS-COTE D'IVOIRE: Anti-Xenophobia Law Gets Lukewarm Reception
21 08 2008 ABIDJAN, Aug 21 (IPS) - Human rights organisations are wary of a new law against xenophobia, racism and tribalism adopted by the Ivorian parliament. Certain organisations fear it will lead to infringements on freedom of speech.
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