Saturday, July 31st
Nigerian State Resumes Polio Vaccinations
TAKAI, Nigeria (AP) - Health workers took a polio vaccination campaign Saturday to villages in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, ending a ban on inoculations that had caused a regional outbreak and threatened global eradication efforts. Nigeria's Kano state - where a recent epidemic of the crippling disease started and spread to 10 other African nations - allowed vaccinations to resume Saturday after an 11-month boycott. The ban was imposed after religious leaders alleged that foreign powers were spreading AIDS and infertility among Muslims with the vaccine. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 07.31.04 @ 04:29 PM CST [ link]
Sudan reluctantly accepts UN resolution on Darfur
KHARTOUM : The Sudanese government reluctantly accepted a UN Security Council resolution on its troubled Darfur region, reversing an earlier position, a minister said. "Although we don't like the resolution, we are already committed to the implementation of its measures on the basis of the agreement that was concluded with (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan," the minister of state for foreign affairs, Neguib al-Kheir Abdul Wahab, told AFP. Abul Wahab was referring to an agreement between the government and the United Nations earlier in July under which Sudan agreed to implement a series of measures regarding the war-torn region. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
Africa on 07.31.04 @ 04:23 PM CST [ link]
A fight over a frontier town
The descendant of a free slave says researchers have distorted historyST. LOUIS - A black history scholar has accused an archaeological team of distorting racial history in its study of a once-promising Illinois frontier town. Walker, a great-great granddaughter of McWorter, said the archaeology team distorted that history — exaggerating the significance of New Philadelphia's "racial harmony" — in an effort to get federal funding for the dig. Full Article : chron.com
USA on 07.31.04 @ 04:17 PM CST [ link]
Explorers Search for Slave Shipwreck Off Florida
In a few weeks researchers will begin scouring the Florida seafloor for a 177-year-old shipwreck—and the resting place of dozens of slaves who drowned in chains. Despite its drama, the story of the Guerrero remains little-known. Full Article : nationalgeographic.com
Africa on 07.31.04 @ 03:04 PM CST [ link]
Mbeki's plan for land redistribution angers whites
The South African government is considering new regulations to limit foreign ownership of property in South Africa, in a move that would directly affect British investors. The proposed measures, which are still being worked out by the government, are an attempt to deal with soaring property prices caused by rich foreigners buying properties in South Africa, pushing local people out of the market. A large number of Britons, have bought homes in Cape Town, taking advantage of the strong pound against the South African rand. The main opposition Democratic Alliance yesterday attacked the proposed move on the ground that limiting foreign property ownership would discourage investment. Full Article : independent.co.uk
Africa on 07.31.04 @ 02:27 PM CST [ link]
More AU troops for Darfur
Accra - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current head of the African Union (AU), said on Friday that more African troops than planned should go to the strife-torn western Sudan region of Darfur. "I sent a fact-finding mission to Darfur and they came back just three days ago... (having) found a formal deterioration from when we met in Addis Ababa at the beginning of this month," Obasanjo said in the Ghanaian capital. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 07.31.04 @ 10:27 AM CST [ link]
African leaders upbeat over Ivory Coast talks
Accra - Nigeria's leader was optimistic that advances would be made at Ivory Coast peace talks on Friday but there were few signs of a breakthrough to end a crisis which has split the West African nation in two. Representatives from all sides held informal meetings with some of the 12 African leaders in Ghana's capital Accra who are seeking ways to reunite the world's top cocoa grower and restore stability to the region. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 07.31.04 @ 10:24 AM CST [ link]
Nations eye Africa's oil supply
JOHANNESBURG -- The world's growing demand for oil and the fears of supply interruption is expected to force the United States and other nations to increasingly rely on another volatile region -- central and western Africa Full Article : boston.com
Africa on 07.31.04 @ 10:16 AM CST [ link]
Friday, July 30th
Developing nations rally against subsidies at WTO
Delegates from developing countries are again raising the issue of farm subsidies at this week's World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Geneva. Mandisi Mpahlwa, the South African trade and industry minister, says there is still a large gap between farmers in the developed and developing countries. The subsidies enjoyed by farmers in the developed countries gives them an added advantage in competing for world markets. The minister says that he and other delegates from the developing countries are fighting the system at the WTO talks. Full Article : sabcnews.comWhy are African Nations still fighting this issue while these Western powers peddle the words Free Trade? It is obvious that Free Trade has nothing to do with Fair Trade, and is only about developing more markets for European/American products.
Africa on 07.30.04 @ 05:25 PM CST [ link]
'African Holocaust' comes to Copper
COPPER MOUNTAIN - The beat of Steel Pulse thrives on positivity and spirituality, mostly based in the Rastafarian tradition. "From our standpoint, we're all about God in this day and age and liberating Africa - the betterment of mankind, in particular the African people," said lead singer and founder David Hinds. "We strongly believe the human race will never be at its heights unless every human being is elevated to the same level." The band's latest album, "African Holocaust," throbs with an evocative and inspiring tribute to the struggles of African descendants in the past 700 years. "We search the past, because if you don't know how something happened, you can't fix it," Hinds said. "Black history is not just some tale told by the victors because there are still too many victims, and you can't re-invent what's still going on." Full Article : summitdaily.com
USA on 07.30.04 @ 06:02 AM CST [ link]
West Oakland rallies against massive gentrification project
Africans arriving in the cities by the Bay 450,000 strong willing, ready and able to get down for one's daily bread, Sat Nan (truth and identity) But now, again I must ask, Where's my 40 acres and a mule? The planned development, dubbed "Central Station," would produce up to 1,500 new housing units mostly for sale starting at $300,000 per unit. This kind of gentrification is in keeping with what Poor Magazine dubbed "Gerrification" in its 1999 Media Action on Oakland City Hall Plaza, opposing the master plan by so-called "strong" Mayor Jerry Brown to bring rich folks by the hundreds of thousands into Oakland to get rid of Oakland's "blight," which is another euphemism for poor folks, mostly of color. What the corporate media and policy makers never mention is that rather than "cleaning up" an area, massive redevelopment of very poor neighborhoods that isn't rooted in the communities themselves leads to more homelessness. As Po Poet Laureate A. Faye Hicks said in her piece on the colonization of San Francisco's Fillmore District, "When we (poor folks) are evicted and gentrified out of our homes and neighborhoods, we don't leave, we just go live in the sidewalk hotels." Full Article : sfbayview.com
USA on 07.30.04 @ 05:54 AM CST [ link]
Does Africa care about its women?
The African Union (AU) adopted a Protocol on Women's Rights last July but it has still not been ratified. The protocol is designed to guarantee women's rights to health, education and justice, to protection against violence and harmful traditional practices and against all forms of discrimination. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 07.30.04 @ 03:15 AM CST [ link]
Zimbabwe in talks with SA intellegence on 'mercenaries'
A Zimbabwe magistrate yesterday postponed until August 18 the trial of 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. The lawyer for the men says the state asked for more time to liaise with the National Intelligence of SA to get agents to testify against the men. Alwyn Griebenauw says he was surprised by this because the authorities in South Africa have said they have no evidence regarding conspiracy. Griebenauw says at the moment he does not know who will be asked to be witnesses on the South African side. He hopes they will be given the necessary information before the trial date. Full Article : sabcnews.com
Africa on 07.30.04 @ 02:36 AM CST [ link]
SA security firm bids to guard Mugabe
A Cape Town company which has already secured a R200-million contract to supply staff for a security mission to Angola is bidding for a contract to protect Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Derek Davids, of International Intelligence Risk Management, the company contracted in a joint venture to protect strategic installations and personnel in Angola, admitted his firm had been in touch with the Zimbabwean government. "I can confirm that (we) have officially communicated with the Zimbabwe government in connection with a contract to secure the principal (Mugabe) and to protect strategic properties and installations in that country." Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 07.30.04 @ 02:32 AM CST [ link]
Muslim countries consider sending troops to Iraq
CAIRO, Egypt – Arab governments say they want to help restore calm in Iraq and Pakistan is discussing the possibility of sending several hundred troops. But a militant group warned Thursday that they would attack any country that provided troops. Full Article : signonsandiego.com
Arab on 07.30.04 @ 02:27 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, July 29th
30,000 Civilians Displaced by Fighting in Congo's East
U-N aid workers say that up to 30-thousand civilians have been driven out of their homes and are in need of food and shelter following fighting between rebel and government forces in Congo's lawless east. Returning from an assessment mission in and around the town of Kalehe, about 35-kilometers north of the town of Bukavu, aid workers have said that up to 30-thousand civilians have fled their homes and are in need of food and shelter following recent fighting in eastern Congo. Full Article : politinfo.com
Africa on 07.29.04 @ 04:43 PM CST [ link]
Africa's Leaders Start Ivory Coast Talks
ACCRA (Reuters) - Africa's most influential leaders began talks in Ghana's capital Thursday to revive a moribund peace process in Ivory Coast, where civil war has split the West African economic powerhouse in two. The conflict mushroomed out of a coup attempt in September 2002 and although a peace deal was struck in January 2003, and hostilities declared over in July that year, the world's largest cocoa grower remains mired in an uneasy stalemate. Full Article : reuters.com
Africa on 07.29.04 @ 04:37 PM CST [ link]
Britain should stay out of Sudan
There is a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan, described by the United Nations as "the world's worst". The Sudanese government needs urgent help from the international community to resolve it but rejects all suggestions of intervention by foreign forces. Last Thursday, Congress passed a resolution labelling the crisis "genocide" while urging the United States administration to take the same view. Both the US and the EU are mulling over whether or not to impose sanctions on Khartoum after a US-led resolution threatening the oil-producing country with sanctions was vetoed by Russia and China. Full Article : aljazeerah.info
Arab on 07.29.04 @ 02:13 PM CST [ link]
India ranks second only to South Africa in AIDS
"Children affected by HIV/AIDS are being discriminated against in education and health services, denied care by orphanages, and pushed onto the streets and into the worst forms of child labor," said Zama Coursen-Neff, the author of the report. When a parent is infected, children drop out of school to care for them, or go to work to replace the lost income, until they become orphans, she said. "Many doctors refuse to treat or even touch HIV-positive children," Human Rights Watch said. "Some schools expel or segregate children because they or their parents are HIV-positive." Full Article : chron.com
India on 07.29.04 @ 10:03 AM CST [ link]
South Africa Says Has Fewer HIV/AIDS Cases
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa has one million fewer HIV/AIDS cases than previous estimates, officials said Wednesday, although the death toll remains alarming in the country battling the world's largest AIDS epidemic. Government statistics agency Stats SA said an estimated 3.83 million South Africans were HIV positive, compared with the five million cases estimated by bodies such as the United Nations. AIDS has killed around 1.49 million South Africans, the agency said. The U.S. Bureau for Census's estimate is 3 million deaths. Full Article : reuters.com
USA on 07.29.04 @ 05:59 AM CST [ link]
Baquba blast toll climbs
The toll in Wednesday's car bomb blast in the Iraqi town of Baquba has climbed to 70 dead and 90 injured. The attack was the deadliest since the interim government was installed late last month. Full Article : aljazeera.net
USA on 07.29.04 @ 05:56 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, July 28th
68 dead in Iraq blast
A suicide car bomb exploded outside a police recruiting centre in central Baquba today, killing 68 Iraqis. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 07.28.04 @ 09:27 PM CST [ link]
Report of the Haiti Accompaniment Project
From our discussions with human rights workers, there was widespread agreement that the repercussions from this coup are even worse than what took place after the brutal 1991-1994 coup. There are many similarities between the two periods. In both instances military force, backed by Haitian elites, overthrew a democratically elected government. In both cases, there were large-scale, politically-motivated murders and assassinations. In both cases, paramilitary groups allied with the de facto authorities controlled areas, exercised police, judicial and administrative powers, and brutally repressed dissent. In both periods, people associated with the overthrown government lost jobs, had their homes burned, and were forced to leave their communities and families. In both periods, the de facto government routinely arrested democracy activists and held them without charge and without respect for their legal rights. Yet there are some important differences. Full Article : americas.org
Africa on 07.28.04 @ 09:24 PM CST [ link]
African leaders discuss Sudan
Pretoria - The heads of African states meeting in Akkra, Ghana, on Thursday, which President Thabo Mbeki will be attending, has been expanded to include discussion on the trouble in the Ivory Coast as well as in Darfur, Sudan, the French foreign minister has said in Pretoria on Wednesday. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 07.28.04 @ 08:52 PM CST [ link]
Africa intervenes to stop Darfur's slaughter
As its observers report further atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan, the African Union says it may send troops to disarm the Arab militiamen there, in what would be the AU’s first military intervention in a member state. The United Nations is expected shortly to discuss possible sanctions against Sudan. Full Article : economist.com
Africa on 07.28.04 @ 02:26 PM CST [ link]
What would John Kerry do as president?
The Democratic presidential convention in Boston is more an infomercial than a political contest, but a key piece of information is missing. A majority of the Americans who plan to vote for John Kerry in November assume that he will pull U.S. troops out of Iraq quickly if he becomes president, and is only refusing to say so now to avoid being vilified by the Republican machine for failing to support American soldiers in action overseas. But it is possible that he actually means what he says -- and what he says is that he would stay in Iraq indefinitely. "Extremists appear to be gaining confidence and have vowed to drive our troops from the country," Kerry said in the midst of the April uprising in Iraq. "We cannot and will not let that happen. It would be unthinkable for us to retreat in disarray and leave behind a society deep in strife and dominated by radicals." Full Article : thejakartapost.com
UK on 07.28.04 @ 02:22 PM CST [ link]
Why Americans Believe Only American Deaths Count in Iraq
Nationalism can be a vicious disease, and an infectious one, too. It can take all sorts of forms, and its most destructive strains can surely sneak up on any country. Just think of the tens of thousands of German Jews--German nationals--who refused to believe what was happening, even after Kristallnacht and the ghettos, until the trains arrived at Dachau. We know well from this past century what sentiments intense nationalist fervor can ignite among a country's people, but we have yet to learn deeply those lessons after two "great" wars, hundreds of so-called conflicts and countless millions of young men, women, and children dead. It's striking how rarely we talk about the most recent abuses of nationalism as well as the genocides--attempted eliminations of groups considered impure or unwelcome in a society--they engendered, in Bosnia or Rwanda, for example. Shouldn't the ones we read about firsthand logically instill the most compassion, the most closeness? We say never again while it happens under our knowing gaze. And yet Americans are not fully immune. Think of the violent attacks on, and illegal detainment of, thousands of Arabs and Muslims after September 11, 2001. Never again? Full Article : informationclearinghouse.info
USA on 07.28.04 @ 07:10 AM CST [ link]
America used Islamists to arm the Bosnian Muslims
The Srebrenica report reveals the Pentagon's role in a dirty war Richard J Aldrich
Monday April 22, 2002
The GuardianThe official Dutch inquiry into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, released last week, contains one of the most sensational reports on western intelligence ever published. Officials have been staggered by its findings and the Dutch government has resigned. One of its many volumes is devoted to clandestine activities during the Bosnian war of the early 1990s. For five years, Professor Cees Wiebes of Amsterdam University has had unrestricted access to Dutch intelligence files and has stalked the corridors of secret service headquarters in western capitals, as well as in Bosnia, asking questions. His findings are set out in "Intelligence and the war in Bosnia, 1992-1995". It includes remarkable material on covert operations, signals interception, human agents and double-crossing by dozens of agencies in one of dirtiest wars of the new world disorder. Now we have the full story of the secret alliance between the Pentagon and radical Islamist groups from the Middle East designed to assist the Bosnian Muslims - some of the same groups that the Pentagon is now fighting in "the war against terrorism". Pentagon operations in Bosnia have delivered their own "blowback". Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 07.28.04 @ 07:07 AM CST [ link]
Lynching exhibit guides people to the truth
"Without Sanctuary" exhibit. It's embroidered with the names of 2,217 lynching victims. The museum has needed an exhibit such as the lynching photos to capture the public's attention. The show drew 70,000 in New York, 176,000 in Atlanta and 31,400 in Pittsburgh. Since "Without Sanctuary" opened in Detroit, daily attendance at the museum has more than doubled from 250, says Wright president Christy Coleman. Exact figures are not available yet. The exhibit covers one of the most shameful chapters in American history from the 1860s to well into the 20th century when thousands of African Americans were tortured and lynched simply because they were black. What's more, these horrifying rituals were photographed and the images made into souvenir postcards. Full Article : detnews.com
USA on 07.28.04 @ 03:42 AM CST [ link]
Nigeria to make cheap Aids drugs
Nigeria is to get its first plant for manufacturing anti-retroviral drugs for people living with HIV and Aids. The plant is expected to bring cheaper medication for the millions of Nigerians afflicted by the disease. It is wholly owned by a group of Nigerians living in the US who answered an appeal by President Olusegun Obasanjo for investment from expats. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
UK on 07.28.04 @ 02:45 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, July 27th
Castro Blasts Bush On Sex Charges
Breaking with tradition, Cuba's maximum leader Fidel Castro turned his traditional July 26 State of the Nation speech into a war of words with President Bush. Castro devoted the bulk of his 90-minute speech to countering charges levied by Mr. Bush that his government fosters tourism prostitution and child pornography. He strongly implied that President Bush cannot distinguish between his imagination and reality. Full Article : cbsnews.com
USA on 07.27.04 @ 03:59 PM CST [ link]
Annan discusses with African leaders over Darfur
A spokeswoman for the government of Nigeria said that the UN secretary general Kofi Annan will hold talks next Thursday with the President of Nigeria and other African leaders over the situation in Darfur to the west of Sudan. Full Article : arabicnews.com
Africa on 07.27.04 @ 03:53 PM CST [ link]
Locust plague threatens parts of Africa
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has issued an urgent international appeal in Algiers for 83 million dollars to curb a deadly locust plague ravaging north and west African crops. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Africa on 07.27.04 @ 03:51 PM CST [ link]
Africa Needs a Positive Identity, Says Graca
Africa must move fast to acquire a more positive identity, an official of New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) said yesterday. Dr Graca Machel, the chairperson of African Peer Review Mechanism, a Nepad organisation, said in Nairobi that the current identity of Africa as a continent of disease, poverty, corruption and illiteracy must end. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 07.27.04 @ 03:48 PM CST [ link]
French Activists Attack Genetically Modified Crops
TOULOUSE, France - Hundreds of activists opposed to genetically modified crops tore out rows of maize in south-western France Sunday and threatened similar future actions of "civil disobedience" to stop the cultivation of bio-engineered food. Full Article : commondreams.org
UK on 07.27.04 @ 11:09 AM CST [ link]
By the banks of Lake Tunk
As the US conventions begin, big business has its eye on both parties; but the poor have the ear of neither In his stump speech, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, John Edwards, says there are two Americas: "One America - middle-class America - whose needs Washington has long forgotten; another America - narrow-interest America - whose every wish is Washington's command." Lubec's locals do not fit into either. Living in Washington County, one of the poorest in the US, they are certainly doing the work, but they are not middle class. Take Daniel Fitzsimmons. He used to employ around 50 people in a business making Christmas wreaths. When the North American Free Trade Agreement came in he went out of business, undercut by cheaper wreaths from Canada. "It's free trade to some people, but it ain't free to us because we're losing everything we had," he says. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 07.27.04 @ 10:35 AM CST [ link]
President Kagame says it all about the French
The French perhaps are about the only one's who have not really come clean on the issue of their involvement in the genocide, they have always denied any responsibility yet the facts are very clear. They were here backing Habyarimana's regime, training the army, the militia's , they were here directing the war at the time we were fighting, just before the genocide. They were known to be directly sympathetic with what Habyarimana regime was doing and for a fact in 1992, i have said this before, when i was in Paris at the invitation of the French during the time we were fighting, i was told by a french official, i have always remembered his name , he is called Paul Disiue, he was in charge of African Affairs. He told me face to face, there were other people around, in the meeting that if we did not stop fighting,and he believed fighting was not in our interest, that if we don't stop fighting by the time we realise or if at all we were to manage to reach Kigali, that we will find all our relatives and families killed. Full Article : monitor.co.ug
USA on 07.27.04 @ 07:46 AM CST [ link]
Andrew Young traces his genetic ties back to West Africa
Using DNA, the 72-year-old civil rights leader was able to trace his maternal lineage to present-day Sierra Leone and the Mende ethnic group. The tests were conducted by Washington, D.C.-based African Ancestry Inc., which has one of the most extensive indigenous African lineage databases in the world. "I have been going to Africa now for 30 years and almost every year, several times a year," Young said. "I guess I never really wanted to know where in Africa I was from because I would decide I was from anywhere I happened to be." Young traced his ancestry through his mother, Daisy Fuller Young, a former teacher. After uncovering his ties to Sierra Leone, Young said he perused the Internet to find more information about the west African nation. Full Article : roanoke.com
USA on 07.27.04 @ 07:36 AM CST [ link]
She traces genetic 'Roots' to Africa
DNA helps author forge links to cousins from GhanaAfter years of genealogical research, interviews and DNA testing, Pearl Duncan, right, identified Vida Opare as one of her "ancestral cousins" from Ghana. The two have developed a close friendship since they found out that their fathers' DNA matched. "She looks just like my sister," Duncan says. Full Article : msnbc.msn.com
USA on 07.27.04 @ 07:32 AM CST [ link]
African Plants Grow as Dutch Environment Warms
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Changes in the Dutch climate in recent years because of global warming have meant dozens of plant types normally found in warmer areas are now growing wild in the country, according on one study. Full Article : news.yahoo.com
UK on 07.27.04 @ 07:29 AM CST [ link]
Zimbabwe to Appeal Rejection of AIDS Funds
Zimbabwe's government says it is going to appeal the decision by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria to deny Harare financial aid in the fight against the HIV-AIDS pandemic. The Global Fund has rejected Zimbabwe's application for $516 million to support the country's fledgling anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) program on political grounds. An official of a U.N. agency that is part of the Global Fund told VOA on condition of anonymity the government has the right to appeal the decision. An appeal is being launched, the official said, but declined to comment on the reason Zimbabwe's application was rejected. Full Article : voanews.com
USA on 07.27.04 @ 05:39 AM CST [ link]
Monday, July 26th
US raising stakes over Darfur crisis
The US is poised to ratchet up efforts to halt the ethnic cleansing in Sudan's western Darfur region. This week Washington is expected to introduce a UN Security Council resolution that threatens sanctions against Sudan if it doesn't disarm Arab militias who have been attacking, raping, and killing black villagers in Darfur. This comes after Congress took the extraordinary step Thursday of declaring Darfur's crisis a "genocide" - and pushing the White House to follow suit. Some observers see the declaration of genocide as the first step toward putting US or UN "boots on the ground." An American legal team is here now doing tent-to-tent surveys of Sudanese refugees to determine if genocide occurred. Full Article : gogreenbay.com
USA on 07.26.04 @ 12:08 PM CST [ link]
Germany Divided Over Asylum Centers in Africa
As illegal immigration hits the news over the events surrounding the odyssey of the German relief ship Cap Anamur and the plight of dozens of Africans plucked from the Mediterranean, German politicians have begun taking sides on a British plan to build EU asylum centers in North Africa. Interior Minister Otto Schily supports the proposal, which London had put forth in previous EU meetings as a solution for dealing with the growing number of illegal immigrants who leave North Africa on rickety boats bound for European shores. The idea is to stop the would-be refugees before they leave home and to involve the countries of departure in the process of countering illegal immigration. Full Article : dw-world.de
UK on 07.26.04 @ 12:05 PM CST [ link]
N. Korea rejects U.S 'sham offer'
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- North Korea has dismissed as "nothing but a sham offer" U.S. proposals that the communist state follow the example of Libya and scrap its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and diplomatic recognition. The United States laid out a plan for North Korea last month that would extend multilateral energy aid after the North first commits to dismantle all of its nuclear programs and begins a verifiable disarmament process. Full Article : cnn.com
USA on 07.26.04 @ 12:01 PM CST [ link]
Blair: my way or it’s the highway
Five more years of even newer New Labour. That was the dream, and for some the nightmare, described yesterday by Tony Blair as he sounded the final death knell for old Labour. The Prime Minister, emboldened by his latest escape from the conclusion of the Butler Report, used the national policy forum in Coventry to effectively demand from his party the ultimate in loyalty. His message was stark and stern. They had to "give up the luxury of criticism" and do it his way, the New Labour way. The alternative? He said there was none. Full Article : sundayherald.com
UK on 07.26.04 @ 11:56 AM CST [ link]
Sudan group: Prepare to fight west
KHARTOUM, Sudan -- A group calling itself Mohammed's army has called on Muslims to prepare to fight Western forces sent on any mission to western Sudan. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has not ruled out military intervention in Darfur, where the U.S. Congress has labeled as genocide a campaign by Arab militias against black Africans. Full Article : cnn.com
Asia on 07.26.04 @ 05:11 AM CST [ link]
The world should get involved and stop the wars in Africa
The Pope appealed to the international community, national governments, and international organisations to get involved and stop the war in Uganda and Sudan. In such countries children are too often forced to "become soldiers." "During these days of leisure and rest," John Paul II said, "my thoughts are with those regions of the world where life is endured under appalling conditions. Today I wish to draw your attention to the tragic events that for a long time have affected some countries in our beloved Africa." Full Article : asianews.it
Asia on 07.26.04 @ 05:08 AM CST [ link]
35 000 children behind bars in South Africa
A staggering 13 593 juveniles of the 34 905 in SA prisons, according to the Department of Correctional Services' last count this year, were either awaiting trial in connection with murder or already serving murder sentences. KwaZulu-Natal was the worst province with 3 365 youngsters in for murder. The 15 255 youngsters (below the age of 21) awaiting trial should have been referred to places of safety but because of the large numbers most such centres are unable to accommodate them. In some cases parents have also rejected their children, choosing instead to let them stay on in jail. The problem has placed a huge burden on social workers and departmental officials who are battling to cope with the swelling, overcrowded cells. Statistics from the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons as at April this year reveal that 40% of children between seven and 17 were sentenced for aggressive crimes and 43% for economic or petty crimes. Full Article : pretorianews.co.za
Africa on 07.26.04 @ 05:02 AM CST [ link]
SA delegation leaves for Equatorial Guinea
A high-level delegation of South African officials left for Equatorial Guinea on Sunday morning to assist in ensuring a fair and proper trial for the eight South African men held there on allegations of a coup plot. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 07.26.04 @ 04:57 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, July 25th
Aid workers return to Chad camps
Aid workers who were forced to leave two refugee camps in Chad because of violence have resumed their operations. The camps in eastern Chad house tens of thousands of Sudanese who have fled from the conflict in the Darfur region. A BBC correspondent in Chad says there has been no sign of unrest spreading to the other camps. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 07.25.04 @ 06:32 AM CST [ link]
New form of malaria mosquito found
A new form of mosquito carrying the parasite responsible for the most deadly form of malaria has been discovered in a village in southern Cameroon, researchers say. Discovery of the hitherto-unknown variety, provisionally dubbed "Oveng Form" after the village where it was found, is likely to make the fight against the malaria in Cameroon even more difficult, researchers say, although more research is needed. It joins four other species already known in the central African country, all of them resistant to common anti-malaria drugs. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Africa on 07.25.04 @ 06:27 AM CST [ link]
Burundi agreement in the balance
Burundi's President Domitien Ndayizeye has announced details of a draft power-sharing agreement after years of civil war. The proposal suggests the national assembly and government be composed of 60% ethnic Hutu and 40% Tutsi. The deal is due to be signed next week and will form the new constitution ahead of elections due in October. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 07.25.04 @ 06:25 AM CST [ link]
Bushmen of Botswana to Publicize Human Rights Violations
(PRWEB) July 24, 2004 -- The San, or Bushmen, of Southern Africa's Kalahari are the oldest culture on the planet – dating back at least 70,000 years. Hunter-gatherers with a culture based around healing, they do not make war, and promote gender equality as part of their way of life. Yet in recent years these gentle people have been hounded almost out of existence by cattle ranching, diamond mining and cultural genocide. Today, the Bushmen stand on the edge of extinction: less than 10,000 traditional San Bushmen remain across the six countries of the Kalahari (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe , Zambia and Angola). Everywhere else they exist as serfs on other peoples' farms, often treated appallingly, or as dispossessed slum-dwellers on the edges of the Kalahari's few towns. Full Article : emediawire.com
Africa on 07.25.04 @ 06:19 AM CST [ link]
Nine gunmen killed in Algeria
Algerian security sources said Saturday nine gunmen were killed and three others were captured, while a security officer was injured by a land mine. The unidentified sources said the army killed the gunmen, whom they said were affiliated with the Islamic Salafi groups, during a Friday military operation in the hills of Boumerdas, 40 miles (60 kilometers) east of Algiers. Full Article : bignewsnetwork.com
Africa on 07.25.04 @ 06:15 AM CST [ link]
Black delegate gives history on minority population
FARGO, N.D. - While most of the North Dakota delegates to the Democratic National Convention prepare for questions about cold weather, Audrey Henderson-Nocho is ready to give history lessons on the state's minority population. "Yes, there are blacks in North Dakota," Henderson-Nocho said Friday before leaving for Boston. "I'm always asked that question." Henderson-Nocho, of Fargo, who is attending her third national convention, is trying to find out if she's the first black delegate from the state. She plans to ask that question of national party officials there. Full Article : mercurynews.com
USA on 07.25.04 @ 05:31 AM CST [ link]
Saturday, July 24th
Challenges to Garifuna & Afro-Brazilian Communities
Shackled together and piled on top of each other, men, women and children crossed the Atlantic crammed in the dark leaky hulls of creaking slave ships. Upon arrival in the New World, they suffered a daily existence of backbreaking labor, endless abuse and the subjugation of their religions and cultures. Although African slaves endured relentless brutality in the Americas, many did not acquiesce to their captivity; they were not docile subjects. Resistance characterized their new lives: from covert sabotage of plantation equipment and working at a turtle’s pace when possible, to outright violent rebellion and escape. Many opted for the latter. As slavery spread across the Americas, so did autonomous communities of runaway slaves. Living off the plantation allowed these groups to preserve and reproduce their original African cultures. The modern descendants of these courageous renegades amazingly have kept much of their culture, religion and language intact. Full Article : americas.org
USA on 07.24.04 @ 07:03 AM CST [ link]
Afro-Latinos and African Americans
Making the ConnectionsConnection: What do you see as the significance of race in U.S. policy toward Haiti? Professor Nimtz: The race question has always been a part of Wahington’s view toward Haiti, from the very founding of the country. The slaveowners in the United States were very fearful of the Haitian revolution in 1804. Not until 1863, when slavery was being contested and overthrown here, did Washington finally recognize the Haitian government. Then, with the overthrow of reconstruction in this country and the institution of Jim Crow, Washington’s attitudes toward Haiti hardened once again. What happens in this country around issues of race impacts what Washington is doing not only in Haiti but in Africa and elsewhere. U.S. interventions in Haiti, Nicaragua and elsewhere have to be seen in the context of the basic denial of rights to black people in this country. Only with the civil rights movement and the overthrow of Jim Crow, did Washington even begin to pretend to treat Haiti as a sovereign state. Full Article : americas.org
USA on 07.24.04 @ 07:00 AM CST [ link]
From Iraq to Latin America
Several months ago, I used this forum to call all of us to stand for peace and against the then-impending war in Iraq. At that time, I stated that "the war against Iraq is a war that will not further human rights, will result in the death of innocent civilians and will impede peace, justice and democracy throughout the world." Today, more than 800 U.S. military personnel are dead, and more than 4,000 are wounded. And those are just U.S. casualties. What about the Iraqis? Are the tens of thousands of Iraqi dead and wounded not also casualties of this shameful war? Where will all this shattering of lives end? Full Article : americas.org
USA on 07.24.04 @ 06:52 AM CST [ link]
Ruling throws doubt on Bali convictions
The convictions of the 32 men linked to the Bali bombing were thrown into significant doubt yesterday after an Indonesian court ruled that the anti-terrorism law used to prosecute them was applied unconstitutionally. The constitutional court's decision that the legislation passed after the terrorist strike on the resort island cannot be applied retroactively will also complicate attempts to prosecute the alleged Islamist militant leader Abu Bakar Ba'aysir, who is awaiting charge. Verdicts from other tribunals which are using retroactive legislation, such as the one prosecuting those allegedly involved in the carnage in East Timor in 1999, may also be called into question. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 07.24.04 @ 06:49 AM CST [ link]
Friday, July 23rd
The Mass Graves in America
And the United States is not the only country, though it is certainly the major terrorist culprit, in the long, sad history of the oppression of original peoples. In Guatemala, U.S.- and Israeli-backed military and militarized civilian regimes killed 250,000 persons in 20 years or less, the vast majority of them Mayan Indians, and the vast majority of them slaughtered via the same means as those utilized by euro-descendant settlers and federal troops in the U.S. generations before. In Peru, a U.S.-backed government, and to apparently a nearly-equivalent extent, "Maiost" guerrillas of the communist Shining Path insurgency headed by a now-incarcerated Peruvian philosophy professor who preached austerity while caught on video drunkenly dancing "Zorba the Greek" at a party, 50,000 Peruvians, mostly Quechua and Aymara-speaking Indians, were brutally slaughtered, or disappeared, like the thousands also disappeared and presumably killed in Guatemala. The five thousand estimated disappeared in Peru are still waiting to be unearthed and identified, along with the vast majority of the 50,000 Guatemalan disappeared, potential "communists" who 'deserved' to be eliminated for the sake of freedom and democracy. Native peoples were not the only victims in the anti-insurgent, Cold War, campaigns of the 1960's. '70's and '80's, spearheaded by the United States and its puppet governments in the Americas. However, due to white liberal political solidarity identification processes, and European donor preferences, the original peoples victims were certainly the most ignored in "human rights" discourse throughout the West. Full Article : altpr.org
USA on 07.23.04 @ 09:45 PM CST [ link]
Intervention: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba
As economies stagnate and governments fail to deliver, confidence in democratic politics is increasingly fragile. While last October's annual "Latinobarómetro" poll found 64 percent of Latin Americans agreeing that "democracy is the better government system," 52 percent also responded affirmatively to the statement, "I would not mind a non-democratic government." As several Latin American nations have elected populist presidents who don't march in lockstep with Washington, U.S. support for democracy also looks shakier than it has in years. Bush administration officials are proposing increased military assistance to counterbalance what they call "radical populism." Military aid levels are increasing region-wide, while economic aid--especially programs to shore up democratic institutions--is set to decline by 10 percent between 2003 and 2005. Full Article : americas.org
UK on 07.23.04 @ 05:44 AM CST [ link]
Sudan warns Blair against sending troops
Sudan yesterday warned Britain that it risked becoming bogged down in an Iraq-style quagmire if it sent troops to Darfur, where more than a million refugees face the threat of famine, disease and attacks by pro-government militia. The country's foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said British soldiers would be seen as an occupying force and face a backlash from the people of Darfur. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 07.23.04 @ 05:34 AM CST [ link]
SOUTH AFRICA: Troop deployment to DRC and Eritrea extended
JOHANNESBURG, 22 Jul 2004 (IRIN) - South African peacekeeping troops are to stay on in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Eritrea for another year, a government official told IRIN. "The extension to the troop deployment - over 1,200 in the DRC and four military observers in Eritrea - is effective from 1 April 2004 to 1 March 2005," defence ministry spokesperson Sam Makhwanazi said. Full article : irinnews.org
USA on 07.23.04 @ 05:03 AM CST [ link]
U.S. pressures Sudan
UNITED NATIONS -- The United States threatened sanctions against Sudan if it doesn't make significant progress in arresting marauding Arab militias within 30 days, in a revised U.N. resolution circulated Thursday. Secretary of State Colin Powell met U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the second time in three weeks to step up pressure on Sudan to end the 15-month conflict and escalating humanitarian crisis in the western Darfur region. The conflict in the vast region has killed up to 30,000 people, forced more than 1 million to flee their homes, and left 2.2 million in desperate need of food and medicine. Full article : indystar.com
USA on 07.23.04 @ 04:56 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, July 22nd
Sierra Leoneans testify on rebel abuse
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Witness TF-1196 told her story: Rebels used machetes to hack all movement and life out of her husband. Then a rebel young enough to be her child raped her. She raised the rounded tips of her arms to show why she had not signed her statement, delivered before a U.N.-backed war crimes court for the diamond-rich west African nation of Sierra Leone. "After they had killed my husband, a rebel ... chopped off my right and left hands with a cutlass, into four bits," TF-1196 - a downcast, middle-aged woman - told the court. Full Article : seattlepi.nwsource.com
Africa on 07.22.04 @ 12:30 PM CST [ link]
Kenya citizens 'must leave Iraq'
The Kenyan government has urged all its citizens to leave Iraq immediately. The announcement by government spokesman Alfred Mutua came a day after three Kenyan lorry drivers were taken hostage by an Iraqi militant group. The group, calling itself The Holders of the Black Banners, also seized three Indians and an Egyptian. The group said it would behead one of its hostages every 72 hours if the Kuwaiti company employing the men did not leave Iraq. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 07.22.04 @ 10:57 AM CST [ link]
Portuguese bank to open 20 branches in Angola
Portugal's third-biggest private bank, BPI, said on Wednesday it plans to open 20 new branches in war-ravaged Angola by April 2005 because of the oil-rich African country's good growth prospects. Full Article : mg.co.za
Africa on 07.22.04 @ 10:46 AM CST [ link]
Rwanda fires 500 judges over genocide
KIGALI, Rwanda -- Rwanda fired more than 500 judges and appointed 223 new ones, a reform intended to improve the performance of a judiciary crippled by thousands of cases from the 1994 genocide, officials said Wednesday. Full Article : seattlepi.nwsource.com
Africa on 07.22.04 @ 10:43 AM CST [ link]
Afro Venezuelan Network Letter to African American Organizations
In the name of the Afro Venezuelan Network, a group of thirty community-based organizations from eight Venezuelan states, we call on you, our sister organizations of African Americans, to ask that you stand in solidarity with us so that we can end the climate of violence perpetuated against the Venezuelan democratic process. This violence is being provoked by anti-democratic sectors in our country that actively participated in the coup d'etat of April 11, 2002. A number of these coup leaders, supporters and endorsers have been financed through the National Endowment for Democracy, which receives your tax dollars from the United States Congress. Full Article : americas.org
Venezuela on 07.22.04 @ 07:20 AM CST [ link]
Haiti's loan-aid deal a debt trap - Oxfam
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Too much of the US$1 billion in aid pledged to rebuild Haiti is in loans that could force the country deeper into debt and poverty, a British-based charity said yesterday. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Caribbean on 07.22.04 @ 07:14 AM CST [ link]
Jamaica assures Chile of Caricom help for Haiti
Jamaica has told Chile that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) remains committed to the people of Haiti and would work to promote law and order and the restitution of constitutional democracy in that country. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Caribbean on 07.22.04 @ 07:10 AM CST [ link]
Venezuela Officials Question Bush's Remarks on Referendum
Cite Lack of MoralsVenezuelan government officials questioned recent remarks by U.S. President George W. Bush with regard to the upcoming recall referendum on the mandate of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Full Article: venezuelanalysis.com
Venezuela on 07.22.04 @ 06:58 AM CST [ link]
Some of my best friends
A poll showing that almost 90% of white people had no black acquaintances neither accuses nor assuages Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 07.22.04 @ 06:49 AM CST [ link]
Israel warns Britain over UN barrier resolution
A senior British diplomat was among three EU ambassadors summoned by Israel yesterday to be warned that the EU had put in jeopardy its role in the Middle East peace process by backing UN condemnation of the 450m separation barrier. Israel's angry reaction to the EU's failure to back US opposition to the general assembly resolution came as it once again vowed to continue building the barrier in the wake of the International Court of Justice's ruling that its route through the occupied West Bank was illegal. Full Article : independent.co.uk
UK on 07.22.04 @ 06:35 AM CST [ link]
Blair draws up plans to send troops to Sudan
Tony Blair has asked Downing Street and Foreign Office officials to draw up plans for possible military intervention in Sudan, where more than a million refugees are at risk from famine and disease. Despite a heavy commitment of British armed forces in Iraq and other troublespots, the prime minister has had discussions with advisers for on-the-ground involvement of troops. The prime minister is still hoping that diplomatic and political pressure on the Khartoum government will resolve the crisis without the need for military involvement. Full Article : guardian.co.ukSudan's Darfur crisis and US/European concern
UK on 07.22.04 @ 06:33 AM CST [ link]
EU freezes £83m aid to 'corrupt' Kenya
The European Union yesterday said it had frozen millions of pounds worth of aid to Kenya because of concerns about corruption, as fears grew that sleaze was engulfing the east African country. The withholding of an £83m grant, meant to boost the Kenyan economy, follows the robust attack on corruption by the British high commissioner, Edward Clay, who accused the government of President Mwai Kibaki of "arrogance, greed and perhaps a desperate sense of panic, to lead them to eat like gluttons". Full Article : guardian.co.ukThese hypocritical ‘bastions of morality’ now pontificates to Africans about corruption and greed.
UK on 07.22.04 @ 06:14 AM CST [ link]
US soldiers sodomised Iraqi boys
A US writer, who first revealed the abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison, says there are videos of American occupation soldiers sodomising Iraqi boys there. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said the Bush administration was holding the tapes of these acts. "The boys were sodomised with the cameras rolling, and the worst part is the soundtrack, of the boys shrieking. And this is your government at war," he told the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) earlier this month. There was "a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing that was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher," he added. Full Article : kavkazcenter.com
USA on 07.22.04 @ 12:52 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, July 21st
Diamond find brings joy, worry
CONAKRY, Guinea -- There's lucky: finding a diamond when you're a young miner sweating it out in the West African forests of Guinea. And there's too lucky: finding a 182-carat stone, that everyone -- starting with the government of Guinea -- wants a piece of. Result: The stone -- four times the size of the famous Hope diamond -- was tucked away Monday deep in the vaults of Guinea's Central Bank, no pictures, please. And the 25-year-old miner who found it, if not exactly in hiding, was making himself scarce. No interviews, please. Full Article : indystar.com
Africa on 07.21.04 @ 07:38 PM CST [ link]
SA hands over Rwanda genocide suspect
South Africa has handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal in Tanzania a suspect in Rwanda's 1994 ethnic genocide, arrested in Cape Town at the weekend, police said on Tuesday. Rwandan national Gaspard Kanyarukiga left for Arusha on Monday and was in the custody of the tribunal, police Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said in Pretoria. Kanyarukiga was arrested on an international warrant issued by the tribunal. Full Article : iafrica.com
Africa on 07.21.04 @ 07:31 PM CST [ link]
U.S., S. Africa End Arms Trade Dispute
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A long-standing dispute over arms trading between South Africa and the United States has ended and defense trade relations have been normalized, U.S. officials said Wednesday. The U.S. State Department decided to normalize arms trade after reviewing a 1996 settlement between the countries over alleged violations of U.S. export laws by three South African defense firms, U.S. Ambassador Cameron Hume said in a statement. Full Article : mercurynews.com
USA on 07.21.04 @ 07:15 PM CST [ link]
Bush Took Quote Out of Context, Researcher Says
Student whose paper on Castro was used in a speech is 'annoyed.' He says the president misconstrued the Cuban leader's stance.According to Trumbull, who conducted field research in Cuba, prostitution boomed in the Caribbean nation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, providing an important source of currency for the Cuban economy. Castro, who outlawed prostitution when he took power in 1959, initially had few resources to combat it. But beginning around 1996, Cuban authorities began to crack down on the practice. Although prostitution still exists, Trumbull said, it is far less visible, and it would be inaccurate to say the government promotes it. Even when Castro made the remarks, Trumbull said, he was not boasting about Cuba's prostitutes as sex workers. "Castro was merely trying to emphasize some of the successes of the revolution by saying 'even our prostitutes our educated,' " Trumbull said. "Castro was trying to defend his revolution against negative publicity. He was in no way bragging about the opportunities for sex tourism on the island." Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 07.21.04 @ 11:26 AM CST [ link]
Weed triggers change in US drug policy
Ganja is no soft drug! ALARMED BY reports that marijuana is becoming more potent than ever and that children are trying it at younger and younger ages, U.S. officials are changing their drug policies. Pot is no longer the gentle weed of the 1960s and may pose a greater threat than cocaine or even heroin because so many more people use it. So officials at the National Institute of Health and at the White House are hoping to shift some of the focus in research and enforcement from "hard" drugs such as cocaine and heroin to marijuana. Full Article : jamaica-gleaner.com
Caribbean on 07.21.04 @ 11:14 AM CST [ link]
E Guinea warning after bank probe
Local observers say that Friday's report by the US Senate has sparked amazement in the streets of the capital Malabo: offices, bars and shops are full of talk about the millions of dollars uncovered by the US Senate from accounts held at Riggs bank by Equatorial Guinea's government and ruling family. According to the Senate investigation, from 1995 to 2004, Riggs bank administered more than 60 accounts for the government of Equatorial Guinea, government officials or their family members. The Senate found, for example, that Riggs opened multiple personal accounts for President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, his wife and other relatives. The bank, the Senate found, also helped establish offshore corporations for the head of state and his sons. By 2003, the Equatorial Guinean accounts had aggregate deposits ranging from $400m to $700m at a time. Full Article : news.bbc.co.ukThis is no justification for the English coup attempt.Even if this is true we can expect at this time to read more about Equatorial Guinea government's corruption. However, UK companies and US had no problem 'paying bribes' and holding funds in US and UK Bank accounts. Let the 70 in Zimbabwe go on trial without trying to inspire another coup or to attempt to make their murderous actions seem like a humanitarian gesture.
UK on 07.21.04 @ 06:46 AM CST [ link]
70 go on trial in Zimbabwe over alleged coup plot
Seventy men led by a former SAS officer go on trial in Zimbabwe today charged with offences related to an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. The suspected mercenaries could be jailed for life in Zimbabwe, but are said to be more concerned at the possibility of extradition to Equatorial Guinea and execution. Simon Mann, 51, the former British soldier who allegedly masterminded the plot, and his 69 co-accused are due to be tried at the maximum security Chikurubi prison near Harare. Full Article : guardian.co.uk Also Read: A very British coup?
UK on 07.21.04 @ 06:32 AM CST [ link]
Nigerian lands Shell post in west Africa
Royal Dutch/Shell has appointed the first Nigerian to head its operations in the west African country. Basil Omiyi will become managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Shell's biggest country operation, in September. He will take over from Chris Finlayson, who is to become head of exploration and production for Africa and retain the role of Nigeria country chairman. Full Article : news.ft.com
USA on 07.21.04 @ 06:25 AM CST [ link]
The genocide we're missing
Part of the failure to comprehend the crisis in the Sudan has been the tendency to present the political situation in its full complexity, which is beyond the grasp of all but experts. But the lineaments of it are simple enough. For more than 30 years a civil war has been fought in the vast north-east African country. State power is in the hands of the Muslim Arab population. Discrimination and repression has been visited upon groups in southern and western Sudan who are African rather than Arab, Christian-animist rather than Muslim. In 2003 a ceasefire in this long war was obtained, and peace talks are now under way at Naivisha in Kenya. The Sudanese Government has used this lull as an opportunity to enforce "ethnic cleansing" of "disloyal" African-Muslim population groups in the western region of Darfur. They have done this by supporting and failing to restrain groups of Arab militias, who have killed more than 30,000 people, and displaced close to a million more. Full Article : theage.com.au
UK on 07.21.04 @ 05:42 AM CST [ link]
Overcoming divisions in central Sudan
Sudan is such a huge nation, the size of western Europe, that it is possible, confusingly, for there to be a devastating war taking place in Darfur and, at the same time, a peace process moving forward in other parts of the country. A ceasefire was signed for the Nuba Mountains two years ago between the Khartoum government and the main rebel movement in southern Sudan, the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA). A few months ago, the next step in the southern peace process came; an agreement on power sharing in the Nuba Mountains. The Nuba area is important because it is Sudan in microcosm. The people are mainly ethnic Africans, like most of the wider south, but also mainly Muslim, like most of the wider north. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
UK on 07.21.04 @ 05:29 AM CST [ link]
African Americans suffer Abu Ghraib treatment in America
In terms of African American history in this country it's a "been there, done that," sort of approach to these controversial topics dominating much of the media coverage. African American men disproportionately fill prison facilities in the United States, not abroad in a foreign setting obscure to most Americans, but in our own prisons. For many years men like journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal have written prison memoirs in which they describe the ways that men are physically, mentally, and morally broken down by the prison system, and their lives can be endangered more by the prison atmosphere than by life on the roughest city streets. Little in the way of national outrage has been mustered over these accounts. Full Article : rawstory.com
USA on 07.21.04 @ 05:24 AM CST [ link]
Bush-Hitler: Hypnotizing The Masses
Said by some to be more dangerous than Osama bin-Laden, he has been condemned as a "war maniac," called a "moron" by the Canadian prime minister’s chief spokeswoman, ridiculed as "The English Patient" for his struggles with language, and likened to Adolf Hitler. Of all the labels hung on George W. Bush, the hardest to shake may be the comparison with Hitler. Perhaps the clearest likeness between the two men lies in their use of emotionally induced hypnosis to plant in the mass consciousness an image of themselves as protectors of their subjects from threats to national survival both inside and outside the fatherland. Full Article : informationclearinghouse.info
USA on 07.21.04 @ 05:20 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, July 20th
Black Americans Discovered By Democratic Party
Like Christopher Columbus blinking in shock at first seeing an American Indian, John Kerry has just discovered African-American voters. On Thursday afternoon, Kerry landed at the NAACP convention, stepped off his slow-moving campaign boat and announced that he was exploring for one million missing Black voters. Let me explain -- because the New York Times won't. In the 2000 elections, 1.9 million ballots were cast which were never counted --"spoiled" is the technical term. Ballots don't spoil because they are left out of the fridge. There's always a technical reason: a stray mark, or my favorite, from Gadsden County, Florida, writing in Al Gore's name instead of checking a box. Full Article : gregpalast.com
USA on 07.20.04 @ 07:57 PM CST [ link]
Court-Approved Payments to Black Farmers
Report Reveals Bush Administration Has Blocked Court-Approved Payments to Black Farmers Aggressive legal tactics by the Bush administration have deliberately undermined a landmark 1997 civil rights settlement with African-American farmers, turning the claims process into another chapter in a long history of discriminatory treatment by the US Department of Agriculture. A report released today by Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) finds that almost nine out of 10 black farmers have been denied compensation for discrimination over USDA crop loans, even though U.S. District Court for the District Columbia -- in approving the settlement -- had described compensation payment as "automatic." Instead the USDA, under the leadership of President Bush's Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, has withheld three-quarters of the $2.3 billion agreed to in the settlement. "The USDA aggressively fought black farmers," said EWG's Ariane Callendar, a lead author of the report. The investigation found that USDA paid $12 million dollars to US Department of Justice lawyers for 56,000 hours spent contesting the claims of 129 black farmers. Full Article : bushgreenwatch.org
USA on 07.20.04 @ 07:11 PM CST [ link]
Bureau calls for precious metal deregulation in South Africa
South Africa's Minerals Bureau has called for the government to alter the present system governing gold and platinum possession and trading. According to the Bureau, South Africa needs to deregulate the dealing in and possession of serially numbered, trademarked and hallmarked bullion bars. Mr Damarupurshad explained to Mining Weekly: "South Africa, the world's largest gold and platinum producer, remains the only major producing or trading country prohibiting ownership of gold and platinum in bullion form." Full Article : platinum.matthey.com
Africa on 07.20.04 @ 10:37 AM CST [ link]
UN: Poverty has hit Sub-Saharan Africa worst
Vienna - Sub-Saharan Africa is the only part of the world where extreme poverty has been spreading steadily for 20 years, according to a United Nations report released on Tuesday. The average per capita income in the 34 countries south of the Sahara needs to grow by four to five percent a year for governments to reduce the dire poverty of their people by half by 2015, said the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido). Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 07.20.04 @ 10:32 AM CST [ link]
Why tyrants rule Arabs
For 60 years, the West has propped up Arab despots, creating poverty and illiteracy where education once thrivedGWYNNE DYER It was just a random statistic, but a telling one: Only 300 books were translated into Arabic last year. That is about one foreign title per million Arabs. For comparison's sake, Greece translated 1,500 foreign-language books, or about 150 titles per million Greeks. Why is the Arab world so far behind, not only in this but in practically all the arts and sciences? The first-order answer is poverty and lack of education: Almost half of Arabic-speaking women are illiterate. But the Arab world used to be the most literate part of the planet; what went wrong? Tyranny and economic failure, obviously. But why is tyranny such a problem in the Arab world? That brings us to the nub of the matter. Full Article : thestar.com
USA on 07.20.04 @ 10:28 AM CST [ link]
Farm subsidies and Africa: Cotton's not king
It is increasingly asserted that American and European agricultural subsidies inhibit prosperity in the developing world, particularly in Africa. Critics argue that rich nations have aggressively dismantled trade barriers on industrial goods, yet shamelessly refused to do so for agriculture, where many African nations would have a comparative advantage. Full Article : iht.com
USA on 07.20.04 @ 06:42 AM CST [ link]
Visiting the sins of the individual on a single race
When USA Today correspondent Jack Kelley-a pleasant colleague when I worked at USAT in the '80s-was recently unmasked as a serial fabricator, I awaited pronouncements similar to those issued by pundits outraged by Jayson Blair's printed lies at the New York Times. I'm still waiting. Kelley's fabrications have rightly caused those who care about newspapers to painfully question whether reporters and editors face enough checks and balances in daily journalism. But where are the hordes of columnists decrying the horrific effects of overambitious white reporters who are too trusted by their editors and shoved into jobs beyond their gifts? In fact, some Kelley co-workers saw him as such a phenom, one whose difficulties handling such pressures took years to expose. Full Article : trinidadexpress.com
Caribbean on 07.20.04 @ 06:32 AM CST [ link]
The rule of law and the rule of exceptions
In an attempt to put an end to the Arab and international demand to force Israel to reveal its nuclear program, Dr. Mohammad El-Baradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency went to Israel on a visit that was doomed to failure even before he set out: The Israeli government had announced before the visit that they would not allow anyone to visit their nuclear establishments. Full Article : jang.com.pk
USA on 07.20.04 @ 06:24 AM CST [ link]
How has the US been spending other people's billions?
Right now, Mr Waxman has a question on Iraq. In fact, he has several - and in typically robust fashion, he is demanding answers. What he wants to know is whether the Bush administration has been fiddling with Iraq's oil revenues. He wrote to the Republican chairman of the reform committee on July 9, suggesting there was a serious case to answer. Subpoenas should be issued, he said, "to investigate potential mismanagement of the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) by the United States". Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 07.20.04 @ 06:17 AM CST [ link]
A Nation Whose Govt Rules Only Its Capital
NAJAF, 20 July 2004 — It was Afghanistan Mk2. For mile after mile south of Baghdad yesterday, the story was the same: Empty police posts, abandoned Iraqi Army and police checkpoints and a litter of burned-out American fuel tankers and rocket-smashed police vehicles down the main highway to Hilla and Najaf. Full Article : arabnews.com
USA on 07.20.04 @ 06:12 AM CST [ link]
Arab women singers complicit in rape
While African women in Darfur were being raped by the Janjaweed militiamen, Arab women stood nearby and sang for joy, according to an Amnesty International report published yesterday. The songs of the Hakama, or the "Janjaweed women" as the refugees call them, encouraged the atrocities committed by the militiamen. The women singers stirred up racial hatred against black civilians during attacks on villages in Darfur and celebrated the humiliation of their enemies, the human rights group said. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 07.20.04 @ 02:28 AM CST [ link]
Khartoum 'backs Darfur militias'
A human rights group says it has proof that Sudan's government has been supporting Arab militias accused of killing thousands in Darfur. New York-based Human Rights Watch says it has government documents showing that officials directed recruitment, arming and support of the Janjaweed. The government in Khartoum has denied any involvement with the militia. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Africa on 07.20.04 @ 02:25 AM CST [ link]
Miner digs up 182-carat gem - and trouble
CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) -- There's lucky: Finding a diamond when you're a young miner sweating it out in the west African forests of Guinea. And there's too lucky: finding a 182-carat stone, that everyone -- starting with the government of Guinea -- wants a piece of. Result: the stone -- four times the size of the famous Hope diamond -- was tucked away Monday deep in the vaults of Guinea's Central Bank, no pictures, please. Full Article : nctimes.com
Africa on 07.20.04 @ 02:03 AM CST [ link]
Monday, July 19th
Zimbabwe: NGOs have to be registered
Zimbabwe charities face being outlawedHarare - Zimbabwe's human rights groups and aid organisations are in increasing danger after the government threatened yesterday to use banning orders and arrests to force them to register with the state. The threat appeared in the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper, a week before laws controlling non-governmental organisations are due to be presented by President Robert Mugabe to the last session of parliament before a general election next March. All NGOs have had to be registered since 2002. Full Article : zwnews.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 07:08 PM CST [ link]
MAURITANIA: Oil, copper and gold exports to start in 2005
NOUAKCHOTT, 19 Jul 2004 (IRIN) - President Maaouiya Ould Taya has announced that Mauritania will start to diversify its mineral exports next year, when its first offshore oilfield comes on stream and exports of copper and gold from a new mine in the western desert are stepped up. Since independence from France in 1960, this desert state of 2.5 million people has relied mainly on exports of iron ore mined in the northwest of the country and fish caught in its rich Atlantic waters. However, the Australian company Woodside Petroleum announced in January that it would go ahead with the commercial development of its Chinguetti offshore oilfield at an estimated cost of US$600 million. Ould Taya said the Chinguetti field, which is expected to produce 75,000 barrels per day, would ship its first export consignment of crude oil at the end of 2005. Full Article : irinnews.org
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 04:48 PM CST [ link]
Locusts invade Mauritania
Nouakchott - The west African state of Mauritania appealed for urgent international aid on Sunday as the first swarms of locusts invaded its territory, the official state news agency AMI reported. The call came from Rural Development Minister Ahmedou Ould Ahmedou and Economic Development Minister Abdellahi Ould Cheikh Sidya who summoned ambassadors from donor countries, the European Union, and the representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 04:42 PM CST [ link]
Blacks are Invisible at AIDS Conference
Jul 17, 2004 BANGKOK, Thailand (NNPA) – Although African-Americans represent more than half of all new AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States each year, they were virtually invisible among the hundreds of presenters at the 15th International AIDS Conference. Full Article : ncmonline.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 07:37 AM CST [ link]
A brief history of imperialist intervention in East Africa
By G. DunkelChad and the Sudan are two extremely poor countries in East Africa that were linked in the 19th century by the scramble of French imperialism, in competition with British imperialism, to divide Africa. To understand the current political situation in the Sudan, and how the United States is intervening there, some background information is useful.
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:55 AM CST [ more..]
Is A New Era Ahead of De Beers in Africa?
Only a week after Israeli diamantaire Lev Leviev grabbed headlines when he said he is giving African countries what they want – namely a bigger share of the diamond pipeline – Botswana is now singing the same tune as it carries out crucial negotiations with De Beers. In a potshot at De Beers last week, during a seminar on rough diamonds in Israel, Leviev told a packed hall that he did not understand why producing countries were told they couldn’t sort or polish diamonds. Their own diamonds. According to Leviev, one of the secrets of his success is that he stuck by his suppliers through hard times and helped them achieve their goals, as they expressed them to him. The Angolan Minister of Resources agreed with him during the seminar, as did the Namibian Prime Minister during the opening of Leviev’s polishing plant in the country earlier this month. Full Article : idexonline.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:52 AM CST [ link]
A very British coup?
Top Tories dragged into brewing heir's African adventure A former captain in the SAS, with connections to the British establishment, will face court in Zimbabwe this week, accused of planning a coup in an oil-rich African country. In a gripping tale of crime and politics, the trial of Simon Mann will hear allegations about a murder plot against a dictator accused of cannibalism. Mr Mann, whose father was an England cricket captain, is the scion of the Watney brewing empire. With 69 other men, he has been charged with trying to overthrow Teodoro Obiang, the President of Equatorial Guinea. Full Article : independent.co.ukDictator sues British 'coup plotters'A former SAS officer and three other men alleged to have been behind a plot by mercenaries to stage a coup in Equatorial Guinea are being sued in the High Court in London by the government of the West African state. British lawyers acting for Equatorial Guinea and its president, Teodoro Obiang, say that they are seeking millions of pounds in compensation on the rarely-cited legal grounds of civil conspiracy. Court documents seen by The Sunday Telegraph name Simon Mann, an Old Etonian scion of the Watney brewing family and a former Scots Guards officer, who is being held in jail with 70 other alleged mercenaries in Zimbabwe. They were allegedly en route to overthrow the regime in Equatorial Guinea, but they insist that they had been recruited as security officers at a Congo diamond mine. Also named in the documents are Eli Calil, a Chelsea-based oil tycoon; Greg Wales, a London businessman; Severo Moto, the exiled opposition leader; and two of Mr Mann's companies. Full Article : zwnews.comThe tale of an ex-SAS hero and his chums Smelly and Scratcher
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:47 AM CST [ link]
Sudan: 'Rape as weapon of war'
London - The Sudanese government is directly responsible for crimes against humanity in its strife-torn western region of Darfur, including the widespread rape of women, rights group Amnesty International charged on Monday. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:36 AM CST [ link]
Peace talks waver as Darfur starves
ADDIS ABABA - Rebels from Darfur left Addis Ababa yesterday, dealing a blow to international efforts to launch peace talks with Khartoum as aid groups warned of a worsening crisis in the region of western Sudan, where at least a million people have fled their villages. Full Article : namibian.com.na
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:34 AM CST [ link]
Slavery well established in Africa before arrival of Portuguese
Sir, Mr Caesar Darias's statement (Letters, July 15) that "Portugal's main contribution to humanity over the past 800 years was to practically invent kidnapping and slavery" is ludicrous and offensive. Full Article : news.ft.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:32 AM CST [ link]
Kuwait Of Africa?
A 60 Minutes Special ReportWith gas prices hitting record levels this summer, and violence in the Middle East unabated, America has been scouring the globe searching for new sources of oil. And one could be Equatorial Guinea, a tiny nation that's been dubbed the Kuwait of Africa because it has so few people and so much oil. Full Article : wcco.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:28 AM CST [ link]
Africa develops appetite for patents
JOHANNESBURG: Southern African countries are seeking to restrict trade in a rare plant hungrily sought by drug companies for its appetite-suppressing properties, a government official recently said. The Hoodia cactus has been used for thousands of years by southern Africa's San Bushmen to dampen their appetites during long treks through the harsh Kalahari desert and holds the key to potentially lucrative anti-obesity drugs. Full Article : indiatimes.com
Africa on 07.19.04 @ 06:25 AM CST [ link]
Blair: the attacks mount up
Hans Blix, the UN weapons inspector, stirred the row by describing Mr Blair's haste to war as an "error of judgement" while a former intelligence chief in Britain suggested that the evidence given to the Hutton inquiry by John Scarlett, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, had been "economical with the truth". Full Article : independent.co.uk
UK on 07.19.04 @ 06:17 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, July 18th
Downing Street admits Iraqi mass graves claim untrue
Downing Street has admitted to The Observer that repeated claims by Tony Blair that '400,000 bodies had been found in Iraqi mass graves' is untrue, and only about 5,000 corpses have so far been uncovered. The claims by Blair in November and December of last year, were given widespread credence, quoted by MPs and widely published, including in the introduction to a US government pamphlet on Iraq's mass graves. In that publication - Iraq's Legacy of Terror: Mass Graves produced by USAID, the US government aid distribution agency, Blair is quoted from 20 November last year: 'We've already discovered, just so far, the remains of 400,000 people in mass graves.' On 14 December Blair repeated the claim in a statement issued by Downing Street in response to the arrest of Saddam Hussein and posted on the Labour party website that: 'The remains of 400,000 human beings [have] already [been] found in mass graves.' Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 07.18.04 @ 10:06 PM CST [ link]
Foreigners face slavery-like life in Saudi
"Migrant workers in the purportedly modern society that the kingdom has become continue to suffer extreme forms of labour exploitation that sometimes rise to slavery-like conditions," it said on Thursday. "This report is an indictment of unscrupulous private employers and sponsors as well as Saudi authorities, including Interior Ministry interrogators and sharia court judges, who operate without respect for the rule of law and the inherent dignity of all men and women," it added. Around six million foreigners, mostly from the Indian subcontinent, sweep the streets, build homes or run offices in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter. Full Article : swissinfo.org
Africa on 07.18.04 @ 02:18 PM CST [ link]
Rebels abandon Sudan peace talks
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: African Union-sponsored talks to end the slaughter of tens of thousands of people in Sudan's western Darfur region collapsed on the weekend, with two rebel groups saying the Government still is not implementing existing peace agreements. "These talks are now finished," said Ahmed Hussain Adam, speaking for both his Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Army. "We are leaving Addis Ababa." Full Article : theaustralian.news.com.au
Africa on 07.18.04 @ 01:25 PM CST [ link]
Mbeki opens talks with Burundi delegation
President Thabo Mbeki today opened two days of talks with Domitien Ndayizeye, the president of the Burundi transitional government, and representatives of the three Burundian major political parties. The parties are UPRONA, FRODEBU and CNDD-FDD. The talks, held in Pretoria, will focus on the issue of power sharing arrangements beyond the country's elections this year. Ndayizeye was the last to arrive at the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria this morning. Full Article : sabcnews.com
Africa on 07.18.04 @ 01:24 PM CST [ link]
UN calls for forgiveness of Africa's foreign debt
The head of the United Nations agency for Aids called on Friday for the foreign debt of African countries to be forgiven and the money put into programmes to tackl |
