And Finally, To Vote
- Détails
- Publié le mercredi 23 mai 2012 07:02
- Écrit par admin
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
Leading candidate Amr Moussa on the campaign trail. / Khaled Moussa al-Omrani/IPS.
CAIRO, May 23 (IPS) – As Egyptians head to the polls Wednesday and Thursday to elect the country's first post-Mubarak president, local analysts say that voting results – even on the very eve of the balloting – remain impossible to predict.
"Contrary to recent opinion surveys, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate led the expatriate...
Africa – a Place Where You Will Make Money, Not Lose Money
- Détails
- Publié le mardi 22 mai 2012 14:43
- Écrit par admin
By Kristin Palitza
Professor Thandika Mkandawire says Africa needs to mobilise its domestic resources. / Kristin Palitza/IPS
CAPE TOWN, May 22 (IPS) – Africa needs to reduce its dependency on foreign aid and get to the point of financing its own development, some of the continent’s key development experts say. Timing is optimal now that Africa is experiencing an economic boom with annual growth rates of up to eight percent.
"Africa has become a place where you will make...
Nothing to Show for Hard Work but Burnt Fields of Maize
- Détails
- Publié le mardi 22 mai 2012 11:43
- Écrit par admin
By Ignatius Banda*
Female subsistence farmers, who form more than 70 percent of farmers on the continent, remain clueless about climate change issues. / Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, May 22 (IPS) – Gertrude Mkoloi earns a living harvesting maize on a small piece of land in rural Zimbabwe. Or at least she used to.
Deep in rural Binga, more than 400 km from the country’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, Mkoloi stared blankly at her maize crop, scorched brown by the sun during what was...
Ahead of Elections, Military Well Entrenched
- Détails
- Publié le lundi 21 mai 2012 21:49
- Écrit par admin
By Cam McGrath
An elected government is unlikely to dislodge military might in Egypt. / Cam McGrath/IPS.
CAIRO, May 22 (IPS) – As Egyptians prepare to elect their country’s first president since the uprising that toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak, the military junta that has ruled for the last 15 months has shown little sign it is prepared to accept civilian oversight.
"Dismantling the military’s hold on the state is a process that will take years," says Robert...
Health service works for truck drivers
- Détails
- Publié le lundi 21 mai 2012 17:51
- Écrit par admin
Long distance drivers face serious health risks in Africa. Credit: Tinus de Jager/IPS
Russia Still Struggling to Gain Foothold in Africa
- Détails
- Publié le lundi 21 mai 2012 11:41
- Écrit par admin
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW, May 21 (IPS) – As Russia’s new president Vladimir Putin begins a new phase of economic growth, trade experts are keeping a watchful eye on Moscow’s policies with the African continent, which they see as a huge, untapped source of economic opportunity.
But experts like Dmitri M. Bondarenko, vice director for research at the Institute for African Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences and a long-time critic of Russia’s stagnant...
While Men Go Drinking, Women Go Fishing
- Détails
- Publié le lundi 21 mai 2012 10:31
- Écrit par admin
By Ephraim Nsingo
Decreasing water levels in the local Lunkhwakwa River have created an opportunity for theenterprising women of Genda to start fishing. / Ephraim Nsingo
CHIPATA, Zambia, May 21 (IPS) – Climate change may have led to declining water levels in Genda Village in Zambia’s Eastern Province, but Mercy Mwanza and the women here discovered there was a positive side to it and found a new way to earn a living.
Decreasing water levels in the local Lunkhwakwa River have...
Calls for Angola to Investigate Abuse of Congolese Migrants
- Détails
- Publié le lundi 21 mai 2012 09:37
- Écrit par admin
By Louise Redvers
JOHANNESBURG, May 21 (IPS) – The Angolan government is being urged to carry out a thorough and independent investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse by its security forces against Congolese migrants.
In a 50-page report released on Monday, May 21, entitled "If You Come back We Will Kill You", New York-based lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) documents chilling testimonies of men and women who entered Angola illegally to work.
Many claim that...
Helping Victims of Post-Election Crisis Obtain Justice in Côte d'Ivoire
- Détails
- Publié le lundi 21 mai 2012 05:57
- Écrit par admin
By Fulgence Zamblé
Thousands of Ivorian children were separated from their parents during the post-election violence in 2011. / Kristin Palitza/IPS
ABIDJAN, May 21 (IPS) – Thousands of people suffered rape, torture and other violence during the post- electoral crisis in Côte d'Ivoire beginning in December 2010. But many survivors of rights violations have been afraid to seek justice for fear of reprisals by the perpetrators. An initiative by the International...
U.S. Calls on Mali Junta to Withdraw from Politics
- Détails
- Publié le vendredi 18 mai 2012 08:15
- Écrit par admin
By Souleymane Gano
Malian rebels do not have the support of most ethnic groups in the north of the country. / William Lloyd-George/IPS
DAKAR, May 18 (IPS) – U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson says Malian soldiers who overthrew the government on Mar. 22 have neither the right to remain in power nor the strength to deal with humanitarian and security challenges facing the West African country.
"Twenty-one years of democratic governance was...
Bracing for a Massive Influx of Returnees
- Détails
- Publié le vendredi 18 mai 2012 03:39
- Écrit par admin
By Jared Ferrie
South Sudanese returnees arrive in Juba on one of the first flights of an airlift that will return 12,000 nationals. / Jared Ferrie/IPS
JUBA, May 18 (IPS) – In the wake of border tensions the United Nations is airlifting 12,000 southerners from a Sudanese frontier town into South Sudan. But they are returning home in the midst of an economic crisis that has the U.N. warning it may appeal for more funding to scale up humanitarian operations.
Justin Sana Gonugu said...
Autism Relegated to the Sidelines
- Détails
- Publié le vendredi 18 mai 2012 00:56
- Écrit par admin
By Jonathan Migneault and Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
Students at the Autism Awareness, Care and Treatment Centre doing arts and crafts. / Jamila Akweley Okertchiri/IPS
ACCRA, May 18 (IPS) – At first glance Nortey Quaynor looks like any ordinary 29-year-old Ghanaian. If you spend a little time with him, though, you soon realise that something is different.
He avoids eye contact and gives one-word answers to most questions. Sometimes he covers his ears with his hands to block out the...
Hopes To Heal Economy Through Devaluation, Which Has Hit Poor Hard
- Détails
- Publié le jeudi 17 mai 2012 15:31
- Écrit par admin
By Claire Ngozo
A group of farmers queuing to buy fertiliser outside a shop in Bvumbwe, southern Malawi after the local currency was devalued. / Claire Ngozo
LILONGWE, May 17 (IPS) – As Malawi’s poor struggle to afford food and other staple items since the 48 percent devaluation of the local currency against the dollar, economic commentators are optimistic that the move will provide an opportunity to boost the country’s export market.
On May 7, Malawi’s President...
Despite Economic Growth, Food Insecurity Lingers in Africa
- Détails
- Publié le mardi 15 mai 2012 10:05
- Écrit par admin
By Brian Ngugi
Everlyne Wanjiku, a single mother of five, has earned a living selling vegetables in the sprawling Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for 30 years. / Brian Ngugi/IPS
NAIROBI, May 15 (IPS) – Everlyne Wanjiku, a single mother of five, has earned a living selling vegetables in the sprawling Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, for over three decades. And even though her earnings were meagre, she was able to provide all her children with a tertiary education.
But now, like her...
Less Politics, More Economic Development
- Détails
- Publié le mardi 15 mai 2012 08:40
- Écrit par admin
Miriam Gathigah interviews MICHAEL SUDARKASA, chief executive officer of the African Business Group.
Michael Sudarkasa, chief executive officer of the African Business Group, says economic and social growth are at the heart of IBSA's development. / Miriam Gathigah
NAIROBI, May 15 (IPS) – Economic and social growth have become the heart of the development agenda of the bloc of leading emerging economies known as IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) since it began focusing less on...
Deserting Refugees in the Sahara
- Détails
- Publié le dimanche 13 mai 2012 02:26
- Écrit par admin
By Rebecca Murray
Migrants being loaded on to a cargo plane in Kufra. / Rebecca Murray/IPS.
KUFRA, Libya, May 13 (IPS) – As dusk settles over the isolated Saharan town Kufra, young guards order a few hundred migrants lined up at a detention centre to chant "Libya free, Chadians out", before they kneel down for evening prayers.
Most of the prisoners in the small, squalid compound called the Freedom Detention Centre – run by Kufra’s military council – are...
Not a Famine, but an Issue of Food Insecurity
- Détails
- Publié le vendredi 11 mai 2012 09:49
- Écrit par admin
By Louise Redvers
Angola is now focusing on cash crops. This is a new sugarcane plantation in Malange, Angola. / Louise Redvers/IPS
JOHANNESBURG, May 11 (IPS) – Millions of Angola’s poorest families are facing critical food insecurity as a prolonged dry spell across large parts of the country has destroyed harvests and killed off livestock.
Up to 500,000 children are now thought to be suffering from severe malnutrition triggered by the collapse in food production after a...
Q&A: Women Farmers Are Key to a Food-Secure Africa
- Détails
- Publié le vendredi 11 mai 2012 01:07
- Écrit par admin
Busani Bafana interviews JANE KARUKU, the first woman president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
Jane Karuku, the new AGRA boss, dreams of seeing smallholder farmers become the drivers in Africa's quest for food security. / Courtesy: AGRA
BULAWAYO, May 11 (IPS) – While women constitute the majority of food producers, processors and marketers in Africa, their role in the agricultural sector still remains a minor one because of cultural and social barriers.
According...
Major Effort to Reduce Child Mortality Not Enough
- Détails
- Publié le jeudi 10 mai 2012 02:05
- Écrit par admin
By Jonathan Migneault and Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
Gladys Otabil holds her son Gabriel as he receives the pneumoccocal vaccine at La General Hospital in Accra. / Jamila Akweley Okertchiri/IPS
ACCRA, May 10 (IPS) – Ghana has taken a major step towards reducing its under-five mortality rate by becoming the first African country to introduce two new vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease.
But a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official in the West African...
Africa’s Two Female Presidents Join Forces for Women
- Détails
- Publié le mercredi 9 mai 2012 10:24
- Écrit par admin
By Travis Lupick*
Malawi President Joyce Banda (left) and Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at a women's rights event in Liberia. / Travis Lupick/IPS
MONROVIA, May 9 (IPS) – The only two female heads of state in Africa, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Malawian President Joyce Banda, have just committed to using their positions to improve the lives of women across the continent.
Both Sirleaf and Banda have long championed women’s rights. And on Apr. 29...
Q&A:: Water Infrastructure Falls Far Short in Southern Africa
- Détails
- Publié le mercredi 9 mai 2012 01:22
- Écrit par admin
Siphosethu Stuurman interviews PHERA RAMOELI, Senior Programme Officer at the Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat
Getting water is a daily chore for this woman in Swaziland. / Mantoe Phakathi/IPS
JOHANNESBURG, May 9 (IPS) – The cost of maintaining and expanding water infrastructure in southern Africa is high. And while South Africa may be in a better economic position than the rest of the region, it also faces funding challenges that are similar to those of its...
Egypt-Israel Gas Issue Becoming Explosive
- Détails
- Publié le mercredi 9 mai 2012 00:39
- Écrit par admin
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
The banners at this Cairo demonstration say: 'No to gas exports to the Zionist enemy'. / Khaled Moussa al-Omrani/IPS.
CAIRO, May 9 (IPS) – The two weeks since Egypt's abrupt cancellation of a Mubarak-era gas-export deal with Israel have seen an exchange of indirect threats and warnings between the two countries, culminating in an apparent Israeli military build-up on the border of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
"In recent...
Hope Dwindles Ahead of Algerian Elections
- Détails
- Publié le mardi 8 mai 2012 17:08
- Écrit par admin
By Giuliana Sgrena
In the popular neighbourhood of Bab al Oued, a former Islamist stronghold in Algeria, most election propaganda has been scratched off the walls / Magharebia/CC-BY-2.0
ALGIERS, May 8 (IPS) – "Is that your photo on the poster?" a policeman asked a woman standing in front of an electoral campaign board in Algiers. "Why do you ask?" she inquired. "Because only the candidates are interested in these elections," he replied.
The woman was...
Q&A: Skipping Lunch to Afford a Mobile Phone in Africa
- Détails
- Publié le mardi 8 mai 2012 02:00
- Écrit par admin
Kristin Palitza interviews GABRIELLE GAUTHEY, executive vice president of global telecommunications provider Alcatel Lucent
In Mauritania mobile phones are used in rural areas. / Kristin Palitza/IPS
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 8 (IPS) – On a continent of over one billion people, where half the population have mobile phones, the use of mobile communication and internet technologies is crucial to boost development in Africa.
This is according to Gabrielle Gauthey, executive vice...
