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Latest News: Sub-Saharan Africa
About this event: African Youth Business Forum
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Congo (DRC)

The United Nations says it is alarmed by the number of deaths in a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo. At least 26 inmates have died from acute malnutrition at the main prison in the city of Mbuji Mayi in Kasai Oriental province since February. Four inmates died of hunger Since July 13 alone. The UN says it is particularly concerned because no measures are being taken to improve living conditions. It says many of the inmates have not yet been convicted of any crime. The UN is providing water to the prison on a weekly basis. (BBC)

Ethiopia

Army worms, hail and floods are adding to the woes of Ethiopians reeling from high world food prices and a drought that has affected some 4.6 million people, the UN said on July 23. Ethiopia has had the shorter of two annual rainy seasons fail, but aid agencies said earlier this month that a hunger emergency had been averted, although high food prices were still hurting Ethiopian families. Nearly 2,000 farmers in the southern regions of Welayeta and Gamo Gofa lost crops due to torrential rains, hailstorms and army worms, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its weekly report. (Reuters)

Gabon

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea said July 22 that they have made substantial progress towards referring their border dispute to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the main judicial organ of the United Nations. In a joint statement issued after two days of meetings at the UN Office in Geneva (UNOG), representatives of the neighboring African countries said they had worked on key documents for a planned joint submission to the ICJ, which would then adjudicate on the boundary. The maritime dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, which emerged in 2003, centers on an island which has oil resources. (UN News Service)

Guinea Bissau

The number of people infected by a cholera outbreak in Guinea Bissau doubled in July to more than 600 and infections have spread to areas of the country previously considered low risk, health experts warn. Of 611 people in Guinea Bissau who have contracted the disease this year, 344 of them were infected in July, according to the government's statistics. So far 14 people have died. The outbreak has reached Gabu and Bafata, two areas normally immune from infection, and six other regions. The outbreak started in the Tomboli region in the south of the country and spread to the capital in early July. (IRIN)

Kenya

Elders from Kenya's Luo community in western Kenya have refused to endorse a plan to promote male circumcision to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. The Luo Council of Elders says it cannot sanction circumcision, as it is against the community's culture. A ministry of health campaign is trying to encourage more men to be circumcised by offering free circumcision services in Nyanza Province. Researchers say circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection among men. Traditionally, the Luo community does not practise circumcision, unlike some other Kenyan communities. About 2.5 million of 32 million Kenyans are currently living with HIV/AIDS. (BBC)

Liberia

Five years after the peace agreement that ended its civil war, Liberia has made accelerated progress on several human rights issues, but there are still serious concerns about the rule of law. “The installations of a new democratically elected government which took office in January 2006 has witnessed the acceleration of progress on a number of human rights and development issues including economic and social rights," Charlotte Abaka, the UN Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights, Technical Cooperation and Advisory Services in Liberia, said in a statement released July 18. (UN News Service)

Nigeria

Some 150,000 children in Niger are set to benefit from a USD 1.2 million donation to the UN children's fund (UNICEF) for school equipment from the charity Dubai Cares. Basic school kits will be supplied to children as part of the initiative, which will help increase the number of children enrolled in 600 schools around the country. In addition, the program will provide classroom furniture for 200 schools and building materials to construct 50 emergency learning centers. (UN News Service)

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma has said he will prevent the country becoming a key transit point for the international drugs trade. His comments follow the seizure by police of a plane loaded with cocaine at an airport outside the capital. The plane, which was abandoned on the runway, was carrying a 600 kg cargo, worth an estimated USD 54 million. Latin American drugs cartels are using West Africa as a transit point to smuggle cocaine to Europe, the UN says. But with help from the UN, the cabinet has approved tougher laws on narcotics that are expected to be taken to parliament this week. (BBC)

Somalia

Islamist insurgents in Somalia have launched what appears to be a targeted campaign of violence against foreign aid workers, pushing the already war-torn nation toward a full-scale famine, UN officials and observers warn. The warnings come amid fresh violence that has left many civilians dead in Mogadishu, the central battleground between the Western-backed government and armed Islamist militias. The Islamist insurgents have long attacked foreigners working inside Somalia. But the recent spate of violence suggests the attacks have now coalesced into a deliberate terror campaign, The International Herald Tribune reports. (CS Monitor)

South Africa

South African police have forcefully removed hundreds of immigrants from temporary shelters where they had taken refuge from xenophobic attacks. Authorities say the immigrants, who were taken to a repatriation center in Johannesburg, had not registered with the home affairs department. They now face deportation to their home countries, officials said. More than 60 immigrants were killed and tens of thousands more fled during the attacks against foreigners in May. (BBC)

Sudan

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in a show of defiance, made his first visit to Darfur on July 23 since the International Criminal Court prosecutor accused him of genocide and war crimes and sought his arrest. Dancing to traditional music and chanting Islamic slogans, Bashir addressed thousands of Darfuris in the regional capital el-Fasher, his promises of development and peace drawing cheers from onlookers who surged forward to get closer to him. Promising more schools, universities, water projects and roads, Bashir said Darfur would also soon be connected to the national electricity grid, ending constant problems with power blackouts. (Reuters)

Tanzania

Twenty-five people with albinism have been murdered in Tanzania since March, a BBC investigation has found. Albinos are targeted for body parts that are used in witchcraft, and killings continue despite government efforts to stamp out the grisly practice, the BBC's Karen Allen says. Winifrida Rutahiro (2nd left) says she is now scared even to leave her house. Once, albinos used to seek shelter from the sun. Now they have gone into hiding simply to survive, after a series of killings linked to witchcraft. In Tanzania, 25 albinos have been killed in the past year. (BBC)

Zimbabwe

The rival claimants to victory in Zimbabwe's widely criticized presidential elections - Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai - have agreed to immediately begin intensive talks aimed at establishing a "new government." At their first meeting in more than a decade, Zimbabwe's president and the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change yesterday signed a five-page "memorandum of understanding" that envisages a fortnight of secret talks by representatives dealing with an array of issues from political violence against the opposition to constitutional reform. (The Guardian, UK)




July 25, 2008 | 10:38 AM Comments  0 comments

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