(Reuters (Eng) 12/21/13)
(Reuters) - African mediators said they held "productive" talks on Friday with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, trying to prevent an almost week-long conflict plunging the world's newest nation into an ethnic civil war. In a sign of the nervousness among South Sudan's neighbors, Ugandan soldiers flew in to help evacuate their citizens. Two anonymous military sources said they would also help secure the capital, which lies about 75 km (50 miles) from Uganda's border. Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, has accused his former vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer who was sacked in July, of attempting to seize power by force. Fighting that began on Sunday in the capital Juba has swiftly spread, and U.N. staff...
( 12/20/13)
es FARDC sont en état d’alerte maximum suite aux affrontements actuels au Soudan du Sud et sont prêtes à intervenir en cas de débordement des violences en territoire congolais. Face à la situation de guerre au Soudan du Sud, les Forces armées de la RDC (FARDC) ont été mises en état d'alerte maximum qui prévaut en Province Orientale. Selon des sources proches de la 9ème région militaire, des unités d'infanterie légère basées au Camp base, à environ 20 kilomètres de Kisangani sont en état d'alerte maximum prêtes à intervenir en cas débordement des violences en territoire congolais. Les autorités de la province Orientale craignent également un afflux massif des réfugiés sud soudanais dans la Province Orientale. Avec des conséquences négatives...
(Voice of America 12/20/13)
DAKAR — African militaries want surveillance drones to help them patrol their borders and vast open spaces, but engineers and entrepreneurs say unmanned aerial vehicles could do so much more than just track the bad guys. They could deliver medicines, protect endangered species, and drive economic growth, with cargo drones moving goods quickly and cheaply. But some experts warn that opening up civilian air space to drones, even for such purportedly "good" uses, could create problems in the long run. Kenyan engineer James Munyoki has built several drones. His latest prototype can carry 6 kilograms. He is working on getting that up to 10. "When I started building them, I was thinking the payload would be something like a camera...
(The New York Times 12/20/13)
JERUSALEM — Some arrived here on Tuesday in sturdy walking boots donated by local aid organizations; others came less equipped for the leftover snow on the ground, wearing sandals and house slippers. They held placards bearing slogans like “Refugees but not criminals” and a verse invoking a biblical injunction against oppressing the stranger because “you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” The roughly 200 asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea came to protest their treatment by the Israeli authorities, finishing a two-day journey. On Sunday they left a new “open” detention facility where they were being held in the Negev desert and walked for about six hours to Beersheba, the nearest city. They spent the night in the bus...
(Reuters (Eng) 12/20/13)
JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudanese government troops battled to regain control of a flashpoint town and sent forces to quell fighting in a vital oil producing area on Thursday, the fifth day of a conflict that has deepened ethnic divisions in the two-year-old nation. The conflict, which has so far killed up to 500 people, has alarmed South Sudan's neighbors. African mediators held talks with President Salva Kiir on Thursday to try to broker peace, and U.S. President Barak Obama urged the clashing factions to stop fighting. The clashes that erupted around the capital Juba on Sunday night have quickly spread, pitting loyalists of the former Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer, against Kiir, a member of the dominant Dinka...
(The Observer 12/20/13)
An estimated 500 people are now said to have been killed in the sporadic fighting that started on Sunday and has been described as a coup attempt. What is most worrying is that the ethnic dimension of the conflict is beginning to rear its ugly head with reports of ethnic-inspired massacres. A civil war might well be imminent if nothing is done quickly to restore sanity. With thousands of Ugandans working or doing business in South Sudan, Uganda is directly affected by these negative developments. Not only are Ugandans among those killed, many Ugandan traders are counting their losses. Besides, the resulting humanitarian situation could see refugees pouring across the border. It is, therefore, in Uganda's interest to have a...
(Voice of America 12/20/13)
Scientists say climate change will not affect all regions of the world equally – especially when it comes to fresh water. The latest computer models indicate some places will get a lot less, while others get a lot more. Dr. Jacob Schewe and his colleagues say that “water scarcity is a major threat for human development” if greenhouse gas emissions remain unchecked. They’ve published their findings in a special issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The reason we’re concerned is that it’s a very important issue for a lot of people. We all depend on water for so many different purposes. And water scarcity, where it exists, really impairs many things that people do and that...
(Reuters (Eng) 12/19/13)
ADDIS ABABA Wed(Reuters) - A group of East African foreign ministers will travel to South Sudan on Thursday to seek an end to days of fighting, the first foreign mission to enter the country since the eruption of the conflict that has killed up to 500 people. Clashes between rival groups of soldiers started in the capital Juba late on Sunday and spread on Wednesday to the flashpoint town of Bor, scene of an ethnic massacre in 1991, raising fears of a slide into civil war. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has accused his sacked deputy Riek Machar of starting the fighting and trying to launch a coup, charges denied by Machar. Kiir said on Wednesday he was ready for...
(Reuters (Eng) 12/18/13)
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - At least 22 people were killed when security forces raided the house of Republic of Congo's former deputy intelligence chief and clashed with his security guards, a morgue official said. Gunfire rang out early on Monday as police and soldiers surrounded the home of Colonel Marcel Ntsourou, shutting down roads, schools and businesses in downtown Brazzaville. At the time, officials did not give details of any casualties. But an official at a Brazzaville morgue, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Tuesday he had seen 22 corpses. "We have received ... bodies with bullet wounds though one had a smashed head. Most of the bodies were dressed in civilian clothes," the official added. A police...
(Voice of America 12/18/13)
Dakar — Researchers working with the African Development Bank say that African countries have lost as much as $1.4 trillion in cash leakages over the last 30 years. Much of the lost money is a result of illicit cash flows and corruption, and continues to hinder development in the region. The amount of illicit cash flowing out of Africa has nearly doubled over the past three decades. Illicit cash flows refer to funds leaving a country through irregular means, often to skirt local taxes. This can range from a foreign business underreporting its earnings in an African country and then funneling revenue into offshore accounts, corrupt officials embezzling state funds and tucking them away overseas, or organized crime groups just...
(Daily Observer 12/18/13)
Lawmakers on Monday unanimously adopted the Report on the 3rd Ordinary Session of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) during the latter's October session in South Africa. The Report looked at issues relating to enhanced African integration with a view to expediting development vis-à-vis Agenda 2063 adopted by the authority of heads of state during the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Organisation of African Unity/Africa Union. The Report challenged African parliamentarians to play a key role in the continent's integration through sensitisations and dialogue, putting in place legislations for sustainable development in all aspects. Tabling the report before lawmakers, Hon. Bintanding Jarjue of Foni Berefet, informed that the session explored women's rights and violence against women. She said it also...
(Voice of America 12/18/13)
WASHINGTON — About two-thirds of the 8,400 French troops involved in foreign operations are based in Africa, primarily in Mali and the Central African Republic. Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande said recently that he wants his country to double its trade to Africa over the next five years. Together, the developments could indicate the former colonial power in Africa is again trying to bolster its influence on the continent. France has carried out more than 10 major military interventions on the African continent since the early 1990s, in countries including Chad, Ivory Coast and Libya. This year, France gained international attention for its leading role in intervening in the crisis in Mali and now the Central African Republic. Peter Pham,...
(UKzambians 12/18/13)
TUNIS, Tunisia, December / — The African Development Bank (AfDB) ( http://www.afdb.org ) and the Government of Japan signed on Monday, 16 December, a bilateral Exchange of Notes for a loan of 9.48 billion Japanese yen (about US$ 100 million). This is the fourth loan to the Bank under the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance (EPSA) for Africa Initiative, which supports entrepreneurship, job creation and economic growth in Africa. The Exchange of Notes was signed by Dr. Donald Kaberuka, AfDB President, and His Excellency Mr. Juichi Takahara, Ambassador of Japan to Tunisia. mmediately following the signature of the Exchange of Notes, the relevant Loan Agreement between the AfDB and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was signed by Mr. Charles Boamah,...
(BBC News Africa 12/17/13)
More than 20 people, including women and children, have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeepers say. Most appeared to have been hacked to death on Friday and Saturday in two villages in North Kivu, including three girls who were raped and then beheaded. It is not clear who carried out the attacks, but the UN mission said the atrocities would "not go unpunished". At least 10 armed groups operate in eastern DR Congo. The youngest victim is thought to have been only a few months old," the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Monusco) said. Three girls appear to have been raped and then beheaded. A child's dismembered body is said...
(Reuters (Eng) 12/17/13)
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - Republic of Congo's former deputy intelligence chief was arrested on Monday following an intense gun battle that killed at least seven people in the capital Brazzaville, a senior police official and a witness said. Gunfire rang out in the early hours as police and soldiers surrounded the home of Colonel Marcel Ntsourou, one of the most senior military officers blamed for a 2012 explosion at a heavy weapons depot in the city that killed hundreds. A Reuters reporter said more than 100 security personnel were present during the gun battle and that seven bodies were seen lying on the site after the shooting stopped. Shops and schools were closed and police cordoned off the area in the...
(Reuters (Eng) 12/17/13)
KINSHASA ----(Reuters) - At least 21 people, including women and a baby, were killed over the weekend in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.N. peacekeeping mission there said on Monday. The U.N. mission did not say who it believed carried out the massacre but a local elected official blamed Ugandan Islamist rebels. Most of those killed appeared to have been hacked to death on Friday and Saturday in villages not far from Beni, in Congo's North Kivu province, according to a statement by Martin Kobler, head of the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission. "These atrocities will not go unpunished," he said. Three girls appear to have been raped and then beheaded while one of the victims was just months old, his...
(Reuters (Eng) 12/17/13)
UNITED NATIONS ---(Reuters) - Recently defeated M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have continued to recruit fighters in neighboring Rwanda while the Congolese army has been involved in human rights abuses and corruption, according to a confidential U.N. report. "The Group has documented that M23 received continued support from Rwandan territory," the U.N. Group of Experts said in its final report to the Security Council's Congo sanctions committee, which was seen by Reuters on Monday. "The Group has received credible information that sanctioned M23 leaders are moving freely in Uganda and that M23 has continued to recruit in Rwanda," it said. The independent expert panel also accused armed groups and the Congolese army of human rights abuses...
(Reuters (Eng) 12/17/13)
JERUSALEM---(Reuters) - More than 100 African migrants have abandoned an "open" Israeli detention center to try to march on Jerusalem in protest at a law allowing authorities to keep them in custody indefinitely, activists said on Monday. Israel views most of the more than 50,000 Sudanese and Eritrean migrants who have crossed its border on foot from Egypt since 2006 as illegal job-seekers overburdening its low-income areas. It has sought to encourage most of them to leave. Many migrants say they are fleeing persecution, forced military conscription or dictatorship in African countries. The center in southern Israel was opened last week after parliamentary approval of a law allowing the open-ended detention of migrants in the facility pending resolution of their...
(BBC News Africa 12/17/13)
The world should be paying more attention to the sub-Saharan threat from al-Qaeda, a former head of the British armed forces has warned. General Sir David Richards said Britain needed to learn from what it had done "and failed to do". He also questioned whether the Nato operation against Libya in 2011 was the right thing to do, suggesting it may have contributed to the spread of arms in the region. In the past year Islamist groups of stepped up their activities in several African countries. In Somalia, African Union troops have been battling with militants al-Shabab - which came to global prominence with its attack on a Kenyan shopping centre earlier this year. French troops spearheaded the response to...
( 12/17/13)
Cape Town — Are you taking antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and want to know how well you're doing? If you live in a wealthy country, chances are that your progress is regularly checked using the "gold standard" - a viral load test. If you're in a developing country, where more people are on ARV medication and the need is greater, the expensive and complex test is hard to find, making it even more difficult to monitor whether your treatment is failing and you need to change your medication. But as the number of people receiving HIV treatment rises, and more people become eligible for treatment, the prohibitive cost of viral load tests will have to come down, and donors should use...