(Reuters 08/05/13)
WASHINGTON | Mon Aug 5, 2013 (Reuters) - The United States extended embassy closures by a week in the Middle East and Africa as a precaution on Sunday after an al Qaeda threat that U.S. lawmakers said was the most serious in years. The State Department said 19 U.S. embassies and consulates would be closed through Saturday "out of an abundance of caution" and that a number of them would have been closed anyway for most of the week due to the Eid celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The United States initially closed 21 U.S. diplomatic posts for the day on Sunday. Some of those will reopen on Monday, including Kabul, Baghdad and Algiers...
(CNN 08/05/13)
African Voices is a weekly show that highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. Follow the team on Twitter. Mogadishu, Somalia (CNN) -- Inside a brightly painted Mogadishu clinic, Salim (not her real name) sits alongside her seven-year-old son, waiting for a check up. Opposite them, a health professional listens to their nightmarish ordeal. Salim recounts how she was raped and then watched, helpless, as her young son was molested. Too afraid to seek assistance, she did what she thought would help. She washed her son's wounds with hot water and salt for four excruciating days, until they were brought here, the Sister Somalia center. "There are...
(CNN 08/03/13)
(CNN) -- Rebels in an unstable part of the Democratic Republic of Congo have until Thursday afternoon to hand in their weapons to U.N. peacekeepers or risk being disarmed by force. The ultimatum comes amid the latest flare up of unrest in central Africa's volatile Great Lakes region. The 19,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, issued the deadline on Tuesday. It's the first time it has said it will use its troops there to implement a security area around the city of Goma, by the border with Rwanda. Sitting on the shore of Lake Kivu, the city has been at the center of clashes in the region over the past year between the M23 rebel group and Congolese...
(CNN 08/03/13)
(CNN) -- The African Union on Friday applauded Zimbabwe for holding peaceful elections, and made no mention of rigging accusations by the main opposition candidate. However, its observers added that they noted several shortcomings. Problems included voters getting turned away, late publication of polling stations and media taking sides, the African Union observers said in a statement released Friday. Even so, the continent-wide body said, "The Mission observes generally, that from a historical perspective and in comparison to the 2008 elections, Zimbabwe has made an important transition in the conduct of its elections." Wednesday's vote pitted President Robert Mugabe against his prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe's party declared victory a day later even though the electoral commission has not released...
(Voice of America 08/02/13)
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s information minister says the government in Kinshasa is not opposed to holding talks with armed groups to resolve conflicts in the restive parts of the Central African nation. “The DRC has no problem with trying to resolve conflict with dialogue [and] that is why we have set meetings with M23, though they are negative forces,” said information minister Lambert Mende. “But, we know that we need to talk to them so that we can cut the linkage between them and their masters outside the country.” Mende’s comments came after regional leaders called for dialogue and cooperation as part of an effort to deal with the security crisis in the Great Lakes Region. The leaders who...
(AFP (eng) 08/02/13)
UN peacekeepers patrolled a new security zone in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after a deadline for militia fighters to disarm passed on Thursday afternoon. Rebel groups around the flashpoint city of Goma were given until 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Thursday "to hand in their weapons to" UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO and join a demobilisation programme. As the deadline came and went it was not clear how many fighters had heeded the call, which key rebel group M23 -- behind a fresh offensive launched outside on July 14 -- dismissed as irrelevant. The United Nations gave no immediate indication that military action had started or was planned in the troubled region which holds massive potential mineral wealth...
(AL Jazeera 08/02/13)
UN plays down apparent disarmament ultimatum, as M23 rebels say they will fight back if attacked. The UN has played down an apparent deadline for rebel fighters in the volatile eastern Democractic Republic of Congo (DRC) rebels to lay down their weapons. UN peacekeepers appeared to issue an ultimatum on Thursday when they said they had started a new effort to disarm DRC fighters, setting up a zone where only the country's security forces can now carry firearms. The drive was aimed at stabilising the eastern city of Goma and the areas around it - a region that is home to more than one million people who have faced waves of rebellions and attacks from armed groups in recent years...
(Voice of America 08/02/13)
U.N. forces have established a security zone in two eastern Congolese cities to rid the area of what they call "unauthorized weapons." U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Thursday that the goal of the zone is to provide better protection to the more than one million civilians living in the city of Goma and nearby Sake, including internally placed persons. On Tuesday, the U.N. mission in Congo said it was giving people in the zone who were not part of the national security forces 48 hours to hand in their weapons. It said any civilians with weapons after the deadline would be considered an "imminent threat" and U.N. peacekeepers would take measures to disarm them. In a statement Thursday, U.N. officials...
(African arguments 08/02/13)
UK Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, has stated that the government will not intervene directly in Barclays Bank's decision to withdraw banking services to Money Service Businesses (MSBs) including those that provide remittance services to Somalia, but said he hoped that a 'market-based solution' could be found. Simmonds stated in a letter dated 18th July to SOAS academic Laura Hammond (and shared with African Arguments) that "the government would not be able to intervene on behalf of a particular company or 'remittance corridor'". He was responding to a letter submitted by Hammond on behalf of 105 academics, researchers and practitioners calling on the UK government to intervene to prevent the collapse of remittance flows into poor and fragile states, particularly...
(Reuters (Eng) 08/02/13)
LONDON | Fri Aug 2, 2013 (Reuters) - The winning investment strategy of 2013 has been simple but extreme: return home to the safety of the biggest, most-traded markets, or venture to the riskiest frontiers from Ivory Coast to Pakistan. Those in the middle of the risk curve - the biggest emerging markets that now account for almost half of the top 20 world economies - have been the big losers. The contrasting fortunes may herald the start of a broader repricing of big emerging economies where a flood of cheap money from developed economies has distorted prices the most. Risk - which dominated global financial markets in the past few years - has played a smaller role in defining...
(This Day Live 08/02/13)
Against the backdrop of the three-day investment roundtable in Cape Town, South Africa, John Iwori, who attended the event, writes that African countries are forging a common front in the shipping and energy sectors of the continent's economy. Working against One Another That most African countries are working at cross purposes is an understatement. In spite of their proximity, they prefer to work against their common interests. They hardly see each other as partners in progress. In fact, they see themselves as enemies. They work against one another for the benefit of the people on other continents, especially those who ruled over them during the colonial era. The undue rivalry among African countries has often robbed the people on the...
(Africa Review 08/01/13)
Kenya has waded into the murky waters of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by requesting to be included in a UN-mediated agreement meant to stop the cycle of violence in that country. At a special summit in Nairobi on Wednesday, leaders from member states of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) accepted Kenya’s formal request to be part of the peace deal after President Uhuru Kenyatta successfully argued that Kenya had been affected by the violence in eastern Congo. “We, the heads of state and government of ICGLR have decided to request the United Nations to consider including the Republic of Kenya and the Republic of Sudan to the Framework for Peace and...
(BBC News Africa 08/01/13)
The conservation group WWF is calling on a UK-based company to abandon its plans to explore for oil in Africa's oldest national park. The charity says Soco International's proposals could put the Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at risk. The park is home to more than 3,000 different kinds of animals, including endangered mountain gorillas. Soco denied that its activities threatened the environment of the park. The company said it was currently only evaluating the resources there. 'Gone for good'. In a report, WWF says the exploitation of oil concessions in the park, which is a World Heritage Site, could cause widespread pollution and environmental damage, as well as create conflict. "Once you turn it...
(CNN 08/01/13)
(CNN) -- Rebels in an unstable part of the Democratic Republic of Congo have until Thursday afternoon to hand in their weapons to U.N. peacekeepers or risk being disarmed by force. The ultimatum comes amid the latest flare up of unrest in central Africa's volatile Great Lakes region. The 19,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, issued the deadline on Tuesday. It's the first time it has said it will use its troops there to implement a security area around the city of Goma, by the border with Rwanda. Sitting on the shore of Lake Kivu, the city has been at the center of clashes in the region over the past year between the M23 rebel group and Congolese...
(This Day Live 08/01/13)
The World Bank Group committed a record $14.7 billion in fiscal year 2013 (July 2012 to June 2013) to support economic growth and better development prospects in Africa, despite uncertain economic conditions in the rest of the global economy. “The region has shown remarkable resilience in the face of a global recession and continues to grow strongly,” said World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region, Makhtar Diop. “Africa is at the centre of the World Bank Group 2030 goals of ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity, in an environmentally, socially, and fiscally sustainable manner.” The World Bank Group, according to a release from its Nigeria office in Abuja, continued its strong commitment to Africa approving $8.25 billion in...
(Voice of America 07/31/13)
NAIROBI — Leaders from the Great Lakes region are calling for greater cooperation to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo, as accusations of interference by neighboring countries continue to fly. Regional heads of state met in Nairobi Wednesday to build on a framework agreement signed by members of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in February, which outlines steps to advance regional peace efforts — including a pledge not to interfere in the internal affairs of neighboring countries. This pledge is under the spotlight in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where U.N. peacekeepers are increasing pressure on M23 rebels. The United Nations, rights groups and some western countries have accused Rwanda and Uganda of...
(AFP (eng) 07/31/13)
The United Nations on Tuesday gave M23 rebel forces 48 hours to disarm in the area around the city of Goma in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo or face "the use of force." A new UN intervention brigade will be used for the first time to help the DR Congo army set up a "security zone" in the city, the international body said. A statement by the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, gave M23 rebels around Goma until 4:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Thursday "to hand in their weapon to a MONUSCO base" and join a demobilisation program. After then, "they will be considered an imminent threat of physical violence to civilians and MONUSCO will take all...
(AL Jazeera 07/31/13)
United Nations has given rebels 48 hours to leave the eastern city of Goma or face "use of force". The United Nations has given the rebel forces 48 hours to leave the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma or face "the use of force", according to AFP news agency. A new intervention brigade will be used for the first time to help the DR Congo army set up a "security zone" in the city, which has come under renewed threat from the 23 rebel forces in recent weeks, the UN said on Tuesday. A statement by the UN mission in DR Congo, MONUSCO, gave rebels in Goma until 4:00pm local time (20:00 GMT) on Thursday "to hand in...
(Voice of America 07/31/13)
The U.N. refugee agency says there’s been an alarming rise in sexual violence in the DRC’s North Kivu Province. Fighting between government forces and two rebel groups has displaced thousands of civilians, leaving them vulnerable to attack. North Kivu Province is practically synonymous with sexual violence. While the names of the armed groups may have changed over the many years of conflict, brutal sexual attacks on women, girls, men and boys have remained constant. UNHCR’s Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba said the attacks have risen sharply in the first half of the year. “When we look at the number of sexual violence cases reported to our staff for the first half of this year it’s 705 cases -- and this includes 619 rape...
(BBC News Africa 07/31/13)
The UN has given rebels from the M23 group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo 48 hours to disarm, warning force will be used if they fail to do so. A new UN intervention brigade made up of 3,000 troops will help the DR Congo army set up a security zone in Goma. It has been given a mandate to use lethal force against the rebels, who they say have killed civilians in the region surrounding the city of Goma. Renewed clashes broke out between the rebels and the army earlier this month. A statement by the UN mission in the DR Congo has given everyone in the city of Goma and surrounding areas until 2000 GMT on Thursday to...