Please note: The following news items are presented here for informational purposes. The views expressed within them are those of the authors and/or individuals quoted, not those of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the National Defense University, or the Department of Defense.
Today’s News
The challenges remain enormous, but a month before voting begins, the African Union Peace and Security Council says Sudan’s elections for president and parliament have a reasonable chance of success.
“Having considered the seriousness … of the offence, and circumstances under which the suspects were arrested, only stiff penalties can deter such activities,” Senior Principal Magistrate Lilian Mutende said, delivering her judgment.
High-level representatives from 44 African countries wrapped up a United Nations-backed conference in Nigeria today with the approval of an ambitious plan to generate employment, income and food security across the continent through agribusiness.
The U.S. special envoy to Sudan warned Wednesday that efforts to bring peace to the country’s troubled Darfur region could become less of a priority for the Obama administration if a full-fledged peace agreement is not reached before Sudanese elections scheduled for mid-April.
Several hundred women dressed in long black dresses are marching in downtown Jos to protest the recent slaughter of more than 200 people including dozens of children in several mostly Christian villages nearby.
Togo’s government says it is unconcerned by the opposition’s planned legal challenge to electoral results that indicate President Faure Gnassingbe won re-election with more than 60 percent of the vote.
Heavy fighting flared in the Somali capital Thursday, a day after a battle between government forces and Al-Shabaab rebels left 29 dead and scores injured.
The report, seen by the New York Times, says the food is being diverted to corrupt contractors, radical Islamic militants and local UN workers. It advises the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to open an independent investigation into the organisation’s world food programme operations in Somalia.
The crisis in relations between Libya and its Western partners is an expression of Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle: a family he protects fiercely but which is torn between old habits of isolation and a desire to open up.
Foreign countries interfered in Charles Taylor’s revolution in Liberia and prevented the former president from liberating his people, a witness in Mr. Taylor’s defense told Special Court for Sierra Leone judges today.
Former rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo who now serve in the army are running mafia-style extortion rackets in the mines, campaigners say. The country has some of the world’s richest mines, which provide minerals to the global electronics industry.
South African President Jacob Zuma has handed in a declaration of his financial interests, after critics said his finances should be investigated. Mr Zuma, in power for nine months, was supposed to submit the declaration within 60 days of taking office.
The International Monetary Fund is still not prepared to resume lending to Zimbabwe, the head of the body said on Wednesday, citing concerns about the country’s political situation.
LACK of competition was a much bigger challenge for SA’s economy than the level of the rand, the MD of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said yesterday.
South Africa’s mines minister said on Wednesday China had shown strong interest in investing in the African country’s mining sector, and reassured investors there were no plans to nationalise mines.