Africa: Global Crunch Gives Continent's Leaders Responsibilities

Although the current global economic crisis was triggered by the financial practices of industrialized nations, African leaders have important responsibilities to meet if they are… Read more »

Africa: African Union Must Join G20, Says SA Finance Minister

The last decade witnessed the dawn of hope on the African continent. We had achieved the fastest growth rates since independence. Our efforts to build institutions and strengthen… Read more »

Africa: Global Crisis 'Hits Africa Twice,' Says Kofi Annan

Africa is facing difficult times. The effects of the global economic recession and climate change have already begun to reverse the progress the continent has made over the last… Read more »

Africa: Obama Should Meet African Ministers Before G20 Summit

President Barack Obama's election held an implicit promise for Africa, the continent of his father's birth. Yet the global financial meltdown, two wars and numerous interstate… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Unity Govt Seeks U.S. $2 Billion in Aid

Zimbabwe's new unity government is appealing for U.S. $2 billion over the next 10 months to help it deal with emergencies and to kickstart the economy, South Africa's finance… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Our Situation is Dire, Tsvangirai Tells Region in Aid Appeal

The new Zimbabwean prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, travelled to Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday to appeal for aid to South Africa and other countries in the Southern African… Read more »

Africa: Sustaining Growth Will Challenge Govts

The remorseless, 30-year rise in the number of Africans living in poverty has stopped. Poverty is not yet falling, but it has stabilized, according to the World Bank. Read more »

Africa: Closing the Digital Divide

In Nigeria, new subscribers are signing up with mobile phone services at a rate of almost one every second. In Kenya, they can transfer money, get exam results and even find dates… Read more »

Africa: Cell Phones Could Transform North-South Cooperation

The rollout of broadband Internet services and the rapid spread of cell phones is narrowing the digital divide between Africa and developed countries, and could potentially… Read more »

Nigeria: Young Governor Re-Brands Niger Delta

Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the governor of Nigeria's Rivers State in the oil-rich Niger Delta, has vowed to transform his state from one marred by violence to one marked by… Read more »

Liberia: 'Normal Days' Slowly Return

"Normal days" is the expression used by many Liberians to refer to the time before the civil war, when institutions functioned fairly well and the country's infrastructure was… Read more »

Somalia: Piracy Grows to Record Levels

Hijackings off the Somali coast have pushed piracy to its highest levels since an international agency began keeping statistics in 1991. Read more »

Africa: Leaders Must Rethink 'African Solutions for African Problems'

For more than a decade now, Africa has been trying to address its developmental and political problems through an approach favouring home-grown initiatives. Read more »

Zimbabwe: State Moving to 'Failed' Status, Says Annan

Zimbabwe was moving rapidly to join countries such as Somalia to become a "full-blown failed state," former United Nations chief Kofi Annan said in the Netherlands on Tuesday. Read more »

Africa: Why Entrepreneur Wants Low-Orbiting Satellites

Greg Wyler, the founder of O3b Networks, explains why he wants to bring the Internet to Africa with low-orbiting satellites. Read more »

Africa: Low-Orbiting Satellites to Slash Internet Costs

As East Africa awaits the expanded high-speed Internet connectivity that new submarine cables will bring the region, another endeavor is aiming higher – targeting all of the… Read more »

Africa: Media Leaders Call For New Blueprints

Pioneering African media leaders who are meeting in Dakar have called for closer co-operation among publishers and broadcasters across the continent to promote development. Read more »

Africa: New Governance Index Should Poll Public Opinion

While the new Ibrahim index assessing governance in Africa is remarkably comprehensive, it fails to poll citizens on their perceptions of how well they are ruled, writes George… Read more »

Africa: Government Improves Across Continent

The quality of governance improved in nearly two-thirds of sub-Saharan African nations between 2005 and 2006. Liberia showed the biggest leap in government performance in the… Read more »

Kenya: HIV Tests Launch Wider Health Campaign

A week-long campaign launched in Lurambi division in western Kenya this week aims to test 80 percent of the population for HIV/Aids, and to supply those tested with a package of… Read more »

Africa: Cell Phones Transform Continent's Development

The rapid spread of cell phones in Africa and the rollout of broadband Internet services are narrowing the digital divide between Africa and developed countries, bringing enormous… Read more »

Africa: Does Index Predict or Produce Failed States?

The Failed States Index (FSI) for 2008 is out. The annual report by Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, now in its fourth year, uses twelve social, economic, and… Read more »

Africa: Fighting Children's Silent Killer

An important conference which culminates in Gabon today could help save the lives of millions of children by bridging the gap which often separates efforts to improve health and… Read more »

Africa: Internet Technology Can Boost Healthcare

AllAfrica's Boakai Fofana, based in Monrovia, is one of a few media professionals brought to Bellagio, Italy by the Rockefeller Foundation to attend an invitation-only… Read more »

Africa: Rising Food Prices Will Kill Children, Says Panel

There will be a "sharp increase" in deaths among young children in Africa unless the international community finds a way of stopping the current rise in food prices,… Read more »