November 28, 2009
Mauritania: Women Struggle for Equality, Says Rights Lawyer
Mauritania formally adopted the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2001, but in the eight years since, it has had limited effect on the status… Read more »
August 18, 2008
Equatorial Guinea: Human Rights Drowning in Oil
The oil interests of Angola, Brazil and Portugal could pave the way for former Spanish colony Equatorial Guinea to become the ninth member of the Community of Portuguese Language… Read more »
June 23, 2008
Chad: 'Africa's Pinochet' Still Eluding Justice
Two years after the African Union mandated Senegal to conduct the trial of Chadian dictator Hissenè Habré, who is accused of thousands of political murders during his… Read more »
April 10, 2008
Ethiopia: 'The Death Sentence Was Used As a Tool of Intimidation'
Journalism in Ethiopia has become an increasingly hazardous trade over recent years. A clampdown on the media in the wake of disputed elections in 2005 continues to resonate in the… Read more »
January 02, 2008
South Africa: Government Set to Reach Sanitation Target, But is It Enough?
The South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has narrowly missed one of its most important targets, aimed at improving sanitation for the country's poorest people -… Read more »
October 22, 2007
Congo-Kinshasa: World Bank Confronts Challenge Over Logging
The World Bank is scrambling to respond to complaints that it broke its own rules to support commercial logging at the expense of Pygmy lands and livelihoods in the war-wrecked… Read more »
August 10, 2007
Guinea Bissau: African Paradise for South American Traffickers
Guinea-Bissau has become the first African narco-state, where South American traffickers have set up their headquarters and hideouts for large-scale cocaine smuggling operations… Read more »
Sierra Leone: Women As an Antidote to Corruption?
Sierra Leone will hold general elections Saturday with a number of significant achievements in hand, not least maintaining peace for five years. Read more »
July 17, 2007
Sierra Leone: Women Confront Obstacles in Politics
When Iyesha Josiah told people last year that after the August 2007 general elections, she would stand before them as a new member of parliament for Sierra Leone, they thought she… Read more »
July 06, 2007
Sudan: UN Says Ailing Environment a Key 'Stress Factor'
A report by the U.N. Environment Programme assessing Sudan's environmental degradation, scheduled for a national launch in Khartoum on Jul. 8, has spurred debate for linking… Read more »
July 05, 2007
Ethiopia: Ogaden Crackdown Carries High Human Cost
An intensified counter-insurgency campaign against Somali rebels and their suspected civilian supporters in Ethiopia's Ogaden region is drawing growing criticism by human… Read more »
June 29, 2007
Ethiopia: Starbucks Coffee Deal Hailed As Model
A deal between Starbucks and Ethiopia that ends their trademark dispute and offers more benefits to Ethiopian coffee farmers has been hailed as a potential model for other poor… Read more »
June 18, 2007
Cape Verde: Migration Key to Country's History
The small West African island nation of Cape Verde, which was uninhabited when Portuguese navigators discovered it in 1460, now has more citizens living abroad than at home. And… Read more »
June 07, 2007
Mauritania: Exiles' Lawsuit Shines Light On Past Abuses
A group of Mauritanian exiles living in New York has come forward to challenge their country's justice system and the alleged abuses of the former ruler of the Islamic Republic… Read more »
March 16, 2007
Benin: 'You Clearly Saw the Horrors of Desertification'
Seven years of working in some of the poorest parts of Benin put Euloge Vidégla in the front lines of the battle against desertification. An agricultural economist by… Read more »
March 01, 2007
Senegal: Setting Fire to the Future
It's the season for bush fires in Senegal, and there are once again concerns that vast tracts of fertile land could be set alight, and ravaged. Read more »
February 25, 2007
West Africa: Investments Against Desertification Deliver the Goods
Experts from the Inter-State Committee to Fight Drought in the Sahel (Comité inter Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse au Sahel, CILSS) are calling on donors to… Read more »
February 21, 2007
Niger: Projects Aplenty to Halt the Desert
For those taking up arms against desertification in Niger, the task at hand must seem daunting. Read more »
February 15, 2007
Cameroon: Women Face to Face With Desertification
The village of Ngouma has a population of 538 people, 406 of which are women. Most of the men, especially those who can still work the fields, have left in the face of land… Read more »
December 22, 2006
Burkina Faso: Price Snags for Cotton Farmers
Some call it "white gold"; but, the ever-falling price of cotton means that this nickname may end up being more ironic than complimentary. In Burkina Faso cotton producers are, for… Read more »
August 25, 2006
Africa: A Ghastly Disease Feeds Off a Ghastlier Oppression
Gender inequality has become the main driver of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, especially in Africa, where 70 percent of those infected are women. Read more »
March 31, 2006
Liberia: Before UN Sanctions Are Lifted, a Timber Industry Clean-Up
Liberia's newly-elected but cash-strapped government has begun to find ways that the U.N. sanctions can be lifted to allow the country to exploit its immense timber resources for… Read more »
February 04, 2006
Cote d'Ivoire: Falling Global Prices Make Cotton Unattractive
To stem famine and counter a major reduction in rice imports, more and more farmers have been growing rice during the political crisis that has split Ivory Coast in two since 2002. Read more »
October 20, 2005
Sudan: Oil Sector Proves a Hard Nut to Crack
For geological engineer Farouq Kam, Sudan's 21-year civil war didn't really end in January when the country's Islamist government signed a peace agreement with rebels from the… Read more »
September 29, 2005
Nigeria: Son of Fallen Activist On U.S. 'Price of Oil' Tour
"In my book, I imagine my father's last day before his execution. I went into his head, reconstructing it from his letters and poems from prison. He was always convincing me to… Read more »