Africa: Only Conflict-Free Diamonds, Please

Ghana, implicated in trafficking conflict diamonds, has been given a three-month reprieve by a global watchdog set up to eliminate the trade in so-called blood diamonds. Read more »

Zimbabwe: Undertakers Report Booming Business

One sector of Zimbabwe's depressed economy is experiencing boom times. For those providing services for the dead, business is very healthy. Read more »

Mali: Culture of Migration Faces Tough New Realities

Eighty-year-old Amadou Keita spent his working life as a schoolteacher trying to understand and influence young people. Knowing them well, he doubts efforts to stop the tens of… Read more »

South Africa: More Heat Less Light At Nuclear Facility

James Mcephe, 69, is not the man he used to be. His skin is painfully itchy and bleeds after the slightest knock; his eyes are afflicted by a burning sensation that makes it… Read more »

Malawi: Calls for Review of Law in Wake of Madonna Adoption

Madonna's "bending of the rules" in her haste to adopt 13-month-old David Banda is sending a message to child traffickers that Malawi is open for business, a southern African child… Read more »

Malawi: Madonna Takes a New Baby Home

Pop star Madonna's act of plucking an orphaned child from Malawi to give it a better life has triggered concern and confusion, and has even conjured up images of slavery among… Read more »

Cote d'Ivoire: French Executives Arrested in Toxic-Waste Scandal

Authorities in Cote d'Ivoire have arrested two senior French officials of a Dutch-based commodities company in connection with a toxic waste scandal that has shaken an already… Read more »

Cote d'Ivoire: Clean-Up of Toxic Waste Begins

International waste removal experts in protective suits and masks have begun cleaning up toxic waste that was dumped in several areas of Abidjan in a scandal that has further… Read more »

Gabon: Poverty Amid Plenty As Unemployment Booms

Patiently scraping the scales off fish at the Pont Nomba market in Gabon's capital, 19-year-old high-school graduate Etienne Biyoghe said he once dreamt of an office career.… Read more »

Africa: The Granny Revolution

It started with three South African grandmothers sharing their grief at the loss of their children and supporting each other to care for their orphaned grandchildren. Five years… Read more »

Africa: Gender Inequality Driving HIV - UN Aids Envoy

Gender inequality and the inability of women to negotiate safe sex are behind the continued spread of the pandemic, according to Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in… Read more »

Liberia: UN Vows to Repossess Another Troubled Rubber Plantation

The United Nations on Wednesday vowed to help the government repossess a second rubber plantation occupied by former fighters to assist Liberia in establishing security and shoring… Read more »

Liberia: Gov't Reclaims Rubber Plantation From Former Fighters

The Liberian government, backed by United Nations peacekeepers, says it has repossessed Guthrie Rubber Plantation from a band of some 500 ex-rebels who have been illegally tapping… Read more »

Cote d'Ivoire: Row Erupts Over ID Cards in New Blow to Peace

A dispute this week over plans to hand out ID cards to millions of undocumented residents of war-divided Cote d'Ivoire threatens to further disrupt the country's faltering peace… Read more »

Sierra Leone: The Justice Experiment

In post-war public hearings, Sierra Leoneans shared with their compatriots stories of how rebel fighters cut children into pieces in front of their parents, and forced people to… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Survival After Operation Murambatsvina

A year after Zimbabwe's controversial campaign to demolish illegal urban settlements and informal markets, thousands of people remain in limbo, fearful of renewed raids by the… Read more »

Zimbabwe: Farmers Feeding Grain Black Market

Inflation is forcing Zimbabwe's new farmers to ignore a government directive that compels them to sell their produce to a centralised grain utility, opting instead to take lower… Read more »

Africa: UN Aids Envoy Vocal On Women's Issues

The UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, has proposed the establishment of a new UN agency to protect women's rights, health and security. Read more »

Cameroon: Presidents Obasanjo And Biya Shake Hands On Disputed Bakassi Peninsula

A decades-long border dispute over sovereignty of the Bakassi peninsula was officially resolved when President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria agreed to hand the narrow strip of land… Read more »

Namibia: Govt Grapples With Slow Pace of Land Reform

The Namibian government is considering ways to improve its land-reform programme, which has not only been slow, but has also had a negative impact on agricultural production. Read more »

Africa: Japan Promises Cooperation, Calls for AU Support to Security Council Reform

In a pledge of continued cooperation between his country and Africa, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for reforms to the United Nations Security Council to make it… Read more »

Burundi: Gov't to Expel Rwandan Asylum Seekers

The Burundian government will expel all Rwandan asylum seekers who fail to meet conditions for their acceptance as refugees, Interior Minister Evariste Ndayishimiye said on Monday… Read more »

Guinea: Sacked Prime Minister Speaks Out

Sacked Guinean prime minister, Cellou Dalien Diallo, refuted claims that he is under house arrest and told IRIN that his 11 years in government were a testament to his loyalty to… Read more »

Guinea: Prime Minister Diallo Sacked in Possible Power Struggle

In a sign of high-level institutional infighting in Guinea, ailing President Lansana Conte sacked reformist Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo on Wednedsay, hours after… Read more »

Liberia: War-Battered Nation Launches Truth Commission

The Liberian government has officially launched a truth and reconciliation commission to probe human rights abuses over the past quarter-century in the war-wounded country. Read more »