November 09, 2009
Central Africa: Build Cohesion in Divided Societies, Urges U.S. Envoy [Part 2]
The American government's new special adviser on the Great Lakes region, Howard Wolpe, comes to the post with the best part of three decades' experience in the Africa policies of… Read more »
Somalia: Pirates Launch Longest Range Attack Yet
Pirates today fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at a 330-metre long oil tanker sailing 1,000 miles from the Somali coast. Read more »
November 08, 2009
Zimbabwe: Failure to Act on Abuses Threatens Conflict Diamond Process
The decision to give Zimbabwe no more than a slap on the wrist for the human rights abuses which its army has committed on the Marange alluvial diamond fields in the south-east of… Read more »
November 06, 2009
Congo-Kinshasa: New Multinational Partnership Launches Peace Efforts [Part 1]
Howard Wolpe has spent the best part of three decades helping to form and implement American policies on Africa. After chairing the Subcommittee on Africa of the Foreign Affairs… Read more »
November 05, 2009
Guinea: Opposition Presents Demands to Compaoré
A coalition of Guinean opposition leaders has presented President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso a set of proposals they believe will end the political crisis… Read more »
November 04, 2009
Africa: Africa's Media Leaders Gather in Lagos
Top executives from African media houses gather in Lagos on Thursday for two days of consultations on how to sustain the development of good journalism on the continent. Owners,… Read more »
November 03, 2009
East Africa: Saving Lives, Securing Livelihoods
Mount Kenya rises majestically from the Kenyan landscape, dwarfing all around it, a magisterial monument. The mountain is a fertile giant, but this year it became a killing field… Read more »
Equatorial Guinea: Govt Frees Mercenaries
The government of Equatorial Guinea has freed four South African mercenaries jailed for plotting to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, South Africa's foreign ministry has… Read more »
Zimbabwe: Cultivating Food Security in the City
In recent years Zimbabweans have faced severe food shortages and staggering hyperinflation. As a result, residents in the capital, Harare, have increasingly turned to urban… Read more »
November 02, 2009
Africa: Most of Continent Provides 'Prosperous Emerging Markets' - CEO
Lonrho is a London-listed conglomerate with a rich history and long involvement in Africa. Established in 1909 as the London and Rhodesian Mining Company, the company became well… Read more »
Africa: Food for Thought on Food Security
This year, the world will witness a new record, albeit a devastating one: for the first time in our history, over one billion people in the world suffer from daily hunger.… Read more »
Sudan: Tensions Grow Over North-South Unity
Tensions are rising in Sudan as the country prepares for elections in 2010 and a subsequent referendum over whether the people of South Sudan want to break away and become an… Read more »
November 01, 2009
Kenya: Widows Support Themselves Selling Maize to World Food Programme
Widows are often looked down on and pitied in Kenya. But the widows in the village of Angata Barakoi in the Transmara area of Kenya were determined to help each other and make a… Read more »
Africa: Trees Can Increase Farm Yields and Transform Agriculture Says Agroforestry Group
Headquartered in Nairobi Kenya and working across sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in Latin America and Asia, the World Agroforestry Centre aims to enhance soil fertility and the… Read more »
October 31, 2009
Niger: Tree Planting Heroine Helps Reclaim the Desert
Sakina Mati is a farmer and community leader in the village of Guidan Batoye, in the Maradi Region of Niger. She began to manage the regeneration of useful trees on her fields 15… Read more »
Burkina Faso: New Farming Technique Brings Trees Back to the Sahel
Yacouba Savadogo is a farmer, community leader and natural resource innovator from the village of Gourma, in the Yatenga Province of Burkina Faso. Yacouba began to experiment with… Read more »
Africa: Women Are Behind 80 Percent of Continent's Food Production
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) considers gender mainstreaming, or involving women in farming development efforts, an essential component of its efforts… Read more »
South Africa: Women Farmers Play Vital Role in Food Security
In South Africa's not-too-distant past, the image of a commercial farmer usually brought to mind middle-aged white men in short pants or, in a few cases, black farmers struggling… Read more »
Kenya: Reconstructing Food Security in Africa
Kenya 's Rift Valley province is famed for large-scale food production alongside images of dying animals and hungry people. Read more »
South Africa: Snapshot Descriptions of Woman Farmers
Below are snapshots of some of South Africa's successful women farmers. All of them are recent winners of a female farmer competition run by provincial departments of agriculture,… Read more »
October 30, 2009
South Africa: Land Reform Moves Slowly in Post-Apartheid Era
Land reform has always been a popular part of political rhetoric for a democratic South Africa, but agrarian transformation has not been realized in the post-apartheid era. The… Read more »
Africa: FAO Launches Key Land Initiatives
People's rights to work the land – an indispensable pre-condition for food security in Africa – are the subject of two key initiatives by international agencies working… Read more »
Africa: French Court Blocks Probe of Three Presidents
A French Appeal Court in Paris yesterday rejected the demand of the Transparency International (TI) organization for leave to open a probe in France into the estates of three… Read more »
South Africa: Critics Welcome Rejection of Genetically Altered Potato
The recent rejection of a permit application for the general release in South Africa of a potato that has been genetically altered has received a standing ovation from the African… Read more »
South Africa: New Potatoes - Blessing Or Curse?
The debate around genetically modified (GM) crops in South Africa has flared up once again after the rejection of a permit application for the general release of the SpuntaG2, a… Read more »