Guinea: Conté Declares 'State of Siege'

President Lansana Conte of Guinea has declared a "state of siege" and instituted martial law after bloody nationwide demonstrations in which 23 people are reported to… Read more »

Liberia: Shorten Road Between Commitment and Cash, Sirleaf Says

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Monday called for debt cancellation and increased development assistance for the country. Read more »

Liberia: Private Sector Forum Sells Out As Sirleaf Arrives in Washington Seeking Debt Relief

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is making a return visit to Washington this week with an urgent agenda. To deliver the jobs and services she sees as essential to building… Read more »

Guinea: Insurrection As Strike Resumes

On the evening of January 27, when the government and the unions signed an agreement suspending a bloody general strike, Guineans took to the streets of Conakry, the capital city… Read more »

South Africa: Mbeki Announces Social Security System

The South African government aims to introduce a new social insurance system, financed by social security taxes, President Thabo Mbeki announced today. Read more »

South Africa: Mbeki Outlines Strategy for Combating Crime

South African President Thabo Mbeki has responded to a national outcry over crime by spelling out a range of steps to combat it, including the expansion of the national police… Read more »

South Africa: From Potable Water to the Internet - Challenges for Mbeki

President Mbeki addressed a wide range of issues in his annual address on the state of South Africa, ranging from the supply of drinking water and sewage systems to the development… Read more »

South Africa: Mbeki Presses for 'Inclusive' Settlement in Somalia

President Thabo Mbeki described the need for national reconciliation in Somalia as "critical." Read more »

South Africa: Adelaide Tambo, Icon of Exile Generation, Dies

Adelaide Tambo, an icon of the generation of South African leaders which left South Africa in the early 1960s to fight apartheid from exile, collapsed and died in her home in… Read more »

Africa: WTO Head Sees Progress on Trade Issues, But Tough Bargaining Lies Ahead

The next six months will be crucial for the efforts of Africa and the rest of the developing world to secure easier access to markets for their products in the industrialized… Read more »

Sudan: The ICC: A Question of Accountability

The Sudanese regime is, by any measure, one of the most brutal and destabilising in the world today. Its atrocities have not been limited to Darfur. Khartoum has harshly suppressed… Read more »

Africa: Blood Diamonds

Greg Campbell's Blood Diamonds is a detailed and long needed look at blood/conflict diamonds. The book inspired the film Blood Diamond, and research from the book was used in the… Read more »

Guinea: Government and Unions Sign Agreement, General Unlimited Strike Suspended

Under clear skies and a radiant full moon on Saturday night, Guineans took to the streets of Conakry, the capital city of this west African country lying on the Atlantic shoreline,… Read more »

Guinea: President Appears to Yield, Agrees to New Prime Minister

News reports confirmed by presidential sources indicate that President Lansana Conté of Guinea has signed an executive order establishing the nomination of a "consensus… Read more »

Somalia: U.S. Department of Defense Denies Capture of U.S. Soldiers

The United States Department of Defense has firmly denied reports of the capture of American soldiers in southern Somalia, stating "no U.S. service members have been captured… Read more »

Guinea: Army, President Need to be Warned Against Both Status Quo and Coup

In Conakry, the Guinean capital lying on the Atlantic shoreline, it is the season of the Harmattan, when the rains have given way to the dry dust-laden wind of that name, which… Read more »

Africa: Bush Includes Continent's Needs in Annual Address

In his 2007 State of the Union address, United States President George W. Bush urged Congress to increase funding for Aids relief, malaria, and development in Africa. Read more »

South Africa: Gov't Blocks Listing of al-Qaeda Suspects

South Africa's foreign minister, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, wants bilateral talks with the United States government over its request to list two South Africans as having links… Read more »

South Africa: Country Should Return the Favor

On January 12, on a vote of 9-3 with three abstentions, the UN Security Council rejected a non-punitive resolution seeking to press the Government of Burma to speed up democratic… Read more »

Somalia: Tentative Hope and Little Else

Across a wide spectrum of political opinion there is a lot of hope for the success of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) but little expectation it will be fulfilled. Read more »

South Africa: Hugh Masekela Charms Washington, DC Crowd

The Washington, DC night club "Zanzibar on the Water" hosted world renowned South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela on Saturday, January 20. Masekela hit the stage for… Read more »

Somalia: 'You Break It, You Own It' Rule Does Not Apply

"You break it, you own it." The Pottery Barn rule of intervention and nation-building, made famous in Iraq, is about to be tested in Somalia. Read more »

Africa: Global Experts Encourage Women as Peacekeepers

Experts in peace-building have called on African women to become involved with peacekeeping from the start of negotiations to end conflicts, and not to allow themselves to be… Read more »

Africa: U.S. Official Sees 'Credible and Serious Dialogue' As Key to Peace in Somalia

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, who has been leading the Bush administration's peace efforts in Somalia and Sudan, discussed the situation in… Read more »

Guinea: A National Unity Government to Save the Nation

On December 16th, President Lansana Conté's entourage made its way towards the central prison of Conakry. The Guinean head of state attended in person to obtain the release… Read more »