Africa News Update
Africa News Update offers news, background and feature articles from African sources twice weekly. The newsletter is free of charge and is edited by the Norwegian Council for Africa. Some of the articles may be shortened.
Africa: Witchcraft 2.0 - The modern magic in the witchcraft industry
Witchcraft beliefs in Africa returned to the news cycle towards the end of 2012 following reports of mass exhumations in Benin. In the dead of night, over 100 corpses were dug up from a cemetery near Porto Novo and mutilated – reportedly so that body parts could be sold on the black market. In recent months, there has also been a string of UN and NGO reports linking African witchcraft beliefs to child abuse, killings and human trafficking. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
Think Africa Press, by Sipke Shaughnessy*
Africa: Refugees aim for self-reliance, not hand-outs (analysis)
Johannesburg (South Africa) - On the streets of inner-city Johannesburg, refugees and asylum-seekers are participants in a thriving informal economy, plying their trade as tailors, barbers and street vendors. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
South Africa: The big business of corruption
Johannesburg (South Africa) - The alleged fixing of state construction contracts dominated newspaper headlines earlier this week, but soon petered out as allegations of fraud worth R30-billion left South Africa cold. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
Mail and Guardian (South Africa), by Nickolaus Bauer
Africa: Diaspora remittances to Africa hits U.S. $60 billion
Abuja (Nigeria) - The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Monday disclosed that Africans in diaspora remitted a total of $60 billion to the continent in 2012. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
This Day (Nigeria)
Africa: African top lawyers to discuss capital flight
Kigali (Rwanda) - Africa's top Bar association, the Pan African Lawyers Union, will this month hold its triennial general assembly with a special focus on the theme, "Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: Sealing the leaks, Management and Repatriation of Frozen Assets" in Tunis, Tunisia from 21- 24. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
The New Times (Rwanda)
Africa: Development vies with conflict resolution in African Union
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) - The birthday party didn’t go according to plan. It was billed as a summit to celebrate 50 years of the African Union and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, and to promote an African Renaissance and Pan-Africanism. Then reality intervened in the form of a long list of conflicts in Central African Republic, Congo-Kinshasa, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Mali and Sudan. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
Africa Confidential
Cameroon: Is Biya's 2035 dream becoming a delusion? (analysis)
Yauondé (Cameroon) - In two short decades, Cameroonians will be enjoying the trappings and quality of life that go with living in an emerging economy - at least, that is, according to President Paul Biya's 2035 vision. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
ThinkAfricaPress, by Samba Tata*
Tunisia: Opposition leader shot dead
Tunis (Tunisia) - Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid was shot and killed outside his home Wednesday, sparking a wave of protests. "This is a criminal act, an act of terrorism, not only against Belaid but against the whole of Tunisia," Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali told Mosaique FM, promising to pursue all efforts to "immediately" arrest the murderer. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
Magharebia (Tunisia/US)
Zimbabwe: Constitution better than feared but far from ideal (analysis)
In September 2012, debates around the draft Zimbabwean Constitution reached a deadlock, with ZANU-PF publishing an alternative version to that put forward by COPAC in July 2012.Since then progress has been made and a final version of the Constitution was published on 25 January 2013. This article reflects on some of the wins and losses in the latest version of the Constitution. Read >
Thursday, 07 February 2013
Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, by Anneke Meerkotter