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.
Somalia: Tussle over charcoal stockpile could trigger new Somalia war
Nairobi (Kenya) - Somalia, now nearly liberated from Al Shabaab militants, has two new world records. According to the African Union (AU) and UN, in and around the recently captured port city of Kismayu and the surrounding areas in the southern Jubbaland region, lies the largest charcoal stockpile in the world. Read >
Tuesday, 06 November 2012
The East African (Kenya), by Charles Onyango-Obbo
Nigeria: Police arrest 500 for declaring Biafra republic
Enugu (Nigeria) — The Enugu State Police Command yesterday arrested the leader of the Biafra Zionist Movement, Benjamin Onwuka and 500 members for declaring the independence of Biafra. Read >
Tuesday, 06 November 2012
The Vanguard (Nigeria)
Africa: Africa is rising! At least its 1 percent is (analysis)
"What we need in Africa is balanced development. Economic success cannot be a replacement for human rights or participation, or democracy ... it doesn't work ... it worries us a lot when we don't see the trickle-through factor, when gain goes to the top 1% or 2%, leaving the rest behind." - Mo Ibrahim October 15, 2012. Read >
Thursday, 01 November 2012
ThinkAfricaPress, by Zainab Usman*
Africa: The world's dark continent or capitalism's shining light? (analysis)
Once 'hopeless' and now 'rising', Western narratives around Africa may tell us as much about what's going in the West as in Africa itself. Read >
Thursday, 01 November 2012
ThinkAfricaPress, by Robert Bates
South Africa: Rock bottom - South Africa in the eyes of global media (analysis)
Johannesburg (South Africa) - Tongues were set wagging by last week’s sensational Economist cover story detailing the decline of South Africa. While the rest of the continent is on the up and up, South Africa is battling to claw itself out of its own chaos. Or so the story goes. Read >
Thursday, 01 November 2012
Daily Maverick (South Africa), by Khadija Patel
Uganda: South Korea gives Uganda aid as Western world cuts theirs after fraud
Kampala (Uganda) - Britain and Ireland have slashed aid to Uganda, joining Norway, Denmark and Sweden which jointly announced last Friday that they would withhold donor support funds until culprits in the theft of Shs20bn in the Office of Prime Minister are brought to book. Read >
Thursday, 01 November 2012
The Independent (Uganda)
Nigeria: Security forces out of control in fight against Boko Haram
The brutal actions of Nigeria's security forces in response to Boko Haram's campaign of terror are making an already desperate situation even worse, Amnesty International said in a report released today. Read >
Thursday, 01 November 2012
Amnesty International
Liberia: "Sirleaf's son an American citizen, must leave government"
Monrovia (Liberia) - President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been called upon to immediately discharge her son, Mr. Robert A. Sirleaf from all Liberian government activities and subsequently turn him over to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution, by a member of the House of Representatives. Read >
Thursday, 01 November 2012
Heritage (Liberia)
Somalia: Somaliland set to drill for oil by 2014
Three oil companies are set to begin exploration in Somaliland, making it possible that the break-away state will drill its first well as early as 2014, oil minister Hussein Abdi Dualeh says. Read >
Thursday, 01 November 2012
This is Africa, by Eleanor Whitehead