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.
East Africa: Simmering border disputes in battle to control oil and gas
Nairobi (Kenya) - The discovery of oil and gas in the East African region could mark the beginning of long-drawn-out diplomatic dramas triggered by territorial disputes over control of resources. Read >
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
The East African (Kenya)
Nigeria: Obama declares Nigeria world's next economic giant
Washington DC (USA) - United States President Barack Obama has declared Nigeria as the world's next economic success story, stressing that this was one of the major reasons why his government was committed to helping the country build strong democratic institutions and remove constraints to trade and investment through the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Read >
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Leadership (Nigeria)
Ethiopia: Death of Meles brings ‘opportunity for peace’
Washington (USA) - Following Monday’s announcement of the death of long-time Ethiopian leader Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian civil society leaders and Western rights groups are characterising the turn of events as an opportunity to heal decades of increasingly stark sectarianism. Read >
Friday, 24 August 2012
Inter Press Service (IPS)
Nigeria: Former Delta militants get billions to guard pipes
Abuja (Nigeria) - Former top Niger Delta militants have received about N6.32 billion to protect oil pipelines from attacks in the past year, a report by American newspaper Wall Street Journal said yesterday, quoting an unnamed official of the NNPC. Read >
Friday, 24 August 2012
Daily Trust (Nigeria)
South Africa: The massacre of our illusions...and the seeds of something new (opinion)
The story of Marikana runs much deeper than an inter-union spat. After the horror of watching people being massacred on television, Marikana now joins the ranks of the Bulhoek and Sharpeville massacres, and the images evoked by Hugh Masekela’s Stimela, in the odious history of a method of capital accumulation based on violence. Read >
Friday, 24 August 2012
South Africa Cicil Society Information Service (SACSIS), by Leonard Gentle*
South Africa: After the massacre: Zuma's enemies fill the breach
Johannesburg (SouthAfrica) - The Marikana massacre has exposed an increasingly tense relationship between the ANC leadership and its fractious members in North West. It has created fertile ground for Mangaung battles. Read >
Friday, 24 August 2012
Mail and Guardian (South Africa)
South Africa: The nation's white elite - the dog that doesn't bark (analysis)
Keeping their heads down and operating behind the scenes, South Africa's white business elite have managed to maintain their economic position. Read >
Friday, 24 August 2012
ThinkAfricaPress, by Martin Plaut*
Zimbabwe: Land reform chaos continues in Zimbabwe
London (UK) - The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) have reported that a group of about 200 ZANU PF activists invaded a farm on Wednesday which belongs to the principal director in the Prime Minister's Office, Norman Sachikonye. ZPP officials who witnessed the incident said the invaders were singing and dancing to ZANU PF liberation war songs and wearing party regalia. Read >
Friday, 24 August 2012
SW Radio Africa (UK/Zimbabwe)
Sierra Leone: Chinese loan of 15 million USD to complete fibre optic connection
Freetown (Sierra Leone) - Sierra Leone has signed a US$15 million loan agreement with China to complete its connectivity to the Africa Coast to Europe ACE cable scheduled to be switched on by October. Read >
Friday, 24 August 2012
Concord Times (Sierra Leone)