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.
South Africa: A cultural revolution is needed to liberate Zuma and his cohorts (analysis)
Johannesburg (South Africa) - For a man who spent ten years on Robben Island fighting against a white supremacist apartheid regime, President Jacob Zuma comes across as seriously ill equipped when talking about issues related to race and culture. Generally speaking, his views on race and culture are primitive. Read >
Tuesday, 08 January 2013
South African Civil Society Information Service (SACSIS), by Mandisi Majvu*
Kenya: Kwani Literature Festival 2012 - Conversations with the Horn
Nairobi (Kenya) - The fourth biennial Kwani? Litfest kicked off on Sunday in Eric Wainaina’s spacious studio garden.Kwani? Litfest 2012: Conversations with the Horn brings together leading and emerging writers, artists and scholars from the region and continent for eight days of free events including performances, readings, conversations, panels and lectures. Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Capital FM (Kenya)
Liberia: Nobel Laureate Gbowee disappointed in Sirleaf´s leadership
Monrovia (Liberia) - Liberia's Nobel Peace Laureate, Laymah Gbowee, has expressed disappointment in the manner and form President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is steering the affairs of State. Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
The New Dawn (Liberia)
South Africa: The non-existent affordable housing programme (opinion)
Johannesburg (South Africa) - The government's recent demolition of houses in Lenasia, apart from anything else, has exposed how inadequate the state is at providing housing for those who neither qualify for bank mortgages, nor for RDP houses. Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
South African Civil Society Information Service (SACSIS), by Anna Majavu*
Egypt: Fresh worries for religious minorities
Cairo (Egypt) - Almost two years ago, Joseph Ibrahim, a 48-year-old father-of-two and a member of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, was in the frontline of the opposition to Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak. Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Tunisia: Leaders awarded, but uneasiness and protests in Tunisia
Last week, both the Tunisian caretaker President Dr Moncef Marzouki and the president of the ruling Islamist Movement, Rachid Gannouchi , were in London to receive the ‘2012 Chatham House Prize’. Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Pambazuka News, by Mounira Chaieb*
Somalia: Breaking away from intellectuals' legacy of clan and corruption (analysis)
Can a new generation of Somali intellectuals fix the mistakes of its predecessors and offer a brighter future for Somalia? Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
ThinkAfricaPress, by Abukar Arman
South Africa: Maungang - meeting amidst the rot
Johannesburg (South Africa) - Many societies before us have travelled the well worn path that winds down the slope, gentle at first but then precipitous, that runs from the bliss of a new dawn and into the stench of a rotting dream. Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Mali: Premier’s ouster complicates crisis (analysis)
Bamako (Mali) - Mali’s coup-triggered political crisis that has seen half the country seized by Islamist militias deepened with the arrest and resignation this week of interim Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra - something which could complicate international peace efforts, say analysts and observers. Read >
Thursday, 13 December 2012
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)