Africa

Douala, Cameroon -- 25 August 2008 -- Oil palms are grown throughout West and Central Africa, but the development of the palm oil industry has been slow, despite a thriving market. A project sponsored by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization is about to change the palm oil industry in Cameroon and Nigeria.

A palm oil plantation: Photo by Angela Sevin (CC)

Palm oil is a common ingredient in traditional dishes in West and Central Africa. It is cheaper than vegetable oil and can also be used to make soap and pomade.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- 25 August 2008 -- The world, particularly Africa is following this year's U.S. presidential campaign with interest not only because the United States is a super powers economically and militarily, but because of the Africa roots of presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. So what is Africa saying about the selection of Senator Joe Biden as Obama's vice presidential running mate?

Kabiru Mato chairs the political science department at the University of Abuja. He told VOA Africa hopes the selection of Senator Biden would increase the Democrats' chances of winning in November.    » read more »

Abuja -- 13 August 2008 -- Animal health specialists warn a new strain of highly pathogenic bird flu in Nigeria - which has previously not been recorded in sub-Saharan Africa - increases the risk of avian influenza spreading to other countries in West Africa.

Nigeria's bird flu officials blame infected migratory birds from Europe or Central Asia for the spread of the new strain of H5N1 to the country.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization says the newly discovered virus strain is genetically different from the strain that circulated in Nigeria in 2006 and 2007.

The U.N. food agency says the new strain is similar to ones previously identified in Italy, Afghanistan and Iran, last year.    » read more »

August 7, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama today released the following statement on the tenth anniversary of the African embassy bombings:

"Ten years ago, al Qaeda carried out simultaneous attacks on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Two hundred and twenty-four people were killed, including 12 Americans. Some 5,000 more people were wounded. The pain those bombings inflicted on the loved ones of the Americans that we lost - and on the people and economies of Kenya and Tanzania - can never be fully measured nor healed. I renew my condolences to all of those whose lives were changed forever on that day.    » read more »

July 17, 2008 -- At the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) in Rome, the United States and more than 180 world leaders pledged to halve the total number of undernourished people worldwide from the 1990 level---a commitment that they reaffirmed in 2000 when they established the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which included a target to halve the proportion or the percentage of the world's population that is undernourished by 2015.    » read more »

June 25, 2008 -- Chicago, IL - "I am deeply disturbed by the recent events in Zimbabwe and condemn the actions of President Robert Mugabe in the strongest possible terms. The United States and the international community must be united, clear and unequivocal: the Government of Zimbabwe is illegitimate and lacks any credibility.

I welcome yesterday's United Nations Security Council statement condemning the violence sweeping Zimbabwe, and underscoring that the Zimbabwean government's campaign of repression and brutality has made it impossible for the June 27 elections to be free and fair. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is absolutely right when he says that run-off elections under these circumstances would lack any legitimacy.    » read more »

June 23, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Clinton today issued the following statement:

“The deepening political crisis in Zimbabwe is a growing concern that needs attention from the United States and the international community. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, withdrew from a Presidential runoff that was to be held this week, calling the process an ‘illegitimate sham.’    » read more »

June 13, 2008 -- "I remain deeply concerned about the crisis in Zimbabwe, where the government of Robert Mugabe last week banned the operations of humanitarian agencies working across the country. The regime's latest attempt to hold on to power at any cost has already accelerated the suffering of millions of Zimbabwe's citizens. Food and other assistance from international agencies including UNICEF, CARE, and Oxfam are critical to the survival of millions of Zimbabweans who cannot afford basic foodstuffs due to skyrocketing inflation and the government's disastrous economic mismanagement.    » read more »

15 June 2008 -- Officials in Sudan say a joint north-south military force will begin deploying to the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei on Monday.

The commander of the new force, Valentino Tokmac, says the force will have equal numbers of troops from the Sudanese army and from the southern former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army. He said the force will number more than 600 troops.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and southern leader Salva Kiir agreed last week to replace northern and southern troops in the town with a new integrated unit.

The two also agreed to seek international arbitration to settle the dispute over Abyei and to give the United Nations free access to the area for the first time.    » read more »

12 June 2008 -- The United States said Thursday it has "persistently" expressed concern about human rights in Ethiopia with top officials in Addis Ababa, including alleged abuses in the Ogaden region. The comments follow an assertion by the monitoring group Human Rights Watch that the United States and key European countries have been silent on Ogaden rights violations.

Rural Addis Ababa: Photo by Travlr (CC)

The State Department says it is giving the Human Rights Watch report on the Ogaden careful study but it is rejecting out-of-hand the report's assertion of U.S. silence on Ethiopian human rights.    » read more »

Farmers need resources for next planting season; Experts are optimistic about solving the problem

Cape Town, South Africa, 5 June 2008 – Governments, multilateral organizations and aid agencies should ensure that African smallholders receive the inputs they need for the next planting season and create the conditions for sustained growth in agriculture to defuse what Jacob G. Zuma, President of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa, called a “time bomb” of food prices that could lead to an “uprising” should the poor be “cut out from buying food”.    » read more »

Abuja -- 09 June 2008 -- The Nigerian military says navy personnel escorting an oil vessel repelled an attack by militants off the Nigerian coast early Monday. The statement contradicts earlier reports that militants seized eight navy escorts in the latest attack in Nigeria's main oil-producing region.

Oil pipelines and gas flares in Nigeria: Photo by only e (CC)

According to the spokesman for the Nigerian military in the troubled Niger Delta, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, military escorts assigned to safeguard oil vessels in transit won the early morning shootout in the Delta creeks.    » read more »

4-06-2008 -- Geneva (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is significantly stepping up its humanitarian relief work in Somalia to respond to the deepening crisis there.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalis face life-threatening food and water shortages due to the escalating armed conflict and the effects of the recent severe drought in central Somalia.

Somalia, April 2008: Photo by Feinstein International Center (CC)

High inflation and the worldwide rise in commodity prices, especially for key imports such as food and fuel, are aggravating the situation.    » read more »

23 May 2008 -- Amnesty International is gravely concerned by the Sudanese security forces’ crackdown following the incursion into Khartoum, by an armed group. The crackdown has been characterized by serious human rights violations including hundreds of arbitrary arrests, cases of ill-treatment, as well as extra-judicial executions. These violations have mostly been targeted at Darfuris.

An exhibition of weapons and military hardware captured during the Darfur rebel attack on Omdurman on May 10/11: The show took place in the grounds of the Khalifa's mosque in Omdurman. Photo by Andrew Heavens (CC)    » read more »

Region Needs Peacekeeping Forces, Helicopters to Help End the Genocide

May 22, 2008 -- Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today sent a letter to President Bush urging him to take definitive action in Darfur. Senator Specter joined with 29 colleagues in the U.S. Senate in appealing to the President to “use all the power of the White House to ensure that (his) legacy includes definitive action in Darfur.”

Rebel vehicles in Sudan: Photo by Andrew Heavens (CC)    » read more »