Africa

1/28/2008 -- LOME, Togo (NNS) -- Africa Partnership Station (APS) pulled into Lome, aboard High Speed Vessel (HSV) 2 Swift Jan. 28, as the first U.S. Navy ship to visit Togo in 15 years.

This is Swift's second port visit after joining APS, an international effort aiming to enhance regional and maritime safety and security in West and Central Africa.    » read more »

Bipartisan Effort Calls for Peaceful Resolution to Current Electoral Crisis in Kenya

January 28, 2008 -- Washington D.C. – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John Sununu (R-NH), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs respectively, introduced a resolution today calling for a peaceful political resolution to Kenya’s contested presidential election in December 2007.    » read more »

January 28, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) and Ranking Member Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) are introducing a bipartisan resolution today urging the members of the international community, including the United States, to provide the resources the African Union and United Nations need to carry out their joint peacekeeping mission in Darfur.    » read more »

28 January 2008 -- Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Monday will address the national legislature and the Liberian people on the state of the country. Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh said the president will tell members of parliament that the state of the country under her two-year leadership is secured with an economy that is getting stronger by the day.

But some Liberians would likely be asking whatever happened to the so-called coup plotters while others would want to know why the democracy dividend has been a bit too slow to deliver employment.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, January 24, 2008 –Robert B. Zoellick will begin this week his first major visit to Africa as President of the World Bank Group. He will travel to Mauritania, Liberia, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. Mr. Zoellick visited South Africa in November of last year.    » read more »

January 25, 2008 -- President and Mrs. Bush will travel to Africa from February 15-21, 2008. They will visit Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia. This trip will be an opportunity for the President to review firsthand the significant progress since his last visit in 2003 in efforts to increase economic development and fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases, as a result of the United States robust programs in these areas.    » read more »

Davos, Switzerland, 25 January 2008 – The World Economic Forum’s Global Education Initiative (GEI), partnering with the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) under the banner of the Global Education Alliance (GEA), is working to use the strengths of the private sector and foundations to achieve education for all in low-income countries.    » read more »

Davos, Switzerland, 23 January 2008 – Global crises from escalating demand for fresh water and inadequate supply are as urgent as efforts to tackle climate change – yet are more vexing and complicated, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 heard today.

A panel including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told international business CEOs and civil society leaders assembled in Davos that water stress poses a risk to economic growth, human rights, health, safety and national security.    » read more »

10 Millionth Dose of Zithromax

23 January 2008 -- AWI ZONE, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA. . .Today a group led by Lions Clubs International Foundation Chairperson Jimmy Ross witnessed a historic moment in trachoma control when the 10 millionth dose of azithromycin (Zithromax®) was dispensed to a person in Awi Zone. The antibiotic, donated by Pfizer Inc, is a main strategy in the fight against the blinding disease in poor, rural areas.    » read more »

16 January 2008 -- There are reports that Ethiopian authorities are jamming some international radio broadcasts, a charge the Ethiopian government denies. The stations allegedly affected are the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) and the Voice of America (VOA).

The chairperson of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, Hassan Shire Shiek, says the Ethiopian government has created stations to deliberately disrupt the signals of DW and VOA’s Amharic and Oromifa programs.    » read more »

17 January 2008 -- Riot police in Kenya have clashed with opposition supporters Thursday in a second day of protests against the disputed re-election of President Mwai Kibaki.

Witnesses say police fired teargas and bullets at hundreds of supporters in Nairobi's Mathare slum and in the western city of Kisumu. Some injuries have been reported.

The opposition has called for demonstrations through Friday to protest what it says was the government's rigging of last month's presidential elections.    » read more »

14 January 2008 -- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warns the disastrous floods that have hit Southern Africa are likely to get worse. It says rains are forecast to continue until April.

Rains, which began in early December, have caused many rivers along the Zambezi basin to swell. Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique have experienced severe flooding and the situation is spreading to other countries, notably Malawi, Lesotho and Madagascar.    » read more »

16 January 2008 -- The stage is again set for more post-election violence in Kenya Wednesday as the opposition Orange Democratic Movement of Raila Odinga has void to hold the first of a three-day nationwide rally. The ODM has called on the police to provide protection for the demonstrators as they express their constitutional right.

But the police have said that the rallies are illegal and would not be permitted. The police have also reportedly sealed off Uhuru Park in Nairobi, one of the key staging points of the nation-wide rallies.    » read more »

14 January 2008 -- Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi Tuesday to try his luck at mediation to resolve Kenya’s post-election political crisis. African Union chairman President John Kufuor of Ghana failed last week to get President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement to meet face to face. Meanwhile, the opposition has called for three days of rallies from this Wednesday to protest the results of Kenya’s December 27th presidential election.    » read more »

01/08/2008 -- From plantations in Africa to sweatshops in China to farms and factories in developing nations around the world, workers are being exploited by American corporations. A congressional delegation – including Senator Bernie Sanders – this week is in Ivory Coast and Ghana, where children are forced to work on cocoa plantations.    » read more »