West Africa: Trans-Sahara Pipeline to Send Gas to Europe
Three African countries yesterday signed an accord to build a $10 billion trans-Saharan gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.

Africa: Libya Wants Continent to Snub World Court
African leaders in Libya were on Friday hotly debating a draft resolution by the African Union (AU) which will, if adopted, deal a major blow to the efforts of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute war criminals in Africa.

Somalia: Parents Appeal to Libya to Release Their Children
Duho Artan, a Somali mother, one of the parents whose children are detained in Libyan jails has Friday requested from the both Libya and Somali government to release their children and return to their country.

Africa: Museveni Opposes Gaddafi Over United Africa
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has reiterated that he supports the idea of regional political federation before an African political union.

Rwanda/Egypt: Amavubi Off to Egypt
AMAVUBI Stars fly to Cairo this afternoon ahead of Sunday's 2010 World /Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Egypt. The 30-man contingent leaves aboard Kenya Airways at 1pm.

Western Sahara: UN Envoy Wraps Up Regional Visit
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Christopher Ross, his new Personal Envoy for Western Sahara (file photo)

Angola: Minister in Algiers' Pan-African Culture Festival
Culture minister, Rosa Cruz e Silva, travels to Algiers City, Algeria, leading a delegation from the sector to participate in the Pan-African Culture Festival.

Africa: 13th African Union Summit Underway in Sirte, Libya
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is among several African leaders and Heads of Government attending the 13th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, taking place in the Libyan town of Sirte.

Nigeria: Egypt Delegation to Participate in ANOCA Polls
Egyptian delegation of the Egyptian National Olympic Committee (ENOC) will arrives Abuja on Saturday to participate in the election of the secretary general of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) that is to be held on the 6th and 7th of July at ANOCA headquarters in Abuja.

Egypt: Country Making Progress in Water, Sanitation - UN
Egypt has made great strides in improving access to drinking water and is well-situated to address remaining challenges related to water and sanitation, a United Nations independent human rights expert said today.

Liberia: President Sirleaf Departs for 13th Ordinary Session of African Union Conference in Libya
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, at the head of an 8-member official delegation, has left the country for the 13th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. This year's Summit is taking place in Sirte, the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, from July 1 - 3, 2009.

Nigeria: Govt, Algeria to Sign Gas Pipeline Deal
An agreement to build a gas pipeline from Nigeria across the Sahara Desert to Algeria will be signed next week in Abuja, Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said on Monday.

Zimbabwe: President Off to AU Summit in Libya
PRESIDENT Mugabe left Harare yesterday for Sirte, Libya, to attend the 13th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, which begins today in the city that gave birth to the AU through the Sirte Declaration of 1999.

Africa: Migiro Travels to Libya for African Union Summit
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro will represent the United Nations at this week's African Union (AU) summit in Sirte, Libya, it was announced today.

Libya: Leader Renews Call for African Government
The 15th session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) kicked off in Syrte, Libya, on Sunday, with Libyan leader and AU Chairperson, Muammar Gaddafi, calling for urgent steps to be taken to transform the AU into an "African Government."

Africa: African Union Summit to Address Piracy, Coups
Foreign Affairs Minister Ojo Maduekwe, has expressed the hope that the next AU Summit would make more progress in concluding the formation of the African Union Government.

Africa: AU Commission Unhappy With African Political Situation
The chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Jean Ping, has expressed grave concern at the reemerging of coups d'etat on the continent, and unconstitutional changes of government.

Africa: Nigeria, Algeria to Build Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline
An agreement between the governments of Nigeria and Algeria to build a trans-Saharan gas pipeline is expected to be signed in Abuja next week, reports Vanguard.

South Africa/Egypt: CCTV Footage Assists Police in Egyptian Case
Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footage has assisted in ruling out the possibility that mystery women or hotel staff could have been responsible for the alleged theft of cash from the Egyptian football team about two weeks ago.

Libya: Gaddafi Rejects Executive Council's Recommendations
Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday refused to accept the outcomes of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) leaving the member states divided again.

South Africa: Zuma to Lead Nation's Delegation to AU Summit
President Jacob Zuma on Sunday departed for Libya where he will lead the South African delegation to the 13th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit. The Summit is scheduled to take place from 1 to 3 July, in Sirte, Libya.

Western Sahara: Exiled President Praises Nigeria
Nigeria's role in the decolonisation of the African continent and its big brother attitude to neighbouring countries have been recognised and commended by the President of Africa's only colony, the Western Sahara, Mohamed Abdulazizi.

Africa: African Union Summit - Political Crisis Pre-Occupies
A Head of States meeting opens tomorrow in Libya within a background of political crisis in several countries.

Uganda: Ruggers World Cup Bid Halted in Tunis
The Rugby Cranes bowed out of the 2011 Rugby World qualifiers after losing the return leg fixture 38-13 to Tunisia at the Stade El Menzah in Tunis on Saturday evening.

Rwanda/Egypt: Mugiraneza Creates Void Ahead of Egypt Qualifier
AMAVUBI Stars' head coach Tucak Branko is working out ways of filling Jean Mugiraneza's void in next month's make or break 2010 World/ Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Egypt.

Nigeria: Need to Remain on Track in Egypt 2009
After successfully taken Nigeria to two impressive international outings - World Youth Championship in Holland 2005 and the Beijing Summer Olympics in China last year, Coach Samson Siasia has succeeded in creating a larger than life image for himself in the mind of most Nigerians.

Uganda: End of the Road for Rugby Cranes After Tunisian Loss
THE Rugby Cranes lingering hopes of making the 2011 Rugby World Cup came to a humbling end when they suffered another massive defeat in Tunis on Saturday.

Angola: Country At 13th Ordinary Session of African Union in Libya
An Angolan delegation, headed by the minister of Foreign Affairs, Assunção dos Anjos, Sunday left for Libya, to participate at the 13th ordinary session of the African Union, taking place from 30 June to 3 July, in Sirtes city.

Uganda: Tough Job for Rugby Cranes in Tunis Battle
Battered comprehensively by clinical Tunisia 41-17 at home two weeks ago, the Rugby Cranes will jog onto the Stade El Menzah stadium in Tunis in full throttle mood to try and overturn what already looks like 'mission impossible.'

Western Sahara: UN Envoy En Route to Morocco
The Secretary-General's Personal Envoy trying to help broker a political solution regarding the status Western Sahara is on his way to Morocco, following a visit to Algeria, a spokesperson for the United Nations said today.

AllAfrica News: North Africa
All Africa, All the Time.

 

Economic crisis: rich countries block reform at UN summit
The first major conference on the financial and economic crisis to involve all countries ended with rich countries blocking substantive reforms demanded by developing countries. The UN conference did however push key issues up the international agenda, such as the need for a better system of international reserves, and for genuine policy space for developing countries.

Are we nearly there?
A number of 'pilot' funds are underway to develop climate related interventions in key sectors. Significant UK financing has been dedicated to these funds, primarily through the World Bank. These pilot programmes must be seen as building blocks towards an appropriate post 2012 financial architecture. Based on an emerging UK civil society consensus this paper highlights the form that this architecture should take, what development models it should build upon and what technological approaches it s

Beyond the London Summit
In this paper we assess the outcomes of the London Summit and the UK government's progress towards the 12 recommendations set out by the Put People First platform in March 2009. The G20 London Summit on 2 April 2009 issued "a global plan for recovery and reform". G20 leaders have not yet gone far enough on the fundamental changes the world needs. The communique appears to have made progress on some critical issues but there were also missed opportunities, especially on building a green economy,

Memorandum by the Bretton Woods Project for the UK Treasury Committee
There are two major problems which interacted together to cause the crisis: the failure of the financial regulatory and supervisory systems and the failure of the international monetary system. These problems are outlined in written evidence submitted to trhe UK Treasury Committee.

World Bank and IMF launch disclosure reviews
Civil society groups, painfully aware of information access problems at the World Bank and IMF, hope this year's reviews of transparency and disclosure will bring radical improvement.

World Bank-IMF spring meetings 2009
This page will be updated regularly with the latest news from the 2009 World Bank and IMF spring meetings

Spring meetings 2009: communiqués coverage
Coverage of the communiqués from the G24, G7, IMFC and Development Committee at the 2008 Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF.

Meeting between UK NGOs and Susanna Moorehead, UK World Bank Executive Director
Minutes of a meeting between UK civil society and UK World Bank Executive Director Susanna Moorehead

REDD and the rights of Indigenous Peoples
One of the most contentious issues under discussion in current climate change debates is how to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) by ensuring protection of the world's rainforests. Mrinalini Rai of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change argues that this initiative, heavily backed by the World Bank among others, raises questions about how to ensure fair compensation to those developing countries that undertake a commitment to such reductions.

IFIs: Powerful bodies, little accountability
Efforts to reform the IMF and World Bank's governance structures are coming to a head, but they may not go far enough.

World Bank under fire over support for private sector health care
The debate over the World Bank's support for private sector investment in health care provision in developing countries is in the limelight again. A new report by Oxfam asserts that while the private sector can play a role in health care, evidence shows that only scaling up of private sector provision of services is likely to deliver health benefits for poor people.

IMF emergency loans: Greater flexibility to overcome the crisis?
Despite promising rhetoric, new IMF loans show no greater flexibility in fiscal and monetary policies because of the current crisis. The Fund is still pushing tighter fiscal policy and single-digit inflation.

World Bank's "environment" loan to Brazil: for what?
Once again the World Bank is lending money to Brazil, but without adequate transparency or participation of civil society.

US Congress votes against funding World Bank climate fund
In the midst of intensifying global discussions on climate change due to culminate in Copenhagen in December, the US congress voted not to fund the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund (CTF) for 2009.

Latin America: Return to the IMF or reinforce alternatives?
Today, Latin American countries are faced with the option of returning to international and regional financial institutions - IMF, World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) - or rejecting the failed recipes of the 1990s in order to build and reinforce alternatives that allow them to face the current crisis.

Bretton Woods Project highlights
Critical voices on the World Bank and IMF

 

Western Sahara: UN envoy optimistic despite unflinching positions of Morocco and Sahraouis
The United Nations envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross has completed his visit to the Arab Maghreb on a note of optimism after several meetings with officials from Algeria, Mauritania, the Polisario and Morocco.

U.S. National charged with sexual abuse while in Algeria
Andrew Warren, 41, has been charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with one count of sexual abuse in Algeria within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, Assistant Attorney General

Gaddafi, African Union chairman accused of collaborating with Italy against Africans...
Libyan Leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi has compared the US to al-Qeada, accused the international community of ignoring Libya's efforts in giving up weapons of mass destruction, and maintained a deal to intercept and forcibly repatriate immigrants arriving in Italy from Africa.

President Barack Obama's speech at the Cairo university: On a new beginning
President Barack Obama was Thursday in Cairo, where addressed reconciliation speech to the Muslim world. The American president called for an end to the cycle of mistrust and discord and urged Israel to suspend the colonization of Palestinian territories. A day prior to Obama's speech, the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, had criticized the U.S. president for following in "the footsteps of his predecessor (George W. Bush) in his policy of hostility towards Muslims." Below is a full transcript of President Barack Obama's speech at the Cairo university: On a new beginning.

Hamas happy with Obama, compares Palestinian struggle with slavery
Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic socio-political and paramilitary organization that controls the Gaza Strip, have described President Obama's speech: "A New Beginning: US and the Muslim World," in Egypt as a promise of tangible change. Hamas has governed the Gaza portion of the Palestinian territories since 2007.

Egypt's much ado about nothing as swine flu hits
The Egyptian authorities Tuesday announced that a first case of A (H1N1) influenza has been detected on their territory. A young girl from the United States is said to be carrying the virus. This case is also the first in Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the world could be approaching its first flu pandemic of the twenty-first century.

Egyptian Nobel laureate on Obama's Council of Advisors
Ahmed Zewail is a swimmer. On April 27, 2009, the Nobel laureate was named to the president's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to advise President Obama on national strategies to nurture and sustain a culture of scientific innovation.

Morocco: Police held responsible for tragic stampede?
The end of a concert given by singer Abdelaziz Stati, at the Mawazine Festival in Rabat, was marked by a stampede that killed eight people and wounded some forty others. Some observers have criticized the incompetence of the Moroccan police present at the time of the incidence. For now, though, circumstances surrounding the tragic incident remain murky.

Morocco: "Mawazine Festival", Music and Tolerance
Kylie Minogue, Stevie Wonder, Warda Al Jasairia and Chab Khaled are among a long list of celebrities to take part in the star studded Mawazine music festival, taking place from May 15 to 23 in Morocco. The the 8th edition of the music festival Mawazine has attracted large audiences from all over the world.

Egypt's religious swine killings and unreligious lies
One hundred pigs thrown into a dumpster, gassed and buried in lime. A video posted on the Internet over the weekend by Al-Masri Al Yom, an online daily, gives a further insight into Egypt's deliberate elimination of its pig population. The operation, which comes after the World Health Organization had identified the A/H1N1 flu virus and announced that humans were not at risk of contamination from animals, has given rise to strong criticisms.

Ethiopia - Egypt: A tug of war over the Nile basin
Despite a generous offer made by visiting Egyptian minister of Water Rosources and Irrigation, Dr. Mohamed Nasr Eldin Allam, Ethiopian Minister of Water Resources, Asfaw Dingamo, has stood by his government's firm stance to continue with its decision to protect the upper riparian (Nile basin) countries. The Ethiopian position seeks to limit Egypt and Sundan's indiscriminate use of the Nile's water resource. The Egyptian Minister visited Ethiopia this week.

Egypt persecutes Christian pig farmers in the name of swine flu
Following the world wide Swine flu scare, Egyptian police officers were deployed to a slum in Cairo, with a mandate to slaughter every swine. However, the poor pig farmers will not give up their sources of livelihood without a fight.

Secret hymen repair in Morocco
A Moroccan gynecologist, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been practicing hymen repair in Casablanca, Morocco for about two years now. She returned to practice hymenoplasty in a country where the honour of women — based almost entirely on the intactness of their hymen — is often saved in the greatest secrecy.

Coptic (Egyptian Christian) priest is unjustly tried and imprisoned in Egypt
Recently Father Mattaos' life abruptly changed overnight. He was arrested, charged and tried for aiding a young Muslim woman in getting an ID card that had falsified data indicating her religion as Christian rather than Muslim. The ID card was said to enable her to marry a Christian man and to flee the country. On October, 2008, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to 5 years of hard labor.

Morocco: A reform campaign ahead of local elections
An information campaign has been launched in Morocco to tackle problems associated with the functioning of communal management ahead of reform projects that will see the role of local communities across Morocco strengthened as the government seeks to balance local development in the Northern African country.

North Africa - Afrik.com : Africa and Maghreb's news - The panafrican daily newspaper
Afrik.com, Africa's portal offers a daily online newspaper with information on what is going on in the world, culture, economics, sport, societies of 56 african countries.

 

Nigeria's Envy
Obama's recent visit to Ghana says much about the country's potential, but it may say even more about the country Obama chose not to visit.

Ceuta, the Border-fence of Europe
In the autonomous city of Ceuta, African refugees find temporary asylum leading nowhere, unable to cross into Spain, unwilling to return to the countries whence they came.

Sierra Leone: Water Crisis Threatens Survival in Freetown
In this small country still recovering from civil war, the demand for water far outweighs the supply.

Africans in the Diaspora: Development Partnerships
By scaling up investment and developing bilateral partnerships, Africans in the Diaspora have an opportunity to revitalize Africas infrastructure.

Returning to Sierra Leone: No Place like Home
A native of the small African country, who fled during its civil war, returns to find the nation developing at a surprising rate, although not without pitfalls.

Africans in the Diaspora and the Obama Administration
President Obama, as the first African-American leader of the United States, carries a special global burden.

Non-Military Solutions to the Somali Piracy Dilemma
Non-military solutions need to be considered to deal with to the Somali piracy dilemma.

Algeria: Women's Movement Still Going Strong
The continued support of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws international network has been a key part of women's rights struggle.

South Africa's Presidential Election
Worldpress.org reviews comment and analysis about the ascension of Jacob Zuma in the A.N.C electoral victory.

Somali Pirates: Part of a Maritime Jihadi Strategy?
The Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden are part of a regional Jihadi apparatus.

G-20 Agreement: Will Africa Benefit?
The G-20 agreement is a historic achievement in international development, but falls short in addressing Africa's many problems.

Berklee College to Audition and Interview African Musicians
The Africa Scholars Program is designed to create opportunities for gifted African musicians who lack the financial means to study at Berklee College.

Divisive Politics Hindering Progress in Sierra Leone
Innovative ideas for reconstruction, development, education and job creation are needed in Sierra Leone.

Evolving Role for Senegalese Women in Religion
By creating public awareness of important religious issues for women, the status quo in Senegal is being challenged.

'Food Colonialism' Increasing Africa's Hunger Crisis
Coercive 'Food Colonialism' policies are increasing African nations hunger crises.

The Great Black Hajj of 2009
They were pilgrims, one million African Americans, committed to a once in a lifetime trek to Washington to bear witness to The Biggest Black Event in History.

Obama Administration And Africa: Great Expectations, Practical Realities
Barack Obama election and assumption of office has raised extraordinary expectations. No where are these expectations more stratospheric than in Africa, the continent of birth of the 44th Presidents Father.

Global HIV/AIDS: Five Leadership Issues
The 2008 World AIDS Day focused on leadership issues, which is very appropriate as the future looks uncertain regarding a continued global resolve to contain the defining health challenge of our time.

African News from World Press Review
World News Review

 

African Union in rift with court
The African Union halts co-operation with the International Criminal Court over its war-crimes charges against Sudan's leader.

Kenya sets new tribunal deadline
Kenya and the ICC agree a new deadline to set up a special tribunal to try the ringleaders of post-election violence.

Rai star jailed for abortion bid
Algerian Rai music star Cheb Mami is jailed for five years in France for trying to force his former partner to have an abortion.

Month mourning for Comoros crash
The Comoros will mourn the victims of this week's plane crash for 30 days, the president of Indian Ocean nation announces.

Sahara gas pipeline gets go-ahead
Nigeria, Niger and Algeria agree to build a giant multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline across the Sahara desert.

Africa leaders edge towards unity
The African Union reaches a compromise plan to give it greater powers in "common-interest" policies.

Italy adopts law to curb migrants
Italy's parliament passes a law criminalising illegal migrants and allowing citizens' patrols to help the police.

'Fighter influx' for Somali group
An Islamist commander in Somalia tells the BBC there has been a recent influx of fighters from overseas joining their battle.

Ghanaian body found in aircraft
A man's body is found in the undercarriage of a plane which had flown into Gatwick from Ghana.

South African fans moonwalk for Michael Jackson
Crowds of Michael Jackson fans from South Africa perform his famous dance moves in tribute to the pop icon.

Nigaz name sparks racism debate
A new joint-venture energy firm between Nigeria and Russia has got online communities twittering, after the governments choose the name Nigaz.

Mourinho arrives in Nigeria
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho arrives in Nigeria for a three-day trip during which he will help local coaches.

S Africa target transport concerns
South African authorities say they will work to resolve transport problems ahead of next year's World Cup Finals.

Kader Keita on the move
Ivory Coast international Abdel Kader Keita moves from Lyon to Galatasaray on a three-year contract.

Danger zone
BBC visits Somalia's radical guerrillas al-Shabab

Kick the habit
Zanzibar heroin addicts team up to go clean

'Forced to rebel'
Ethiopian explains why he decided to take up arms

In pictures
East African slaves among collection of archive images

Hometown glory
Libya's Gadaffi hosts the AU at Sirte summit

Bamboo bikes
Zambian company hopes to profit from growth market

Niger anger at court appointment
Opposition groups in Niger condemn the president's appointment of new top judges, as he tries to run for a third term.

Zimbabwe court clears UK tycoon
UK businessman Nicholas van Hoogstraten is cleared of illegal currency dealing and possession of pornography by a Zimbabwe court.

Air crash survivor back in France
The 12-year-old survivor of the Yemenia air crash near the Comoros returns to Paris as the search for debris goes on.

IMF refuses aid for Zimbabwe
The International Monetary Fund tells Zimbabwe it will not provide more funds until it has settled its existing $1bn debts.

SA MPs propose new media chiefs
South Africa MPs propose five names to head the country's public broadcaster, a day after its entire board was sacked.

Developing world faces age crisis
Researchers predict a "population time bomb" in developing world nations because of their rapidly ageing populations.

S Africa passes World Cup test
Did South Africa pass its World Cup test?

Horror of Kenya's 'witch' lynchings
BBC reporter sees mob burn women alive in Kenya

Hoping for change in Bissau
Can Bissau poll end drugs trade and army violence?

SAB reaches black ownership deal
SABMiller is to allocate 10% of shares in its South African unit to black investors, employees and community groups.

China's 'huge Zimbabwe loan'
China agrees to give Zimbabwe a loan of $950m (£573m) to help revive its wrecked economy, says Prime Minister Tsvangirai.

Should drug addicts be punished?
If your family member was a drug addict, would you try to help them quit or scorn them and turn them in to the police?

Nigaz: Lost in translation?
Russia joint gas venture with Nigeria has courted controversy .Will this incident have any lasting impact on Russia-African relations?

View: Tsvangirai's ambiguous trip
Why Tsvangirai went from prophet to pariah

BBC News | Africa | World Edition
Get the latest BBC News from Africa: breaking news, features, analysis and special reports plus audio and video from across the African continent.

 

AGRICULTURE-AFRICA: Calls for Sustainable Green Revolution
KAMPALA, Jul 4 (IPS) - Africa needs a Green Revolution, but one that will increase agricultural productivity by using practices that build soil fertility while minimising harm to the environment.

DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: Fears Over New Land Deal
NAIROBI, Jul 4 (IPS) - Concern is mounting in Kenya that the government has leased a big slice of agricultural land to Qatari foreign investors to produce food for export.

AGRICULTURE: Biotechnology: Africa Must Not Be Left Behind
KAMPALA, Jul 3 (IPS) - Africa must embrace agricultural biotechnology or risk being excluded from a major technological revolution that has had increased food production in the Europe, North America and Asia.

RIGHTS-AFRICA: AU Heeds Perpetrators Not Victims
Sirte, LIBYA, Jul 3 (IPS) - The final day of the African Union summit has been dedicated to the issue of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, charged with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and torture.

POLITICS-BOTSWANA: Parties Block Women Candidates for Upcoming Elections
GABORONE, Jul 3 (IPS) - As Botswana prepares for general elections in October, gender activists are protesting against the lack of female parliamentary candidates.

AFRICA: Civil Society to AU: Investment Must Address Marginalisation
Sirte, LIBYA, CAPE TOWN and NAIROBI, Jul 3 (IPS) - No gathering hosted by Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi is ever dull, and the Thirteenth Ordinary Session of the African Union, concluding in Sirte, Libya today has not disappointed.

KENYA: A Role For Men in Gender Equality
NAIROBI, Jul 3 (IPS) - The recent Gender Festival in Kenya has underlined the important role that male activism can play in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

DR-CONGO: U.N.-Backed Troops Abusing Civilians, HRW Says
WASHINGTON, Jul 2 (IPS) - United Nations-backed Congolese armed forces conducting intensified military operations in eastern and northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have failed to protect civilians from brutal rebel retaliatory attacks and instead are themselves attacking and raping Congolese civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday.

TRADE: Who’s Harming Fish Stocks? Trawlers or Artisanal Fishers?
GENEVA, Jul 2 (IPS) - Red tunas, sharks, rays and cods may soon disappear from our tables. Negotiations are ongoing at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to reduce the subsidies that contribute to this catastrophe. These talks foresee exceptions for developing countries, but small fishers may have to turn to other sources of livelihood.

LIBERIA: Controversial Mayor is Talk of the Town
MONROVIA, Jul 1 (IPS) - Myaha Johnson sits with her family beneath a flimsy shelter of black plastic, looking with despair at the charred remains of what used to be their home. Mary Broh, Monrovia’s controversial mayor-designate, had just swept through the neighbourhood with her task force, vigorously tearing down residential structures along the back road, including their own.

ECONOMY-UGANDA: Traders Go Down as Prices Go Up
KAMPALA, Jul 1 (IPS) - With the world economy in the grip of a credit crunch, traders and consumers in Uganda are struggling with price inflation and the depreciation of the country’s currency, the Ugandan shilling, against the dollar. Especially importers have not been able to bring goods in which were ordered when prices were lower.

AFRICA: Maternal Mortality, A Human Rights Catastrophe
BRUSSELS and CAPE TOWN, Jun 30 (IPS) - The right to the highest attainable standard of health: not the most fashionable of human rights, but the limits on people's enjoyment of their right to health often coincide with continuing inequalities behind claims of economic growth or political reform.

HEALTH-SENEGAL: Fistula Sufferers Left To Their Fate
DAKAR, Jun 30 (IPS) - In Senegal’s southern region, 58 percent of deliveries take place at home without any medical assistance, according to state reproductive health officials in Kolda, a town 425 km from the capital, Dakar. Women in the region suffer from exceptionally high rates of fistula.

ZIMBABWE: 'Money Comes First, Health Second'
HARARE, Jun 30 (IPS) - With half her body immersed in a muddy red pond, Esther Nyarambi closely inspects the contents of her wooden panning dish, locally known as zamba. Having spent the entire day pounding gold-bearing rock, she hopes her efforts will be rewarded with even the smallest nugget of gold.

SOUTH AFRICA: Young, Educated and Unemployed
CAPE TOWN, Jun 30 (IPS) - Unemployment among young South Africans is hovering at 30 percent, shooting up to over 60 percent for youths in their late teens and early twenties. But tertiary education and skills development seem not to be making much of a dent in what is now regarded as a crisis.

IPS Inter Press Service - Africa
IPS Africa provides news features and analyses on the events and processes affecting political, economic and social development of people and nations in Africa. In directing this coverage, emphasis is put on not only hearing the voices of those in positions of power and formal authority, but more on providing access for actors in civil society and the majority of the people whose voices have often been silent in the media.

 

UK 'very concerned' by Iran trial threat
Britain's Foreign Office said it was 'very concerned' by reports from Iran that local embassy staff may face trial in connection with demonstrations against last month's presidential election

Syria invites Obama for talks
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued an informal invitation to President Barack Obama to visit Damascus for talks, in a further that relations between the two countries may gradually be thawing

UN nuclear watchdog chooses new head
New holder of sensitive post must confront Iran's expanding uranium enrichment programme, blocked investigations into alleged military nuclear activity in Iran and Syria, and North Korea's atomic tests

Israel struggles to adapt to a changing picture of Iran
Iran is no longer the country the west had thought, or wanted to think, it was. The post-election scenes on the streets of Iranian cities surely strengthen those who argue that the way to encourage Tehran's return to the international community is through engagement, writes Philip Stephens

Comoros crash prompts blacklist calls
France and Brussels want a UN standards body to draw up a global blacklist of aircraft deemed unsuitable to fly amid concerns over the lack of co-ordination between countries on safety alerts

Amnesty details violations in Gaza assault
The human rights group says Israeli forces had shot, at close range, civilians who were fleeing their homes in search of shelter and had fired tank shells into civilian homes

Saudis award 9,000km border security work
EADS will be building a fence along Saudi Arabia's borders with Iraq and Yemen to ensure safety from all criminal activities and to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the country

Arab dissent finds voice in cyberspace
Activists from Egypt to the UAE are using virtual means to organise real opposition

Rivals unite to reject Iran's regime
Iran's reformist opposition delivered a co-­ordinated message to Iranians, declaring the government of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad illegitimate and encouraging supporters to challenge it

Hunt widens for looted treasure
An international effort is being stepped up to find the thousands of antiquities stolen in Iraq after the allied invasion and to halt the global trade in such artefacts

Lebanon leader inherits mixed legacy
New prime minister Saad Hariri takes over a growing economy but also one shackled by the country's longstanding factionalism and a huge national debt

Iran accuses detained embassy staff
Two of the British embassy staff detained in Iran played a "remarkable role" and were "main elements" behind the post election unrest in Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency has alleged

Bomb kills 30 after Maliki reassures on security
A car bomb in the northern Iraqi oil hub of Kirkuk killed at least 30 people and wounded 40 others last night hours after Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister, sought to...

Oil groups resist tough bid terms
Iraq's first big effort to attract foreign investment to its oil sector met stiff resistance from companies yesterday. Only BP of the UK and China's CNPC were willing...

Bomb kills 30 after Maliki reassures on security
A car bomb in the northern Iraqi oil hub of Kirkuk killed at least 30 people and wounded 40 last night, hours after Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister, tried to reassure...

FT.com - World, Middle East
FT.com - World, Middle East

 

French Prime Minister Visits Iraq to Talk Business
Analysts say Fillon's trip to Baghdad, with large delegation of French political and business leaders, is another positive sign for war-torn nation

Film Spotlights True Story of Iranian Woman's Stoning
Form of punishment continues to be used in Middle East, Africa

US VP Visits Iraq Following US Troop Withdrawal From Cities
White House says vice president's visit is aimed at reiterating US commitment to withdraw forces from Iraq

Analysts Say Russia's Influence on Iran Very Limited
Iran's nuclear weapons aspirations is expected to be discussed during upcoming Moscow summit between US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev

Britain Replaces US as Favorite Target of Iran
Iran has accused Britain of instigating protests and has arrested some of its embassy workers

US Vice President Encourages Reconciliation in Iraq
Biden's trip comes amid surge of insurgent attacks that are testing capabilities of Iraqi forces

EU Recalls Iranian Envoys in British Embassy Dispute
Move follows Iran's decision to put some British Embassy staff on trial for allegedly playing role in post-election demonstrations

Poll Gives Netanyahu Positive Marks Despite Rift with US
Benjamin Netanyahu enjoys 49 percent approval rating, according to poll published in newspaper 'Ha'aretz'

Syria Extends Informal Invitation to Obama
President Bashar al-Assad sends congratulatory message to US president to mark July 4 holiday, says values he has adopted are what the world needs today

Incoming IAEA Chief: No Sign Iran Seeking Nuclear Weapons
Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano sats he has seen no such evidence in official documents

VOA News: Middle East
Up to the minute news from Voice of America

 

Iran’s disputed presidential election: A hollow victory

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad keeps power but loses legitimacy, particularly among the middle class

THE case is closed. The landslide claimed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12th presidential election was real, says Iran’s government, and anyone who doesn’t like it can lump it or, indeed, risk going to jail. After weeks of unrest, the state has reasserted its power. Heavy policing has blunted public protests, while a more targeted campaign of arrests, intimidation and controls on communications has hamstrung attempts to organise and sustain opposition. But with accusations of foul play still being voiced, even within the religious establishment that supports the Islamic Republic, Iran’s hardliners will struggle to re-establish legitimacy.

The Guardian Council, an appointed body dominated by clerics allied to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was in charge of investigating allegations of electoral fraud. Considering that it has a record of barring reformist candidates and that its chairman publicly endorsed the arch-conservative Mr Ahmadinejad before the ballot, the result was preordained: the council announced on June 29th that its researches, including a partial recount, had produced no sign of wrongdoing, so closing the last legal channel to contest the outcome. Pro-regime news outlets even suggested that the revised tally showed gains for Mr Ahmadinejad. The president declared not just a personal triumph but the defeat of an enemy plot to overthrow the regime. ...

Fighting AIDS in Sudan: Imams, tea ladies and condoms

A killer of another sort stalks one of Africa’s most conflict-riven countries

FOR six years, Najun Eldin Muhammad Ahmed has been living with HIV. But he is an unusual man. In the pious and conservative Muslim north of Sudan, he not only admits it, but campaigns actively to raise awareness of the virus. He has corralled 42 fellow sufferers in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, to form one of the country’s most active AIDS-support groups. Mr Ahmed willingly concedes that his group represents only a tiny fraction of those infected with HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, in a city of almost half a million people.

On top of Sudan’s myriad other problems, such as the bloody war in Darfur, the country also has a full-blown epidemic of HIV on its hands. Reliable figures on any subject are hard to come by in Sudan, let alone one as sensitive as this. Nonetheless, enough research has been done to confirm some of the worst fears about the spread of HIV in the country. The last big study in 2003 revealed a prevalence rate of 1.6%, but experts say that is probably now approaching 3%. The rate in neighbouring Egypt, by contrast, is just 0.1%; anything over 1% is counted by the World Health Organisation as an epidemic. ...

Royalist politics in Morocco: The king’s friend

A new leader emerges, but how credible will he be?

A NEW political force is emerging in Moroccan politics. The Authenticity and Modernity Party, known by its French acronym, PAM, with a centrist non-ideological platform open to all comers, has been in existence for less than a year. Yet it already seems destined to win the general election in 2012. In its electoral debut in last month’s municipal poll, PAM won the ballot with 22% of the vote. Yet for all its success, the ascent towards the prime ministership of its founder, Fouad Ali El Himma (pictured), is the chronicle of a political elevation foretold.

In 2007 Mr El Himma resigned from his job as deputy interior minister and announced his intention to run as an independent in the parliamentary election that year. Where a few saw a fall from royal grace— he was known to be a close political adviser to King Muhammad VI—others sensed the beginning of a reconfiguration of monarchist parties. ...

Meeting Somalia’s Shabab: The next jihad

Fear and beheadings in the heartland of the militants

THE Juba river region, in Somalia, is hard country. Women are regularly eaten by crocodiles while fetching dirty water. The sandy farmland is either in drought or flooded. And the militants known as the Shabab, who rule the area, exact brutal justice. Your correspondent had to turn back from the town of Wajid (see map) this week because, within, a man was being beheaded. A day later, a clan leader was shot dead. As The Economist went to press, three more were to be beheaded in Wajid, and two more had suffered the same fate in a nearby village.

All were suspected of being “collaborators” with the internationally recognised, but largely powerless, transition government in Mogadishu that is protected by a small African peacekeeping force. It is led by Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, who once headed the Islamic Courts Union. This had imposed a tenuous calm in the city, but was swept from power by Ethiopian forces in 2006 because its erstwhile allies in the Shabab, or “Youth”, had ties with al-Qaeda. If anything, the intervention strengthened the Shabab and hardened their link with global jihadism—not least because of an influx of foreign fighters who see Somalia as the next battleground for holy war. ...

South Africa and football’s World Cup: On goal for 2010

The doubters are so far being proved wrong

WHEN, in 2004, South Africa was chosen to be the first African country to host football’s World Cup many fans around the world were doubtful. South Africa would mismanage it, they said. It would be a commercial flop. They mooted Australia as an alternative should South Africa’s organisers fail to get their act together. Five years on, the doubts have diminished as new stadiums rise up across the country. Indeed, next year’s tournament may turn out to be the most profitable yet, thanks to the sale of broadcasting rights.

As a dress rehearsal for the big event, South Africa hosted the Confederations Cup, featuring the champions of the world’s six regional football federations, plus Italy (the current holder of the World Cup) and South Africa (the host). It was won by Brazil by 3-2 in a thrilling final against the United States on June 28th. ...

Chinese aid to Africa: Spreading its bets, and its gold

Beijing finds new friends in Zimbabwe

CHINA has had friendly ties with Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, since his days as a Maoist guerrilla leader fighting white rule in the 1970s. Decades later, as he suppressed the opposition and ruined his country, China helped to protect him from sanctions at the United Nations, sold him weapons and even built his palace. But its favour, never unconditional, seems to be shifting.

On June 30th it was Mr Mugabe’s biggest foe, Morgan Tsvangirai—with whom he has awkwardly shared power in a unity government since February—who announced that China had offered Zimbabwe $950m in loans. This is well in excess of the nearly $500m Mr Tsvangirai said he had obtained in pledges of various kinds during a tour of Western capitals. ...

Somalia and its jihadists: A government under the cosh

None of Somalia’s neighbours is keen to ride to its rescue

THE fragile government of Somalia is in deep trouble and, according to one of its officials, “scared witless”. Hence its panicky call on June 20th for troops from neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia to come to its rescue or see the country fall into the hands of jihadist fighters linked to al-Qaeda. Hence, too, the reluctance of its diplomats to heed a call from their foreign ministry to return from abroad to Mogadishu, the capital, for “retraining”. That was hardly surprising, since a teenage suicide-bomber had just blown up Somalia’s ambassador-designate to South Africa, along with its interior minister.

Fighting in Mogadishu has again emptied the coastal city of many of its poorer inhabitants. A 4,300-strong force consisting mainly of Ugandans and Burundians under the African Union’s aegis is unable to keep the peace. The government’s own troops are ill-equipped and rarely paid. ...

Iran's debate over theocracy: Why the turbans are at odds

A debate rages about the nature of clerical rule

THE Koran is the word of God, which every Muslim must follow, but its commands can be hard to interpret. So people should submit to the rule of a properly trained religious scholar. The idea is a simple one, and the father figure of Iran’s revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, made it the central principle of his Islamic state.

But the notion of velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurist) has proved to be controversial as a religious doctrine and tricky in practice. The turbulence now sweeping Iran has many causes, among them a simple urge for freedom. Yet the tensions, inconsistencies and hypocrisies generated by trying to impose velayat-e faqih lie at the heart of its troubles. ...

The crisis in Iran: Is the dream already over?

The authorities may succeed in quelling the street demonstrations. But the crisis is far from over, especially as the ruling clergy quarrel among themselves

THE roller-coaster that liberal-minded Iranians boarded as they agitated en masse against a suspect presidential poll seemed to hit the buffers on June 20th, when a banned demonstration was met with lethal force. Millions of Iranians remain incensed by what they see as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fraudulent victory over his main challenger, the reformist Mir Hosein Mousavi, in the election of June 12th. But far fewer now seem ready to take the risk of venting their anger on the streets. For all that, it may not take much to provoke another popular eruption. A fresh spark may yet be provided by the unusually public struggle for dominance over the Islamic Republic that has erupted within the ruling clerical establishment itself. The crisis may indeed be moving from the street to the back rooms of the mosque.

Aiming for a resolution of sorts, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and the man who has the last say on all matters of state, issued a dramatic ultimatum in a sermon on June 19th. Addressing a huge television audience, he dropped his customary pose of impartiality in electoral politics, siding with Mr Ahmadinejad and warning Mr Mousavi’s supporters that further street protests would lead to “violence, blood and chaos.” ...

Security in Iraq: Is it getting worse again?

As American troops prepare to leave all the towns, Iraqis are getting nervous

BARACK OBAMA’s administration has promised to withdraw all American troops from all of Iraq’s towns by the end of this month. As the deadline looms, people are again asking whether Iraq’s forces will be able to cope on their own. On cue, a fresh bout of violence has erupted. On June 20th, a huge lorry bomb exploded in Taza, a Turkmen town just south of the disputed city of Kirkuk, killing at least 70 people. Two days later at least seven bombs went off in and around Baghdad, including a roadside blast, a car bomb and a suicide attack, killing some 30 people altogether. And on June 24th another big bomb killed at least 70 people in Baghdad, perhaps the single deadliest attack in Iraq this year. The insurgents, knowing that the Americans are poised to pull out, are aiming to make Iraq as unstable as ever.

They have also staged some spectacular assassinations that have threatened to restart a cycle of sectarian reprisals. Earlier this month the head of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, Harith al-Obeidi, a noted campaigner for human rights, was gunned down by a teenager in a Baghdad mosque after he had led Friday prayers. In Mosul, the biggest city of the north, where the coach of Iraq’s karate team was recently shot dead, bombings are still going on, though at a reduced rate. ...

Zimbabwe's hard sell: A warm welcome but little money

So far Morgan Tsvangirai’s ground-breaking tour of America and Europe has brought plaudits rather than cash for Zimbabwe’s battered economy

IT IS Monday, so it must be Berlin. Or is it Stockholm? Morgan Tsvangirai may be forgiven for occasionally losing track, so crammed has his schedule been on his first official tour abroad as Zimbabwe’s prime minister. On June 15th it was the turn of Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel (pictured above), to meet him in Berlin, after he had spent a few days in Washington, DC, where he met President Barack Obama. Then he headed north to meet the Swedes, before flying across to Norway. He was also due to meet the leaders of Belgium, Denmark and France, plus officials from the European Union. Finally, on June 19th, he is to visit Britain for several days to hobnob with the prime minister, Gordon Brown, plus various other politicians and would-be investors.

Mr Tsvangirai always knew that this first official visit would be tricky. Tendai Biti, his finance minister, had already done the rounds of Western capitals with his begging-bowl and had come back empty-handed. So although the former opposition leader naturally hoped he would drum up a bit of extra cash for his shattered country, it was not the main aim of his trip. Rather it was to gain international support and recognition for himself and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in their uneven power struggle with President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF. ...

East Africa gets broadband: It may make life easier and cheaper

A new telecoms revolution in the offing

THE Horn of Africa is one of the last populated bits of the planet without a proper connection to the world wide web. Instead of fibre-optic cable, which provides for cheap phone calls and YouTube-friendly surfing, its 200m or so people have had to rely on satellite links. This has kept international phone calls horribly overpriced and internet access equally extortionate and maddeningly slow.

But last week, in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, a regional communications revolution belatedly got under way when Kenya’s president, Mwai Kibaki, plugged in the first of three fibre-optic submarine cables due to make landfall in Kenya in the next few months. They should speed up the connection of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as bits of Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, to the online world. Laying the cable cost $130m, mostly at the Kenyan government’s expense; Mr Kibaki hailed the event for bringing “digital citizenship” to his countrymen. ...

Lynching in Kenya: A routine crime

Mob justice is alarmingly common but few seem to mind

A LYNCHING took place recently outside an ironmonger’s shop in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. It was close to one of the city’s fancier shopping centres, early in the morning, with commuters streaming down the road on foot. A man had his mobile phone stolen but managed to lay a hand on the thief just long enough for the crowd to close in. His two accomplices waded in to rescue their man but the mob engulfed them. Stones rained down. Boulders crushed their heads and chests. Then the crowd moved on, became commuters once more, and the police removed three bodies.

Nobody knows how many such lynchings happen in Kenya every year. What is certain is that they are commonplace. Some MPs worry that violence is on the rise as more people lack jobs and young men are frustrated. The lack of statistics is itself telling. Kenya’s police chief, Mohammed Ali, says his force strongly discourages vigilantes from taking the law into their own hands and often arrests them. Yet the police are invariably unable or unwilling to intervene against a large mob. Human-rights groups lack the resources to investigate or even record more than a handful of lynchings. The families of those killed often fail to lodge a complaint out of shame or because they do not have enough money to recover the bodies from the mortuary to bury them. ...

Israel's settlements: Grappling with America

After the big public speeches come even tougher talks in private

AFTER many millions of people, in the Middle East and elsewhere, watched President Barack Obama and Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, setting out their versions of how to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the two leaders may now be quietly beginning to negotiate in earnest. The first issue on their joint agenda is America’s demand that Israel stop building or expanding settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and should alleviate the hardships of daily life for the millions of Palestinians under its control.

Mr Netanyahu, who says “normal life” in the settlements must go on, meaning that “natural growth” of the population requires building within the confines of the new towns, still seeks to find common ground. He is soon to meet Mr Obama’s envoy, George Mitchell, a former senator, in Paris. The prime minister’s people say their boss will be more flexible than he sounds. They claim to have had signals from Mr Obama’s team that an acceptable settlement freeze could still allow for some buildings to continue to go up, especially in the three or four biggest settlement blocks near the old pre-1967 border, where most of the 280,000-odd Israeli settlers (excluding those in East Jerusalem) reside. ...

Crisis in Sudan: The promise and peril of independence

In 2011 Africa is set to get a new country. But South Sudan could well start life as a prefailed state

MAJOR JOHNSON GUCH of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) sits outside a grass hut at the edge of Nasir, a missionary post in Nuerland that in time became a dismal town (see map). Dressed in a tracksuit, he gives the air of a local warlord. A Nuer himself, Mr Guch is commander of a joint integrated unit (JIU) of southern and northern Sudanese soldiers mandated to keep the peace in Nasir. He says he has 150 southern soldiers, each with a small tin of bullets. But he is dismissive of the northern soldiers. He does not know how many there are. He says he does not care. It is not, in any sense of the word, a joint command.

The commander of the northern troops, Captain Osman Mustafa, is more gracious, but also more disingenuous. His tent is a walk across a black wasteland pocked by the twisted wreckage of vehicles blown up in the war and little piles of human faeces left by the locals, who eschew latrines. A Muslim from the Nuba mountains, Mr Mustafa says he has 300 soldiers, enough guns and, of course, very good relations with the southerners. ...

Israel and America: A test of friendship

Picking up the gauntlet thrown down by Barack Obama

IN AN interview before his address to the Muslim world in Cairo on June 4th, President Barack Obama urged honesty in the American-Israeli dialogue. “Part of being a good friend is being honest,” Mr Obama said. On June 14th it will be Binyamin Netanyahu’s turn. The Israeli prime minister is due to give his reply to Mr Obama’s unwelcome demands that Israel freeze settlements, accept the principle of the two-state solution and get on with negotiations with the Palestinians to bring it about.

Israeli politicians and pundits have been speculating about what the hawkish Mr Netanyahu might say. Could the name given to the speech provide any clues? At first it was dubbed “The Bar-Ilan Speech”, after the university that was chosen as its venue. Was Mr Netanyahu trying by that choice to signal reassurance to his seriously worried followers on the right, among the settlers and in his own Likud party? Bar-Ilan was founded as a religious university and it retains a reputation, not entirely fairly, as a hotbed of right-wing and religious sentiment. ...

South Africa's trade unions: Payback time?

The new president runs into trouble with some of his erstwhile supporters

HAVING helped catapult Jacob Zuma into the presidency, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the country’s biggest trade union federation, is flexing its muscles. Zwelinzima Vavi, the secretary-general, has declared that the country’s policies are determined not by the government alone, but by the ruling tripartite alliance, which includes COSATU along with the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party. “We are the policymakers,” he said on June 4th, “and the government implements. The government doesn’t lead any more.”

In normal times, this might be dismissed as so much posturing. But South Africa is suffering its first recession for 17 years, and the trade unions want to spare their members from having to bear the brunt of the downturn. The official unemployment rate has already risen to 23.5%; the real rate is much higher. And with nearly 2m members (about 11% of the workforce), most of them in the public sector, COSATU has the power to insist on being taken seriously. ...

Lebanon's election: A win for the West

And the opposition, including Hizbullah, even accepted defeat graciously

THE coalition that has struggled to govern Lebanon since 2005 surprised even many of its followers as it emerged from a fiercely contested general election with an undented parliamentary majority. Its win cheered the Western powers that support the grouping of Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian parties, known as the March 14th alliance after the date of a popular uprising in 2005 against Syrian meddling in the country. The alliance is led by Saad Hariri, the son of Rafik Hariri, a murdered former prime minister.

The victory stunned its opponents, a coalition of Shia Muslim and disgruntled Christian parties, backed by Iran and Syria, that had loudly and sometimes violently disputed March 14th’s legitimacy. Perhaps most surprising of all though, in a democracy-resistant region, was the opposition’s humble acceptance of defeat. ...

Shell in Nigeria: Spilling over

A payout could encourage others

ON JUNE 8th Royal Dutch Shell agreed to pay out $15.5m to the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta to settle a long-running court case brought against the oil giant in America by nine plaintiffs, including relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmentalist and writer. He was executed by the brutal government of General Sani Abacha after a charade of a trial in 1995. Mr Saro-Wiwa had led a successful campaign against Shell’s activities in his homeland, even forcing the company to quit Ogoniland in 1993. The plaintiffs accused Shell of complicity in the activist’s death.

Shell denies any wrongdoing. It says the payout was a “humanitarian gesture”; some of the money will go to a new trust fund for the Ogoni. Shell now hopes that it might even resume oil production in the region. But things are unlikely to be that simple. ...

The Economist: Middle East and Africa
Middle East and Africa