Aid agencies warn of another food crisis in northern Mali

Aid agencies say people in northern Mali's regions of Gao, Timbuktu, Kidal and Mopti are food insecure (Photo Credit: Oxfam)

Africa’s economic growth needs to focus on equity…

Ghana heads to decisive presidential elections

By Lamin Jahateh
Lamin Jahateh is a Gambian journalist and the editor and publisher of Gambia News Online.

 

In the absence of Mills, Ghana needs a man who can continue with his plans and do more to take Ghana to the next level.

Late President Mills (right) transformed Ghana into one of the fastest growing economies in the world in 2011 [EPA]

UN says military force not key to DRC crisis

UN officials in the DRC have said the M23 rebels are well-armed and are growing in number [Reuters

Military force not key to crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who urges strengthened dialogue.

Gambian urban children open to infections, diseases: UNICEF

A flagship report of the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, have found that Gambia’s urban children are facing some of the greatest inequalities and are most vulnerable to infections and diseases.

Such a situation is synonymous to developing countries like Gambia where some urban children in cities and towns are grossly excluded from vital services. 

The report “The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World” published by UNICEF in February this year, was launched on June 5, 2012 by the agency’s country office in The Gambia at Kotu Quarry, a slum-dwelling in the Kanifing Municipality, Gambia’s Serrekunda West district.

Gambia says Bissau officials not criminals

Bissau-Guinean military spokesman Induta in Bissau March 7, 2009

Protests In Egypt Over Mubarak Verdicts

Crowds gather in Tahrir Square in central Cairo

Angry crowds have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, hours after ex-President Hosni Mubarak was jailed for life for his part in the killing of protesters during Egypt's 2011 revolution.

The crowds are furious at the acquittal of key security officials who were on trial alongside Mubarak.

Sahel Food Crisis Not Getting Any Better

Agencies’ emergency assistance to victims in Niger (Pix: Oxfam)

Imagine you having nothing else to eat except dried leaves, so dry you have to boil them nine times before they become “edible”. How about having no choice but to feed your small children with those leaves?

In Niger, this is just what mothers have to do as drought and high food prices in the Sahel region of West Africa are pushing more than 9 million people closer and closer to the edge of survival.

Join forces to stepup fight against money laundering, terrorism financing

Participants and Facilitators

In its communique, West Africa’s leading anti-money laundering, terrorism financing agency, GIABA, urges journalists to teamup with other agencies involved in the same cause to stepup against financial crimes.

The Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, GIABA ,said both journalists and other agencies should collectively ensure that appropriate measures are taken against the twin crimes in a more harmonized and concerted manner. 

NATO: Investigate Civilian Deaths in Libya

At Least 72 Dead in Air Attacks on Unclear Targets

• 

  The funeral in Majer for 34 victims of a NATO air strike on two rural compounds on August 8, 2011.

  © 2011 Sidney Kwiram/Human Rights Watch

Rwanda 17 - heeling a nation

PHOTO: RWANDA-17.TV

Watch BBC World News TV on 12th or 13th of May 2012 to see RWANDA-17 Healing a Nation. It’s an eye opening 45min documentary about Rwanda’s progress since the 1994 genocide presented by the award winning filmmakers Sorious Samura & Claudio von Planta

ECOWAS look to UN to settle Guinea Bissau

General Agusto Mario, Guinea-Bissau army chief-of-staff /PHOTO: AFP

Following the failure of the foreign ministers of the Contact Group and Bissau Junta to reach an agreement on a 12-month regional plan for the restoration of democratic rule during an April 29, 2012 meeting in Banjul, ECOWAS is now seeking the backing of the UN. 

Egypt: Protecting free expression and information in new constitution

Steadfast in protest: Egypt

(EGYPT) - The new Constitution of Egypt is on the verge of being drafted. In order to support the forthcoming work of the drafters, ARTICLE 19 has produced a comprehensive policy brief outlining how the new Constitution should protect the right to freedom of expression and freedom of information.

The brief is based on international legal standards on freedom of expression, including the decisions of international and regional human rights courts as well as the authoritative interpretation of international human rights law by the UN Human Rights Committee, regional mechanisms and other bodies, such as the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression. 

GIABA strengthen partnership with media to clean W/Africa of money laundering

Dr. Abdullahi Shehu

The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) has further strengthened its partnership with the media geared towards cleaning West Africa of the twin crimes of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The sub-regional institution has recently brought together media practitioners from various media houses within and outside the West African region at a seminar dubbed World Press Conference held from 27-28 April in Dakar, Senegal to re-orientate them about their complementary roles in creating a sub-region devoid of these transnational crimes which can potentially undermine the economic growth of sub-region if not properly check on time.

Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, director general of GIABA said the objectives of the World Press Conference includes to acquaint the media professionals about regional initiatives on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, especially the mandate of GIABA in its sustained efforts to combat the twin crimes in the West African sub-region.

Ex-Liberia President Charles Taylor guilty in 'watershed' war-crimes case

Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images, file

A young Revolutionary United Front (RUF) fighter poses near Freetown, Sierra Leone, on May 25, 1997. 

Aid agencies to feed Gambians amid worsening food crisis

Maize grains

Amid worsening food crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa, international aid agencies respond to calls by the Gambia Government to help feed her people.

The country suffered a serious drop in crop production in 2011 blamed on late and erratic rains. As a result, local citizens are already running out of food supply.

United Nations and international aid agencies warn in February 2012 that drought and food shortage in the Sahel is threatening lives, with an estimated over 20 million people to go hungry.

GYIN-Gambia Secretary attend Global Greens Congress

GYIN-Gambia secretary, Meita Touray

The secretary general, Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN-Gambia), Ms Meita Touray on March 27 arrived in Dakar to partake in the 2012 Global Greens Congress.

She is invited by the organisers, Global Greens to attend the 3^rd Congress, the first held in Africa, in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, from March 29-April 1, 2012. The 1^st and 2^nd congresses were held in Canberra, Australia, in 2001 and Sao Paolo, Brazil, in 2008.

Senegal's Wade Concedes Defeat in Presidential Runoff Election

         Photo: AFP: Supporters of Senegalese opposition challenger 

          Macky Sall celebrate their candidates election victory in Dakar March 25, 2012

Renegade Soldiers Seize Power In Mali

....are they welcome?

Coup leader Capt Amadou Sanogo imposes a national curfew

Disgruntled soldiers in the Malian capital, Bamako have been reportedly overthrown the elected government of Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22, however, immediate reactions shows their actions are not recognised.

What began on Wednesday as a mutiny "over ill-equipment and insufficient-food" to crush the Tuareg-rebellion in Northern Mali quickly became a takeover of government within 24 hours. Many of the soldiers fighting against the Tuareg has been killed and the military has no hope of winning for now. 

AfDB receives €45m pledges for rural water and sanitation

The governments of Chad, the Republic of Congo and France announced on 14 March that they would pledge some €45 million to support the Africa Development Bank’s (AfDB) Rural Water and Sanitation Initiative and the African Water Facility.

The pledge from the French government, made at the Sixth World Water Forum in Marseilles, was €40 million and that of Chad was USD 1 million to support the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI). The RWSSI is designed to increase access to water supply and improved sanitation in Africa’s rural areas.