Protesting spreads through Africa over India’s proposed law on drug patents
GINNEWS India/Africa: Threat to Generic Drugs (Africa Focus, 03-07-2005)Drug Patents Draw Scrutiny as Bush Goes to Africa (CorpWatch, 07-09-2003) (GIN) - Protestors in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and other countries are denouncing a move by India, a key producer and exporter of generic anti-retroviral drugs, to pass new legislation that could eventually force inexpensive AIDS drugs off the market. Protestors, in Uganda and...
Scarce water the root cause of Darfur conflict?
If one looks to the Council on Foreign Relations to define the tragedy that has been Darfur you initially get: “Farmers and Arabic nomads have long competed for limited resources in western Sudan's Darfur region, particularly following a prolonged drought in 1983.” Taking a closer look at this position suggests, “the crises in Darfur stems in part from disputes...
Political musical chairs, money, America and Egypts crisis
(FinalCall.com) - In a diplomatic move that displayed how fluid the developing situation in Egypt is, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns recently made the first senior level visit by a U.S. official since President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by a widely disputed military coup. Though Burns said he came with no “American solutions, nor did I come...
Poverty, corruption, conflict are factors in Nigeria’s SARS protest movement
What may be worse than law enforcement officers in U.S. cities receiving police training in Israel? Nigeria’s recently disbanded notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad or SARS receiving police training from the United Kingdom College of Policing. According to the African program director for the International Crisis Group, Dr. Comfort Ero, “We should acknowledge that SARS was part of the UK...
Belated acknowledgment: Ethiopia confirms Eritrean soldiers’ role in Tigray conflict
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has confirmed for the first time that troops from Eritrea entered Tigray during the recent conflict in the northern Ethiopian region. The conflict in Tigray erupted after forces loyal to the then-governing regional party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), attacked army bases across the region in early November last year, triggering a retaliatory offensive by federal...
Sudan summons Ethiopia envoy over bodies found in river
CAIRO—Sudan has summoned Ethiopia’s envoy to the country over an incident where bodies were found floating down the river separating the two nations, as civil war wages in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, Sudan’s foreign ministry said. The ministry said in a statement late Sept. 7 that it summoned Ambassador Petal Amero on Aug. 30 to inform him about the discovery of...
Israel doesn’t belong in the African Union: scholar
“If Africa is to realize her potential for the benefit of her sons and daughters, she must arise and be active in all sectors in the global arena,” said Dr. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, commonly known as “P.L.O. Lumumba.” The professor of law is an internationally recognized attorney, human rights activist, Pan-Africanist and public speaker whose orations focus on...
Whistleblower reveals U.S. role in Zuma’s corruption inquiry
(GIN)—Business consultant Athol Williams said he witnessed high-level corruption under the presidency of Jacob Zuma—but a good portion of it emanated from a U.S. company with connections to U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, according to a new report. Mr. Williams had been a consultant with the American financial firm Bain Capital founded by chief executive Romney. Bain & Co took...
Mali vows to defend nation against French intrusions and meddling
Mali’s foreign minister has slammed France’s continued attempts to undermine the sovereignty and national security of his country, pledging that Bamako is resolved to defend itself. “The government of Mali reserves the right to exercise its right to self-defense … if France continues to undermine the sovereignty of our country and to undermine its territorial integrity and its national security,”...
South Africa’s foreign minister on Russia, China and upcoming BRICS summit
In an opinion piece written by Oupa Ngwenya published April 9 in the South African Sunday World, the headline framed the country’s foreign minister as presenting “(the) clearest voice with a good aim to U.S. madness.” According to Ngwenya, a corporate strategist, writer, and freelance journalist, “no one should be surprised when Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor exhibits the same state...