Ecuadorians reject oil drilling in the Amazon, ending operations in a protected area
RIO DE JANEIRO—Ecuadorians voted against drilling for oil in a protected area of the Amazon, an important decision that will require the state oil company to end its operations in a region that’s home to isolated tribes and is a hotspot of biodiversity. With over 90 percent of the ballots counted by early on August 21, around six in 10...
India expels 41 Canadian diplomats amid ongoing Ottawa-Delhi row
India has ordered Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats from the country, ramping up a confrontation over accusations of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver. Media reports on Oct. 3 cited an official, who was familiar with the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity, as confirming the expulsion of...
Indigenous communities face eviction by environmental profiteers
Kenya’s government is illegally evicting members of the Ogiek community from their ancestral lands in the Mau Forest, to profit from carbon offsetting schemes, human rights lawyers say. Members of the Ogiek community say they’re living in “absolute fear” over the evictions by the government of Kenyan President William Ruto. “We are calling for an immediate cessation of ongoing demolitions and...
Thousands of African workers kept in appalling conditions
Hoping to escape the war, death and destitution rampant in their home countries, thousands of African workers embark every year on a grueling journey to the affluent Persian Gulf countries looking for employment. The more fortunate ones will end up doing backbreaking manual labor earning a pittance, barely enough to make ends meet. Should they be unlucky, a fate worse than...
International community backs AU operations in Darfur
Related links: The African Union (Official Site)Sudan delegation returns; Findings reflect new UN report: no genocide in Darfur (FCN, 02-10-2005)In Harlem, a discussion on the Sudan (FCN, 11-23-2004) ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PANA) - An international pledging conference for the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) ended here May 26, expressing greater solidarity, but leaving issues of financial and material support...
‘Kill the Boer’ and the death of White-Supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche
(FinalCall.com) - Controversy over Julius Malema, the African National Congress Youth League leader, and the recent killing of the White supremacist African Resistance Movement creator Eugene Terre'Blanche may be the spark that ignites dissatisfaction over the limited gains received by Blacks in post apartheid South Africa. First Terre'Blanche was a White racist Afrikaner whose viciousness and brutality in the...
Why does ICC only prosecute African leaders?
(FinalCall.com) - Over 60,000 people attended Kenya's presidential inauguration. African leaders in attendance included Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan, South Africa's Jacob Zuma and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. If one thought the presence of the 800-pound Gorilla in the room–the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment that hangs over the head of Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya's newly elected president–was going to be...
Africa Watch – Barack Obama’s words and his Africa policy
America's first Black president, Barack Obama, may have been the honorary speaker at the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first post-apartheid president, and is the creator of the 200 member Young African Leader's Initiative, but his record with Africa as U.S. president left a lot to be desired. During his remarks, delivered...
New head of African Union faces daunting challenges from day one
(GIN)—He’s been described as a “master strategist,” but can the incoming chair of the African Union beat the daunting challenges ahead? That is the difficult question facing Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, president of the Democratic Republic (DRC) as he assumes the post just relinquished by South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa. Skeptics are already circling President Tshisekedi who has ambitious goals for the...
South African revolt aimed at economic apartheid
An uneasy calm hung over South Africa after 25,000 army troops were deployed to assist police responding to unrest in the country. The social eruptions, riots, destruction of businesses and clashes with police began July 8 when former President Jacob Zuma started serving a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court. “Supporters in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal set...