Zambia continues to reject genetically modified maize
LUSAKA, Zambia (PANA)–Zambia’s Agriculture Minister Mundia Sikatana recently reiterated his government’s rejection of genetically modified (GM) maize due to the existing scientific uncertainty surrounding such foods. Mr. Sikatana told journalists here that the government had agreed with a recommendation by local scientists who recently returned from a study mission abroad that GM maize should not be accepted. For the...
African leaders appeal for Darfur, Sudan peace deal
Ex-rebel women are peacemakers in Darfur talks (FCN, 01-10-2006)Sudan needs help, not sanctions - A report from Darfur (TWF, 09-23-2004)Sudan, Oil, and the Darfur Crisis (FCN, 07-07-2004) Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - African leaders attending the African Union's special summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Abuja on Thursday took turns to appeal to the parties at the Darfur peace...
Uncertainty in Ivory Coast, optimism in Sudan
According to published reports, ECOWAS has threatened to remove Laurent Gbagdo, Ivory Coast's incumbent president, through the use of “legitimate force,” after being unable to “coax him into conceding defeat in elections. The West African Organization of States has called for a two-day meeting of its “defense chiefs (on) January 17 to plan future steps” if Gbagdo does...
Mandela’s Legacy: Much more than goal of a non-racial society
(FinalCall.com) - The 94-year-old Nelson Mandela has received much press of late. His hospital stays have garnered much headlines, and his mortality much discussion. Talk is of his legacy and what South Africa's first post-apartheid Black president will represent to the country going forward. His legacy, as it is being shaped, appears headed toward a similar image assigned to...
The Motherlands powerful influence on Islam
An important collection of historical accounts about the spread of Islam in the Motherland is captured in “Africa’s Islamic Experience: History, Culture and Politics” edited by among others A. Ali Mazrui, a famed Kenyan-born political scientist and one of Africa’s leading public intellectuals. The book was published in 2011 and Dr. Mazrui is now deceased. But the work gives...
Africa should dictate terms of its relationships with U.S.
U.S. President Joe Biden has dispatched Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) to Ethiopia to meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to express the administration’s “grave concerns” about the humanitarian crisis in the country’s Tigray region. Sudan and Egypt, because of their water dependence on the Nile River, asked the Biden administration, the UN and the African Union to intervene...
Is the Biden administration, U.S. corporate media under-mining integrity of the Ethiopian government?
KHARTOUM, Sudan—Is the West deliberately trying to destroy the reputation of the 2019 Noble Peace Prize winner, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed? The 45-year-old Ahmad won the award for his “efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation.” Ethiopia is becoming a regional power with its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Damn (GERD), designed to supply electricity to much of Africa. The...
Kenya marks ‘Jamhuri Day’ with Independence Day speeches, military bands
(GIN)—Jamhuri, the Swahili word for “republic,” was celebrated across Kenya on Dec. 14— when the country attained its independence from the British in 1963 and became a republic in 1964. That was followed by a flurry of new national holidays. Some survived, others are being questioned and maybe heading for the dustbin of history. The now-abolished Moi Day was created to...
Extreme weather brings deadly flooding to KwaZulu-Natal
(GIN)—Record-breaking levels of rainfall threaten a new round of flooding and landslides in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal. Already, the calamity has taken over 400 lives, left some 40,000 homeless, with an economic cost yet to be tallied. Weather forecasters and climate scientists, speaking to the Daily Maverick news outlet, are predicting a repeat of such events—potentially sooner than expected. “The events of...
African Union, HBCU partnership discussed at summit
During the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly recently, an annual sidebar meeting was held at the Permanent Mission of the African Union to the United Nations in New York. Scholars, development practitioners, along with civil society representatives met in-person and virtually about strengthening partnerships between Africa and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The sidebar was...