Archive for December, 2011

Refugee numbers – and fear of war – build in South Sudan

December 14th, 2011

A year ago, in the run up to the independence referendum and then to independence itself, there was widespread fear that there would be war between Sudan and the new state of South Sudan.  But in the event things passed off relatively quietly.

Since July’s independence, there has been ongoing, but relatively low-level, fighting and disturbances in the South Kordofan province of Sudan where the largely Nubian and Christian population is unhappy about being part of the largely Arab and Muslim state of Sudan.

SPLM-N fighter in Blue Nile state

But now, a year on from the initial concerns, the refugee numbers in South Sudan are building and there is a very real fear that there will be a border war between the two Sudans.

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Take a time out for 15 uplifting African talks on TED

December 11th, 2011

If you are not already a fan of TED, you should be.  TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to a concept it calls ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ and there are some fabulous ideas on there, beautifully and succinctly presented.

Launched in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds, Technology, Entertainment and Design, its scope has since become a lot broader and embraces annual conferences – the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh each summer – plus the TEDx programmes that take TED conferences to a wide range of other countries.

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Durban fiddles whilst the world burns

December 8th, 2011

As EU commissioner Georgieva was speaking about the growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters – and linking them explicitly to climate change – the world’s leaders were, in effect, agreeing to do nothing about said climate change at COP 17 in Durban.

Of course, they wouldn’t put it like that, they’re all being very reasonable whilst at the same time doing what they perceive to be their jobs in representing their national interests.

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Famine looms in the Sahel, but $1 invested now can save up to $7 later

December 7th, 2011

European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva warned yesterday that the Sahel region of West Africa was in danger of slipping into famine and that help should be provided now – indeed it was already being provided by the EU.

She said that it was not only ethically and morally right to send aid now, before things reached crisis point, but also cheaper in the long run as disaster risk reduction (DRR) is dramatically more cost-effective than responding to disasters.

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Al Shabaab bans 16 Western aid agencies from areas it controls in famine-hit Somalia

December 4th, 2011

The population in war-torn Somalia received another blow last week as Al Shabaab banned 16 aid agencies from territory that it controls, including UNICEF, the World Health Organisation, UNHCR, Norwegian Church Aid and others from Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Germany, and France.

These aid agencies were banned, according to Al Shabaab, because they were “fostering secularism”, “amplifying the refugee crisis”, “financing, aiding, and abetting subversive groups seeking to destroy the basic tenets of Islamic penal system” and “undermining the livelihoods and cultural values of the population.”

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Good news! Africa doesn’t come bottom in corruption

December 3rd, 2011

Good news for sub-Saharan Africa – it’s not as corrupt as some other parts of the world according to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index produced by Transparency International (TI).  Although there’s still quite a lot of work to be done if you have a look at the colourful map on page four of the TI report.

Unlike the recently-published 2011 version of the Human Development Index, in which the bottom places were packed with sub-Saharan African countries – and Afghanistan – there are a mere four African countries in the bottom ten of this global table.  Somalia comes equal bottom with North Korea, and the other African countries in the Highly Corrupt group are Sudan, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi.

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