Global Pulse: Africa Archives

Category: Africa

Got Pirates? Zap'em, Says IMB

02 Nov 2007 @ 20:55 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Piracy on the high seas is getting worse, especially off the coast of Nigeria and lawless Somalia. Panamanian-flagged chemical tanker MV Golden Nori and North Korean cargo vessel Dai Hong Dan were just two victims this week. And the trend is discouraging.

The number of attacks worldwide has risen 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007, the International Maritime Bureau reports. A total of 198 attempted and successful attacks, up from 174 in 2006, have been reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre in Thailand.

The IMB is asking shipping lines to outfit their vessels with a low-tech, 9,000-volt electric fence to ward off intruders and with an inexpensive satellite tracking and alert system.

Let's look at some high-tech options.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 20:55 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Maritime | Piracy | Somalia

U.S. Military Solidifying Presence in Africa

The Economist 31 Oct 2007 @ 17:58 GMT | Permalink | Comments

The expanding presence of the U.S. military in Africa brings the potential for development as well as serious risks, reports The Economist. The Africa Command (AfriCom), scheduled to be fully operational in 2008, could supersede and drown out aid agencies, strengthen armies of rights abusers, interfere with democratization and place security needs ahead of corruption and good governance.

Quicklinks: 2007.10.19

19 Oct 2007 @ 16:06 GMT | Permalink | Comments

DOE Intel. Chief Convinced Al-Qa'ida Wants Nukes (David Ignatius)
Springer Desperate for Forbes, Newsweek Partner (The Moscow Times)
WFP Chief in Somalia Seized by Government Security (IRIN)
'Empress' Bhutto Returns, Wants Musharraf Out (The London Telegraph)
Togo's Opposition Cry Foul; Ecowas Greelights Vote (VOA)
Rpt.: Children, Pregnant Women Chained in Burma (The Age, Agence France-Presse)
Draconian Censor Bans Video Game From Australia (Fairfax Network)
Desperate Housewives Save Yucatan Cenote, Lure Tourists and Cash (Christian Science Monitor)

By the Numbers: Democratic Republic of Congo

09 Oct 2007 @ 12:12 GMT | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Democratic Republic of Congo (former Belgian Congo, Congo-Kinshasa) could go up in flames for the third time unless rebel militia groups and gangs roaming the eastern provinces are stopped. The Enough Project has concrete policy recommendations to end the violence.

75 was the age of the oldest gang-rape patient at Dr. Denis Mukwege's hospital in Bukavu, Congo.

3 was the age of the youngest rape patient at Panzi Hospital.

8,000 sexual assault victims will seek treatment at Malteser International clinics in eastern Congo this year.

70 percent of women in Shabunda, a Congolese village, were raped or otherwise sexually assaulted.

27,000 sexual assault cases were reported just in South Kivu Province in 2006.

18,275 U.N. troops in the Congo have been unable to stop the wholesale brutality.

15 is the age when boys face the highest risk of being forcibly recruited into a ragtag militia.

3.9 million people died from the conflict between 1998 and 2004.

1,250 'excess deaths' per day was recorded during the same period.

1.2 million people will have been displaced by the end of this year.

Sources

UN tries to feed Congo civilians cut off by combat (Reuters)

Congo, the Democratic Republic of the (UNHCR)

Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: a nationwide survey (The Lancet)

Congo: Nearly 4 Million Dead in 6 Year Conflict (IRC)

DRC: Thousands of youth risk forced recruitment into militia (IRIN)

Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War (New York Times)

Early Warning: Locust Could Decimate African Crops

12 Oct 2006 @ 13:11 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Caged desert locusts at the National Locust Center in Agadir, Morocco. (Photo courtesy FAO)

Watch a Swarm of Locusts From the 2004 Plague in Mauritania (mpeg)

The Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] is sounding an alarm bell over the possibility of another devastating desert locust infestations across the Sahel, as it experiments with new biological weapons to deal with the pest. Eggs will hatch next week.

Swarms of desert locusts pose a threat to food security in Africa, where last year's infestations devastated crops and triggered food shortage for millions. Three million people went hungry in Niger as a result of the locusts.

This year, the F.A.O. has been experimenting with a promising eco-friendly biological weapon against the locusts, which can cross the Atlantic in 10 days.

Who Poisoned Côte d'Ivoire With Toxic Waste?

12 Sep 2006 @ 17:27 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Newspaper Photo of Ivorians Receiving Medicine for Toxic Waste Poisoning.

Abidjan has been consumed by toxic waste that has made thousands sick and killed several people. (Photo: Courtesy of Le Matin d'Abidjan)

Residents of Côte d'Ivoire's commercial capital Abidjan have become victims of corrupt companies that picked this West Africa port to be the dust bin for their toxic waste.

Thousands have become sick. Several people, including children, have died. And the environment has become permanently damaged. Who is responsible for this reprehensible act? That's harder to trace.

At least half-dozen companies in three continents are involved in this mess.

It all starts with "Probo Koala," a Panamanian-registered oil tanker that is staffed by Russian crew members, managed by Prime Marine Management Inc. in Greece and time-chartered by Dutch-Swiss commodity trader Trafigura Beheer B.V.

China Takes Africa By Storm

21 Aug 2006 @ 10:54 GMT | Permalink | Comments

China's Trade With Africa Expands. Wen Jiabao & Thabo Mbeki

China's trade with Africa quadrupules in five years to US$40 billion. (Photo: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South African President Thabo Mbeki shake hands in June 2006)

China is positioning itself to become Africa's newest imperial power, expanding its presence on the continent exponentially just in the last few years. Unlike the West, China does not attach 'patronizing and demeaning' conditions to its trade and appears to offer practical help instead of lectures on democracy.

On a recent tour of seven African states, Premier Wen Jiabao claimed, "There is no selfish interest for China to pursue in Africa."

Trade is inherently selfish. And China is no different when it comes to African trade that approached US$40 billion last year. Beijing has successfully targeted Africa's minerals and petroleum in addition to opening a market for cheap exports.

Extreme Weather: Snow in South Africa

04 Aug 2006 @ 07:33 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A heat wave grips much of the eastern U.S. seaboard, while snow-covered homeless struggle in South Africa.

South Africans are facing extreme conditions as the weather service is warning of more heavy snowfalls, flash floods and gale-force winds across much of the country.

Who decided to hold the 2010 World Cup during a South African winter?

Tens of millions across the world are suffering from weird weather phenomena. A deadly heat wave has turned much of the eastern U.S. seaboard into a sweltering jungle, while southern China is bracing for a typhoon to make landfall.

Here are more extreme weather conditions around the world.

Water: Australia Running Dry

28 Jul 2006 @ 09:16 GMT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Photo of Cracked Earth in Algeria (UNESCO)

An Australian city will be completely out of water in four months. Another is looking into recycled sewage water. Politicians have largely ignored the issue and admit in private that they are scared to lose their jobs for supporting recycled sewage water.

Only 0.01 percent of 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water on the planet is easily accessible. And even that is dwindling.

When resources are scarce, ignorant people fight over it. Opportunists profit from the shortage. And both are happening right now.

Belgian Congo: Countdown to Election

26 Jul 2006 @ 15:24 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Junior Kabemba, an 11-year-old shegue from Kinshasa, wants to be president of the Congo.

Junior Kabemba, an 11-year-old shegue from Kinshasa, wants to be president of the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC]. Will he make it? His chance of success is low -- very low. (Photo: IRIN)

The Congo is a supposed to be one of the most beautiful and the richest countries in the world. It languished under the Belgian occupiers and a brutal, C.I.A.-backed dictator.

Today systems for the health care, education, criminal justice and social support are either non-existent or about to collapse. The international community has largely ignored the country's demise.

Few countries would want to get caught up in a Congolese quagmire. Accordingly no credible international peacekeeping troops are keeping the peace. And few governments are offering any help, as they watch the country crumble.

On July 30, it holds its first "election" in 45 years. No viable opposition has emerged. Many residents expect bribes just to cast a vote.

My choice for president is Junior Kabemba.

Libya's Gadhafi Finds New Enemy

06 Jul 2006 @ 12:30 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Photo of Col. Moammar Gadhafi kicking a football.

The Revolutionary Leader kicks a football around the pitch in a publicity photo released by the Libyan government.

Colonel Moammar Gadhafi, who recently lost his job as the anti-U.S. terrorism supporter, has found a new enemy. In a scathing letter, he defines FIFA as the symbol of everything that is wrong with this world.

Times have changed since the colonel was the go-to man for many extremist groups, from disenchanted students to sophisticated terrorists. The U.S. has officially set up shop in Tripoli. Britain is offering a mutual defense pact. And Chinese-made Maples (automobiles) have arrived.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 12:30 | Permalink | Comments (0)

L.R.A.: Uhm, We're Done. Let's Talk Peace?

28 Jun 2006 @ 16:01 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Joseph Kony, the kooky and brutal leader of the Lord's Resistance Army [LRA], claims he wants peace and Ten Commandmants. (Photo: Sam Farmar via The Times)

When was the last time Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony gave an interview or allowed himself to be videotaped for a news program or offered to talk about peace?

Never.

This cult leader, who says spirits talk to him, is accused of slaughtering and mutilating more than 10,000 people, abducting 25,000 to 30,000 children and forcing a million people to flee. His arch-enemy, Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has already rejected any offer of talks.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 16:01 | Permalink | Comments (0)

WHO: Stop Female Genital Mutilation

12 Jun 2006 @ 13:00 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A new study calls for an end to this horrible practice that puts young girls women and their babies at risk. The World Health Organization-sponsored study on Female Genital Mutilation [FGM] deplores the "medicalization" (when done by trained physicians) of this ritual.

Amnesty International estimates that 135 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected one of three levels of genital mutilation. It is practiced in at least 28 countries in Africa; in Egypt, Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East and North Africa; and by some Muslims in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. But it has also been reported in industrialized countries like Britain and the United States primarily among immigrants from countries where it is still common practice.

Sexual, sociological, hygienic, health and religious reasons are cited commonly. Still it harms women physically and emotionally and places them at increased risk of complications during childbirth.

Unicef estimates that more than two million girls are at risk each year of having their genitals cut or mutilated. (WHO calls it "FGM," but Unicef calls it "FGM/C" to include cutting.) WHO defines three levels of genital mutilation:

Type I (FGM 1) - excision of the prepuce, with or without excision of part or all of the clitoris

Type II (FGM II) - excision of the clitoris with partial or total excision of the labia minora;

Type III (FGM III) - excision of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching/narrowing of the vaginal opening (infibulation).

The study appears in the June issue of The Lancet.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 13:00 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sail to Canary Islands or Die Trying

30 May 2006 @ 13:59 GMT | Permalink | Comments

Spain's latest headache is the increasingly popular human smuggling route that starts in West Africa and ends in the Canary Islands.

The international fishing industry has all but wiped out the livelihood of local fishermen in Senegal, forcing them to risk death and smuggle migrants 1,350 kilometers (845 miles) to the Canary Islands in Spain. The country's liberal policy toward refugees and worsening economy in West Africa are making Spain a prime destination for illegal immigrants. Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who has dispatched the military to intercept them, is asking the European Union for help.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 13:59 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chikungunya Infection and Pregnancy

22 May 2006 @ 23:34 GMT | Permalink | Comments (30)

Health authorities in La Réunion, off East Africa, have been urging women who are nine-month pregnant and show symptoms of chikungunya infection to be be hospitalized.

The time of greatest risk of chikungunya virus transmission from a mother to a fetus appears to be during birth, if the mother acquired the disease days before delivery and carries the virus, according to the Perinatal Network of Réunion. This network of physicians and researchers on the French island of La Réunion has published a wealth of data on chikungunya infection during pregnancy since the epidemic began in March 2005. Preliminary data showed that such a contamination is "rarely serious" and more than 90 percent of the infected newborns recovered quickly without sequelae.

Malaria: Get Your ACT Together

20 Apr 2006 @ 11:03 GMT | Permalink | Comments

A cure for malaria is about to become very cheap, thanks to a Berkeley professor and his team of researchers. But 10 years is not going to be any time soon when someone, most likely a child, dies of malaria infection every 30 seconds. The World Health Organization [WHO] and its Roll Back Malaria partnership set April 25 as the "
Africa Malaria Day" to raise funds for Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy [ACT] that is more expensive than older anti-malarials, such as chloroquine, sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine [SP] and amodiaquine. But some African countries are still refusing to use ACT due to its cost.

Malaria infects 300 million to 500 million people every year.
At least one million and as many as 2.7 million, most of children in Sub-Saharan Africa, die from it each year.
Plasmodium falciparum is the deadliest of four parasites that cause malaria.
Most anti-malarials have been derived from ancient medicinal plants, such as sweet wormwood (4th Century China) and cinchona tree (17th Century South America).
The estimated financial burden on Africa from malaria is about US$12 billion annually.
Donations may be made to the U.N. Foundation's Malaria Fund.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 11:03 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Child's Play Powers Water Pump

16 Sep 2005 @ 12:11 GMT | Permalink | Comments (1)

A South African nonprofit that developed a way to use children's merry-go-rounds to power water pumps in rural areas has entered Mozambique and also plans to build the "Play-Pumps" in Swaziland. Have you seen President Thabo Mbeki on a merry-go-round?

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 12:11 | Permalink | Comments (1)

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