Clipmarks | Socratoad's Africa collection

Mandela Celebrates 90th Birthday

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:42:56 GMT

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From Battle Cry to Moral Talisman, Mandela Celebrates 90th Birthday

There was a time, not all that long ago, when he was the invisible man whose name was a battle cry, his appearance known to most people only from an out-of-date photograph, a hidden hero on a prison island off the coast of Africa.

But as he celebrated his 90th birthday Friday, Nelson Mandela was anything but invisible, a figure of reverence whose nine decades have been marked and observed at a huge rock concert in Hyde Park in London, a gala dinner for his children's charity in the august, chandeliered Long Room at Lord's cricket ground, and a host of tributes.

His birthday celebration was supposed to be a quiet affair in his ancestral village of Qunu in the southeast of his country - with a mere 500 of his closest friends in attendance, as well as a touch of wry self-deprecation:

Mugabe lashes out at Britain as inflation soars

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:09:04 GMT

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clipper's remarks: 2.2 million percent inflation!

My gawd, one could not run to the grocery store fast enough

Clip Source: www.dailyme.com

Mugabe lashes out at Britain as inflation soars

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday accused Britain of trying to seize control of resources in the devastated African nation as his government announced inflation had risen to 2.2 million percent.

Mugabe, re-elected last month in a widely condemned vote boycotted by the opposition, regularly blames his country's economic collapse on former colonial ruler Britain and accuses it of plotting to overthrow his government.

The 84-year-old Zimbabwean ruler has branded the opposition Movement for Democratic Change a British and American puppet.

Central bank Governor Gideon Gono announced on Wednesday that inflation had surpassed 2 million percent, a figure already calculated by economists, some of whom now put it much higher.

Officials last calculated inflation, the highest in the world, at 164,900 percent in February.

China 'is fuelling war in Darfur'

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:32:17 GMT

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Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

China 'is fuelling war in Darfur'

The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan's government militarily in Darfur.

The BBC tracked down Chinese-built military trucks inside Darfur

The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005.

The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

China's government has declined to comment on the BBC's findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.

The embargo requires foreign nations to take measures to ensure they do not militarily assist anyone in the conflict in Darfur, in which the UN estimates that about 300,000 people have died.

More than two million people are also believed to have fled their villages in Darfur, destroyed by pro-government Arab Janjaweed militia.

A simply Horrendous Story ... but a Very Brave Couple

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:09:12 GMT

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Clip Source: www.cbc.ca

'I asked God to help me ... get free': B.C. missionary attacked in Kenya

A Canadian couple who endured a vicious beating by men armed with machetes and clubs in Kenya said they will not let the terrifying experience deter them from their work with the poor.

John Bergen, 72, and his wife Eloise, 63, are recovering in a Nairobi hospital, after undergoing hours of surgery to treat the deep cuts on their faces and bodies and their many broken bones.

"We realize there's good and bad in Africa, just like there's good and bad in Canada," John Bergen told CBC News from his hospital bed on Friday. "We'll try to reach the bad as well as the good. What else can you do?"

The men then moved into the house, where Eloise was taking a bath, John said. He said the men ganged up on her, beating her and sexually assaulting her for 45 minutes to an hour. They then left her, covered in blood, with her hands tied behind her back.

Murder, thuggery, terror

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:30:56 GMT

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Clip Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

Murder, thuggery, terror

Charlottetown -- The African Union's suggestion of a government of national unity in Zimbabwe is absurd (The 'Zimbabwean Way' Tars All Of Africa - July 4). Robert Mugabe stole the presidential election from Morgan Tsvangirai through murder, thuggery and terror. Why should the opposition want to co-operate with such a man?

The AU solution is the equivalent of a police officer asking a homeowner whose home has been ransacked to let the robber keep half his loot.

Travellers to Africa risk deadly form of malaria

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:46:32 GMT

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Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Travellers to Africa risk deadly form of malaria

Mosquitos are the carrier of the parasite Plasmodium, the agent of malaria. Photograph: Rex features

The number of people returning to Britain with a potentially fatal form of malaria has risen sharply because travellers are not taking antimalarial drugs, health officials said yesterday.

Cases of falciparum malaria now account for three-quarters of all UK malaria, up from a third of cases two decades ago, according to a Health Protection Agency study.

The majority of malaria occurs among migrants who become infected while visiting west Africa where the disease is endemic. Many do not take antimalarial pills because they believe they are already immune.

The Mad Hatter's World

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:16:16 GMT

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Clip Source: www.iht.com

Zimbabwe officials say Mugabe will be inaugurated Sunday afternoon

HARARE, Zimbabwe: Zimbabwean government officials have scheduled President Robert Mugabe's inauguration for Sunday afternoon.

Reporters were informed to be at the presidency for the 3 p.m. (1300GMT) ceremony, with the word going out even before results from Friday's presidential runoff had been announced.

African and other world leaders have condemned Friday's vote, in which Mugabe was the only candidate. It followed a campaign in which, according to human rights groups, opposition supporters were the targets of a state-sponsored campaign of violence.

Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the runoff because of the violence.

- Two million children face starvation

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:02:35 GMT

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clipper's remarks: The lack of food was "really critical," with half the population, including close to 2 million children, "facing starvation," according to the account on the World Council of Churches (WCC) website. He described his jail experience as "terrifying."

Clip Source: www.earthtimes.org

Geneva - Two million children face starvation in Zimbabwe, according to a personal account of the unfolding tragedy in the country by a young church leader published Thursday in an attempt to force further action by the international community. Prosper Munatsi, general secretary of the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe, arrived in Geneva after spending 24 hours in a Zimbabwean prison, the result of a crackdown on religious groups, he said.

He had been due to report on the political and humanitarian crisis first-hand to the Human Rights Council but was arrested when the Harare Ecumenical Centre, where several Christian groups have their offices, was raided by Zimbabwe police and security forces.

Munatsi had told church leaders "the violence is really out of hand" and had spread from the mainly rural areas to the rest of the country.

A shrinking Chad

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:42:06 GMT

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Clip Source: gristmill.grist.org

A shrinking Chad

Satellite images show Lake Chad one-tenth the size it was in 1972, not even 40 years ago. Lake Chad used to be the world's sixth-largest lake, but its resources have been diverted for human use or affected by rainfall such that its been almost entirely depleted in a very short amount of time:

In the IPCC's 2007 report (PDF) on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation in Africa, there is no specific mention of Lake Chad. But staring at these satellite images one can't help but wonder how global warming, which is expected to cause drastic changes to the hydrological cycle (drought, rainfall, water levels, etc.), especially in Africa, will accelerate or contribute to the already scarce resources that this map demonstrates are a stark reality.

'Mugabe has declared war and we will not be part of that war'

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:14:29 GMT

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Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

'Mugabe has declared war and we will not be part of that war'

Tsvangirai withdraws his party from election saying to continue would cost supporters' lives

Poster showing Zimbabwe's opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

The opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday pulled out of this week's presidential election in Zimbabwe, saying he is not prepared to ask people to die by voting for him, and accusing Robert Mugabe of "waging a war against the people".

The Movement for Democratic Change leadership met and decided to withdraw from what it called a "violent, illegitimate sham of an election" amid the murders by the ruling Zanu-PF militia and security forces of 100 opposition activists, the torture and rape of thousands of MDC supporters, and a state-orchestrated campaign of terror across swathes of the country.

"Mugabe has declared war, and we will not be part of that war," the opposition leader said.

Mbeki due to meet Mugabe in Zimbabwe

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:29:07 GMT

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Clip Source: www.earthtimes.org

Mbeki due to meet Mugabe in Zimbabwe

Harare/Johannesburg - South African President Thabo Mbeki plans to travel to Zimbabwe Wednesday to meet President Robert Mugabe over next week's run-off presidential election, Zimbabwean state media reported. The state-controlled daily Herald newspaper, quoting "reliable sources," said Mbeki would fly to the western city of Bulawayo to meet Mugabe, who would be campaigning in the area.

They would discuss the election campaigns, it said.

There was no indication in the report he would meet Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's challeng

Lawyers flee Zimbabwe

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:29:09 GMT

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Clip Source: afp.google.com

Lawyers flee Zimbabwe as Mugabe regime cracks down: activists

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — Activists say Zimbabwe may be facing an exodus of human rights lawyers like Makoni because of a crackdown by President Robert Mugabe's regime.

Rights lawyer Andrew Makoni hopes he is safe now as he sits in his new office here, but he remains shaken after packing up and leaving Zimbabwe recently out of fears he would be killed for his work.

"My departure was so sudden I had to leave my family behind," said Makoni, who has represented Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. "They will be joining me once their visas are sorted."

The last couple months have been especially perilous, the activists said, with Mugabe's 28-year reign over the country in jeopardy ahead of a June 27 presidential run-off.

Lesotho gardens relieve food crisis

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:53:39 GMT

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Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Lesotho gardens relieve food crisis

As delegates at the UN food summit in Rome tackle concerns over food production, the BBC's Peter Greste visits Lesotho, one of the countries most at risk from climate change and global food and fuel price rises.

Lesotho's vast highland plains are spectacular places for tourists. Broad and treeless, they offer stunning views of the mountains looming over shimmering gold grasslands.

But they are terrible for farmers.

But Lesotho cannot wait for the UN food summit in Rome to come up with ideas, so it has developed some of its own.

(Mahaha's family) has three keyhole gardens and that's more than enough to supply all 10 of them with all the vegetables they need, and with some left over to sell - it's changed their lives

Ntsie Tlali, Care

Troops 'must back Mugabe or quit'

Sat, 31 May 2008 15:55:19 GMT

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Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Troops 'must back Mugabe or quit'

Zimbabwe's army chief has told soldiers they must leave the military if they do not vote for incumbent President Robert Mugabe in next month's run-off poll.

Chief-of-staff Maj Gen Martin Chedondo said soldiers had signed up to protect Mr Mugabe's principles of defending the revolution, state media reported.

"If you have other thoughts, then you should remove that uniform," he said.

Fears of new civil war

Tue, 27 May 2008 01:15:03 GMT

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Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Fears of new civil war as Sudanese town razed

Abyei, in central Sudan, a town of more than 30,000, was attacked last week, just two years after the population returned

Abyei, in the heart of Sudan, was a town of more than 30,000 people. It had a school and a hospital, a marketplace and a bar.

It doesn't exist any more. Almost everything has been burnt to the ground. What remains is devastation.

Days after the fighting took place, plumes of smoke rise into the afternoon sky as fires still burn. The charred remains of metal bed frames surrounded by neat squares of black and grey ash indicate where a row of houses once stood. Clay pots lie broken in the dirt. Children's clothes, some burnt, are scattered outside a still-smouldering mud hut.