20100610
Afrol

In an effort to ensure that African youth learn about their common heritage, the UN, historians, education specialists and governments are now developing a history syllabus for schools across the continent.

20100608
allafrica

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Mr. Jean Ping, says the relationship between the European Union and the African Union Commission remains very strong as the strategic partnership between the two institutions is based on common objectives, mutual interest and respect. "I think this partnership is progressing in the right direction especially as the two parties are fully committed to ensure the well being of both populations". Mr. Ping was speaking today, Tuesday 8 June 2010, while addressing the Fourth AU-EU College-to-College (C2C) meeting, currently holding at the headquarters of the African Union Commission, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting took place in the presence of Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the AUC.

20100601
Reuters

Cancer will kill more than 13.2 million people a year by 2030, almost double the number who died from the disease in 2008, the United Nations' cancer research agency said on Tuesday.

20100601
Reuters

France is to set up a $120 million fund to help Africa's agriculture industry and the investment could end up totalling $300 million, a communique from the 25th Africa-France summit said on Tuesday.

20100601
Reuters
France will push for Africa to have membership of the G20 economies in a similar capacity to the European Union when it takes helm of the group next year, a French political source said.

20100529

PARIS (Reuters) - France will on Monday attempt to claw back some economic influence in Africa as it welcomes some 40 government leaders to a summit that will for the first time include the heads of top French companies.

Darfuri Muslims are working with Christians to build a church in Southern Sudan as a symbol of reconciliation and gratitude.

The Muslims, members of the Darfur Students Association at the University of Juba, say they want to express gratitude to Lopez Lomong, a Sudan-born American track and field athlete who has publicly urged China to pressure the Sudanese government to end the conflict in Darfur.

Lomong had the honour of carrying the US flag in the Opening Ceremony at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He is a member of Team Darfur, a coalition of Olympic athletes that call for the end to the violence against Darfurians.

“We appreciate that Lopez stood up for us in Beijing,” said Rudwan Dawod, president of the Darfur Students Association at the University of Juba, in a statement this week. “We are helping to build this church to show we never again want the people of Darfur to be used against their brothers in the South.”

Around 200 Darfuri Muslims have volunteered to build the Roman Catholic church in Kimotong, Southern Sudan – the home village of Lomong. The construction process began in January and is slated to be completed this fall.

"As Sudanese Christians celebrate Holy Week, we want them all to know about this church,” said Dr Abdelgabar Adam, the president of Darfur Human Rights Organisations USA. “It is our way, as Darfuri Muslims, to thank every Sudanese Christian who has helped us in our hour of need.

“We need our brothers in the South to stand with us now more than ever, so that we will have a just peace,” added Adam, whose organisation is partnering with Kansas-based non-profit group Sudan Sunrise in sponsoring the reconciliation church project.

Composed of American and Sudanese Christians and Muslims, Sudan Sunrise works to achieve reconciliation and end the oppression in Sudan. The organisation also works with Sudanese born former NBA player Manute Bol, who at 7’7’’ is the tallest player in NBA history.

Bol lost 250 family members at the hands of the Muslim North during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He is working with Sudan Sunrise to build 41 schools that will benefit Southern Sudanese Christian, Darfurian and Muslim children alike.

An international conference organized by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has raised $850 million to help people in Sudan's Darfur.

The Sunday one-day conference co-chaired by Egypt and Turkey in Cairo planned to raise $2 billion to help the war-ravaged Darfur region.

"Stability and development in Darfur is the only guarantee that will lead to the voluntary return of refugees and displaced Sudanese back to their homes," Press TV correspondent in Cairo quoted the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit as saying.

"I hope this is a turning point that will help Darfur overcome its crisis once and for all," the Egyptian top diplomat added.

In addition to Muslim nations representatives from, European states, UN agencies and aid groups as well as the US were present in the conference.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa who participated at the conference urged international support for the reconstruction of Darfur.

"The reconstruction of Darfur is our obligation. It is essential at this time to create an atmosphere of stability and peace in Sudan before the presidential election, which will take place next month in addition to the referendum that will determine whether Sudan will be divided into north and south or will be united as one state," Moussa added.

According to the United Nations' figures, clashes that erupted in Sudan in early 2003 have claimed up to 300,000 lives and drove more than two million people from their homes.

A cholera outbreak has killed at least five people in northern Kenya, mainly because of water shortage that has forced people to drink unclean water, health officials say.

The deaths were reported in Msambweni, a township thirty kilometers north of the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa.

"We have had a serious cholera outbreak in the area and five deaths have been confirmed," Dr. Maureen Mboya, a senior health official in the area, told Press TV correspondent.

The Kenyan town has been plagued with acute water shortage in the recent past, leaving its residents with no option but to drink unclean water.

"People are just dying at their homes and this is sad. Many people cannot even get to the hospitals because they are far away," said Ramadhan Kongo, a villager who said he has witnessed dome of the deaths.

Government officials say they have begun distributing drinking water door to door in the affected areas to avoid further outbreak of the disease.

At least 13 people have been killed and a number of others injured in clashes between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and northern Misseriya nomads.

The clashes broke out on Wednesday in the volatile oil-producing Unity state close to the north-south border. Two southern soldiers and 11 nomads were killed.

The south Sudan's army says the situation is now under control.

This comes ahead of the country's first presidential and legislative elections in 24 years, scheduled to be held in April.

The army says political rivals in the north are encouraging tribal violence in order to hamper national elections.

According to the UN, up to 400 people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes this year as a result of the violence in south Sudan.

An unaccounted-for gold mine has reportedly fallen into ruin in Sierra Leone, killing at least 200 people, but officials deny reports of the accident.

Reuters earlier quoted the country's Ministry of Mineral Resources as saying, Over 200 artisanal gold miners were killed when a ... trench dug by the miners collapsed."

The incident took place on Friday about 180 miles (290 kilometers) from the capital, Freetown, according to Reuters.

However, BBC reported that Minister of Mineral Resources Alpha Kanu visited the site and denied an accident had occurred.

People at the mine were surprised to see him because nothing was wrong, Kanu told the BBC, dismissing the reports as "wicked rumors".

The West African nation of plentiful mineral resources relies on mining for its economic base.

Artisanal miners are independent workmen, not on any official payroll, who would prospect for minerals for personal profit.

Sudan's government has signed a new ceasefire agreement with a coalition of Darfur rebels, raising the prospect of long-lasting peace in a region torn by civil conflict.

The three-month peace deal with a newly formed umbrella group of 10 movements called the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM) marks the government's second ceasefire agreement in the past two months.

Under the deal, which was finalized in the Qatari capital of Doha on Thursday, rebel fighters are offered integration into the Sudanese army. It also paves the way for the return of millions of people displaced by the fighting.

The region's main rebel group, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), also signed a similar deal with Khartoum in February.

However, one major group still remains in open conflict with the government. A faction of the Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdul Wahid al-Nour has boycotted the peace talks.

The UN says over 300,000 people have lost their lives since the start of the 2003 clashes, while the unrest has uprooted another three million.

Previous efforts to restore peace in the region have usually failed due to the fragmentation of the rebel groups while the warring parties' relations remain mired in distrusts.

Sudan hopes to sign peace deals with all of Darfur's rebel groups before national elections next month.

South African President Jacob Zuma's large ruling party has defeated a vote of no-confidence called by opposition parties over the leader's admission to fathering a love child.

The motion was called by the Congress of the People (COPE) and backed by the Democratic Alliance. It marks the first such vote since the end of apartheid in 1994, when the African National Congress (ANC) party came to power.

"The president has by his own willful conduct and dangerously flawed judgment lost the confidence of this house and the nation," COPE leader Mvundla Dandala told parliament after proposing the motion.

Zuma, who reportedly has 19 children by his three wives, sparked national uproar with the controversy. Opposition movements say his actions contradict the country's crucial fight against HIV/Aids.

He survived the vote with 84 votes of no-confidence against 241, with eight abstentions.

The scandal broke out last year with the revelation that the 67-year-old had fathered a baby last year with the daughter of a top World Cup organizer, Irvin Khoza.

Zuma is currently in Zimbabwe in an attempt to break a fresh impasse within the country's fragile year-old unity government.

Nigeria has reacted angrily to the recent comments by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in which he suggested “partitioning” of the country between Christians and Muslims.

Nigeria summoned its envoy to Tripoli yesterday, after Gaddafi referred to the recent deadly violence between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria and suggested that the Muslim majority in the north follow Pakistan-style separation from southern areas with more Christian population.

"The only thing that could put an end to the bloodshed ... is the appearance of another Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Pakistan's founder) who established a state for the Muslims and another for the Christians," AFP quoted Gaddafi as saying earlier.

The comment drew Nigerian government's fire, with the country's foreign ministry censuring the Libyan president for his "irresponsible utterances."

"Our ambassador in Tripoli has been recalled for urgent consultations," said foreign ministry spokesperson Ozo Nwobu.

He also expressed his government's 'serious concerns' over the remarks that had "diminished" Gaddafi's "status and credibility."

Last week, the International Committee of the Red Cross said about 8,000 Nigerians had fled their homes following sectarian clashes that killed over 100 people in the key central city of Jos, which is considered a buffer zone between the Muslim and Christian communities.

Despite deployment of government forces, violence over land, livestock and water disputes has claimed hundreds of casualties in the worst sectarian clashes of recent months.

Watchdog Transparency International has called for the transformation of Egypt's electoral system in order for the country to rid itself of 'rising' corruption.

The Germany-based non-governmental organization wrote in a Saturday report that Egypt has been losing a fight against corruption and efforts were needed to counter the abuse of power driven by 'widespread conflict of interest, political interference, weak enforcement of laws and a lack of access to public information,' Reuters quoted the report as saying.

The report also urged an overhaul of the country's 'ineffective voter registration system' before Egypt's 2010 parliamentary elections and its presidential vote in 2011.

Egypt's opposition parties have already made an attempt to reform the elections system.

"Without serious reform of the wage system corruption is likely to increase," the watchdog said, adding, "Corruption is likely to take place when wages cannot cover basic living expenses."

It also called for more transparency of political issues and their media coverage.

South African President Jacob Zuma says Zimbabwean leaders have agreed on a roadmap towards an end to the Zimbabwe's crisis.

South African leader, who is on a state visit to Zimbabwe, has acted as a regional mediator under a Southern African Development Community (SADC) mandate to settle differences between Zimbabwe leaders and to uphold a power-sharing deal meant to sustain he country's much-needed unity.

Zuma has already met with President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Opposition leader Arthur Mutambara in Harare.

He has made an attempt to solve the political parties' disputes stemming from rows over key government posts, foreign sanctions and other domestic problems amid an economic meltdown in the impoverished country.

"The parties have agreed to a package of measures to be implemented concurrently as per the decision of the SADC troika in Maputo," Zuma said at a briefing, referring to a November 2009 meeting between Zimbabwe's rival parties in Mozambique in order to resolve the political stand-off.

"I believe that the implementation of this package will take the process forward substantially," AFP quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for the South African leader, said that Zuma's separate talks with Mugabe and Tsvangirai on March 17 were "quite encouraging, in the sense that President Zuma got an impression that parties were as keen as we are to move things forward."

"There was commitment all round to work harder in finding a lasting solution," Magwenya noted.

According to Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), The Rwandan Muslim community, in partnership with Aid Africa Muslim Agency (AAMA), yesterday donated foodstuff and clothes worth Rwf 7m to 100 families in Nyarugenge district affected by floods two weeks ago.
Each of the families received an assortment of items that included 50kgs of rice, 50kgs of maize flour, 25kgs of sugar, 5 litres of cooking oil and clothes.

The head of the Muslim community, Mufti Sheikh Saleh Habimana, said the donation would not solve the problem entirely but will help ease it.

“The relief aid shows the love of the Muslim community to all vulnerable people, irrespective of their religion and culture,” Sheikh Habimana said.

The Mayor of Nyarugenge, Theophila Nyirahonora, praised the community for their good initiative to help victims, whom she said were in dire need of shelter, food and clothing.

“You have assisted us in helping some of the affected families; I hope that this (donation) will generate the momentum to ease the tragedy.” she noted.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed,” said the Director of AAMA, Khalid Houda. “It is part of the Islamic religion to help all the vulnerable people”.

(Irna)Tehran, March 17, IRNA – The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Navy sent Wednesday a vessel (the 7th one) to the Gulf of Aden to fight pirates and protect the country’s shipping lines from piracy.
A number of Iran’s Navy commanders as well as country’s officials were in the southern Iranian region of Bandar-Abbas to attend the event.
The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula and Somaliland in the Horn of Africa.
In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide.

(Press TV) Two bomb explosions rock Nigeria's southern oil-rich city of Warri just outside the site of talks over granting amnesty to fighters in the area.
The blasts took place minutes after a bomb threat issued by the fighters, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
According to eyewitnesses, two car bombs went off minutes apart from each other outside the state governor's office, prompting the delegates to run for their lives. One person was killed, police said.
MEND said the explosions were meant to "announce our continued presence" and warned of renewed attacks against the oil industry in the coming days, threatening firms such as French energy giant Total that have so far avoided significant strikes on their infrastructure.
Government officials had gathered at the place to discuss the implementation of an amnesty program brokered last year. Several armed groups recently agreed to the terms of the amnesty program, but some MEND leaders rejected the government's offer.
The blasts were a major setback for Nigeria's acting President Goodluck Jonathan as his government is trying to calm ethnic tensions in the center of the country.
Armed groups have for years caused havoc in the oil-rich Niger Delta by carrying out a wave of assaults on oil installations. They complain that despite vast oil output in the area, the region has remained poor and undeveloped.

(Press TV) A chemical tanker and its North Korean crew have been released by Somali pirates after being held captive for four months, a maritime official says.
On November 16 last year, the 22,294 deadweight ton MV Theresa VIII, a Virgin Islands owned and Kiribati-flagged chemical tanker was seized in the south Somali Basin, northwest of the Seychelles with 28 crew members on board.
The vessel was released after they were paid a ransom of about $3.5 million, said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme.
"MV Theresa VIII is now free and she is underway heading to Mombassa. She is expected here in the next three to four days," said Mwangura.
"MV Theresa VIII and her 28 North Korean crew was hijacked by pirates about 140 nautical miles northwest of Seychelles on November 16 while underway to Mombassa laden with palm oil."
Somali pirates hijacked 47 vessels and took 867 crew members as hostage in 2009. They were also held responsible for more than half of the 406 reported highjack incidents in 2009.