What’s the source? March 31, 2010

By Richard Perez Pena

News comes from more and more outlets, about which readers know less and less.

Publishers and broadcasters have always called on freelance journalists. But a generation ago, if they used material from another organisation, it was usually limited to a handful of large, well-known and respected ones like The Associated Press or Reuters. With established newsrooms shrinking, a raft of smaller news outlets have cropped up in the last few years, selling or simply giving news reports to the traditional media – groups like ProPublica, Global Post, Politico and Kaiser Health News.

US legislation authorises military action against the LRA in Uganda

cc US ArmyThe recent US bill aimed at achieving peace in Uganda by militarily eliminating the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is rigorously critiqued by Samar Al-Bulushi. It is a bill, she argues, that will serve to prop up Uganda’s government. Al-Bulushi highlights the questionable origins of the bill: It is a response to the calls of a few US organisations – who coincidently emerged at the same time as AFRICOM – for peace in Uganda rather than the Ugandan people, who advocate non-violent paths to finding peace. She goes on to emphasise the vagueness of the US’s strategy to bring about this peace. And she aptly points out that, in supporting the Ugandan government, the US is buffering a regime that not only has a poor human rights record, but has actively prevented peace in Uganda. Al-Bulushi concludes that ‘Propping up a militaristic regime risks not only exacerbating the conflict, but also deflecting attention away from crucial discussions and demands for internal reform.’

Despite harsh condemnation from US legislators in response to Uganda’s draft bill criminalising

 homosexuality, the Senate passed a bill in mid-March that will prop up Uganda’s government by authorising military action in the highly volatile region of Central Africa.

Oga den dey chop money

Le livre : Les fondements de la corruption au Cameroun

L'économiste, consultant à Transparency International pense que la corruption au Cameroun n'est pas un phénomène spontané.

Un prêtre qui a vécu une quarantaine d'années au Cameroun avait coutume de dire que le meilleur regard sur son pays d'adoption ne pourrait être posé que par un étranger, car disait-il, celui-là est neutre ; il regarde les choses différemment, sans passion. 
Nous sommes englués dans la corruption depuis plus de 20 ans ; des enfants qui sont nés depuis 1984 par exemple, ils ne savent pas que des personnes peuvent vivre autrement, sans voler, sans corrompre ou sans être corrompues. Ces jeunes aujourd'hui ont pour repères toutes ces personnes qui roulent Cadillac, bâtissent des somptueux chalets sans être à même de justifier l'origine claire de leur fortune. Les honnêtes gens constituent plutôt de la raillerie.

Niger: Tandja’s loyalists arrested

Ten former ministers and officials loyal to overthrown ex-President of Niger, Mamadou Tandja, have been arrested in Niamey, the capital of that country. Among those detained were the former ministers of finance and justice, and the heads of the national electricity and water companies.

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   Interior Minister Cisse Ousmane said they were accused of carrying out subversive activities.

   Tandja was overthrown in February, in a coup and replaced by a military junta led by Maj Salou Djibo.

   The junta, which calls itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, has said it wants to make Niger an example of "democracy and good governance".

   After the coup, the largely arid but uranium-rich country was expelled from the African Union and the international community urged the junta to hold elections as soon as possible.

Delayed returns on World Cup

 

WHITE RIVER, South Africa — The Ingwenyama Lodge has an Olympic swimming pool, driving range, indoor cricket courts, a gym and two regulation football fields spread across 10 hectares (24 acres).

The grass on those fields wasn't up to FIFA standards, however. They had to be stripped and re-turfed when Chile chose this eastern South African hotel as its World Cup base.

Ingwenyama also needed a sauna, steam baths, a whirlpool, better fencing — even brighter light bulbs, more sophisticated TVs and spare wardrobes for the players' rooms.

SIDA Dans La Cite: Popular 90s TV Series Now Online March 29, 2010

DR Congo massacre uncovered

The DRC army has been attempting to quell unrest in the nroth and east of the country [EPA] The Lord's Resistance Army killed about 300 people and kidnapped 250 more in a rampage in the Democratic Republic of Congo in December 2009, according to an international rights group and the UN. The previously undocumented massacre, undertaken over four-days in the remote Makombo area of DRC's northeastern Haute Uele district, was highlighted in reports by Human Rights Watch and the UN on Sunday. The killings of 321 civilians occurred between December 14 and 17, HRW said in areportafter documenting the deaths in a visit to the region in February. The Ugandan anti-government group were said to have abducted 80 children among the 250 people kidnapped.

Ghadaffi: Carve Nigeria into many states

Libyan leader Muamar al-Ghadaffi, who enraged Abuja after suggesting Nigeria be partitioned between Muslims and Christians, has now proposed the country is carved into "many" ethnic states. He said: "In fact, Nigeria's problems cannot be resolved by dividing the country into two states, Christian and Muslim."

That country’s Jana news agency reported Monday, that Kadhafi said, like the former Yugoslavia, Nigeria comprises "other populations who want independence" without religious considerations.

He cited "the Yoruba people in the east and south who demand independence, the Ibo people in the west and south" as well as the Ijaws.

"The model that best fits Nigeria, which comprises many ethnic groups, is Yugoslavia" which was divided into six countries, including Kosovo whose independence has not been unanimously recognised.

The Libyan leader said earlier this month Nigeria should be partitioned between the Christian and Muslim communities to end its sectarian violence.

Ghana rolls out Biometric Passport March 27, 2010

The Government of Ghana will soon issue a Biometric Passport to the citizenry as required by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO).

The Biometric Passport has advanced security features which are expected to reduce identity theft and extra fraudulent activities associated with the non-machine readable passport regime.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni said this would enhance the efficient management of the country’s border posts and ports of entry and strengthen the overall capability of the security services in confronting the menace of illicit trafficking in narcotics, small arms, human trafficking and terrorism within Ghana’s borders and beyond.

According to the Minister he has instructed all Ghana Missions abroad to cease forthwith the issuance of non-machine readable passports and send all pending applications to Accra for processing.