Note this recent news out of sub-Saharan Africa: “Somalia’s children schooled in guns” By Tom Odula – Associated Press Wednesday, March 14, 2012 Adan Abdi, a school teacher in Dhobley, “worries that the students in his class show too little interest in education. His students are interested in playing war.” UNICEF reports, “An entire generation […]
Read MoreThe 2012 Election Polls in Mali may be in trouble
Note this recent news out of sub-Saharan Africa: BBC NEWS AFRICA Gaddafi’s influence in Mali’s coup By Thomas Fessy BBC News, West Africa correspondent 22 March 2012 last updated at 16:36 ET “It did not take long for the Libyan conflict to spill over borders in the Sahel region – and now Mali seems to […]
Read MoreDiego Garcia: The Chagos Archipelago
Note this current petition: WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: The U.S. Government Must Redress Wrongs Against the Chagossians Created: Mar 05, 2012 For generations, the Chagossians lived on the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. But in the 1960s, the U.S. and U.K. governments expelled the Chagossians from their homes to allow the United […]
Read MoreSir James Mancham: to speak at the Hoover Institution
In a Press Release from Seychelles, it was announced that Sir James Mancham, the founding President, has been invited to participate in the “Global Hotspots, Insiders Briefing” program on May 3-5, 2012, at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Sir James Mancham will deliver a keynote address, pertaining to the “Indian Ocean—China’s […]
Read MoreFazul: Indoctrinated at a young age
Note these excerpts regarding the death of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed last June: CNN Top al Qaeda operative killed in Somalia, officials say By the CNN Wire Staff June 11, 2011 — Updated 2219 GMT (0619 HKT) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Mohammed’s death “a significant blow to al Qaeda, its extremist allies and […]
Read MoreOur inconsistent Foreign Policy in sub-Saharan Africa
Note these excerpts from a recent story on allAfrica.com: Africa: Understanding U.S.-Africa Relations During Obama’s Presidency BY MWANGI S. KIMENYI, 27 FEBRUARY 2012 “The limited U.S. interest in Africa…remain(s) very low. In 2009, of the $282bn foreign direct investment outflows from the US, less than 2 percent went to Africa – the majority of which […]
Read MoreFor most sub-Saharan Africans their cup is still half empty
Note this excerpt from a recent story from New Business Ethiopia: World Bank Sees Progress against Extreme Poverty By New Business Ethiopia Reporter Thursday, 01 March 2012 “The percentage of people living on less than 1.25 US dollars a day and the number of poor declined between 2005-2008 in every region of the developing world, […]
Read MoreThe Grouper and Patagonian toothfish once reigned
Note this excerpt from a recent story:
Coastal waters could feed many more Africans, but need better protection
Feb 18th 2012
BERBERA, FREETOWN AND MOMBASA | from the print edition
“MELITA SAMOILYS is a leading marine biologist. Since 2010 she has visited 72 coral reefs in east Africa. On only one did she see a shark. That is because so many black-tipped, white-tipped and grey sharks have been served up as shark fin soup, a delicacy in China.” “With the sharks almost gone, Chinese diners are demanding manta rays… as ingredients for their expensive banquet stews. Frank Pope, an Africa-based writer on oceans, says that the slow-breeding rays could be gone even sooner than the sharks they used to swim alongside on the glittering reefs.”
Read MoreSub-Saharan Africa Is Losing Ground
“LONDON (1 February 2012)—New studies released in London today suggest that the frenzied sell-off of forests and other prime lands to buyers hungry for the developing world’s natural resources risk sparking widespread civil unrest—unless national leaders and investors recognize the customary rights of millions of poor people who have lived on and worked these lands for centuries.”
In June 2011, I traveled to Zimbabwe…
Read MoreCuba: 53 Years After the Revolution
Note this excerpt from a story originally appearing in the Miami Herald: Embargo’s usefulness has run its course by Vicki Huddleston Monday March 10, 2008 – The Miami Herald “There can no longer be any doubt that our isolation of Cuba did not and cannot bring about the end of the revolution.” “More critically, a […]
Read MoreAfrica: To do for itself
Please note this excerpt from a recent story on Economonitor.com: WEF Davos: Sub-Saharan Africa – Next Growth Hub? Author: Maya Senussi · January 26th, 2012 “…At the current, early stage of development, Africa is missing the elements needed to boost its growth potential: investment in education and technology (agriculture and manufacturing), more inclusive employment, leadership […]
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