GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS IMF Steps Up Help to Africa to Combat Crisis May 22, 2009 New lending to Africa tops $1.5 billion this year, double 2008 Country limits on loan access doubled IMF presses for additional concessional financing for the continent The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is stepping up its help to Africa to combat [...]
In Somalia, the U.S. government is determined to support the policy of political reconciliation spearheaded by the beleaguered Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told Congress May 20. Speaking two weeks after his confirmation by the Senate, Carson told the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs that [...]
South Africa has appointed a relatively unknown police officer to head its new serious crimes agency that replaced the elite Scorpions unit. Deputy police chief of the Western Cape province, Anwa Dramat, will head the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation when it launches in July. The Scorpions were disbanded after its corruption investigation of ANC [...]
US President Barack Obama is to make a week-long foreign tour in July that will include Russia, Italy and Ghana, the White House says. Mr Obama will be in Moscow on 6-8 July for talks that are expected to cover efforts to reduce nuclear stockpiles and non-proliferation. From Russia he will head to the Group [...]
Sudan has accused Chad of carrying out air raids inside its territory, and said it was assessing how to respond. One Sudanese official described the alleged raids as an act of war and said there had been casualties – though another official said no-one was hurt. The accusation comes 10 days after Chad said Sudan [...]
The problem is straightforward: more than nine million children die each year in Africa. That is the number of people in the entire state of New Jersey. African kids die from infectious diseases such as HIV, TB, malaria, respiratory illnesses, diarrhea, worms, parasites, and vaccine-preventable diseases, malnutrition and — far too often – during childbirth [...]
AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s number three producer, swung into profit in the first quarter of this year on the back of a higher gold price, and said it would trim its hedge book even further. AngloGold’s earnings came bang in line with market consensus – it reported adjusted headline earnings of US$150 million, or US$0.42 [...]
Madagascar’s ousted president hopes his country’s neighbors will ensure his island nation known for its rare wildlife will gain fame as an example of Africa’s determination not to let progress toward democracy be reversed. “The African countries must respect democracy and restore the rule of law,” Marc Ravalomanana told The Associated Press in Johannesburg, where [...]
The US says it is seriously concerned by reports Eritrea is supplying arms to foreign fighters and Islamic hardliners fighting government forces in Somalia. “This as a disturbing development,” President Barack Obama’s top official on Africa, Jonnie Carson, told the BBC. Eritrea denies that any involvement in arming or financing Islamist militants trying to overthrow [...]
A white Kenyan aristocrat convicted of the manslaughter of a black poacher on his estate in 2006 has been sentenced to eight months in prison. The judge told a packed High Court in Nairobi he had decided to give Thomas Cholmondeley a light sentence. The Eton-educated 40-year-old has spent the last three years in jail. [...]