Africa

Photo: The Press Union of Liberia President Charles Coffey, Sr. Credit: Front Page of Africa

Press Freedom Becoming Increasingly Vulnerable in Liberia

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | MONROVIA (IDN) – Liberia’s new government under President George Weah is not having a honeymoon with the media though he has endeavoured to reassure journalists that they would have a "200 percent freedom of expression and press freedom under my government".

The one-time soccer star, who succeeded Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the country's first peaceful change of power in seven decades in January 2018, is accused of allowing the press to be muzzled.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 April 2018

Photo: Omoyele Sowore | Credit: Daily Post Nigeria

A Journalist Joins the Presidential Race in Nigeria

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LAGOS (IDN) – Next year’s race for the presidency in Nigeria just got a lot more interesting as a crusading journalist – an upstart known for exposing the millions and billions stolen by a national “loot-ocracy” – announced his candidacy for the nation’s top job.

As news spread that the journalist, Omoyele Sowore, was testing the waters for national office, President Muhammadu Buhari, age 75, reminded Nigerians that he too would be a candidate, ending months of speculation that the President might step down.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 April 2018

Photo: Refugees and migrants held captive by smugglers in deplorable conditions in Libya. Credit: UNHCR

Embattled Netanyahu Aids Trafficking Refugee Route to Slavery in Libya

By Mirjam van Reisen and Gilad Liberman

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The previous two days have been rather turbulent in Israel's policy towards African refugees seeking asylum. On April 2, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a halt to deportations to Rwanda, believed to be the "third-country" he had mentioned for the first time, while announcing a new agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resettle half of Israel's refugees in western countries and absorb the other half.

Within 24 hours, on April 3, he “froze” the deal. The EU office in Israel tweeted: “Guess it's just one of those days. At 20:57 you congratulate #Israel & @refugees on their agreement, at 21:46 you like @IsraelMFA announcement on the deal, at 22:50 the PM suspends it and blames, among others, #EU (where #UNHCR hoped to resettle significant number of refugees).”

: Mirjam van Reisen; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 04 April 2018

Photo: African Asylum seekers protesting against Israel's decision. Credit: chikaoduahblog

Surprise at Netanyahu's Rejection of Asylum for Africans

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Thousands of African asylum seekers who reached Israel after dangerous voyages may have lost their last best hope to be released and sent to western countries or resettled in Israel after members of the Israeli coalition government trashed a negotiated asylum plan.

A landmark agreement negotiated with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had been announced only hours before it was pulled off the table. According to The Jerusalem Post, the plan was rejected by the Israeli cabinet, members of the governing coalition, the culture minister and the education minister who said “granting legal status to 16,000 infiltrators will turn Israel into a paradise for infiltrators”.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 03 April 2018

Pain And Shock At Passing Of Winnie Madikizela Mandela

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - Tributes to anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela Mandela have been filling the South African radio air waves as news of her untimely passing on April 2 reached the far corners of the nation and the continent.

Heart-rending classics from the American songbook – from The Song for Mama by Boyz to Men to Donny Hathaway’s A Song for You – expressed the somber mood in the nation while social media filled with remembrances by those whose lives she touched – sometimes with a single word, sometimes with a long eulogy.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 April 2018

Trump Ends Deportation Protection for Liberians in the U.S.

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | MONROVIA (IDN) – Liberians living in the U.S. since a devastating civil war that took 250,000 lives from 1989 until 1997 are now in the crosshairs of the current Trump administration which has terminated their protected status with effect from March 31, 2019.

Some five thousand Liberians have been eligible for either Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) since March 1991, allowing them to remain in the United States. But the total number of Liberians in the U.S. is estimated at 100,000.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 30 March 2018

Photo: Members of the women's cooperative use climate-resilient organic compost and biopesticides in their farm. Credit: UN Women

Women Farmers in Africa Fight Impact of Climate Change

By Ronald Joshua

NEW YORK | BAMAKO (IDN) – Fatou Dembele is a farmer in landlocked Mali, where half of the population engaged in agriculture are women. Agriculture is a key sector to lift women out of poverty. But the increasing degradation of land and natural resources caused by climate change is making women more vulnerable.

Therefore when Dembele’s plants first started dying, she thought the plot of land was ruined, and her livelihood was at risk. “We thought the land was sick. We didn’t know that there were live parasites that attacked the roots of the plants and could kill them,” says Dembele.

: Ronald Joshua; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 March 2018

Social activities with NGOs - GBSH Consult - Johannesburg (South Africa)

The Role of NGOs in Africa: Are They a Force for Good?

By Sally Matthews

Dr. Sally Matthews is Senior Lecturer in Politics, Rhodes University, South Africa. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Non-governmental organisations have become key actors in responding to poverty and related suffering. In Africa, NGOs play a leading role in providing health care and education.

The non-profit sector continues to grow rapidly in Africa and around the world. In South Africa alone, there are more than 100,000 registered non-profit organisations and in Kenya the number of NGOs grew by over 400% between 1997 and 2006. And for most observers, they seem to be well-intentioned actors who do a lot of good on the continent.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 March 2018

Photo: Australian High Commission in Pretoria. CC BY 3.0

White Australians Debate Fast-Track Visas for Afrikaners Fleeing Land Reform

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Australia’s national security minister has proposed fast-tracking immigrant visas for white South Africans facing "horrific circumstances" under Cyril Ramaphosa, the country's President since February 15, 2018. He was elected head of the African National Congress in December 2017.

Barely a month into his presidency, Ramaphosa vowed to speed up the seizure of land from white owners and turn the properties over to blacks. "This original sin that was committed when our country was colonized must be resolved in a way that will take South Africa forward," he declared.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 March 2018

Asylum-Seeking Mother and 7-Year-Old Daughter Reunited

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – After an episode described as both cruel and horrific, an asylum-seeking mother and her daughter have been reunited in Chicago. The daughter, who just turned 7, had been held thousands of miles apart from her mother since November 2017.

According to an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing the family, the mother and child fell into each other's arms crying in a moment of tremendous emotion upon meeting after so much time apart.