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Development | Africa

 

Ethiopia's Problematic Past and Future Prospects


Ethiopian President Woldegiorgis Girma

Ethiopia is better known for recurring droughts and famines, a protracted civil conflict and a border war with Eritrea. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. A large percentage of the population live in absolute poverty.

   And yet there is more to this Eastern African state. Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the world’s oldest continuous civilisations – at least 2,000 years. It was one of the fifty-one original members of the United Nations (UN).

   The Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa hosts the headquarters of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and of the African Union – formerly the Organisation of African Unity, of which Ethiopia was the principal founder.

   Besides, the country’s present head is a man fondly known as Lieutenant Girma who survived working under three totally opposing regimes in Ethiopia.

 

Development

Eckhard Deutscher

‘China Interested In Sustainable Forms Of Cooperation With Africa’

Instead of indulging in China bashing, the major western industrial nations should listen to China and its partners in Africa and elsewhere, says Eckhard Deutscher, the new head of the influential Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

   DAC is an important forum for the bilateral donors clubbed together in the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 25 of its 30 rich members have given hundreds of billions of dollars as official development assistance over the past four decades.

'How the MDGs Could Curtail Development'


Inge Kaul

Some of the ways in which the MDGs are being pushed could actually limit development, says Inge Kaul, former director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Office of Development Studies.

'Listen to the Rural Poor'

The world's rural poor are hardest hit by climate change. But their concerns do not draw the focus of public debate, says Lennart Båge, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome.

The Poor Also Need Technology

A new report by the United Nations challenges the widespread view in the industrialised countries that science and technology are an exclusive domain of the rich.

 

Climate Change

Forward, Hopefully Past the Hurdles


Yvo de Boer
- UNFCCC -

Despite scepticism about the 'Bali roadmap', the international community has come a long way in hammering out a truly global response to the serious threat posed by climate change. But the global climate diplomacy is faced with several hurdles that must be overcome in the next two years. These involve changing the hearts and minds of the ruling elite in both the developed and developing countries.

Bali Conference "Very Much A Make Or A Break"

International negotiations in Bali are crucial for saving our planet from the devastating effects of global warming, says Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

 

Migration

Two Kinds of Canadians

The Canadian passport looks the same for all -- until you open it. Once you do you will find two kinds of pictures; those of Canadian citizens that the Canadian government trusts, and those of Canadian citizens that the government does not.

Development To Centre-Stage in Migration Debate

Migration is a global and growing phenomenon, whose effects are felt in the North as well as in the South, driven by increased globalization and demographic changes, according to experts gathered at the first Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) last July in Brussels.

Remittances in Focus

Realising the importance and impact of migration from the developing to the developed world, the UN General Assembly organised last September a High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development.

 

Other Global Issues

Connecting The Many Undersea Cut Cable Dots - 9 or More?

The last week of January saw a spate of unexplained, cut, undersea communications cables that severely disrupted communications in many countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. As I shall show, the total numbers of cut cables remain in question, but likely numbered as many as eight, and maybe nine or more.

Nuclear Suppliers Drop Opposition to US-India Deal

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nicholas Burns put it in terms of touching tenderness. Washington, he said on August 4, would act as "India's shepherd" at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as the next major step toward formalizing the US-India nuclear deal.

Drug Situation Stable but Fragile | What After the Mega Circus?

Canada + USA

 

Europe

EU-India Ties Growing


EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner

The 27-nation bloc of European countries constituting the European Union (EU) is keen to lend fresh impetus to political and economic relations with India. The EU-India summit to be held in New Delhi on 30th November will provide an appropriate framework for the purpose.

European Commission Concerned About Bangladesh

The European Commission, executive arm of the 27-country European Union (EU), has taken Bangladesh to task for its political system that is dominated by confrontation. In a  document spelling out relations with the South Asian country in the next six years, the Commission criticises the lack of good governance and the rule of law. But it lauds improvements under way in different walks of social and political life.

EU Aid Failing to Address Poverty

European Union aid programmes do not contribute adequately to global efforts to alleviate poverty, says a new report. All eight of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) relate to health and education.

 

Asia

Pakistan's Garrison State Legacy

In his seminal work, The Garrison State: The Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947 (New Delhi and London: Sage Publications, 2005) Tan Tai Yong, a prominent historian of the colonial Punjab era, at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore advances the thesis that Pakistan, not India, is the heir to the garrison state legacy of British colonial rule.

Lessons in a King's Death

The death at 92 of the former king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, is yet another sad loss on Afghan soil this year. Mr. Zahir Shah's 40-year reign is remembered for promoting women's rights, bringing democracy in the form of a constitutional monarchy and providing Afghanistan's longest modern period of peace.

The Unpunished Crime

Is it not a travesty of justice that those responsible for the Babri Masjid demolition should go unpunished while Sanjay is sentenced to life-long suffering for what even the court considers only a “lapse”?

Indians Fished in Troubled Lankan Waters

Indian fishermen belonging to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu often fall victims in the Sri Lanka ethnic conflict.  But the question is whether the Indian fishermen will gain any advantage in the fight between the Tamil militant groups and the Sri Lankan government forces in the island nation.

Lessons of the Red Mosque Massacre: The Role of the Military

As the dust from the Red Mosque slowly settles on the ground and the decapitated body parts of Jamia Hafsa’s female students are sullenly picked up from the smoking rubble, the prevailing mood in Pakistan is anything but jubilant, writes Sheharyar Shaikh.

Beyond the Lal Masjid Showdown

The ultimate showdown at Islamabad's Lal Masjid took place on July 11 when the government ordered a concerted assault on the militants barricading inside. For several months now the Ghazi brothers had made headline news as the pivot of a growing Islamist insurgency against President Musharraf and his government, writes Ishtiaq Ahmed.

Copyright © Globalom Media 2007-2008

Editor: Ramesh Jaura | Publisher: Globalom Media

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