By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Pope Francis has added his voice to calls by the bishops of Cameroon for the release of five priests, a religious sister, a cook, a catechist and a 15-year-old girl kidnapped in southwest Cameroon, where a civil war has been raging between the French and […]
African Ministers Commit to Fighting Pollution, Climate Change, Loss of Nature
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The 18th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) closed with environment ministers from 54 African countries adopting a series of decisions and key messages to tackle climate change, the loss of nature, pollution and waste, including the elimination of open dumping […]
Namibian Leader in Bitter Feud Over Colonialism with SWAPO Critics
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — At a recent meeting of the SWAPO Party Youth League in Ongwediva, Namibian President Hage Geingob took the offensive, attacking his critics for dismissing the successes of the SWAPO party. “SWAPO is not dying, and party members should tell those who think so to go […]
Zimbabwean Novelist’s New Book – ‘A Brilliant Postcolonial Fable’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Zimbabwean novelist NoViolet Bulawayo is one of six finalists for the Booker Prize, the renowned British literary award, with a post-colonial fable resembling the home city that provides half of her pen name; the other half, NoViolet, links the Ndebele word for “with” to the […]
South African Diamond Mine Dam Collapses, Killing Three and Injuring 40
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — A mine wall at the former De Beers diamond mine in South Africa’s Free State Province collapsed on September 10-11, killing at least three people and injuring another 40. Nine houses were swept away in a flash flood, according to the Bloomberg news service. The […]
Queen Elizabeth’s Death Stirs Mixed Emotions in Africa
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The passing of Queen Elizabeth II has not gone unremarked in Africa, where local television and radio stations interrupted normal broadcasting in order to relay events happening in the United Kingdom. Across the world, nations are paying tribute to the 96-year-old monarch. US President Joe […]
UN Agency Slates Clean-up of Nigeria’s Most Polluted Region
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — There were high hopes for a one-billion-dollar clean-up of Nigeria’s most polluted region of Ogoniland in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, the third largest mangrove ecosystem in the world when it got off the ground in 2019. It would address the greasy rainbow sheen over the […]
South Africa’s Nature Preserve Saved from Risky Oil Drilling
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | PRETORIA (IDN) — Energy giant Shell Global suffered a major setback in its fight for prospecting rights, overstepping the needs of rural communities seeking to protect whales and other marine life and keeping their coastline safe from oil spills and other dangers. A panel of South […]
Russian Mercenaries May Have Also Killed Hundreds of Africans
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The Wagner Group, a Kremlin-affiliated private military contractor, is playing a central role in the rising levels of violence against civilians across Africa, especially in the Central African Republic and Mali, according to records newly seen by The New York Times. The Wagner Group, which […]
Tigray: After the Calm, A Possible Storm
Viewpoint by René Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens GENEVA (IDN) — On August 26, 2022, there was the bombing by Ethiopian federal troops of a primary school in Mekelle—the capital city of the Tigray province, which had a population of about 500,000 before the fighting began. It is not clear if the attack brings […]