By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Mahamat-Saleh Haroun was seven years old when he first heard that a newborn baby was found dead in the trash. A few weeks later, another baby was similarly found. Tragically, this was nothing out of the ordinary in a repressive society that denied women the […]
New Round of Cultural Festivals Planned in West Africa Despite Sanctions
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Festival season is around the corner in West Africa despite ongoing insurgencies that have hurt tourism. The region has long been known for its music, dance and cultural shows, among them the Amani festival in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which opened on Febuary […]
African Troops Heading for Guinea Bissau After Failed Coup Linked to Narcos
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — ECOWAS, a West African trade union, has voted to send troops to the coastal nation of Guinea Bissau after unidentified coup plotters brazenly threatened the lives of government leaders. While the identity of the coup plotters is still unknown, the nation’s president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, […]
Burkina Faso Coup Leader Promises Return to Constitutional Order
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — In his first speech to the nation since the overthrow of President Roch Kabore, the new military leader of Burkina Faso promised a return to the normal constitutional order “when the conditions are right”. Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, who led the ouster of President Kaboré, […]
Exploited Kenyan Tealeaf Pickers to Get Their Day in Court
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — After years of seeing their complaints stalled, postponed, and thrown out of court, some 700 Kenyan plantation workers have finally won their bid to sue a British-based tea company for imposing work conditions that they say caused crippling physical harm while getting paid poverty wages […]
A Superhighway Paves Over a Nairobi Slum
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — An ambitious road construction project in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has demolished some 13,000 homes in the informal housing of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, technically a slum, ignoring human rights and leaving some 40,000 people homeless, says Diana Gichengo of Amnesty International Kenya. Schools, businesses and homes […]
The Anti-Colonial Roots of Relations Between Cuba and Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW (IDN) — Many Africans remember Fidel Castro and Ernesto Guevara, internationalist symbols in the struggles for the independence of the peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean. Africa and Cuba have maintained cordial relations for decades, before and after the Cold War.
Mali’s Ex-President Keita Dies as International Sanctions Bite
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Former President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, removed from power by military officers, has died in his home in the capital, Bamako, at the age of 76. His death was confirmed on Twitter by Abdoulaye Diop, a former minister of foreign affairs, and by the […]
Nkrumah’s Prison Cap Left an Indelible Memory With ‘MLK’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in anguish over the extreme violence displayed at the aftermath of the legendary Montgomery bus boycott, found solace in Ghana which he visited with his wife Coretta Scott King at the invitation of the newly installed Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah. […]
UN Chief Urges End to Conflict in Ethiopia
By Caroline Mwanga NEW YORK (IDN) — The UN Secretary-General António Guterres is deeply concerned about the impact the conflict continues to have on civilians in Ethiopia. He said he was deeply saddened by reports that more than 50 civilians were killed and injured in an airstrike in northern Ethiopia, on January 7.