By Jeffrey Moyo MUSINA, South Africa (IDN) – His three teenage children play home-made paper ball on the dusty streets of Musina, exercise books scattered on the veranda of their rented home in the South African border town with Zimbabwe. Yet Gerald Gava, the children’s 47-year old father, lies on a reed mat spread on […]
Spreading the Seeds of Multiculturalism: A Moroccan Perspective
By Jacqueline Skalski-Fouts VIRGINIA, USA (IDN) – Since early June, an estimated 15 to 26 million people across the United States have participated in protests against the death of George Floyd and the persistence of systematic racism in America, making it one of the largest movements in the country’s history. Recent trends have shown that […]
Dirty Oil Floods Pristine African Beach in Major Spill
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – An Indian Ocean island nation, beloved for its sandy beaches, pristine lagoons and reefs, its tropical climate and its multi-ethnic population, has become another world treasure soiled by the relentless trade in oil, shipped by tankers, unsafe at any speed. The ship that ran aground […]
Muslim Songwriter Facing Death Penalty for Blasphemy Revives Bitter Debate in Nigeria
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Death sentences are rare in northern Nigeria where Sharia law is implemented alongside secular law in most states. But the recent sentence of a 22-year-old singer to die by hanging has revived an emotional debate in the West African nation. An upper Sharia court in […]
Democracy-Seeking Opposition Prepares To Fight ‘Coups’ In Two African States
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Citizen activists in two West African countries, Ivory Coast and Guinea, are rallying their troops on social media to defend the constitutional limit of two terms which current office-holding presidents seem determined to defy. In Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, police have been firing […]
Russia Sees Neocolonialism as An Investment Barrier in Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) – Russia not only supported African countries in liberating themselves from the yoke of colonialism and attaining political independence but also facilitated in the UN General Assembly adopting in 1960 the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. It’s a landmark document which states that […]
South Africa Struggles To Contain Exploding Rate of Coronavirus Infections
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – South Africa, with a population of about 58 million, has the fifth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. It has become the country with the highest number of infections on the continent. Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize […]
Bronx Zoo Issues Apology for Displaying African Man In Cage
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – ‘Black Lives Matter’ can take credit for the scores of apologies from around the world for racist statues, discriminatory corporate policies and now from the Bronx Zoo for its cruel and racist display of an African man in a cage in 1906. “In the name […]
Zimbabwe To Pay White Farmers for Lands Taken Under Mugabe
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – “The compensation of land is a settled issue, and we are not revisiting it.” Those were the words of government spokesman Nick Mangwana defending a $3.5 billion agreement to compensate white farmers whose properties were confiscated by the Mugabe regime to be redistributed to the […]
Tanzania’s Ex-President and Peacemaker Mkapa Dies of Malaria
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – Flags are being flown at half-mast for the former Tanzanian president, Benjamin William Mkapa, who passed away on July 24 after a bout of malaria. He was 81. He died in the early hours of July 24 while receiving treatment at […]