Category: THE WORLD

By Kizito Makoye Shigela

LUNYANYWI, Tanzania (ACP-IDN) – At a remote ward in Tanzania’s southern highlands, the entire village has gathered to celebrate the birth of a new member of their community.

Antonia Kisena (38) and her husband Moses (45) smile broadly as they welcome a baby boy they have named Anold. “My husband always wished to get a baby boy this time around, thank God it happened just like that,” says Kisena happily.

In most rural communities like this, the birth of a baby boy is a cause for celebration, because it is seen as a blessing to the community. Every time a baby boy is born, the villagers – young and old – must come together to welcome him by singing and performing traditional rituals. “It’s our tradition, you cannot simply get away from it,” says Kisena.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – Morocco has agreed to host the Africa Regional coordination Unit of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) with a view to providing the Bonn-based secretariat with vital support services that the Parties to the Convention need to effectively implement the Convention in Africa.

The announcement to this effect was made on November 14 by Abdeladim Lhafi, Morocco’s High Commissioner for Water and Forests and the Fight against Desertification and Commissioner of the 22nd session of Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Conference (COP22), from November 7 to 18 in Marrakech.

By Ronald Joshua

KIGALI (IDN | GIN | The New Times) – Media practitioners from around the continent have called for more emphasis on principles of independence, fairness and accountability as prime kits to tell the African story through the African media.

Driven by the concept of ‘Africa that we want’ motto through the ‘Africa Media We Want’ mantra, the call was made when journalists gathered in Kigali, Rwanda, on November 7, for the Africa Information Day, which was celebrated in parallel with the eighth National Media Dialogue.

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Africans were tweeting and messaging about the surprise outcome of U.S. elections that left many around world worried for the future. Kenyan-American and distinguished professor Makau Mutua was “quarterbacking” as a “day after” couch potato who second-guesses why his team lost.

“Hillary Clinton was defeated by “white-lash”, as opposed to “white backlash”, he wrote, an opinion shared with CNN analyst Van Jones, the African-American Harvard-educated lawyer,

By Kizito Makoye Shigela

DAR ES SALAAM (ACP-IDN) – Taxi driver Mwajuma Ramadhani adeptly steers her way through the crowded streets of the bustling Kariakoo business hub in Dar es Salaam. Suddenly, a motorcycle rider with two passengers cuts in, causing her to swerve abruptly to the right.

“You would have caused an accident had I not been careful,” she tells the rider, while he scowls at her, visibly shaken.

“I face these challenges almost every day,” says Ramadhani, hooting loudly at the rider. “I often ignore reckless riders like him. Just because it’s a woman behind the wheel, he’s trying to take advantage.”

By Kingsley Ighobor*

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) – For environmentalists and development experts, green is not just a colour; it also refers to activities that benefit the environment – the careful use of the earth’s finite resources.

Africa’s policy wonks are already on the green bandwagon, having identified “green industrialization” as the Holy Grail of the continent’s socioeconomic transformation. They believe infusing green initiatives into value-chain activities – during the sourcing and processing of raw materials, and the marketing and selling of finished products to customers – can cure economic stagnation.