NEWSBRIEFS

Photo: Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba. Credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office of Gabon.

Whereabouts of Ailing Gabonese President Being Debated

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - Gabonese President Ali Bongo is receiving medical treatment in London after his health deteriorated during a visit to the city, according to people familiar with the matter.

But news of the absent president was immediately contradicted in an official press release this week in a pattern common to many ailing leaders. The leader of this oil-producing country is merely spending time at his London residence while on a short period of leave, the official statement read. He is undergoing routine medical checks and will soon return to Gabon.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 September 2019

Photo: Joan Nyanyuki, feminist critic of President Musevini. Credit: Amnesty International

Uganda Detains Feminist for ‘Cyberharassment’ of President

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A prominent university lecturer, poet and gender rights activist has been ordered to serve nine more months in prison for the 'crime' of criticizing President Yoweri Museveni on Facebook.

The sentence outraged rights activists. Joan Nyanyuki, director for East Africa at Amnesty International said: “This verdict flies in the face of Uganda’s obligations to uphold the right to freedom of expression. It demonstrates the depths of the government’s intolerance of criticism.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 August 2019

Photo source: Website of Bomet County in Kenya

ACP Honours Former President of Its Parliamentary Assembly

By ACP Press

BRUSSELS (IDN) – On behalf of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the Secretariat, Secretary General Dr. Patrick I. Gomes conveyed his deepest condolences to the family and friends, the Government and People of the Republic of Kenya, particularly the people of Bomet County following the death of their Governor, Dr. Joyce Laboso, on July 29, 2019.

: Europe Editor; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 31 July 2019

Burkina Faso Orders Stiff Prison Term For 'Fake News'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - A law adopted on June 21 but still awaiting presidential approval would send writers to jail for up to 10 years’ jail for “demoralizing the defense and security forces of Burkina Faso.”

A fine of up to $3,500 would be imposed for publishing what the government called “fake news information compromising security operations, false information about rights abuses or destruction of property, or images and audio from a “terrorist” attack.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 July 2019

Photo: Peter Akmtter is a construction worker on one of the high-rise buildings shooting up in Ghana’s capital, Accra. He and many of the workers live with their families in makeshift houses on or close to the building-sites. Credit: Lotte Ærsøe/Oxfam IBIS

West Africa Inequality Crisis Called Extreme in New Report

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – "Inequality has reached extreme levels in West Africa, and today the wealthiest 1 per cent of West Africans own more than everyone else in the region combined." That was the finding in a new report published by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI).

According to the "West Africa Inequality Crisis" report, six of the ten fastest-growing economies in Africa were in West Africa, with Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal among the world's 10 fastest-growing economies.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 July 2019

Photo: Botswanans celebrate the high court’s decision decriminalizing homosexuality. Credit: LEGABIBO (Lesbians, Gays & Bisexuals of Botswana) via Facebook.

A Colonial-Era Law Banning Same-Sex Relations Is Defeated

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – If a democratic society is characterized by “tolerance, diversity and open-mindedness,” three countries in Africa have now reached that pinnacle.

Botswana joined Angola and Mozambique in de-criminalizing same-sex relations in June 2019. High Court Justice Michael Lebruru, in his defining decision, added: “human dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalized.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 July 2019

Photo: The Bangladeshi migrants were part of a 75-strong group stuck onboard a tugboat for weeks before being taken to Tunisia. Photograph: Courtesy of Forum Tunisien pour les Droits Economiques et Sociaux. Source: The Guardian.

Tunisia Forces Bangladeshi Migrants to Return Home

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

New York (IDN) – A shipload of desperate Bangladeshi migrants was told to turn the boat around and go home by Tunisian officials or be deprived of food, water and medicines. The migrants, trapped on a merchant ship off Tunisia for three weeks, were sent back to their home country against their will, according to relatives.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an intergovernmental organization linked to the United Nations, said the Bangladeshis “wished to return home”.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 June 2019

Photo: Close up of drying cocoa beans. CC BY 2.0

African Cocoa Growers Demand Better Prices or No Sale!

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Strike! That’s the sound of the world's top two producers of cocoa who say they are suspending their sales for better prices.

The governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana are trying this time-honored strategy to address the imbalance between farmers’ income and money made by foreign commodity markets who scoop up most of the profit.

If the strategy sounds familiar, it’s the same one described in the Greek play Lysistrata where the women withheld affection from their husbands in order to secure peace and end the Peloponnesian War.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 June 2019

Photo: Cameroon opposition leader Maurice Kamto. Credit: journalducameroun.com

Growing Opposition to Cameroon President Paul Biya

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | YAOUNDE (IDN) – Facing a growing pro-democracy movement, Cameroon is resorting to an old formula – namely unleashing government power in the form of threats, arrests and excessive force.

Hundreds of supporters of Maurice Kamto, leader of the opposition Cameroon Resistance Movement, have been filling the streets, demanding his release from detention but were detained themselves by security forces on June 8, 2019. According to his lawyer, Kamto could be charged with: insurrection, hostility against the homeland, criminal association, threats to public order, rebellion, group rebellion, and inciting insurrection.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 June 2019

Photo: Agricultural countryside in Kenya with surrounding hills of Kapsowar with Mt. Kipkinurr in background. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Kenya ‘Hanging at the Edge of a Debt Trap’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Lending institutions fear that Kenya’s foot may be stuck on the debt pedal with the latest loan of USD 750 million from the World Bank to be paid over 30 years. Several experts and players in the financial sector do not think all is well.

The Central Bank, which is the government’s banker, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) all say Kenya’s debt position is getting to dangerous levels and the country must engage a lower gear before it is too late.