Africa: Not Just a Continent

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57697954363737863902009-07-22T01:19:57.396-04:00Africa: Not Just a ContinentAfrica is not just a continent - it is made of many different countries and peoples. <b>Not Just a Continent</b> is an outlet of information and commentary about these countries and peoples, Western media coverage of Africa, and development issues in general.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-52744603777212324512009-07-12T19:48:00.003-04:002009-07-12T20:05:18.001-04:002009-07-12T20:05:18.001-04:00Obama in Ghana

The uproar over President Obama's decision to visit Ghana instead of others on his first trip to Africa creates some paradoxical questions.Indeed, this is the administration that promises to engage countries (and their leaders) far more problematic than Nigeria and Kenya face-to-face.Will avoiding countries who are struggling with corruption on this visit, focusing instead on success stories like

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-72471393865453956582009-04-30T19:29:00.003-04:002009-04-30T19:40:44.240-04:002009-04-30T19:40:44.240-04:00Study: Africans More Genetically Diverse Than Rest of World Research Raises Questions About Accuracy of Ancestral Tracing for African Americans

"The study shows that single sources of data, whether from archaeology, oral history, genetics, or linguistic similarity are not sufficient to understand the complex history of an African region -- one can be transmitted without the others, and each has a different story to tell about the past."The study found that 71% of African American background is from the Niger-Kordofanian linguistic group,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-80984685932886114162009-03-15T22:26:00.004-04:002009-03-15T22:36:29.569-04:002009-03-15T22:36:29.569-04:00Pope XVI headed to Africa

The Pope's upcoming visit to the continent is sure to re-ignite the debate over whether Catholic teachings promote the spread of HIV/AIDS. From a NYTimes article about his upcoming trip:He also stated the Vatican’s position forbidding the use of condoms. “The traditional teaching of the church has proven to be the only fail-safe way to prevent the spread of H.I.V./AIDS,” Benedict said then,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-4650379011212748242009-03-09T23:35:00.003-04:002009-03-09T23:41:26.333-04:002009-03-09T23:41:26.333-04:00Guinea-Bissau: Do two wrongs this time make a right?

Was the tit-for-tat that eliminated a corrupt general and the President of Guinea-Bissau a good thing for the people of that country? In the Times article, a Western diplomat is quoted saying it's a good thing but Guinea-Bissau's neighbors are (rightfully) worried.Locals -- according to the article -- are pleased to complacent about the dual-assassination, so the question is, who knows best: GB,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-67173774728191142402009-03-02T16:28:00.006-05:002009-03-09T23:41:01.789-04:002009-03-09T23:41:01.789-04:00Death of a president, but not a coup?

It seems the president of Guinea-Bissau has been assassinated in a tit-for-tat for the death of the army chief days prior. But according to those who orchestrated his death, this was not a coup. Following an emergency Cabinet meeting on Monday, military spokesman Zamora Induta said top military brass told government officials "this was not a coup d'etat." "We reaffirmed our intention to respect

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-64106302794378006662008-11-29T19:18:00.003-05:002008-11-29T19:32:42.406-05:002008-11-29T19:32:42.406-05:00Ethics of New HIV/AIDS Prevention Model

(First of a series of posts leading up to and after World AIDS Day 2008.)A new mathematical model of HIV/AIDS prevention published in The Lancet and reported by SciDev.net "could slash the number of new infections because AIDS drugs lower the levels of virus in the body, making transmission much less likely. The authors estimate it could cut infection rates to less than one percent within 50

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-73238695519449150002008-11-27T23:01:00.005-05:002008-11-27T23:12:49.504-05:002008-11-27T23:12:49.504-05:00Mauritanian media hacked by their own government

Global Voices links to a Hack in the Box entry that claims independent internet media in Mauritania (and Tunisia?) is under attack by government-sponsored hacking. This is akin to Soviet efforts during the Cold War to jam RFE/RL and something that has become standard practice in China.As new media becomes open and more easily accessible throughout the continent, its supporters will have to look

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-22922287555305154022008-11-26T14:09:00.002-05:002008-11-26T14:10:06.524-05:002008-11-26T14:10:06.524-05:00Africa Education

Here's a decent collection of (mostly free) resources about Education in Africa.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-84539587571436896612008-11-21T18:42:00.003-05:002008-11-21T19:06:09.663-05:002008-11-21T19:06:09.663-05:00Will Commodities Prices Really Ignite an African Crisis?

Richard Rahn of the CATO Institute, writing in the Washington Times seems to think so. He argues that "the recent drop in oil and other commodity prices makes it almost a certainty that some unstable commodity-exporting nations will reach a crisis stage in the next few months," and puts Sudan and the Congo at the top of his list. He continues:High oil and commodity prices enabled not only real

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-73153627899629164542008-11-12T01:13:00.004-05:002008-11-12T01:37:08.735-05:002008-11-12T01:37:08.735-05:00More Tech Wars in Nigeria

MacWorld writes that Microsoft denies paying $400000 to a Nigerian government contractor to stop using open-source and free Linux in favor of Microsoft Windows in Nigerian classrooms. This is an ongoing controversy of little importance in the grand scheme of things except for a statement made by Thomas Hansen, regional manager for Microsoft (the title is, entertainingly, Microsoft West, East and

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-37185387966763604392008-11-10T03:44:00.002-05:002008-11-10T03:51:45.479-05:002008-11-10T03:51:45.479-05:00Less Beninoise women in gov't... but is it a problem?

When President Boni Yayi appointed his new government on Oct. 22, he reduced the percentage of women ministers from 23 percent -- there were previously six women in a 26-strong cabinet -- to just 13 percent.The tone of this piece from Cotonou via Johannesburg media is that a reduction in the number of women in the cabinet of Benin is a bad sign or somehow regressive. It's a mistake in logic that

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-71071875428166858472008-11-07T21:34:00.003-05:002008-11-08T02:49:00.478-05:002008-11-08T02:49:00.478-05:00African Leaders take Steps to Resolve Congo Crisis

The Guardian reports today that an emergency summit by African leaders has decided to send peacekeeping troops to the DRC. This is an extraordinary show of decisive action from a group often accused of demanding more responsibility for the continent's security but not prepared or able to take any action.UN Secretary Ban-ki Moon attended the summit with Olesegun Obasanjo, former Nigerian president

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-65441887500256669292008-11-06T15:15:00.007-05:002008-11-06T16:38:30.489-05:002008-11-06T16:38:30.489-05:00US Election: African Response Roundup

African media and leaders are on fire with enthusiasm for Obama's win. Here's a round-up of stories from African sources and American sources reporting on Africa:Francophone responses printed in an article from Jeune Afrique include Congolese president Sassou Nguesso: "The image of Jesse Jackson crying turns the world upside-down, and we experienced the moment with great emotion." Malian

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-47834259024401887182008-11-05T22:09:00.003-05:002008-11-05T22:12:08.965-05:002008-11-05T22:12:08.965-05:00Sarah Palin Thought Africa Was A Country, Not A Continent

Very apropos to this blog is this entry and Youtube video about the almost-VP. Let's all let out a collective sigh of relief!

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-68080004696282118232008-11-05T01:55:00.003-05:002008-11-05T22:11:24.068-05:002008-11-05T22:11:24.068-05:00Peace Corps Back to Rwanda

Movement forward on Peace Corps going back to Rwanda.I'd like to get involved in this.

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-80745013491651361232008-11-03T20:57:00.004-05:002008-11-03T21:06:34.672-05:002008-11-03T21:06:34.672-05:00Congo Erupts Again

The Christian Science Monitor has a good, brief explanation of the link between a recent surge in rebel activity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the mineral riches in the affected region.One mineral exporter remarks, "Until the Congo government wakes up and starts paying people [especially government employees a decent wage, to remove the incentive in illegal mineral trading] – it

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-57413125651325884962008-10-31T03:17:00.004-04:002008-10-31T03:30:10.063-04:002008-10-31T03:30:10.063-04:00Carrots vs Sticks in the West African War on Drugs

The UN reports that cannabis farming is on the rise in places like Liberia where farmers stand to profit quickly from the easily produced crop. What I find most surprising is that only a small percentage of the earnings from the illicit agriculture is from Europe or non-West African buyers. For an estimated $600m US industry, this suggests that there are a lot more people looking for it than I

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-90988339681795139492008-10-27T21:11:00.004-04:002008-10-27T21:35:38.766-04:002008-10-27T21:35:38.766-04:00Saharawis Make the Most of Refugee Status

Radio Netherlands via Mohamed Brahim's blog (Laayoune):It is in the area of education that the Saharawi exiles have shown themselves to be most visionary. In fact, this population of 200,000 refugees represents one of the best-educated people in Africa, despite the fact that they were almost totally illiterate when they were forced into exile, and despite their lack of educational resources in

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-60460245023882648482008-10-27T02:33:00.002-04:002008-10-27T02:37:00.209-04:002008-10-27T02:37:00.209-04:00I Want an Obama

News today in the FT discusses how Kenyans are ramping up for increased tourism surrounding the US election. It amazes me that of all the amazing things about Kenya, people would be driven to visit there because of its ancestral link to Barack Obama. As long as efforts are made to keep Obama's grandmother and extended family safe, it certainly couldn't hurt Kenya's prospects by increasing

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-69040987285965997202008-10-26T02:08:00.002-04:002008-10-26T02:31:26.385-04:002008-10-26T02:31:26.385-04:00Reparations Debate Goes to Africa

The linked article from a Johannesburg press service discusses a visit by Ismail Rashid, a Sierra Leonean professor of African History at New York's Vassar College, to Freetown. He spoke to a gathering of socialists about reparations owed to Africa by the West, saying:Asking for reparations is no favour demanded from the west. It is our right because through slavery, the West stole our labour,

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-27990641505949475642008-10-24T10:48:00.003-04:002008-10-24T10:53:06.361-04:002008-10-24T10:53:06.361-04:00Texting for Testing

A great new initiative in South Africa has resulted in a fourfold increase in the number of people calling a help center to get tested for HIV. With text messaging so cheap when you get the right corporate support (i.e. there is little cost for a company to donate a lot), it is a great example of how technology can be used to massively scale the sharing of vital information -- information that

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-48885973859920321872008-10-22T01:55:00.002-04:002008-10-22T01:59:31.546-04:002008-10-22T01:59:31.546-04:00Quick Recovery for Liberia

From the Financial Times:Liberia, which was rated as recording the fastest gains, is emerging from the legacy of a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who became Africa’s first female elected head of state in 2005, has won the support of donors for her plans to boost economic growth and fight corruption.The World Bank and International Monetary Fund cleared

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-9879928250486832382008-10-21T01:31:00.004-04:002008-10-21T01:39:57.740-04:002008-10-21T01:39:57.740-04:00Finally Enough

The Washington Post has placed enough importance on the situation in Zimbabwe to merit an editorial urging African and Western leaders essentially to abandon intervention efforts and allow the collapse of Zimbabwe do finish off Mr. Mugabe.It is a "modest proposal" solution to say the least, and one can only hope for a quick collapse and swift recovery under a Tsvangirai opposition government for

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-15535466694134901802008-10-20T05:44:00.006-04:002008-10-20T06:48:52.197-04:002008-10-20T06:48:52.197-04:00Drill, Nigeria, Drill!

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is reforming how oil business is done in the country while outside oil companies are complaining that their profits will suffer due to the reforms. While I believe Africa is a prime source of alternative energy and a great place to make such investments, there is no stopping the thirsty quest for more oil by foreign interests.If Nigerian oil is going to supply

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5769795436373786390.post-8214085712092943882008-10-16T19:08:00.003-04:002008-10-16T19:25:56.230-04:002008-10-16T19:25:56.230-04:00Cooperating with Defense for Relief

One thing I've been reflecting on a lot lately is the role of AFRICOM, which opened its doors officially at the end of last month. While the idea of the US military taking more of a preventive role in the world is appealing, like many of my friends outside of the US, I'm suspicious of its true motives. Even if those concerns subsided to US citizens like me, that outsiders remain cynical would

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03778182554226271814noreply@blogger.com0