BBC
Seventeen pregnant teenage girls and 11 babies have been rescued from a house in Nigeria’s south-eastern Imo state, police have said.
They say they are looking for a woman suspected of planning to sell the babies.
“The girls claimed they were fed once a day and were not allowed to leave the home,” said spokeswoman Joy Elomoko. Continue reading
Independent catholic News
By: John Newton
Cardinal John Onaiyekan
Nigeria’s leading bishop has told the European Parliament and other politicians that his country is being jeopardised by “the twin monsters of corruption and insecurity”.
Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need invited Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto to meet with officers of the European Union to reveal the scale of the problems facing one of the EU’s three priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cardinal Onaiyekan told the delegates: “Growing corruption and religious violence jeopardise the west African country of Nigeria”. Continue reading
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, the general secretary of the global rights network World YWCA, said that further economic and social empowerment was needed to change the lives of women in Africa. Credit: Ravi Kanth Devarakonda/IPS
Ravi Kanth Devarakonda interviews NYARADZAYI GUMBONZVANDA, human rights lawyer and general secretary of the global rights network World YWCA.
GENEVA, May 7 2013 (IPS) – Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, a human rights lawyer and the general secretary of the global rights network World YWCA, knows what it is like to struggle against poverty and violence: she herself comes from a poor family in Magaya village in Murewa district, which lies northeast of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.
But Gumbonzvanda has travelled a long way from her home. And she has spent much of her life trying to change the lives of women who were not as fortunate as she was. Continue reading
Carey L. Biron
WASHINGTON, May 6 2013 (IPS) – Advocates for the African diaspora in the United States have stepped up a campaign to urge the U.S. Congress not to end a longstanding visa programme aimed at boosting immigration from “underrepresented countries”.
The programme, known as the diversity visa lottery, has in recent years been sharply tilted towards African immigration. Since 2008, immigrants from African countries have made up nearly half of the 55,000 randomly awarded U.S. work visas annually awarded.
Yet under a landmark bipartisan proposal to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, released in mid-April and currently being debated in the U.S. Senate, the so-called DV lottery would be eliminated (see Section 2303 of the [ http://www.schumer.senate.gov/forms/immigration.pdf ]draft bill). Instead, it would be replaced with “merit-based” visas aimed at opening U.S doors to higher-skilled workers, particularly in the science, technology and engineering fields. Continue reading
Jane Awuor and Jane Achieng in their flooded homestead in Kojiem village, Nyando on April 1, 2013. They were unsure of their next move after flood waters marooned their home in Kojiem village in Nyando. Deaths and loss of property have been reported as the rains pound parts of the country. Photo/TOM OTIENO
At least 40 people had been killed in Rift Valley, 21 in Eastern Kenya, seven in the coastal region, four in Western and two in central Kenya. As a result of the urgent humanitarian work needed, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has appealed to the international community for about Sh290 million to support Kenya Red Crioss as it scales up assistance for the affected communities.
The pictures streaming in from across the country tell it all; it has been a month of rain, rain and more rain.
And when it rains that much in these parts of the world, disaster is always a heartbeat away. Continue reading
BBC
At least 23 police officers in Nigeria have been killed in an ambush by a local militia in the central Nasarawa state, officials have said.
They were on their way to arrest the leader of the outlawed Ombatse “cult” when gunmen opened fire, a state spokesman told the BBC. Continue reading
Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference
We regret that the “Protection of State Information Bill” was passed by the National Assembly yesterday. While improvements have been made to the Bill there are still flaws which are a cause for concern.
President Zuma has the power to refer the Bill to the Constitutional Court before he signs it into law. We call upon him to do so in order to avoid the risk of a prolonged and expensive court battle and the possibility of more parliamentary time being spent on amendments.
As a result of sustained pressure by civil society and opposition MPs, together with a receptive attitude from many ANC MPs who have dealt with the Bill in both Houses, there are improvements in the Bill which has been passed by Parliament. Even though we are unhappy with the latest version, its journey has been an object lesson in co-operation and engagement between civil society and parliament. We welcome the fact that:
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JUBA, April 23, 2013 (CISA) -South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir , has announced the formation of a new national reconciliation committee in a move seen as a response to public concerns, a week after suspending the process.
The public expressed numerous concerns in the media as to why the president decided to suspend the much-needed national reconciliation process, instead of changing the membership and composition of the committee without interruptions.
Kiir on Monday April 22, appointed the Archbishop of Episcopal Church, Daniel Deng Bul, to chair the national reconciliation committee, deputized by the Archbishop of Catholic Church, Paride Taban.
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Protests against the secrecy bill in Cape Town in November 2011, when the national assembly first approved it. The bill has been passed by 189 votes to 74, with one absention. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters
Freedom of speech campaigners warn that bill could have ‘chilling effect’ on those seeking to expose official corruption
Campaigners in South Africa have vowed “this fight is not over” after MPs passed widely condemned secrecy laws that could threaten whistleblowers and journalists with jail terms of up to 25 years. The protection of state information bill, dubbed the “secrecy bill” by its opponents, was passed by 189 votes to 74, with one abstension, in a parliament dominated by the African National Congress (ANC). It is now a formality for President Jacob Zuma to sign it into law.
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Much of Baga was destroyed in fires
Intense fighting between the military and Islamist militants in north Nigeria is reported to have killed at least 185 civilians and destroyed 2,000 homes.
Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire bombarded the remote town of Baga near the border with Chad for hours on Friday evening, government and military officials say.
Nigeria faces a long-running insurgency in its predominantly Muslim north.
The Boko Haram insurgency has left thousands of people dead since 2009.
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