- Sir Bob Geldof , Businessman and Anti-poverty campaigner was one of the keynotes during the opening session of the World Biofuels Market yesterday. He stated: “It may seem counter-intuitive, but now as we live through a grave economic crisis is the moment to address this [poverty]. Without including the 3 billion people who are living on less than 2 US dollars per day in the new global financial architecture we will continue to have an asymmetric system with inbuilt instability.” He is convinced that investments in biofuels can foster Africa’s development, because they will substitute import, they will bring more money to the economies, they will create jobs and build inf…

- Agata Hinc, AfricaNews reporter in Warsaw, Poland The so-called Economic Partnership Agreements are raising some controversies and criticism form the African and Caribbean states as negotiations reach their final stage. Both local political classes and civil society organizations are calling for fairer set of rules to govern trade between Europe and her former colonies. Agata Hinc analyses the risks of failure of such an agreement. What are EPAs? The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are a new trade agreements being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), according to Article 37 of Cotonou Agreement (2000). Th…

- Agata Hinc, AfricaNews reporter in Warsaw, Poland We can conclude from latest official statements of German, French and the UK's leaders that in a really short period of time we can stop calling the attempts to create a 'trio' (made from three EU biggest members) unsuccessful. We can hear few voices in favor of harmonization and greater cooperation on EU matters within German-French-UK's relations. There are also lots of similarities in Angela Merkel’s, Nicolas Sarkozy’s and Gordon Brown’s views on the EU external relations. One of the examples can be their opinion about situation in Darfur and the actions that should be taken. Experts claim th…

- Agata Hinc, AfricaNews reporter in Warsaw, Poland, photo: Ton Koene AfricaNews - The EU has set in motion plans to send a peacekeeping force to Chad along its troubled border with Sudan to help protect aid to tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in Darfur. The mission's purpose would be to protect civilian populations in Chad and contain the chaos in Sudan’s western province of Darfur. The EU soldiers would also protect UN and humanitarian personnel working in the region. Amnesty International appealed to the EU nations to act fast, saying they should also try to protect people fleeing violence inside Chad. The EU official said the Chad mission would be split into…

- Agata Hinc, Warsaw, Poland AfricaNews - Last week the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon visited a Sudanese region, in which at least 200,000 people have died and more than 2,5 million have been displaced since 2003. He decided to visit Darfur to convince Sudanese leaders and rebels to continue the peace talks and, as international correspondents say, because he wanted to understand the difficult conditions into which the world's biggest peacekeeping force would eventually be deployed. "I appeal to the government of Sudan and to all parties to refrain from military action and choose (...) the path of peace and political dialogue," Ban Ki-Moon said. UN Secretary General…

- Agata Hinc, Warsaw, Poland From more than four years the international community tries to find a solution to the Darfur conflict. The UN Security Council, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), the United States of America (USA) and other international players were and are involved in its unsuccessful termination. The conflict spreads. The Janjaweeds (independent Arabic police) commit terrible crimes in Darfur and in Eastern Chad – they slaughter, they burn villages, they steal cattle. Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide says: “In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy,…

- New type of co-operation between EU and the African countries within the framework of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) – analysis and conclusions concerning the negotiations. Compatibility with the multilateral trade rules EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States are currently at the end of the Economic Partnership Agreements negotiations. EPAs are going to replace up to now non-reciprocal trade preferences which tie the European Union with ACP. The negotiations started in September 2002, till the end of that year there had been taken general talks, trainings and seminaries. Regional level negotiations started in 2003 and in 2004 all the 6 regions (4 of…