The AfricaNews articles of rubakana
Libya crisis cripples AU finances
The events in North Africa and the eventual fall of the Gaddafi regime, could update the financial difficulties of the pan-African institution. The statement was made in Addis Ababa by Jean Ping, the President of the African Union, where he attended the fourth meeting of Ministers of Economy and Finance of the continental body. - According to Ping, five African countries supply 75% of the contribution of African countries to the budget of the Pan-African institution, which exceeds 250 million.
Libya tops the list with 15% funding, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are thus the main donors.
The budget of the African Union has also been funded more than 77% by foreign partners mai…Kenya in urgent need for condoms
Faced with increased consumption of condoms in Kenya, about 20 million per month according to the director of public health, Shahnaaz Sharif, the country had no alternative but to appeal to an international aid plan for meet demand. There are still a few months; the country received eight million condoms per month. - The request is then increased to 12 million and now its 20 million condoms that are needed!
The last delivery of 19 million condoms arrived in January, and the cargo was sold out in a month and a half, he said. That gives you an idea of the number of sex that people have, "noted Mr. Sharif told reporters.
The United States is committed to delivering a stock of 45 mill…AFRICA: Over 22.5m living with HIV/AIDS
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by the deadly HIV/AIDS virus throughout the world with 22.5 million people living with the virus, equivalent to two thirds of the world total, according to Kenya Minister of Special Programs, Esther Murugi at a conference in Nairobi. - Speaking at an international conference on HIV/AIDS in the east African capital of Nairobi, Murugi said that in 2009, approximately 1.3 million people died of AIDS in this area, while 1.8 million people were infected by the virus.
In Kenya, statistics show that the prevalence of AIDS stands at 6.3 percent a decline of 7.1 percent over 2007.
Moreover, conference participants were all unanimous in stressing th…About 4,000 Christians fleeing Ethiopia
Thousands of Islamic extremists set fire to 59 churches and about thirty houses in western Ethiopia. The attacks began on March 2 and atrocities continue. More than 4,000 Christians in the vicinity of Asendabo, Jimma region were displaced. - One Christian was killed. The police, overwhelmed by the crowd, could not react.
The amount of property loss is estimated at over 2.8 million Euros.
These attacks are taking place when Ethiopian troops trying to repel the Islamist terrorists of al-Shabaab, who already control the south of Somalia.
In the region of Jimma, a Muslim majority, Christians are regularly persecuted.China, Africa trade increase in 2010
Trade between China and Africa has increased from 43.5% in the first 11 months of 2010, according to a Chinese government report on the economic ties between the Asian giant and the black continent. - From 1 January to 30 November 2010, trade reached 114.8 billion dollars (87.7 billion euros) from January to November 2010; an increase over 40% compared to last year during the same period, according to estimates released in an official report.
The Asian power, through more than 1500 companies, has invested, including through facilitating access to exploitation of soil or subsoil, in various sectors in Africa: trade, construction and public works, agriculture, mining, manufactures products…Mauritius: 4705 people living with HIV
Mauritius island has officially 4705 people with HIV/AIDS. They include 3,799 men and 906 women, but the Mauritian Minister of Health, Maya Hanoomanjee, estimates that more than 9,000 Mauritians are currently suffering from this disease. - According to official figures, 74% of people with this disease are drug users, while the prevalence of the disease is estimated at 0.97% of the population.
To date, about 2,740 people living with HIV are receiving treatment in hospitals of Mauritius.80 million children work in Africa
An estimated 80 million children work across Africa a figure that could reach 100 million by 2015. Despite the measures implemented to eradicate the scourge, trafficking and exploitation of children continues in Africa. - According to the International Labour Organization, a little over 51% of children aged 10 to 14 work in Burkina Faso, although the Labour Code prohibits employment of children under 14 years.
It is also common in Togo 313,000 Togolese children between 5 and 15 work in urban areas of Togo or in foreign countries and are treated as virtual slaves.
Many children, mostly aged under 14, leave their families to find work in other regions or cross the border to travel to nei…2,000 flee Ivory Coast since November
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of Ivory Coast said that about 2,000 Ivorians have fled their country since November 29, 2010, following the second round of presidential elections triggered a political crisis between the two candidates claiming victory. - Despite enormous pressure from the international community to hand over power to Ouattara who was declared winner of the Nov.28 presidential run-off by the election commission, Gbagbo still clings to his seat, branding his legitimacy from the Constitutional Council, which overturned Ouattara’s victory by annulling hundreds of thousands of votes and handing Gbagbo a new five-year term.
On Friday the United …S. Africa opens first space office
South Africa has opened its first space office in the capital Johannesburg in an attempt to become the continent's leading earth observation centre in the next 10 years. The Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor said: "Our efforts to improve the spatial resources of South Africa will be invaluable for the scientific community in Southern Africa." - She said that the launch of the National Space Agency of South Africa (Sansa), will "stimulate investment and the sector of local scientific research."
The agency, which should be fully operational in 2012, currently has two micro-satellites. Its main objectives will capture images to ground to improve the de…Uganda: Mysterious disease kills 38
For nearly a month, a mysterious disease has killed 38 people in northern Uganda. The authorities are trying to identify with the help of international experts. A disease, yet unknown, would have appeared in several districts of northern Uganda, according to the Ministry of Health of the country. - It has already killed 38 and now 91 cases have been identified.
The victims, all adult males, suffered from fever, accompanied by severe headaches, dizziness, diarrhoea and vomiting.
The local and international media have thought of a possible resurgence of an epidemic of bubonic plague. The last cases were reported in 2008 in Uganda. However, nothing confirms this argument yet. The results …Kenya seizes 92kg of smuggled ivory
Kenyan police have arrested two Singaporeans in possession of 92 kilograms of smuggled ivory at Nairobi Airport just before boarding for Thailand, the department in charge of the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) said. - "The cargo, packed in four suitcases, flights to Bangkok, about to be shipped in a Kenya Airways flight when she was discovered by agents of a canine unit of the KWS accompanied by sniffer dogs," said KWS in a statement.
Kenya, which has successfully rebuilt its elephant populations in recent years has become a major source for ivory smuggling and saw these last months of its elephant poaching increased. The smuggled ivory transit through Thailand, the hub, before b…Africa gets a boost in meningitis fight
A new vaccine against meningitis will soon be deployed in Africa, a continent where the disease kills thousands of people each year in addition to causing brain damage to thousands of others. - Meningitis affects more than two dozen countries in sub-Saharan Africa. A new vaccine designed specifically for Africa was approved in June and is being rolled out in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Only Burkina Faso, the World Health Organization says that 10 000 health workers will vaccinate 12 million people by the end of the year.
The new vaccine is much more affordable than those offered in developed countries, since it costs less than 50 cents a dose compared to between U.S. $ 10 and $ 100 …Burundi: 23 Bangladeshi nationals arrested
Some 23 Bangladeshi nationals have been detained by the national police of Burundi since last Wednesday for entering the African nation illegally. According to the security services the detainees entered Bujumbura, the capital with fake travel documents for Asians wishing to travel to Africa. - Police spokesperson Channel Ntarabaganyi disclosed that their final destination was South Africa.
The police have alleged the existence of a ring in Burundi and South Africa that facilitates the procurement of fake travel documents for Asian people wishing to travel to Africa in a PANA report.
The detained Bangladeshi nationals are expected to be repatriated to their country, the police said.Angola to repatriate 370 illegal aliens
About 370 illegal immigrants of various nationalities detained in the city of Caxito, Bengo province in Angola, will be repatriated in the coming days. - Seventy-one residents have already been returned to Luanda where they await repatriation.
These citizens illegally transferred to Luanda include; 35 of Guinea-Conakry, 16 of the DR Congo, 10 from Mali, 4 from Guinea-Bissau, 2 of Congo - Brazzaville, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal.Africa: About $854b illicit money transferred
More than 854 billion dollars have been fraudulently transferred from the African continent in about 40 years. Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and South Africa are leading the ranking of the five African countries that have made the most illegal financial transfers between 1970 and 2008. - According to a study realized by the International Global Financial Integrity (IPF) and published this week, more than 854 billion dollars have been fraudulently transferred from Africa. A sum of that is the public double investment allocated to development aid.
Developing countries annually lose the equivalent of one billion dollars due to this scourge. An amount that is twice as large as public inves…More Burundians obtain Tanzanian citizenship
At least 155,000 Burundian refugees have sought and obtained the Tanzanian nationality, thereby becoming citizens of that country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of Burundi. - Some of these refugees fled Burundi in the 1970s because of ethnic clashes. According to UNHCR, since 2002 some 500,000 other Burundian refugees in Tanzania have preferred to return home.
Less than 40,000 Burundian refugees still awaiting repatriation, said the Ministry of National Solidarity, Repatriation, Reintegration of refugees and internally displaced.Burundi: It is a pity to be an albino
Ghost of water, witch doctor, half a man half god, such are attributes given to albinos in some African countries. Albinism is characterized by a melanin anomaly, a pigment that colours our skin, our eyes and our hair. Albinos are not capable of synthesizing correct melanin. There is then a depigmentation that may affect only eyes or skin, hair and eyes. Skin is then very clear; hair is white or blond that is very pale, iris, coloured part of eyes are grey or blue. The pupil, the black point at the center of an eye, has red reflections. - What a crying shame for innocent people (even children) to be dying for something that is beyong their control.Burundi: Churches fight homosexuality
Bishops in Burundi plan an event to denounce what is perceived as a legalization of homosexuality in that country. At the root of what seems a religious consensus in Burundi, is the rejection by the Senate to amend a penal code whose result was the criminalization of homosexuality. - This amendment was adopted by the National Assembly of Burundi first. The law would have rendered sexual acts of the same sex punishable between three months to two years imprisonment, with a substantial fine.
The law was passed at the National Assembly without causing too much noise.
After the passage of this Act at the National Assembly, a powerful international lobby of homosexuals in the world, defende…Somalia: 500 AU peacekeepers arrive
A military transport plane has delivered 500 new soldiers from Burundi to reinforce a 3,500-strong AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM. - The arrival of the fresh troops follows the deadliest attack against the AMISOM force in Mogadishu, where two suicide bombers killed 11 soldiers and wounded 15 others. AMISOM soldiers, drawn from Uganda and Burundi, have come under increasing scrutiny following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in January.
Some 800 Burundi peacekeepers of the AMISON arrived back home last Wednesday after spending more than a year in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The return of the soldiers followed a relief team dispatched last weekend to Mogadishu.
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