Somalia: Rich maritime resources being plundered, report says

Contributor
Feb 22, 2012

The international community has failed to grapple with the real underlying political and economic issues facing the troubled East African nation of Somalia, which has been surviving without an effective government for over two decades, according to a new study released here. With the country's 3,300-km coastline virtually unprotected, industrial fishing vessels from Europe and Asia have entered the area in large numbers and are plundering Somalia's rich maritime resources. 'Having over-fished...read more

Somalia

Africa: Basel Convention secretariat publish report assessing state of e-waste in Africa

Contributor
Feb 21, 2012

The secretariat of the Basel Convention has published a report looking into the current state of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in Africa. The report highlights the importance of developing safe recycling capacity and recovery infrastructure in Africa. As is well known, the impact of inappropriately-treated WEEE can be catastrophic for the health and the environment in communities that do not have adequate recycling facilities in place.

Botswana: Call to end death penalty

Contributor
Feb 20, 2012

Human rights group Ditshwanelo has urged the Botswana government to suspend the execution of murderers. This follows the hanging of Zibani Thamo on 31 January for the murder of his girlfriend in 2007. In Southern Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe are some of the countries that institute the death penalty. South Africa abolished the death penalty in 1995, a year after the demise of apartheid, while Namibia had already done so when it gained independence in 1990.

Botswana

Africa: 1,500 migrants died trying to reach Europe in 2011

Contributor
Feb 20, 2012

A record 1,500 migrants, mainly from Somalia and other parts of Africa, died trying to reach European shores in 2011 and the deadly odyssey continues from Libya, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said recently. It said popular uprisings in Tunisia and Libya prompted more people to flee last year, including sub-Saharan migrants working in North Africa, after tighter border measures sharply reduced arrivals in Europe in 2009 and 2010.

Film on blind migrants in Johannesburg

Contributor
Feb 20, 2012

IRIN’s latest film, 'Out of Sight', explores the lives of blind undocumented migrants from Zimbabwe as they try and eke out a living begging on the streets of Johannesburg. In the aftermath of xenophobic violence, the South African government put in place a moratorium on deportations to Zimbabwe in 2009, enabling undocumented migrants to regularise their status. But none of the women in this film were able to take advantage of that dispensation. Deportations resumed in October 2011, and to da...read more

Latin America: Fifth South-South Summer Institute

Contributor
Feb 20, 2012

Rethinking development: global and regional alternatives for the development in the South

African applicants should send their applications to:
CODESRIA,
2012 South-South Summer Institute,
BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, SENEGAL
Tel: (221) 825 9822: Fax: (221) 824 1289
E-mail: [email][email protected]
Website: www.codesria.org

Asian applicants should se...read more

Tanzania: Call for support of arrested activists

Contributor
Feb 20, 2012

Sixteen Tanzanian human rights defenders were arrested on 9 February. In protest against the Tanzanian authority's act that goes counter their state commitment to protect, respect and fulfill human rights, Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) has drafted a letter urging the Tanzania authorities to release and drops all charges against these activists. They are requesting people to support the 16 activists by:
1. printing and delivering/posting the letter to the preside...read more

Tanzania

South Sudan: Attack on South Sudan reporter sparks critical debate

Contributor
Feb 20, 2012

February is the hottest month in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and Mading Ngor, a reporter and presenter for the Catholic-owned Bakhita FM, trudged his way through the heat to cover parliament proceedings last week - only to be thrown unceremoniously out of the assembly. 'Before I had time to argue, four security guards pinned me to the ground and dragged me across the floor, tearing up my trousers,' Ngor, a hard-hitting, critical journalist, told me. The ensuing furor included apologies,...read more

South Sudan

South Africa: Migrants face unlawful arrests and hasty deportations

Contributor
Feb 16, 2012

Four months ago, Clemence Uzizo, 21, a welder living in Soweto, Johannesburg's most populous suburb, made the mistake of venturing out to a local shop without his asylum-seeker permit. Neither the police who arrested him, nor the immigration officials who detained him, verified Uzizo's legal status before deporting him to Zimbabwe, the country of his birth. 'My permit was at home but I didn't have a cell phone to call to ask someone to bring it,' he told IRIN not long after making a risky and...read more

South Africa

Homage to a humble man

Karim F. Hirji
Feb 15, 2012

A little-known Tanzanian academic who played a big role at the University of Dar es Salaam in the 1970s died on 29 January 2011.

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