Crime
The world's largest pharmaceutical companies have gathered in Nairobi to develop a strategy to fight counterfeit medicines in East Africa. A two-day conference opened Wednesday to discuss the dangers of counterfeit medicine, as well as ways to limit the spread of the drugs in East Africa and around the world. Health officials, police, customs...
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A senior United Nations official says there have been encouraging developments in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau. But he adds that there is a lot yet to be done by the country’s leaders to consolidate the gains. The U.N. Special Representative for Guinea-Bissau, Joseph Mutaboba, says the encouraging developments include the reform of...
The International Criminal Court is in Ivory Coast to investigate war crimes committed during the political crisis between the former government and the winner of last year's vote.
President Alassane Ouattara's government signed an agreement with the criminal court allowing it to formally open an investigation into crimes committed during the...
A U.S. report on human trafficking has placed Madagascar in the lowest category and claims the country's de facto government has done nothing to crack down on the practice of sending thousands of women to the Middle East, where the majority of them encounter forced labor and abuse. The new report reduces prospects of the U.S. resuming non-...
A U.N. court has sentenced a former Rwandan government minister to life in prison for her role in the 1994 genocide in that country. The United Nations-backed tribunal in Tanzania sentenced Pauline Nyiramasuhuko Friday on charges of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity. She is the first women convicted by...
A bipartisan group of former civilian and military officials say recent satellite images of the Sudanese town of Abyei give visual evidence of alleged war crimes.
The officials include two former U.S. State Department Special Ambassadors-at-Large for War Crimes, David Scheffer and Pierre Prosper; David Crane, the former chief prosecutor for the...
Madagascar's Ministry of Environment is heralding the success of a crackdown on illegal logging, notably in the country's northeast where vast protected areas have been the focus of huge trafficking scandals. The ministry says more than 1,000 precious rosewood logs have been seized in the last two weeks of policing, and that members of a so-...
In Eastern Congo, rape can be an act of war or revenge, or a response to extreme poverty, ignorance and fear.A new study published by the American Journal of Public Health indicates that nearly 2 million women in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been raped. Many rapes are a part of military operations, designed to terrorize and control the...
Egyptian protesters plan to return to the streets Friday for what they're billing as a "Second Revolution." The activists fear the long-term change and lasting reform they've been seeking is being sidetracked. Using the tools of their January 25 uprising, Egyptian youth are calling on Facebook and Twitter for a massive turnout in Cairo's Tahrir...
An official of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party [NCP] says the national armed forces will not withdraw from the disputed, oil-rich Abyei region until a political solution is reached. Northern forces seized Abyei last weekend.
Ibrahim Ghandour, head of information and media affairs of the NCP, said the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA...
Opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been placed under house arrest by Ugandan police in their latest efforts to quell the "walk to work" protests.
In their sixth week in Uganda, security forces are trying nip the demonstrations in the bud by keeping former presidential candidate and opposition figure Besigye from leaving his house.Early Thursday,...
While the 2009 murder of a Peace Corps volunteer in the West African country of Benin remains unaccounted for, activists and former volunteers are seeking reforms to the U.S. overseas service program. A hearing last week in the U.S. Congress failed to bring answers from Peace Corps officials about the murder of Benin Peace Corps volunteer Kate...
Thirty years into the HIV/AIDS epidemic, stigma and discrimination continue to slow efforts to prevent and treat the disease. And more and more, gay men are becoming the targets in sub-Saharan Africa. In Uganda, for example, legislation had been pending that could have imposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts.
In its final day of doing...
Henry Ohanga, otherwise known as "Octopizzo," is one of Kenya's hottest hip hop artists. He says his most satisfying work is helping fellow youth in Nairobi's so-called "informal settlement" of Kibera to turn away from drugs and crime and instead make a living from their talents. Born and raised in Kibera, Octopizzo started a youth self-help...
The road to democracy has been bumpy for Guinea, but the European Union is supporting new development projects. The reinstated funding comes after the country's first free and fair elections, and a new bridge is becoming a symbol for democracy.
Less than five years ago, the people of Guinea suffered from, what's been called, the African disease:...