The BBC’s Jonah Fisher travels to western Sudan’s Darfur province to assess the current situation.
The road from Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, east to Labado, has seen intense fighting and activity from the Arab Janjaweed militia in recent months.Thousands more people have been displaced from their homes leaving villages deserted.
Author: WHES
Togo’s President–the Former President’s Son Who Used the Military to Take Over After His Father’s Death– Steps Down After Strong International Pressure
Togo’s interim leader Faure Gnassingbe has said he is stepping down as president, after strong international pressure to leave office.In a statement broadcast on state media, Mr Faure said he would stand as a candidate in a presidential election due to be held in two months’ time.Mr Faure said the move would “guarantee the transparency” of the poll.
A Crushing Choice for Ethiopian Mothers With HIV: Facing Death, Women Leave Children at Orphanages
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The young mother sat in the orphanage waiting room, a baby playing in her lap. At 22, Adelaw Astake had become so gaunt from illness that her dirty skirt was wrapped twice around her narrow frame and held up at the waist with rags.
Born to be a Slave in Niger!
Slavery continues to blight the lives of many millions around the world. Although officially abolished in some countries two centuries ago, people trafficking, bonded labour and child labour still exist.Niger nomads
Slaves come from the poorest communities in Niger.There are some places on earth that few outsiders visit or know about, vast empty sections of the earth where time has stood still for centuries.Niger is one of those places. It is a country that you can drive through for hours without seeing a soul.
High bird flu risk in Africa after outbreak in Nigeria
(Rome, February 10, 2006) The outbreak of the deadly Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus (H5N1) in Nigeria confirms the fears expressed by FAO for quite some time that African countries are facing a high risk of becoming infected by the virus, FAO said today.
“The outbreak in Kaduna state in Northern Nigeria proves that no country is risk-free and that we are facing a serious international crisis,” said Samuel Jutzi, Director of FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division.
“If the situation in Nigeria gets out of control, it will have a devastating impact on the poultry population in the region, it will seriously damage the livelihoods of millions of people and it will increase the exposure of humans to the virus,” Jutzi said.
“It is important that local and national authorities within other countries in the region remain vigilant for possible outbreaks of suspected avian influenza in poultry and other birds. It is vital that all instances of multiple bird deaths are reported to authorities and investigated promptly,” Jutzi added.
FAO said that people should avoid any contact with obviously diseased or dead birds, maintain personal hygiene (handwashing) after handling poultry or poultry meat and should cook chicken meat and eggs properly.
“It remains unclear if the outbreak has been triggered by migratory birds or by the trade and movement of poultry or poultry products,” said Joseph Domenech, FAO Chief Veterinary Officer.
FAO and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) will send veterinary experts to Nigeria to assess the situation and examine how the virus has been introduced.
FAO urged veterinary services in Nigeria to eliminate the outbreaks through immediate humane culling and to strictly control the movement of people and animals from and to bird flu infected spots. FAO will also send two local experts to the affected region to advise local authorities on control measures.
Transparency, rapid interventions and close collaboration with the international community are crucial to stop the spread of the virus, FAO said.
“We are aware that veterinary services in Nigeria are in need of international support. The animal health infrastructure in the country is facing a big challenge and will require outside assistance,” Domenech said. Laboratory materials for diagnosis and protective equipment for veterinarians undertaking investigation are urgently required.
Nigeria is member of the West African network on avian influenza surveillance and diagnostics. The recently launched network is managed by FAO in close collaboration with the Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources of the African Union.
Nigeria has an important commercial poultry sector and millions of backyard poultry farmers. The poultry population is estimated at 140 million.
The original Food and Agricultural Organization article may be seen at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000226/index.html
In Togo’s Dynastic Transition, An Echo of Yesterday’s Africa
JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 7 — When Gnassingbe Eyadema seized power in Togo in 1967, it was the era of the Big Man in Africa. Like many leaders of his generation, Eyadema ruthlessly crushed opposition forces, nurtured a cult of personality, then clung to power decade after decade, growing rich as his tiny West African nation stayed poor.
Botswana: Routine HIV testing not as straightforward as it sounds
(Gaborone, February 1, 2006) Botswana’s decision to introduce routine HIV testing in all its health facilities was driven by the growing realization that plans to provide anti-AIDS medication were likely to fail unless more people were tested.
But activists have expressed concern that the policy could be eroding the patient’s right to confidentiality, with the risk of informed consent being compromised.
The landlocked Southern African country has all the ingredients for turning the epidemic around: political leadership, optimal use of existing resources and an established treatment plan. But fear of stigma has proved an even bigger hurdle, causing people to wait until they are very ill before seeking treatment.
Two years down the line, health officials estimate that up to 35 percent of the 1.7 million Batswana now know their status.
At Princess Marina hospital in the capital, Gaborone, acting hospital superintendent Dr Howard Moffat told IRIN that although routine testing was yielding results, implementing it had not been easy.
As the only referral hospital in the south of the country, long queues and overworked staff were nothing new at Princess Marina, but throwing the new testing strategy into the mix had been time-consuming, he observed.
“We have to keep record of each patient, and it is so difficult because we have to attend to a lot of patients … [as with] any other ailment, we tell the patients of the test that we will administer, and if they are not ready they can refuse but generally patients agree to be tested,” Moffat said.
AIDS activists like Christine Stegling, director of the Botswana Network of Law and Ethics (BONELA), are not convinced. She has called on the government to adopt stricter measures for monitoring the testing strategy.
Soon after the programme began, BONELA called a meeting with relevant stakeholders to debate the implementation of routine testing in Botswana. The! ir concern was that the government had failed to launch a public infor mation campaign and BONELA claimed to have received complaints from patients who said they were not thoroughly informed, while others said they were unaware that they had been tested until they received the results.
An equally sceptical David Ngele, one of the first Batswana to publicly disclose his HIV-positive status, said he had doubts about “the quality of counselling offered by some people who carry out routine testing”, but acknowledged the “normalising” effect it was having, as many more people had been tested since the policy was introduced.
“This is quite helpful, as people test in time [and] therefore receive necessary help before their condition worsens,” he pointed out. Stegling argued that while it was important for people to know their status, they should have the right not to be tested if they felt they were not ready. According to her, most Batswana have a tendency to obey nurses and doctors without question.
“We at BONELA feel that people sho! uld be taught, so that they know that they have the right to refuse if they do not want to be tested, and that they should be equipped with the relevant information to help them make informed choices,” Stegling maintained.
Although Bakang Kgwaane, a builder, was not given much information before his test, he admitted that he had benefited from discovering he was HIV-positive. He fell ill with a persistent cough, swollen feet and weight loss in 2001 and was forced to leave his job. After being admitted to the Bamalete Lutheran Hospital he was treated for TB and advised to be tested for the HI virus.
“I was in great pain – my sister was called for discussions. She consented and because I was in pain I just gave in,” he said. When the results came back positive, Kgwaane said he felt his whole world was collapsing. “To be honest with you, I was not really prepared to get my results, but they were there and I had no choice.”
IRIN is the Integrated Regional Information Networks of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. For the original of this article, see IRIN.
Stigma of AIDS Strong in South Africa
Nelson Mandela’s decision to announce that his son died of Aids will send out a strong message in a country where stigma and denial still surround the virus.More than 600 people are thought to die every day in South Africa of Aids-related illnesses and millions are HIV-positive.But still people would rather say relatives died of TB rather than Aids – the most common opportunistic infection to kill those living with the virus.
Desert Locusts to Threaten Crops in the Sahel Region–International Assistance Badly Needed
FAO, Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture (GIEWS), June 2, 2004)
Bulletin: Swarms Expected to Form in NW Africa and Move to Sahel
Although control operations have treated more this year than at any time since the last plague in 1987-89, the Desert Locust situation continues to be very worrying. Numerous swarms are expected to form in the coming weeks in NW Africa from any hopper bands that escape the intensive aerial and ground control operations currently underway in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. These swarms will invade the Sahel in West Africa during June and July and lay eggs in areas that receive rain in southern Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad. These will be supplemented by adult groups and swarms that form in currently infested areas in northern Mauritania and Niger. Crops planted on the first rains may be threatened. During June, there is also a risk of swarms appearing in northern Senegal. Some swarms could also reach western Sudan. Appropriate preparations should be made immediately in these countries.
Photo: FAO/GIEWS
Sorghum Damage in N.W. Mauritania, January, 2004.
International assistance is desperately required to supplement major efforts already underway and to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
Language Links in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese at:http://www.fao.org/giews/
Are Women the Key to African Growth?
With brightly coloured mats on their head, rural women arrive in Kampala looking to sell their goods.A woman pumping water from a well Women make a big contribution to Africa’s economy These mats and pots are often made at home. For many rural women, their main activity is growing enough food to eat, with some left over for sale.Call it entrepreneurship or just plain survival, but female labour accounts for a hefty chunk of Africa’s economies.
