Archiv für den Monat: Dezember 2013

Doku zu Thomas Sankara – der Che Schwarzafrikas

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Vor 68 Jahren wurde am 21. Dezember 1949 Thomas Sankara in Yako, Obervolta gebore. Er war vom 4. August 1983 bis zu seiner Ermordung im Oktober 1987 der fünfte Präsident von Obervolta, welches durch ihn am 4. August 1984 zum ersten Jahrestag der Revolution in Burkina Faso umbenannt wurde.
In seiner Amtszeit verfügte er u. a. folgendes:
die Luxuslimousinen der vorangegangenen Regierung wurden verkauft und die Minister verpflichtet, den Renault 5, das billigste Auto in Burkina Faso, zum Dienstwagen zu nehmen. In seiner Regierungsmannschaft befanden sich so viele Frauen wie Weiterlesen →

Senegal: Thousands of Health Workers in Senegal Receive No Pay. Is That Fair?

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BY AMY COSTELLO, 19 DECEMBER 2013

In many parts of Latin America, Asia and Africa, there aren’t enough doctors and nurses to care for everyone who is sick. So charities and governments have enlisted thousands of volunteers to serve as community health workers.

These volunteers provide much-needed care, and because they draw no salary, they offer a cost-effective solution in impoverished places. But who is looking after the interests of the volunteers?
I traveled to the West African nation of Senegal, which is rolling out a national health program that relies on volunteers.

Only Sundays off

I headed to Ngueringne Bambara, a village about an hour outside Dakar, the capital. I walked into a bustling medical clinic. The clinics are called „health huts“ in Senegal, but this one was brick and mortar.

Awa Diagne

Inside, I met Awa Diagne, a volunteer who was tending to that day’s patients.
She took the pulse of a sick infant. She treated a man with a nasty gash in his leg. She saw a woman with wounds across her back that she had sustained in a car accident a few weeks earlier.

Read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201312231880.html

West Africa: Mali and Central Africa – Two Fronts in Sahel

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23 DECEMBER 2013,Centre for Strategies & Security, Nouakchott

One year since the French military intervention in Mali, the underlying drivers of violent extremism remain strong in the Sahel Sahara. Though deeply hurt, on the run and their operations largely on hold, the armed groups still commend enough capacities to challenge the long term objectives of external military interventions.

A fluid situation.

As its main objective was to save Mali territorial integrity, and not necessarily to eradicate the radical groups, the French military operation, has succeeded in that regard.

Indeed most of the root causes of instability in the region – exclusion, nepotism and irredentism, have rather increased due to the current political uncertainties. Corruption, which undermines most values, including those of hard work and effort, remains pervasive. In addition, the new industry of fake and false „legal“ papers, documents and goods, including medicines, has weakened further public institutions and exacerbate peoples‘ frustrations.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312240294.html

 

 

Mali: Car Bomb in North Kills Several UN Peacekeepers

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Voice of America (Washington, DC), 14.12.13

A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali says several peacekeepers have been killed and wounded in a suicide car bombing.

The soldiers, part of the UN peacekeeping force known as MINUSMA, died Saturday, when a suicide bomber detonated his car in front of a bank they were guarding in the northern city of Kidal.

Officials do not have firm word on the number of casualties and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Several militant groups, including the ethnic Tuareg, used the confusion of a military coup in the capital, Bamako, in March of 2012 to assert control in the country’s north, where they planned to establish an Islamist state.

The central government reasserted its control in northern Mali after a French-led military operation in January.

The militants are no longer able to carry out major military actions, but the residual groups of these fighters stage sporadic small-scale attacks in the north.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312140639.html

Mali: Find the Child, Treat Them Early – Message From Mali

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13 DECEMBER 2013, Dakar

The mortality rate among children under age five living in Yirimadjo, Mali, southeast of the capital, Bamako, decreased by nearly tenfold over three years after the Malian Ministry of Health and NGOs Tostan and Muso introduced a new healthcare model: proactively seeking out patients and treating them early.

A study on the programme, by researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), published this week in PLoS ONE found under-five mortality dropped from 155 deaths per 1,000 children to 17 deaths per 1,000.

„The intervention was based on a simple but powerful hypothesis,“ said Ari Johnson, a researcher at UCSF School of Medicine and co-author of the study. „If we reorganize and redesign the way health systems reach patients early, could it be possible to avert a large number of child deaths?“

While under-five child mortality rates have been declining throughout Mali over the past decade – from an average of 197 deaths per 1,000 in 2002 to 130 per 1,000 in 2012, according to the researchers, this intervention has produced dramatic results.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312170687.html

Mali: More Terrorists Killed in Mali

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By Bakari Gueye, 12 December 2013

Nouakchott — French troops killed 19 Islamist militants Tuesday (December 10th) during an army operation in northern Mali, AFP reported.

„A French military operation is under way north of Timbuktu. French troops are facing a pretty determined group. At the moment, 19 members of this group have been killed,“ a Bamako-based French military source said.

„The French troops haven’t reported any deaths or injuries. We are in control of the situation,“ the source added, without specifying which Islamist group the militants were part of.

The violence comes as Malians prepare to vote on Sunday in a second round of parliamentary polls.

According to terrorism expert Sidati Ould Cheikh, „Since the launch of Operation Serval, the armed groups have become weaker, but they are still active in the region. And for some time, they have been going increasingly on the offensive. Many attacks have been carried out over the past three months.“

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312130304.html

Kostenlose Wikipedia auf afrikanischen Handys

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Millionen Menschen in Industrieländern schlagen dort nach, doch Afrika bleibt weitgehend außen vor. Denn günstige Internetzugänge sind selten. Wikipedia-Gründer Jimmy Wales wirbt für eine innovative Lösung.

Von Thomas Hallet (SZ)

Jimmy Wales hat viel erreicht mit seinem Lexikon, das seit fast 13 Jahren online ist: Jeden Monat blättern 521 Millionen Menschen in 287 Sprachen in mehr als 31 Millionen Wikipedia-Seiten. In den Industrieländern ist das digitaler Alltag. Doch der größere Teil der Menschheit gehört noch nicht zur Wikipedia-Gemeinde: Südamerika, China, und der größte Teil Afrikas. Das werde sich in den kommenden Jahren rapide ändern, sagte Wales während der Niels-Bohr-Konferenz in Kopenhagen, die am Freitag zu Ende ging.
Weiter: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/digital/internet-enzyklopaedie-kostenlose-wikipedia-auf-afrikanischen-handys-1.1837785

Mali Must Urgently Identify Bodies Found in Mass Grave

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4 DECEMBER 2013, Press Release

Authorities in Mali must urgently identify the 21 bodies found in a mass grave last night, believed to belong to soldiers abducted in May 2012, Amnesty International said.

„Ever since the soldiers were abducted from the Kati Military Camp, their loved ones have been desperate to know what has happened to them. Authorities in Mali must now do everything in their power to give the families the full truth,“ said Gaëtan Mootoo, Mali researcher at Amnesty International, who met with some of the relatives of the soldiers last week.

„Unfortunately, the initial reports seem to confirm our fears that the 21 soldiers could have been executed,“ added Gaëtan Mootoo. „Amnesty International extends its deepest sympathies to all the families concerned.“

They were charged with kidnapping, murder and assassination in connection with the disappearance of 21 ‚red beret‘ soldiers suspected of supporting a counter-coup against General Sanogo.

The mass grave was discovered following the arrest of General Amadou Haya Sanogo who led a military coup in Mali in March 2012. Several of his soldiers were also detained.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201312051461.html?aa_source=slideout