07 | February | 2013 | Peter "Just Loves Flying"

Polygamy Fading Out Of Fashion For African Muslims, Men And Women Alike – All News Is Global |

February 7, 2013

Polygamy Fading Out Of Fashion For African Muslims, Men And Women Alike – All News Is Global |.

GOMA – Young Muslim men in the Democratic Republic of Congo are less interested in having several wives than their fathers were. Facing rising prices and feuds over inheritance, the new generation doesn’t see how the benefits outweigh the costs of having multiple spouses in the same household.

As for the women of the current generation coming of age, they see that wives are often the victims of polygamous customs, and reject this form of marriage. It’s also worth noting that it is no longer legal under Congolese law.

“If you want to end up like me, embrace polygamy…” This is how 70-year-old El Hadji H.E warns his grandchildren. In the middle of his large parcel in Magendo, the popular neighborhood of the eastern city of Goma, a large, old house occupies much land. In the garden are two wrecked Volvo trucks, the latest symbols of yesterday’s prosperity for this family of 40 children and eight wives…

Can the AU Deliver Pax Africana? | Think Africa Press

February 7, 2013

Can the AU Deliver Pax Africana? | Think Africa Press.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:

Last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African Union (AU) leaders celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) – the AU’s predecessor. They spoke of the OAU’s leadership in past liberation struggles and offered lofty visions for the future.

But, in his final speech as AU assembly chairperson, Benin’s President Yayi Boni took a more critical look at the present.

Referring to France’s recent military intervention in northern Mali, he asked: “How can we understand that when danger threatened its very basis, Africa, which has the means to organise its own defence, continued to wait?”

Boni’s frustration speaks more broadly of the AU’s continued difficulty in achieving Pax Africana: a peace kept in Africa, by Africa…