Africa | Peter "Just Loves Flying"

Pambazuka – A lethal cocktail for Africa

April 30, 2013

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies, Articles on Africa Africa, Development, Gambia, peter singhateh, Proverty Leave a comment

Pambazuka – A lethal cocktail for Africa.

The World Bank’s working definition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is ‘Private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services or undertake community development.’ But many people now ask whether the NGOs that work in Africa are progressively engaged in activities that are developmentally sustainable. And, by the way, how democratic and accountable are the NGOs?

IRIN Africa | Children bear brunt of CAR crisis

April 29, 2013

Peter Singhatey Uncategorized Africa, child soldiers, Conflict, peter singhateh Leave a comment

BANGUI, 25 April 2013 (IRIN) – Sporadic armed clashes, looting of orphanages, recruitment into armed groups, and widespread school closures have made life perilous for children in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the wake of a 24 March rebel coup by the Séléka alliance.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), some 2.3 million children are directly affected by the breakdown of law and order and the interruption of basic services.

On 12 April, 14 children were wounded in the capital, Bangui, when a rocket-propelled grenade fell on a playing field. Two days later, a rocket landed on a church, killing seven people, including three infants, and wounding 11 children – three of whom had to have their legs amputated.

“It’s scandalous that children are being caught in crossfire as they go about their daily lives, playing football or going to church,” said Souleymane Diabaté, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in CAR…

Mali’s Precarious Democracy and the Causes of Conflict | United States Institute of Peace

April 23, 2013

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies, Articles on Africa Africa, Conflict, corruption, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Mali’s Precarious Democracy and the Causes of Conflict | United States Institute of Peace.

This report seeks to explain the fragile nature of Malian democracy before the 2012 coup and the origins of the current crisis. Widespread corruption, resurgent violence in the north, and a growing illicit trade implicated state officials as the principal causes of state collapse…

MDGs: The most successful global anti-poverty push in history -UN resident coordinator – Daily Observer

April 18, 2013

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Gambia, MDGs, peter singhateh Leave a comment

MDGs: The most successful global anti-poverty push in history -UN resident coordinator – Daily Observer.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are set for attainment in two years, have so far been the most successful anti-poverty push in history, as governments, international organisations and civil society groups around the world struggle to cut extreme poverty in the world by half, the United Nations resident coordinator has remarked.

Babagana Ahmadu made these remarks recently at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi where stakeholders and development partners under the aegis of The Gambia government through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gathered to officially launch the Post-2015 National Consultations Development Agenda.

Fight against hunger ‘at heart of Irish foreign policy’, says Eamon Gilmore – World News | Latest International News Headlines | The Irish Times – Wed, Apr 17, 2013

April 18, 2013

Peter Singhatey World News Africa, Ireland, MDGs, peter singhateh, world hunger Leave a comment

Fight against hunger ‘at heart of Irish foreign policy’, says Eamon Gilmore – World News | Latest International News Headlines | The Irish Times – Wed, Apr 17, 2013.

Ireland will push for a greater focus on the links between climate change, hunger and poor nutrition at international gatherings including the UN General Assembly and the forthcoming G8 summit in Fermanagh, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore said yesterday.

Mr Gilmore was speaking at the close of a conference, hosted by the Government and the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, and organised with the World Food Programme (WFP) as part of Ireland’s EU presidency, which examined the overlap between climate change, hunger and under-nutrition and its impact on the world’s most vulnerable populations.

“Ireland will keep the fight against hunger at the heart of our foreign policy,” Mr Gilmore said, adding that the Government would advocate for a “single set of measurable goals” to be put in place after 2015, the deadline set when the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were first launched. Progress on achieving the MDGs has fallen far short of what was initially hoped for.

‘Africans agree shared values can best unite our continent’ – Daily Observer

April 15, 2013

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Gambia, Human Rights, peter singhateh Leave a comment

‘Africans agree shared values can best unite our continent’ – Daily Observer.

A human rights expert for the African Union Commission has said that shared values are the basic beliefs, ideals and principles that Africans agree can best unite their countries and continent.

Dr Sallah Hammadsiddique made these remarks on Wednesday during the deliberation of the representatives of the Department of Political Affairs of the AU and the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) on values that Africans share and must cherish.

The forum, which was held at the Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi, was part of activities marking the 53rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.

‘’We at the African Union are committed to bringing the concept of African shared values to the people of Africa, in ways that they can understand the concept,’’ Hammad explained.

It’s time for gender to be integrated into every level of the development process – By Thembi Mutch | African Arguments

March 27, 2013

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

It’s time for gender to be integrated into every level of the development process – By Thembi Mutch | African Arguments.

Without a mainstreaming of women in the development process, we’ll just go round in circles. It’s getting boring now: the endless TV footage of men in suits making decisions about women in Africa. We need a change.

In the immigration office in Tanzania, Lydia, a mid level civil servant says, “Look around us: I can say there are no female managers here. The problem is not just gender discrimination, it is favouritism. You get a management job here if you are friend or family of the president. Merit and brains are not rewarded, especially not if you are female, in` fact they are regarded as problems – you’re less easy to manipulate.”

Blinded by science: the problems of sorting out identity in Africa – By Keith Somerville | African Arguments

March 21, 2013

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Blinded by science: the problems of sorting out identity in Africa – By Keith Somerville | African Arguments.

The concept of autochthony – that one is entitled to ‘belong’ because of ancestral rights or “this is ours because we were here first” (p. 1) – is in many ways an attractive one when looking at political, economic and military conflict in Africa. Land is and always has been a key factor on a continent where agriculture is still at the heart of most economies and non-urban communities. Bøås and Dunn have chosen it as their focus for looking at issues of identity in Africa and use it to examine conflicts in Liberia, Kenya, the DRC and Ivory Coast. In so doing they appear to consciously reject economic factors other than land in explaining motives for competition and violence and also suggest autochthony is more appealing and applicable than ethnicity because it implies a sense of belonging and of being somewhere first…