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Gang rape: The South African death of Thandiswa Qubuda
March 5, 2013
Grahamstown Unemployed People’s Union spokesperson Ayanda Kota had much more to say about this tragedy and its post-apartheid South African context than we were able to report on the KPFA Evening News on Sunday, March 3, 2013. He said that the Black Consciousness Movement founded by Steve Biko, with his call for the restoration of humanity shattered by apartheid, offers the best hope of healing.
‘Mugabe: Hero or Villain’: an interview wit’ filmmaker Roy Agyemang
March 3, 2013
Roy Agyemang is a Ghanaian filmmaker from London who recently made the documentary film “Mugabe: Hero or Villain?” an in-depth look at Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe. It recently screened at the Pan African Film Fest and won an award, and it will be screening in the Bay opening night at the Oakland International Film Fest at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland.
Everywhere is war: European warlords strike again – this time in Mali
February 27, 2013
As Africans, our struggle must be focused on achieving our inalienable right to self-determination – to develop our own political and economic systems and put in place our own political structures, free of interference from the outside world. Only we can turn the tables – only we can achieve our own liberation from systems that continue to keep us in a state of dependency and disarray.
Allimadi: The U.S. is not interested in going after the LRA
February 26, 2013
An AP newswire posted to outlets all over the world said that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sent 500 troops to join a Uganda-led military effort to hunt down Joseph Kony, the fugitive head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA rebel group, bringing the number of African soldiers deployed against the LRA up to 3,350, assisted by U.S. Special Forces.
Obama administration official provides insights on U.S. Congo policy
February 23, 2013
On Monday, Feb. 11, outgoing Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson presented an outline of the Obama administration’s policy position on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The purpose of Ambassador Carson’s presentation was twofold: discussing why efforts should be redoubled to bring stability to the Congo and laying out a framework for “moving forward.”
South African police arrest Congo rebels
February 9, 2013
On Feb. 5, the Associated Press reported that “South African police arrested 19 suspected members of a Congolese rebel group Tuesday morning, accusing them of plotting to overthrow their nation’s government after it recently came under attack by militants said to be backed by neighboring Rwanda.”
U.S. African and Mideast policies: War as foreign aid and regime change as democratic transition
February 4, 2013
“Former political prisoner Dhoruba Bin Wahad recently penned an excellent essay breaking down what’s going on in Mali, Congo and the Middle East. He also challenged the type of stances many of us have taken with respect to these regions that are embroiled in conflict. To support his essay, we interviewed him so he can expand upon his analysis. In true form, Dhoruba pulled no punches. Peep what he has to say.”
Court finds Shell Nigeria guilty
January 30, 2013
A Dutch court has rejected a bid by Nigerian farmers to hold Shell’s parent company responsible for oil damage to their villages, saying that only the Anglo-Dutch oil giant’s Nigerian subsidiary was partly responsible. On Jan. 29, the court dismissed four out of five allegations against the company but ordered it to pay compensation to one Nigerian farmer.
Sanctions on top Rwandans, not drones over the DRC
January 17, 2013
The United States says it’s ready to send surveillance drones to the Democratic Republic of Congo to help the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the African state despite the government of Rwanda’s objections from its new rotating seat on the U.N. Security Council. The U.S. also supports the plan to use drones to increase surveillance capacity in other African countries.
Bruce Dixon: Diversity is not justice, equity or peace
January 9, 2013
Bruce Dixon, managing editor of the Black Agenda Report and author of “Did Bloody Hands, Not Black Womanhood Sink Susan Rice Nomination?” spoke to KPFA about U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s withdrawal from consideration to become President Obama’s next secretary of state.
Zimbabwe delayed land reform to save South Africa from prolonged Apartheid
January 6, 2013
Zimbabwe is a sovereign African nation exercising its right to self-determination. Is that wrong? I’m calling on U.S. President Barack Obama and the United States Congress to remove the illegal sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Zimbabwe. Take a minute to sign my petition and get your friends to also, and together we will STOP THE SUFFERING NOW!
Uganda still won’t hang the gays, but it’s about to drill for billions of barrels of oil
January 2, 2013
Uganda’s Parliament failed to pass the infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill, otherwise known as the Hang-the-Gays Bill, in December. However, Uganda’s Parliament did pass the Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production Bill, regarding the exploitation of vast oil reserves in Lake Albert, on Uganda’s western border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
U.S. deploying troops to 35 African countries
December 30, 2012
Soldiers will begin training in March 2013 in order to prepare for a project that will send troops to as many as 35 African nations. Citing a growing threat from extremist groups, including those with ties to al-Qaeda, the Department of Defense is hoping to install American soldiers overseas in order to prepare local troops there for any future crises as tensions escalate.
Victoire Ingabire spends her third Christmas behind bars
December 27, 2012
Ingabire returned to her native Rwanda from the Netherlands in January 2010 to stand for the presidency against incumbent President Paul Kagame, but she was not allowed to run and was imprisoned on charges of terrorism and genocide ideology. A court sentenced her to eight years, and her lawyers have filed an appeal with the Rwandan Supreme Court.
Vietnam, Afghanistan, Somalia … Congo? The DRC?
December 24, 2012
by Ann Garrison
KPFA Evening News broadcast Dec. 23, 2012
KPFA Evening News Anchor Anthony Fest: Turning now to news of Africa, the people of eastern Congo are facing another tragic Christmas. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports… Read the rest »
Susan Rice’s defense of Kagame in Congo puts Obama State Department on the defensive
December 19, 2012
The Obama administration was on the defensive about the U.S. relationship with Rwanda and its U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice at the Dec. 11, 2012, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Two days after the hearing, Rice withdrew her name from consideration to become secretary of state. In President Obama’s statement on Susan Rice, issued the same day, he praised her work but did not mention Rwanda, Uganda or Congo.
Cynthia McKinney, IAC Co-Director Sara Flounders travel to Pakistan in solidarity with political prisoner Aafia Siddiqui
December 18, 2012
Hundreds of Siddiqui’s supporters met the two at the airport in the wee hours of the morning, carrying flowers, signs and banners, and chanting “Free Aafia!” and “Welcome!” Siddiqui is a Pakistani political prisoner who has been held in solitary confinement for years in U.S. prisons, after being abducted from Pakistan with her three young children.
Israel: Ethiopian Jews’ birth rate falls 50%
December 18, 2012
A Dec. 11 report from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency lends credence to long-standing charges of contraception abuse against the Ethiopian Jews, or Falash Mura, in Israel. JTA cites a report in Hebrew on Israeli Educational Television charging that coercive contraception is behind a 50 percent decline in the Ethiopian birth rate in Israel over the past decade.
Congo, AFRICOM and the U.S. Corporate Council on Africa
December 12, 2012
The deadly conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo continues, as leaders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Rwandan and Ugandan M23 militia fighting in Congo gather in Uganda’s capital for peace talks, which members of the Congolese political opposition are boycotting.
Six million dead since 1996? It’s time to break the silence on the Congo War
December 9, 2012
Congolese problems should have Congolese solutions. We ask that the United States of America and the United Kingdom immediately withdraw all forms of financial and military aid to Rwanda that is a state sponsor of terrorism in Africa. We must pledge to ourselves that we will never again betray our people and ourselves by staying quiet and passive.