Ndjamena, 30 December, 2005— The Chadian parliament on Thursday voted to scrap a fund set up to safeguard a portion of the country’s petrodollars for future generations, in a move the World Bank has called a ‘material breach’ of a ground-breaking contract with donors. The trust fund was one pillar of a model plan aimed
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Mbabane, 30 December, 2005— Rather than bulldozing the countries growing informal settlements, Swazi authorities plan to give residents property rights and access to services under a series of new urban development projects. “We want beautiful houses, not those built with stick and mud,” explained Elmond Tsabedze, a 60-year-old shop owner who lives in an informal
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Nairobi, 30 December, 2005— Unidentified armed groups in the north of Central African Republic (CAR) may be preparing a major offensive, the African Union said in a report issued on Thursday. “The current modus operandi of the armed groups who are on foot gives the impression that they might be recruiting people to launch future
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Cairo, 30 December, 2005— At least 10 Sudanese asylum seekers died on Friday following a stampede as Egyptian police tried to move them from a sit-in protest in Cairo. Some 3,000 protesters had been camped near UN offices for three months. Their demands ranged from better rights and conditions in Egypt to resettlement in another
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Addis Ababa, 30 December, 2005— Ethiopia’s finance minister, Sufyan Ahmed, has said that the poor in his country would suffer if aid donors carried out their plan to withhold US $375 million in budget support because of the government’s recent crackdown on opposition supporters. Sufyan said on Friday the donors’ decision to shift that money
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In the wake of the 6th congressional confabulation of the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC), (December 2005), a prominent executive member of the Party granted an interview to Ghana’s leading privately-owned radio station, Joy-FM, during which Mr. Kwaku Baah served notice – actually a parting grievance – to the entire membership of the Party that
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Beirut, 29 December, 2005— The Lebanese government has increased the presence of security personnel throughout the country ahead of New Year’s celebrations, following threats and a series of bomb attacks this year. “We have doubled our patrols,” said an official from the Beirut police who wished to remain anonymous. “From 700 staff we went up
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Washington, 29 December, 2005— There are functioning stock exchanges and countless investment and trade opportunities that now exist throughout sub-Saharan Africa that, if fully developed, could help bring a higher level of economic growth and development to the continent. To help promote such growth, and expand the volume of U.S.-Africa trade as well, the U.S.
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Washington, 29 December, 2005— Insurgents in Iraq are showing little capacity to keep up numerous and persistent attacks, a senior U.S. general in Baghdad says. At a briefing December 29, Air Force Brigadier General C.D. Alston said there are three reasons for the diminishing capability of the insurgents to keep up attacks. The ability of
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Nouakchott, 28 December, 2005— Civil servants will be able to celebrate the New Year in Mauritania safe in the knowledge that their pay packets will be up to 50 percent thicker come 1 January. The military government on Wednesday announced civil servant pay rises of at least 30 percent, with a 50 percent increment for
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