Kano, 6 March, 2008— A species of cattail grass known locally as ’kachalla’ is taking over river banks and farmlands around the Hadejia-Komadugu-Yobe wetlands in northern Nigeria’s Jigawa state, disrupting farming and fishing activities on […]

Mbabane, 6 March, 2008— A bloody week of the worst labour strife in a decade has exposed cracks in the Swazi government’s poverty-alleviation plan of creating thousands of low-paying jobs by promoting a textile industry. […]

Freetown, 3 March, 2008— Sierra Leone has the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world because of underinvestment in health programs, malnutrition, and harmful cultural practices, UN children’s agency (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann […]

Jerusalem/Gaza, 3 March, 2008— Hospitals in the Gaza Strip were struggling to cope with the influx of wounded after five days of intense Israeli military activity, including a ground incursion and repeated air strikes, which […]

Gambella, 29 February, 2008— The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) will close down two Sudanese refugee camps before the end of May 2008, the organisation said, as repatriation gets under way again. UNHCR, with the International […]

Dakar, 29 February, 2008— Meningitis is spreading across the region with the death toll reaching 422 since the beginning of 2008 yet, contrary to several recent reports, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said the […]

Johannesburg, 29 February, 2008— Although the South African government’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is on track to achieve its main objective of creating one million jobs for the poor by 2009, significant and sustained […]

Bissau, 29 February, 2008— According to the government’s current estimates, donors will need to provide 20,000 tonnes of food aid to compensate for expected production shortfalls in 2008. Aid experts in Bissau, however, said that […]