On phobic violence in South Africa

“Afrophobia”? “Xenophobia”? “Black on black racism”? A “darker” as you can get hacking a “foreigner” under the pretext of his being too dark — self hate par excellence? Of course all of that at once! Yesterday I asked a taxi driver: “why do they need to kill these “foreigners” in this manner?”. His response: “because […]

Who wins African innovation prize?

What do an environmentally-friendly minicab, a water distillation system and a fire alert detector have in common? They all represent outstanding innovation talent across Africa, applied for the celebrated Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) award this year, and are now being considered for the grand share prize of US$150 000! Since its inaugural launch in […]

Liberia: 200-year-old ‘sacred’ rocks preserved

While planning for the start of the Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) phase of its mining operations, ArcelorMittal Liberia did surveys in the villages close to its mining sites at Tokadeh, Yuelliton and Gangra in Nimba County, northern Liberia to determine the location of sites that are sacred to these communities. A series of consultative meetings […]

Thousands flee Burundi as election tension rises

Thousands of Burundians have fled their country, fearing it might descend into violence ahead of a presidential election scheduled for June. “Burundi is sitting on a time-bomb and it’s sad that the outside world does not care,” Justin Rwasa, one of around 4,000 Burundians to have sought refuge in neighbouring Rwanda, told IRIN. Burundi is […]

Slow African growth this year, says World Bank

Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth will slow in 2015 to 4.0 percent from 4.5 percent in 2014, according to World Bank projections released Monday. This downturn largely reflects the fall in the prices of oil and other commodities, notes Africa’s Pulse, a twice-yearly World Bank Group analysis of the issues shaping Africa’s economic prospects released today at […]

US: Liberians mourn deaths of two brothers

At the Cross of Glory Lutheran Church located on Brooklyn Blvd, Brooklyn Center, Minn., one of several Christian worship centers for African-Liberian Americans, words proved inadequate in describing the true personality of a youthful Liberian official, Lee Sonny Mason Sr., who died in the US about one month ago during a brief visit; writes James Kokulo Fasuekoi. Saturday, April […]

Swedish-South Africa links go back a long way

One of the proudest moments in modern Swedish history was when Nelson Mandela visited Sweden in 1990 – the first country outside of Africa – after his long imprisonment. Sweden’s relations with South Africa are unique. As far back as the 1960s, a country-wide Swedish anti-apartheid movement arose. In the early 1970s, we were the […]

Ebola exposed global insensitivity to Africa

The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa has exposed the global failure and insensitivity of the international community to health crisis in poor African countries, says Sam Slewion, a social justice activist and social work practitioner.  Mr. Slewion said while substantive progress is being made to contain the Ebola outbreak in the three affected West […]

Increased security for international trading

Globally, the increased concern around public safety has resulted in the intensification of security measures for transportation of goods internationally. Businesses which trade internationally need to be aware of the security measures in place to mitigate the risk to their operations and their people. This is according to Oliver Facey, Vice President of Operations for […]

Amb. Nyenabo challenges Liberian diaspora

Liberia’s Ambassador designate to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and the European Union, Amb. Isaac W. Nyenabo, II has challenged Liberians in the diaspsora, especially those in the Benelux Zone to join the massive development and reconstruction taking place in their country. Ambassador Nyenabo told a group of members of the Liberian community […]