Migrant smugglers profit from Libyan choas

Most of the 1,750 migrants to have drowned in the Mediterranean this year were sub-Saharan Africans who boarded smugglers’ boats in Libya. We will never know all their individual stories, but it is possible to retrace their steps through the deserts of Sudan, Chad and Niger to Libya’s porous southern borders, and north to its […]

Sweden: Joint statement on shipwreck in Mediterranean

We are dismayed by the shipwreck in the Mediterranean in which a large number of people drowned on their way to Europe. The unscrupulous people-smugglers who exploit the situation of desperate people bear a large part of the responsibility. The reports of the tragedy are harrowing and heart-rending, and the EU must now take action […]

South Africa’s xenophobic violence is barbaric

The founder of the Nordic-African Association, Mr. Ayoola Lawal says the killings and burning of foreigners in South Africa is beastly, barbaric and completely absymal. According Mr. Lawal, anti-foreigner statements credited to the  Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and the son of Edward Zuma, the son of President Jacob Zuma, asking non-South Africans to return to their respectful countries […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Defeating the power of incumbency

While the presidential election was anticipated to be close, there were still doubts that it would be possible to unseat an incumbent president in Nigeria. So when Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) was declared as winner of the election, Nigerian democracy has entered a new stage that will contribute to set the […]

Surviving climate disaster in Africa’s Sahel

For over 30 years the great Sahel Desert region in Africa has been a harbinger of the coming climate disaster our planet is facing and surviving such has become a national priority here in Eritrea on the eastern end of the Sahel; Thomas C. Mountain writes. Remember Michael Jackson and the great Ethiopian drought and […]