HEALTH-SWAZILAND: AIDS Creating a Society in Distress
By James Hall
MANZINI - In a narrow and still winter-brown valley, little more than a crevice between rocky mountains, Gogo Ndlovu looks after her five young orphaned grandchildren.
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FILM: Boys of Mass Destruction
By Katie Vandever
UNITED NATIONS - In a twist of realism, a new feature film, "Johnny Mad Dog", uses a cast of actual ex-child soldiers from Liberia to portray the violent lives of youth forced to participate in armed conflict.
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AFRICA: Link Between Crop Failure and Climate Change Often Missed
By Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN - Climate change has a profound effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access to food across the continent.
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Q&A: How Not to Resettle IDPs
Interview with Prisca Kamungi, director of the Internal Displacement Policy and Advocacy Centre
NAIROBI - Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Return Home, in Kiswahili), designed to help about 350,000 IDPs living in camps across the country go back to their homes and farms has achieved its primary objective, at least according to the Kenyan government. Officials claim that most of the camps are closed and only 30,000 are living in the few that remain, but these numbers are disputed by independent analysts.
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DEATH PENALTY-NIGERIA: MPs Shout Down Abolition Bill
By Toye Olori
LAGOS - Hopes of a reprieve for hundreds of death row inmates in Nigeria were dashed when MPs threw out a bill which would have commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment and down-graded robbery with violence to a non-capital crime.
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MAURITIUS: Workers Urged to Work Nightshift in ‘24-Seven Economy’
By Nasseem Ackbarally
PORT LOUIS - In this era of technological progress people should be working less, not more, says Ashok Subron.
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AGRICULTURE-SOUTH AFRICA: Small Farmers Pushed to Plant GM Seed
By Kristin Palitza
DURBAN - Baphethile Mntambo has been farming organically for the past five years because she knows that avoiding chemicals will in the long-term benefit her yield. She decided not to plant genetically modified seeds because she has heard that they cannot be saved for the next season and will eventually deplete her soil. But she is not entirely sure how and why.
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ENVIRONMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Western Cape Farmers Expect the Unexpected
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN - The Western Cape region attracts millions of tourists who come to this part of South Africa to enjoy its famous Table Mountain and beaches, and to experience some of the world's best wines and deciduous fruits. But changes in the region's climate could be threatening these industries.
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TRADE-AFRICA: Senegal and South Africa Moving Closer?
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN - Senegal’s opposition to United Nations sanctions against Zimbabwe aligns Pres. Abdoulaye Wade’s government with that of South Africa. This should boost the two countries’ bilateral relations, which have seemingly been improving in the wake of a recent bilateral trade treaty.
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NORWAY: Make Africa's Tragedies Comic
By Tarjei Kidd Olsen
OSLO - How do you wake up comfortable Norwegians to the distressing realities of child deaths and maternal health in developing countries? Through the comic books they so love.
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