BBC World Service - Africa blog - Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/ This is the African News and Current Affairs blog from the BBC World Service. Team members will be blogging about things that catch their eye and discussing the African stories that have got people talking. en Copyright 2010 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:40:48 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.1 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss fun and games the us assistant secretary of state has called a press conference this morning to announce a travel ban on an unnamed senior kenyan government official. the reason for the cloak-and-dagger tactics is that the person in question hasn't been informed yet apparently. and the point is?

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/fun_and_games.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/fun_and_games.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:40:48 +0000 flashback just back from zim - and shivering in a london 'autumn'. miss the jacarandas already. Overall impressions in brief: from people we spoke to - the country reached rock-bottom last year, and is now on the mend. Lots to be positive about - but there is still a whiff of paranoia in the air.

have a look and listen: Zimbabwe Live

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/flashback.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/flashback.html Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:37:39 +0000 tireless just done the first edition of Focus on Africa from Harare, Zimbabwe. The country's Justice Minister Ptrick Chinamasa appeared on the programme. He arrived two hours ago - was on air with Focus on Africa for 15 minutes and is STILL here doing countless interviews with other outlets - either he loves to explain himself or is addicted to the limelight. Anyway, the man has energy, whatever his public persona around the world. As I write this he is scolding the West for its double-standards - got to love the theatrics of it all.

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/tireless.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/tireless.html Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:08:49 +0000 new dawn just coming down from a morning of live broadcasts fron Harare - incredible! Smack bang in the centre of the city. Quote of the morning: "This country can't be run like a tuckshop anymore." Lots of positive stories too - seems like things are getting back to life.

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/new_dawn.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/10/new_dawn.html Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:19:47 +0000 the big day will you be celebrating kwame nkrumah's 100th birthday today? or not?

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/the_big_day.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/the_big_day.html Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:30:49 +0000 up in lights see how we put together 'focus on africa'

https://nontonwae.pages.dev/worldservice/africa/2009/09/090916_focus_day.shtml

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/up_in_lights.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/up_in_lights.html Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:16:45 +0000 grow your own nice story on network africa and focus on africa today. there's been lots in the media about the US first lady and her prize veggie patch on the lawns of the white house. africa has its own success stories. two big prisons in mozambique will also start growing their own produce . . .

at the same time, the world has lost a man who some say saved more lives than any other:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8253005.stm

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/grow_your_own.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/grow_your_own.html Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:50:06 +0000 empty words top story this morning - boat tragedy in Sierra Leone. 8 bodies recovered, 116 missing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8247287.stm

and the government spokesman tells us that life jackets are compulsory in the country

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/empty_words.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/empty_words.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:31:20 +0000 less is more on zimbabwe and sadc - at least president zuma is "less biased" than former president mbeki was towards president mugabe.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=81014

so that's a good thing . . . right?

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/less_is_more.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/less_is_more.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:25:25 +0000 number crunching It's 9/9/9 today in case you haven't noticed. let's hope Africa gets lucky

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/number_crunching.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/number_crunching.html Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:31:47 +0000 Silent partner? So Sadc is backing President Robert Mugabe's demand that sanctions be dropped

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8245286.stm

It would be good to hear from Botswana - Phando Skelemani has never been shy about speaking his mind. Has that mind now changed?

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/silent_partner.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/09/silent_partner.html Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:22:40 +0000 join the club wonder if she should have made a fuss at or boycotted the medal ceremony. This could have done for feminism in sport what Tommie Smith and John Carlos did for Black Power at the Olympics in 1968

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3535000/3535348.stm

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/join_the_club.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/join_the_club.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:45:24 +0000 Man handled So the row rumbles on over Castor Semenya's physique. The South African athlete has been subjected to degrading speculation about her gender around the world. Some suggest it's an attempt to explain her super-human feats on the track. Others that it's just old-fashioned racism. Now even the Williams sisters have been dragged off the tennis court and onto the world stage of controversy:

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-08-20-sa-lashes-out-at-racist-world-athletics-body

Is South Africa the new East Germany?

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/man_handled.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/man_handled.html Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:32:51 +0000 Beady eye Leading the way on the 15h00GMT edition of Focus on Africa this afternoon - a veritable hornet's nest is stirred up in Nigeria. Apparently the head of the human rights commission has come down hard (linguistically) on the country's police for themselves coming down hard (physically) on suspects and civilans. To be honest, questions have been raised for a long time over the conduct of Nigeria's police force, but were brought into sharp focus in the past three weeks during the Boko Haram episode when evidence surfaced that the leader of the sect - Mohammed Yusuf - was killed in police custody. The police had originally said he was killed in a fire fight and not in the custody at all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePpUvfTXY7w

This raises the question of 'who is policing the police', not only in Nigeria but elsewhere in Africa. Irrespective of whether or not they are guilty of being heavy-handed, the fact that Roland Ewubare has been able to make the allegations are a good indication that civil society is as robust as ever in Nigeria. Interesting in light of what's in the current issue of the BBC Focus on Africa magazine, where we ask if Nigeria is on its way to being a failed state

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8112800.stm

so perhaps the answer is ..... not really?

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/beady_eye_1.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/beady_eye_1.html Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:36:47 +0000 value added? The US secretary of state is in the eastern DRC today. Africa is one of the recipients of the two-for-one Clinton package. Good deal?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/07/bill-hillary-clinton

]]> Nick Ericsson Nick Ericsson https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/value_added.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/africa/2009/08/value_added.html Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:25:57 +0000