By Thalif Deen

Young children are pictured at a tent camp in Shangil Tobaya, North Darfur. / UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 9 (IPS) – Russia and China, two veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council described as key arms suppliers to the embattled regime in Syria, are now accused of supplying weapons and [...]

By Kanya D’Almeida
WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (IPS) – They called themselves the “cut hands commandos” because they lopped off their victims’ hands with machetes; the “burn house unit”, for the thousands of families who were locked into their homes and roasted alive; the “born naked squad”, in reference to the hapless hundreds who were stripped naked [...]

By Mantoe Phakathi

Many Swazi’s prefer to put their hard-earn money into cooperatives rather than banks. / Zukiswa Zimela/IPS

MBABANE, Feb 8 (IPS) – Nomsa Tsabedze is one of the many people at the Bunye Betfu, Buhle Betfu Credit and Savings Cooperatives waiting to apply for a loan to pay for her children’s school fees.

"Unlike [...]

By Mustapha Muhammad

An injured man awaits treatment at the Murtala Muhammed General Hospital in Kano after the Jan. 20 bombings. / Mustapha Muhammad/IPS

KANO, Nigeria, Feb 8 (IPS) – "I can no longer stay here in Kano as it rains bombs. The gun battles rattle us… Kano is no longer safe," said pregnant Funke [...]

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

A farmer in Cameroon. The closure of Nigeria's border with northern Cameroon has had a negative economic impact on this region. / Fanny Pigeaud/IRIN

YAOUNDE, Feb 7 (IPS) – Ahmadou Lamine has been forced to close his business selling fuel imported from Nigeria, known locally as "zoa-zoa", because of the Islamic [...]

By Karlos Zurutuza
BENGHAZI, Feb 5 (IPS) – It's been almost a year since Benghazi launched its uprising against former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi and three months since he was killed, but there is a growing sense of frustration in eastern Libya with the National Transitional Council. Two weeks ago, a group of protesters attacked the [...]

By Claire Ngozo
 
LILONGWE, Feb 3 (IPS) – The black market for foreign exchange and fuel is booming in the midst of an acute scarcity in Malawi. The shortage is so severe that even the Consumer Association of Malawi, an influential consumer rights body, has come out in support of the black market.

The queue outside a [...]

By Mustapha Dumbuya and Damon Van der Linde
 

Sierra Leone’s mining industry has a long history of unregulated operations. / USAID

FREETOWN, Jan 31 (IPS) – The launch of Sierra Leone’s first online mining database in West Africa comes with a promise to increase transparency and accountability in the country’s rich natural resource sector.
 

“This system will stamp out [...]

By Lewis Mwanangombe

A copper mine in Zambia. When Luanshya’s copper mine closed in 2000 more than 6,000 people lost their jobs, triggering massive poverty. / Blue Salo/Wikicommons

LUSAKA, Jan 31 (IPS) – Zhang Daliu, 46, a carpenter from China never imagined himself in the dreadful confines of a stinking and overcrowded Zambian jail where conditions [...]

By Lewis Mwanangombe

A copper mine in Zambia. When Luanshya’s copper mine closed in 2000 more than 6,000 people lost their jobs, triggering massive poverty. / Blue Salo/Wikicommons

LUSAKA, Jan 31 (IPS) – Zhang Daliu, 46, a carpenter from China never imagined himself in the dreadful confines of a stinking and overcrowded Zambian jail where conditions [...]

By Wambi Michael

Dorothy Kabajungu, 50, has started a firewood business after obtaining a loan from a women’s bank. / Wambi Michael/IPS

WAKISO, Uganda, Jan 30 (IPS) – For most Ugandan women, obtaining a commercial loan to start a business has been very difficult. Many do not have the required collateral of land title deeds [...]

By Wambi Michael

Dorothy Kabajungu, 50, has started a firewood business after obtaining a loan from a women’s bank. / Wambi Michael

WAKISO, Uganda, Jan 30 (IPS) – For most Ugandan women, obtaining a commercial loan to start a business has been very difficult. Many do not have the required collateral of land title deeds [...]

By Kristin Palitza

HIV/AIDS has caused a steady increase in the number of orphans in South Africa. / Kristin Palitza/IPS

CAPE TOWN, Jan 27 (IPS) – If there was no HIV/AIDS, South Africa would have 4.4 million more people than today, the size of a major city. This significant slow-down in population growth is causing [...]

By Ignatius Banda

In 2008, bread cost 35 million Zimbabwean dollars and the country began printing large bills like this 100 billion dollar one. / Wikicommons

BULAWAYO, Jan 26 (IPS) – From downtown shops that stock cheap clothing and shoes that fall apart after one wear, to mining concessions in platinum, gold and diamonds – the [...]

By Nasseem Ackbarally

Mauritians are abandoning shopping at dirty and disorganised cooperatives in favour of shopping malls. / Nasseem Ackbarally/IPS

PORT-LOUIS, Jan 21 (IPS) – Amateurism, high prices, mismanagement, and a limited product range have discouraged Inderjeet Rajcoomarsingh, the former chairman of the Mauritius Agricultural Cooperative Federation, from shopping at cooperative stores.

Instead you can find [...]