Africa

The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brought her African visit to a close in Liberia, a country which achieved independence from the USA, in support of the only African woman President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The trip has placed Africa in the spotlight and served to lend support to the International Court of Justice of The Hague, which the USA has still not recognized.

Thirteen years after the opening for signature, the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty has finally come into force with the twenty-eighth ratification by Burundi on 15 July 2009.
This milestone follows efforts by the Institute for Security Studies and the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, with the support of several other organizations.

When we think about the best examples of women’s presence in politics, the Scandinavian countries automatically come to mind. However, Rwanda, a landlocked country found in the heart of Africa, has the highest level of female representation in parliament. No fewer than 56% of representatives are women – a world record.

Madagascar’s feuding leaders said on Sunday they had agreed a power-sharing deal and would hold elections on the giant Indian Ocean island within 15 months. A communique issued after talks in Mozambique’s capital said a national unity government would be set up comprised of a prime minister, three deputy first ministers and 28 members.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on a seven-country tour of Africa, has urged the Democratic Republic of Congo to address the root causes of the conflict in the east of the country. The war is the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, killing 5.4 million people. She called on Congo’s government to put an end to the rape of women as “weapons of war”.

Speaking in a public forum in Nairobi, Hillary Clinton signaled a potential shift in US opposition to the International Criminal Court. Clinton said she feels “great regret” the US is not a signatory. A number of states, including China, Russia, India and the United States, have not joined the present 108 member states. Chile to be 109th as of September.

A kindergarten and primary school at Kazimia-Katondje, Fizi (South-Kivu Province, DR Congo) has just been renamed “Glenn Paige Non-killing School” by its promoters, local nonprofit MLECI. The school was originally founded in 2006 and has over 180 students, who are casualties of war, disease and abandonment. Besides providing education, it offers food, health care, clothing.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has begun a seven-nation, eleven-day trip to Africa. Her trip begins in Kenya, where she is expected to meet with Somalia’s President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Somalia at present is at war, since January 2009 when the southern half of the country fell into the hands of radical Islamist rebels.

The Obama administration’s special envoy to Sudan is calling for a major shift in U.S. policy towards the Sudanese government. In May 2007, the Bush administration imposed economic and other sanctions against Sudan, because of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. In the Darfur conflict, due to violence and disease, UN estimates 400.000 people killed and 2 millions displaced.

Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya, drew attention to the injustice of military spending when the money could be better spent on eradicating poverty and disease.