Africa

• 29 March 2007
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Catholic Bishops call for new Constitution “inspired by the people” Harare (Agenzia Fides) - In a Pastoral Letter to be read in churches on Palm Sunday the Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe call for a new Constitution “inspired by the people” to help the country overcome the present polit ...
• 28 March 2007
  AFRICA/SOMALIA - I call on Somali leaders to have a sense of responsibility with regard to the suffering of their people” says Catholic Bishop Apostolic administrator of Mogadishu where furious fighting has resumed Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides)-“The situation is very sad because no one seems to want dialogue or peace. The players in this crisis have adopted a maximalist attitude which has plunged Somalia into chaos” says Bishop Gio ...
• 27 March 2007
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Media education requires formation in the exercise of authentic freedom, says President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, at the 5th World Summit on media for Children Johannesburg (Fides Service)- Archbishop John Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, spoke at the Opening of the 5th World Summit on media for Children, held in Johannesburg, South Africa. ...
• 27 March 2007
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - Crisis heightens, episodes of violence, spectre of domestic terrorism Harare (Fides Service)- The crisis in Zimbabwe is ever more serious. The people are desperate. In the past few days there were attacks with rudimental firebombs. The local police said that during riots in Harare on 24 Ma ...
• 26 March 2007
  AFRICA/GHANA - First meeting of new Standing Committee of the Symposium of Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar SECAM Accra (Fides Service)- A meeting of the new Standing Committee of the Symposium of Bishops’ Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) will begin today in Accra, Ghana to conclude on March 30, 2007. It will be th ...
• 26 March 2007
  AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - 100 dead and almost 500 injured: tragic toll of explosions in Maputo munitions store. The Pope prays for the victims Maputo (Agenzia Fides) - The explosions on 22 March at a munitions store close to the airport of Maputo, capital of Mozambique (see Fides 23 March 2007), killed a total 100 persons, wounded 492, and robbed 200 more of th ...
• 23 March 2007
  AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - Explosions at the country’s largest weapons deposit kill 80 and wounds thousands, many of them children Maputo (Fides Service)- “This is the second such incident in this place and the most serious” Fides learned from local Church sources in Maputo where yesterday 22 March at least 80 people died and 360 were injured in ...
• 21 March 2007
  AFRICA/KENYA - A flower in the desert in north west Kenya: Franciscan Missionaries of Mary educate Turkana girls at Homecraft Centre Nairobi (Fides Service) - Education for girls is a new concept among the Turkana people in north west Kenya a harsh desert land where the community struggles for survival in the face of drought, famines and cattle rustli ...
• 21 March 2007
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Abortion is dangerous, mortal for many African women Rome (Agenzia Fides) - In Africa 4.2 million dangerous abortions are carried out every year and in 30,000 cases the mother dies. Abortion can kill when it is performed by non qualified personnel and/or in non hygienic ...
• 17 March 2007
  AFRICA/CONGO - International speculation assaults Congo Brazzaville Brazzaville (Fides Service) - “Vulture funds” are assaulting the resources of Congo Brazzaville. Reportedly speculative funds are buying poor countries’ foreign debts for next to nothing (ten cents per dollar) beca ...
• 17 March 2007
  AFRICA/ZIMBABWE - “Dialogue is the only way to end this crisis”: joint statement from the country’s Christian leaders Harare (Agenzia Fides)- The leaders of Christian Churches in Zimbabwe have appealed to the nation to dialogue as a means of resolving the current crisis. An Ecumenical Peace Initiative statement sent to Fides reads “Ou ...
• 16 March 2007
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - Lenten Collection in aid of the poor and the Church’s education programmes: continuing Jesus’ mission includes proclaiming the Good News more effectively Pretoria (Fides Service) - “Continuing Jesus’ total mission” is the theme of the Lenten Appeal launched by the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference SACBC. Recalling the Gospel of Luke “You sent me to bri ...
• 15 March 2007
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “Reconciliation and good government”: local Catholic Church adopts education plan to restore authentic peace all over the country Kinshasa (Fides Service)- The local Catholic Church is launching second stage of its programme of education to peace which successfully prepared the people to play their rightful role in the recent elections last year (s ...
• 14 March 2007
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “A land blessed by God ruined by human greed”: a Congolese miner tells how his country is robbed of its mineral resources Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “When He created the earth, the Lord gave Congo a large quality of different minerals, diamonds, copper, gold, uranium, coltan, cassiterite, as well as others still to be extracted like gas an ...
• 13 March 2007
  AFRICA/KENYA - Ghanean White Father killed on mission Nairobi (Fides Service)- A White Father, a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Africa, was shot dead on Saturday 10 March in Nairobi, Kenya. Fr. Martin Addai was in his car on the Mombasa Road in the South ...