Africa

• 12 May 2005
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - Ibadan Serra Club visits seminaries in the Archdiocese to supportand encourage vocations Ibadan (Fides)- A delegation of Ibadan Serra Club in Nigeria recently paid its annual visit to St. Theresa’s Minor Seminary and to the Saints Peter and Paul Major Seminary in the archdiocese of Ibadan. The delegatio ...
• 12 May 2005
  AFRICA/TOGO - Violence, intimidation and fraud during 24 April elections says statement by Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Lome (Fides Service)- Number of seats “variable” (between 5,311 and 5,320 according to various sources also official), incomplete electoral lists, voters found in possession of more than one voting paper, intimidatio ...
• 11 May 2005
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Reconciling hearts after years of civil war: Jesuit Refugee Service programme for refugees in southern Sudan Khartoum (Fides Service)- Educate to peace to facilitate the return of refugees to their own country. This is the objective of a programme started by the Jesuit Refugee Service JRS, working in refugee camps in southern S ...
• 11 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Is Congo’s copper behind return of the Katanga Gendarmes? Lubumbashi (Fides Service)- “The events need still to be deciphered but from what has been said this was in actual fact an insurrection to overturn the nation’s political situation by detaching Katanga from the rest ...
• 11 May 2005
  AFRICA/TOGO - Tension reigns under apparent calm. New details on militia groups and their ‘death squads’ Lome (Fides Service)- “The situation is relatively tranquil but under the ashes their is still the fire of repression and revolt” said local sources in Lomé, capital of Togo, living a serious crisis since the electi ...
• 10 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Ecclesia in Africa ten years on: 6 dioceses in South and North Kivu look at the situation of evangelisation in east Congo Bukavu (Fides Service)- “A day to note in the records of the local Church in Kivu” said Rev. Jean Baptiste Ruhangamugabu, Secretary of the Kivu Provincial Assembly of Catholic Bishops (APEKI) with regard to a meeting ...
• 10 May 2005
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - Agreement over appointment of Internal minister and disarmament of civilians: peace in Burundi makes progress Bujumbura (Fides Service)- “We must be patient, the path is long but there have been positive developments, over the past few days, most promising for the peace process” a local Church source in Burundi told Fides wi ...
• 9 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Church in Congo mourns Fr. René de Haes killed in a robbery Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do” said the Jesuit provincial Fr. Bafuidinsoni Maloko-Mana when he heard the news that his Belgian confrere Fr. René de Haes SJ had been kil ...
• 9 May 2005
  AFRICA/CÔTE D' IVOIRE - On the one hand there are the interests of extortionists, on the other “no programme” for real development. Peace has stalled” a local mission told Fides Abidjan (Fides Service)- “Hope is last to die but it is sorely tried” a missionary told Fides commenting the failed agreement over the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation process in the country. After 5 ...
• 7 May 2005
  AFRICA/KENYA - Floods in north east Kenya affect 25,000 refugees from Somalia Nairobi (Fides Service)- The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and partner agencies are working to repair heavy damage caused by torrential rains and devastating floods which hit refugee camps in Dadaab in nor ...
• 7 May 2005
  AFRICA/CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - “The country awaits a new President to close the transition period and obtain promised international aid at last” a missionary said Bangui (Fides Service)- “The election of outgoing President François Bozizé would appear to be certain. There are no signs of tension, except for a little arguing between adversary parties” a missionary in the Cent ...
• 6 May 2005
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - Disarm civilians to favour a calmer atmosphere in view of presidential elections Bujumbura (Fides Service)- “The President’s initiative aims to create a calmer atmosphere in view of presidential elections planned for 19 August” a local Church source in Burundi told Fides commenting a decree iss ...
• 6 May 2005
  AFRICA/MALAWI - Diocese of Mangochi mourns its Bishops Mangochi (Fides Service)- Mangochi diocese in Malawi is mourning two Bishops who died in a month, one after the other. Bishop Alessandro Assolari emeritus and first Bishop of the diocese died on 13 April in Bergamo (see ...
• 6 May 2005
  AFRICA/TOGO - “Only when people are no longer afraid in Togo will we be able to say that democracy and normality have returned” Lome (Fides Service)- “There will be real change here in this country only when the people have overcome their fear. Fear of being arrested, fear of being murdered on the way to work or by army squads which come in the ...
• 4 May 2005
  AFRICA/SOMALIA - “Increase pressure on Somali clans to help interim government exercise effective power” Apostolic of Mogadishu tells Fides commenting yesterday’s bomb blast Mogadishu (Fides Service)- “There are contrasting reports with regard to yesterday’s explosion at the capital’s sports stadium” Bishop Giorgio Bertin, of Djibouti and Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu told Fid ...