Africa

• 21 July 2004
  AFRICA/LIBERIA - “Arms’ recovery in Liberia is connected to the one in Cote d’Ivoire” says commander of the UN troops in Liberia. The Fides dossier of Saturday July 24th shall look into the problem of light weapons’ proliferation in Africa Monrovia (Fides Agency) - “I can assure you that by the end of our mission to Liberia we will have collected all weapons, but Liberia remains a Country in danger if weapons are left in the wrong hands in Cote d’Ivoir ...
• 16 July 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Sudan and its wars: less conventional arms (hunger) less conventional soldiers (children). Fides spoke to Mill Hill missionary who has just published a book on Sudan and its conflicts “Travelling With Soldiers and Bishops” Khartoum (Fides)- “The civil war in Sudan is a complex war. It is too simple to describe it as a conflict between ideologies of North and South ” Mill Hill missionary Fr Mathew Haumann in Sudan told Fides. Fr Haumann ...
• 16 July 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Pastoral and social-charity work in Popokabaka diocese south west Congo Kinshasa (Fides Service)- Schools, medical centres and soon a Radio station are the main services offered by the Catholic diocese of Popokabaka in south west Congo, according to the local Catholic news agency DIA. Pop ...
• 16 July 2004
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Peace talks for Darfur start in Ethiopia S. Egidio community observers among those present Rome (Fides Service)- “The fact that the talks are taking place is already a good sign” Vittorio Scelzo, a S. Egidio Observer to a meeting between the government of Sudan and the two rebel movements fighting governme ...
• 15 July 2004
  AFRICA/KENYA - Amidst drought and corruption Kenya’s political crisis deepens Nairobi (Fides Service) - The President of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki has warned of the threat of drought but his call was all but ignored by the local media more interested in the debate in course since the British representati ...
• 15 July 2004
  AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - Former East German factory workers occupy German Embassy in Maputo for a few hours Maputo (Fides Service)- The occupation of the German embassy in Maputo by a group of forty people was “a demonstration out of exasperation over a situation of impasse which has dragged on for years ” according to loc ...
• 15 July 2004
  AFRICA/SIERRA LEONE - Spreading drug abuse is a concern but the major problem in Sierra Leone is unemployment” a missionary tells Fides Freetown (Fides Service)- “The main problem in Sierra Leone is that there is no work. Drug abuse is an issue but not the main one” Father Giuseppe Berton, Italian Xaverian mission in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone ...
• 14 July 2004
  AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - Italian television programme speaks of food discrimination against women in Ethiopia Addis Abeba (Fides Service)- “Women suffer from discrimination even in tragic stiatuions of food shortage which periodically strike Ehtiopia”, Sr Elisa, an Italian Salesian missionary told Italian television. The nun ...
• 14 July 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Tertio Millennio International Missiology Congress: the future of missionary activity ad gentes prospects for the 21st century Kinshasa (Fides Service) - On the 40th anniversary of the Ad Gentes Decree issued by Vatican II and the 10th anniversary of the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa, the Bishops’ Conference of Congo has ...
• 14 July 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “An attempt destined to failure” Congo MP Enoch Sebineza tells Fides, commententing self-dismissal of 8 Banyamulenge hard wing National Assembly members Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “They are isolated persons risking an all out attempt. Unless they are backed by some foreign power they will not achieve much or go very far. The majority of the Banyamulenge disapproves of t ...
• 14 July 2004
  AFRICA - From South Africa and Nigeria examples to re-launch collaboration among all the countries of Africa Rome (Fides Service)- One of the evils of Africa is lack of collaboration among the states of the continent. This is due partly to the heritage of colonial times. Territories administered by Europeans were connected with ...
• 14 July 2004
  AFRICA/BURKINA FASO - Girls of different ages tell their story of forced marriage and escape Ouagadougou (Fides Service)- “With the excuse of local customs women are forced into marriage without their consent. The story was told on Italian television by Esther Marie Judith of the Association of Women’s Right ...
• 13 July 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Persisting concern for humanitarian situation in east Congo and bordering countries. More than 3 million people in need of assistance Kinshasa (Fides Service)- Humanitarian agencies are alarmed at the situaion in Democratic Congo where recent fighting caused at least 85,000 people to seek shelter elsewhere and in many cases in in Rwanda and Burundi (se ...
• 13 July 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - “Decisive meeting on 29 July to settle Ivorian crisis”. International study voices concern for a possible war between Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Mali Abidjan (Fides Service)-“People are expecting great things from the meeting among Ivorian parties on 29 July in Ghana. There is hope but also concern”, a qualified Observer in Abidjan, economic capital of Ivory Coast ...
• 12 July 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - The local Church among the first to welcome thousands of people fleeing fighting in north east Congo. “Situation ever more tense” say Fides sources Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “Fighting continues and the situation is ever more tense” say Fides sources in the north-eastern Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where two guerrilla groups FAPC (Armed Force ...