Africa

• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/CONGO RD - Fighting in Bukavu east Congo. Uncertainty with regard the dimensions of the episode Kinshasa (Fides Service)-“The situation in Kivu is confused and it is difficult to say what exactly is happening” Xaverian missionaries told Fides. “Shooting continues in the city of Bukavu on the outskirts not far ...
• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/SENEGAL - Crowds mourn Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum one of 30 African bishops who attended Vatican II. Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples sends local Church message of condolence: “In love with God and mankind, he strove to build peace, harmony and unity in his country”. Dakar (Fides Service) - Crowds gathered in Dakar Cathedral this morning 27 May to pay their last respects to Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, emeritus Archbishop of Dakar who died at the age of 83 on May 18 in Marseilles, F ...
• 27 May 2004
  AFRICA/CONGO RD - Confusion reigns in Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the scene of fighting for the past few days Bukavu (Fides Service)- The situation in Bukavu, in southern Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC) where there has been fighting for some days now between troops loyal to the central government in K ...
• 26 May 2004
  AFRICA/SOUTH AFRICA - The unknown plight of Great Lakes refugees in South Africa: an Italian Scalabrini missionary reports to Fides Cape Town (Fides Service) - Cape Town has at 35,000 refugees from central African countries mainly from Democratic Congo, Rwanda, Burundi. “We have no exact figures because in the case of families the police assign one ...
• 26 May 2004
  AFRICA/MALAWI - Opposition calls for repeat of 20 May elections. Protests and violence. Catholic media are threatened Lilongwe (Fides Service)- Protests and denouncement of electoral fraud continue in Malawi after Bingu wa Mutharika the leader of the party in power was declared the winner of presidential elections on May 20, (see Fides ...
• 26 May 2004
  AFRICA/UGANDA - North Uganda: “The world’s most serious humanitarian emergency” says AVSI delegate for Africa Rome (Fides Service)- “The situation in northern Uganda is the most serious humanitarian emergency in the whole world at this moment ” said Giampaolo Silvestri, head of AVSI (Associazione Volontari per il Servizio In ...
• 25 May 2004
  AFRICA - African Union inaugurates new Council for Peace and Security charged with promoting peace on the continent Rome (Fides Service)- On May 24 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the UA, African Union which replaced the Organisation for African Unity in 2002, inaugurated its new Council for Peace and Security. The council's o ...
• 25 May 2004
  AFRICA/MALAWI - Mixed feelings: a missionary sends Fides a comment after accouncement of election results Lilongwe (Fides Services)- The official results of elections in Malawi on 20 May (see Fides 18 and 22 May) confirmed as president Bingu wa Mutharika, candidate of the UDF party with 1.119,000 votes 140,000 more than Joh ...
• 25 May 2004
  AFRICA/IVORY COAST - “Dialogue at deadlock” locale Church sources told Fides commenting the battle in Ivory Coast between President and Premier Abidjan (Fides Service)- “Dialogue has reached a deadlock and there seems to be no way out” said a local Church source in Abidjan, Ivory Coast where the political crisis between the President Laurent Gbagbo and the O ...
• 25 May 2004
  AFRICA/LIBERIA - Disarmament of Liberian factions proceeds. Tragedy of refugees trying to return to Liberia Monrovia (Fides Service)-“ Disarmament of Liberian factions proceeds despite difficulties ” SMA Provincial Father Mauro Armanino in Monrovia told Fides. Most of the rebels who are handing in their arms are young boys ...
• 22 May 2004
  AFRICA/MALAWI - Malawi still waiting for results of presidential and political elections Lilongwe (Fides Service)- The results of presidential and political elections held on 20 May in Malawi have not yet been announced. “The counting of votes is still going on and it is not known when it will finish” lo ...
• 22 May 2004
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - “Obscure powers exploit ethnic frustration to steal regional resources” Cardinal Etsou Archbishop of Kinshasa affirms in a statement on wars in Africa’s Great Lakes region. Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “Since the rising of the sun of independence, post colonial Africa has become a vast theatre characterised by unspeakable violence which continues to sow death and desolation”. This was affi ...
• 21 May 2004
  VATICAN - “Africa is not adrift”: message of conference on development in Africa organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Rome (Fides Service)- “Africa is not adrift” this is the message launched by a Conference on “The economic and social development of Africa in the era of globalisation”, organised by the Pontifical Council for J ...
• 19 May 2004
  AFRICA - Death of Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, for 38 years Archbishop of Dakar in Senegal Rome (Fides Service) - Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, emeritus Archbishop of Dakar in Senegal, died yesterday evening at a clinic in the southern French city of Marseilles. The Cardinal was born at Poponguine, Dakar, on 2 ...
• 19 May 2004
  AFRICA/CHAD - “Military mutiny in Chad connected with conflict over the border in Sudan” local sources told Fides N’Djamena (Fides Service)-“Today the situation is calm. There is no shooting although the curfew remains” local Church sources in N’Djamena, capital of Chad, told Fides following a mutiny staged by troops station ...