Africa

• 5 March 2009
  AFRICA/SIERRA LEONE - “The ruling is necessary, but it is not enough on its own as it only covers a small part of the crimes committed,” a missionary tells Fides, in commenting on the recent verdict for rebels from Sierra Leone Freetown (Agenzia Fides) – On February 25, the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone found 2 commanders from the United Revolutionary Front (RUF) guilty of crimes committed during the civil war that concluded in 2002 (see ...
• 5 March 2009
  AFRICA/SUDAN - International Crime Court orders arrest of Sudan President Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) - “We have no word of the incidents or the violence against foreign presence in Sudan, nor against the Church; there are only various demonstrations taking place in the streets of Khartoum, in ...
• 4 March 2009
  AFRICA/MADAGASCAR - Tension in Madagascar following unconfirmed news of the arrest of main opposition leader Antananarivo (Agenzia Fides) – Tension has once again arisen in Madagascar, where conflict continues between President Marc Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina, the mayor of Antananarivo who was removed from office. The s ...
• 4 March 2009
  AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - Regional implications of President Vieira's death: Senegal looks worried Bissau (Agenzia Fides) - “The death of President Vieira is still an enigma, but two things can be said for sure: drug-trafficking played a role, although it may not be the only reason; the claim that the Head of State ...
• 3 March 2009
  AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - Assassination of Vieira: “the end of a twenty-year struggle between two protagonists in the life of the country or drug-trafficking,” a missionary tells Fides. Bissau (Agenzia Fides) – In Guinea Bissau, in the wake of the deaths of President Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira and Chief of Staff Batista Tagme Na Waie (see Fides 2/3/2009), there are questions as to the reasons beh ...
• 2 March 2009
  AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - President of Guinea Bissau assassinated; testimonies from Bissau Bissau (Agenzia Fides) - “President Vieira's body was taken from the Presidential Residence by ambulance,” Agenzia Fides learned from sources at the Radio Sol Mansi, a Catholic radio station in Guinea Bissau, in conf ...
• 2 March 2009
  AFRICA/GUINEA BISSAU - Guinea Bissau and President Vieira: a synthesis Bissau (Agenzia Fides) – President Joao Bernardo Vieira, who was assasinated today (March 2), in a military revolt, was one of the protagonists in the post-colonial history of Guinea Bissau, a Western African nation ma ...
• 27 February 2009
  AFRICA/KENYA - “I urge you to plead to God for forgiveness of our sins, cause of our evils”: Lenten Message from Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - “It is already one year since the devastation, which was sparked off by post election violence, happened. Our brothers and sisters in internally displaced camps are still groaning under the su ...
• 26 February 2009
  AFRICA/CONGO DR - “We're going to have to wait a few months to verify the results of the military operation,” missionary says following the retreat of Rwandan troops from Kivu Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - “Certain official declarations seem excessively optimistic and I think that they have been made in order to justify the joint military operation; however, we should look at the facts: it does ...
• 26 February 2009
  AFRICA/SIERRA LEON - Three guerrillas indicted in Sierra Leon for repeated sexual offenses is “a first step towards justice” missionary tells Fides Freetown (Agenzia Fides) - “This is a first step towards justice and reparation towards victims, which should be followed by more similar acts,” Agenzia Fides was told by Fr. Gerardo Caglioni, Xaverian missionary pre ...
• 25 February 2009
  AFRICA/KENYA - A Lenten Campaign in support of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) – The Jesuit School of Theology at Hekima College in Nairobi (Kenya) will be dedicating Lent 2009 to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe. “In Zimbabwe, a political sta ...
• 25 February 2009
  AFRICA/SOMALIA - Mogadishu conflict worsens, taking its toll on the population Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides) – The fighting in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu continues to worsen by the minute, as government troops and Al-Shabab rebels continue their skirmishes. According to the most recent press r ...
• 24 February 2009
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - Caritas of Nigeria issues an alert on the global economic recession and its impact on the large African nation Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - “We are deeply concerned about the current global economic recession and the consequences it has unleashed on an already impoverished Nigerian population especially coming on the heels of the re ...
• 24 February 2009
  AFRICA/CONGO DR - What is happening in eastern Congo? A missionary tells Fides about the Congolese-Rwandan joint military operations Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – What is happening in North Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where since January there has been a Congolese-Rwandan joint military operation underway, to di ...
• 23 February 2009
  AFRICA - Cholera epidemic in Malawi and Zimbabwe seems unstoppable Rome (Agenzia Fides) – The cholera epidemic that has been effecting Malawi's capital of Lilongwe since November 2008, is rapidly expanding. According to the organization “Doctors Without Borders” (in Italian, MSF) ...