Changing Perceptions

Mainstream U.S. media criticized for ignoring positive developments in Africa

Thursday, 02 September 2010 15:45

The president and CEO of the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa has told VOA that important stories about Africa continue to feature less prominently in mainstream American media outlets.

(5 Votes)

Tags: Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa - Bernadette Paolo - African diaspora - AGOA Forum - Barack Obama - Botswana - United States - Africa

New literary series views Africa through African eyes

Wednesday, 04 August 2010 15:37

Tired of reading accounts of Africa through the eyes of outsiders, 14 African writers have set out to document the diversity of their content in a series of books and blogs partly inspired by the soccer World Cup.

(2 Votes)

Tags: writers - document - books - literature - solidarity - World Cup - Alain Mabanckou - Chinua Achebe - The Pilgrimages Project - Africa

Zimbabwe to amend voting laws to minimise disputes

Thursday, 01 July 2010 15:13

Zimbabwe will speed up the release of election results and bar police interference in voting in future, a senior government minister said on Thursday, two years after President Robert Mugabe's disputed re-election.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Robert Mugabe - Morgan Tsvangirai - Patrick Chinamasa - Johannes Tomana - Parliament - Zimbabwe Electoral Commission - electoral law - Zimbabwe

Sierra Leone praised for "tremendous progress"

Thursday, 17 June 2010 13:27

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has hailed the "tremendous progress" Sierra Leone has made in consolidating peace and development less than one decade after the end of the West African nation's brutal civil war.

(1 Vote)

Tags: United Nations - Ban Ki-moon - Civil war - Ernest Bai Koroma - peace - development - Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation - UN Radio - Special Court for Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone

Gambia makes big cocaine bust, arrests 12: source

Thursday, 10 June 2010 14:08

Gambian police seized 2.5 tonnes of cocaine bound for Europe and arrested a dozen suspected traffickers after a joint investigation with British detectives, a security source said on Tuesday.

(1 Vote)

Tags: cocaine - smuggler - Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency - Gambia

Angola approves law against money laundering

Friday, 28 May 2010 12:29

Angola approved a law on Thursday to tackle money laundering and the financing of terrorism, months after it was accused of not complying with international rules on the issues.

Tags: Financial Action Task Force - money laundering - financing terrorism - transparency - Angola

Angola makes moves to increase transparency

Friday, 07 May 2010 12:33

Recent signs of openess by Angola's famously opaque government have been welcomed by political analysts, but the oil-rich country must now turn the transparency talk into action, the same experts say.

(1 Vote)

Tags: political - transparency - corruption - Jose Eduardo dos Santos - media - democracy - Angola

South Africa "millionaire cops" hailed

Friday, 23 April 2010 13:06

Two South African anti-corruption police officers have earned themselves huge respect after rejecting a two million rand (about US$ 270,000) bribery offer from an alleged drug dealer.

(2 Votes)

Tags: South African police - bribery - Mandrax - South Africa

World Bank chief hails Ivory Coast 'progress'

Friday, 29 January 2010 17:06

The head of the World Bank hailed "progress" in Ivory Coast's political reconciliation efforts and promised assistance during a visit to the troubled West African state on Thursday.

(4 Votes)

Tags: World Bank - Robert Zoellick - HIPC - Guillaume Soro - job creation - Cote D'ivoire

World celebrities climb Kilimanjaro to raise funds

Monday, 11 January 2010 12:04

Actors, rappers and environmentalists are scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to spotlight the global clean water crisis, which affects more than 1 billion people worldwide.

(2 Votes)

Tags: water - crisis - UN - Summit on the Summit - Mount Kilimanjaro - Jessica Biel - Emile Hirsch - Lupe Fiasco - Alexandra Cousteau - Kick Kennedy - Michael Muller - Jimmy Chin - Santi White - Isabel Lucas - Elizabeth Gore - Tanzania

Libya sees 'limited improvements' in human rights

Tuesday, 15 December 2009 12:44

There have been limited improvements in Libya's human rights record, including greater freedom of expression, New York-based Human Rights Watch has said.

(4 Votes)

Tags: Human Rights Watch - freedom of expression - Muammar Gaddafi - Libya

Nigerians give Lagos slum a facelift

Monday, 14 December 2009 13:14

Some 5,000 Nigerian volunteers turned out Saturday armed with paint brushes to give a facelift to Mushin, a notorious slum in the centre of the country's commercial capital Lagos.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Mushin Makeover - Abimbola Fashola - Babatunde Fashola - Mushin - Lagos state - Nigeria

Heads roll as Rwanda gets tough on corruption

Tuesday, 08 December 2009 12:30

Ministers, parliamentarians, top civil servants: hardly a week goes by without a prominent official going to jail in Rwanda where the government has declared zero tolerance for corruption.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Corruption - Paul Kagame - World Bank - Martin Ngoga - Tito Rutaremara - Rwanda

Nigerian group to facelift a notorious Lagos slum

Friday, 04 December 2009 12:13

A Nigerian group said Tuesday it would next week mobilise over 5,000 volunteers to give a notorious slum in the centre of Lagos, the country's commercial hub, a facelift.

(3 Votes)

Tags: Mushin - Lagos - Mushin Makeover - Visible Impact - Babtunde Fashole - Fela Durotoye - Nigeria

Sierra Leone official lauds parliament for anti-corruption legislation

Wednesday, 25 November 2009 11:01

The Chairman of Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission says he has stepped up efforts to weed out corruption. Abdul Tejan-Cole praised the legislature for enacting laws that he says boosts the commission's anti-graft campaign.

(3 Votes)

Tags: Corruption - Anti-Corruption Commission - Abdul Tejan-Cole - Transparency International global corruption rankings - Ernest Bai Koroma - Osman Gblah - Fourah Bay College - Sierra Leone

UN commends Nigeria police for peace keeping role

Tuesday, 25 August 2009 13:20

The United Nations has awarded peace keeping medals to 120 Nigeria police officers for their meritorious service in Liberia. The Nigerian police are the fifth among the 130 UN police-contributing countries.

(2 Votes)

Tags: UN - peace keeping - medals - awards - police - Ellen Margrethe Loj - Nigeria

US hopes Obama's visit will be incentive for change

Monday, 06 July 2009 12:24

The United States hopes President Barack Obama's decision to visit Ghana this month will spur other African governments to try and emulate the West African country's democratic record.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Barack Obama - President United States - democracy - incentive - Ghana

Financial support for African think tanks

Thursday, 02 July 2009 16:38

Under a new initiative, international donors are backing Africa-based policy research to improve local decision-making on complex global issues with potentially enormous humanitarian consequences like food security and climate change.

(1 Vote)

Tags: think tank - Africa-based policy research - International Development Research Centre - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Hewlett Foundation - Think Tank Initiative - $30 million - Africa

Botswana ranked as Africa's most peaceful nation

Monday, 15 June 2009 17:52

Botswana, Malawi and Gabon have been ranked as the most peaceful countries in Africa, in the 2009 Global Peace Index (GPI) compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace.