Arcadia Foundation

If you’re like most people, having a coffee or tea, taking a shower and brushing your teeth are all part of your morning routine. You probably don’t even think twice about it. But while Canadians, as an example,use an average of 326 litres of water every day, more than one-third of the world’s population has no access to it.

“I’ve always been baffled as to how people can live without water,” Guy Futi said. “Having water is something we don’t even think about, but in so many communities they struggle with that reality every day.”

So after working as a financial manager at one of Canada’s largest banks, the Gabon native decided to quit and along with the aid of Arcadia Foundation President Betty Bigombe, make water his mission.

Read Full Paper

European Union supremo Herman Van Rompuy today stated the bloc was ready to take a fresh look at sanctions against Zimbabwe, pending political developments, one of which Zimbabweans speculate to be the reappointment of MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett.

Speaking at an EU-South Africa summit, Van Rompuy noted Zimbabwean moves to create a new constitution as part of a road map to elections, a process launched by the unity government formed by President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last February.

“In case of positive developments in Zimbabwe we’d be ready to look at fresh measures,” said Van Rompuy, the president of the EU.

“The EU wants to give Zimbabwe chances of success,” said the president of the 27-nation bloc, noting that the EU as a whole had offered 365 million euros (490 million dollars) over the last 18 months to projects in Zimbabwe aimed at better governance.

Read Full Paper

Thirteen people have been honoured for their contribution to peace in northern Uganda, including Arcadia Foundation President Betty Bigombe.

The 13 additionally included Uganda’s permanent representative to the UN, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda. Both he and Ms. Bigombe have been actively involved in negotiations with the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels to bring peace to the north and have moreover never stopped fighting for the rights of Ugandans domestically and on an international scale.

They were honoured during the International Peace Day celebrations held at Kololo Independence Grounds.

Read Full Paper

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai stated last week that a law to increase local black ownership of foreign firms would be implemented gradually and without forced sales. Ultimately, his staff have reiterated sentiments that investment is returning and that ‘Zimbabwe is back‘.

Zimbabwe’s government published regulations earlier this year forcing foreign-owned firms, including mines and banks, to transfer a 51 percent stake to black Zimbabweans, a move that divided the power-sharing government and spooked investors looking to give the once-breadbasket of Africa another perusal in lieu of the progress slowly being accomplished from the joint administration.

Tsvangirai stressed that “it’s willing buyer, willing seller. There’s no expropriation,” at a conference on Zimbabwe’s political and economic prospects in neighbouring South Africa’s commercial capital.

Read Full Paper

Cuba has recently announced radical plans to lay off huge numbers of state employees in order to help revive the communist country’s struggling economy.

The Cuban labour federation said more than a million workers would lose their jobs – half of them as early as March of next year.

Those laid off will be encouraged to become self-employed or join new private enterprises, on which some of the current restrictions will be eased. Analysts believe this to be the biggest private sector shift since the 1959 revolution.

Cuba’s communist government currently controls almost all aspects of the country’s economy and employs about 85% of the official workforce, which is put at 5.1 million people. As many as one-in-five of all workers could lose their jobs.

“Our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities, services and budgeted sectors with bloated payrolls and losses that hurt the economy,” the labour federation said in a statement.

Read Full Paper

The group of armed officers had reached reactively for their walkie-talkies as BBC’s Ed Butler walked up the steps towards courtroom number two in The Gambia’s capital, Banjul.

Even though he was among a large group of journalists, some working for opposition newspapers, his white skin and BBC ID card singled him out.

Despite his protests at a low-level disregard for Gambia’s constitutional rules, no-one around him seemed very surprised he was not allowed access to the courtroom in question.

The court in session was hearing the case of treason against eight former government officers, accused of plotting to overthrow President Yahya Jammeh.

All eight have since been found guilty and all are fighting last-ditch appeals against a sentence of death.

Read Full Paper

South Sudan has officially pledged to end the use of child soldiers within its region by the end of this year, the BBC, the AFP, and Reuters reports.  The promise comes within the precipice of the referendum vote to decide its own autonomy from its northern counterpart or not.  Out of South Sudan come reports that even the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) has established a child protection unit to make good on their promise. To date, the UN Children’s Agency estimates up to 900 children still fight with the SPLA, though it’s already discharged more than 20,000 children already in support of the pledge.

During the conflict, which ended in 2005 with the signature of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), what was known as the “Red Army” was the official title of the special “youth unit” in which child soldiers served in the rebel army of the South. Unfortunately, many more children still living in the recognized southern region still rely on serving in the military out of desperation, having no other means of support. That, or they grew up with their families in army barracks as well, sources in Sudan say.

Read Full Paper

Farmer Franklin Britos, 49, died last night at approximately 9 pm, at the Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital of Caracas as a result of a hunger strike which began several months ago to protest against “expropriation policy and nationalizations carried out by the Hugo Chávez government.”

According to his wife, Elena Brito, “he died around 9 pm due to a heart attack.” His weight was 35 kilos, his body mass index was below 10 percent and he showed clinical signs of hypothermia critical.

Read Full Paper