By Olusegun Ogundeji – For displaying an outstanding national leadership, commitment and progress towards achieving millennium development goal number 6 – combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, Sierra Leone has been awarded at the MDG summit held at the UN Headquarters, New York. President Ernest Koroma who serves as Chairman of National AIDS Council received the award on behalf of the National AIDS Secretariat NAS. This year’s award themed: “The MDGs – the Global Heart beat” aims at supporting and raising awareness on the MDGs by providing a high profiled platform to honour and celebrate exemplary efforts by national governments... Continue Reading
By Olusegun Ogundeji – In the latest report on the work of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone UNIPSIL, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has noted that “immense challenges” remain in generating jobs for young people, especially in the country’s current economic climate. Citing some 800,000 young people in Sierra Leone who are either unemployed, employed without remuneration or underemployed, Mr. Ban stressed that reversing the situation requires stepped up international investment. He also pointed to three significant developments that could potentially impact UNIPSIL’s efforts to shore up peace in Sierra Leone which occurred in the March-August reporting... Continue Reading
By Nathan N. Mulbah – The National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia has announced that despite earlier pronouncement that it will not conduct national referendum it has now made a volt-face to go ahead and conduct a referendum to amend four provisions of the 1986 Liberian Constitution. Making the pronouncement on Tuesday, September 21, 2011, at the Commission’s Headquarters in Monrovia, the Chairman of the Commission, James M. Fromayan said after discussions with key partners and major stakeholders, the commission has decided to conduct a referendum that will effect changes in some provisions of the constitution that are dammed problematic... Continue Reading
By Kemo Cham – Mali president, Amadou Toumani Touré, tasked the people of Mali to collectively devise a way towards national reconciliation as means to national development. President Touray made this call as part of his speech on the occasion of Mali’s Fiftieth Anniversary of Independence. Today, September 22, 2010, Malians join about 17 other African countries which gained independence, mainly from France, in celebrating 50 years of self rule. Amid an impressive line up of events, Malians are celebrating in remembrance of a “solemn day”, (22 September, 1960) when “those with courage and determination, opposed, with all their might,... Continue Reading
By Bassam Sebti – IJNet Arabic Editor – Egyptian blogger Wael Khalil usually writes blog posts about the government, the opposition and sometimes sports, but last Tuesday he played the role of journalism fact-checker. He posted an apparently altered photograph of Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak, suggesting that he was leading the Middle East peace talks, in Egypt’s state-run newspaper Al-Ahram. On his blog, Khalil posted the doctored photo, showing Mubarak in the front and the original one, taken by Associated Press photojournalist Pablo Martinez Monsivais, that shows he was actually walking behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud... Continue Reading
