The Freedom House has urged member states of the African Union (AU), as they met this week in Kumpala, Uganda, to make the deepening of democratic development in the African region a top priority. Despite an overall increase in the number of elections occurring in Africa, the region suffered the largest setback in Freedom in the World 2010, Freedom House’s annual global analysis of political rights and civil liberties, with 16 countries registering declines and only 4 securing gains. In addition to seriously flawed elections in Sudan and Ethiopia, the region saw increased crackdowns on freedom of expression and association,... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Tuesday, July 27th 2010 |
KAMPALA – The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) was officially launched on Saturday in Kampala, on the sidelines of the XV African Union Summit in Uganda. Previous African Union Summits, particularly those of January 2009 on the development of Transport and Energy and January 2010 on the development of Information and Communication Technologies, supported the strengthening of infrastructure in Africa and notably endorsed PIDA as a program for integrating all regional and continental initiatives. The official launch was a formal event highlighting PIDA and contributing to disseminate information to political organs and leaders as well as to the... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Monday, July 26th 2010 |
KAMPALA – Guido Westerwelle bacame the first German Foreign Minister to address the African foreign ministers at the recent African Union Summit in Kampala. He described Africa as “a continent full of opportunities” which is finally taking the place it deserves as an equal partner when it comes to tackling international problems and as an attractive location for business. On the fringes of the Summit, the Federal Foreign Minister also held one-on-one talks with almost 20 of the 53 foreign ministers of the African Union. Alongside the meetings with his counterparts, Westerwelle also spoke with Jean Ping, Chairperson of the... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Monday, July 26th 2010 |
By Shout-Africa – Uganda has backtracked on an earlier decision not to invite Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir to the African Union summit. “President Bashir of Sudan was actually invited for the AU summit scheduled to take place in Kampala from the 19-29 July 2010,” read a statement from Uganda’s ministry of Foreign Affairs that appeared in the press Tuesday. Sam Kutesa, the Ugandan foreign minister, told RFI that the government was misquoted. “We invited Sudan, we invited all African countries,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. But the government was quoted last week saying that President Bashir was not... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Thursday, June 10th 2010 |
By David Tumusiime – I have been an arts and culture reporter for six years with four newspapers and a magazine. That should tell you something. Perhaps even more telling, in those six years I have sometimes found myself struggling to pay the rent. As for the basic necessities, let’s not even go there. But I’m still an art and culture reporter. Though I have often thought of quitting, I know I never will. Arts and culture are an absolute necessity for life to have any meaning. To me at least. The few times I have tried to quit reporting... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Tuesday, June 8th 2010 |
