A United Nations review of investment policy in Sierra Leone has recommended a number of steps that will help make the country more attractive to foreign investors. The Investment Policy Review (IPR) was carried out by the UN Conference on Trade and development (UNCTAD) and was released mid-December in Geneva for discussion by representatives from [...]
BAE Systems arrived in Southwark Crown Court in London earlier today to conclude their settlement with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO). The arms manufacturer had agreed to a plea bargain with the SFO, which stipulated that a guilty plea over charges of ‘accounting errors’ in Tanzania would mean that they would not pursue the [...]
It has become known as the second scramble for Africa. Multinational agribusiness corporations and rich countries lacking in agriculture are buying up Africa. Since the ‘08 food crisis, the acquisition of land in poor countries has accelerated worldwide. Data is unreliable. Governments are unwilling to disclose details and large deals reported in the media often [...]
Nineteen organizations including Oxfam, Christian Aid, Pax Christi and World Vision have called for action to help prevent a repeat of the massacres that claimed hundreds of lives in DR Congo and Southern Sudan in December ’08 and ’09. Figures published in a joint report titled, ‘Ghosts of Christmas Past’, show that, over the last [...]
The release of the data contends Brandon Huntley’s asylum claim earlier this year. Huntley told Canadian authorities that his life was under threat from black South African criminals, and that the South African authorities were either unable or unwilling to offer him protection. The South African authorities and human rights groups have disputed the allegations, [...]
This is an inspiring figure, and cause for much hope for a country devastated by the epidemic. The South African government, the UN and the African Union have been working together on a National Strategic Plan on HIV & AIDS, a strategy taking part over 4 years from 2007 to 2011. The aims of this [...]
Research in Motion (RIM), the company that produces Blackberry Smartphone’s, will be expanding into Africa as a result of a new agreement with the world’s largest distributor, Brightstar Corp, they announced today. The two organizations have been in partnership for more than five years, with Brightstar distributing RIM technology and software to nearly 70 countries [...]
While it’s sometimes difficult to tell the difference between South African criminal justice reporting and political crime novels, at least you can rest assured at the end of a good book that the bad guys will be caught. Sounding ironically like a fictional Italian cartoon gangster, convicted drug dealer Glen Agliotti walked free from a [...]
This is the message behind the global TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference. Started in California in the 1980s, and growing in size to reach critical mass in the 2000s, the conference is today a meeting point for scientists, policy makers, thinkers and globally influential people to share their ideas and broadcast them to the [...]
Well, I sincerely hope not. Along with Network Africa, the BBC World service’s Focus on Africa is an institution, not just at the BBC but also for many millions of Africans. It is vital for those who really want to know what is going on around the continent and to hear their leaders put on [...]
