· December, 2005

Stories about Sub-Saharan Africa from December, 2005

Ethiopia: Gender barriers to education

  26 December 2005

Barriers to girls attending school in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa are numerous. Friends of Ethiopia comments that the lack of toilet facilities, privacy and water also act as a barrier to young teenage girls attending school…….”Fatimah is facing the onset of puberty, and with it the realities of menstruation...

Sudan: Darfur

  26 December 2005

Passion of the Present points to an article in the New York Times that analyses concerns over the ethical dilemmas faced by aid organizations in dealing with restrictions imposed by oppressive governments.

Nigeria: HIV

  26 December 2005

Black Start Journal reports on the Nigeria's new initiative that will provide free antiretroviral drugs to HIV/AIDS sufferers. Nigeria has the third highest HIV rate in the world.

Africa: Music

  22 December 2005

This is my last roundup until next week and I would like to end with a blog I think we all love Benn loxo du taccu……….Africa's music for the masses – North and South of the Sahara.

AIDS in Africa

  22 December 2005

Lest some of us forget a few of life's realities at this time of much merrymaking etc Grandiose Parlour reminds us via Medecins Sans Frontieres of the impact and cost of AIDS in Africa…..”I was awestrickened after viewing” And I too!

Nigeria: Christmas

  22 December 2005

Kid's Doc in Jos posts on Christimas in Nigeria……….Weather: dry and dusty. Travel: Like Thanksgiving in the US, this is the time for traveling home.Decorations: modest by American standards, but then Americans may be just a tad on the excessive side. Christmas parties: I’m sure that there are all varieties...

Nigeria: African leaders

  22 December 2005

On a lighter mode – a great tune but hey you need to change the song sometime! He has some questions about African leaders….”Is it true that Presidents are usually possessed by evil spirits/forces after they assume position” more to come…. Does Uncle Sege belong to the KGB? “Legend/myth/fiction has...

Nigeria: party time

  22 December 2005

Molara Wood has some cool photos “owambe belles” and “Lagos lass“. And if you write love poetry you can submit to the African Love Poems to be published next year.

South Africa: Australia, racism – not cricket

  22 December 2005

South African reports that Australia's racist hooligans are still on the rampage this time hurling abuse at the SA cricket team….”The latest news coming out of Australia is that South Africa's cricketers were racially abused and called “kaffirs” and “kaffir boeties” during the first Test in Perth. This kind of...

Kenya: US, foreigners and privacy

  22 December 2005

Gukira writing from the US complains that foreigners are not getting the same protection as US citizens in Bush's latest move to invade people's privacy……..”Repeatedly, leaders have condemned this “invasion of privacy.”Daddy senator and Mommy representative must protect Baby citizen from the hostile government wolfs.Not a single word, at least...

Kenya: getting lost in Nairobi

  22 December 2005

Moving back home is busy getting lost in Nairobi….”.i am unsure how people who have never lived in this city, get around. honestly. there are no map-books. and even if there were, people tend to substitute whatever road names there are for hand gestures. for example james gichuru is that...

Ethiopia: Overhearing conversations

  22 December 2005

Aqumada links to a site called “Overheardinnewyork” where people post conversations they have overheard in the city. He gives some examples ….”Puerto Rico chick: He likes that—what do you call it? That the black people make…that “tooka tooka tooka”…? Nuyorican chick: Rap music.” – Sounds like fun – lets all...

Sierra Leone: UN withdraws

  22 December 2005

Black Star Journal reports on the withdrawal of UN forces from Sierra Leone…….. “Once the largest peacekeeping mission in the world, UNAMSIL has disarmed and demobilised over 72,000 combatants and collected and destroyed over 30,000 arms, explained head of mission, [Daudi Ngelautwa] Mwakawago.”

Africa: Blogosphere

22 December 2005

Jewels in the Jungle has his own comments on the growth of the African blogosphere and uses a quote from Zimbabwean Pundit to describe it …”“The African blogosphere is a heterogeneous amalgam of blogs not only by Africans and people on the continent as much as it is comprised of...

Africa|: Granta, “A View from Africa”

22 December 2005

My Heart is in Accra points to literary journal Granta whose lates issue is “The View from Africa“…Ory pointed me towards a piece by Binyavanga Wainaina, a Nairobi-based author who offered the satirical and very challenging “How to write about Africa”. (Pieces like this are great when, like me, you...

Congo: Gold

  21 December 2005

Congo Watch points to a report by the BBC called ” On the trail of DR Congo's ‘cursed’ gold”

Kenya: Scientific maps

  21 December 2005

Kikuyumoja’s realm shares her wonderful discovery of scientific maps of Kenya….and came across a HUGE collection of amazingly detailed maps for scientific use – scanned & published online by the DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission: the “European Digital Archive on Soil Maps of the World (EuDASM) “....

Lesotho: cheap imports from China

  21 December 2005

Sotho reports on a piece in IOL about the deluge of cheap imports from China and how this is affecting local industries and jobs……..“From South Africa to Lesotho, to Zambia and Nigeria anger is mounting over what one union leader called ‘a tsunami of cheap Chinese goods’ that many say...

Kenya: Journalism

  21 December 2005

Kenyan Pundit continues here write up on “What is ailing Kenyan journalism” with a Part III…..Part I and Part II

Ethiopia: Book reviews

  21 December 2005

Redeem Ethiopia reviews two books on Ethiopia: Survival and Modernization, written by Messay Kebede and Hagai Erlich’s Ras Alula and The Scramble for Africa – a political biography of Ras Alula Aba Nega. They also recommend a number of other books on Ethiopia.

SA: fake US accents

  21 December 2005

Mzansi Afrika complains about the use of “fake American accents” by promo ads especially on music radio………But this whole adopting of the American accent thing, especially when you've never set foot in America – I just don't get it. What's wrong with our own ethnic African accents? Why do you...

About our Sub-Saharan Africa coverage

Zita Zage
Zita Zage is the Anglophone Africa Editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.

Jean Sovon
Jean Sovon is the Francophone Africa. Editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.

Dércio Tsandzana
Dércio Tsandzana is the Lusophone (Portuguese) editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.