· March, 2007

Stories about Sub-Saharan Africa from March, 2007

Africa: potential uses for twitter

  24 March 2007

Soyapi Mumba discusses the potential uses for Twitter in Africa, “So the launching of Twitter provides a good alternative considering that the use of mobile phones is much higher than that of computers. In Malawi for example, there are about 50,000 Internet users against about 700,000 mobile phone users out...

DRC: broken peace

  24 March 2007

Head Heeb discusses Bemba's broken peace: It seems to be the fate of the Democratic Republic of Congo never to know unbroken peace for long. Last month, peace throughout the country seemed on the verge of happening when the last major militia leader in the troubled Ituri region surrendered his...

Kenya: Kenya's cricket team needs some madness

  24 March 2007

Losing to New Zealand was not hard to take, it was the manner in which Kenya's cricket team lost, writes Mental Acrobatics: “I still think we can beat England with or without their redemption song flowing in their ears. If they bat first and post a huge total, I hope...

Africa: China's Africa interest not neo-colonial

  24 March 2007

China does not seek economic and political control of Africa: “IT’S ironic that some Western countries which are former colonial powers have accused China of pushing a “neo-colonialism” policy in its trade with Africa. The accusations of “China’s neo-colonialism in Africa” simply lack basis in fact,” via Afroshangai blog.

Kenya: a disappoiting performance

  24 March 2007

Kenya Cricket reviews Kenya's performance at the Cricket World Cup, “all in all, it was a disappointing performance, but as Steve Tikolo himself acknowledges, the team know they can do better. Do they have a chance of an upset against England? It depends which Kenya turn up on the day....

DRC: Violence, Bloggers Trapped, Sleeping on Floor, and Soldiers Looting

  23 March 2007

Violent clashes broke out Thursday in the Congo's capital, Kinshasa, between goverment soldiers and troops loyal to Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former warlord. Mainstream media and blogs are reporting heavy gunfire, explosions, and looting around the city. The clashes result from a dispute over Bemba's personal guard's refusal to join the...

D.R. of Congo: Nigerian ambassador wounded

  23 March 2007

A first-hand account of what is happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, “Meanwhile, the Spanish Embassy has been hit by mortal fire and the Nigerian Ambassador has been wounded in his home yesterday and as last heard, had not been evacuated as MONUC could not yet get to his...

D.R. of Congo: heavy gunfire

  23 March 2007

What is happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Read Congo Girl's update: “Since daybreak, the gun and mortar fire has only worsened in intensity. There is now one column of smoke rising from something or other when I look out the office windows either east or west. I can't...

Uganda: Why didn't Ugandan bloggers write about the nation's biggest story?

  22 March 2007

The Ugandan blogosphere was silent on the country's biggest story over the last few weeks. On March 5th, the Ugandan judges and lawyers went on strike after presidential security agents raided the High Court to re-arrest six treason suspects who had been granted bail. The suspects were accused of representing...

South Africa: South Africa's technorati

  21 March 2007

Tyler Reed breaks the news about Amatomu, “Amatomu is tracking South Africa’s blogosphere. It is brought to you by the folks over at Mail & Guardian, who really seem to be getting the whole new shift in the web and keeping up with it.”

Ethiopia: stalker spills acid on a woman

  21 March 2007

Ewenet Means Truth in Ethiopia writes about the sad story of Kamilat Muhisin, “Everyone who is following Kamilat Muhisin's story is absolutely horrified at what has happened to her. She lies in a hospital in excruciating pain, disabled and horribly disfigured when a man called Demesew spilled sulfuric acid on...

D.R. of Congo: latest from Congo rangers

  21 March 2007

The trials and tribulations of getting to Camp Karema, “We are making progress on setting up Camp Karema at the Bukima patrol post. It takes about 3 hours to get there from Goma, on a pretty rough road, and then a very rough road. Some would call it a track....

Kenya: mobile money transfer

  21 March 2007

Bankele's post on money transfer within Kenya shows how mobile phone technology transforms the financial sector in Africa, “With cell phones this is already happening but it's just not formalized. The Option – Safaricom's free magazine publication has a letter to the editor this month from Joe Nickson of Kerugoya...

Sudan: ICC on War Crimes in Darfur, USS Cole, Funky Hairstyle & More

  21 March 2007

There has been quite a lot of action in the Sudanese blogosphere during the past 3 weeks. We'll start with the International Criminal Court‘s announcement which named 2 suspects accused of committing war crimes in Darfur. The Sudanese Thinker was surprised when he saw the picture of one of the...

Cameroon: literary giant dies

  21 March 2007

Dibussis Tande announces the death of the Cameroonian literary giant, Bate Besong: To many Cameroonians BB was an inspiration, a teacher and mentor. He was an iconic figure who gave meaning to the cliché, “Man of the People”.

Mauritius: the abortion debate

  21 March 2007

Christina Meetoo's take on the abortion debate in Mauritius. “On the whole, their discourse is basically geared towards instilling a feeling of guilt in people, specially women. And today, Mgr Piat in L’Express declares that the State should not be neutral on that issue, claiming that the government should protect...

Nigeria: dispute over presidential candidacy

  20 March 2007

The Head Heeb on the dispute over the Nigerian Vice-President candidacy, “The root cause of the controversy is Article 137 of the constitution, which prohibits any person indicted for fraud or embezzlement from running for president, as well as similar clauses disqualifying indicted persons from standing for the national assembly...

Kenya: a mobile information exchange for farmers

  20 March 2007

White African blogs about a mobile information exchange for farmers in Kenya, “Rural farmers in central Kenya have been piloting a project, called DrumNet, that provides marketing, financial services and information to them using their mobile phones. The project’s premise is that information on the market is one of the...

Kenya: Google Apps in Kenyan universities

  20 March 2007

Chris Kiagiri writes, “Here at Google, we have just announced that we have signed a deal with the Kenya Education Network (KENET) to provide universities in Kenya with Google Apps™ – Google’s set of hosted and customizable communications services. This includes access to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Google...

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.