Andrew grew up in various parts of Africa — Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt — before moving back to England to start a career as a journalist. He covered village fêtes for Somerset's Chard & Ilminster News, crime and car crashes for Wolverhampton's Express & Star and technology for the Financial Times. He has since worked as a journalist in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Khartoum, Sudan. He blogs and posts pictures at Meskel Square.
Latest posts by Andrew Heavens from August, 2006
DRC: Election results fragmented
The Head Heeb analyses the partial results from the Democratic Republic of Congo's National Assembly election which took place alongside the better-publicised presidential poll. It's already clear that the incoming parliament will be highly fragmented,” he concludes.
Ethiopia: Floods and conflict take their toll
Tobian Thinktank asks why Ethiopia's army is bothering with its military manoeuvres in Somalia while foreign troops are having to come into Ethiopia to help flood victims. We've people and villages getting swept away, lives being taken and destroyed by the hundreds and what is the Ethiopian army doing?
South Africa: Computer gamers get to compete
“The Amateur Gamers Association of South Africa (AGASA) has created the first official online national gamers’ league,” reports Tectonic.
Sudan: Rape still a weapon
The Concoction reports that Darfur women are still being raped three months after a key peace deal in Sudan. “Fetching fire wood or water often ends up in the women being raped. Just imagine running to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk and there is a very...
Kenya: Corruption a way of life
“In Kenya corruption is such a way of life” writes Girl in the Meadow as she describes an encounter with a bribe-taking policeman.
Kenya: “I am African” Aids campaign criticised
Mshairi had a dig at a new HIV/Aids fundraising campaign that uses posters of celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow wearing face paint and beads next to the slogan “I am African”. “If she is African, I am Plutonian,” she commented.
Kenya: Praise piles up for Obama visit
Whispering Inn joined other Kenyan bloggers welcoming the visit of Barack Obama, the USA's only black senator, to the country. “[Obama has been] chewing out president Kibaki for State-sanctioned corruption, encouraging folks to fight AIDS by getting tested, advocating media freedom at the Standard Newspapers, touring Kibera, and giving a...
Nigeria: Economy “repressed” claims report
Grandiose Parlor highlighted the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom report which claimed Nigeria's economy remained “repressed”. “The various economic programs and policies of President Obasanjo's administration seem to have not made any meaningful impact,” he said.
South Africa: Apartheid feet-washing apology dismissed
A notorious South African Apartheid-era security minister hit the headlines after he washed the feet of an anti-Apartheid campaigner in an act of contrition. South Africa Logue dismissed the gesture saying: “[Adriaan] Vlok’s act – which strikes Your Correspondent as deeply offensive to many a South African’s sense of justice...
Zimbabwe: Mugabe's security expenses slammed
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has been on a spending spree, bulking out his motorcade with brand new outrider motorcycles and Mercedes saloons. “Now, in a country where there is no war, no threat to his life as he has such a tight control over everything, is it necessary to travel...
Kenya: Thousands flock to see Obama
Barack Obama, the USA's only black senator, is visiting his father's Kenyan homeland. “Everyone, and everything, from the man on the street, to livestock, to stray cats and dogs, to insects and grubs, to pond scum all the way down the politicians fell over (it/them)selves to see and shake the...
Chad: Oil companies kicked out
“It's not often that one gets to hear a government telling an oil multinational to get out” wrote Chippla's Weblog – Thoughts on Issues after Chad took the unprecedented decision to eject ChevronTexaco (of the US) and Petronas (of Malaysia) for alledgedly failing to pay tax.
Uganda: Lunch at the LRA peace talks
Video journalist waited outside the venue where the Lord's Resistance Army and the Uganda government held their peace talks. “On the left of the conference is the lunch hall for the residents, and on the right the peace talks are held. Two worlds in one building, although they share lunch.“
Africa: Film focuses on skin tone
Black Looks highlights
DRC: Election tension mounts
Extra Extra is taking precautions as the Democratic Republic of Congo waits for the second round of its historic but troubled national elections. “For the time being, things are calm, but far from stable. Having unpacked, I'm now packing an emergency bag, just in case.”
Zimbabwe: Refugees suffer in South Africa
This is Zimbabwe highlighted the plight of Zimbabwean refugees who had been driven by thirst to steal water from a South African farm. “[The farmer's] anger began to change to empathy as he began to come across more and more wretched people that had died as a result of attacks...
South Africa: Racism ruins national debates
“South African whites either just assume you share their unashamedly racist views or hate you immediately for being one of those dreadful foreign liberals who ruined their sybaritic idyll” writes white Johannesburg-based journalist Jonathan Clayton on African Safari. He goes on to examine how racism is undermining key debates over...
Africa: Music goes online
African Music Radio is a new online station that “that offers musicians ‘…the chance to promote their music and reach a broader market and audience more effectively’“. It was spotted by Timbuktu Chronicles.
Kenya: Wedding season hits Nairobi
AfroFeminista talks us through the travails of being single during the busy wedding season in Kenya's capital Nairobi. “Why do i feel on a subconscious level like my present experience is invalidated every time someone says they are getting married; having a baby or buying a house?“
Ethiopia: PM theorises on African development
Guest blogger Gooch sharpened his satirical spear as he described a new book by Ethiopia's prime minister Meles Zenawi on Weichegud! ET Politics. “Here he is, running one of the poorest countries in the world, a country of 75 million people, a country in crisis, well on the way to...
A tale of two Ethiopian books
It was a tale of two books in Ethiopia’s blogosphere over the past two weeks. The first book, catchily titled African Development: Dead Ends and New Beginnings (PDF of the first draft – English), was written by Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia, currently residing in the prime ministerial palace...
