(May 9, 2005) Tony Blair hardly skipped a heartbeat as prime minister last week. A combination of sweet talk, comfortable wallets, and busy cash registers took care of that. Africa got a minuscule gain.
The limits of reform: the Wolfensohn era at the World Bank
(May 9, 2005) With all the hullabaloo generated by the designation of Paul Wolfowitz as his successor, outgoing World Bank President James Wolfensohn’s record in leading the Bank has so far escaped serious scrutiny, claim Walden Bello and Shalmali Guttal in a new report drawn from Bello’s latest book, Dilemmas of Unmaking the American Empire.
African women carry the debt burden
(May 9, 2005) As Mother’s Day, May 8, was being celebrated around the world, the majority of mothers in Africa, who make up over half of the continent’s 680 million people, received neither flowers nor cards from their doting children. In fact, the vast number does not know of the day’s existence, nor even its significance.
Nigerians want war on graft, not words
(May 6, 2005) For many Nigerians, President Olusegun Obasanjo’s war on corruption has been a long time coming, given his promise six years ago to stamp out vice when he took office in 1999. Nothing much, they have noted, has happened, until now.
War on corruption: is Obasanjo capitulating?
(May 2, 2005) This time around in Nigeria’s war on corruption, it is important to hold the government’s feet to the fire every step of the way and every hour of the day.
Let the president dance naked
(May 2, 2005) “In Nigeria’s terrible state of discounted morality, extirpating the virus of corruption will take more than stepping on people’s toes . . . The proper place to start is by going to the basics.”
In Nigeria, where money talks, reform is the word
(May 1, 2005) President begins to crack down on a culture of corruption; series of senior officials forced out.
Pampered MPs worked only 57 days last year: Kenya
(April 30, 2005) Endemic corruption: Kenyan MPs earn $8,000 a month, still want a raise.
Has Obasanjo’s revolution commenced?
(April 29, 2005) “The tragedy of Nigeria is our collective amnesia, which has bred a horde of cynics who are fixated on the anti-Obasanjo prism. Many Nigerians have chosen to forget where we were when Obasanjo assumed power.”
Bono: ‘Paul Martin, I’m calling you!’
(April 29, 2005) Rock-star campaigner Bono of U2 urges Canadians not to give up on their embattled prime minister just yet.
Nigerian lawmakers revive campaign for debt relief
(April 26, 2005) Nigerian lawmakers have put pressure on rich Western creditor nations to cancel some of the country’s $35 billion debt and revived a threat to halt payments unilaterally.
Nigeria at risk of $33bn default
(April 26, 2005) Time is running out for talks, warns delegation.
British envoy: How Nigeria can retrieve looted funds
(April 22, 2005) Nigeria’s efforts to retrieve looted funds must be backed by concrete evidence that they were indeed looted, British High Commissioner in the country, Richard Gozney has said.
Hope is hard to find in Haiti anymore
(April 19, 2005) Modest hope . . . has been replaced by increased hunger, chaos and despair, and everyone except the elite up the hill in Petionville, guarded from harm by ex-military, lives in fear.
Why western aid donors won’t crack down on corruption
(April 18, 2005) Britain is haunted by memories of the exodus of Ugandan Asians in the Amin era. Some 30,000 Kenyan Asians have British passports and London wants them to stay put.
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