Africa Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Africa

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  • Ghailani

    Jury Appears Deadlocked in Landmark Civilian Trial of Gitmo Prisoner

    A federal jury in New York is deliberating in a landmark trial of the first former Guantánamo detainee to be tried in the civilian court system. On Monday, the jury appeared deadlocked after a juror asked to be excused, saying she was being attacked for her conclusions about the defendant, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. A Tanzanian national, Ghailani faces conspiracy and murder charges related to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania...
    Nov 17, 2010 | Story
  • 10-11-10_button

    Exclusive: British Novelist John le Carré on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa and His New Novel, "Our Kind of Traitor"

    Today, we spend the hour, in a national broadcast exclusive, with world-renowned British novelist John le Carré, the pen name of David Cornwell. Le Carré’s writing career spans half a century, during which he has established himself as a master spy writer. His latest novel, his twenty-second, is out this week, entitled Our Kind of Traitor. David Cornwell worked in the British Secret Services from the late 1950s until the early 1960s, at the...
    Oct 11, 2010 | Story
  • Mozambique-food-demo

    Raj Patel: Mozambique's Food Riots Are the True Face of Global Warming

    Thirteen people died and hundreds were wounded last week in the African nation of Mozambique when police cracked down on a three-day protest over a 30 percent hike in the price of bread. The UN says the riots in Mozambique should be a wake-up call for governments that have ignored food security problems since the global food crisis of 2008, when countries around the world saw angry protests in the streets over the rising prices of basic food items....
    Sep 08, 2010 | Story
  • Kagame-rwanda

    Rwanda Holds Presidential Election Amid Crackdown on Opposition Candidates

    In the central African nation of Rwanda, voting is underway in the second presidential election since the genocide of 1994. Incumbent president Paul Kagame is widely expected to win, but the election comes amid a wave of attacks on political opponents. Human rights groups have accused the Kagame government of cracking down on any dissent before the vote, while the government-appointed media council has clamped down on independent newspapers publishing...
    Aug 09, 2010 | Story
  • Rwanda-drc

    As Congo Marks 50th Anniversary of Independence, Human Rights Abuses Rise in Congo and Neighboring Rwanda

    Tomorrow marks the fiftieth anniversary of Congolese independence from colonial Belgian rule. On June 30, 1960, the new prime minister of the independent Congolese government, Patrice Lumumba, declared an end to the slavery of colonialism and a new beginning for the country and the liberation of the entire continent of Africa. But today, jubilee independence celebrations in the Democratic Republic of Congo are marred by ongoing violence and increasing...
    Jun 29, 2010 | Story
  • Worldcup

    "Upside Down World Cup": Raj Patel on How South Africa Has Cracked Down on the Poor and the Shack Dwellers' Movement Ahead of the World Cup

    As the 2010 World Cup opens in South Africa, Raj Patel looks at one of the most overlooked aspects of this year’s tournament: the ongoing struggle of tens of thousands of shack dwellers across the country. Over the past year, shack settlement leaders in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town have been chased from their homes by gangs, arrested, detained without hearing, and assaulted. As the World Cup begins, a shack dwellers’ movement...
    Jun 11, 2010 | Story
  • Tutu-amy

    Archbishop Desmond Tutu on President Obama: "He Is Now a Nobel Laureate -- Become What You Are"

    Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa also traveled to Copenhagen this weekend to urge world leaders to tackle the climate crisis. The longtime anti-apartheid campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate spoke on Saturday at a candlelight vigil just outside the UN climate summit. [includes rush transcript]
    Dec 14, 2009 | Story
  • Kuminaidoo

    Kumi Naidoo of Greenpeace on Obama's Peace Prize, Obama's War, Copenhagen and Climate Debt

    Longtime South African activist Kumi Naidoo was recently appointed the new executive director of Greenpeace International. In 1986 Naidoo was forced to go underground after he was arrested for violating the apartheid government’s state of emergency regulations. He later became one of the founders of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. We speak to Naidoo about Obama’s Nobel Prize, the status of the Copenhagen summit, climate...
    Dec 10, 2009 | Story
  • Nnimmo-bassey-democracynow

    Nigerian Environmentalist Nnimmo Bassey: The Global North Owes a Climate Debt to Africa

    We turn now to one of Nigeria’s best-known environmental leaders, Nnimmo Bassey. He is the founder of Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria, and he serves as the international chair of Friends of the Earth. He has campaigned against Shell Oil’s presence in the Niger Delta for nearly two decades. Last night he spoke at the opening of Klimaforum09. His forthcoming book is titled To Cook a Continent: Destructive Extraction and the Climate...
    Dec 08, 2009 | Story
  • Af-delegate

    Voices from Africa: Drought, Crop Shortages, Deforestation and Increasing Number of Climate Refugees Linked to Climate Change

    We are in Copenhagen, Denmark, where more than 15,000 participants from 190 countries are taking part in the two-week climate change summit. On Sunday, Democracy Now! producers Mike Burke and Elizabeth Press spoke to several delegates, activists and journalists from across Africa, from Ethiopia to Swaziland. [includes rush transcript]
    Dec 07, 2009 | Story