I have added another two new sections on the site. The first is Development - this site will deal with news specifically related to Development issues, the Millennium Development Goals and West Africa. The second is EMWAB - East Midlands West Africa Bureau - this site which I’m currently developing is specifically aimed at encouraging companies from [...] [...more]
I have created two new pages on the Top Menu bar - Country Blogs and Online Newspapers. The idea behind Country Blogs is to get a diverse range of views and experiences when it comes to each country. This could be someone living there, someone originally from there who is now part of the diaspora or [...] [...more]
Poverty in Africa is predominantly rural. More than 70 per cent of the continent’s poor people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and livelihood, yet development assistance [...] [...more]
ABIDJAN, 31 March 2008 (IRIN) At the height of the demonstration, before riot police started firing tear gas, IRIN saw around 1,500 protestors chanting “we are hungry” and “life is too expensive, you are going to kill us.” “A kilo of beef has increased from 700 CFA (US$1.68) to 900 CFA (US$2.16) in just three days,” one [...] [...more]
Eticoga, Orango Island This outer island in Guinea Bissau’s remote Bajago Archipelago is one of the most beautiful. The 283 inhabitants are mostly penniless but they have fresh water, arable land and are surrounded by water teaming with fish. “Do we look like we’re starving,” Domingos Alves, a representative of the community in the village of Eticoga [...] [...more]
On the second anniversary of a police raid on the privately-owned weekly The Independent, Reporters Without Borders calls on the government to lift the illegal and unofficial ban that has prevented the newspaper from publishing for the past two years. “By suppressing a newspaper that was often very critical, the government broke the laws that [...] [...more]
Reporters Without Borders condemns police use of violence against journalists covering a banned street march against cost of living increases in Dakar yesterday afternoon, and a police raid yesterday evening on a TV station that was broadcasting footage showing how police broke up the protest. Click here for full article: Reporters Without Borders [...more]
A young inventor is hoping to tap the unbounded energy of children in a playground to power schools in Africa. Design student Daniel Sheridan has created a simple see-saw which generates enough electricity to light a classroom. The device works by transferring the power, created by a child moving up and down on it, to an electricity [...] [...more]
When I started the EWAN website the big idea was to create a network of citizen reporters in each of the countries to let us know what was actually happening on the ground in each location. I was contacted today by Moussa who runs Niger1.com Its a great site with lots of local news and links. Please [...] [...more]
The Centre of West African Studies has a core of expertise in Africa: all their staff have lived and taught in Africa, and continue to carry out research there. They are the only university department in the world to concentrate specifically on West Africa. If you are looking for consultations on cultural, social, political or legal matters, [...] [...more]
