My Beauty Best Teacher

Nico Colombant reporting in the VOA:

Boston University African Studies Center Director Timothy Longman said opposition members are also often blamed in a power-sharing setting when things go wrong."What is actually a stronger answer is to guarantee that the opposition has rights, so that if you want to criticize the government, you are free to do so without being harassed, if you want to publish a newspaper that is critical of the government, you should be able to do that without being harassed, if you want to organize a party, you should be able to do that without being harassed..."And what is very important as well is to make sure that elections are actually free and fair, the reason that we end up with these coalitions is usually because someone has stolen an election," he added.

Darren Taylor of VOA reports on the work of Chinwe Uwandu:

A leading legal advisor to the Nigerian government says strong laws and effective implementation thereof must be the basis for Africa’s future progress. Chinwe Uwandu a former Yale fellow...represents Nigeria at various international forums, including the United Nations, and has helped secure Nigerian input into a number of continental and international treaties. In the third part of a series on African fellows at Yale, Darren Taylor reports on some of Uwandu’s achievements.

Via the VOA:

Algeria is preparing to host the second Pan-African Culture Festival, and the first in 40 years. The event hopes to draw hundreds of thousands of people to Algiers this July to celebrate Africa's artistic renaissance...[continue reading]

Bande annonce du festival panafricain 2009 version anglaise
by eljazairpanaf

France's destructive France Afrique policy continues in Gabon. VOA reports:

The clashes that erupted following Gabon's disputed presidential elections reflect not only anger at the results of the August vote - which proclaimed Ali Bongo the winner - but also at former colonial ruler France. Paris has denied any involvement in the vote, but the unrest raises new questions at what has changed - and what has stayed the same - when it comes to France's relations with its onetime African colonies.
They call it France-Afrique. France's historically close - critics argue suffocatingly close - relations with its former African colonies, and sometimes with African strongmen and undemocratic regimes.

'Publishing in Africa' via NaijaBlog
Author of children's books Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo via IP
Niger Delta is a 'Human Rights Tragedy'-VOA
DAAD prizewinner and aerospace student, Erick Mule Kitili
Kufunda Learning Village asks the question "...what it means to be a self-reliant and sustainable..."

Founder of Conservation through Public Health the award-winning Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka contends that:

Well-kept wildlife sanctuaries can provide an income for the community...“Most Africans think that wildlife is dangerous, harmful and detrimental to the development of the country. Some people think that wildlife should be eaten, and the national parks are just a waste [and] that pastures should be used [only] to graze cattle.”

Barry Wood at the VOA reports on Witwatersrand University's institute for entrepreneurship.Led by Mthuli Ncube the school:

...is teaching a new generation of African entrepreneurs. "We teach them the principles of how a person who is passionate would typically behave, hoping that will stimulate the individual within, the entrepreneurial potential. Things around self-discovery, knowing who you are. We ask them do you have a personal mission statement?," he said...[continue reading]

The VOA profiles Reuben Coffie's work with CARE:

Coffie and his team develop and implement strategies for producers of crops that may have export potential, including cashews, pineapples and pawpaw.
These efforts are plagued by poor yields and product quality – problems Coffie says he’s determined to reverse:“What we do," he said, "is build their capacity, build their knowledge base, pass on some innovative ideas, train them in the best techniques to improve what they do and get them to understand requirements of the [export] market, like certification issues."

Mima Nedelcovych of Global Partners and Buchanan Renewable Energies discusses infrastructure at VOA:

“It’s the very lack of infrastructure that actually is making Africa non-competitive.” For example he says no electricity means no competitive industry, and no industry -- such as an effective system of transporting agricultural products -- means no jobs, and no jobs means poverty.

France's destructive France Afrique policy continues in Gabon. VOA reports:

The clashes that erupted following Gabon's disputed presidential elections reflect not only anger at the results of the August vote - which proclaimed Ali Bongo the winner - but also at former colonial ruler France. Paris has denied any involvement in the vote, but the unrest raises new questions at what has changed - and what has stayed the same - when it comes to France's relations with its onetime African colonies.
They call it France-Afrique. France's historically close - critics argue suffocatingly close - relations with its former African colonies, and sometimes with African strongmen and undemocratic regimes.