Salem-News.com Africa articles Page 40

Putting a Stop to the Spreading Sands of the Sahel

Once the dunes have been halted with hand-woven fences, the process of creating long-term barriers begins.

(SAHEL REGION, Mauritania) - Throughout the Sahel, recurrent drought since the late 1960’s is turning once crop covered land into desert.

And the sand is spreading. Picked up by wind, dunes created by soil particles from the West African coastline and the Sahel are covering villages, roads, crops, and irrigation systems, making it increasingly difficult to farm and maintain infrastructure.

German / US-Tanker to be Released by Somali Pirates

The fate of the crew of MT Marida Margeuerite still hangs in the balance.

(NAIROBI, Kenya ECOTERRA) - MT Marida Margeuerite ITE *was seized on the 8th day of this year. The vessel and crew were captured around 120 nm south of the Omani port of Salalah in the protected shipping corridor.

The German owner-managed, US-owner-registered chemical tanker of 13.273 dwt Marida Margeuerite (IMO 9445655) has a crew of 22 seamen, including 19 Indians, two Bangladeshi and one Ukrainian.'

Save Sex

According to a study conducted by “Uganda’s Demografiphic and Health Survey”, 93 percent of Uganda’s population have changed their sexual practice in order to effectively fight the deadly virus.

(MADRID / CLEVELAND) - The deadly epidemic of AIDS is getting government concern. It is a plague that escapes from human control, since there is no cure for this threatening disease. This virus also spreads.

Each day more and more victims are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. It is therefore a challenge to humanity, which is very proud of its technological progress yet incapable of eradicating ill.

From the Township Garden to the City Table

“To grow these vegetables here for me, first, is a life” - Christina Kaba, a farmer working with HoH

(CAPE TOWN, South Africa) - Around 1 million people in South Africa—the majority of whom are recent arrivals from the former apartheid homelands, Transkei and Ciskei— live in the shacks that make up Khayelitsha, Nyanga and the area surrounding the Cape Flats outside Cape Town.

Just under half, or 40 percent, of the population is unemployed, while the rest barely earn enough income to feed their families.

Somalia Pirate Update

Status of Captured Vessels and Crews in Somalia, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

(NAIROBI, Kenya ECOTERRA Intl.) - No matter what the navies say: Today, 16. December 2010, at least 36 foreign vessels plus one barge are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners.

At the same time, at least 659 hostages or captives - including a South-African yachting couple - suffer to be released.

Bulker Sea-Jacked by Somali Sea-Shifta

he bulk carrier MV Renuar is at present commandeered to the Somali coast...

(NAIROBI, Kenya ECOTERRA Intl.) - A cargo vessel was captured on 11 December 2010, approximately 360nm SW of Minicoy Island, 1,200nm from Mogadishu in Somalia and 550nm off the Indian coast. Naval reporting centres finally confirmed our reports on Sunday.

The Panama-flagged MV Renuar is a bulk cargo vessel with a dead-weight of 70,156 tonnes and was en route to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates from Port Louis in Mauritius when it was captured on Saturday.

Water Out of Thin Air

Collecting water from fog is a technique that has been used for almost 30 years in some mountainous parts of Chile; the technique's success is now used in the dry areas of South Africa.

(SUB-SAHARA, African) - In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, people are forced to travel long distances and spend hours at a time collecting the water needed for cooking and drinking from far away streams or wells.

But the residents of Cabazane, South Africa have found a much less labor intensive alternative. They use gravity and let water come to them.

UNHCR: Criminalizing Search for Asylum is No Answer

Are these realities exclusively prevalent to Africa, or could it be that Asylee seekers encounter the same abuse from which they are fleeing; everywhere, on every continent, in every country?

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Asylum-seekers suffer hardship in detention on every continent.

“It has reached the point in some countries where there are actually more due process safeguards regulating detention of criminals than of asylum-seekers, the very large majority of whom have committed no crime.”

Laughing and Lashing: A Women`s Plight in Sudan - DISTURBING VIDEO

“That could the mother or sister of any of us, nothing is worse than humiliating a human being like this” - Nassir Mansour

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - A video showing the open whipping of a woman by a uniformed member of the government in Sudan, may be the most disturbing video ever published by Salem-News.com.

The video was recorded by a member of the police force applying what is termed as 'general behavioral law.'

Africa: Faces in Words

New weekly update on the breaking stories in the African nations.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Unseen, unheard; no one should be the bearer of these two words. Unfortunately, Africa is often in the forefront of this association.

Our common humanity should change this; we should never look away because it is too distant. Our commitment to one another, to human rights, and the ability to learn should always keep us connected no matter the severity and complexity of problems.