In The News

A Pageant with a Purpose

Simon Robinson February 28, 2005
Last week, Botswana played host to a unique type of beauty pageant. Twelve competitors from around the nation danced, smiled, and glamorized in the 5th annual Miss HIV Stigma Free Pageant, designed to showcase the fact that even with the AIDS virus, life goes on. Botswana, regarded as one of the most progressive African nations in its handling of the AIDS crisis, views the culture of shame and...

Don't Blame Wal-Mart

Robert B. Reich February 28, 2005
Multinational giant Wal-Mart is notorious for its anti-union stance and questionable labor practices. But, as Robert B. Reich opines, "Isn't Wal-Mart really being punished for our sins?" Reich suggests that US consumers, in their quest for bottom-dollar bargains, continue to shop at low-price retailers – thereby enabling their practices. In the competition to stay afloat,...

"Tsunami Effect" Likely to Hit Africa

Kevin J. Kelley February 24, 2005
In January, international donors quickly met the UN appeal for US$977 million for tsunami relief operations. That same month, member countries gave only US$21 million of the US$29 million requested by the UN World Food Program, resulting in ration cuts for some African nations. This disparity reflects a serious problem: While the international community has quickly responded to the tsunami...

Letting Sudan Get Away with Murder

Ben Kiernan February 4, 2005
Over 200,000 people have died in the violence in Sudan's Darfur provinces. And as the bloodshed continues, genocide scholar Ben Kiernan writes, members of the international community – who may actually have the influence to halt the killings and prosecute the perpetrators – have been preoccupied with semantic and jurisdictional wrangling. Kiernan provides an historical background to the...

Can the World Deliver for Africa?

Larry Elliott February 2, 2005
2005 may be the year of Africa, if UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and other officials have anything to do with it. Britain, charged this year with the coinciding presidencies of both the EU and the G8, has vowed to make African economic revival a priority. The poorest continent in the world is steadily growing poorer, as standards of living, health, education, and economic productivity are far...

How Globalization Train is Overrunning Nigeria

Etim Imisim January 27, 2005
A member of the World Trade Organization for the past ten years, Nigeria should be well-situated to reap the benefits of free trade. Yet thanks to a set of domestic and international factors, the country may even be sliding backwards. In an interview with Nigerian newspaper This Day, development expert Bankole Olubamise argues gloomily that much has gone afoul in Africa's most populous...

How to Help Africa Escape Poverty Trap

Martin Wolf January 12, 2005
With rampant disease and widespread poverty, sub-Saharan Africa is truly in crisis. The region is in a bind, as several reports indicate a troubling pattern: Poverty begets poverty. And despite critics' claims to the contrary, writes Martin Wolf, those outside the beleaguered continent can and must help. Beyond a moral obligation to end the strife of others, the rest of the world has...