Africa

• 17 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Next year presidential elections. Democratic Congo adopts new constitution Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “I have promised to lead the people to elections and my promise will be kept” said President Joseph Kabila during a solemn ceremony yesterday 16 May in Kinshasa for the adoption of a new Con ...
• 16 May 2005
  AFRICA/ETHIOPIA - Good turn out for parliamentary elections: “this is a positive sign for the country’s democracy” Addis Ababa (Fides Service)- “The first results show the turnout was far higher than expected. This is a positive sign which confirms the progress of democracy in our country ” say local sources in Addis Ababa, capit ...
• 14 May 2005
  AFRICA/ETIOPIA - Tomorrow Young Ethiopian democracy goes to the polls to elect a new national parliament and eight regional parliaments Addis Ababa (Fides Service)- “This is a democratic process which must be encouraged: Ethiopia’s elections cannot be read with Western spectacles. Ethiopia has only known democracy for 12 years” said local sources i ...
• 13 May 2005
  AFRICA/TUNISIA - Migration and human trafficking: 16 national Caritas from countries in the Middle East, Horn of Africa and North Africa meet in Tunis Tunis (Fides Service)- Migration and human trafficking was the topic discussed at a Caritas MONA meeting in Tunis which opened Monday 11 May. Caritas MONA which comprises 16 countries of the Middle East, Horn of Africa a ...
• 13 May 2005
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Representatives of two armed opposition movements in Darfur promise to resume talks with the Sudanese government Rome (Fides Service)- A solemn promise “to resume as soon as possible talks in Abuja under the aegis of the African Union without pre-conditions” was made by the representatives of the two armed Opposition movements ...
• 13 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - UN peacekeeper killed and 6 wounded in Ituri: local militia group suspected. “But the regular army troops also attack civilians” Bunia (Fides Service)- “We are waiting to see how the UN Mission in Congo MONUC reacts to the attack on UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh in which one was killed and 6 others were wounded” said local forces in Bunia, ...
• 12 May 2005
  AFRICA/ANGOLA - Arms: south-south agreement. Angola will purchase weapons for 100 million dollars from Brazil Luanda (Fides Service) - A south-south agreement, sale and purchase of 100 million dollars worth of arms is being arranged between Brazil and Angola after a visit to Brasilia in early May by Angolan President José Eduar ...
• 12 May 2005
  AFRICA/NIGERIA - Ibadan Serra Club visits seminaries in the Archdiocese to supportand encourage vocations Ibadan (Fides)- A delegation of Ibadan Serra Club in Nigeria recently paid its annual visit to St. Theresa’s Minor Seminary and to the Saints Peter and Paul Major Seminary in the archdiocese of Ibadan. The delegatio ...
• 12 May 2005
  AFRICA/TOGO - Violence, intimidation and fraud during 24 April elections says statement by Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference Lome (Fides Service)- Number of seats “variable” (between 5,311 and 5,320 according to various sources also official), incomplete electoral lists, voters found in possession of more than one voting paper, intimidatio ...
• 11 May 2005
  AFRICA/SUDAN - Reconciling hearts after years of civil war: Jesuit Refugee Service programme for refugees in southern Sudan Khartoum (Fides Service)- Educate to peace to facilitate the return of refugees to their own country. This is the objective of a programme started by the Jesuit Refugee Service JRS, working in refugee camps in southern S ...
• 11 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Is Congo’s copper behind return of the Katanga Gendarmes? Lubumbashi (Fides Service)- “The events need still to be deciphered but from what has been said this was in actual fact an insurrection to overturn the nation’s political situation by detaching Katanga from the rest ...
• 11 May 2005
  AFRICA/TOGO - Tension reigns under apparent calm. New details on militia groups and their ‘death squads’ Lome (Fides Service)- “The situation is relatively tranquil but under the ashes their is still the fire of repression and revolt” said local sources in Lomé, capital of Togo, living a serious crisis since the electi ...
• 10 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Ecclesia in Africa ten years on: 6 dioceses in South and North Kivu look at the situation of evangelisation in east Congo Bukavu (Fides Service)- “A day to note in the records of the local Church in Kivu” said Rev. Jean Baptiste Ruhangamugabu, Secretary of the Kivu Provincial Assembly of Catholic Bishops (APEKI) with regard to a meeting ...
• 10 May 2005
  AFRICA/BURUNDI - Agreement over appointment of Internal minister and disarmament of civilians: peace in Burundi makes progress Bujumbura (Fides Service)- “We must be patient, the path is long but there have been positive developments, over the past few days, most promising for the peace process” a local Church source in Burundi told Fides wi ...
• 9 May 2005
  AFRICA/DEMOCRATIC CONGO - Church in Congo mourns Fr. René de Haes killed in a robbery Kinshasa (Fides Service)- “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do” said the Jesuit provincial Fr. Bafuidinsoni Maloko-Mana when he heard the news that his Belgian confrere Fr. René de Haes SJ had been kil ...