Month: February 2021
The world was shocked on February 22, 2021 when news of the ambush and killing of the Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) hit the media. What the world, and many media outlets, failed to report is that crimes like these are hardly new. The killing of such a high profiled political appointment as Ambassador Luca Attanassio only brought attention to a crisis that the Congolese have been facing in this region for over 20 years despite the presence of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces. The high level of insecurity in this region of the DRC has been ongoing with the most recent events being the killing of Ambassador Attanassio.
On February 23, 2021, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria issued We Must Pull back from the Brink of Collapse, a letter to the “People of Goodwill in Nigeria.” The Bishops acknowledged the ongoing crisis in the country and warned of a “looming collapse” and failure of the “Nigerian project” if things do not change. In the letter the Bishops’ address the “serious insecurity […] loss of lives and property” and the unwillingness for those in power to act to remedy the situation. Leaders must set the example to “seek a common purpose” and exercise their “political will.”
The General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) voted to appoint Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, from Nigeria, as Director-General beginning March 1, 2021. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is both the first African and the first female appointed to this position.
February 16, 2021 By Mariah Omer, AFJN Student Intern Divina Maloum is a young Cameroonian peace and social advocate. She is a winner of the fifteenth International Children’s Peace Prize,…
AFJN was mentioned in an article by Latindadd titled “Civil Society Organizations Call for Quick Special Drawing Rights Allocation”.
Join AFJN’s Women’s Empowerment Project as we pray and learn from religious sisters in Africa about the realities of human trafficking.