Latest News
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Land Grabs: 19 organizations call on the UN to investigate Herakles Farms’ retaliation against activists in Cameroon
Herakles Farms, a US-based agribusiness, filed a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Nasako Besingi, a Cameroonian activist, in month/year for peacefully protesting against Herakles Farms’ grab of his ancestral land in Southwest Cameroon. If convicted he faces a maximum penalty of 6 months imprisonment and $4,000 in fines, simply for exercising his constitutional right to free…
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Land Grabs: 19 organizations call on the UN to investigate Herakles Farms’ retaliation against activists in Cameroon
Herakles Farms, a US-based agribusiness, filed a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Nasako Besingi, a Cameroonian activist, in month/year for peacefully protesting against Herakles Farms’ grab of his ancestral land in Southwest Cameroon. If convicted he faces a maximum penalty of 6 months imprisonment and $4,000 in fines, simply for exercising his constitutional right to free…
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Land Grabs: Letter to US Company Herakles Farms
We are aware of the signing on November 25, 2013 of the Cameroonian presidential decrees no. 2013/418, no. 2013/417 and no. 2013/416 which finally reduced the size and legalized Herakles Farms land leases under different terms and conditions. Without going in details about the shortcomings of these new leases, to us they stand as confirmation…
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Herakles Farms must stop Unjust Lawsuits Against a Cameroonian Activists
We urge you to cancel the lawsuit Herakles Farms filed against Mr. Nasako Besingi, Managing Director of Struggle to Economize Future Environment (SEFE). Mr. Nasako, who you accuse of bad publicity for speaking out against Herakles’ large-scale palm oil plantation project on his ancestral land, is innocent. He undertook the fundamental and noble duty of…
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The US must hold DRC neighbors accountable says Students, Families and Faculty of Foothills School
On December 4th, 2013, families, teachers and students of Fooothills School of Sciences and Arts sent a letter to President Barak Obama. They urged him to personally call presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda and encourage them to be partners in building peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)….
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Update on the Empower Africa Project
From the end of September to early October 2013, I was in Accra, Ghana for a series of meetings at the continental headquarters of the Catholic Bishops in Africa and with Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra. The meeting highlighted the importance of taking practical steps to empower African communities to harness their resources to build…
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The Central African Republic: President has resigned
Thousands in the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui are celebrating the resignation of the country’s interim president, although widespread suffering continues. On Thursday January 10, President Michel Djotodia was forced to step down at a meeting of regional leaders in Chad in a move aimed at ending the violence between Muslims and Christians that has…
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Cameroon: President Approves Land Grab Deal with Herakles Farms
Land grabbing is a global issue involving large-scale leasing or buying of land in developing countries by trans- and multinational corporations, often without Proper Free, Prior and Informed Consent (PFPIC) of landowners, and through dealings with corrupt governments. Bahati Jacques, AFJN policy analyst, visited Cameroon in July 2013, to investigate Herakles Farms’ land deals there…
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Fate of Africa’s youngest state lies with U.S. and its allies
Barthelemy Bazemo The memories of the two-decade long civil war leading to the independence of South Sudan in July 2011 are still vivid and fresh in the minds of most South Sudanese and people in the Horn of Africa. At the critical moment in the peace process between the North’s Bashir and the South’s John…
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Remembering Fr. Gerard G. Furlan, sx, Misionary to Sierra Leone West Africa (1980 – 2000)
“Come good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Mt 25:21). On December 11th, 2013 in the early hours of the morning, Fr. Gerard G. Furlan, a member of the Xaverian Missionaries, passed away. The previous day, while walking on the grounds of Fatima Shrine, Holliston MA, he fell backwards and hit…
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Young Africa Leadership Initiative: A call for Application
Africa is endowed with abundant natural and human resources and yet it is the poorest continent on the planet. Various factors may account for this state of affairs but the analysis of most experts on Africa seem to point to one major common denominator: the lack of conscientious and visionary leadership. Since the early days…
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Madiba Nelson Mandela: Africa’s Most Distinguished Elder Statesman
Africa’s greatest political icon, former South African President Madiba Nelson Mandela has joined the ranks of Africa’s ancestors. Madiba Mandela was by all accounts one who believed in the goodness of people and had a strong faith in the goodness of human nature. He preached and practiced forgiveness. He was keenly aware of the role…
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President Nelson Mandela’s Legacy a message to African Heads of State
Posted on December 6, 2013 As the world mourns and readies for the funeral of Nelson Mandela, the greatest tribute you can pay the former South African President would be to respect the presidential term you were originally elected to serve under the constitution of the country you are still leading. This message is particularly…
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Welcoming a New Wave of Diplomacy in Democratic Republic of the Congo
On November 21, the Great Lakes Forum held a briefing at John Hopkins University in Washington DC featuring US Special Envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes Region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Senator Russ Feingold. Two Congolese asked Senator Feingold for a meeting with the Congolese diaspora to discuss policy going forward. Knowing…
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A l’Est de la RD Congo, la terreur fait place aux jubilations; témoignage de viols et pillage par les forces gouvernementales
Read it in English Dans l’Est de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), les habitants de plusieurs villages qui étaient en liesse au début du mois de Novembre pour célébrer la victoire des troupes gouvernementales sur les milices du M23 sont en train de vivre maintenant un cauchemar; et pour cause, ces mêmes libérateurs se…
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Terror replaces jubilation in Eastern DRC; Witnesses Report widespread looting and rapes by Government Forces
Residents of several isolated rural villages in the eastern half of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who celebrated earlier this month when government troops expelled members of M23 rebel militia from the area, now say some government soldiers are terrorizing them with a campaign of rape and looting. According to accounts collected this week…
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Intensifier les efforts diplomatiques après la défaite du M23 en RDC
Read in English Les rebelles du M23 ont finalement jeté l’éponge par l’annonce de leur défaite le 6 Novembre 2013. Tout compte fait, une nouvelle ère s’ouvre pour les populations de l’Est de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Le Réseau Foi et Justice (Africa Faith and Justice Network) basé au Etats-Unis, fondamentalement attaché aux…
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Redouble diplomatic and advocacy efforts after the defeat of M23 rebels in DRC
Read it in French The M23 rebellion has acknowledged total defeat by surrendering on November 6, 2013. Thus, a new era has dawned for the suffering populations of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN), committed to peace and justice, salutes the end of hostilities and shares the…
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In Solidarity with the People Affected by Land Grabs in Cameroon
By Jacques Bahati On July 18, 2013 I arrived in Mundemba, a village in Southwest Cameroon, with a team from Joining Hands (a project of the Presbyterian Church USA) and a team from the Yaoundé-based Cameroonian organization, Network to Fight Against Hunger (RELUFA). We were on a facts-finding mission on land grabbing by the US-based…
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La fin de la rebellion du M23 : efforts tous azimuts de plaidoyer et diplomatie.
L’anéantissement du groupe rebelle du M23, n’aurait pas été possible sans les modifications de la politique étrangère opérées par les gouvernements de certains pays qui jadis avaient ignoré les guerres d’agression du Rwanda et de l’Ouganda contre la RDC. Le plus ardent vœu de tous est que le président Barack Obama et le secrétaire d’Etat…
