Latest News
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Africa Faith and Justice Network Sends Delegate to 62nd United Nations Conference In Mexico City
Posted on September9, 2009 Fr. Luigi Zanotto, MCCJ, a board member of AFJN and our UN contact will join over 2000 global civil society activists at the 62nd annual UN Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organizations Conference titled, “For Peace and Development: Disarm Now! !Desarme Ahora! Trabejemos por la Paz y el Desarrollo.” The three-day Conference…
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Obama Trip to Ghana, Rewriting U.S-Africa Policy: What are the Issues
The President of the United States, Barack Obama, will travel to Ghana July 10-11th, 2009. Although his trip will be brief, it is an excellent opportunity to raise the issues that are of concern to us as advocates for peace and justice in Africa. Seeking Muslim nations’ support to write a new page in history…
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Video: “Come Clean for Congo”
Video: “Come Clean for Congo” Contest entry on breaking the silence in the Congo featuring AFJN staff
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AFJN Opposes Military Language in Northern Uganda Bill
A few weeks ago, two of AFJN’s core issues – AFRICOM and northern Uganda – came together in a bittersweet piece of legislation by the U.S. Congress. While it provides crucial development aid and support for transitional justice, the new bill (S. 1067, H.R. 2478) also includes a statement of policy that may allow the U.S. military…
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Promoting International Support for Community-Based Justice Mechanisms in Post-Conflict Burundi and Uganda
As part of AFJN’s ongoing research on restorative justice, staff members Bahati Jacques and Beth Tuckey wrote a report on their recent trip to Burundi and Uganda. It details community-based justice mechanisms in these post-conflict societies and what the U.S. can do to promote awareness and policy change. Click here to find and download the…
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Guilty As Charged? Oil Giant Shell Settles in Human Rights Case
Last week, Royal Dutch Shell agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle with the plaintiffs in a case charging Shell with severe human rights abuses in collusion with the Nigerian military. The case was brought by members of the Ogoni tribe, most notably the son of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental activist and writer who was…
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Violence Escalates in Niger Delta
On May 14th, the Nigerian Joint Military Task Force (JTF), laid siege to towns along the coast, attacking from air, land, and sea. Although the Nigerian government maintains that the attack was targeting militant groups that obstruct oil flows, what transpired was a massive assault on the communities and villages of Gbaramatu kingdom. Thousands of…
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Impact of Small Arms Proliferation on Africa
The persistence and the complication of wars in Africa are partially due to small arms proliferation. The consequences of small arms on African people due to international conflicts within Africa, rebel group activities, mercenary groups, and armed gang activities have yet to be fully measured. The International Action Network on Small Arms, Saferworld, and Oxfam International put it in perspective when they reported that armed conflict cost Africa $18 billion each year and about US$300 billion between 1990-2005.
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The New Scramble for Africa’s Wealth
Africa is a vast continent with many valuable resources, particularly arable land. Unfortunately, this fact is not a secret. Many nations outside of Africa recognize the potential that currently underutilized (or perceived as underutilized) land holds, and several have recently made moves to capitalize on these opportunities. This pursuit of land has led to a…
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New Food Aid Bill Raises Concerns
Although a complete overhaul of U.S. foreign assistance seems to have stalled, legislators wasted no time in addressing international food aid reform. On February 5, the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act (S. 384) was introduced on the Senate floor. The bill takes a longer-term view of agricultural production in the developing world and will improve U.S. capability to respond to emergency food crises. But the Lugar-Casey bill is not quite as sweet as it sounds. Though there are many elements of the legislation that should be celebrated (particularly buying food aid locally), it also expands the private-public partnership with the genetically modified crop research industry.
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“International Firms Stand Accused of Fish Piracy”
“International Firms Stand Accused of Fish Piracy”The East African quotes AFJN’s Beth Tuckey on Somali piracy
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AFRICOM’s Ugandan Blunder
This article was originally published in Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) on April 20th, 2009. In early February, The New York Times released information detailing the involvement of the U.S. military in the bungled Ugandan mission to oust the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) from northeastern DR Congo. Seventeen military advisors from AFRICOM worked closely with the Ugandan People’s…
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TAKE ACTION: Pirates or Disempowered Somalis?
ACTION ALERT! If you’ve been following the news recently, you’ve probably heard a lot about pirates. Not the swashbuckling, patch-over-the-eye, ruthless robber kind, but the disempowered, poverty-stricken, Somali kind. Although the piracy situation off the coast of Somalia has been going on for years, the capture of U.S. captain Richard Phillips in early April raised…
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Negligence Within the Congolese Military
Now that Laurent Nkunda is out of the picture and some other rebel groups have been integrated into the Congolese national army, what is the Congolese government’s excuse for neglecting to take care of the state’s men in uniform (FARDC in French acronym)? Consider the case of the Congolese soldiers deployed in the North Kivu…
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Peace and Progress in North Kivu Eastern D.R. Congo
In Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province and surrounding towns, there are many signs of hope. Since the announcement of the capture of the National Congress for People’s Defense (CNDP) rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on January 23, and the slow integration of CNDP and other rebel groups into the Congolese national army, people…
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Evaluating the Somali “Pirate” Situation
by Beth Tuckey For many of us, the word “pirate” conjures up a whole host of images, most notably that of a swashbuckling, patch-over-the-eye, ruthless robber. In our history texts, pirates sailed the high seas in search of treasure chests of gold, often in retaliation for maltreatment by great European empires. There is little doubt…
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The Church in Africa, at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice, and Peace
Posted April 8th, 2009. Adapted from an article originally written for the US Catholic Missions Association. On March 19th, at the end of the Mass celebrated in the National Stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon on the feast of St. Joseph, Pope Benedict XVI presented the instrumentum laboris (working document) for the upcoming Second Special Assembly for Africa…
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AFJN Invites You to Join the Climate Change Covenant!
This month, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is launching a unique and unprecedented initiative, A Catholic Climate Covenant and the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. This ambitious project is in response to a growing desire by the Catholic community to respond, in faith, to climate change. It will also…
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Never Again: Honoring Jennifer Davis with the 2009 Faith & Justice Award
“Never again”… words we often hear in the face of tragedy and horror, holocaust, and genocide. Words Ms. Jennifer Davis heard from her German grandmother and parents as they recalled the horror of the Nazi Holocaust. This young Jewish girl, born in South Africa from a German mother and a South African father, was…
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Climate Change Talking Points – 2009 EAD Lobby Day
2009 ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS – ENOUGH FOR ALL CREATIONTalking Points for Participants on Our Message for Congress God created the earth and declared it “good.” As people of faith— called to protect the vulnerable and to the care and keeping of God’s earth—we are gravely concerned that the impacts of climate change have and will…
