Latest News
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Trading for Peace: Latest Research by DFID and USAID
For the past several years, AFJN has been working on issues relating to the African Great Lakes Region, particularly the efforts to restore peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Northern Uganda. It was in consideration of the importance of peace as a tool for the development of the African Great Lakes Region…
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AFJN Adopts Three New Focus Issues
Each year, the AFJN Staff and Board take some time to consider the major issues arising in the continent of Africa and subsequently choose new focus campaigns. For the past couple of years, AFJN has been devoted almost entirely to raising awareness of the war in northern Uganda. The organization has also tracked the havoc…
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Global Gag Rule debate continues in HIV/AIDS funding talks
The debate over whether US relief money should go to programs that teach abstinence versus family planning and birth control continues. Since 1984, there has been a restriction called the Mexico City Policy, better known as the ‘global gag rule.’ The global gag rule prohibits U.S. family planning assistance to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that…
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Global Climate Change, Global Effort
From September 5-7, 2007, the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) held its annual conference for Non Government Organizations on the theme, “Global climate change, how it impacts us all?” Utilizing AFJN’s UN-DPI status, Executive Director Rocco Puopolo and Staff Member Bahati Jacques and members Sr. Maura Browne and Fr. Luigi Zanotto attended the…
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AFJN and Congo Global Action Coalition
Since the end of 2006, AFJN has been actively involved in CGA. Our Executive Director, Rocco Puopolo, s.x., sits on the Coalition’s Executive Committee and AFJN acts as CGA’s fiscal sponsor. Together with over thirty international organizations, we have built a coalition to stop the violence in DR Congo. As we watched the crises in Darfur…
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Peace Continues to Elude DR Congo
The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been waiting for peace for the past eleven years, but the reality on the ground shows that peace is not in their near future. The Congo has been at war since its invasion in 1996 by the Tutsi and a coalition of Rwandan, Ugandan and…
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Child Abuse: UN Report Expresses Concern Over Sexual Crimes Against Children in Cote d’Ivoire
Five years after the civil war in Cote d‘Ivoire, the UN is urging political actors to give due attention to the needs of children. The continued sustenance of the culture of impunity for those who commit crimes against children that gained prominence during the rebellion is harmful to the growth and peace of the nation. …
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The Forgotten Victims: Children infected with HIV/AIDS
Every minute of every day a child under the age of 15 is infected with HIV. 1,400 children die of AIDS each day and more than a half million young lives are claimed by this disease each year. We often hear of treatment for HIV/AIDS and the action taken to help fight this deadly disease,…
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Catholic Church of Zimbabwe Declares Support for Archbishop
As Zimbabweans continue to suffer from severe food shortages and an inflation rate of over 7,500%, one man has openly denounced the government for inflicting such a crisis upon its civilians. Archbishop Pius Ncube is one of very few who have taken a stand against President Robert Mugabe, calling for street protests and political intervention…
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Senate Passes Bill to Increase Funds To Fight HIV/AIDS Worldwide
On Thursday, September 7, 2007, the Senate voted 81-12 to approve the fiscal year 2008 Foreign Aid Spending Bill (HR 2764 ) that would increase funds to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria worldwide. The $34 billion measure would increase President Bush’s $4.2 billion request for funds to fight HIV/AIDS globally by $940 million (Taylor, AP/International Herald…
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Nigeria Adds Its Voice to AFRICOM Opposition
Several weeks ago, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) released a public objection to the presence of American soldiers in all Southern African countries under the jurisdiction of SADC. Similarly, over the past week, Nigeria has begun efforts to freeze the progress of the US military in erecting a military base in West Africa. The…
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Again, D.R.Congo Under Fire. Who Has the Solution to this Conflict?
For several weeks now, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (namely in the North Kivu province), hundreds of people have been displaced due to heavy fighting between the Tutsi pro-Rwanda rebel group lead by Laurent Nkundabatware. Many have also been left dead, among them women and children. Reports from the ground state that…
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Presidential Town Hall Meeting Africa Questionnaire
In June, the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, AFJN, and 13 other civil society organization partners submitted a questionnaire to each of the 2008 presidential candidates. It was our hope that such questions would encourage the candidates to think more critically about Africa in the upcoming campaigns. Unfortunately, few of the candidates have responded, indicating that…
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In Zimbabwe, Children Affected by HIV Receive Increased Support
According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 2006 Report, “the only evidence of declining national adult HIV prevalence in southern Africa comes from Zimbabwe, where both HIV prevalence and incidence has fallen.” However, this says nothing of the thousands of children within Zimbabwe who live each day with HIV/AIDS. Only 1 in…
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South Africa Continues to Falter on HIV/AIDS
South Africa has always lagged behind in its HIV/AIDS policy, despite having a greater capacity to address health issues than any other sub-Saharan African country. Before 2003, President Thabo Mbeki’s administration denied the reality of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, claiming it was a treatable disease, that eating beetroot was a suitable cure, and that…
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Zimbabwean Archbishop, Pius Ncube, Resigns
“i have not been silenced by the crude machinations of a wicked regime” said the Bulawayo Archobishop, Pius Ncube. He resigned from his duties as archbishop after adultery allegations by the Mugabe regime in response to the long effort to get the later to put an end to its abuses against Zimbabweans. The Church has…
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Humanitarian Situation Grows Worse in DRC
In the North Kivu region of eastern DR Congo, troops loyal to General Laurent Nkunda are thought to be largely responsible for an increase in violence, according to a recent BBC News report . Since February, approximately 160,000 people have been displaced and UN officials estimate another 280,000 may flee their homes in the next six months. The ramifications…
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“The Call of Christ in Africa,” Bishop Kevin Dowling Speaks in DC
Bishop Kevin Dowling, who received the Faith & Justice Award from AFJN in 2005, recently spoke in Washington on “The Call of Christ in Africa.” Please follow the link for the text of this inspirational and thought-provoking address to the FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities) conference in June. Bishop Dowling of Rustenberg,…
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China and Water Subjects of New Books by Former AFJN Director
During Dr. Marcel Kitissou’s time as Executive Director of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, he helped to raise the first alarms over the important role water would play in the geopolitical arena of the future. Dr. Kitissou has recently announced the publication of a new book, The Hydropolitics of Africa, A Contemporary Challenge ,…
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AFRICOM Hearings Illustrate Fears and Inconsistencies
Before August recess on Capitol Hill, both the House and the Senate found it pertinent to squeeze in two hearings on AFRICOM. Amidst voting bells and frantic lobbyists, Senators from the Foreign Relations Committee and Representatives from the House Subcommittee on Africa sat down to hear testimony from officials and non-governmental experts on the creation of…
