Members of the Commonwealth Association of Women Parliamentarians (CWP), Africa Region, have expressed worry over the arithmetical progression of women in the political lives of African countries in this 21st century.
Available statistics reveal that in Nigeria and Cameroon for instance, with an estimated population of 150 million people and 20 million people respectively, there are only 25 female MPs in each of these countries. Meeting in Yaounde during their third annual conference to brainstorm on what they can do in order to transform the arithmetical progression into a geographic one, they demanded the ratification of various conventions that help the development of women, the eradication of harmful cultural and traditional practices against women and the putting in place of policies that improve the lives of the people. The theme of the confab was, "Pursuing the Gender Agenda". Sub-themes included women and the burden of care giving, best practices on constitutional reforms and other strategies to entrench the gender agenda, and a study on harmful, traditional, cultural and religious practices with focus on problems facing the CWP branches. read more...

Washington — President Obama’s July 10–11 visit to Accra, Ghana, will be a “historic occasion,” says Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson. He says it recognizes the progress Ghana has made — particularly in the area of democratization — which serves as an example to the rest of Africa. In a June 17 interview with America.gov, Carson commended Ghana for holding “a very successful presidential and parliamentary election in December [2008] and January of this year, which resulted in President John Atta Mills coming to power. It was the fifth successful democratic transition of power since the end of military rule there, but, more importantly, for all of Africa, [it serves] as an example of the power of democracy. It was the second time that the opposition party defeated the incumbent party, which clearly suggests that democracy has taken deep and strong root in Ghana.” Additionally, Carson said: “Ghana was also the first state in sub-Saharan Africa to gain its independence and … today is one of the most vibrant economic and politically important countries in West Africa. Ghana has been a strong contributor to regional stability to African peacekeeping missions in West Africa as well as around the world, and it shortly will become a major producer of petroleum,” he added.

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Zimbabwe's opposition warned Tuesday its leader might steer clear of another regional summit designed to salvage a power-sharing accord, saying it had yet to decide whether to trust President Robert Mugabe. The day after Morgan Tsvangirai refused to meet with Mugabe at a summit in Swaziland, his Movement for Democratic Change party said it was unconvinced the veteran ruler's camp was negotiating in good faith. Hoping to rescue the unity accord, southern African leaders agreed to hold new talks between the rivals in Harare on October 27, but MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said that Tsvangirai could not yet confirm if he would attend.

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France will not send a minister on a visit to Mauritania until the recently overthrown president is freed, the foreign ministry said in Paris Tuesday."We want (Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi) freed and it is hard to imagine a visit at ministerial level to a country where the legitimate president was still in prison," ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said. Abdallahi, the country's first democratically elected president, was overthrown in a military coup on August 6 condemned by the European Union, the United States and the African Union. On Monday, representing the EU, French Cooperation Secretary of State Alain Joyandet met Junta members in Paris and said later that he hoped to be able to visit Mauritania "shortly."

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Sports has become a rallying umbrella transcending man-imposed barriers of race, sex, religion, social status, age or political inclination. Increasingly, world leaders are seeing the need to use sports as an instrument of peace, dialogue and socio-political lubrication. In very recent times, for example, football has been at the centre of the war against racism and ethnic discrimination. In about five months, the world will be gathered in China, home of the 2008 Olympic Games. No other event as at now, has the potential of pulling the world together as does the Olympics. In the count-down to this event that takes place every four years, China has been grappling with issues of pollution concerns; on account of its very high pollution levels due to heavy dependence on unclean fuels.

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