Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.
TOP TOPICS
- Oil exports from Libya to the U.S. begin...
- But a plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince, allegedly hatched by Qaddafi, should cool the burgeoning US-Libya relationship...or should cause some people to have second thoughts. Winds of Change has more.
- A failed coup attempt in the Congo raised new questions about the stability of Joseph Kabila's government. Mostly Africa has more
Other Topics Today Include: Sudan; Violence and vaccines in Nigeria; African solidarity watch; African trade and development; Zimbabwe's $200M arms deal; French quagmire in Ivory Coast; Chad's dictator in the making; and more.
Sudan
- Black Star Journal has plenty to say about the continuing violence in Sudan and the Western response to it.
- Amygdala also has an update detailing the extent of the violence in Darfur and the Genocide Warning, and some promising developments recently thanks to foreign pressure.
Nigeria
- Nigeria's government acts to curtain last month's violence by declaring a state of emergency.
- And Obasanjo follows up by banning a Muslim march in the northern city of Kano after complaints from the Christian community.
- In a mostly unrelated development, the northern Nigerian state of Kano has finally agreed to accept polio vaccinations...after having verified that the vaccinations are not, in fact a Jewish plot to make Muslims infertile.
More African Solidarity...
- African solidarity even extends to the diaspora. South Africa's Thabo Mbeki has now granted sanctuary to ousted Haitian honcho Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Trade
- Abiola notes that Democrats in the U.S. Senate are now trying to stall the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. A lone brave Democrate, however, Connecticut's Joe Lieberman, is a cosponsor of the bill.
- AfricaBlog also comments on trade, African development, and the appropriate role of foreign aid.
Zimbabwe
- Comrade Mugabe agrees to buy $200 million dollars worth of military equipment from the Chinese government.
- It's believed that these arms are necessary for Mugabe's next offensive against the formidible forces of Zimbabwe's independent press.
Other news from around Africa
- In case you were wondering, France's African quagmire continues in Ivory Coast and it appears that they may have alienated the few friends that they had left. Instapundit links to a translated article from Ivory Coast's Fraternite Matin
- Is Chad's Idriss Deby another African president-for-life in the making? He's just amended the constitution to allow himself another year in office.
- In Namibia, another African strongman, President Sam Nujoma, is considering retirement -- and there is no shortage of SWAPO party underlings willing to take his place. Daudi follows the horse-race.
In a mostly unrelated development, the northern Nigerian state of Kano has finally agreed to accept polio vaccinations...after having verified that the vaccinations are not, in fact a Jewish plot to make Muslims infertile.
That reminds me of the Jewish plot to make Somali men's penises shrivel up and disappear.
OT: EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK DEAD???
Yeah, not the most reliable website (British understatement), but: http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/default.asp
Deborah Orin, Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Post, has a must-read column in today’s edition, titled Reporting for the Enemy. You can read it on my Blog, where I have posted it along with a link to the original article.
For links to news, views, politics, and government, bookmark All Things Political.