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Ethiopian election a campaign of intimidation

S ix months before a crucial election, one of Ethiopia's small band of opposition MPs has a simple question: How can he campaign for votes when he cannot even hold a public meeting or meet voters freely? Negaso Gidada, a former president of Ethiopia and ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  17 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Meles Zenawi

New law cripples NGOs

U nder a controversial new law, Ethiopia's beleaguered civil-society groups are facing an awful choice: Surrender almost all of their funding, or surrender their work on human rights and democracy. “You are doomed either way,” says Kumlachew Dagne, a ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  17 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Human Rights Watch

South Africa radically shifts AIDS thinking

I n a sharp break from the days when South Africa's government was suggesting garlic and beet root as AIDS remedies, President Jacob Zuma is planning to be tested in public for HIV next month. The test will be part of a dramatic expansion of HIV testing ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  15 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Jacob Zuma,  Thabo Mbeki,  Harvard University,  Manto Tshabalala-Msimang

Delays hit Bombardier chances for World Cup rollout

Faced with construction delays and political resistance, Bombardier Inc. BBD.B-T risks losing a valuable chance to showcase its rail technology for millions of soccer fans at next summer's World Cup, arguably the biggest sporting event in the ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  11 Nov 2009

Related Topics: FIFA,  Jeremy Cronin

A South African dream, deferred

A year ago, I was at the formative meeting of a nascent political party that seemed to be triggering an earthquake in South African politics. The mood at the convention in suburban Johannesburg was boisterous, joyful, almost ecstatic. The delegates of ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  10 Nov 2009

Related Topics: African National Congress,  Nelson Mandela,  Mbhazima Shilowa,  Allan Boesak

China's increasing investment in Africa stokes concerns

I n the latest dramatic boost to its African expansion, China is pledging $10-billion (U.S.) in preferential loans to Africa, along with 100 clean-energy projects and lower customs duties on up to 95 per cent of African exports. The low-interest loans, ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  8 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Wen Jiabao

Ethiopia: Land of silence and starvation

On market day in the dusty town of Meki, the few cobs of corn sold by the hawkers are scrawny, pale, scabby and pockmarked. Yet the price of this meagre food has doubled since last year – because so many farmers have seen their corn harvests fail. “We ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  6 Nov 2009

Related Topics: United Nations,  Meles Zenawi,  Committee to Protect Journalists

U.S. military aid to help Mali fight al-Qaeda

I n the latest sign of the deepening U.S. military presence in West Africa, the United States is giving more than $5-million in trucks and other military equipment to Mali to help it fight terrorists who are linked to al-Qaeda. The military hardware, ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  20 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Al-Qaeda,  The Pentagon,  US State Department

‘We don't want to become a second Afghanistan'

A t first, he thought it was just the desert wind, whispering through the predawn darkness. But then the soldier heard the sound again, and he realized the sickening truth: His slumbering troops were surrounded by terrorists from the Sahara branch of al- ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  16 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Al-Qaeda,  National Guard,  The Pentagon,  U.S. Senate

Soweto student computer program founders on power shortage

I n a dusty corner of a Soweto youth centre, a stack of laptop computers is sitting idle. For the dozens of kids playing soccer outside, the laptop revolution is, temporarily, stalled. The computers were supposed to set the children free. Instead, on ...

From GEOFFREY YORK, Globe and Mail,  14 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Nicholas Negroponte,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology,  Google Inc.,  Intel

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