A tiny group of Christians in a predominantly Moslem environment, determined to forge ties of friendship and dialogue in a society that still bears the wounds of thirty years of civil war. A Comboni Missionary community tells its story. Abéché town is on the doorstep of the desert in eastern Chad. Just l.1% are Christians,…
Read moreThe rapid development of technology improves lives and enables more efficient operations in the private and public sectors. The challenges that have emerged as a direct consequence, however, can also undermine progress and expose users to illicit activities online. Before 2000, Africa hosted only 4.5 million Internet users. Since then, telecommunications markets have been liberalised…
Read moreThe conflict diamonds issue is dying down, but new challenges are emerging. Will Africa be able to add value to the rough product ? Will the industry be able to cope with the threat of synthetic diamonds ? Should there be a new role for the Kimberley Process ? Nearly 16 years after the creation of the Kimberley…
Read moreAfrica is experiencing an ideological crisis that is expressed by the current adhesion of African governments to either neoliberalism or monetarism that destroy human solidarity, erode the welfare state and increase human suffering. After the failure of imported ideologies, the future of Africa lies in the adoption of a new unifying ideology of development, Neo…
Read moreIn his message for the next World Youth Day, of March 25th ,the Pope called upon young people not to be closed in the digital rationale and to carry out a “discernment” of their own vocation by showing courage in the present moment. Young people must be given “important responsibilities” inside the Church. “I want…
Read moreThe tenure of agricultural land is at the core of many disputes and advocacy actions nowadays. The common lands tenure is foreseen as the only way to counteract land grabbing. Such a common tenure, however, was put aside when Roman law Act introduced the concept of dominium and exploded in our modern times with the…
Read moreOne day, two friends named Ebopp and Mbaw went off in search of a good site to establish a farm with fine fields of grain and peanuts. They looked here and they looked there until they finally found the right place. They immediately began to fell trees and break up the soil. They worded for…
Read moreDespite the bloody repression of the pro-democracy marches organised by roman catholic organizations and the profanation of churches on the last 31 December, the number of demonstrators was even larger on the 21 following January. And they are increasingly joined by other christians and moslems. At least 12 people were killed by the police and…
Read moreIn the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis has not ceased to fight against the walls of the world, the result of fear, aggression and selfishness, pointing the finger at those ‘visible and invisible walls’ that break the world into incoherent pieces, a world which, paradoxically, is increasingly globalised. From the so-called Israeli security barrier…
Read moreThe largest Latin American countries go to the polls to elect their presidents. Almost 80% of the Latin American population are eligible to vote. Elections will be held in Brazil with its 208 million inhabitants, in Mexico at the other end of the continent with 127 million, as well as Colombia (48.65 million) and Venezuela…
Read moreThe German Federal Government did not show much interest in African affairs in the period after World War II and preferred to leave Africa to the French and the English who had much closer connections to their former colonies. One exception was Horst Köhler. As President of the Republic, he frequently travelled to Africa, brought…
Read moreTwenty nine years have passed since the most famous wall in Europe ceased to divide the German capital in two. It was 1989 and the imminent entry into the nineties seemed to be the dawn of a new world; the fall of the wall had indeed decreed the unification of Germany together with the crush…
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When asked how a farmer’s daughter who became a Catholic nun ended up as one of Brazil’s most influential refugee advocates, Sister Rosita Milesi, 79,…
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Vusi was an honest man and a hard worker. He had cleared a large piece of moorland and turned it into a beautiful fertile field. He…
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On 24 November, the Solemnity of Christ the King, on the occasion of World Youth Day in the Particular Churches, in St. Peter's Basilica the traditional…
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