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Monthly Archives: August 2019

Burkina Faso. The Church under attack.

For some time, the Catholic and Protestant communities have been a target for Islamic groups attempting to destabilise the country. They are also trying to weaken its inter-ethnic and inter-religious ties. It was an ordinary Sunday morning in Tanghin, in the northern outskirts of Ouagadougou. The sun, already high in the sky, shone down on…

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Silencing the Guns in Africa.

On 27 February 2019, the Security Council welcomed the African Union’s “determination to rid Africa of conflicts and create conditions favorable for the growth, development and integration of the continent as encapsulated in its goal of ‘Silencing the Guns in Africa’ by the Year 2020.” The global endorsement received by this commitment was not a…

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DR Congo. Insecurity and bad governance contribute to the spread of Ebola.

Ongoing insecurity and bad governance contribute to the expansion of the second largest Ebola epidemics in the DRC and beyond. The World Heath Organisation has declared the deadly Ebola a global health emergency. With over 2,700 cases including 130 health workers and more than 1,590 deaths at the beginning of July 2019, the Ebola epidemics…

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Drug Trafficking.

The maras are characterized by their particular ritualism, their violent initiation rites and the tattoos that proclaim their own members that make them very similar to the members of the Japanese Yakuza. In the initiation ritual of the mareros or pandilleros, the neophyte is approached and placed at the center of a circle composed of…

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RD.Congo. Beatification of twenty martyr missionaries on track.

Fifty-seven years after their tragic deaths, the Roman Catholic Church of Congo has started the process of beatification of the twenty missionaries assassinated  by government soldiers on the 1 January 1962. Last June, the bishop of Kongolo diocesis, in the Tanganyika province, Mgr Oscar Ngoy wa Mpanga announced that he had initiated the process of…

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Pan-African Youth Leadership Development.

The Leadership Development and Mentorship program has an ambitious agenda for training tomorrow’s leaders across Africa. Africa is by far the world’s youngest continent, with a median age of only 18. Such a large population of young people presents an enormous challenge for the governments of Africa’s 54 countries. Resources must be found to ensure…

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Africa. Start-ups rolling out.

The continent is changing thanks to the increasingly frequent use of new technological tools. A journey through the most innovative start-ups in Africa. Innovation is today the most used word by those who want to talk about Africa going beyond the narrative that speaks of a continent between needs and conflicts, leaders clinging to power…

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Saudi influence on the fate of Khartoum.

Riyadh, together with the United Arab Emirates, is determining the decisions of the Sudanese military junta and blocking the transition to democracy.  A considerable portion of the Arab world is in chaos. Its political, social and economic instability as well as the security situation have worsened in the last decade. The reasons for this chaos…

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Between Maras and Pandilla

The phenomenon of organized crime is one of the plagues that most affects both the economy and the quality of life of citizens, since the cost of violence and insecurity has serious consequences on the GDP with the attendant result of the emptying of entire villages and thousands of Salvadorans asking for asylum in foreign…

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Nigeria. Troubles in Kano.

In the northern state of Kano in Nigeria a political war is ongoing. On one side, the Emir of Kano, one of the most respected traditional leaders of the country; on the other, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the governor of Kano, member of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party. This conflict is having a deep…

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El Salvador. A Country In Transition.

El Salvador is one of the smallest countries in size of Central America, given that its area is 21.041Km². Despite its small size, the country has a high population density concentrated in urban areas. It borders Guatemala and Honduras and is the only one of the Mesoamerican states to face the Pacific Ocean. It has…

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How the Dogs Came.

A long time ago there were no domestic animals, all were wild, and all were the enemy of man. They feared him, and he feared them, unless they were too small to do him any harm. There were no dogs such as we know today, but creatures roamed the forest who were a mixture of…

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Advocacy

Sister Rosita. Four Decades of Refugee Advocacy.

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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Baobab

Kalulu and the Great Spirit of the Forest.

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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Youth & Mission

Towards World Youth Day 2027 in Seoul with the courage…

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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