December 3, 2013 News

December 3, 2012
News about the work of the Peacebuilding Commission, the state of Goma after the rebels have pulled out, the need for South Africa to be a part of AGOA, China's bid for Barrick Gold, a pooled risk fund to plan for ahead for natural disasters in Africa, and protests against Morsi's self-proclaimed immunity from the courts.

After Africa's wars, a 'new day' for building peace
"Concerned about the fragile state of countries that have recently emerged from war — and their vulnerability to new bouts of violence — the UN in 2005 established the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC), an intergovernmental body led by member states. The PBC currently has six countries on its active agenda, all of them in Africa (Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and the Central African Republic). Also in 2005, the UN set up the Peacebuilding Support Office, as a secretariat for the PBC. Since 2009 that office has been headed by Assistant Secretary-General Judy Cheng-Hopkins..."
To read the full article, visit the Africa Renewal site here

Wreckage of war in DR Congo's Goma after rebel pullout
"At a deserted army headquarters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma, children fool around in heaps of soiled documents, packets of condoms and bullets. The rebel M23 fighters who seized this key mining hub for almost two weeks pulled out on Saturday, but only few hundred police are now in the city of around a million people, the capital of this chronically volatile eastern region..."
To read the full article, visit the Nation site here

South Africa 'must be part of Agoa for sake of neighbours'
"SOUTH Africa needed to continue to benefit from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) not only for its own sake, but also for that of neighbouring African countries, which supplied South African manufacturers exporting to the US, head of the Western Cape Growth Organisation (Wesgro) Nils Flatten said on Friday..."
To read the full article, visit the Business Day site here

China makes foray into African mining with bid for Barrick Gold
"China is banking on the proposed acquisition of a 74 per cent stake in African Barrick Gold Tanzania assets to drive its foray into the continent's exploration business, which has been in the grip of Western firms..."
To read the full article, visit the East African site here

Pooled risk fund set up for disasters in Africa
"A POOLED risk fund would allow African countries to insure against extreme weather, rather than respond to climate disasters after the fact, the newly formed African Risk Capacity said on Friday..."
To read the full article, visit the Business Day site here

Egyptian judges protest President Morsi's 'dictatorial' decrees
The open-ended strike by the Supreme Constitutional Court and plans by the opposition to march on the presidential palace on Tuesday take the country's latest political crisis to a level not seen in the nearly two years of turmoil since Hosni Mubarak's ousting in a popular uprising.
To read the full article, visit the Mail and Guardian site here