Pambazuka News 261: DRC'S potential: lighting the continent from Cape to Cairo

I am Senegalese-American, born and raised in Senegal, which is a predominantly Muslim country. As I agree and I identify with the struggle of women all over Africa (Women's Rights and Islam
), I find this article of great interest. However, I feel that the usage of "Islamic" as attributes to explain certain misogynistic phenomenona in Africa should be avoided. In fact, the problem is that many men and women think that this is the case, and thus changes come slowly because people believe...read more

The mobile phone bleeped twice in the London offices of the UN World Food Programme and shuddered briefly. A cancelled meeting? A free mobile upgrade? No. This time, an appeal, from a disaster zone in the Horn of Africa. The text message was short and to the point: "My name is Mohammed Sokor, writing to you from Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab. Dear sir, there is an alarming issue here. People are given too few kilogrammes of food. You must help."

President Thabo Mbeki has called on black managers to aspire and proclaim themselves as emperors if they are to rid the country of rampant poverty and gender inequality. Mbeki further advised managers to exude confidence and to believe in themselves, saying this would help them to lead from the "frontline of troops" in bringing about racial and gender changes in the country's business environment.

Countries in crisis and the wider international community must do much more to support women’s involvement in solving Africa’s deadliest conflicts. Beyond Victimhood: Women’s Peacebuilding in Sudan, Congo and Uganda, the latest Crisis Group report, assesses what women have been able to achieve in those three countries to challenge the dominance of militarised solutions.

Close to four million girls suffer needless cruelty in a practice intended to stop them from developing breasts that would attract the attention of men. Mothers and other female relatives use implements such as heated grinding stones, pestles, ladles and spatulas to massage the chests of the girls. This practice, referred to as "breast ironing", occurs extensively in the 10 provinces of Cameroon.

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