African round up - May

Cape Town Mayor voted the best in the world

The mayor of Cape Town, Helen Zille has been selected as the world’s number one mayor by City Mayors, a global local government policy group. She came out top of a list of 820 mayors from around the world, in a competition that lasted 18 months. The editor of City Mayors, Tann von Hove said Zille “has dedicated all her professional life to further the well-being of all sections of South African society.”

Gum arabic trees to halt the desert threat

A state in Nigeria has launched a tree planting scheme aimed at stopping the spread and devastating effects of the Sahara desert. The Yobo State government is offering seedlings of gum arabic and of other trees to local government authorities so that they can plant tree forests in their area. The desert has been spreading into the region at a rate of 0.6 kilometres a year, severely affecting farm land and filling up oases with sand.

African farmers to reap more as WFP by-passes middlemen

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) will now be buying food directly from local farmers in developing countries instead of relying on a bidding process where pre-qualified traders tender for supplies. The ‘Purchase for Progress’, or (P4P), as the scheme is called, cuts out the middlemen and will ensure subsistence farmers get more money from food sold to the agency. Financial support for P4P comes from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Howard G. Buffet Foundation, and the government of Belgium.

French-Mauritian wins Nobel Prize for literature

Jean-Marie Gustav Le Clezio, a French-Mauritian has won the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for Literature, bringing to two the number of Nobel awards won by authors with an African connection (Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka is the other). Le Clezio describes himself as a son of Africa. Although born in France, the author spent his early years in Onitsha, Nigeria, where his father worked as a doctor.

Tribal leaders in Kenya says no to circumcision

Cultural leaders of the Luo, a major tribe in Kenya have said they do not support government plans to promote male circumcision as a way of preventing the spread of HIV in their community. Members of the Luo Council of Elders say male circumcision is against their culture and that they do not believe it cuts the risk of HIV infection. Some AIDS researchers believe cutting off the foreskin will allow the tip of the penis to become tougher, and therefore harder for HIV to penetrate.

Cameroonian girls lead campaign against breast-grinding

In Cameroon, a group of teenage girls have formed what they call ‘Association of Aunties’ to campaign against the cultural practice of ‘breast-grinding’.  Breast-grinding (also known as ‘breast-ironing) involves the grinding the emerging breasts of a young girl in order to stop them growing. Round stones, pestles or dry coconut shells are used in the grinding. The idea is that, without prominent breasts, the girls will be less sexually attractive to older males. The young girls in the Association of Aunties are running a TV campaign urging mothers: “Do not force them (breasts) to disappear or appear – allow them to grow naturally.”

Posted On: 12 May 2009 at 02:58PM
Tags: African round-up

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