In 2005, Matt Harding posted a video on the internet. It's a compilation of clips of him dancing - badly - in locations around the world. It was his video postcard of an extended walkabout, a vacation that began in 2003 when he quit his job and started following his Aussie friends on their global [...]

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The UN Group of Experts on DRC formally submitted the interim report to the Security Council on Tuesday, but without the controversial annex on Rwanda's alleged involvement in supporting the M23 rebel movement. Here's the latest from the few sources that are covering this strange story:

Jason Stearns discusses the reasons the annex is being blocked, noting that it might be submitted at a later date. He also makes the important point that we don't know what is in the annex.

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dtlstict2012d2_en-mobilemoney.pdf Download this file

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Mariam Koné is a writer for Farm Radio Weekly. Recently, she met three farmers in Mali and captured their stories of how radio is helping them overcome a major challenge that has threatened their crops. The following is one interview.     Noé Diarra harvested nothing from his sorghum field last year. The reason was striga. He has [...]

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Upcoming Africa-wide Cross Networks Meeting on the African Mining Vision (AMV)

The Pan-African extractive sector network AIMES (African Initiative on Mining, Environment and Society) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Africa are jointly organizing a meeting of Africa-wide cross networks/constituencies on the Africa Mining Vision (AMV). The meeting is being hosted by the Third World Network - Africa (TWN-Af), with support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA) from June 26th to 29th, 2012 at Mensvic Grand Hotel, East Legon, Accra, Ghana.

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The third Wireless Wednesday meetup on mobile innovations in agriculture is slated for 27th June 2012. The meetup for mobile application developers, entrepreneurs, farmers, NGOs, Government representatives, and other stakeholders is supported by USAID through DAI. It is organized by m:lab East Africa for the purpose of encouraging interaction between developers/entrepreneurs and potential users of [...]

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The Open Data for Development Camp is part of The Kenya Open Data Pre-Incubator Program. This is a six-month experiment to help accelerate the ability for the public to make sense of data and to galvanize engagement around critical public issues. This event will take place from Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 10:00 AM - Thursday, June 28, [...]

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Today is Short Story Day Africa (and I think Internationally too). I've been busy with various things trying to be part of the day.

1. I donated a story to the website

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A guest post by @Wanyama of Africa Knows - see their extensive Images of Madagascar collection.

The Malagasy currency is Ariary with $1 = MGA 2200

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After a dramatic build-up, the UN Group of Experts report on the Congo was submitted to the Sanctions Committee of the Security Council yesterday. However, the bit that everyone was waiting for - an annex that addresses allegations of Rwandan involvement in the eastern Congo - has been separated from the report and has not yet been submitted.

Diplomats say that the reasons for the block are in part procedural - the annex was submitted after the bulk of the report, which has to be edited and translated into all UN languages, as the situation on the ground was evolving rapidly. But others suggest that the real reason for the block is that UN member states are worried that these allegations could further sour relations between Congo and Rwanda, and that they are best dealt with behind closed ...

[view whole blog post ]

The UN Group of Experts on DRC formally submitted the interim report to the Security Council on Tuesday, but without the controversial annex on Rwanda's alleged involvement in supporting the M23 rebel movement. Here's the latest from the few sources that are covering this strange story:

Jason Stearns discusses the reasons the annex is being blocked, noting that it might be submitted at a later date. He also makes the important point that we don't know what is in the annex.

[view whole blog post ]

After a dramatic build-up, the UN Group of Experts report on the Congo was submitted to the Sanctions Committee of the Security Council yesterday. However, the bit that everyone was waiting for - an annex that addresses allegations of Rwandan involvement in the eastern Congo - has been separated from the report and has not yet been submitted.

Diplomats say that the reasons for the block are in part procedural - the annex was submitted after the bulk of the report, which has to be edited and translated into all UN languages, as the situation on the ground was evolving rapidly. But others suggest that the real reason for the block is that UN member states are worried that these allegations could further sour relations between Congo and Rwanda, and that they are best dealt with behind closed ...

[view whole blog post ]