Resplendent in Swazi attire, these performers from Mbabane mesmerised festivaliers at the 9th ZIFF Festival of the Dhow Countries, Zanzibar, in July 2006. All through their three shows, they heaped praises on Swazi culture. Pic by Lee Gilliane
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Tanzanian First Lady Salma Kikwete Angers Feminists
Article by Ogova Ondego
Published September 27, 2006
A coalition of feminist activists in Tanzania has publicly and bitterly criticised Salma Kikwete, Tanzanian First Lady, for what they term her support of "backward traditions which undermine women's rights," OGOVA ONDEGO writes.
In a press statement prepared by Federation of Women Educationalists in Tanzania (FAWETZ), Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) and Tanzania Gender Network Programme (TGNP), all members of the Feminist Activist Coalition (FemAct), the feminists take issue with Kikwete for participating in the Reed Dance activities in Swaziland where she urged Africans to emulate the Swazi in preserving 'good cultural practices and traditions instrumental in shaping youth to become responsible citizens'. Praising the Swazi traditional values saying they encourage girls to abstain from sex till marriage and thus keeping HIV/AIDS at bay, Kikwete said she liked the Reed Dance because it brings girls from rich and poor families together, enabling them to socialise and work together.
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No Amnesty for Atrocities, Human Rights Watch tells Uganda.
Initiatives aimed at ending the devastating armed conflict in northern Uganda are welcome, but amnesties for war crimes and crimes against humanity must not be on offer, Human Rights Watch argues, adding that Uganda should prosecute the LRA.
On July 14, 2006 peace talks began between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Juba, the capital of the regional government of Southern Sudan. As part of a peace
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Shaping literary opinion in Kenya.
Asenath Bole Odaga is a teacher, writer, researcher and publisher who has probably influenced Kenyan children and oral literature students more than any one else in this East African nation. Drawing heavily from oral literature and at times blending contemporary issues with traditional African cultures, the 1938-born Odaga is worried that many African languages are
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Rwanda grapples with Social Cohesion.
It is 12 years after the 1994 Genocide that drove more than a million Rwandan children, women and men to an early grave. Though tears may have dried up as the people try to come to terms with the event that almost erased Rwanda from the face of the earth
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Sampling the treasures of ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome—in Berlin
While on a working trip to Berlin recently, I decided against going to bed and opted to participate in the activities of the ‘Long Night of the Museums’ in the hope of covering all the 175-plus museums in the German capital.
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