Mining Resources in Africa: Curse and Opportunity
Mining operations and global consumption of natural resources continue to increase annually. However, while developed countries and regions such as the European Union protect their natural resources with sustainable development policies and high social and labour standards to protect the environment, the economies of developing countries are increasingly becoming dependent on export of its natural resources. […]
South Africa: More space for sun and wind
The ministry of energy has decided to abandon the use of coal for generating electricity. A complicated but strategic manoeuvre. Coal-fired electricity generating stations provide three quarters of South Africa’s electricity. This arrangement creates much pollution and increasing problems for the grid, with the risk of extensive blackouts while old power stations are being dismantled. […]
Military spending around the world is booming
Total world military expenditure rose to $1822 billion in 2018, representing an increase of 2.6 per cent from 2017, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The five biggest spenders in 2018 were the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, India and France, which together accounted for 60 per cent of global military spending. […]
Illegal Logging Condemned
Illicit trading in logging licenses in the Democratic Republic of Congo revealed recently by the British ONG Global Witness. The protagonist of the affair is an officer of the DRC army close to former president Joseph Kabila, General Gabriel Amisi Kumba, sanctioned in December 2016 by the European Union for violation of human rights by […]
Vocation Story: My mission service, listening
Fr. Pawe Opiola, is a Comboni Missionary from Poland. He is working as parish priest in Kanyanga Parish, among the Tumbuka people in Zambia. He tells us his story. Life in Kanyanga Parish is always vibrant, never boring. Visiting people in the 13 outstations is quite demanding and tiring, especially during the rainy season when […]
Africa: Journalists are a target
Every year, May 3rd is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. We look at Africa. A man is […]
Iraq: The courage to go back
After the liberation of Mosul and the Plain of Nineveh, thousands of Christians are returning to their homes and their communities. Committed Churches. It was in the summer of 2014 when the Islamic State (IS) men entered the city of Mosul. At the great mosque of Al-Nuri, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself ‘Caliph of the […]
How people around the world view religion’s role in their countries
In a recent report on “global views on diversity, gender equality, [and] family life,” the Pew Research Centre in Washington has examined how people around the world view religion’s role in their countries. Recent studies document younger adults being less religious than older generations and the global religious profile changing as the population grows. Across […]
Ethiopia: The Monastery of Hayk
The importance of Hayk begins in the thirteenth century when Iyasus Mo’a founded a monastery on the island. The most notable presence in the monastery is a manuscript of the Book of the Gospels written between 1280 and 1281, which is considered the oldest manuscript existing today in Ethiopia. The modern city of Hayk is […]
Senegal: The Great House of African Art
The Museum of African Civilisation was founded in Dakar: it contains African art from its origins to the present day. The dream of Léopold Sédar Senghor. Over four-fifths of the artistic patrimony of the continent, the experts say, is to be found in Western museums, art galleries and private collections. It is the result of […]
