Africa

Union protest brings SAfrican city to standstill

pirate — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:37:55 -0400

Wed Jul 9,2008

DURBAN, South Africa (AFP) - A protest march by thousands of trade unionists against rising fuel and food costs closed down businesses and disrupted public transport in South Africa's port city of Durban on Wednesday.

While there were no reports of unrest, shops closed their shutters and the roads were largely deserted as the crowds marched on City Hall following earlier threats by activists to torch taxis who continued operating. read more »

South Africa: Protest by TB Patients

pirate — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:25:28 -0400

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 28, 2008

The authorities increased security at a tuberculosis hospital near the city of Port Elizabeth where patients with drug-resistant forms of the disease went on a rampage on Wednesday to protest prisonlike conditions. Twenty-two patients were arrested after they pelted the staff members with stones and vandalized equipment. But the local police station and prison refused to admit them, because of fears of the highly infectious disease. Instead, they were returned to the hospital. Patients with drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are required to live in guarded and isolated quarters that are surrounded by barbed wire. read more »

Guinea police take superiors hostage in pay protest

pirate — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:41:55 -0400

by Mouctar Bah Mon Jun 16, 2008

CONAKRY (AFP) - Guinean police officers took a dozen of their superiors hostage in the capital Conakry on Monday as part of a pay protest, officials said, just a week after a deadly pay protests by s read more »

Witnesses: Soldiers kill 2 in Somalia riot over food prices

pirate — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:32:06 -0400

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press May 5, 2008

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Troops opened fire and killed at least two people as tens of thousands of people rioted over high food prices in Somalia's capital Monday.

Several people also were injured in the protest in Mogadishu in this Horn of Africa nation. read more »

Thousands protest US bombing in Somalia: organisers

pirate — Mon, 05 May 2008 02:11:47 -0400

Sun May 4, 2008

MOGADISHU (AFP) - Thousands of Somalis took to the streets Sunday to protest a US bombing that killed a man said to be Al-Qaeda's chief in the country, and 11 other people, organisers and residents said. read more »

The Working Class Takes a Stand: Stop Chinese Arms Shipment to the Zimbabwean Regime!

pirate — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:13:44 -0400

by Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front - ZACF from anarkismo.net Friday, Apr 18 2008

We welcome and support the decision by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union for their workers neither to unload nor transport the shipment of Chinese-made armaments destined for Zimbabwe. This is a very encouraging sign of working class solidarity and internationalism, and we hope that such actions will indeed prevent this weapons consignment from reaching its destination - the Zimbabwean Defence Force. read more »

SWAZILAND: Worst labour strife in a decade

pirate — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:33:55 -0500

MBABANE, 6 March 2008 (IRIN ) - A bloody week of the worst labour strife in a decade has exposed cracks in the Swazi government's poverty-alleviation plan of creating thousands of low-paying jobs by promoting a textile industry.

In the strike action, which began on 3 March, workers participating in peaceful marches to demand better salaries have been teargassed and beaten by police, and at least a dozen have reportedly been injured. More than 16,000 workers, most of them women, have been affected by the strike action. read more »

Protecting Darfur's women from rape

pirate — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:18:12 -0500

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Feb 18, 2008

KALMA, Sudan - U.N. peacekeepers in armored vehicles and pickup trucks whizzed into this refugee camp. A dozen women came to meet them, bringing their donkeys, water rations and homemade axes.

It was time for one of the refugees' most perilous tasks: collecting firewood. read more »

South Africa: Zimbabweans Protest Police Brutality And Xenophobia

pirate — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:56:00 -0500

SW Radio Africa (London) 11 February 2008
by Tererai Karimakwenda

A group of about 200 immigrants, the majority of them Zimbabweans, descended on the Central Police Station in Cape Town last Thursday to protest against police brutality and xenophobia. The demonstration was organized by People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), a rights group in South Africa that assists immigrants and refugees. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a lobby group for people who are HIV-positive, also assisted with organising the demonstration. read more »

Fighting rages in Chadian capital

pirate — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:05:10 -0500

By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Feb 3, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - Tanks rolled through Chad's capital on Sunday, turning the streets into a battle zone between the government and rebels littered with bodies. Fighting also raged in an area where some 420,000 refugees live near the border with Darfur. read more »