Africa

“It looks like the more telling news on Libya has migrated to the business pages. With jubilant reporting of Gaddafi’s imminent downfall seizing headlines, it’s the financial pages that have the clinical analysis.”

The reign of Libyan Qaddafi seems to be coming to an end after anti-government fighters backed by NATO forces took control of Tripoli.

Hatred of the dictatorship and a thirst for democracy and freedom drove the uprising against Qaddafi when it first arose in February, clearly inspired by the revolutions against tyrants in Tunisia to Libya’s west, and Egypt to its east.

Propelled by oil, ‘reconstruction’ and weapons private corporations, while besieged by a deep financial crisis, European and U.S. governments have already launched a frantic race to take over Libya even before the definite fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Confronted with widespread public discontent, Tunisian Prime Minister Beji Caid el Sebsi on Thursday defended his government’s record and said it was doing “the impossible” to bring about elections.

Police tightened security in main cities on Wednesday in case of anti-government protests even though organisers had a day earlier postponed the vigils after deadly riots last month. Several shops and banks did not open for business in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu – the 3 main towns affected by last month’s security crackdown on protesters which killed 19 people, police said.

In moments when public opinion is turning against nuclear energy due its inherent dangers to the environment and nuclear proliferation, Algeria takes a different path

Tunisian police fired teargas on Monday at a rally by hundreds of people protesting at the lack of political reforms since the overthrow of President Ben Ali in January. Columns of smoke could be seen rising above an area in front of Tunis cathedral where protesters gathered for a demonstration at the same time as an authorised one called by the General Workers’ Union.

Families in Nisisioken Ogale, near a Nigerian National Petroleum Company pipeline, are drinking water from wells contaminated with benzene, a known carcinogen, at levels over 900 times above UN World Health Organization guidelines.

While politicians in rich countries have been rescuing powerful “market lord”–private corporations and banks that have unleashed the global financial crisis or strongly contributed to it– for the sake of receiving their ‘electoral blessing’, the prices of grain and milk in the drought-hit Horn of Africa have risen to record highs.

The Ouattara government has repeatedly promised to break with the past, when security forces were above the law. Yet rather than create an army likely to respect the rule of law, Ouattara has promoted commanders who were in command when atrocities took place and should be investigated, not rewarded.