Mercedes Sayagues
ANGOLA'S BLOOD DIAMONDS
Whippings, forced labour, evictions, humiliations galore and killings with impunity: you’d think you were reading about Portuguese colonial abuse in Angola.
Instead, you’re reading investigative journalist Rafael Marqes’ expose of the Dos Santos regime and human rights abuse in the diamond fields of the Lundas.
MERCEDES SAYAGUES reviews the book that has the generals running scared –
and that landed its author in court.
DAILY MAVERICK, South Africa
Africa's inventors shackled by bad IP regimes
Patenting law in Africa needs to become more effective to better support local entrepreneurs and boost growth, the continent’s innovators have said.
Attendants at the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) event, which honours inventors from African countries, told SciDev.Net that they struggle to turn their ideas into business because of weak patenting legislation.
Early-career entrepreneurs trying to patent their products in Africa face high legal costs, arbitrary bureaucratic processes and legislative mismatches between countries, they said.
Read more at SCIDEV.NET
An African story that deserves to be told
Forget Europe. When last did you hear about the lengths poor countries go to in welcoming the unfortunate multitudes fleeing war, asks Mercedes Sayagues in City Press, South Africa.
Al Jazeera, my favourite TV news channel, annoyed me last week. It ran a story gushing about a tented camp for 150 Afghan refugees built in a small village in Bavaria. “Exemplary!” the reporter enthused. “Germany is showing the world how to do it.”
Really? Efficient camp-building ought to be expected from Europe’s wealthiest and most technologically advanced country. And camps, unlike cars, don’t have to meet noxious-emissions standards. No need to cheat. Instead, the media could look at east and central Africa – yes, Africa’s dark heart and the frequent source of newscast horrors – for leadership in welcoming refugees. ....More here