HWC 14-15

This article was focused around the DRC president's quick speech given to the UN on terrorism and Ebola affecting global development and of course the development of his own nation. He stressed the DRC's policy of peace keeping and how the situation against terrorism is not in their favor right now. This article basically reinforced everything I just learned about the DRC including their terrorism and Ebola problems.

This article is about war-torn areas in general, although they do mention the DRC specifically through their population displacement and the effects of war on women. This article was pretty short, but it really supplied the message that Africa is still dealing with the past and current effects of war and will continue to be for some time to come.

This article states that the Prime Minister declared recently that the Ebola Outbreak is soon to be over with. The article goes on to explain that they have had experience in fighting Ebola in the past and their medical caretakers are performing extremely well. This article relates to the DRC's past run ins with Ebola and how they wil overcome it before other contries.

This article explains the recent deal just made between Zimbabwe and Russia which states that Russia will supply the investment funds for the largest platinum mine in Zimbabwe. President Mugabe expects the mine to create 8,000 jobs and it will be a smart move for the nation. This article is important because it shows that the African nations are trying to get out of their debt.

This news article is another on Zimbabwe's massive debt, but this time the debt lies with China. They recently paid China $180 million of a loan taken years ago to keep China on their side. This article seems a little odd to me since they also owe the IMF around the same amount, but China was paid first. Its now obvious of Zimbabwe's financial problems.

This article described Zimbabwe's financial situation which is that they owe the International Monetary Fund (IMF) $142 million and they can not loan Zimbabwe anymore money until the current debt is paid of. This really opened my eyes to how serious the debt of African nations is.

More than 130 members of the terrorist organization Boko Haram have surrendered to Nigeria's military after their leader was killed. Over the past five years, the group has killed thousands of people in guerrilla attacks, including the kidnapping of about 200 schoolgirls. This article relates to our discussion because it talks of terrorism.

While the Millennium Development Goals target to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, access to water, improved sanitation and hygiene is a daily challenge for many Nigerians. This article relates because it describes the challenges of Nigeria.

Nigerian's Islamic extremists have freed one of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls, but she is too traumatized to identify herself. Hundreds of girls, women and boys were kidnapped by the Boko Haram militants. The abduction of more than 270 schoolgirls from a school in the remote town of Chibok inspired a worldwide campaign for their freedom.

A German-American journalist who taken more than two years ago while in Somalia was freed by his captors on Tuesday. The journalist had been released after a ransom was paid. This relates to Somalia, because it deals with the terror and pirates in Somalia.

This article highlights that besides the war, famine is also a huge issue in Somalia right now. The article blames the poverty cause by the drought on Somalia's unstable government which has not been stable for many years now. This article actually brought famine to my attention as another major predicament facing Somalia currently.

This article explained how twelve civilians were killed in a suicide attack on the African Union troops fighting a continuous war against terrorism in Somalia. This article really explains how civilians are the ones paying the price for these brutal attacks.

This article describes how a German-American journalist was released from the Somali Pirates after negotiators agreed upon $1.6 million ransom. This explains the serious terrorist actions happening in Somalia right now.

This article basically highlighted that South Africa will be donating about 24 million dollars for Ebola-affected countries. South Africa has already committed 3 million dollars to the fund, and wishes to finish the donation as soon as possible.

Rescue workers identified 62 of the 84 South Africans killed in the Nigeria building collapse. The building is a guesthouse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) at Ikotun in Lagos. The collapse is currently being thought of as an accident.

This article focuses on South Africa's closed business ties China and has previously denied Dalai Lama's entry into the country for a Nobel Prize Initiative. The current predicaments brought outrage ton the international community.

This article discusses bringing peace to DRC. There has been a genocide in the DRC that has been going on for 129 years with over 6 million deaths. This relates to the articles because it talks about the physical rape of women and children and how the children are forced to kill, work in the mines, and become addicted to drugs, thus ruining their childhood.

This article talks about the problem of rape in in Congo--Kinshasa. The article goes on to say that the DRC is being "raped of resouces", and that the currents events are a "rape of a nation" which of course would be the DRC.

This article talks about both the literal and figurative rape occurring within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Women have been raped, leaving mental scars, and the country suffers from exploitation of its resources and corruption (the figurative rape). Empowerment of women and stronger government institutions are needed to resolve these problems. This relates to many issues in the activity: rape of women, exploitation of resources, and corrupt government, all within the DRC.

This article shows how the British oil company Soco is exploiting Africa's oldest national park to search for oil and how they committed illicit acts along the way. Among these acts are paying a park ranger to spy on the National Park's chief warden, attacking park rangers that oppose Soco, and intimidating people with fear and violence to let them proceed with their work. These people are "vampires" as described in the CNN article--foreign people who exploit African resources.

This article gives information about one of the rebel groups and their concerns. The rebel group wants assurance from the government that the territory that the rebel group controls will protect the citizens from the FDLR. If they agree, all 2,800 members will hand over their weapons. This relates to the articles because because it shows distrust in the government from rebel groups and that the citizens still need protection and the government doesn't always supply it.

The article in question states that a certain rebel group (MMK) are merely trying to defend themselves and the civilians in the areas that they control, and that they will not turn over their weapons unless the government makes assurances that civilians will be protected. This relates to our discussion because it shows that rebels have more power than the central government in certain areas, and that rebellions are sometimes needed to secure liberty.

This article details a rebel group in Congo-Kinshasa who formed because they were threatened by rebel forces from Rwanda. The government has asked the group to hand over all weapons in order to restore peace to the Congo. This relates to the activity because the Congo is currently trying to restore itself to a state of peace and order after years of bad leaders and the civil war.

This article shows that although Zimbabwe land redistribution was not corrupt like many believed it to be, much more work still needs to be done to evenly and fairly distribute all of Zimbabwe's arable land. Many of Zimbabwe's indigenous people do not have land, and it is not their fault or their children's fault that they do not have as much land as other indigenous people. This shows that even though land redistribution may have failed during its first effort, that doesn't mean that the Zimbabwe government should give up on trying to fix its land situation.