Africa

“This is one of the best projects that we have going in the country” declared Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President  of Liberia.

WFP has started airlifting urgent food assistance into a remote northern region of the Republic of Congo in order to reach tens of thousands of refugees from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who have crossed the border to escape conflict.

WFP is ready to provide full assistance to any independent investigation into its food assistance operations in Somalia, where the agency aims to feed 2.5 million people in 2010.  "Our integrity is paramount," said Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

For when the sounds of the ‘vuvuzela’ start blurring across four South African cities, MDG campaigners will also stand up to make a point in order to be heard.

A few days ago, the clock chimed a 100 days left before the global curtain is raised on the first-ever World Cup on African soil and for a continent where the poverty situation has almost adorned a lifestyle status, the soccer balls that will be kicked around in Johannesburg’s Soccer City and other stadiums during the World Cup in South Africa will not be far-off from this sad reality.

Last night, Scott Case appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 to talk about the Twitter Nets—89,724 mosquito nets helping families in Senegal protect themselves from the bite of a malarial mosquito.

“You wouldn’t understand this country if you stayed here for five years. I don’t understand it,” says Nestor Cummings-John, the head of the Sierra Leone Women’s Movement (“faute de mieux,” he replies when I ask why the group is run by a man).

More disgraceful drivel from Con Coughlin, who is still employed by the Telegraph as its “executive foreign editor” (yep, there’s a story behind that job title).

When I arrived in Sierra Leone six weeks ago and encountered its friendly people, spectacular beaches, lively nightlife and mysterious traditions, I wondered why the country has so few tourists (in our six weeks we have met a total of three, with three or four other possible but unconfirmed sightings).

Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Maxim Pinkovskiy today published a working paper today that drops the following bombshell: