A new republic learns

It is late afternoon and a group of men and women begin to converge under the shade of a huge mango tree in Yambio in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state. The group is not gathering for an ethnic, political or religious meeting. They are here to listen to a community-based civic education programme on their local community radio station called Let’s Talk.

Textbook cheats

The UK-based Macmillan Publishers has been ordered to pay £11.3 million (US $18 million) for “unlawful conduct” related to its education division in East and West Africa.

News 360° - Briefs

hydropolitics Agreement over Nile disputed

Experts give them a miss

farmers do not disappear when they are not making news by protesting support prices or committing suicides (see Sweet victory)

War-like climate

In 1983, Alex De Waal, a doctoral candidate at the Oxford University, was doing his fieldwork in Sudan when he met a bedridden and nearly blind pastoralist, Hilal Abdalla. He said 1983 was an unusual year.

Darfur pays for its water

What is the water angle in the Darfur crisis? Interviewee:  Tomo Kriznar

Guns are too large

The bruising treatment of youngsters in many parts of the world, and the use of child soldiers in war-torn parts of Africa emerged as a recurring theme at the 10-day Berlin International Film Festival that concluded on February 17. War Child, a documentary by first-time German director Christian Karim Chrobog received much acclaim. It relates the story of singer Emmanuel Jal who, in the space of a decade, made a remarkable transition from child soldier in Sudan to international hip-hop musician.

Locust swarms to converge on Red Sea

An outbreak of desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) in Sudan could intensify and spread along both sides of the Red Sea in winter this year. "This could give rise to a potentially dangerous situation in the region," warned the Food and Agriculture Organization (fao) on November 12.

Darfur displaced demand justice

Victims of the Darfur genocide in Sudan, alongwith a few action groups and legal experts, recently demanded that environmental crimes committed during the mass killings also be accounted for and the perpetrators be tried in an international court.

Online Know the pastoralists

www.pastoralists.org Change in land-use patterns, increasing competition for land and other resources, shifting global markets, climate change--there are a bevy of perils acting against pastoralists today. Pastoralism, however, generates substantial income in areas where conventional farming is not possible. In fact many also surmise that increased urbanisation will mean a greater demand for livestock products and hence there will be a greater role for pastoralists.