- First published on Global Voices under the title: From the West African blogosphere
A student in the University of Ghana blogs at Africa Update and is painting a brief sketch of what final exams are like, in the university.
now, do remember that the university of ghana is considered to be one of the best universities in africa. one of my profs went so far as to say that he thinks its one of the top ten unis in the world. now i find that laughable, but you see what im getting at…it does have some sort of reptuation as a respectable institution.
first of all, the whole semester long the international students have been told that our exams would be held at the same time but in a different location as our ghanaian peers. we were to be sequestered in the great hall so that our exams could be graded separately and therefore faster…then on the first day of exams, a notice was printed stating that we would indeed be taking them with everyone else, so we had better look up the locations….
Under the Acacias is concerned about the spread of Bird Flu in Burkina Faso
Several new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu have been confirmed in Burkina Faso, in the capital Ouagadougou, the second city of Bobo-Dioulasso, and Sabou, a town 100km west of Ouaga. The first case was discovered last month.
No human cases have yet been identified, but the inadequate health infrastructure could mean they are simply going undetected. Close contact of a large part of the population with the handling of poultry increases the possibility of transmission to humans. The estimated cost of dealing with the bird flu in Burkina Faso is $10 million, a challenge for the third poorest country in the world, even with help from France and China.
Niger Watch shares a picture of the $100 laptop: 1st working model of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
Pictures from the unveiling of the first working prototype of the $100 Laptop at the Seven Countries Task Force today. Green became orange, and the hand-crank is gone. Compare with Intel’s sub-$400 entry and AMD’s $185 version.
Scribbles from the Den summarizes the Amnesty International 2006 Cameroon Human Rights Report
Amnesty International (Covering events from January – December 2005)
Amnestyinternationallogo Human rights defenders were harassed, assaulted and detained. Individuals were unlawfully detained on account of their sexual orientation. A group of political prisoners, convicted after unfair trials and held in life-threatening conditions that have killed three of their number since 1999, continued to be denied a right of appeal. Investigations were started into a few deaths in police custody that reportedly resulted from torture, but they were not independent or open. Inmates were killed and injured in prison riots stemming from severe overcrowding and harsh discipline.
Home of the mandinmories, whilst discussing politics in the Gambia, asks, Which Way Forward?
We’ve got so many people hurt in the political mudslinging that happened and continued after UDP/NRP withdrew from NADD. Egos were bruised along the way. So what? Politics is not for the faint of heart and all the opposition figures in the Gambia knew that all along.
