. After some experimentation in the last few months, from this issue of January 1998, Africanews offers some additional services.
You find in the homepage also the following selected African media, considered very important for the original and alternative information they offer:
D.I.A. (Documentation et Informations Africaines), a Catholic Press Agency - the only one in Africa - founded in January 1957 in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) and owned by the Episcopal Conference of the Congo. With the new political climate and the increased possibilities for communication, DIA has taken a new role for the defence of human rights and the promotion of justice in Africa, in a perspective that is specifically Christian. The information published by DIA will be updated once per week. All information is in French.
SCIO (Sudan Catholic Information Office), the Press Office of the Sudanese Catholic Bishops working in the non-government controlled areas of Sudan. Started in April 1995 in Nairobi, SCIO is now one of the best sources of independent information on the Sudan crisis.
WAJIBU (concern in Kiswahili) is a quarterly journal founded in Nairobi in 1985, and it is intended for everyone who is concerned about keeping the African traditions alive and adapting them to the modern way of life. The articles are written in English, and the structure of the magazine is monographic. The first issue published in Africanews homepage is on "Crime and punishment". Other coming topics are "Society's marginalised people" and "Education for development and responsibility".
Africanews is in contact with other small media of high quality that are interested in joining this venture. These improvements make Africanews homepage really unique. In it you can find a great original variety of information on Africa, from the daily news not reported by the international media to articles of written by renowned intellectuals, and all the spectrum in between.
On the other side, printing and postage costs are constantly on the increase. The high number of free copies we distribute in Africa is a heavy financial burden, and we would like to reduce it to a minimum. Our friends who receive a free hard copy of Africanews are asked to inform us as soon as they get access to e-mail or to internet, so that we can send them Africanews by these inexpensive electronic means and discontinue the hard copy.
In this issue our main focus is kenya, the Presidential, Parliamentary and civic elections which took place last December 29-30 are over. Many are still to recover from the election fever. A total of 9,063,390 voters registered for the elections although the figure should have been higher. The elections witnessed the largest monitoring team ever in a Kenya. 28,126 poll-warchers participated in the exercise and reported any irregularities which might have occured during the polls. Questions whether the polls were free and fair abound. Our corresponts Caleb Atemi and Maurice Onyango give us full details of the entire exercise.
On December 3, last year one of Africa's Big Men, was laid to rest. A man who once told the world that when he dies he would like to be remembered as a man who united his people and tought them the dignity of hard work was later to do the contrary and qualified as a full fledged dictator. He received a state burial yes and December 3 was declared a public holiday for all Malawian. The man is non other than Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Akwete Sande presents the background of Banda rising to power, his leadership style as compared to Dr Bakili Muluzi's.
The international Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) taking place in Arusha, Tanzania is still on. Babu Ayindo's opinion is controversial. He holds it suspect as far as building pillars to sustain reconciliation in Rwanda is concerned. Meanwhile read on for more.
Africanews staff
