Walking around the neighbourhoods of Lemba or Matete in Kinshasa or Bacongo and Makélékélé in Brazzaville, you are immediately taken by music that instinctively invites you to join in the dancing. In the evening in the many bars on the outskirts of the two capitals, people move to the rhythm of the rumba. A music…
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If the current dynamics in the security field continue, and there are no signs of a reversal of the trend, there will be no shortage of crisis in Africa in 2024. Some countries will be particularly concerned, but insecurity will have consequences also in those nations that will be spared by terrorism and coups. The…
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The Congo River flows between Kinshasa and Brazzaville. The distance between the two capitals is so small that they seem like a single city. With a common history, they have not grown at the same rate. At the end of the 19th century, the European powers divided the African continent between them. The Congo region…
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Left a very poor country after the end of the Second World War, South Korea is today at the forefront on a technological, economic, and social level. However, it exists in a world marked by profound contradictions in which young and old remain on the margins, as Father Vincenzo Bordo says from the capital. “Here…
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In the aftermath of disastrous oil spills in Nigeria, environmental lawyer Chima Williams worked with two communities to hold Royal Dutch Shell accountable for the resultant widespread environmental damage. On January 29, 2021, the Court of Appeal of the Hague ruled that not only was Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary responsible for the oil spills,…
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The ongoing jihadist expansion in the Sahel region and attempts to stop it, the aftermath of the general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the projected decline of the ANC in the South African polls, are the main trends expected for this year. In 2024, the main concern in West Africa will be whether…
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In a remote corner of Chad, three missionaries of the Immaculate Conception give a simple Christian testimony. Walking alongside people. Hilda, Shephali, and Irene are three Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception present in Koupor, in the south-west of Chad, on the border with Cameroon, where they arrived in February 2019. In the past, there…
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A Nicaraguan mask play that defies the arrogance of the powerful with style and creativity. An extraordinary portrait of non-violent resistance. It is an essential part of Nicaraguan culture. The January wind cuts a path through the peaceful town of Diriamba, 45Km from the capital Managua. Diriamba owes its name to Cacique Diriangen, the legendary…
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“Ebale ya Congo ezali lopango te, ezali nzela” (The Congo River is not a barrier, it is a road), sang the famous Congolese musician Joseph Kabasele. Today this statement must be taken with a pinch of salt. People have strong cultural and linguistic ties, but access to capital is no longer automatic. Over time, the…
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Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is experiencing a demographic explosion due to a still high birth rate and migratory flows encouraged by rural poverty and the insecurity of war zones. Today, Kinshasa has 17.07 million inhabitants. It is currently the third most populous city in…
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African traditional political leaders cover both the temporal and the religious spheres. They represent the exigencies of the ancestors before the community of the living and the exigencies of the same community before the ancestors. This double responsibility before the people and before the ancestors confer on them both authority and power. The Congolese philosopher…
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The Dipo rite is an integral part of the Krobo culture. Over the years it has been used to inculcate useful values into adolescent girls as they prepare to assume their marital responsibilities. The Krobos are part of the Ga-Dangbe ethno linguistic group and they are the largest group of the seven Dangbe ethnic groups…
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“We want to create a federation of international journalistic organisations that collaborate in this effort, starting from the global South,” says Filipino journalist and 2022…
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Once upon a time, there was a leopard. He had a huge walnut tree that was full of nuts. Stingy as he was, however, he forbade…
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Three young Comboni missionaries from three continents share their vocation stories and missionary experiences. Fr Victor Cunanan Parungao from the Philippines reflects on 15 years of…
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