Global Voices is an international community of bloggers who report on blogs and citizen media from around the world. Learn why »
"African Voices of Hope and Change," gives you an intimate perspective into the stories and people of Africa's Sub-Saharan region, through our best English-language posts from 2012 - a perfect gift to salute the new year.
Around three months after the French President François Hollande’s January 2013 decision to stop paying ransoms to hostage takers, the Moulin-Fournier family were finally released, to the immense relief of their family and friends. The exact circumstances behind their liberation have not been disclosed, leading many to wonder whether money was used to secure their release, and, if so, what this says about France's policy towards hostage takers.
This isn't another blog about "famine, Bono, or Barack Obama," blog Africa is a Country warns in its description. We recently interviewed founder Sean Jacobs about how the blog is debunking the west's idea that Africa is "a perpetual sob story."
The world mourns the death of Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, whose internationally praised writing gave Africans a voice by destroying the mold cast by colonialism. He was 82. In a testament to the profound impact of his body of work, Achebe's death has been mourned around the world.
Fresh off winning the competitive funding Apps4Africa award, Francis Onwumere, who co-founded the real-time collaboration tool Prowork, chatted with us about the project, tech innovation in Africa, and how to make the most of Nigeria's poor infrastructure.
Twitter was abuzz with Yoruba, one of the three major indigenous languages spoken in Nigeria, on March 1, 2013 as speakers of the language lit up the microblogging site with tweets in Yoruba as part of a campaign to celebrate the language on social media and pressure Twitter to include it in its translation project.
Following the surprise resignation, the debate on Benedict XVI's succession was immediately launched. In particular, Africans, on the basis of the fastest growing contingent of Catholics on their continent, began to put forward the names of their favourites among the 18 cardinal Africans who are part of the College of Cardinal and who will meet in conclave to elect the new pope.
The Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture made public its plans to provide free mobile phones for rural farmers. This has triggered many reaction in the Nigerian blogosphere.
Nigeria is as large as her talents, people, hope and challenges. These are some of stories from Nigeria in 2012, a year that was a curious mix of tensions, anguish and hope for Nigeria.
On 5 October 2012, four students from the University of Port Harcourt were beaten and burnt to death for allegedly robbing a blackberry and a laptop. The brutal murder of these students has triggered debate and an online mobilization against mob justice in Nigeria.
The Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, were in Nigeria from October 30 to November 2, 2012. Their visit was at the behest of the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club’s "Breaking The Mould Initiative" (BTM). Naturally, their arrival stirred debate in the Nigerian blogosphere.
Myweku writes about the introduction of Rooti Dolls, by Chris and Ada Ngoforo, a Nigerian couple:
The 12 Rooti dolls are programmed to speak in several African languages. Amongst them, there’s Nina, a “vibrant girl” with Nigerian parents, who “loves watching Nollywood” and can interact in the Nigerian languages of Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa [...]
Mensah wrote on koaci.com:
For Nigerian soldiers, enlisted men, officers and even aspirants, the military hierarchy has decided that the knowledge of the French language is now a prerequisite for anyone to get a promotion.
Dapa Arnaud gives a list of the 10 most active african presidents [fr] on social media. At the top of the list is president Paul Kagame in Rwanda:
In place since 2003, the president of Rwanda is the most active on the internet. According to the Ecofin agency, Paul Kagame interacts with many users on Twitter through his account @PaulKagame. His personal website named “The Journey Continues, Dukomeze Imihigo” is also one of the most visited websites in the country. His presence is also quite strong on other social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, Flickr or YouTube.
On January 23, 2013, an excerpt from the annual report of l'ACAT-France, A World of Torture 2013, makes a fresh assessment of the state of torture in the world [fr]:
“A report called A World of Torture in 2013, assesses torture practices that continue to be alarming, from Pakistan to Italy, by way of South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Bolivia. From authoritarian regimes to democratic countries, none are exempt from criticism on the topic. In 2013, torture remains as endemic, omnipresent and multi-faceted as ever”.
MyWeku compiles a list of 10 best African food blogs for 2013: “There are seemingly a million food blogs out there, but only a handful showcase African food. Even so it has still been a struggle to pick 10 of our favourites for this year (2013).”
Mr. Jaeger has worked on several of Knitting Factory’s Fela efforts including Fela: Live In Detroit 1986, and the Ginger Baker compiled Fela: Vinyl Box Set 2.
Wes Flexner speaks with the person behind the artwork for “Best of Black President Pt 2″, an extensive collection of legendary Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti’s music ranging from 1971’s “Black Man’s Cry” to 1992’s “Underground System”.
This should also include quotes from the Press Union's closing statement
Did you read the report or just the article? I am wondering because I find the...
This site is licensed as Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Please read our attribution policy to learn about freely redistributing our work.
Based on the Wikipedia list of countries, details.
RSS feed for Nigeria 
Search Wikipedia for Nigeria
We forget that it was Jesus Isa who raised the status of women to equal...