Global Voices Online

The president of Rwanda seems to like a new book by Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: “Kagame bought copies of Dead Aid for his entire cabinet. Do Kenyan cabinet members even read (lets not get into the President)?”

katch up discusses economic and socio-political situation in Rwanda after genocide: “Polically Kigali is stable. The leadership of President Kagame has managed to stay focused on its vision of uniting the people inspite of their long history of intentionaly fueled ethnic hatred.”

Take at blogs written by journalist blogging from Africa. The list is compiled by Scarlett Lion, “I'd like to make a sort of ongoing list of foreign correspondents in Africa who blog. Feel free to add to the list in the comments section and eventually I'll put out a revised full list, complete with your suggestions.”

Morgan in Rwanda debunks the popular myth amongst expats living in Rwanda that Rwandese are not hospitable and don't invite people over for dinner. She concludes: “knowing how to communicate in the local language is really the only way to learn about a culture beyond the obvious”.

UN Dispatch reports that Col. Theoneste Bagosora, and two accomplices, Maj. Aloys Ntabakuze and Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva were sentenced to life imprisonment for “genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes” by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda today.

Joshua Goldstein looks at the future of mobile technology in Africa: “As I mentioned in a recent post, one of the most striking aspects of the African Internet economy is that we don't know what the mobile Internet will look like when it is proliferated in Africa, much the same way we didn't know that banking would like M-Pesa.”

Afrigadget posted a video-interview that Eric Kabera (the maker of the genocide film “100 days” and inventor of Hillywood - Rwanda’s version of Hollywood) had with a young bycicle-taxi driver in Rwanda that customized his vehicle to attract more customers, showing that “not all inventiveness is utilitarian (or, business can be fun and fun can mean more business…)”.

Bankelele wonders whether Africa has to reform or develop: “Rwanda is on the fast path to being an ICT powerhouse. They may get there, but we have the beach, undersea cable etc. - all we have to do is wait to benefit from them. Uganda and Sudan have oil – but so what? It will have to pass through here.”

Is your rear view mirror stolen? What if you buy it back?: “So how does one handle the rear view mirror situation in Kigali? Well first, I ask the owner of the restaurant to ask his cooks whether they can’t buy the mirrors straight back from the thieves at a discount.”