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Our commitment to keep you informed has let us form partnerships with other news organs around the globe, especially in Africa, so you can also be part of what’s happening in your local communities back home.

Security Council Imposes Sanctions on Eritrea over Its Role in Somalia, refusal to Withdraw Troops Following Conflict with Djibouti.
Resolution 1907 (2009) Stipulates Arms Embargo, Travel Restrictions, Asset Freezes

Gravely concerned about findings that Eritrea had provided support to armed groups undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia and that it had not withdrawn its forces following clashes with Djibouti in June 2008, the Security Council today imposed an arms embargo on that country, in addition to travel restrictions on and a freeze on the assets of its political and military leaders.

Adopting resolution 1907 (2009) by a vote of 13 in favour to 1 against (Libya), with 1 abstention (China)

Nibakure - in local language means: Let them grow, Give them hope !

Everyone felt proud to be part of the program after watching a heart wrenching video from Nibakure Children, Rwanda. The story is about children cared by women they have never seen before, fed & sleep in homes provided by well wishers on behalf of a woman they never heard of. 
That woman is Floriane Brown, Founder & Executive Director of the Nibakure Children Village.

By Bashe Said

The Forum that won many nicknames before it even began left participants with hope.  It has been called an historic conference, never done before. Even coordinators won nicknames: risk takers, visionaries, concerned citizens, dreamers and so on.  What matters the most, after all, for organizers and the attendees was accomplishing one objective: bringing these communities together to talk about their common future. 

Minnesota International Health Volunteers (MIHV) announces that as of January 1,  2010 it will be officially known as WellShare International better reflecting its mission and commitment to the communities it serves.

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Community Advisors on Recruitment and Retention Solutions group marked its one year anniversary with a celebration on Nov. 13.

Hart Van Denburg, TC Daily Planet

A new report by University of Minnesota Prof. Katherine Fennelly suggests that, rather than seeing immigrants as little more than a drain on the state's economy, Minnesota ought to be welcoming them as a key positive economic influence. "School enrollments are declining, but things would be worse without immigrant children," she says. "Main streets are closing up, but new businesses are being bought and run by immigrants. " Fennelly, who teaches at the university's Humphrey Institute, is an internationally recognized expert on immigration, and how communities deal demographic changes.

(GIN) – So-called “vulture funds” that took over a Chemical Bank loan to Liberia now stand to recoup $20 million from the struggling West African nation. The original loan, which dates back to 1978, was for $15 million.
 
The two funds, registered in the Caribbean, had asked London's High Court to grant summary judgement in the case - making Liberia liable for the debt without a full hearing. The court ruled in their favor and ordered payment to Hamsah Investments and Wall Capital Ltd. of the amount of the loan plus accumulated interest.

Minnesota will join the U.S. and more than 200 countries to commemorate World AIDS Day on Tuesday, Dec. 1 for the 22nd consecutive year to call attention to the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic and its continued spread.
“Despite the progress that has been made in developing new treatments against HIV infection, new HIV infections continue to occur at undiminished levels each year,” said Peter Carr, director of the STD and HIV Section, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). “World AIDS Day provides us with an opportunity to heighten the awareness that AIDS is still here and that there is no cure or vaccine to slow its spread.”

By Alemayehu G. Mariam, 
Professor of political science at 
California State University, San Bernardino

In his epic autobiography, the great Nelson Mandela used the metaphor of the "long walk" to describe his decades-old struggle against apartheid and minority rule in South Africa. In Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela described, among other things, his labor of love trying to steer his nation away from racial and fratricidal war by using dialogue and negotiation to achieve national reconciliation and build a multiracial, multiparty system.

By Dr. Bruce Corrie

Recent news reports about Somali youth being recruited to fight in Somalia are very disturbing. By contrast, I had the opportunity recently to interact with the community, and that interaction provided an insight worth exploring.  I was responsible for the Minnesota component of a national consumer study on African immigrants. Apart from consumer preferences, we also asked participants questions about life in America and their attitudes toward a wide range of issues. The study consisted of a sample of 393 African immigrants in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and the Twin Cities. The study was conducted by New American Dimensions of Los Angeles on behalf of the U.S. African Chamber of Commerce and was funded by the Minneapolis Foundation. 

BY Kimberly Curtis

Last week the United Nations marked the 20th anniversary of the date when the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) opened for signature. Since then, the CRC has become the most ratified human rights treaty in the world. Out of the 194 member states of the UN, only two - Somalia and the United States - have not ratified the CRC. That is about to change though, because Somalia’s barely functioning and barely domestically recognized government announced that it too would ratify the treaty, leaving the US as the only hold out on a convention that protects children under the age of 18 from things like exploitation, neglect, and violence.

By Rachel M. Anderson

(Orono, Minn.) - These days you can’t seem to pick up a newspaper or watch the television news without coming across at least one story about the H1N1 virus. Between vaccine shortages and untimely deaths caused by the illness, it’s on a lot of people’s minds these days.

Especially concerned are parents of school-aged children like Susie Bazil of Orono, Minn. Her sons Sam, 9, and Jamie, 7, and daughter, Tess, 5, haven’t picked anything up at school yet this year, but she is worried that they will.

(GIN) – Shortly after the spectacular NYC marathon victory of Eritrean-born American citizen Meb Keflezighi, some grumbling could be heard about how American he really was.
 
Sports talk radio personality Darren Rovell in an article posted on cnbc.com wrote: “Nothing against Keflezighi, but he’s like a ringer you hire to work a couple hours at your office so you can win the executive softball league.” Rovell has since apologized.
 
And a headline in The New York Times read: “To Some, Winner Is Not American Enough.”

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Some advocates of a public healthcare option have argued for a national system of community health clinics because in this they see a wholesome and affordable approach in providing quality healthcare. The West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS), the largest community clinic organization in Minnesota, clearly demonstrates the value of community clinics. When it began as the People’s Heahlth Center, forty years ago in a church basement, and then expanded to La Clinica, it served mostly Spanish-speaking residents. Today, WSCHS has expanded to serve Hmong and East African refugees and immigrants as well.