BBC’s defense correspondent Mark Urban has uncovered some troubling links between Iran moving towards a nuclear bomb and a Saudi Arabian decision to produce its own nuclear bomb with Pakistani help. Urban notes that Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons project and now the Saudis believe they could obtain a nuclear bomb at will.
In the aftermath of the awful tragedy that hit Northern Uganda, an idea took root in Lira. By 2010 it manifested itself as the Constituent College for Health Sciences of the well established and nearby Gulu University. Two years later it assumed shape as Lira University College. Knowing the facts on the ground the very idea of the College in the ruins that was Lira seemed at the time unrealistic.
In the early nineteen nineties a young artist came to the house where I lived in northern Nigeria on the Ahmadu Bello University campus. He grabbed a drawing pen and paper and within minutes had reproduced the exact replica of the Mona Lisa that adorned my wall. I taught creative writing and used the Mona Lisa as a kind of good luck charm to inspire me. The artist was five years old ...
David Acaye, John Sampers, Sabine Becker, Ekkehard Doehring
Few objects of nature appear to the observer as southern and as tropical as the palm tree. From the white beaches of Mombasa and Zanzibar to the hills of Jamaica and Trinidad, they stand tall and proud come rain come sun. In the gentle winds of the tropics palm trees become the dominant component of the music of the countryside. In the wind their fan like leaves and scaly trunks become musical instruments played by the wind.
The ancient city of Harar in the far north eastern corner of Ethiopia is a dreamland. Hanging on a hilltop 1800 meters above sea level the city presents a breathtaking panorama bursting with layers of history and influences, coalescing in a proud mixture of Islamic and indigenous culture dating back to the 7th century.
Before the age of the internet the conventional mail was king. The postal stamp was a perfect platform for public advocacy. Today the postal service is no longer what it once was. Think of Britain’s Royal Mail or of the United States's Federal Mail and the global reach they once commanded.
There were songs in those days that lifted the spirits of young people from across the globe as in their hundreds they hurried to Spain to defend the beleaguered country against Franco’s fascism. Years later a Frenchmen would pay tribute to them in a splendid and tender movie documentary To Die in Madrid.
The four years I spent at Makerere were its golden period. The College attracted outstanding scholars to its Faculty. A considerable amount of money poured in to strengthen its medical, agriculture and social science faculties. Many gifted graduate students from prestigious universities overseas came to work on their doctorates.