The sentence is the minimum recommended for senior police officers found guilty of corruption according to the BBC. Judge Joffe Meyer described Selebi as “an embarrassment” and a “”stranger to the truth”. Evidently, Selebi never displayed remorse and fabricated evidence in an effort to escape.

Jackie Selebi is one of the most senior officials to be legally implicated for corruption in South Africa. He had pleaded not guilty of all charges saying that the evidence had been fabricated because he criticized the Scorpions, a now disbanded elite crime fighting unit.

Convicted drug dealer Glenn Agliotti reportedly paid Selebi 1.2 million rand ($156,000) to turn a blind eye to his business.

Selebi admitted to being good friends with Agliotti, but stated he was completely unaware of his criminal dealings.

This was a definite fall from grace for Selebi. For three years he served as the South African Ambassador and a Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In ’98, Selebi received a Human Rights Award from the International Service for Human Rights. And in 2004, he was elected as President of Interpol – a position he held until 2008.

Government spokesperson, Rabie Abdelati states that the UN has failed to keep the peace at refugee camps in the western region.

Sudan wants to monitor the peacekeepers because they claim the United Nations is not doing their job. According to Abdelati there have been shootings and burnings and people are still dying while the peacekeepers watch.

A hybrid of the African Union and United Nations – Unamid is to now coordinate all their movements with the Sudanese security forces. According to Unamid spokesperson – they have not been made aware of any such requests.

The country of Sudan feels that Unamid should follow the normal procedures of the country and respect its sovereignty.

Originally, Gaddafi suggested that Nigeria be split in half. The northern part of the country would be dedicated to Muslims while the south would be Christian. the President has now altered his statement – now offering that Nigeria should be split into numerous countries – citing additional cultures as wanting their independence.

Gaddafi proposed that Nigeria follow the model of Yugoslavia. “The Yoruba people in the west and south demand independence, while the Igbo people live in the east and south. It became clear that the Ijaw people demand independence and the Hausa people in the north call for the establishment of the Hausa state.”

Gaddafi believes that the succession can be peaceful and all states would have equal share in the natural resources in what is currently Nigeria – including oil.

Nigeria has all but called the remarks ridiculous. According to the BBC, the Nigerian foreign ministry said Col. Gaddafi’s remarks were irresponsible. “His theatrics and grandstanding at every auspicious occasion have become too numerous to recount”. Nigeria’s central government has yet to comment on Gaddafi’s latest comments.

Nigeria has apparently dismissed Gaddafi’s statements, perhaps because of his persona. However, it would be very interesting to hear Nigeria’s solution to the issue. It is clear that over the past few months – as over 500 have died amid the cross-cultural violence – the government does need to do something.

This issue is not only restricted to Nigeria. Many African countries contain numerous cultures that were, unfortunately, forced together during colonization.

Personally, it’s not hard to understand where Robert Mugabe is coming from with his “land reform”. However, do whites not understand at all what’s going on? Blacks have not been treated well anywhere on this planet at one time or another. And for sure, two wrongs don’t make a right, however is surprises me how indignant people are when they are being treated the way blacks were and still are being treated. These farmers may not be personally responsible for colonization, but they were okay with the way blacks were being treated. They were okay with continuing to farm the lands that were unfairly taken from them – most of the time by force. They were okay with all of this and now they get land worth millions as compensation. Is this simply because Mugabe is a ruthless dictator that has no international support?

The UN and international rights groups state that not only were hundreds killed but at least 250 more were kidnapped. Most likely, those kidnapped were children – some forced to become soldiers for the LRA and the girls made into concubines. The apparent 4 day rampage is one of the worst massacres ever committed by the LRA in its 23 year history and it went unreported for months.

News of the killings have led to fiery debates about the role of the United Nations and their mission in the DR Congo. The UN has complained because they lack the resources necessary to protect civilians. They’re also feeling pressure from the local government who is wanting the UN out of the country by next year during which presidential elections are to be held. The UN has a base in Niangara, which is a bout 30 miles east of where the massacre took place. However, they were stocked with fewer than 100 troops and no helicopter.

The UN does have 22,000 troops stationed in eastern DR Congo where their mission is to oust Rwandan Hutu rebels. And there are an additional 4,000 troops scattered throughout the rest of the country.

The international community seems complacent and feels UN withdrawal is acceptable according to Todd Howland, director of the joint UN human rights office in DR Congo. He has questioned whether the international community was taking the threat to civilians “sufficiently seriously”. Howland feels that in any other situation peacekeepers would have been sent straight in.

“The reason is that the LRA doesn’t threaten anybody – they don’t threaten the government in Kinshasa or Kampala. It threatens the people in that particular place, and they are not significant numbers of voters.”

The Teachers Service Commission recently found that more than 5,000 teachers infected with HIV have access to retro-viral drugs and nutritional supplements. Even though this number is on the rise, hundreds of others are still dying for many reasons.

Prostitution is one of the most appalling causes of the spread of this deadly disease. Its appalling not just within the act itself but that the poverty stricken country has pushed young girls into the industry. These young girls drop out of school and turn to prostituting which earns them no more than $15 a month. This meager amount isn’t enough still, which forces the girls into prostitution at even younger ages so that they can earn more money daily.

A cultural system called wife inheritance is another cause for the spread of HIV/AIDS. This is when a widow is inherited by her late husband’s brother. This custom has been around since the dawn of time. However, the in-law could only inherit if he had his own family and it was forbidden to have sexual contact between the two. The custom was meant for family to take care of family. This tradition has now evolved into an opportunity for spreading the virus.

A third major cause for the spread of HIV/AIDS is a severely male dominated society. Here in Kenya, women are not included in decision making especially important decisions. A woman has no rights especially when it comes to asking a man to wear protection. Women are treated as sex objects and have no recourse.

There are many other reasons as to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Kenya. But the more people that know the causes the sooner we can help those in need.

Goodluck Jonathan has been the acting president of Nigeria since last month. President Umaru Yar’Adua has been out of the country since last November being treated for a variety of health issues. Mr. Yar’Adua did return to his country last month, however it appears that Mr. Jonathan will remain as president.

Many fear that with Goodluck Jonathan’s nominee list he is in turn removing Yar’Adua loyalists from the cabinet. Everything that Jonathan appears to be doing in completely within the scope of his job. However, with growing violence in the Niger Delta and growing dissension between Muslims and Christians, the Nigerian people seem uncomfortable with the major changes being made in their government.

We may not know the reason now for the change in the pirates patrol. But what we do know is that these pirates are still in action. I did a series a few blog posts ago explaining the beginning of the piracy. People are desperate in Somalia. They haven’t had a functioning government since 1991. The country is slowly and violently being taken over by extreme Islamists and the remaining Somalis have tried to flee to other countries or have been caught in the cross fire.

The international community is only getting involved when their own ships have been attacked. No one cares about the in fighting. I’m even starting to ask myself ‘Should we be concerned with what’s going on in other countries?’ Yes! We should be concerned. Our governments chose to take the fight to Afghanistan and Iraq and rebuild their societies even without being asked. The reason – we had a stake. We were hurt and we have a vested interested in oil. That’s where our concerns lie and its sad. Its sad because Americans are no better than any other culture in the world. We are all human and if want to portray ourselves as a world giant and leader, then we need to be there to help everyone in need.

If we are not willing to help those we claim to care about then we need to say that. Our media needs to stop playing games. There is a reason we don’t see what’s going on because I believe the American people would have a problem with us causing most of the issues and not at least extending a hand. We have become a society dependent on our media to give us what we want to hear and see. We must be moved to help in any way possible and we must move our governments to help the people that are not being heard. Somalians, I feel, don’t want terror cells moving into their country. And if that ‘s what’s going on in Somalia then we need to help the African Union eradicate them and make a stand that our world is not big enough for them and everyone else.

It has also been confirmed that an al-Shabaab commander has been assassinated as he was leaving a mosque in the city of Kismayo. Al-Shabaab has been fighting Hizbul-Islam forcing many Somalians to flee to nearby countries. The two Islamist groups are fighting against the weak Somali government and the African Union soldiers.

It seems that all sides are being heard or expressed in some way. All the voices except for the people who are having to flee the violence. We don’t hear from the women and children who have died because the international community has sat by and looked the other way. We condemn the piracy, even though it began because European countries were encroaching on the fisherman’s waters. A hand was never extended.

Late last week, the opposition party – the Union of Forces for Change (UFC) – claimed an early victory stating that their candidate, Jean-Pierre Fabre, had won 75 to 80 percent of the votes. However, President Faure Gnassingbe’ and his ruling party dismissed the claim as “unacceptable” according to the AFP news agency.

International observers to the election including the European Union have voiced concern over the lack of transparency. According to a BBC West African correspondent, it is believed that the counting of votes was correct. However, when the results were transmitted to local offices of the national electoral commission, the necessary detail was lacking. It was recommended that the local election office publish the individual results rather than only the accumulated results. Since there was no transparency on this level it makes the whole voting process questionable.

The country of Togo hasn’t had the greatest history in its leadership and has had their fair share of corruption and election tampering.

Faure Gnassingbe’s late father Gnassingbe’ Eyadema was the longest-serving leader in Africa (1967-2005) until his untimely death in 2005. The elder was known to be a corrupt dictator who often tortured those against him.