International


Sudan: Sudanese Gold Output to Reach Record 80 Tonnes This Year

Oct 6, 2015 | Dania Saadi, The National

Gold production in Sudan is forecast to rise 9.6 per cent to a record 80 tonnes this year as the African country seeks to boost…


Cambodia: Anti-Logging Vigilantes Get International Recognition

Oct 6, 2015 | Aun Chhengpor, Voice of America

In late September, the Prey Lang Community Network was selected as one of the world’s top 21 local community groups working for environmental conservation in the…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurds Boost Oil Sales in Drive for Financial Independence

Oct 5, 2015 | Mais Al-Amouri, Bloomberg

Iraq’s Kurdish region ramped up crude exports by 27 percent in September as the semi-autonomous enclave seeks greater financial independence amid a budget dispute with…


Conflict Minerals: SEC Seeks Rehearing in Conflict Minerals Case

Oct 5, 2015 | National Law Review

October 2, 2015 marked another step in the continuing legal challenge of the conflict minerals rule.  The SEC and Amnesty International filed petitions requesting an…


Liberia: CRC Chair Suggests at FAO, GOL 2 Days Conference

Oct 5, 2015 | Gloria T. Tamba, Liberian Observer

The chairperson of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), Cllr. Gloria Musu Scott, has reminded members of the National Legislature on the speedy passage of the…


Côte d’Ivoire: Ivory Coast Seeks to Save Forests from Illegal Cocoa Boom

Oct 5, 2015 | Ange Aboa, Reuters

In Mont Peko National Park, thousands of leafless Iroko and Samba trees tower over a sea of lush plantations like headstones, a testament to the…


Iraq: Cholera Infections in Iraq Climb to More than 800: Health Ministry

Oct 3, 2015 | Press TV

Iraqi medical authorities say the number of recorded cases of cholera in the conflict-ridden Arab country has climbed to more than 800, though no new…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Gulf Petroleum Says Kurdish Oil Reserves at Least Double Expected Amount

Oct 3, 2015 | Hellenic Shipping News

Gulf Keystone Petroleum said third-party estimates show recoverable oil reserves in the Kurdish north of Iraq are at least twice as much as initially expected.…


Central African Republic and Philippines: Slave Labour behind 'Blood Diamonds' Jewelry Dug from African Mines by Children

Oct 1, 2015 | Imogen Calderwood. Daily Mail

The jewellery around your neck and on your fingers is still being dug out of the earth by slave children facing extreme danger, two new…


Myanmar: Land-Grab Communities Hope for Election Saviour

Oct 1, 2015 | Nyan Lynn Aung, Myanmar Times

The ethnic Kayin woman, from Thein Byin village in Tanintharyi township, has walked to the hilltop overlooking the valley to pray together with other residents…


Liberia: GVL Conducts Participatory Mapping with Communities in Grand Kru

Oct 1, 2015 | Liberian Observer

Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) is holding a series of meetings, alongside land mapping with communities that have freely offered new and additional lands for oil…


Peru: Peru Declares State of Emergency in Mining Region

Sep 30, 2015 | BBC

Peru declared a 30-day state of emergency in the Apurimac region on Tuesday after four people were killed during anti-mining protests. The four were shot…


Iraq/Syria/ISIS: U.S. Offers $5 Million for Tips on Disrupting ISIS' Oil, Antiquities Trade

Sep 30, 2015 | Faith Karimi, CNN

The war against ISIS is expanding to a new frontier: its finances. As the terror group plunders archaeological sites and oil fields in Iraq and…


Liberia: Sinoe County - Liberian Community Pushing to Manage Forest

Sep 30, 2015 | Al-Varney Rogers Alvarney, FrontPageAfrica

The Norwegian government has pledged $150m up to the year 2020 if Liberia protects its forests standing - putting communities in charge of conserving their…


Central African Republic: The Blood Diamond Trade is Tearing the Central African Republic Apart

Sep 30, 2015 | Jake Flanagin, Quartz

The Central African Republic (CAR)—one of the poorest countries in the world—has been embroiled in intense religious conflict since Dec. 2012. Fighting between the predominantly…


Myanmar: Mandalay Golf Resort Project Faces Land-Grabbing Claims

Sep 29, 2015 | Kyaw Ko Ko, Myanmar Times

Defiant farmers in Mandalay Region are cultivating fields they say they own as negotiations with the local authorities broke down. The 200 farmers began harrowing…


Côte d’Ivoire: President Ouattara Receives Post-Conflict Environmental Report

Sep 28, 2015 | Cholo Brooks, Global News Network

Ivorian President AlassaneOuattara received Friday a United Nations report detailing decades of environmental destruction in the country, especially during 11 years of civil war and…


Liberia: Land Disputes Threaten Peace & Security

Sep 28, 2015 | The New Republic

The Mayor of Ganta Ben Dokpah has said land disputes in the country remain a serious threat to the peace of security the country of…


Somalia: British Oil Firm Accused of Corruption in Somalia Exploration Deal

Sep 26, 2015 | Cholo Brooks, Global News Network

A British oil exploration firm has been accused of corrupt payments to government officials in Somalia in return for rights to explore offshore for hydrocarbons,…


Liberia: Another Land Dispute in Nimba

Sep 25, 2015 | Solomon T. Gaye, The Inquirer

The Muslim community dominated by the Mandingo ethnic groups has disrupted a team of surveyors backed by the 8th Judiciary Circuit Court Sheriff in the…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Theft Disrupts Kurdish Oil Flows to Turkey

Sep 25, 2015 | Daniel J. Graeber, United Press International

The Kurdish government in northern Iraq said the flow of crude oil to a Turkish sea port was halted because of theft at the start…


Liberia: Big Money: Liberia Lost Nearly $300M in Illegal Deposits

Sep 25, 2015 | FrontPageAfrica

In February this year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists website released information relating to 300 secret bank accounts accused of involvement in tax evasion…


Liberia: Judge Paye Accused of Favoritism in Nimba Land Dispute

Sep 24, 2015 | Arrington Ballah, The Bush Chicken

Circuit Court Judge Emery Paye has been accused of bias in an ongoing land dispute. Julius Sannoh, a member of the Ganta Mandingo Caucus, made…


Timor-Leste: East Timor Starts New Gas Field Arbitration

Sep 24, 2015 | Michael Roddan, Business Spectator

East Timor has started new arbitration proceedings to resolve a dispute with Australia over access to offshore petroleum resources, including the Greater Sunrise fields that Woodside Petroleum hopes to develop. After…


Myanmar: Farmers Confront Minister During Rally

Sep 24, 2015 | Swan Ye Htut, Myanmar Times

Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation U Myint Hlaing came under pressure from constituents yesterday over allegations land had been taken from farmers and placed in…


Myanmar: One Dead, Several Injured as Mine Accident Floods Village

Sep 24, 2015 | Ko Htwe & Yamin Oo, Democratic Voice of Burma

A 12-year-old child was killed and several elderly residents were injured when the embankment of a tailing pond at a mine site collapsed, triggering a…


Myanmar: Election Takes a Back Seat as Flood-Hit Magwe’s Farmers Struggle to Rebuild

Sep 23, 2015 | Nay Aung, Myanmar Times

For the tens of thousands of farmers in Magwe Region still reeling from last month’s floods, the November election may not register as high-priority. With…


Liberia: Ellen Submits “Liberia Land Authority” Bill

Sep 23, 2015 | J. Burgess Carter, Liberian Observer

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf submitted to the Senate for enactment into law an Act to create the Liberia Land Authority. In her letter to that august…


South Sudan: S. Sudan Official: Oil Companies Did 'Nothing' to Protect Environment

Sep 23, 2015 | Radio Tamazuj

A petroleum ministry official has admitted that oil companies before and after independence have done nothing to stop environmental damage caused by oil extraction, while…


Australia: Australian Defence Under-Prepared for Climate Change Security Threat

Sep 22, 2015 | Michael Brissenden, ABC News

A former head of the Australian military has warned that the ADF needs to do more to integrate climate change impact into defence planning. Retired…