Demand from the U.N. the immediate and precautionary withdrawal of Paul Kagame as Co-Chair of the Promoter group of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) 
A virtual visit with ARTE to get in the atmosphere of the twelve African countries that gained independence in 1960, please go to: http://www.arte.tv/afrique for web documentaries in French.
Une visite avec ARTE dans l'atmosphère africaine des 12 pays qui ont gagné l'indépendance en 1960. En français.
" Aware that the common good requires respect for the principles of democracy which include, among others; equality among persons, the sovereignty of the people and respect for the rule of law, the current events in the country indicate that there is a lot of fear and anxiety about the social, economic and political future of this country"Trade
By signing the Cotonou Agreement, the EU and the ACP States agreed on a process to establish Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that will pursue trade liberalisation between the signatories, and will create free trade areas. These new "free trade" agreements are being negotiated actually and will progressively remove trade barriers between Africa and Europe. The asymmetry and "unilateral preferences" granted to the ACP in the Lomé Conventions will disappear in the new trade agreements. The 77 ACP countries will have to open their borders to the products coming from the EU, and set up a free-trade area (FTA) with the European Union (EU) based on reciprocity. The EPAs are compatible with the WTO norms.
Apart from a gradual and managed liberalisation of imports from the EU, the main objectives of the EPA-process include an enhanced market access for ACP countries to the EU, negotiations on trade in services, a deepening of the regional integration process between ACP countries, and increased co-operation in trade-related areas like competition and investment. Although these trade-related areas (services, competition and investment) were refused by the ACP countries at the WTO, the EU is putting them on the table in the EPAs negotiations.
Slow progress in EPA negotiations
Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht admitted that the progress the EU is making in the EPA negotiations is not satisfactory and announced that he intends to look closer at the issue over the next months in order to find a way forward. He declared himself flexible on technical details such as market opening but at the same time he also stressed his belief that EPAs are the right solution and that Africans need to understand that EPAs are good and important for them. Read more