My last post looked at some good news from Africa. Unfortunately everything is not that rosy. Hanna Clarys reported two weeks ago in NIGER’S DYING IN SILENCE: Shall We Clean Our Ears? about the catastrophic famine that has gone largely unnoticed in much of the world.  

The Telegraph has promoted the cause this week:

Some 2.5 million people, including at least 800,000 children, are in danger of starvation in the arid country on the southern fringe of the Sahara - one of the most remote reaches of Africa.
Call for aid as Niger faces famine (21 July 2010)

Today's article is clearly very pessimistic:

The UN has now decided that it needs to feed three times more people than it had initially thought. "Around 30 per cent of the population has nothing to eat any more. They are eating leaves from trees," said Milton Tetonidis, of the aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which is running most of the feeding centres. "The international response has been inadequate."
UN aid is two months away from this country ravaged by plague and drought, but for thousands of children, it will be too late. (24 July 2010)

The other concerning news is about leadership and good governance in Africa. Firstly from Kabissa.org:

For the past two years 2009 and 2010 the Mo Ibrahim $5 million prize has not been awarded to African leaders because the awarding committee did not find an exceptional leader for the award as there was no much development in countries. Mo Ibrahim recognizes that for the good governance to prevail, country’s resources ought to be reused to transform the livelihood of people and the society.
Good governance means using country’s resources to transform the livelihood of people and society

African leaders have the chance to show leadership at the 15th African Union Summit next week:

African heads of state can and must take clear actions to end the majority of the continent's annual 4.5 million child deaths and 265,000 maternal deaths, Save the Children said.
Millions of African Mothers’ and Children’s Lives in the Balance at African Union Summit

The theme is Maternal, Infant, and Child Health and Development in Africa.

Hopefully it will give some momentum to preparations for the UN Summit in September.

Featured image: France24