Current Events Summary 5

African leaders have met with European leaders in France to discuss the controversial issue of trade. Many fruit farmers have farms in Ghana, where 20 tons of fruits for the salads of European customers would be shipped daily. Some countries have signed up, but others are reluctant to sign up. The conditions for shipping perishable goods aren't so great, for one: electricity in Ghana is not a guaranteed thing, the roads are bad, and the fuel for airplanes is not always available. The current trade agreement that European countries have with others (involving tariff-free shipping) has been declared illegal by the World Trade organization, so Europe is pushing a new agreement, called the Economic Partnership Agreement. This would allow Ghana to still ship their products tariff-free, but European goods would get in tariff-free as well, which many people think would hurt local sellers in Ghana. "What the Europeans are putting in place is aimed more or less at undermining the attempt by African economies to move away from the dependence on exporting raw materials towards industrial processing," says Tetteh Homeku of the research and advocacy group Third World Network. Many countries are reluctant to sign up, and the negotiations continue. (bbcnews.com)

Egypt is hosting a fresh round of Darfur talks. Mediators from the UN and the African Union are meeting representatives from Egypt, Chad, Libya, and Eritria, whom they want to have a defined role in finding a solution to the violence. There have been some problems gaining cooperation, though. Important Darfur rebel groups did not show up to talks last month, and the countries surrounding Sudan want a say in the result of the talks. A plan to make a 26,000 troop UN-UA force to get the violence under control has been discussed, but the plans are falling behind schedule. About 9,000 troops will be deployed by January first. (bbc.news.com)

Algeria and France have signed contracts during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's stay in Algeria. France and Algeria have had a history of not getting along terribly well because of France's habit of colonizing, and the visit was overshadowed by tension. However, Sarkozy said colonial rule had been "profoundly unjust", but ignored the calls of Algerians for an apology from France. Algeria's Foreign Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni called this "a step in the right direction".The deals in the contracts involve the trade of oil, gas, and nuclear energy products. (bbcnews.com)

Six French charity workers from the group Zoe's Ark are on trial for the kidnapping of 103 children in Chad. The accused have claimed that the parents of the children whom they brought to france had signed a contract saying that this was alright, but the parents deny this, and the Chadian and French governments deny having any knowledge of the program. Most of the children who were being brought with the workers have at least one parent or legal guardian, and although they were uninjured, they were wrapped in bandages and caked in fake blood (quite fishy, if you ask me). The trials have been very high security due to the anti-French riots that have broken out in Chad. The workers are on a hunger strike and have accused the French government of abandoning them. If they are convicted, they may be allowed to serve their sentences in France. (bbcnews.com)