India, Africa must be on UN Security Council: Rwanda

July 26th, 2009 ADDIS ABABA - A long-expected fibre-optic cable linking southern and eastern Africa to global telecommunications networks via India and Europe has gone live with high expectations it will lower the cost of telecommunications in Africa. Its switch-on date was delayed for a month after threats by Somali pirates along the Indian Ocean route from India to Kenya disrupted cable installation plans.

June 24th, 2009 BRUSSELS - Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade Wednesday criticised European Union (EU) policies towards Africa and said the continent was looking towards India and China for its economic needs, EuAsiaNews reported. Addressing a press conference in Brussels Wednesday, the Senegalese president accused the EU of isolating Africa and raising barriers against "black Africa".

April 23rd, 2009 LONDON - The Loomba Trust, which started its initiative to help poor widows and their children in India, has now extended its help to 850 widows in Rwanda. The project, launched in partnership with international charity Oxfam and the Rwandan government, includes 500 survivors of the 1994 mass genocide in Rwanda in central Africa.

March 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice President Rajiv Shukla on Thursday said that the South African Government has consented to provide all security measures to the teams participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL). "Security precautions would be taken in South Africa.

March 25th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - The Indian Premier League (IPL) will cover the difference in costs that the owners of the clubs would incur for playing the series in South Africa instead of India, Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner of the IPL, said here. The costs of hosting the IPL 2009 series in South Africa will be much higher than what it would have been if it was played in India as originally planned.

March 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - Terming elections as the biggest event in India, former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly Wednesday supported the Indian Premier League's (IPL) move to shift the second edition of the Twenty20 competition to South Africa. 'In India, vote is bigger than all issues,' Ganguly told reporters here.

March 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India continues to remain a 'reliable partner' of Africa and is looking at deepening relations with regional groups in the continent, a senior Indian diplomat said here Monday. 'India has been and will always remain a reliable partner for Africa,' Nalin Surie, secretary (west) at the ministry of external affairs, said at the first day of the CII-Exim Bank conclave on India-Africa project partnership 2009.

February 21st, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

February 19th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

February 19th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

February 19th, 2009 UNITED NATIONS - China has called for a greater representation of developing countries, in particular those from Africa, in a reformed UN Security Council. 'In the reform of the Security Council, priority should be given to the greater representation of developing countries, in particular African ones,' China's UN Ambassador Zhang Yesui told an informal plenary of the General Assembly Thursday.

January 22nd, 2009 KINSHASA - Laurent Nkunda, Tutsi rebel leader of the National Council for the Defence of the People (CNDP) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), has been arrested, a statement from a joint Rwandan-DR Congo military operation said Friday. The statement said Nkunda was captured Thursday evening when he was fleeing to neighbouring Rwanda.

January 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo has conferred his country's highest civilian award on Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma for forging close ties between India and Africa. Sharma, who visited Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast Jan 12-15, was given the award 'in recognition of his distinct role in strengthening India's relationship with Ivory Coast and the African continent'.

January 9th, 2009 CHENNAI - Mauritius will join South Africa in calling for India to have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. That was the firm view of the Mauritian President of the Global Organisation for People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) Mahendra Utchanah.

December 22nd, 2008 DUBAI - India reclaimed the second position from South Africa in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship after their 1-0 win in the two-match series against England in Mohali Tuesday. India won the first Test in Chennai by six wickets and drew the second to earn two ratings points and go ahead of South Africa in second, a position it had briefly enjoyed after its 2-0 home series victory over Australia recently.