A clown´s death

Today´s words should not go beyond Aleppo, Syria. The civilian population in some areas of the city is being targeted and indiscriminately killed. The atrocities have reached a new level of savagery these last few days. Some of the most emblematic civilians died during this last series of bombardments. Including the 24-year-old Anas al-Basha, a young man who has kept many besieged children happy as he played the clown in between the falling bombs. Yesterday, one of those missiles fell on him. It came from the Assad men. So other people say it was a Russian plane´s job. The fact of the matter is that his death and that of many children, men and women should not be allowed to go silent any longer. 

Boko Haram requires a powerful and urgent response

At the very beginning of the year my magazine´s editor-in-chief at Visão asked me to write about Africa in 2015. I did. And I spent most of the allocated space focusing on Nigeria, as the country to watch this year. Within Nigeria, the key issue I mentioned was of course Boko Haram. I also said that Boko Haram would be spreading out towards the neighbouring countries. And that´s very much the case today. This terrorist group is not only a major threat to the stability of Nigeria, It is also a serious menace for Niger, Cameron and Chad. As such, it calls for a major international alliance to deal with it. The sooner the international community addresses this very serious problem the better. Nigeria can´t do it. And Chad alone, notwithstanding the strength of its armed forces, is not enough. 

Fashion, peace and love

Copyright V.Ângelo

Peace and love are back in Sierra Leone, West Africa. And the fashion houses, like this one in Makeni, the headquarters town of the Northern Province, are pretty busy. Creativity is part of building a more democratic and stable society and country.

Sierra Leone and the international community have a major challenge: the fashion of peace needs deeper roots. The dividends of peace are yet to fully marry the democratic dispensation.

Protecting refugee children

Copyright V.Angelo


Darfuri children in Eastern Chad need protection against violence, forced recruitments into armed groups and very harsh living conditions. They also need the Sudanese education ministry to accept and recognise the academic degrees obtained by the school children in the refugee camps. As such, once they are back in Sudan, after a peace process, their qualifications for a better life are fully accepted.