Leaders of an African nation have sent a letter to Sony executives demanding an apology for the way Nigerians and other Africans were depicted in District 9, one of this year’s blockbuster summer movies.

From the Associated Press

“Information Minister Dora Akunyili has asked movie houses in the capital of Abuja to stop screening “District 9″ because the South Africa-based sci-fi movie about aliens and discrimination makes Nigerians look bad.

We have directed that they should stop public screening of the film,” she said. “We are not happy about it because it portrays Nigeria in bad light.”

Nigerian officials are offended by the barbaric and cannibalistic behaviors in the film portrayed by Africans.  As of today Sony officials have not responded to the letter.

While the movie was released in North America in August it was released in Africa a few days ago.  The objections to the film are growing as a Facebook Group, Nigerians Offended By District 9, has more than 630 members

The founder of the group also created a video explaining his cause.

Representatives from African, Asian and the Caribbean nations reeling from the worldwide economic crisis met at the U.N. headquarters in New York to make a plea. At the meeting the officials asked wealthy countries, who they say are to blame for the bad economy in the first place, to help out struggling nations financially. Money from exports have decreased and migrant workers don’t send as much money home as they used to, representatives said at the conference, reports the BBC. Poorer nations need “specific arrangements for the flow of resources to our governments,” said Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who spoke for the Caribbean. There were mostly Latin American and Caribbean presidents and prime ministers at the conference, which was set up allow undeveloped countries voice their concerns, the BBC reports.

The HIV and AIDS rate in the nation’s capital has reached alarming heights, according to a report released by the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration.
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Global Economic Crisis Will Cost Africa Billions By the end of 2009, Africa’s economy stands to lose up to $49 billion due to the global economic crisis, according to research from ActionAid. Almost half of the amount –$27 billion – is due to a drop in foreign aid, earnings from exports and money from richer nations who are struggling through recession, reports the BBC. “Although developing countries didn’t make this crisis, it has become all too clear that they are in the firing line when it comes to suffering its worst effects,” said an ActionAid official. Countries that were making progress in recent years could start to backslide. “There is a real risk that development will start to go backwards in many countries as the money dries up and that the recession will lead to worsening poverty and terrible consequences for the men, women and children caught in its grip.” The country set to suffer the most is South Africa, the report says, because of the drop in foreign income.

U.S. AIDS Program Did Wonders in Guyana Guyana’s AIDS prevention program, sponsored by the United States, has helped cut the nation’s HIV rate by almost 2 percent, according to the government. The Caribbean nation’s infection rate dropped down from almost 3 percent to about 1 percent, reports the BBC. The government has been able to monitor the program’s success by testing almost half of the nation. The numbers prompted one of the nation’s health officials to call the program, which started five years ago and is headed up by the U.S. Agency for International Development, a “huge success story.” The program, which cost $20 million, focused on both awareness and prevention.

 Resonates in Motherland
On Election Day, thousands of miles away in Kenya, a group of international visitors vacationing at a coastal resort put their holiday plans on hold to watch and wait for election results.  The same may happen on Tuesday when President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president.

Obama Says the Color of Money is Green
President-elect Barack Obama, still glowing from the vote of confidence he got from Congress on Thursday, made it clear that he’d be working overtime to get America’s feeble economy back on the right track.

 For the first time – thanks to a new free Internet site – African-Americans can explore their African roots the way Whites have long been able to chart their migration from Europe. It took four decades for the hundreds of scholars to create the site, Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database,” which allows those who are curious about their heritage to trace the routes that slave ships took after filling their hulls with tens of millions of kidnapped Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries and transporting them to the so-called New World. Get the details here.

American nurses specially trained in HIV/AIDS care are heading to Africa to assist that continent’s overworked medical staffs, allAfrica.com reports. Under the Nurses Strengthening Our AIDS Response (SOAR) program, nurses join forces from the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies in Washington, the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the Duke University School of Nursing in North Carolina, the Catholic Medical Mission Board in New York and health care organizations throughout Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland. The purpose of Nurses SOAR is to strengthen nurses’ capacity to deliver HIV/AIDS services by building the leadership skills of nurses, building communities of self-care, building HIV/AIDS knowledge and clinical skills, and emphasizing applying the knowledge in clinical nursing care. In 2007, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 75 percent of AIDS deaths and 67 percent of people living with HIV, according to the United Nations’ biennial report on HIV/AIDS. Much of the burden of caring for the stricken has fallen to nurses.

 Rebels from Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) are to blame for a church massacre the day after Christmas that left 45 people butchered, according to the Ugandan army. A spokesman for the LRA, however, says the group had nothing to do with the killings. The horrific attack happened in a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The aftermath was “horrendous … dead bodies of mostly women and children cut into pieces,” said Capt. Chris Magezi. At least 189 people were killed as a result of attacks in Congo just last week, according to the United Nations. The LRA has been involved with peace talks with the Ugandan government (sponsored by the South Sudanese government) for a long time. But the two sides haven’t been able to agree on terms. LRA head Joseph Kony, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, will not sign a deal until his arrest warrants and his fellow LRA members warrants are dropped.

Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf announced on Monday that he is stepping down. His surrender comes at a hectic time as Ethiopian troops, who have been in the country to help support the government, are due to leave this week. Government troops only have control of parts of Mogadishu and Baidoa, while Islamist and nationalist groups rule most of the southern part of the nation, reports the BBC.  Not to mention the country’s Parliament backed Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who President Yusuf had tried to fire. During his speech in front of Parliament and broadcast throughout the nation on radio, Yusuf said he has failed as a leader. “As I promised when you elected me on Oct. 14, 2004, I would stand down if I failed to fulfill my duty. I have decided to return the responsibility you gave me.” He added that he wanted to leave so he wouldn’t be a “stumbling block to the peace process.” The country’s Parliament speaker will assume his responsibilities.

South African teen killer is sentenced. The White South African teen who went on a shooting spree that killed four people in a Black neighborhood was sentenced to four life terms in prison Friday, reports CNN. Two adults and two children, one three months old, the other 10 years old, were murdered during the spree, while the teen reportedly shouted racist slurs. Johan Nel was sentenced to 68 years for 11 counts of attempted murder, five years for possessing a firearm and three years for possessing ammunition, said Nell’s attorney, Frikkie Pretorius.  “I respect the court’s decision, [but] we are going to appeal,” Pretorius told CNN. “We believe there is a possibility that the court made a mistake.” Nel, who is now 19 but was 18 when he committed the crimes, confessed and pleaded guilty to the killings, so he wouldn’t have to stand trial, he said. But there were “compelling circumstances” the court didn’t consider, Pertorius said. The fact that Nel was home-schooled and didn’t learn how to socialize with Black children played a role in the crime, he said. A psychologist examined Nel and found he’s competent to stand trial, though. And the Congress of South African Trade Unions agreed with the sentencing. “No lesser sentence could possibly have been given for such an appalling crime, motivated purely by racist obsessions, for which there can be absolutely no mitigating circumstances,” a spokesman for the group said in a written statement. “COSATU agrees with the judge that there is no place for racially motivated violence in a democratic South Africa,” he said. The judge and prosecutor reportedly got death threats from people who hoped to stop them from giving Nel life sentences.
MTV holds its first African awards ceremony. MTV held its first award ceremony dedicated to Africans this weekend, reports the BBC. The MTV Africa Music Awards (the MAMAs) were held in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, and Nigerians dominated, winning six out of the 10 awards. Nigerian rapper D’banj won the artist of the year award and best male award; another Nigerian rapper, Naeto C won best new act; and 9ice took home the best hip-hop award. A Kenyan singer, Wahu, won the award for best female act. American acts, such as Rapper The Game, Flo-rida and singer Kelly Rowland hit the stage to perform during the ceremony. And U.S. artists, such as Lil Wayne and Alicia Keys, were also nominated in different categories, even though it was an African ceremony. The legend award went to Fela Kuti, the late Nigerian who spearheaded the Afrobeat movement. Kuti’s children accepted the award in his honor. “We’ll keep it in our house, and when the time comes then we’ll take it to him,” they said. The late South African singer Miriam Makeba, “Mama Africa,” was also honored during the ceremony. Winners of the awards were selected by fans who sent text messages.