⁣How to prune - Canopy management for Mango.

Somalia's modern history is a tale of independence, prosperity and democracy in the 1960s, military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s - followed by a desperate decline into civil war and chaos almost ever since.

The effect of the war has been to scatter the Somali people in their millions to refugee camps and neighbouring countries - and in their hundreds of thousands to the UK, Canada and the United States.

Somalia gained independence from Britain and Italy in 1960. It held free and fair elections and was ruled democratically from 1960 to 1969.

Once labelled the "Switzerland of Africa", Somalia enjoyed almost a decade of democracy. The first elected president of Somalia, uniting the former British and Italian territories, was Adam Abdullah Osman who reigned for seven years. He was succeeded, freely and peacefully, by Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.

Sharmarke, however, was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in 1969.

Speaker of the Somali Parliament Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein took over, but his brief, six-day tenure was cut short by a military coup led by General Siad Barre, ending Somalia's period of democratic government.

Whatever its faults - and there were many - Barre's 22-year rule effectively created modern Somalia, building one of Africa's strongest armies and massively improving the literacy of the population.

Yet Barre, who gained the support of the US and the Soviet Union, the superpowers of the day, also dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution, banned political parties, arrested politicians and curbed press freedom.

"From then, there was a downward trend. In everything. A disintegration. And every time things were going down, the military regime was becoming more brutal and more dictatorial," says Jama Mohamed Ghalib, a former Somali government minister.

But when Barre launched the Ogaden war in 1977 to take the Somali majority region from Ethiopia, it provoked serious international opposition, including that of the Soviet Union which had once supported Barre but now sided with Ethiopia. The Somali army was forced to withdraw.

But the other long-lasting outcome was civil war, with myriad competing factions and frequent intervention by foreign powers and neighbouring countries.

In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union split into several factions, one of which was Al Shabab. The radical group still controls large parts of the south of the country today.

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⁣Diamonds from Guinea - Documentary of Patrick Voillot

This film takes you on a dangerous and perilous adventure, penetrating a region Conakry,⁣ Guinea which is on the borders of Liberia and Sierra Leone.This region, frequently traversed by armed militia, is extremely rich in diamonds of great value since sixty percent of them can be utilized in jewelry.The diamonds are extracted in an artisanal fashion near a town called Banankoro, where the religious fervour of its inhabitants is equaled only by their passion for diamonds and its trade.You will see the bitter transactions between the miners and their bosses referred to in this country as « mastar ».You will follow the collectors on their dangerous route taking the precious stones to Conakry.You will participate in the tough negotiations between the transporters and the merchants of the capital city. All this takes place in a tense atmosphere under heavy armed protection, when thousands of carats will pass before your eyes.The final destination of these diamonds is Antwerp. You will get a rare chance to see the “Rainbow Collection” belonging to Eddy Elsas, consisting of dozens of coloured diamonds.Then in London you will learn the secrets of the De Beers building, one of the best protected places in the world, through which transits more than half of the world’s production of diamonds.The jeweler Mouawad will let you into his world to show you his famous diamonds whose prices defy belief - several million dollars – and in particular a handbag fully inlaid with white and pink diamonds, unique in the world.

LANGUAGE OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENTDecolonization vs The Creation of Uncolonizable Spaces: Distractions, Diversions, (Mis-)Diagnoses and the Theory of Aggressive Ideological MimicryNana Kwame Pɛbi Date I, Okunini Ọbádélé Bakari Kambon

⁣How the British Managed to Rule India

Last December, an Al Jazeera network investigation examined shocking claims that the government of Kenya has been running secret police death squads, tasked with assassinating suspected terrorists and criminals. At the time the Kenyan government strongly refuted the allegations but reports and rumours in Kenya about extra-judicial killings have continued to proliferate.

Ten months on, People and Power asked Mohammed Ali, one of Kenya’s top independent investigative journalists, to find out why.

In this deeply worrying film, Ali discovers that mysterious killings are indeed continuing amid a culture of apparent impunity, leaving Kenyan security forces open to suspicions that they are unaccountable and seemingly out of control.

He discovers that over 1,500 Kenyan citizens have been killed by the police since 2009, and that statistically, Kenyans are currently five times more likely to be shot by a policeman than a criminal.

With often little or no investigation by the Kenyan state into the circumstances surrounding these deaths, he finds evidence to suggest that an increasing number of Kenyan police officers may be complicit in what have been described as summary executions of suspects.

Even the Kenyan army, seen by most Kenyans as less corrupt and more trustworthy than the police, is now allegedly implicated in the torture and forced disappearance of terror suspects in the country’s northeastern region.

This film contains graphic images of violence and its aftermath that some viewers may find disturbing.

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Film by Nidhi Dutt and Daniel Boaden

People & Power investigates the environmental consequences of palm oil plantations in equatorial Africa.

There are few products so ubiquitous as palm oil. You can find its derivatives in chocolate, shampoo, toothpaste, detergent, ice cream, floor polish and a host of other products filling supermarket shelves.

Extracted from the fruit of the tropically-grown oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis), it has become so versatile and sought after that the growing economies of Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's two largest producers, make some $40bn a year from its production and export.

Given that by 2020 global demand for palm oil is expected to double and then triple by 2050, it is no wonder that other developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan West Africa where the tree originates, have been looking enviously at Southeast Asia and hoping to emulate that success.

But palm oil cultivation does not come cost-free. If not done sustainably, say conservationists, it can have disastrous consequences for people and the environment. In Indonesia, for example, it has played a major role in deforestation which has seen the loss of more than 6 million hectares of primary forest over the last 15 years.

As rainforests are home to least half of this planet's species of plants, animals and insects, the negative impact on global biodiversity can only be imagined. In addition, indigenous communities are also destroyed as people who have lived happily off the forest's resources for generations, often do not own the land (at least not in a form recognised by governments, corporations and their lawyers) and are frequently displaced to make way for new plantations.

Boosting Cameroon's economy
It is against this background that the Central and West African state of Cameroon has been trying to get a palm oil industry off - or rather into - the ground. Its President Paul Biya, who has held office since 1982, has been looking for ways to give Cameroon's economy a boost.

His country is not as poverty-stricken as some on the continent. It has some modest oil resources and favourable conditions for agriculture and is comparatively stable politically, but it is not immune from many of the problems associated with developing nations, from chronically high unemployment and an inequitable distribution of income to corruption and inadequate public infrastructure.

Cameroon is also over-reliant on imports, which makes it susceptible to rising prices and food insecurity. According to the UN, more than 40 percent of the population are living under the poverty line, while over one-third of its children are suffering from chronic malnutrition.

Palm oil then, would seem to offer good prospects for additional growth. The tree is native to the region and the climate is perfect for its cultivation. And of course, there are plenty of international agribusiness conglomerates looking for suitable places in West Africa in which to replicate the stellar profits enjoyed by the industry in Asia.

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⁣Kwame Ture: Revolutionary Without An Organization

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," is the theme of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's episode. Dr. King, who sprang into national prominence for his leadership of the Montgomery, Alabama, segregated bus boycott, is interviewed by Negro lawyer and Minneapolis civic leader Municipal Court Judge L. Howard Bennet. The two men discuss in detail the struggle which still faces the American Negro in his effort for equal treatment.

Bamboo: an undeveloped resource and Africa's green gold.

Experts from Ethiopia on why the country needs to do more to develop this valuable giant grass. Fast-growing, sustainable and versatile, this incredible plant has a lot to offer the country.

This video was produced by Asehnafi Lakew Manila and INBAR's East Africa Regional Office.

The International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation, or INBAR, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting the use of bamboo and rattan for inclusive, green development. We research and strengthen the global knowledge base for bamboo and rattan and raise awareness of their use for:

♣Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
♣Land Restoration
♣Poverty Alleviation
♣South-South Cooperation
♣Sustainable, Affordable Construction
♣Accessible, Green Energy.

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