From information supplied by Rowan Tilly . When The Gambia's National Intelligence Agency, acting on a tip-off, swooped on the head post office in the capital, Banjul, it was not for mail tampering, suspected sabotage or interference with government documents. No, the NIA was there to pick up three young women for skin bleaching. Skin-bleaching creams which can permanently damage skin are a problem in other African nations too. But the logic of putting women in prison for their use seems a mite too single-minded.
Women bleach mainly because of social perceptions that lighter skins are more attractive.
Oily clique Equatorial Guinea will become the 'Kuwait of Africa', the country's government has promised, as Mobil Oil prepares to pump oil out of the local seabed. Far from filling the tiny country's coffers, critics argue, the wealth will probably accumulate around President Teodoro Obiang and his ruling clique. No 5 On the up Virtual-reality methods are being used for psychiatric therapies dealing with problems as varied as sex offences, fear of heights and fear of flying. For them a virtual environment has been constructed which includes a virtual hotel with open elevators which takes the patients up 49 storeys with series of ever scarier balconies. After weeks of the treatment, most reported a dramatic drop in anxiety concerning height.