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Mr Annan has just ended a tour of the region in which he visited refugees camps in Chad, neighbouring Darfur.

He called upon Sudan’s government to disarm the Arab militias accused of online dating vancouver
the area’s inhabitants.

But a adult agency dating in online uk
for Human Rights Watch told the BBC Sudan’s government “rarely ever” honours its promises.

“Their track record is very poor. They prefer to promise… and later go to do whatever they set out to do to begin with,” Jemera Rone told the World Today programme.

The UN has warned tens of thousands of refugees could die from famine and disease unless allowed to return home.

‘Mid-July talks’

The World Health Organisation said at least 10,000 refugees face death from diseases such as cholera, malaria and dysentery, as the rainy season arrives in July.

There is not enough food, water or medicine in the refugee camps

Some one million people have fled their homes in the Darfur region and at least 10,000 have already died in a conflict in which the Janjaweed Arab militia has been accused of “ethnic cleansing”.

Separately, a 15 July date has been set for negotiations between the warring groups in the Darfur region, according to the president of the African Union, quoted by Agence France Presse.

Alpha Oumar Konare said talks between rebels and the Khartoum government would take place in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Joint statement

Mr Annan called for the Sudanese Prime Minister, Omar al-Bashir, to take swift action by disarming the Janjaweed and ensuring refugees can receive aid and return home.

“My message is simple,” he said, “violence must stop.”

He said Mr Bashir had promised to tackle the problem and would agree a joint statement with the UN, to be issued on Saturday.

Sudan’s foreign minister has said some 6,000 soldiers and policemen will be despatched to improve security in Darfur but did not specify when this would happen.

Aid Dating ethnic site

The UN Secretary General has this week visiting some of the 120,000 who have fled Darfur for neighbouring Chad.

They took men and slit their throats with swords. The women they took as concubines Zahara, 20 Aid worker’s diary

During this week’s high-profile visits to Darfur by Mr Annan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Sudan government promised to rein in the Janjaweed militias.

Mr Powell warned that the UN Security Council could act if the violence continued. He said the government must take action “within days or weeks”.

Senior Sudanese officials have denied that the militia is being backed by the government.

Emergency United Nations Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said that getting help to Darfur, an area the size of France with few roads and little infrastructure was “one of the biggest logistical nightmares in the history of humanitarian assistance”.

“We’ve doubled our presence in Darfur over the last five weeks and we will double again in the next five weeks, but we still need to triple it,” he said.

Camp closed

In Zam Zam camp near the North Darfur capital, El Fasher, Mr Annan sat in a circle with refugees, listening to them explain why they could not return to their homes.

“First the planes were flying over us and bombing us. Then the Janjaweed came,” said Zahara, 20.

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“They started to shoot and burn. They took all our belongings. They took men and slit their throats with swords. The women they took as concubines,” she said.

Mr Annan promised that refugees would not be forced to return home.

However, when he visited another camp, Meshtel, he found that the 3,000 people had been moved on - after UN officials had visited the night before.

“Where are the people?” the New York Times quotes Mr Annan as asking.

Sudanese official Al Noor Muhammad Ibrahim said they had been moved because conditions there were so bad but denied it was an attempt to hide the truth from the UN chief.

When Beatrice Ayacko left Kenya for a three-week stay in Italy, she was not about to be impressed by the food of a country that is commonly considered to have one of the world’s finest cuisines.

She packed her case with maize flour so that she could cook her beloved ugali, and pined for sukuma wiki - Kenyan greens prepared with onion and garlic.

But there are signs that the loyalty to African food exemplified by Beatrice is being eroded.

Western food, and, in particular fast food like burgers, is gaining popularity in Africa. In many African cities it is considered sophisticated to eat at one of the increasing number of fast food joints.

In Accra’s main commercial street, Osu, Nandos, Steers and the local fried chicken restaurant, Papaye, are full of mostly young people every night of the week.

Arriving in Blantyre, Malawi, a British visitor recently wanted to sample the local food.

She says she was taken from one fried chicken shop to the next.

“It was as though my Malawian host thought that only this fatty fast food was good enough to offer his guest”.

Are Africans succumbing to a new form of culinary imperialism?

Or, should we accept that life is too short to pound fufu (cassava flour)?

Write to us with your views on this subject which we are debating on Africa Live on Wednesday 26 November at 1630 and 1830 GMT.

Use the form on the right to send us your comments, some of which will be published below.

If you would like to take part in the radio discussion, e-mail us with your telephone number, which will not be published.

Your comments:

It would be a pity if local foods lost out to Western fast foods. Travel would no longer mean being exposed to new and exciting dishes. It will happen only if the local market demands it. Without customers, the Western fast food will not succeed. It is a matter of individual choice, is it not?
Jerome E. Pasela, U.S.A.

Is Beatrice Ayacko’s beloved ugali not made from cassava, which comes from Brazil? Is maize from which the Southern African staple pap/putu/sadza/nshima, not from America? Is Jollof rice not originally from Asia? And is an English cuppa tea not something from China or Sri Lanka? Really, Africa must stamp out all forms of imperialism dating back to the beginnings of time. Let’s ring fence the continent and become one almighty game reserve and fly the flag of dating ethnic such as Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe.

Guy, SA

Well, I think people just need to experience change but we should not forget about our good food rich in minerals and variety. I will tell you that a week does not pass without me eating nsima (Chichewa name for ugali in Swahili). Come on people, let us take pride in our food and culture.
Lynda, Australia

Africans are just excited about trying some new dishes, especially Western dishes that they see in movies and magazines. But soon they’ll realize that African food is still the best for us, keeps us healthy and strong.
Dennis Maypole, Tanzania

I think that it’s important to recognize that none of the restaurants mentioned in this article are American- or British-owned. All of these are locally owned restaurants and chains that offer foreign food.
David Gordon, Atlanta, GA

It is the very worst enemy of Africa who declares this to be “cultural imperialism” and in so doing, entrenches the victim mentality. Fast foods are the hit everywhere in the world and they’re in Africa because of African consumer choice. They’ll only disappear when Africans decide for themselves that they’re the cause of ill health and the very same outlets will then cater for the next trend, be it healthier food with global or specifically African origins.
Get a life, Johannesburg, South Africa

As an American living in Albany NY I have so many options. I can purchase Caribbean, African, Russian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Mexican, and Chinese food without even travelling one mile. Westerners are not destroying local food, they are offering western food to locals. It tastes good, and people eat it. Quality cuisine will survive despite McDonalds showing up.
Rob NY, USA

Firstly I’m not sure what class of people you’re talking about who consider eating a burger as “sophisticated”! Definitely not the many Africans I know and have met around the world!! At the moment in Zambia there is actually a very big craze for Zambian food outlets. By the way fried chicken is not Western - it’s very universal! EVEN TRADITIONALLY!
Martha Banda, Zambia

Oh please! Food is food! Here in Canada, my friends and I go to different types of restaurants, whether they are fast food, Chinese or Indian. It does not matter as long as we get to taste and enjoy the delicacies. Some people’s taste buds may demand a certain type or food while others crave for variety. Do not get food mixed up with some sort of a cultural imperialism conspiracy.
Sitar, Canada

Ed from Ghana is right that cooking half the day is unproductive and we all save time with fast foods. However, burgers and fries don’t have to be the only fast foods! In Boston there are a lot of places where I can buy Chinese or Indian or Mexican or Greek food quickly (and one of the Chinese places sells fried plantains too). Perhaps fast African dishes would sell well too?
Liz, USA

Yes, unfortunately people in Africa think it is hip to eat at such places. Aside from diseases and the waist-lines, the cost is higher than that of African foods which are more organic and well prepared. Most African food contains less saturated fat and less meat. African foods consist of more greens and fish. Africa needs a lot of help to save its people from cultural imperialism.
Alberta Darko, United States

With globalisation, it is inevitable that tastes in music, fashion, and eating, will cross cultural issues. There is nothing wrong with ‘fast foods’. We have to devise ways of making our local foods ‘fast’ to meet the demands of our modern economy. And that means harnessing technology. In my country Ghana, we still prepare fufu the way our ancestors did 300 years ago - laborious pounding using pestle and mortar. What a waste!!
Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng, Ghanaian in UK

It is a shame…..as Africans western food to some extent is colonising the weak “wanna be white” black Africans. You will never see a food outlet selling African food in the West. The root cause of the problem is the politicians.
Tonderai, Zimbabwe

Among other reasons, the increased popularity of Western food in Africa portrays the inadequacy or the failure of the restaurant and food industry to effectively develop new cuisines and improved current food offerings in the market place. In this day and age, “fast food cultural imperialism” may happen only because local ethnic dating are not able, or fail, to meet the challenges or opportunities in the market place.
Albert Lutterodt, USA

I ‘d rather feast on sukuma wiki and ugali rather than enter a fast food eatery. I believe that there are Africans - (in and outside of Africa) who have succumbed to the American form of culinary imperialism.
Mercy Nyeri, Scotland

Are Africans succumbing to a new form of culinary imperialism? No, they are not. If there is any form of imperialism to which Africans are succumbing, it is an economic form of imperialism. Most African countries have started liberalising their economies. With such open markets come increased disposable income and cultural integration. Both of these have a significant effect of presenting a wider choice to a population regarding their lifestyles, including the choice of basic home products like food. This is what is happening not just in Africa but also in a number of other developing nations.
Given Chansa, United Kingdom

Well maybe it is, maybe it is not. Either way it is a choice made by people. I think it is very misleading to describe a free choice by young people as “cultural Imperialism”. London has African restaurants, African music and African culture. No one describes that as imperialism.
Nigel, Taiwan

I agree that many African city dwellers think eating fast food is “cool”. But I am confident that African cuisine will prevail. Ethiopian food, for example, has invaded many western countries. Most Ethiopians in the Diaspora eat “Injera”, an Ethiopian flat bread that will eventually take its place in western dictionaries. I hope other African countries will introduce their delicious cuisine to foreign countries.
Kilfle, Ethiopian, USA

The advent of fast food chains in Africa should serve as a challenge to local restaurants to step up their game. It’s all a matter of economics and choice. The fast food joints have broken onto the scene with glass and chrome settings. Of course people would be attracted - especially the youth - but I honestly do not think that they are necessarily a threat to local independent caterers
Kobby, USA/Ghana

This should surprise no one…..as we learn to be more productive, we must necessarily change certain habits - in particular those that take most of our time. Clearly, a family that spends half of their day cooking cannot be productive. As more women are enter the labour force, who will be doing the cooking at home. The African man? I don’t see it in my lifetime. We all save time with fast foods.
Ed, Ghana

Africa is not the first or the last nation to come under food “colonialism”. It is just very sad that western food is considered to be a better and cooler alternative to ethnic food in so many countries, when it almost certainly is not.
Ishani Banerji, India

I feel it is unfair to say that all of these fast food places are serving American food. Fried chicken is sold at the local market and on the streets by the same women that sell fried yams. Do you think that American fast food is more unhealthy than fried yams or Red (fried plantains and beans cooked in oil)? Is diet full of starch and oil that much better than one full of oil and meat?
Beth, USA/Ghana

In most restaurants, they offer burgers and fried chicken which are spicy and good tasting…that’s what most people go for over lunch and may be on Sundays after church because they do not have the time to cook. But for dinner in most African homes, traditional food is what is served.
Esther, Kenya

Just like toxic waste and tobacco, Western dating online services uk see Africa as an easy dumping ground where the people are worth less than their white counterparts in the West. It is a sign of the cynicism of capitalism and the greed imposed ignorance of politicians in both the African and western nations that they are unwilling to confront these dollar vultures.
Owen Llewellyn, England

There is always a tendency in most African countries to impress Western visitors by showing them how modern we are. But most Africans living in West have overcome this and instead have developed better appreciation of the richness of our local African dishes, which are mostly unprocessed, and rich in complex free online game adult dating. This is evident in the number of African restaurants springing up everywhere in major cities with large African populations in the US.
Ralph Dema, Nigeria/USA

Its been like that for years - deep fried chicken and burgers were very popular amongst African university students many years ago! We in the Diaspora struggle to find the right ingredients to make good African food! (Yellow maize meal is not “right”, and semolina does not cook as well).
Joe Mandebvu, Australia

Hundreds of villages were depopulated and razed to the ground. Chemical weapons were also used.

Eyewitness accounts, documents seized from Iraqi security organs during the post-1991 Gulf War uprising and ethnic dating site gathered by free online dating
human rights groups indicate that up to 182,000 people were killed.

Gassing Kurds in Halabja in 1988

In August 1988, during the Anfal campaign, Iraqi forces attacked the Kurdish town of Halabja with bombs containing a mixture of mustard and nerve gases.

An estimated 5,000 civilians, including women, children and babies, were killed in a single day.

Gen Majid ordered the attack, earning the notorious epithet Chemical Ali.

Invasion of Kuwait, 1990

In August 1990 Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi troops into Kuwait, which led to the Gulf War in January 1991.

Iraqi soldiers are alleged to have tortured and summarily executed prisoners and to have looted Kuwait City and taken hundreds of Kuwaiti captives back to Baghdad.

Iraqi soldiers also set light to more than 700 oil wells and opened pipelines to let oil pour into the Gulf and other water sources.

Crushing the Kurdish and Shia rebellions after the 1991 Gulf War

After the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein took revenge on the northern Kurds and Shia Muslims in southern Iraq, who rose up against the regime.

The Iraqi army suppressed the uprisings using massive military force and drained the southern marsh lands which had sustained a way of life dating back around 5,000 years.

Their habitat destroyed, many of the indigenous Arabs fled to surrounding countries.

Evidence has emerged of 270 mass graves across Iraq which are believed to hold the remains of possibly tens of thousands of people.

The UN Most popular online dating on Human Rights condemned the Iraqi regime in 2001 for “widespread, systematic torture and the maintaining of decrees prescribing cruel and inhuman punishment as a penalty for offences”.

Thousands of Shia Muslims arrested on charges of supporting the 1979 Iranian Revolution have never been accounted for.

Massacre of members of the Kurdish Barzani tribe in 1983

In July 1983, Iraqi security forces arrested about 8,000 male members of the Barzani clan in the northern province of Arbil. They were dating ethnic to southern Iraq and have not been heard of since.

Killing of religious leaders in 1974

In July 1974, the Iraqi regime arrested dozens of Shia religious leaders, and executed five of them.

A US study found parents who were married or living together before conception were slightly more likely to have a boy than those who were not.

The study, by the US National Bureau of Economic Research, is based on data from 86,436 births.

Details are published in Proceedings of The Royal Society.

The finding supports a biological theory that predicts that offspring sex might vary according to environmental conditions. Dr Karen Norberg

Overall, the study found that 51.5% of babies born to couples living together at the time of conception were boys, compared to 49.9% among parents who were not.

Although this might seem like a small difference, it is actually statistically highly significant when considered across a whole population.

When the researchers looked at brothers and sisters, they found that couples who were living together before conception were 14% more likely to have a male child than when they were not.

The researchers say their finding could explain the fall in the proportion of male births in some developed countries over the past 30 years.

Previous research has suggested that women who are not in stable, monogamous relationships might be less likely to give birth to boys.

There are reports dating back to the 19th Century of a lower percentage of boys being born to women who were not married.

And studies in modern Kenya have found a similar trait among polygynously married women.

Male embryos are less robust than their female ethnic dating, and so require a greater degree of nurturing through pregnancy if they are to survive to full term.

It may be that a woman who is in a stable relationship may be in a better position to provide this care.

Wide sampling

Researcher Dr Karen Norberg told BBC News she found the same effect in five separate US samples, representing births spanning a 40 year period of time and a great diversity of ethnic and social russian online dating.

She said: “The finding supports a biological theory that predicts that offspring sex might vary according to environmental conditions, if these conditions have different effects on sons and daughters.

“There are several possible mechanisms that could explain the effect. Factors operating at conception could include the mother’s or father’s hormone status, or the timing or frequency of intercourse; factors operating later in pregnancy could result in sex biases in risk of miscarriage.”

Professor Andrew Reid, spokesman for the British Society for Human Genetics, told BBC News that in the general population it was thought that roughly 106 boys were born for every 100 girls.

“It is thought this is nature’s way of compensating for the fact that boys are more likely to die in infancy because there are genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy which almost entirely affect boys,” he said.

Professor Reid said it was possible that the reason for the difference dating online services uk in the study was that people who do not live together tended to have intercourse at different times to those who do.

It is known that children who are conceived from intercourse that occurs exactly on the day of ovulation are more likely to be sons than children who are conceived from intercourse two to four days before ovulation.