by Bjoern Amland

OSLO, Norway (AP)—The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three champions of women’s rights in Africa and the Middle East on Friday in an attempt to bolster the role of women in struggles to bring democracy to nations suffering from autocratic rule and civil strife.

RIGHTS CHAMPIONS—Africa’s first democratically elected female president, a Liberian peace activist and a woman who stood up to Yemen’s authoritarian regime won the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 7, for their work to secure women’s rights. Seen from left: Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. (AP Photo)

The Norwegian Nobel Committee split the prize between Tawakkul Karman, a leader of anti-government protests in Yemen; Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman to win a free presidential election in Africa; and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, who campaigned against the use of rape as a weapon in her country’s brutal civil war.

by Frank Bajak

SAN LUIS DE CANETE, Peru (AP)—Elementary school students serenade Susana Baca in this former sugar cane-milling town where both she and Peru’s slave trade are rooted.

One girl recites a paean to Baca, and five other children tap a complex rhythm on boxes known as cajones, a legacy of Africans brought in chains to harvest sugar cane in this fertile river valley. The library of the humble school is being dedicated to the 67-year-old diva, herself living proof of Afro-Peruvians’ enduring struggle.

BAREFOOT DIVA—In this photo taken Sept. 11, Peru’s Culture Minister and singer Susana Baca dances barefoot during a benefit concert in Lima, Peru.

The gracious, elegant Baca is not just Peru’s best-known musician but also the Andean country’s first Black Cabinet minister.

She accepted the offer to join President Ollanta Humala’s government in July, and says she’s determined to end the discrimination that has long made second-class citizens not just of Blacks but also of Peru’s indigenous.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)—Kenya's former president called her a mad woman. Seen as a threat to the rich and powerful, Wangari Maathai was beaten, arrested and vilified for the simple act of planting a tree, a natural wonder Maathai believed could reduce poverty and conflict.

WORKING FOR PEACE—In this Aug. 28, 2006 photo, Wangari Maathai, Noble Peace Laureate and conservation heroine, right, is seen with then-Sen. Barrack Obama in Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Sayyid Abdul Azim, File)

(NNPA)—The daggers are starting to come out between the U.S. and China as the Asian giant displaces the U.S. as Africa’s number one trading partner.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at a recent forum on trade in Zambia, made slighting references to China’s growing African role.

“We are concerned that China’s foreign assistance and investment practices in Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international norms of transparency and good governance,” she said.  “(China) has not always utilized the talents of the African people in pursuing its business interests.”

“It is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave.  And, when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there,” Clinton continued.