BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil has told a summit of West African leaders that his country is determined to increase its unity with Africa. President Lula is on his last visit to the continent before he steps down later this year. James Reed reports.
During his 8 years in power, Brazil’s commerce with the continent has quadrupled with big investment in mining, agriculture and infrastructure development. At the summit in Cape Verde, Lula said Brazil could never repay its historic debt to Africa - the ancestral home of millions of Brazilians who are descended from slaves. But he said his successor had a “moral duty” to increase trade and investment as well as the transfer of technology. Brazil’s links with Portuguese-speaking African nations are long standing, but its influence is growing throughout the continent.
Cuban doctors treating a political dissident who’s on hunger strike say he is in danger of dying despite their efforts to keep him alive. The dissident Guillermo Farinas has been refusing food to demand the release of jailed dissidents who are ill. The news was reported in Cuban state media who usually ignore dissident protests. From Havana, Michael Voss.
Saturday’s article in the official newspaper Granma appears to be aimed at defusing international criticism should the hunger striker Guillermo Farinas die. He’s refused to eat or drink since February 24th, the day after the death of another hunger striker, the jailed dissident Orlando Zapata. Mr Farinas, a 48-year-old psychologist, has been in hospital on a drip feed for several weeks. His lead doctor, Armando Caballero, told Granma that he’s in danger of dying from a blood clot in his neck.