On Monday 14 April 2008, Uganda's former Chief Scout, Hon. Manuel Pinto passed away at Nsambya Hospital where he was taken after being involved in a car accident. He was a Bronze Wolf holder and served as the Chairman of the Africa Scout Committee. He was born on 25 December 1938. A former Member of Parliament, Manuel Pinto, left parliament to become the Director of the Parliamentary Professional Development Unit. He was a renown debater in parliament who served on various commissions and statutory committees in Uganda.

On Wednesday April 2, 2008, Burkina Faso’s Minister of Youth and Employment, Hon. Justin Kouataba, officially opened the Regional Communication Forum . The ceremony took place at Notre Dame de Lorette in Ouagadougou. Also present were, Hon. Salif Sawadogo, the Minister for the environment and Mr. Seydou Zagre, Permanent Secretary in the office of the Speaker of the Assembly.

During the month of January, 2008 the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler, with his wife Eva Luise, visited Rwanda. One of the members of the presidential delegation was Saskia Scholten of the German Saint Goerge Scout Association (DPSG). She spoke about the plans of this Scout association for Rwanda.

WOSM will be attending the 10th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GCSS.X/GMEF) scheduled for 20 to 22 February 2008, in Monaco. This Forum is preceded by the Ninth Session of the Global Civil Society Forum to be held on 19 February 2008 in the Principality of Monaco.

Brothers and Sisters in Scouting,

We are counting down days to the Africa Scout Conference to be held in Kigali, Rwanda. As part of the preparations, please take note of the following:

Growth of Scouting, to reach as many young people as possible in Africa (More than 60% of Africa's population) will depend on how well we sustain our good image in order to retain and attract more young people.

In this issue of iDespatch (May)

In this issue of iDespatch (April)

In this Issue of iDespatch (March)