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NAIROBI - Daudi Were, a 28-year-old Kenyan, still reads newspapers. But if he really wants to know what's going on, he turns to the blogs. And he's not alone.
Blogs are taking off across Africa as a new generation of tech savvy 20- and 30-somethings take advantage
of growing internet access, filling a vacuum left by state-controlled and heavily restricted media outlets. The African blogosphere was, until recently, filled by the African diaspora and Westerners living in Africa.
But increasingly, native African voices are being heard. Kenya, in particular, has seen a large growth in the number of bloggers.
The Kenyan Blogs Webring began in 2004 with just 10 sites - now it has more than 430, blogging on everything from politics and business to arts and culture.
"When I first started blogging most of my readership came from outside Kenya," said Were, who runs a blog entitled mentalacrobatics.
"However, increasingly we are seeing more and more hits from within Kenya. The Kenyan youth in particular are embracing the internet."
Although internet connections are improving, in many areas they remain poor in quality and expensive in price. East Africa is the only region in the world that is still not connected to the global broadband network.
"It makes it difficult to blog regularly," said Ory Okolloh, a young Kenyan blogger. "More importantly it makes it difficult for blogs to be accessible to a wider audience."
Her site, Mzalendo - meaning 'patriot' in Kiswahili - aims to keep an eye on Kenya's parliamentarians, recently focusing attention on MPs' attempts to award themselves a $NZ50,000 pay-off when their term of office ends this year.
According to Ethan Zuckerman, a fellow at the Berkman Center for internet and Society at Harvard Law School and a blogger on African issues, blogs such as Mzalendo "are trying to correct the weakness of the local press and provide a space for critique that doesn't exist elsewhere."
In parts of Africa where the media is tightly controlled, blogs have emerged as an essential tool in highlighting injustices.
Ethiopian bloggers have provided far more detailed news and analysis of the recent trials of more than 100 opposition leaders and activists than any mainstream media outlet.
The blogs can't be read inside Ethiopia though - any which attack the government are swiftly blocked. Much of the best on-the-ground reporting from Darfur has been done by bloggers rather than journalists, who have been hindered by long delays for visas and permits.
During a 12 month stint in Darfur as part of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), Werner Klokow, a South African infantry major, blogged regularly on the problems AMIS was facing in the region.
An anonymous western aid worker recounted the daily struggles of delivering humanitarian assistance in a blog entitled 'Sleepless in Sudan'.
Some bloggers worry that by focusing on the problems, they are portraying their home country in a poor light.
In a recent posting by one of the most popular bloggers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cedric, wrote: "I admit that I give more coverage to things that aren't going well in my country, but on this blog, I only speak of what I see personally from day-to-day, according to my mood at the time.
"I'm not going to nose around to look for problems and I won't seek information. Everything that I write about, I've seen for myself."
Mr Zuckerman added: "There is a profound sense that African voices aren't listened to and that Africa is perceived through non-African eyes. Blogs are a way for Africans to articulate their perspectives and views both to each other and to an international audience."
- INDEPENDENT
