New African articles from April 2004

New African archives from April 2004

South Africa: good progress, but ...(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... I read the article, South Africa--10years on (NA, Feb), with great interest. As South Africa holds elections on 14 April. I feel it is time to assess the record of the ruling ANC. There has been marked progress in many areas, such as rural...

Forget the past?(unfair treatment of Africans continues)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... I write in response to Gavin Fletcher's letter, "Forget the past, move on" (NA, March). Fletcher claims that journalists who write on African issues always seem to dwell on the injustices of the past--slavery, colonialism etc. It might be...

Needed: a new brotherhood.(African diaspora)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... I am a French Caribbean married to a Senegalese. I really enjoy your magazine and send you a million thanks. The February 2004 issue was particularly dear to me because of the articles on the Diaspora. I do believe that Diasporan Africans...

Africa still being abused.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... I am writing from Sweden to express my views on the Western society. I get shocked daily when I read and see how European countries still use and abuse Africa. The world is supposed to be a global place with free trade and mobility, but...

Common wealth or common debt?(Letters)(membership in the Commonwealth)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Many thanks for your cover story on the Commonwealth (NA, Feb). For a long time, the name Commonwealth never made any sense to me. This is because only the White Commonwealth had, and still has, the wealth while the Black Commonwealth is in an...

Her Majesty deserved better.(support for Commonwealth membership)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Your article on the Commonwealth (NA, Feb) was negative and short-sighted. Obviously you have never read the quarterly journal on The Commonwealth that details the various political and social delegations that are sent to help member states....

An affront to our integrity.(membership in the Commonwealth)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Why do African Commonwealth leaders continue to maintain their membership of the Commonwealth? They should tell us what real wealth we have in common with the British who continue to build their wealth on the ignorance of our leaders. Belonging...

It's time to quit.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... The Commonwealth cannot be defined without going back to its historical background which consciously inspires apprehension and denigration, all the more so since the word colonialism--deprived of its illusionary raison d'etre--has become a...

That meagre budget!(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Your February edition has kept me wondering what the Commonwealth is all about and why Africans should really belong to it. It is so amazing that such a club can control over 1.7 billion people with just an annual budget of [pounds sterling]33m...

Visa requirements African style.(Letters)(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... I am an African-American volunteer in Africa. I thought I would see the "Mother-land" while I am here. I couldn't believe and anticipate how difficult it is to get visas to cross borders within the continent. My assignment takes me into...

Ghana representative.(KwabuSekyere Enterprise selected as representative for IC Publications)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... We are glad to announce that KwabuSekyere Enterprise headed by Nana Asiama-Bekoe has been appointed as the new Ghana representative of IC Publications, and distributor of New African, African Business and The Middle East magazines. (Full...

No longer shall they kill our prophets ... (2): "the only way to express ourselves in the new world is being together. I don't like to be a colony. If we don't get together, we will disappear from world history"--Romani Prodi, president of the European Commission, speaking in London on 6 February 2001 on the need for European unity.(Baffour's Beefs)(African union)(Column)
April 1, 2004... First, my apologies to the Beefs faithful who missed their usual portions in last month's issue. My wanderings in Africa got the better part of me. But here we are, another month, another Beefs. In Ghana, our elders say: "Ani-tete sen abodwese...

Africa's first Oscar: on 25 January, Charlize Theron, the white South African film actress, brought honour to Africa by winning the continent's first Oscar at the 61st Golden Globe Awards held in Los Angeles, USA. She won the "Best Actress" category for her role in the film, Monster.(The Gallery)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Born on 7 August 1975, Charlize grew up on a farm outside Benoni, South Africa, as an only child. She became a ballet dancer and later moved to the United States where she got a job at the Joffrey Ballet in New York and worked on the side as a...

Aristide's ouster, African lessons.(Haiti's president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2004... The African Union (AU) and the government of South Africa have added their voice to the demand by the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) for a UN investigation into the ouster of the Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "Aristide's...

A different kind of coup: as Portugal seeks to build new partnerships with its former African colonies, we should not lose sight of the importance of the 25th April 1974 coup in Lisbon. It even speeded up the demise of Ian Smith's regime in Zimbabwe and apartheid in South Africa.(Lest We Forget)
April 1, 2004... Having been deeply involved in the struggle against colonialism, I still think that the final verdict on the 25th April 1974 Lisbon coup (see NA, March) that brought about the radical withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies, is a sober...

Apartheid sinners face the music: the recent arrest of Gideon Nieuwoudt, a former apartheid policeman allegedly implicated in the death of Steve Biko, has suddenly thrown the spotlight on the apartheid sinners who slipped through the fingers of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The net is now closing in on them, reports Pusch Commey.(South Africa)
April 1, 2004... When South Africans sought to reconcile and find the way forward after years of apartheid, they devised the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which promised full amnesty for confessions. But some apartheid sinners slipped through the...

$45m member debt slows AU progress.(African Union)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... The consolidation of the fledgling but all-important African Union (AU) is being held back by arrears in membership contributions that have now accumulated to almost US$45.4m. A report last month by the AU's Permanent Representative...

To buy or not to buy: a lively debate has erupted following the announcement by Kaiser international to sell its 90% shares in the Tema-based Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) to the Ghana government. To buy or not to buy is now the question facing the government. George Frank Asmah reports.(Ghana)
April 1, 2004... Suddenly everybody is talking about VALCO. The government and Kaiser signed a memorandum of understanding on 19 December last year for the transfer of the majority shares. The American multinational, Alcoa, which owns the remaining 10%, has the...

How could the mercenaries get this far: the sad story of foreign-paid African mercenaries on African soil has raised its ugly head yet again with the arrests of alleged mercenaries in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea last month. Janet Jere and Chipo Shoko report on how dangerously easy they could have got away with their plot to murder.(Zimbabwe/Equatorial Guinea)
April 1, 2004... The ease and impunity with which the African mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea last month could have accomplished their foiled feat, raises worrying questions on the state of national security on the African continent. ...

Biya, the life president? As the October elections approach, the ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) is split down the middle on the issue of whether or not to limit the presidential term. Tansa Musa reports from Yaounde.(Cameroon)
April 1, 2004... For sometime now, top conservative and reformist members of the ruling party have been haggling over the issue of whether the 1996 constitutional amendment which limited the presidential term to two seven-year stints was the right thing to do....

Soldiers sue for pay: Soldiers who served in the Uganda Army under former Presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin are suing the Museveni government for $470m in payment arrears. Bamuturaki Musinguzi reports from Kampala.(Uganda)
April 1, 2004... Under the auspices of the Uganda Army Service Men Development Association (TUASMDA), 45,000 former soldiers have sued President Yoweri Museveni's government for salary arrears, allowances, gratuity, pensions and damages, spanning a period of...

"Ti France" bows out after 27 years: last month, President France Albert Rene finally announced his retirement, but as Fletcher Erwood reports, Rene will still remain the top man calling the shots behind the scenes.(Seychelles)
April 1, 2004... Even as the outstretched arm of cyclone Galifo swept across the Indian Ocean islands of Seychelles, downing power lines and flooding roads, its trauma paled in comparison to the jolt that President France Albert Rene's announcement that, after...

Economy on the up: despite severe negative weather conditions that have led to food shortages, Lesotho's economy performed well in the 2002/03 fiscal year. Janet Jere reports.(Lesotho)
April 1, 2004... According to a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) review, quoted by the UN's Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), Lesotho's economy grew by almost 4% last year. Much of the improvement was attributed to strong textile exports...

Land reform: Namibia moves into the fast lane; After years of going slow on land reform, the Namibian government is now moving into the fast lane to bring some equity into land ownership in the country. For Namibia, this is a very radical move. Uazuva Kaumbi reports from Windhoek.(Feature)
April 1, 2004... The night of 25 February 2004 will go down in Namibian history as a watershed moment. Speaking on behalf of the Namibian government in a special live TV and radio broadcast, the prime minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, informed the nation that the...

South Africa: farm violence, enough is enough; Two recent incidents of white farmers throwing their black workers to lions or driving their pick-up vans over them, have outraged the whole nation, particularly Cosatu, the largest trade union in the country. Gift Sipho Siso reports.(Feature)
April 1, 2004... Cosatu, the South African trade union, has angrily condemned the "outrageous" sentence of a R36,000 fine and a two-year suspended jail term imposed on a white farmer who killed his former black worker by dragging him alongside his pick-up van...

Garner as hope: Ghana, down in the doldrums just a decade ago, now shows what democracy can do for any country that takes it seriously. Peter Ezeh, after a recent trip to Accra, compares his native Nigeria with the Ghana he saw.(Feature)
April 1, 2004... The three of us: Dr Kunle Filani of Lagos State College of Education; the Rev Jaco Sieberhagen, the remarkable pastor/sculptor from South Africa and I, had a relatively smooth time on our way to Accra from Lagos. I was already familiar with...

Kenya: the rainbow shows its true colours; Changing the constitution and devolving his powers, were some of President Mwai Kibaki's campaign pledges, but if the March events at the Constitution Review Conference are anything to go by, this promise threatens to bring his entire house down, reports Janet Jere.(Feature)
April 1, 2004... As we went to press, it seemed most likely that after 12 months of deliberations, Kenya's Constitution Review process had finally been battered enough to reveal how divided the country's coalition government really is. In one of the most...

Botswana: a role model for southern Sudan? In search of a model, a group of Southern Sudanese has been to Botswana to find out why the Southern African country is such a prosperous and stable nation. Our correspondent, Jacob Akol, a Southern Sudanese himself, went along with them. This is his report.(Feature)
April 1, 2004... The Botswana are well prepared for us. An official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations meets us at Sir Seretse Khama Airport and clears us through the VIP lounge, where we are served with coffee and tea. It is a...

Angola: no elections yet; It has been 12 years since Angola last held national elections, but it is unlikely that the country will do so soon, as the ruling MPLA party insists on completing its 14-task programme before elections are held. Gina Jere reports.(Feature)
April 1, 2004... Last month, around 30 opposition groups and non-governmental organisations teamed up to persuade the government to hold elections in 2005. But the government argued that it would be imprudent to rush the elections without laying the proper...

South Africa: the dilemma of Western economics; The figures look great on paper, the economy is growing but the gains are trickling up not down as it should be. And the number of the poor is increasing. Pusch Commey reports on South Africa's election year budget.(NA Markets)
April 1, 2004... It was a subdued Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, the former socialist turned free market guru, who acknowledged that despite all the fine figures that showed that South Africa's economy was in fine form, the gains have simply not trickled down....

Uganda's vanilla boom: Uganda is currently experiencing a vanilla boom. And growers are laughing all the way to the bank. Curtis Abraham reports from Kampala.(NA Markets)
April 1, 2004... Vanilla, the spice produced from a tropical climbing orchid, used for cooking, has been grown in Uganda before, but its commercial success was short-lived, in fact interrupted by the Idi Amin regime (1971-78). Today, Uganda is enjoying a...

A unique business opportunity in the health care industry; Dynamic and fast working imported OXYCELL[TM]--super immune system modulator our motto: every man has a right to live!(Advertisement)
April 1, 2004... Fast working natural super-ionised mineral & oxygen supplement--not a drug to boost your immune system. It is made from only bioactive natural ingredients. What does it do? A team of American scientists and researchers have discovered...

The fear of vaccines: fear that a vaccine used by the WHO to combat polio can cause sterility in both men and women, has spurred some Northern Nigerian states to block a crucial vaccination campaign that is aimed at eradicating the disease from West Africa by the end 2004. it reminds me of my boyhood in Ghana.(Under the Neem Tree)
April 1, 2004... I bear on my forearm, two deep scars. I can never forget how they came to be there. Our school was vaccinated--I don't know against what, though I guess it must have been small pox--and I ended up with those two huge scars. [ILLUSTRATION...

Nigeria: next president from the north? John Paden, one of America's foremost Africanists, has revealed that President Obasanjo has convinced his ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) to field a northern candidate for the next presidential elections in 2007. Jim Fisher-Thompson reports from Washington DC.(Special Report)
April 1, 2004... At a time when Nigeria "lost its moral compass", spiralling into sectarian violence, President Olusegun Obasanjo, helped preserve national unity by encouraging Northern Muslims to continue working within the political system. [ILLUSTRATION...

Nigeria: oil sector review, as economy grows; Nigeria's economy grew by a record 10.75% in 2003 due to a rise in oil output, according to a report by an IMF visiting team. Janet Jere reports.(Special Report)
April 1, 2004... The good news on the Nigerian economy came on the heels of local newspaper reports claiming that the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo had launched a review of the Joint Operating Agreements (JOA) with its multinational oil partners...

Why you shouldn't smoke! Ever heard of this before: "there is oral tobacco in the form of sweets mainly used by children. The earlier children start smoking, the more likely they are to continue smoking throughout life, to smoke heavily, and to die from a smoking-related disease." Genstacia Bull reviews John Crofton and David Simpson's new book, Tobacco: A Global Threat.(Book Review)
April 1, 2004... This is an ideal book that politicians and health officials would find very useful. It is also relevant to smokers and non-smokers alike as it highlights the risks and consequences of smoking and acts as a preventive measure for potential...

Happy anniversary, South Africa; What will the next 10 years bring for South Africa? Already I sense a creeping desire--not yet a process, but one can feel the urge--a need in some corners to separate South Africa from "the rest of Africa". But here is a reminder: South Africa is African.(Not in Black or White)
April 1, 2004... I have been trying but I just can't work out exactly what it is about South Africa that makes me veer from one extreme emotion to another, sometimes on the same day; sometimes, even within a matter of minutes. One moment insanely, deliriously...

Russia: attacks on foreigners on the rise; "We will kill all foreigners, Russia is for Russians", shout skinheads who appear to have licence to roam, maim and kill. Nassor Ali reports on the harrowing experience of Africans and Asians in Russia.(Diaspora)
April 1, 2004... It is slightly more than a decade since the 70-year-old communist iron curtain was torn down. But ethnic minorities are reaping bitter fruits of the Russian version of freedom and democracy which has opened a highway for extremists to go...

'No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger': celebrating 40 years of the greatest boxer of them all.(Boxing)(Muhammad Ali)
April 1, 2004... 25 February 1964... It is 40 years since the young, brash Cassius Clay (later changed to Muhammad Ali) upset the boxing form-book by taking the world heavyweight title from the fearsome Charles 'Sonny' Liston. Neither boxing nor the world has...

Tunisia: a country that works.(Top of the class)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... In its last report, the world economic forum ranks Tunisia as the most competitive country in Africa. This top ranking comes as no surprise to the more than 2,300 foreign companies which have chosen Tunisia as a place to do business. ...