New African articles from August 2004

New African archives from August 2004

Africans of the world unite.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... In Osei Boateng's review of Robert Guest's book, The Shackled Continent (NA June), he quotes Guest as claiming that development is the direct result of hard work, thrift and "finding out what other people want". Obviously this was not the...

Guest's place.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Who does Robert Guest think he is? An African expert? Has he forgotten that the poverty suffered by his ancestors resulted in their mass migration to other continents for greener pastures? I have nothing against good white men, but people like...

I want to meet this Guest.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Osei Boateng deserves kudos for demolishing Robert Guest's book (NA, June). I read the book myself and did not believe the rubbish I was reading. Whenever I remember it, I am chocked with anger! I don't like a fight, but surely there are...

Africa is our witness.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Over the last four decades, the media, as a profession, has degenerated from its pedestal as a fine art to a lower craft, poorly polished, prone to manipulation and open to the whims of unethical practices of all sorts. Wittingly or...

Kufuor's legacy.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... The book review on Ghana's president, John Kufuor, (NA, Feb) cited two decisions he had recently made that had angered many Ghanaians and Africans abroad. You explained that understanding his background would help clarify the decisions. ...

Africa can do it.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Baffour's incisive series--"No Longer Shall They Kill Our Prophets" (NA Feb, April, May, July) is both fascinating and thought-provoking. To realise that Africa's plethora of miseries arise from well choreographed schemes by powerful and...

Understanding the Bilderberg.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I am writing in reaction to Baffour's Beefs--No longer shall they kill our prophets. Thanks a lot for the eye-opening series which I think should have been headlined "No longer shall we sit and weep by the rivers of Babylon". Baffour...

What's in a name?(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Baffour's Beefs of November 2003 raised the issue of nomenclature as one way of showing how African we are. He advocated the removal of colonial names from our streets and landmarks and substituting them with those of our heroes. But did he...

African first lady in the White House?(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... If Senator John Kerry is elected in November, he will become the first American president to have a first lady born in Africa (specifically Mozambique). It was in the 1990s that I knew Teresa Heinz, the then wife of the late Senator John Heinz...

So far, not so good.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... I totally agree with Pusch Commey in the cover story, Africa Union: So Far, So Good (NA July) when he says that Africa "cannot be blind to the fact that we are also in competition with other forces--predatory forces that feed on our...

No longer shall they kill our prophets (final): "one of the most formidable trade obstacles that foreign countries are facing today is the fact that American films serve as silent salesmen for other products of American industry"--Joseph P. Kennedy, the American banker, exhorting his fellow bankers on 14 March 1927 to support Hollywood for its value to US business as a whole.(Baffour's Beefs)
August 1, 2004... Every good thing has an end. And so we must end this series on what someone has called "the secret rulers of the world". Remember Queen Elizabeth II, telling her butler, Paul Burrel, two months after Princess Diana's death in 1997: "Be careful...

Your 100 Greatest Africans of all time: New African asked you, the readers, to nominate your greatest Africans of all time--both Continental and Diasporan (or people of African descent)--in all walks of life. The aim was to come up with your Top 100 Greatest Africans of all time. You have spoken and we publish here your choice.(Cover Story)
August 1, 2004... Since last December when we first announced the poll, we have had a very exciting time. Your nominations flooded in. Analysing them has been an eye-opener. The total shows Nelson Mandela as your No.1 Greatest African of all time, followed...

Uganda: hope at last! The political landscape in Uganda is set for significant change after the government announced the removal of all restrictions on political party activity. By September, the constraints that have greatly inhibited opposition politics since January 1986, will be lifted. Tom Okello reports.(Around Africa)
August 1, 2004... The announcement to remove all restrictions on political party activity came in the same week that the news on presidential and parliamentary elections was made public. The elections (both presidential and parliamentary) will be held on the...

Liberia: still a lot to do; Simon Reeves reports from Stockholm, Sweden, on what Liberians in Europe want to do to help put their strife-torn country back on its feet.(Around Africa)
August 1, 2004... Liberians meeting recently in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, have identified three main areas requiring a lot of attention as their country moves from war to peace. In a communique issued after a two-day conference, they noted that security,...

Sierra Leone: Special Court in bribery scandal; The Special Court for Sierra Leone has been controversial since its inception. The latest is a bribery scandal involving witnesses. Mike Butscher reports from Freetown.(Around Africa)
August 1, 2004... The Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up two years ago by the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone with the mandate to try those who "bear the greatest responsibility" of war crimes committed in the country since 30 November...

Sudan: so near, yet so far; Prospects for an immediate end to conflict in the south are rapidly fading as the crisis in Darfur in the west holds the peace process hostage. Peter Moszynski reports.(Around Africa)
August 1, 2004... The African Union's ambitions of a speedy political resolution to the Darfur crisis were dashed following the 18 July collapse of talks in Ethiopia, while negotiations for a comprehensive ceasefire for south Sudan also hit the rocks in...

Ghana: highway to heaven? Having met certain rigorous structural and policy conditions prescribed by the World Bank and IMF, Ghana has now reached the "completion point" of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, gaining US$3.5bn in debt relief. George F. Asmah reports from Accra.(Around Africa)
August 1, 2004... On 9 July, President John Agyekum Kufuor returned from the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a piece of "good news" in his pocket. Ghana had reached the "completion point" of the painful HIPC initiative, the president said....

Africa: American military bases all over? The US "war on terror" has so far had limited reach in Africa. But a new and more ambitious plan to establish low maintenance military bases and airports for US forces across Africa is in full swing. Christopher Ruane reports.(Around Africa)
August 1, 2004... Chastened by the 1998 East African embassy bombings, the US has concentrated its military resources in Africa to the Horn. The Combined Joint Task Force--Horn of Africa based in Djibouti is now a formidable force from which US "special forces"...

Burundi/Kenya: Indian generosity; A 16-member team of Indian doctors, ophthalmic assistants and social workers has been providing free eye surgery in Burundi and Kenya. Tom Mbakwe reports.(Around Africa)
August 1, 2004... There are only two ophthalmologists (doctors specialised in eye disorders) in Burundi, a population of seven million people. Kenya has better facilities for eye operations, but with 2.5 million people needing eye care, the country still needs...

Britain 'we will not invade Zimbabwe'.(Feature)
August 1, 2004... Zimbabwe set a new record on 1 July when the British parliament devoted five long hours to debate the goings-on in President Mugabe's country. No other African nation has attracted such a long debate in the House. And the conclusion: "Three...

Kenya: 'nobody could call me a fussy man'; The British High Commissioner to Kenya, Sir Edward Clay, does not consider himself a "fussy men" but he can sure punch where it hurts. Blamuel Njururi reports from Nairobi.(Feature)
August 1, 2004... Edward Clay does not appear to have the quintessential British stiff upper lip. In early July, he stirred the diplomatic hornet's nest when he claimed that a Ksh 15 billion worth of corruption had seriously corroded Kenya's recovery image and...

South Africa the Indian question: four generations after the first Indians arrived in South Africa to work on the sugar plantations as indentured labourers, the community is still confronted with the perpetual question of a commitment to the country and continent. Nhlanhla Hlongwane reports.(Feature)
August 1, 2004... History reveals that the Indian experience in Africa is a troubled one. The Indian community appears to have internalised the racial hierarchy advocated by colonial rule with white people at the top and black people at the bottom of the strata....

Malawi from grass to grace: Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, the new president of Malawi, was once sacked as secretary-general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which accused him of lacking the "vision to take COMESA into the next century". Now that he has become the president of Malawi, after winning the 20 May elections, will COMESA eat its own words? Grace Phiri profiles Malawi's new president.(Feature)(Biography)
August 1, 2004... Bingu wa Mutharika was born in 1934 and raised at Kamoto Village in Chief Chimaliro's area in Thyolo, the southern tea-growing district of Malawi, about 50km outside Blantyre, and incidentally the stronghold of the ruling United Democratic...

A 'SPY' for black people.(Lest We Forget)
August 1, 2004... I was not a KGB agent since I was not even a member of the Communist Party, and I could not be an MI6 or CIA agent since their respective governments were fellow Nato allies of the Portuguese regime that had arrested me. "How far did you get in...

Dribbling the world over Darfur: all knowledgeable people who take an interest in Sudanese affairs must be aware that what has been going on in Darfur, just as what has been going on in the south for the past two decades, amounts to ethnic-cleansing and genocide. No more punches should be pulled if the Sudanese government does not change its ways.(Under the Neem Tree)
August 1, 2004... Sudan should, by definition, be the quintessential African nation. It lies between the forest belt and the desert. Its population is similarly diverse--its inhabitants include some of the blackest people on the continent, as well as some of...

UK-Ghana excellence rewarded: the New Connaught Rooms in London was the place to be on 3 July as professionals and business people joined to celebrate excellence in the UK Ghanaian Community at the annual Ghana Professional Awards (GPA) dinner night. Nana Amonowaa reports.(Diaspora)
August 1, 2004... The Ghana Professional Awards (GPA), the brainchild of the indefatigable Emelia Bartels (a marketing consultant), are now in their fourth year. It was a truly "star-studded" event at the New Connaught Rooms in central London where the 2004...

Sudan African-Americans want action on Darfur: enraged with the slow global action on the Darfur crisis, African-American congressmen are resorting to direct action against Sudan to draw attention to the "genocide" being committed by the government-backed Janjaweed militia. Nate Clay and Bob Rhodes report.(Diaspora)
August 1, 2004... It is not just hot winds blowing across the wide expanse of the Sahara Desert causing the Sudanese president, Omar el-Bashir, to feel a little hot under the collar. It is the angry windstorms of African-American congressmen and women demanding...

USA: African-Americans give Bush thumbs down.(Diaspora)
August 1, 2004... With peace campaigners throughout the world continuing to rally against American actions in Iraq, a study commissioned by the European Union and presented at the United Nations shows that African Americans' views on President George W. Bush's...

Eagle Award celebrates black achievement: a gala event to celebrate black achievement will be organised in London this November. Winners of The Eagle Award will be announced on the night, reports Michelle Hakata.(Diaspora)
August 1, 2004... Two of Africa's top scientists, the Nigerian Philip Emeagwali and Kenya's Onesmo ole-MoiYoi, lead a panel of distinguished Africans in preparing for The Eagle Award, an international, annual award that recognises black achievements worldwide....

I thought they said we lived in a democracy! For my dissenting views and writing, I am being subjected to a planned campaign of deliberate intimidation and "psychological warfare" with the sole aim of attempting to silence and terrorise. It is still happening. And now I am angry and I have had enough of it. I, dear readers, am being spied on, hounded and harassed.(Not in Black or White)
August 1, 2004... You're going to get two for the price of one this month, because there is no way that I am going to drop what I was planning to give you for your summer just because of the contemptible actions of the people I'll be writing about in Part Two....

Senegal: under the glass; Senegalese glass-painting is attracting high prices in galleries around the world. Stephen Williams has been buying lots of examples and explains why the genre is popular.(The Arts)
August 1, 2004... Glass-painting flourishes today in Senegal as both a popular tourist art and an art form valued by many urban Senegalese. Termed fixe painting or suwer (a corruption of the French expression sous-verre or 'under the glass'), it is not unusual...

Athens, here we come!(Sport)
August 1, 2004... When the modern Olympics started in Athens in 1896, Africa was still colonised. One hundred and eight years on, (from 13-29 August to be precise), Africa (or people of African descent) will be colonising Athens and the modern Olympics. As the...