New African articles from December 2002

New African archives from December 2002

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2002... In defence of GM food As an agricultural scientist, I was amused at S.K Agyemang-Duah's statement (NA, October) that "no one has the right to feed people with food that insects reject" in reference to genetically modified (GM) foods....

Eskom implementing energy efficiency initiatives: Eskom Enterprises group in Mozambique primary-energy push. (Advertiser's Accouncement).
December 1, 2002... Part of Eskom Enterprises' broad strategy is to play a significant role on the African energy scene, as well as pursuing several primary-energy projects in Mozambique. Eskom Enterprises primary energy executive director, Solly-Moloko, says...

In times of peace, prepare for war (4). (Baffour's Beefs).
December 1, 2002... "The British economy does very well out of our government's control of other nations -- it is, for example, the world's second biggest exporter of services -- so it is hard to persuade the people of this country to vote for global...

Miss Black History Month: forget the miss world pageant, the real African beauties participated in the Miss Black History Month pageant in London on 27 October. (The Gallery).
December 1, 2002... This year's Black History Month celebrations in Britain saw an innovative beauty pageant--a Miss Black History Month--in which contestants played great women of African history. Instead of the usual swimwear, the lovely ladies wore the...

The battle for Kenya. (Cover Story).
December 1, 2002... President Daniel arap Moi is standing down after 24 years at the helm. But who will take his place? Will it be his chosen heir Uhuru Kenyatta (opposite page) or his sworn opponent Mwai Kibaki (this page). The race is too close to call. But...

South Africa must read the writing on the wall. (Guest Column).
December 1, 2002... A report by the University of Western Cape's programme for land has indicated that at the current budgetary levels, the South African government's land reform process will take about 150 years to complete. That is not good enough! We are...

Stop pushing us around! The SADC is fed up with being pushed around by the EU over Zimbabwe. (Around Africa: SADC).(Southern African Development Community, European Union)
December 1, 2002... For the past three years, the European Union (EU), at the behest of Zimbabwe's former colonial power, Britain, which is strongly opposed to President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme, has been pressurising the Southern African Development...

Government cracks down on Western corruption: Lesotho made history recently by trying and convicting a leading Canadian company for obtaining lucrative construction contracts in Lesotho through "bribery". (Around Africa: Lesotho).
December 1, 2002... The Ontario-based Acres International operates in 115 countries, but it now faces the possibility of being barred from bidding for all construction contracts in the developing world and future World Bank-financed schemes after being convicted...

Bad losers? Not quite: the International Court of Justice says the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsuia belongs to Cameroon. But don't tell the Nigerians. Pini Jason reports from Lagos. (Around Africa: Nigeria).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in The Hague that the disputed Bakassi Peninsula belonged to Cameroon and not Nigeria, over 5,000 youths from all the clans in the disputed peninsula volunteered to enlist in the...

Opposition in disarray: for 19 years (until January 2000), Rawlings loomed large over Ghana. Now his NDC party can barely hold itself together. George Asmah reports from Accra. (Around Africa: Ghana).(Jerry Rawlings, National Democratic Congress)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ghana's biggest opposition party "formerly" led by ex-President Jerry Rawlings is now "a house divided" as a result of a big rift between Rawlings and his former foreign minister, Dr Yao Obed Asamoah, the...

'Sorry, we don't want your GM gift': if you are poor and starving you accept and eat anything, right? Wrong--not if you are Zambian. (Around Africa: Zambia).(genetically modified foods)
December 1, 2002... After months of serious consideration and debate, the Zambian government has categorically rejected Genetically Modified (GM) corn sent by America as food aid, on the advice of its scientists who say they cannot guarantee it is safe for human...

The men who caused the famine: international donors are responsible for turning a food shortage in Malawi into a famine, says a new report published by the World Development Movement. (Around Africa: Malawi).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... The report released in early November by the London-based World Development Movement (WDM) is categorical of who should carry the can for the current debilitating famine in Malawi: the usual suspects -- the IME World Bank and bilateral donors...

'Forget the ICC, we are with America': the Gambia has become the first African signatory to the ICC to give American citizens immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. (Around Africa: The Gambia).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Despite having ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty, The Gambia has made controversial history by becoming the first African country to throw its whole weight behind America in its tug-of-war with the ICC, a contradiction that...

The king, the 10th bride, and her mum: an unprecedented legal action that pits tradition against modernity is threatening to erode the royal prerogative of King Mswati III. James Hall reports from Mbabane. (Around Africa: Swaziland).
December 1, 2002... Each year, King Mswati III, 43, Africa's last absolute monarch, exercises his divine right to pick a new bride from the country's best maidens at the annual Umhalanga or Reed Dance ceremony. But this year, the King's choice has proved to be...

The curse of oil: oil makes the modern world go round and even to war (as in George Bush's America). That is why Angola and Sao Tome's neighbours, and even the African Union, should be wary of the current goings-on in the neighbourhood. (Lest We Forget).
December 1, 2002... The Portuguese dictator, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (who ruled between 1932-1968), upon being told in the 1950s that oil had been discovered in Angola, was heard to comment that it would be a "disgrace for the country". He was busy rebuilding...

The Rejected Testimony (Part 2). (Dossier).
December 1, 2002... We continue with Uwe Freisecke's testimony that was rejected by the arusha-based UN tribunal for Rwanda. The presiding judge, Lloyd George Williams of St Kitts and Nevis, said it was "irrelevant and inadmissible". But was it? Please read on......

Ethiopia European looters making restitution: Gail Warden on the return of Ethiopian artefacts looted by Europeans in the wars and invasions of centuries past. (For the Record).
December 1, 2002... Objects looted from Ethiopia are being restored at a rate never previously experienced. First, a sacred Tabot--a representation of the Ark of the Covenant--was returned to Addis Ababa in February this year by a church in Scotland. Then a...

ATAA Joe comes to town: where was hitler? Why was King George always inspecting soldiers' uniforms when he knew fully well that they would get dirty in the trenches? The reminiscences of a Ghanaian boy in the 1950s. (Under the Neem Tree).
December 1, 2002... Everyone knew him. But no one knew anything about him. He was called Ataa Joe, and although he used to come to Kyebi unannounced, everyone knew he had come as soon as he came. Now, this type of mechanic, or "fitter" (as we called him)...

Telling it as it is. (Feature).(AIDS, poverty and mortality in Africa)
December 1, 2002... According to recent figures released by the UK's Office for National Statistics, more than 97,000 teenagers became pregnant in England and Wales in 2000. Yet, while these teenagers are not using condoms, they are not catching HIV. So what is...

Africa: No match for transnationals. (Feature).(multinational corporations)
December 1, 2002... It is often said that transnational corporations have more money than most African countries. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has now compiled a list that ranks both countries and TNCs, and most of Africa is...

USA: No military base in Sao Tome. (Feature).(Interview)
December 1, 2002... The US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Walter Kansteiner, has denied that America is to build a military base in Sao Tome to protect oil production and export to the US, as widely reported recently. This is an extract from his...

African Union: Morocco will rejoin if. (Feature).
December 1, 2002... If you are waiting to see the Moroccan flag flying at the headquarters of the African Union, you have a long time to wait. There are still some serious hurdles to navigate, as Baffour Ankomah discovered when he went to interview the Moroccan...

Congo: The looters bazaar. (Special Report).
December 1, 2002... When the UN Expert Panel on Congo released its first report in April 2001 (see NA, June 2001), America and Britain hit the roof because the report heavily criticised their friends, Rwanda and Uganda, for looting Congo's natural resources while...

The UN has failed Congo: the new UN Panel report amounts to much ado about nothing. (Critique).
December 1, 2002... So what is particularly new with this new UN Panel report on Congo? Not much except the "carefully calculated" addition of Zimbabwe and its business relations with the government of Congo. Those who instigated this "second" report knew very...

The enemy within. (Not in Black or White).
December 1, 2002... With the numbers of Africans now living broad only increasing, and with the near certainty that their offspring will grow up to live permanently outside Africa, these questions must be posed: What is the African Diaspora for? What should its...

UK: The new bright light in British politics; his star is rising no doubt, but will David Lammy become Britain's first black prime minister? In fact will there ever be such a thing? Clayton Goodwin on the rising star of her Majesty's Kingdom. (Diaspora).
December 1, 2002... The contrast in the character of traditional "Old Labour" and the "New Labour" proclaimed by Tony Blair could nor be defined more distinctly than in an appreciation of the careers and characteristics of the two men who have held consecutively...

UK: Another African climbs up. (Diaspora).
December 1, 2002... Dr Abdur-Rahaman Olalekan Olayiwola a Nigerian living in the UK, has been given the green light to stand as the first black parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats, Britain's third-largest political party. Olayiwola, a legal...

Guyana: Remembering Forbes Burnham. (Diaspora).
December 1, 2002... Seventeen years ago, Africa lost one of its leading sons in the forefront of the liberation struggle when Linden F.S. Burnham, the founder president of Guyana, suddenly died. The time has come for continental Africans, writes Kamau Cush, to...

Guyana: Treason trial throws up race issues. (Diasforal).
December 1, 2002... Mark Bensohop is a black journalist, and a fierce critic of the Indian-dominated government of President Bharrat Jagdeo. He is facing treason charges for daring to criticise the government too much, and his trial has split the country down...

Goldstone "the Us is becoming an outlaw". (News in Brief).
December 1, 2002... When the world's leading lawyers, the International Bar Council, met in Durban in October to argue pressing global challenges, the aftermath of September 11 was very much on their agenda. Even though the agenda ranged from fox-hunting and...

Zero tolerance for NGO child abuse. (News in Brief).
December 1, 2002... Humanitarian agencies working in famine relief in Southern Africa have embarked on a comprehensive training scheme in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the widespread sexual abuse of refugee children by aid workers in West Africa unearthed in a...

Why are they in Europe? I felt neither joy nor gratitude for living in Europe simply because thousands of Europeans are living colonial lives in my country of birth. (Endtail).
December 1, 2002... Stuart Lamb, a Briton who lives in Saudi Arabia, wrote to New African (September) asking, "Why are they [Africans] in Britain?" My simple answer is that those Africans who choose to live in Europe are just following their money. Is there...