New African articles from December 2005

New African archives from December 2005

Ethiopia: the Emperor fought the war.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... Your story, When Italy invaded Ethiopia... 70 years ago (NA Oct 2005), hits the spot when it says the modern age in international politics could be said to have begun around 1935. Research will prove that the events of that time have set the...

When the Zulus defeated the British.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... I found your article When Italy Invaded Ethiopia... 70 Years Ago (NA Oct 05) most interesting. I also suggest the that Battle of Isandlwana in 1879, when the Zulus defeated a British regiment, deserves also to be mentioned along with the...

Bennett who?(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... Roy Bennett assumed a lot in his interview published in the October issue of your magazine. Regarding his claim that he is a patriotic Zimbabwean fighting for democracy, I have to ask him who or what made him a Zimbabwean? Nationalism and...

Brain drain can become brain gain.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... I read the cover story, Brain drain--killing Africa softly (NA Nov 05), with great interest. However, I feel that it was too pessimistic as in the long term it is possible it could become brain-gain for African countries. This can be...

If Africa were Tippexed from the globe ...(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2005... It can certainly not be denied (How Africa developed Europe and USA, NA, Nov) that African slaves played a part in the development of some European countries and their colonies, but that is now past tense. Is it possible for Africans to move on...

A tale of two countries (2).(Baffour's Beefs)
December 1, 2005... "Oil is much too important a commodity to be left in the hands of the Arabs"--Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state. Well, this column has been missing again for the past two months, isn't it? This is what they say in the...

Africa report: a unique platform to the world for people who make things happen in Africa.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Africa Report is a weekly television series broadcast on the world's leading business channel CNBC Europe. AFRICA REPORT provides a unique platform reaching out to over 60 countries for the people who make things happen, the political and...

South Africa: justice by the colour bar.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2005... Eleven years after South Africa's miraculous transition from apartheid, the spectre of race has reared itself in the judiciary, the very institution that is tasked with upholding the rule of law. Both black and white judges are now accusing...

South Africa: the trial of Jacob Zuma; The date has been fixed, 31 July 2006. But already the trial of South Africa's former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, has started splitting heads. Kgomotso Nyanto reports from Johannesburg.
December 1, 2005... The trial of Jacob Zuma is going to be a war that will take no prisoners. At stake is the direction South Africa will take as a country, the future of the ruling ANC itself and that of the formidable National Prosecuting Authority. For Zuma, it...

Liberia: a lesson for Africa's big men.(Around Africa)
December 1, 2005... After 158 years of independence, Liberia is about to have a woman president, the first in all of Africa. At the time of going to press, the National Elections Commission was investigating allegations of electoral fraud filed by George Weah's...

Tanzania.(InBrief)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Following the death of the opposition vice presidential candidate, Juma Rajab Jumbe, Tanzania will now go to the polls for its third multi-party elections on 18 December. Originally slated for 30 October, the elections were postponed after...

Uganda: the return of the great contender.(Around Africa)
December 1, 2005... After four years of self-imposed exile, Dr Kizza Besigye, the man who gave President Yoweri Museveni a run for his money in the 2001 elections, returned home to a rapturous welcome and set out his stall for next year's all-important...

BIBA awards.(InBrief)(Black Women In Business Awards)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Emelia Bartels (above) founder of the London-based Ghana Professional Awards (GPA) and director of the PR and marketing firm, Excell Consultancy, has herself become an award winner. She won this year's "PR and Marketing Category" of the Black...

Zambia: French ambassador vs the government; Ditching all diplomatic niceties, the French ambassador to Zambia, Francis Saudubray, has been firing salvos at the government of Zambia. Austin Mbewe reports from Lusaka.(Around Africa)
December 1, 2005... The French ambassador, Francis Saudubray, has been in Lusaka for just under a year. Yet, he has become an all-round commentator on domestic matters as contentious and sensitive as the constitution, and as delicate as the petroleum sector. He...

South Africa.(InBrief)
December 1, 2005... The largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere (above) was opened at the beginning of November in South Africa's Northern Cape Province. The $36m, 100-ton telescope known as SALT--Southern African Large Telescope--is in a near perfect...

Zimbabwe: opposition in disarray; Infighting within Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is seriously threatening the future of the party that nearly won power in 2000. Chipo Shoko reports from Harare.(Around Africa)
December 1, 2005... Picture an alliance of priests, trade union leaders, employers, workers' representatives, landowners and serfs. The first impression one draws is a fallout among the constituent parts, which the current infighting within the party may achieve...

When planning for a year, sow corn.(Lest we forget)
December 1, 2005... Despite the pressure of so many priorities, the AU must find a way to create a pan-Africanism that coordinates historical and cultural institutions which may bring together the countless strands and experiences dispersed in the archives of the...

The second scramble for Congo.(Feature)
December 1, 2005... Next year marks 10 years since DRCongo was torn apart by the conflict which saw the end of Mobutu Sese Seko, the rise and fall of Laurent Kabila, and the death of an estimated five million Congolese. Now a tenuous peace agreement is in force...

Ghana: it's lift-off for new national carrier; After months of painstaking negotiations, following the collapse of Ghana Airways in 2004, Ghana now has a new national airline. Efua Hiagbe was at Kotoka International Airport in Accra to watch the maiden flight of the new airline take off for London-Gatwick on 29 October.(Feature)
December 1, 2005... At a time when the hopes of all well-meaning Ghanaians were dwindling of ever having a national carrier, the tables have turned nicely around. On 29 October, at exactly 11.45pm, the maiden flight of the country's new national airline, Ghana...

Nigerian banks acquire more muscle: the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Charles Soludo, has reason to sound upbeat. His task of consolidating Nigeria's 90 or so banks into fewer but stronger operations has been yielding surprisingly good results. Pini Jason reports from Lagos.(Feature)
December 1, 2005... Twenty months ago when Professor Charles Soludo, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), announced 13 policy measures for the restructuring of the financial sector and the consolidation of Nigeria's banks, he was scathingly criticised....

Nigeria: how Mandela stood tall for Ken Saro-Wiwa.(Feature)
December 1, 2005... Ten years ago, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni compatriots were executed by General Sani Abacha's military government in Nigeria. Abacha had shut his ears to a stream of admonitions from abroad not to do so. Cameron Duodu, a friend of the...

How Britain impeded the first 'Back to Africa movement': while today's migratory patterns reveal an outward flow of people from Africa seeking better lives for themselves in Europe, there was a time when people living in Europe desperately sought asylum in Africa. Carina Ray continues her Tales from the Archives.(Tales from the archives)
December 1, 2005... The "Back to Africa" movement is virtually synonymous with Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), the Jamaican-born activist and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Outraged by the oppression of people of African descent in every...

Kenya: the poachers are back, but for a different victim; The illegal harvesting for sale of a rare tree species, the East African Sandalwood, has left wildlife experts in alarm. Wanjohi Kabukuru reports from Nairobi.(Feature)
December 1, 2005... It has all the usual rules of poaching and has been dubbed the new frontier of poaching. Stakeholders in the wildlife sector are alarmed. This time around, an animal is not involved but rather a tree species. Strange though it may seem, the...

'Diego Garcia is still part of Mauritius'.(The Interview)(Interview)
December 1, 2005... In 2000, the people of the Chagos Archipelago (including the island of Diego Garcia, which was sliced off from Mauritius by Britain in 1965 and given to the US for a military base in the Indian Ocean) won a court case allowing them to return to...

World Cup, here we come! Oh, the joys of football. At long last, the glamorous Black Stars of Ghana have qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. How it reminds all of us--full-blooded Ghanaian boys--of the good old days when we kicked stones and pebbles about, whilst trying to turn ofuntum (gum tree) juice and other things into footballs.(Under the Neem Tree)
December 1, 2005... When Ghana qualified for the World Cup 2006 competition, to be held in Germany, I had to pinch myself to believe I was dealing with reality. Of course, Ghana had been African Champions four times--1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982. It had also finished...

Africa: making a global impact with gas.(FOCUS ON GAS)
December 1, 2005... Africa's increasing role as a source of oil to fuel the global economy has been highly documented. The emergence of new oil producers such as Sudan, Chad and now possibly Sao Tome & Principe, has also hit the headlines. However, the continent's...

What is 'race' and what is 'racism'? Dr Charles Quist-Adade sheds light on the destructive power of race and racism and contends that the twin notions, while illogical and irrational, have real, abiding influence on our collective psyche and continue to wreak havoc globally. Ironically, he writes, "there is no pure 'race' and all groups are 'racially' mixed".(Diaspora)
December 1, 2005... "Race" and "racism" paradoxically are different things. One does not exist, at least in the scientific sense. It is a chimera, a phantom. The other is a powerful reality, an invention that is absurd, illogical, irrational, and nonsensical. One...

The Mediterranean has become a floating cemetery for African immigrants: Kitti Sabune, chairman of The Afro Swedish National Organisation, Lena Sawyer, and Mekonnen Tesfahuney--all based in Sweden--are fed up with the treatment given to African immigrants who try to cross into Europe from Morocco and want Africans everywhere to protest and demand their right of mobility under the UN Human Rights Charter.(Opinion)
December 1, 2005... The Netherlands-based NGO, United, has documented the death of 6,336 people who tried to cross from North Africa into Europe between 1993-2005. This translates into three deaths every two days over a 12-year period. And these are just the...

What could we have done in Africa for Africa? What are Africans doing in Europe? Can someone tell me, please? I was brought here as a four-year-old child. If you are reading this and you are an African in Europe, I ask you this: Why are you here? Why did you come? Why did you stay? What are you doing?(Not in Black or White)
December 1, 2005... Black flight. Time to go back. What are we doing here? Get the hell out. Stayed too long. What a waste of time and talent. Waited too long. Paid too many dues. Watched too long as others pay none. Get back in our prime and get working for us....

Tutti Frutti, how Little Richard captured the world: fifty years ago, the release of Little Richard's Tutti Frutti instituted the era of Rock'n'Roll, the greatest single revolution in the history of popular music. Little Richard was genuinely the "King of Rock and Roll"--and he helped make white societies in Europe and America aware of the African heritage presence in their midst. Clayton Goodwin reports.(The Arts)
December 1, 2005... I can testify personally as to Little Richard's impact. In my childhood, I lived in a part of rural Kent in England, in which there were no people of African (or Asian) heritage. I was aware of the existence of Africans, West Indians and...

Mama Africa: a season of films; Beverly Andrews on an exciting new show of African cinema mounted by the British Film Institute.(The Arts)
December 1, 2005... With African cinema now in the forefront of Britain's year-long celebration of the art of the continent, many of Africa's most renowned filmmakers are getting a welcome opportunity to screen their work in the UK. London's British Film Institute...

Uganda: a voice for the voiceless; For over 19 years, an intractable conflict has smouldered away in the Acholi region of Northern Uganda. The suffering of the people caught in the crossfire has been captured by a young Ugandan photographer, James Akena. Stuart Price reports.(The Arts)
December 1, 2005... A picture, they say, paints a thousand words. If this is true, then the statement made by a collection of stark and striking images portraying the daily existence of the estimated 1.6 million people displaced or affected by a ghastly war...