New African articles from December 2006

New African archives from December 2006

Wanted, a new frame of reference.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... The transatlantic slave trade was abolished in Britain nearly 200 years ago and yet the impact of its socio-economic and psychological effects on Africans and people of African descent continue unabated. The just ended "Black History Month"...

Rediscovering our Africanness.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... In the 21st century, stories abound of other continents making giant strides along Development Avenue. This vital move is spearheaded by selfless leaders dedicated to the call of duty. Sadly, Africa has remained static, lifeless and at the...

A pleasant surprise.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... I happened to visit Windhoek, Namibia, recently and came across their CNA shop. As I was browsing through the magazine rags, I came across New African's August/September issue. Being South African, it's sad that I had never come across your...

No place for inflammatory rhetoric.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... I am grateful for the forward-thinking, independent voice of New African. Your voice is a welcome alternative to many. Listening to the radio the other day, I stumbled across a transmission of the Trinity Broadcast Network and was disgusted and...

I love Nyerere.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... I just recently discovered your magazine, and at 24 years of age, it's a blessing. I can only say your magazine is a voice that Africans should be listening to. I was especially taken by the words of President Julius Nyerere in your February...

Tribute to Justice Annan.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... It was at Asante Juaben during the funeral of Prof. Adu Boahen in August this year that my friend, Kwadwo, of the Tsiboe family and Pioneer newspaper requested me to write a tribute in memory of Justice Daniel Francis Annan. I am not an...

Ghana cover price & special issue.
December 1, 2006... Effective from the January 2007 issue, the cover prices of our three magazines--New African, African Business and The Middle East--will rise from C18,000 to C20,000 in Ghana. We thank our loyal readers for their support. Additionally, to...

Correction.(Correction notice)
December 1, 2006... Technology is supposed to make publishing easier, but in our last issue, technology woefully failed us when, in sending the magazine for printing, our IT system automatically replaced the book cover on Sir Gordon Guggisberg's article (The...

Go East my son: Alfred Romann reports on the China-Africa summit and how Africa's new friend wants the relationship to be a win-win for all.(For the Record)
December 1, 2006... Beijing is a city famous for its scale. The Forbidden City, the former home of Chinese emperors at the heart of the city, is enormous. The famously massive Tiananmen Square is just across the road on the other side of the Avenue of Heavenly...

Anniversary issue: 40th anniversary.(Editorial)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... October 2006 was New African's 40th anniversary. Yes, we have been in the trenches for 40 long years, every month without fail bringing you the joys and sorrows of Africa and its people at home and in the Diaspora. We should have celebrated...

The New African story: who better to tell the story of New African than our former editor, Alan Rake, who edited the magazine for 21 years and retired in May 1999. Please sit back and enjoy how New African became New African and the voice of Africa.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... Well, here we are celebrating our 40th birthday. Yes, it is the 457th issue since our forerunner, African Development, first made its appearance in October 1966. Here we are 40 years further on. We have spanned most of Africa's five...

My passion for Africa: when we started, the obstacles, difficulties and risks in Africa didn't scare me. On the contrary, I welcomed the challenges and the opportunities. I was not in it for the money ... I have given my life to African publishing and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)(Editorial)
December 1, 2006... My life story is a love story with Africa, where I was born and where I am still domiciled. I spent my first 19 years in Tunisia before moving to Paris and finally settling down in London with my family. I had the chance to study at two...

The cost of dying is killing! My days at New African--the reminiscences of Anver Versi, former deputy editor of New African and now editor of our sister-magazine, African Business.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... One of the great benefits of celebrating milestones such as this one is the opportunity to make a journey backwards in time to your starting point and assess how far you have come. As I skipped through old copies of New African, the past...

So much done, so far to go; "Two things gain great respect over time: reliable facts and prestigious wine"--Eurostat, the European Union statistical yearbook, January 2003.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... After the eloquent expositions by my elders on the preceding pages, it is now my turn, as the current editor of New African, to introduce my team (a selection of them in fact, on the following pages) and perhaps say a few words about what...

It's no longer a job, it's a calling: to penetrate into NA was not easy. It has never been easy. Each and every sentence of the copy submitted must be qualified. This simply means to be on top of your subject, extensive research, reading, highly-honed analytical abilities, a knack for history, a refined worldview and an appreciation of cultures.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... As journalists, we rarely talk about ourselves. We record what others do and say, patch it up with some historical references and move on. So when we were asked to revisit our earliest interactions and experiences with New African to...

New African is about retrieving Africa's stolen legacy: New African is about understanding where Africans are coming from in order to know where we should be going. In the context of what the magazine is doing, the Group Publisher, Afif Ben Yedder, remains for me, one of the greatest African heroes alive.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... In 1989, Theo Omorodion, former IC Publications advertising representative in Lagos, arranged an interview with the managing director of a Lagos bank for our banking supplement. A contact in the bank, a long-standing friend, asked how many of...

It's been great being part of a great product: the ability to allow the most critical of views to be published in the magazine taught me that in promoting discourse, all views need to be heard. Sustaining a publication (controversial as it is sometimes viewed) for 40 years, says a lot about the people who have given themselves to manage it.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... Perhaps my interest in journalism began when I started school while staying with an aunt who never missed the radio news, and we would compete to guess who the newscaster was. I only knew one--Kenneth Maduma--because of his unmistakable, deep...

New African stirs the world's conscience into doing what is right: the 2000 International Aids Conference held in Durban, South Africa, was a great eye opener. I saw at first hand the extreme extent to which Western business, media and law collude and coordinate for profit.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... In a sustained effort to convince the beefy Baffour to run a story I considered critical, I reminded him that New African was Africa's magazine of record. As a result missing out on the action would be a great disservice to posterity. It is...

40 years is a strong run for any magazine.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... My association with New African began with a trip to Casablanca for the 1988 African Nations Cup. There I met Anver Versi rather unexpectedly, as he was the reason I was there on my first trip to Africa. After reading his book, Football in...

An archive-junkie with great tales: the 1919 race riots in Britain provoked the emergence of a publicly articulated critique of the double standard which allowed white men to have their way with African women in the colonies, while black men were beaten in Britain for marrying white women. Not fair; so I became an archive junkie.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... At 33 years old, I still write "fan mail" and it was through one such letter to Baffour Ankomah that I first made contact with New African. Having periodically read NA since the late 90s, I became a faithful fan in 2002 while living in Accra,...

New African has provided wide scope in subject matter: which is my favourite assignment for New African? It is the one that Baffour is about to commission for the next issue.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)(Baffour Ankomah)
December 1, 2006... I was born more years ago than I care to remember at Stony Corner, a tiny hamlet in Kent. While studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London) with a view to working for the Voluntary Service Overseas in India, I became a...

The children of rape--my first article for New African: the Children of Rape was the headline of my first article/cover story for New African in November 1966, then called New African Development.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... I must be one of the oldest contributors to New African (or African Development as it was then known) since my first article/cover story appeared in the second issue in November 1966. It was still in black and white, and concerned the...

African media: how life was 40 years ago; So many things have changed in African newsrooms since New African was founded as African Development 40 years ago. Cameron Duodu, who has lived through all these 40 years as a journalist, writes about the African media's odyssey using his own professional life story as the anchor.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... I was very close to the birth of New African, but not involved in it. In 1966, I had just begun my first stint of residing in London. I had arrived hotfoot from Accra, after spending some weeks in Paris, where I had hoped to work with the...

The invisible team: behind the scenes at IC Publications, there has been, over the years, a veritable army--of mainly women--supporting the men in their endeavours. Without them, there would be no magazine. We salute them all as we celebrate New African's 40th anniversary.(Anniversary issue: We are 40)
December 1, 2006... The men of IC Publications are having their moment of glory in this celebration of the 40th anniversary of New African. On the stormy seas of African censorship, economic development, currency devaluation and political upheavals, their efforts...

Africa: the leaders we need; Just any leader won't solve Africa's problems. The leaders that the continent needs are people who understand its problems and will sincerely employ leadership to solve them. The leader and his turf must match. Thus, who is good for Europe may not be so good for Africa.(Nuggets in a Nutshell)(Column)
December 1, 2006... In my last column, I stressed the dearth of leaders in Africa and argued that the acute shortage is responsible for the continent's unmitigated misery. I stated that if Africa were furnished with competent leaders, the continent would leap from...

Stealing a nation, Part 2.(Special Report)(political history of the Chagos Archipelago)
December 1, 2006... In our last issue, John Pilger took us through the first stages of how Britain & America robbed the African islanders of the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean of their homeland, and turned it into an American military base, one of the...

Namibia: official support for Herero reparation struggle; At last, the Namibian Parliament has unanimously adopted a motion calling for reparation negotiations with Germany over the genocide committed against the Herero, Nama and Damara people between 1904 and 1908. Uazuva Kaumbi reports from Windhoek.(Feature)
December 1, 2006... It was a bright spring day, 19 September 2006 to be precise. The public gallery of the National Assembly was packed beyond capacity. On that historic day, the OvaHerero paramount chief, Kuaima Riruako, an MP and president of the National Unity...

Rwanda: the road to recovery.(New African Supplement)(Country overview)
December 1, 2006... THE ROAD TO RECOVERY THE PEACE AND STABILITY USHERED IN BY PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME'S GOVERNMENT HAS ALLOWED THE GRADUAL REBUILDING OF THE COUNTRY, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMY. STUART PRICE REPORTS FROM KIGALI. FOR ANY VISITOR...

Angola: a giant awakes.(Feature)(Travel narrative)
December 1, 2006... For the first time in decades, the telephone system works in Angola, rubbish gets collected and, thanks to a significant injection of foreign money, the country's long-suffering transport network--a cratered wreck just four years ago--is...

Ghana: heads to roll at the Police Service; Stephen Gyasi Junior reports from Accra on a credibility crisis affecting the Ghana Police Service after some top officers and their associates were named in two narcotic cases.(Feature)
December 1, 2006... The top brass of Ghana's Police Service is in turmoil following allegations of complicity in two major narcotics cases. As a result, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Patrick Acheampong, is likely to lose his job. It all started when a...

Nigeria: rough road to Election 2007; With elections only months away, Nigeria's political landscape is understandably crowded, all hoping to succeed President Obasanjo. Pini Jason reports on a campaign already marred by mudslinging.(Feature)
December 1, 2006... In October, Nigeria took the first noticeable step towards next year's elections with the registration of voters. If that exercise is anything to go by, then it portends chaos for Election 2007. Against the objections of the National Assembly,...

Cameroon: open for business; Now boasting the most diversified economy in the region, Cameroon has achieved rapid expansion and industrialisation. Political stability and an excellent business environment have also helped create an attractive investment destination. The country is now open for business.
December 1, 2006... The Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) comprises six countries with common borders (Central African Republic, Chad, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon). Only one country, CAR, is not yet an oil producer. ...

Asian companies target Africa's oil and gas: the most noticeable trend in the African oil and gas sector over the past year has been the increase in investment by Asian companies. Neil Ford reports on the Asian oil rush in Africa.(FOCUS ON OIL AND GAS)
December 1, 2006... The Malaysian firm, Petronas, has long been active in Africa but the sector has broadly been dominated by Western firms and a handful of African state-owned companies, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Sonatrach...

Malawi: kiss and make up; The longstanding feud between President Bingu wa Mutharika and his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, which threw Malawi into political chaos, is showing signs of abatement. Perhaps it is already Christmas. Lameck Masina reports.(Feature)
December 1, 2006... The bad blood between President Bingu wa Mutharika and former President Bakili Muluzi began in February 2005 after Mutharika resigned from the then ruling UDF party and formed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), putting the UDF into the...

Entrepreneurship in Africa: there is absolutely no doubt that Africa shall become the arena for the economic battles to be fought in the future. We must prepare ourselves. Only a continental political and economic strategy can secure our survival, writes Alamine Ousm.(Column)
December 1, 2006... The contribution of African enterprises and even African countries to world economic trade (less than 1%) is a surprising contrast with the vast human, natural and material potential in this part of the world, affectionately considered as the...

Cote d'Ivoire: still sitting in limbo; After almost five years of economic hardship and political instability, the wait for peace is not yet over in Cote d'Ivoire. Josephine Akarue reports from Abidjan.(Feature)
December 1, 2006... Patience is wearing thin. But fears that the Ivorian political situation would spiral out of control after the expiration of President Laurent Gbabgo's mandate on 31 October, has so far turned out to be just that: fears. Now weeks after the...