New African articles from January 2006

New African archives from January 2006

'Africa, if left alone, it works'.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... The news that the New African editor, Baffour Ankomah, has been banned (NA, Oct & Nov) from attending the Zimbabwe Book Fair by the donors of the annual event, shouldn't hit our ears with complete surprise. His sin? Presenting a wrap-up speech...

Africa, you have been warned.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... John Perkins' interview (Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, NA, Oct and Nov) reveals an odious underground activity by the US government that is so scary that there is no word enough to qualify it. And this is a government that loftily...

Good read.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... The first time I saw a copy of New African, it appeared like any other magazine I had read or pretended to read. This is because people my age around these parts do not read; rather they live like plastic bags on a wind-directed journey. But...

Welcome to Ajegunle.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... In the first place, I wish to express my gratitude and commend New African for "daring" to show the world what urban destitution really looks like in Nigeria (Welcome to Ajegunle, Nigeria's 'jungle city' NA Nov). Pini Jason gave the piece that...

Pity, aid is not the answer.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2006... Capacity-building, civil society, partnership, stakeholders, participation, ownership, sustainability and other vaguely defined terms have become the lingua franca of the "development" industry. Combined with a bewildering array of acronyms,...

It's now official, Zimbabwe Book Fair loses donor funding.(Right of Reply)(Reproduction Rights Organisation of Norway and Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association)
January 1, 2006... John-Willy Rudolph, executive director of the Reproduction Rights Organisation of Norway (Kopinor), and John Stanghelle, international secretary of the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association, react to Baffour Ankomah's...

Is poverty African?
January 1, 2006... Why do we think being poor is an African phenomenon? Six months ago, the overly hyped Live8 concert, the G8 summit in Gleneagles and a euphoric Western media dramatised Africa as the "face of poverty". Everyone went home with a sense of...

What [pounds sterling]32 can do in Ghana: Tamsin Morrison reports on how a [pounds sterling]32-loan given to a Ghanaian woman, Esther Nyamekye, by Opportunity International in 1997 has dramatically changed her life. The then struggling Esther has now been able to send all her seven children to school, and two are now at university.
January 1, 2006... Esther Nyamekye, a 49-year-old mother of seven, who runs a batik fabric-dying business in Kumasi Central Market in Ghana, was the guest of honour at a fundraising reception hosted by Marks & Spencer Money in Chester, UK, on 24 November in aid...

The myth of living on a dollar a day.
January 1, 2006... In the "land of the free" when a powerful institution like the World Bank dictates policy and definitions, everyone listens. No buts. Therefore, when the Bank arbitrarily said over a decade ago that the poor (read Africans) live on less than...

Poverty in the 'rich' world.
January 1, 2006... The Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, USA, shed new light on the nature of poverty in the rich world, writes Jeremy Seabrook. "Survival in America depends totally upon money. Even the poorest people in Bangladesh, Niger, Brazil or...

Namibia: apartheid graves of horror; Skeletons have been discovered in a mass grave in northern Namibia, 400 metres from a military base once occupied by the 54th Battalion of the apartheid South African Defence Forces (SADF). The big question is, who ordered the executions? Kgomotso Nyanto reports.(Around Africa)(South West Africa People's Organization's guerrillas )
January 1, 2006... A mass grave containing the grisly remains of guerrillas of the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo), killed by South African forces during its occupation of Namibia, has been discovered in northern Namibia, leading to a furore about...

Anglican Church.(InBrief)(John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Archbishop of York)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... As predicted by New African three years ago (see NA, March 2003), the Ugandan archbishop, Dr John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, 56, who fled to Britain in 1974 to escape Idi Amin's rule, made history on 30 November 2005 when he became the first person...

South Africa: Jacob Zuma self destructs? The political fortunes of the former deputy president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, have taken a terrifying nosedive after allegations of rape were leveled against him by a family friend. Now his bid to become the next president (after his corruption trial) seems to have come to a screeching halt. Kgomotso Nyanto reports.(Around Africa)
January 1, 2006... A 31-year-old woman might well become the nemesis of Jacob Zuma. She has alleged that on 2 November 2005, Zuma forced himself on her and raped her in his home in Johannesburg. She reported the matter two days later to the Hillbrow police in...

Uganda: the coming of the first Ladies; As Uganda's political scene becomes ever more intriguing, two new contenders have thrown their hats into the ring in the form of the current First Lady (Mrs Janet Museveni) and the former First Lady (Mrs Miria Obote). Who is likely to win? Tom Okello, in Kampala, looks at the prognosis.(Around Africa)
January 1, 2006... The announcement in mid-November by President Yoweri Museveni's wife, Janet, that she will contest a parliamentary seat in next year's elections came as a surprise to some, but not to many. It was unusual though--in the sense that it was the...

Tanzania.(InBrief)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... As widely expected, Tanzania's former foreign minister, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, 55, a retired Lt-Colonel (photo above), became the new president after the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) won a huge victory in the 14 December elections....

Cotton: the huge moral issue.(Europe and United States' trade subsidies make cotton prices drop)
January 1, 2006... World cotton prices have dropped to an historic low: the reason being the immoral continuation of EU and US trade subsidies that allow non-competitive and inefficient farming to continue. While the recent WTO meeting in Hong Kong failed to...

Ethiopia: dividing lines; Alex Harrington reports on recent events in Ethiopia from the government's point of view, and tells how some European Union diplomats compounded the problems over the elections by aligning themselves with an opposition bent on violence.(Feature)
January 1, 2006... "Ethiopia in flames", "Friend of Blair blots copy-book in riots". Such was the situation in post-election Ethiopia as reported in much of the Western media, most of which had not bothered to send reporters to see for themselves. The reality is,...

Ethiopia: another view; The Ethiopian professor, Mammo Muchie, gives the opposition view of what has happened in the country since the 15 May elections. "Donors must suspend their aid to Ethiopia until the government releases all prisoners and accounts for all the murdered, the unlawfully jailed, and the bullied," he writes.(Comment)
January 1, 2006... Since the 15 May 2005 elections, there has been a historic clash between the yearning by the people to found a democratic order, and the derailment of this democratic process by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government in order to perpetuate...

Somaliland: elusive independence; Compared with the chaos in Greater Somalia, Somaliland, the breakaway republic of Somalia, which before unification in 1960 was a separate state, is an oasis of peace. And yet its unilaterally declared independence is still not recognised by any country. Farhiya Ali Ahmed reports.(Feature)
January 1, 2006... United we stand, divided we fall, goes the saying. The wisdom of this statement is seldom questioned. But where there are parties in a union who do not wish to remain in that union, that adage becomes meaningless. Should unity be preserved at...

UN information summit puts spotlight on Tunisia: the United Nations brought over 20,000 delegates from around the world to Tunisia in mid-November to discuss the future and raise awareness of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), with the aim of bridging the digital divide between the North and the South. Mohammed Awar reports from Tunis.(Feature)
January 1, 2006... For a few days in mid-November, Tunis was the capital of the world. The biggest ever UN meeting on record was held in Tunisia. The world Summit for the Information Society was different from other UN gatherings. Open to representatives of the...

Liberia: new hope for a troubled region; Lansana Gberie on what the election of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is likely to do to Liberia and the West African region as a whole.(Opinion)
January 1, 2006... In the end, bizarrely, they made it all look like an anticlimax. Liberia's recent elections, the milestone of the country's difficult transition from brutal low-intensity warfare to peace, had been choreographed in advance to fit a well known...

A day for 'unsung heroes': "unsung heroes" in the African-Caribbean community in the UK and beyond have been honoured at a high profile awards ceremony in London. Charles Wereko reports.(Opinion)
January 1, 2006... President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana won this year's top award given by the London-based Reconciliation International Ministry, a member of the Apostolic Congress of Great Britain which provides spiritual and bereavement support for the...

Who spied on me?(Lest we forget)(Patrick Orr's espionage)
January 1, 2006... A mysterious British "internal memo" recently found in the Portuguese archives in Lisbon, shows how a British "journalist" informed on me for the British government, which then passed on the "memo" to the Portuguese dictatorship under...

The Gambia: Eye Centre connects West Africa; Dr Jerreh Sanyang reports on a revolutionary approach by eight West African countries to put eye care at the highest rungs of health delivery in the region.(Health)
January 1, 2006... When a new Regional Eye Care Centre (REC) opens in February 2006 in The Gambia, amidst celebrations, speeches from VIPs and a live performance by the Senegalese musician Baaba Maal, some casual observers may wonder why this event has been...

Nigeria: race for 2007 is getting hotter.(presidential elections)
January 1, 2006... There is only one seat in the highest office of the land, but everybody wants it. The North says it is their turn (again) to produce the next president, the South-South says no, "it's our turn", and President Olusegun Obasanjo (the incumbent...

Akwa Ibom State: facts and figures.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S AKWA IBOM STATE)
January 1, 2006... Date of creation: 23 September 1987 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Capital: Uyo Current Leader: Governor Obong Victor Attah Population: 4 million Religion: Christianity and Traditional Number of Local...

'The Land of Unlimited Possibilities'.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S AKWA IBOM STATE)
January 1, 2006... After years of struggling for a state of their own, the prayers of the Ibibio, Annang and Oron speaking minorities in the Niger Delta were answered when General Ibrahim Babangida's government created Akwa Ibom State on 23 September 1987. The...

Governor Victor Attah: 'this is the time for the South-South to produce the president of Nigeria'.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S AKWA IBOM STATE)(Interview)
January 1, 2006... The governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, is not only the most senior of the governors of the South-South and Niger Delta states, he is also regarded as the most radical and forthright of them all, especially on the issue of resource...

A man of the people: Ben Asante profiles Akwa Ibom's governor, Obong Victor Attah.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S AKWA IBOM STATE)(Biography)
January 1, 2006... Obong Victor Attah falls within the small circle of leading elected executives whose image looms large nationally. An ardent campaigner for the rights of minorities, he has dared to take on the oil giant, Mobil, which has operations in his...

Debt servicing: no mercy from the rich.(Nigeria's foreign debt and deal with Paris Club)
January 1, 2006... Nigeria signed a deal with its Paris Club creditors in July 2005 to reschedule its debt via a curious formula--some of it will be written off, if Nigeria pays part of it in two lots by March 2006. Now it is payback time, but debt campaign...

Benue State: facts and figures.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S BENUE STATE)
January 1, 2006... Origin: Benue State derives its name from the River Benue, the second largest river in Nigeria and the most prominent geographical feature in the state [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [GRAPHIC OMITTED] Date of creation: February 1976 ...

Holding the middle ground for national stability: Benue State was created in 1976 out of the old Benue Plateau State which itself was created in 1967. Today, Benue, the land of the great river, prides itself as being the bridge between the two oldest political zones in the country, the South and the North. Ben Asante reports.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S BENUE STATE)
January 1, 2006... One of the many characteristics of the people of Benue State is that they are among the best farmers in Nigeria. They are also the people through whose land runs the country's second largest river, the Benue River. Acclaimed for their prowess...

The breadbasket of Nigeria: an investor's haven; The "bread basket of Nigeria" is open for business, and as an added incentive, the state government is pulling all the stops to make investors even more welcome.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S BENUE STATE)
January 1, 2006... The Benue State government has made the participation of investors an integral part of its strategy for development. Although the state has been known for its agricultural potential for decades, the planned growth pattern that the state...

Governor Akume: keeping hope alive; The Benue State governor, Chief George Akume, is forging ahead with his plans to develop the state, including capacity building for the people. That is not all, he wants the state government to cover the fees of every Benue native who wants to study at home or abroad. Ben Asante reports.
January 1, 2006... In Benue State, most people who occupy leadership positions are often also very religious. This is a clear acknowledgement of the role played by religion in the numerous struggles of the people, including the struggle for political rights....

We are committed to the politics of inclusion.(SPECIAL REPORT ON NIGERIA'S BENUE STATE)(George Akume, governor)(Interview)
January 1, 2006... The governor of Benue State, Dr George Akume, 52, is a former civil servant, now serving his second term in office. Elected on the ticket of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he inherited a rich legacy of political activism from his...

Wanted, aviation security: Peter Ezeh reports on how frequent accidents have put a question mark on air travel in Nigeria.(Nigeria)
January 1, 2006... No accident in Nigeria has brought the question of safety of air travel to the fore more than the crash of the Bellview Boeing 737 aircraft on 22 October 2005 that killed all its 117 occupants. The plane was on a flight from Lagos to the...

Hypocrisy will kill the west: the frightening manner in which the US is now stalking the world, capturing people like in the days of the old slave trade, makes the flesh creep, writes Cameron Duodu. And they call it "rendition". Welcome to the brave new world.(International)(interrogating terrorist suspects)
January 1, 2006... A recent edition of the powerful American newspaper, The New York Times, carried five "Letters to the editor" on the reports that the US had been abducting suspected terrorists from foreign lands and transporting them, by secret flights, to...

What is 'race' and what is 'racism'? (2).(Diaspora)
January 1, 2006... In this second instalment of his three-part series on the controversial race question, Dr Chales Quist-Adade looks at the role Social Darwinism, Eugenics and the Church played in promoting racism. Part One (NA, Dec) ended on the positive note...

Chad-Cameroon: oil, injustice and despair; Two years after oil started to flow through the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, the promised knock-on effect on development along the route has not materialised. Tansa Musa reports from Yaounde.(Enviroment)
January 1, 2006... Eight-thirty in the morning at the Mapinini sandy beach in southern Cameroon is when the first fishermen come ashore after six long hours at sea. Family members as well as market women turn up with large headpans in anticipation of a good...

I work, I make, you buy.(Not in Black or White)(using Internet for economic growth)
January 1, 2006... The internet is like Africa before the white man sent missionaries and colonisers. But today, we are not there for the taking. We have the creativity, the ability, and the potential to make our own boundaries with the webbed fruits of our own...

Nations Cup 2006: Egypt where the action is.(Sports)
January 1, 2006... The 25th finals of the African Nations Cup open in Cairo, Egypt, on 20 January and end on 10 February 2006. They will lift the curtain on a genuine African football extravaganza in this World Cup year where five nations will represent the...

Super teams at the Nations Cup: as this is the 25th edition of a competition that has acquired a fair old history, it is appropriate to look back at the five super-teams of the Cup. Between them they have won 16 of the 24 past editions, establishing firm credentials ahead of other contenders. Peter Law reports.(Sports)
January 1, 2006... Egypt (won in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998) With a lengthy Olympic heritage going back to 1920, Egypt were the most experienced side on the continent by 1957, and won the first two editions of the Nations Cup against Ethiopia and Sudan....