New African articles from July 2004

New African archives from July 2004

Ten years of mobile services--ten years of MTN.
July 1, 2004... MTN, Africa's leading mobile operator, celebrates 10 years of success in Africa and lays the groundwork for bringing this success to the Middle East. The reason for mobile phones' explosive growth is that they are convenient, providing...

Africa's heartening generosity to refugees.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I read with great interest the cover story: Immigrants: The real Story (NA June). It is clear that poor countries in Africa are more generous and tolerant to refugees and asylum seekers than most rich countries, including the UK. ...

Think twice, my son.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I refer to your cover story on immigration (NA, June). This article is thought-provoking and intensely revealing about intra-African migration. I hope that your readership is very broad and that Africans considering migrating to North America...

The sky is the limit.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... As an African, born and bred in colonial Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), your magazine has rekindled a sense of lost pride and instilled hope in the future of my continent and its people. Over the years, the picture that the media has painted about...

Condi as you never knew her.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... New African must be commended for publishing Professor Alan Gilbert's thoughtful and erudite article on Condoleezza Rice, first as a student at the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), University of Denver (D.U), not Duke...

Biya, the life president?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... It is a disgrace to know that some Cameroonians like the ruling CPDM's Francoise Foning and Gregoire Owona do not agree with the constitutional amendment of 1996. In my opinion, this amendment was the right thing to do to prevent the country...

Thanks for agreeing with me.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Thank you for the review of my book, The Shackled Continent, in your June issue. I wasn't expecting the New African to agree with my analysis, but one point that Osei Boateng made struck me as a bit odd. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] He says...

Oh what a guest?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Thanks for Osei Boateng's review of Robert Guest's book. I have not read it and would not have read it even without Boateng's lambasting of it, because I have read many similar books already. Can you imagine someone who spent three years in...

Attention readers: full address please.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... Letters for publication should bear the full name and address of the writer, whether sent by post or email. We can withhold your name and address on request but we cannot publish letters that do not bear the full names and addresses of the...

'I will confess before God...'.(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... In response to the request to confess before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the former South African president, P.W. Botha stated: "I will confess before God and not Archbishop Desmond Tutu", as you referred to in your article...

That Blair Commission.(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2004... I am utterly astonished by Tom Mbakwe's report (NA June) that Tony Blair has launched a Commission for Africa, to set out facts on Africa--where it has worked, where it has failed, where more could be done and where more support is needed from...

Allez New African, open our eyes!
July 1, 2004... C. Gama (NA March) talks about how "the nations of European stock" are providing millions of dollars of aid to "sick and starving Africans", but doesn't he realise that it is out of guilt that they do so? Their conscience cannot et them...

No longer shall they kill our prophets ... (4): diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments--Malcolm Rifkind, former British foreign secretary, speaking on BBC Newsnight on 11 February 2003.(Baffour's Beefs)
July 1, 2004... Did anybody miss me? Once again, Beefs disappeared from last month's menu. Blame the cook for not putting it there, and for sending me away on assignment. And not only that, she also pinned this on my desk in my absence: "PhD--Permanent Head...

African Union: so far so good; If anybody thought the African Union (AU) was going to be just a talking point, recent developments have proved otherwise. From the design table, the first building blocks have been laid in recent months towards the concrete realisation of the all-African dream. Pusch Commey looks at what has been achieved over the past year.(Cover Story)
July 1, 2004... Rapid efforts have been made to put the foundations of the African Union in place since its inauguration in Durban, South Africa, in 2002. NEPAD (the New Partnership for African Development) is in place. The Peace and Security Council is in...

African Union: Pan African Parliament alive and kicking.
July 1, 2004... As recently as four years ago, doomsayers used to taunt Africa by saying African unity was a pipedream. Today, not only has the African Union (AU) itself taken root, its Pan African Parliament (PAP) is alive and kicking. It now has 202...

Afrikaner grandchildren will survive in dignity: I know enough about the real South Africa, the birthplace of my grandson and, so far, three great granddaughters already born under black majority rule. They will survive, as Afrikaners say, in justice and dignity.(Lest We Forget)
July 1, 2004... For historical reasons, despite all past attempts or external perceptions, South Africa, far from being a country in black and white, is a mosaic of African cultures--Zulus, Swazi, Pondo, Nbebele, Tembu and Xhosa. Even the whites, who in 1991...

Namibia: is Pohamba Nujoma No.2? Hifikepunye Pohamba, SWAPO's vice-president and the minister of lands, has been elected as the party's presidential candidate for the upcoming elections in November. But is he really "Nujoma No.2" as claimed by his supporters? Hafeni Shikongo reports from Windhoek.(Around Africa)
July 1, 2004... For the first time in the history of liberation movements in Africa, succession has been handled in Namibia by way of a competitive and democratic internal process. On 28-29 May, the ruling SWAPO party held an extraordinary congress to elect...

Drcongo: why trouble flared in Bukavu: the occupation of Bukavu by rebel forces in June has highlighted the fragile nature of the peace process in the country. Stuart Price reports.(Around Africa)
July 1, 2004... Despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, renegade soldiers stormed the strategic town of Bukavu, close to the border with Rwanda on 2 June, routing the government troops stationed there and chasing them into the surrounding countryside. ...

Liberia: where are the heavy weapons? Although the disarmament programme is going well, the UN peacekeepers in Liberia are concerned that the heavy weapons used by the rebels to assault government positions last August are yet to be turned in. Jarlawah A. Tonpo reports.(Around Africa)
July 1, 2004... Last year, the period between 8 June and 10 August witnessed some of the bloodiest moments in Liberia. Rebels from the Liberian United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) engaged in fierce...

Nigeria: 16 soldiers for coup trial; Nigerians like to believe that they have seen the last of military coups. But a recent coup plot to overthrow Obasanjo's government has changed all that. Pini Jason reports from Lagos.(Around Africa)
July 1, 2004... In mid-June, Major Hamza Al-Mustapher, one of the dreaded security chiefs of the late Gen Sani Abacha, and 15 other military officers and six civilians were recommended for court marshal by a Special Investigation Panel (SIP) for allegedly...

Ethiopia: no plane to carry obelisk home? After 50 years of broken promises, the Italian government is still failing to deliver on its pledge to send home Ethiopia's famous obelisk. Gail Warden reports.(Around Africa)
July 1, 2004... Nearly 2,000 years of Ethiopian heritage is currently wrapped up and sitting in a warehouse at Rome's Fiumicino Airport. It is a 4th Century obelisk that was stolen by Mussolini in 1936, from Axum in northern Ethiopia. On his orders, the...

Thabo Mbeki: Africa's time has come; The South African president, Thabo Mbeki, on what FIFA's decision to award the hosting rights of the 2010 football World Cup to South Africa means to his country and the continent as a whole. "The World Cup decision," he writes here, "challenges prejudices about Africa.".(Feature)
July 1, 2004... On [14 May], an eminent African delegation addressed the president and the rest of the executive committee of FIFA, requesting them to accede to our request to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The following day [15 May], millions of our people...

Population crisis or birth dearth? During the 1960s and 1970s, experts continuously warned of the terrible dangers of overpopulation. It was said that if the world did not act immediately (especially in Africa and other developing countries), we would all be doomed. Forty years on, and as developed countries suffer from a "depopulation crisis", perceptions are changing. So, did the experts cry wolf too early? Barbara Akakpo asks.(Feature)
July 1, 2004... Forty years ago, thanks to intermittent warnings issued by experts, many people feared that the rise in population, especially in the countries that could least afford to support growing numbers of people, might lead to serious food shortages....

Africa: "OECD must walk the walk"; African ministers of finance and economic development have set this month (July) as the deadline for rich countries to remove obstacles holding up international trade negotiations. Gina Jere reports.(Feature)
July 1, 2004... At their annual general meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, at the end of May, African finance and economic development ministers sent out a powerful message: Enough is enough and it is time the rich countries put their money where their...

South Africa: the rise of traditional medicine; At long last, the power of African traditional medicine is being recognised. South Africa has taken the lead by setting up a National Reference Centre for African Traditional Medicine in Cape Town to research into medicinal plants and establish an information system on African traditional medicines. Pusch Commey reports.(Feature)
July 1, 2004... During the 13th international conference on Aids held in Durban, South Africa, in July 2000, a "motley collection of delegates" attired in exotic clothes huddled in a corner, far from the madding crowd of giant pharmaceutical companies which...

Nigeria: 007 will run for president in 2007.(Interview)(Interview)
July 1, 2004... The former military president, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (photo right, known for short as IBB, who holds the ruling People's Democratic Party membership No. 007), will run for president in 2007, says retired General John Shagaya, one...

Ghana: the price you pay; Ogyakrom is the name bestowed by Ghanaians in the Diaspora on their homeland. It literally means "Firetown". And what a fire it is!(Under the Neem Tree)
July 1, 2004... I suspect that the reason why Ghanaians in the Diaspora call their country "Firetown" is that when one visits there from Europe or America, money "melts" in one's pockets at such a fast rate that one's pockets become like a crucible in which...

Seychelles is an education.(Special Feature)
July 1, 2004... they say socialism doesn't work, but just four degrees south of the equator, in the west of the Indian Ocean, an African socialist success story has been unfolding for the past 27 years. Seychelles, the 115-island nation, is a wonder to behold,...

The Seychelles way, socialism with a human face: on 14 April this year, James Alix Michel became the president of the Seychelles after many years as vice-president under former President France Albert Rene. He had seen it all, from the Seychelles of inequalities, class divisions and shanty towns to the sumptuous country that the Seychelles is today. In this interview, President Michel tells our editor, Baffour Ankomah, how it all happened.(Special Report)(Interview)
July 1, 2004... Baffour: You worked under President Rene for a long time as vice-president. Today, the results of that partnership are there for all to see; a very beautiful country, an African success story in fact. Now that you are at the helm of affairs as...

Oh the joys of work? Work? Why work? Why do we work? What and whom is work for? Why work if you've got to deal with people you'd rather not be with in the office? Here are some unhelpful insights.(Not in Black or White)
July 1, 2004... A good friend of mine wet herself the other day and it started me thinking about the nature of work. And about the kind of people you come across in the workplace. My friend finds it hard to recover from public holidays. She doesn't like...

Africa: lost without translation; A language carries with it its own culture and when you accept to use one language without any conscious attempt at translation into your own, you tend to also accept the culture of that language. Africa needs its own language industry, writes Kole Omotoso.(Comment & Analysis)
July 1, 2004... In the last so many years as our children became young adults with their own friends, who became our friends, I found myself uncomfortable hearing these youngsters call me by my first name! In fact, I took it for granted that they would know...

Africa: happy with less than $1 a day? Is it really true that Africa is a hopeless place and Euro-America a sort of paradisaical seventh heaven? Femi Akomolafe asks.(Comment & Analysis)
July 1, 2004... I am always amazed at the length Western statisticians will go to portray Africa and Africans in bad light. From Aids (supposedly wiping out whole societies in their 'sub-Saharan' Africa) to Mad Cow disease (claimed to be caused by game meat...

Corruption: the difference is in the style; Jacob Akol on why some officials take "10 per cent" in Europe but "100 per cent" in Africa.(Comment & Analysis)
July 1, 2004... Here is an old story: A minister of transport from a corrupt African country and a minister of transport from a corrupt European country got to know each other very well. First the European, at his lavishly furnished villa on a hill overlooking...

When the land of gold engages in self-renewal: Cameron Duodu went to Kumase in Ghana to watch the Asante people engage in self-renewal at the rarely held Adaekesier festival. "It was a wonderful sight to behold," he reports.(Culture)
July 1, 2004... One of the tricks by which those who colonised Africa try to prevent us from examining their record is to tell us that colonialism has been dead in Africa for over 40 years and therefore, it is no longer relevant to our problems. Even some...

Venezuela the next Haiti? A good 40% of Venezuela's population is African-descended. The current president, Hugo Chavez, describes himself as the "first black president" of the country. But Washington doesn't like him very much. As a result, US-based NGOs (using American government funding) are pouring money into local opposition groups fighting to oust Chavez. Alan Cisco reports from Caracas.(Diaspora)
July 1, 2004... Venezuela will be the next Haiti, or at least that is the hope of the desperate opposition, whose leaders and media try to draw the analogy. Their fury is nominally based around signatures for a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez. ...