New African articles from May 2003

New African archives from May 2003

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2003... Rien n'a change Now that the US/British "coalition troops" are frantically trying to find the "weapons of mass destruction", and the future of the UN, and not that of an expanding Israel, is at stake, perhaps we should remind ourselves of...

DID we all do a Clare Short? (Baffour's Beefs).
May 1, 2003... "How could the UK be a democracy in 1917 when women couldn't vote until 1928?" -- Elizabeth Atherton of Chester, England, in a letter to The Guardian, 9 April 2003. So the people of Iraq have been liberated? God bless the liberators! But...

Images of war. (The Gallery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The invasion of Iraq by American and British troops (with a few Australian SAS thrown in), has been condemned and hailed (not in equal measure) across the world. We devote The Gallery this month to the Iraqi invasion. Razzaq Kazem...

Gunning for Winnie. (Cover Story: South Africa).(Cover Story)
May 1, 2003... Winnie Madikizela Mandela has been hurled before court again. This time, where apartheid failed, the democratic order might just succeed in silencing the ex-wife of Nelson Mandela and a remarkably courageous woman who contributed in no small...

Winnie, the woman: two testimonies showing her humanity and struggle against apartheid and oppression. (Cover Story).(Winnie Mandela)(Cover Story)
May 1, 2003... Winnie was born on 26 September 1934, in the small village of Bizana in Pondoland, Transkei (now part of the Eastern Cape). She was the 6th of 11 children of Columbus K. Madikizela, a school principal turned businessman. Her mother died when...

"So far from God, so nearer to the US". (Lest We Forget).
May 1, 2003... The invasion of Iraq is imperialism by guided missile. It is one more alarm bell awakening our instincts of self-preservation. For now, "marginalisation" in peace could even provide Africa with a useful opportunity for reflection and a...

4.7 million dead, and nobody cares? (Around Africa DR Congo).
May 1, 2003... Over 4.7 million Congolese have died as a result of the 1998 invasion of Congo by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, says a new report by the American aid agency, International Rescue Committee (IRC). As the IRC published its distressing report in...

Sanoco breaks the male chain: women-only oil company to be launched. (Around Africa: South Africa).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Since the demise of apartheid, the ANC government's Black Economic Empowerment Programme has been criticised as targeting mainly black male South African entrepreneurs. But with the imminent official launch of Sanoco Oil Company, a private...

Opposition renews bid to unseat Mugabe: Chipo Shoko reports from harare on new tactics of mass protests by the opposition MDC to wrestle power from the government. (Around Africa: Zimbabwe).(Movement for Democratic Change, Robert Mugabe)
May 1, 2003... After a lull of nearly a year, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has resumed its bid to unseat President Robert Mugabe from power, this time not through the ballot box but via mass protests, using funding, according to the...

Discontent in the coalition: the honeymoon may still be on, but the coalition is not a happy one. John Kamau reports from Nairobi. (Around Africa: Kenya).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... New portraits of a smiling President Mwai Kibaki now dot Kenyan government offices and private business establishments. The near fanatical support he got in the December elections that decimated the former ruling parry, Kanu, has not withered...

One step forward, two steps back: caught between a weakening economy and rebel incursions, the Ivorian government is trying to find a delicate way out. (Around Africa: Cote D'Ivoire).
May 1, 2003... Barely 48 hours after the three main rebel groups in the country finally agreed to live with the embattled government of President Laurent Gbagbo, the government shot itself in the foot by using a helicopter gunship to attack rebel positions in...

'Elections na suffer head': the presidential voting was going on as we went to press, and President Olusegun Obasanjo was expected to win. (Around Africa: Nigeria).
May 1, 2003... For the first time in its independence history, polling day for most of the Nigerian elections (12 April)--for the upper and lower houses of parliament and state assemblies--was much calmer. In fact the security situation was not anywhere as...

Special Court causes major upset. (Around Africa: Sierra Leone).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... To many people in Freetown, Sam Hinga Norman is a war hero. Not so, says the UN Special Court. And so, Norman now faces eight counts of crimes against civilians. The indictment by the Special Court of Sam Hinga Norman, the former...

Lesotho: Africa's best kept secret. (An IC Special Report).
May 1, 2003... Pure Majesty If you haven't been to Lesotho yet, you haven't seen natural beauty. The country of blue mountains and white cars is pure majesty. It does take the breath away. Any tourist worth his salt must see it. The locals call it...

Goodbye Saddam, welcome chaos! (Under the Neem Tree).
May 1, 2003... We thank the victors of the Cold War, who-now that they have gallantly rid the world of the "Red Peril"--have unwrapped the death shrouds from their faces, and revealed to us what a mummified messenger of death really looks like. One of...

"Iraqi war is illegal and morally wrong": "if the only superpower regards itself as above the law, then it has the potential of releasing everybody from the law," says Judge Richard Goldstone. (Feature).
May 1, 2003... Anyone in doubt about the legality of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq must hear Judge Richard Goldstone. "It is unlawful and morally unjustifiable," he has ruled. Judge Goldstone has impeccable credentials to back his judgement. Among his...

If the UN does not matter. (Feature).
May 1, 2003... "The prospect facing the people of Iraq should serve as sufficient warning that in future, we too might have others descend on us, guns in hand, to force-feed us with jollof rice." President Thabo Mbeki speaks at the Africa Conference on...

Ghana's golden dilemma. (Feature).
May 1, 2003... Should environmental concerns outweigh the need to exploit mineral resources to boost the economy? This is the "golden dilemma" facing the Ghanaian government as it decides whether to approve a $2 billion mining investment or give in to...

Archaeology golden Gedi, Kenya's lost glory. (Feature).
May 1, 2003... Continuing his journey around Africa in search of history before the white man, Nick Hordern, the British historian and journalist (see NA, Jan 2003), recently visited the ruins of Gedi, Kenya's once stone-walled city of 2,500 people, which was...

Uganda: a British love affair; while the British and their allies have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe, they continue to support Uganda which has a worse democratic and human rights record than Zimbabwe. (Guest Column).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... In May 1997, the London-based campaign Against Militarism (CAM) published a "briefing" on Uganda titled "How Britain is helping to recolonise Africa". Written by Barry Crawford, CAM's then Africa specialist, the "briefing" drew largely on...

"What can a mosquito do to an elephant?". (The Interview: Lesotho).(Interview)
May 1, 2003... Refiloe Masemene is the minister of justice, human rights, law and constitutional affairs in Lesotho. A blind man, he has a wonderful grasp of international and African affairs. Baffour Ankomah and Khalid Bazid interviewed him in late March in...

Muluzi laughs last: Hobbs Gama reports on how President Bakili Muluzi has outmanoeuvred the opposition to his failed third-term bid. (News in Brief: Malawi).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... When President Bakili Muluzi finally bowed to pressure and announced in March that he would no longer run for a third term, the decision earned him commendation from the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) -- an umbrella body of the country's...

Difficulties with The Gambia: President Abdoulaye Wade has celebrated three years at the helm, but some difficulties still remain. (News in Brief: Senegal).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Many Senegalese reckon that President Wade's tenure has been overshadowed by the armed conflict in the province of Casamance, the unresolved issue of the Le Joola ferry that sank off the coast of The Gambia last September, killing over 1,000...

How to kill independence. (Not in Black or White).
May 1, 2003... Those who have crowned themselves Masters of the Universe, who need no master key of consent to enter our countries, their superforce bombs any barricade, breaks down any door--anywhere they fancy. Their know-how is how to kill independence and...

UK the tale of two black role models. (Diaspora).
May 1, 2003... Clayton Goodwin on two of Black Britain's role models--Lenford Garrison who founded the Black Cultural Archives and died in February; and Trevor Phillips, forever in the news and now head of the Commission of Racial Equality. Len Garrison,...

How the Germans exterminated the Hereros. (History: Namibia).
May 1, 2003... In this FINAL instalment of The Blue Book on Namibia published in 1918 by the British government but destroyed in 1926, we look at how the Germans exterminated the Hereros. It is a harrowing tale. Dr Karl Dove, the German, had written:...