New African articles from November 2003

New African archives from November 2003

Africa needs longer presidential terms.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... Your October issue carried two letters, "Independence a la Muluzi" by Charles Achondo and "Cheer-leading Muluzi" by George Uriesi. These two letters highly challenge African constitutions when it comes to limits to presidential terms. ...

Stella is wrong.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
November 1, 2003... I read with keen interest the article, Too Bright, Too Black, Not Wanted by Stella Orakwue (NA July). Of particular interest to me is a dozen of her 'Unhelpfully Handy Observations For Professionals In Previously Exclusively Dominated...

Correction.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
November 1, 2003... There were some factual errors in the biographical material about the Interpol secretary general, Ronald K Noble,(NA, Aug/Sept). The entry should have included the following information: Mr Noble served as Assistant US Attorney (1984-1988) and...

Bravo Stella.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... Thank you Stella Orakwue. Your column, Too Bright, Too Black, Not Wanted was so bang on, it made me want to cry for all the energy and time I have wasted as a 46-year-old African man attempting not to allow the white media to set the "What an...

Black, bright, wanted!(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... The first article that I always read in New African is Not in Black or White, and I must say that I agree with Stella Orukwue's points of view and nay hope is that more people become aware of it. However in the July column, there is a point I...

NA not wrong about Zimbabwe.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... I have always held the view that journalists were highly intelligent people with enough reasonable bind and foresight, but I don't think Osci Kofi (Wrong about Zimbabwe (NA, Letters, May) falls into this category. He thinks he is an...

Ancient Egypt: Africa's glorious past.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... After reading the article on Timbuktu (NA July), my respect goes to the people who are taking the measures to preserve the precious manuscripts recently discovered in Timbuktu. However, I don't agree that the "Mali scripts are now...

More on the AU, please!(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... I'm a regular reader of New African and it is always a pleasure to see it at the kiosk. I particularly appreciate the way you give information about Africa. You don't just do like many other publications do--presenting news according to the...

Seeing Africa in positive light.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... I must say that since a friend introduced me to New African this year, I can now read objective and balanced views about Africa, and I have never missed an issue since. I must commend you for doing a wonderful job. To anyone who calls...

Eyadema, obstacle to peace.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... Your magazine has for years presented balanced and fair reports on my country, Togo. But your report on the recent elections in Togo lacked accuracy and credibility. Your reporter, Ebow Godwin's view that the fear of anarchy and civil war...

Respect the dead, please.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2003... I enjoy reading your magazine because it is one of the few constructively critical and realistically optimistic publications on Africa. However, the picture of the naked and beheaded Liberian "enemy" (NA, Aug/Sept) both repulsed and saddened...

A stranger in Windhoek.(Baffour's Beefs)
November 1, 2003... "There are probably only a handful of places in South Africa named after a white person who wasn't a land-grabbing murderer. Does anyone seriously expect black South Africans that they should reconcile themselves to the honour bestowed on these...

Yemi's world: Yemi Osunkoya, a London-based Nigerian designer, set up his Kosibah Creations in 1991 as he could not find a job after graduating from the Paris Academy School of fashion in London.(The Gallery)
November 1, 2003... Yemi Osunkoya obtained a degree in Fine Art back home in Nigeria at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, majoring in Textiles Designs in 1988. As a boy, he was fascinated with bridal wear, obviously because his parents used to go to a lot of...

Why Africa is lagging behind: president Yoweri Museveni of Uganda explains in this thought-provoking article, why Africa is in its current state. He starts by recounting the history of the continent over the last 500 years--from pre-colonial days to the present day--and offers pertinent suggestion on how Africa can solve its pressing problems.
November 1, 2003... Can Africa claim the 21st century? The answer is that Africa can, although it may not. I will explain later. However, for now I would like to point out that we cannot chart Africa's possible progress without looking at why Africa has marked...

A test case for the African Union: the British high court has thrown out a compensation claim brought by the Ilois people of the Chagos Islands against the British government, saying the case was "an obviously unmeritorious" one. The stunned islanders say they will appeal and ask for the support of the African Union.(Diego Garcia)
November 1, 2003... The Namibian president, Sam Nujoma, says in the interview published on page 33 of this issue that the African Union (AU) "must not sit and watch as people of African descendant suffer discrimination abroad." The AU, he says, "must protest...

The ANC tackles the ANC: it has degenerated into an open factional fight all too familiar in rural South Africa, This time it is the deputy president, Jacob Zuma versus the national director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka. And both are staunch ANC members with serious credentials.(South Africa)
November 1, 2003... The battle lines are firmly drawn between the deputy president, Jacob Zuma, who commands a significant political base and the director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, whose supporters comprise mainly the minister of justice, Penuel...

Politics at the pulpit: critics have attacked the involvement in partisan politics by Roman Catholic priests, but the Church is fighting back.(Malawi)
November 1, 2003... Who is to become the next president of Malawi is just one of the hot issues sweeping the country as it prepares for general and presidential elections in May next year. But gnawing at the heat of the debate is the involvement of the church in...

First black pope in 1,500 years? Could the Nigerian cardinal, Francis Arinze, succeed Pope John Paul II and become the first African pope in 1,500 years?(Nigeria)
November 1, 2003... It has always been taboo in the Vatican to discuss papal succession, but since the beginning of this year, the Vatican's top hats are seriously considering a successor to the ailing John Paul II. Although secrecy is the name of the game,...

Africa will triumph: President Mwai Kibaki has invited European business leaders to embrace the new era of opportunities in Kenya and Africa as a whole.(Kenya)
November 1, 2003... President Mwai Kibaki's message to Europe is clear Kenya is open for business. Addressing European businessmen in London on his way back home from his recent trip to the US, the Kenyan leader passionately appealed to his audience to believe it...

Special delivery--the VIP baby: President Museveni has been trying hard to rebuff critics who have denounced his grandchild's costly birth at a German private clinic. But why did it happen?(Uganda)
November 1, 2003... President Yoweri Museveni has been under fire for flying his heavily pregnant daughter on his presidential jet to deliver her second baby in Germany at a reported cost of $90,000. But he has defiantly defended his action which his critics has...

The lost tribe: this is the second and concluding part of Amani Olubanjo Buntu's wide ranging piece on the history of the African glory and downfall in Asia, the merit of which is to question the white European scholars' view of African civilisations. You may agree or disagree with the views expressed. But they give food for thought.(Black History Month)
November 1, 2003... The Bangladeshi researcher, Horen Tudu, has devoted much of his work to the Dalit (or The Untouchable's) question in Bangladesh and India. He explains that the original inhabitants of modern day Bangladesh were the Proto-Austroloid Kols, a...

Namibia at a glance.(Facts)
November 1, 2003... * Land area: 824, 268 km (about three-and-a-half times bigger than the UK and Northern Ireland) * Capital: Windhoek * Independence: 21 March 1990 * System of government: Multiparty democracy/parliament * President: Sam...

Sam Nujoma speaks.(Special Report)
November 1, 2003... In Namibia, the bet is on. The opposition parties and anti-government newspapers are betting their bottom dollar that President Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma intends to run for a fourth consecutive term. His current term (the third) expires on 21...

The interview: another of New African's collectors' items.(Interview)(Interview)
November 1, 2003... Baffour You are the first of your parents' 11 children. How did that prepare you for the leadership role you now play? Nujoma Of course you learn a lot from your boyhood. And I certainly did. As I say in my book, as the eldest...

Nujoma--the movie: Uazuva Kaumbi, the executive producer of Nujoma, the epic feature film on the life and times of President Nujoma and Namibia's struggle for independence, tells how and why the project was conceived and what the end result will be.(The Movie)(Movie Review)
November 1, 2003... "NUJOMA" is a dramatic memory piece that is told from the unique point of view of President Sam Nujoma of Namibia. Based on his best-selling autobiography "Where Others Wavered", this movie gives a fresh insight into a time in African history...

NBC--a revolution in the making: the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), the media partner of the Nujoma film project and the biggest donor in kind on the gala night, is in the middle of a revolution to transform itself into a credible public broadcaster.(Nujoma: NBC)
November 1, 2003... The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was by an Act of Parliament in 1991 to inform, educate and entertain the people. Its colonial predecessor, the SouthWest African Broadcasting Corporation (SWABC), was thereby dismantled and disposed...

All about M-Net: 'to create the best television entertainment in Africa and beyond'.(mnet)
November 1, 2003... Electronic Media Network Limited was founded in 1985 as South Africa's first private subscription television service. The first broadcast, comprising one 12-hour channel, went out in October 1986. Today, M-Net boasts an array of general...

Five ways to handle your foreign donors: "they all come together, we all sit down and get to know what each one is doing, and we fill the gaps together. And we've all made remarkable savings in time," says Ghana's finance minister. Yaw Osafo-Maafo.(Under the Neem Tree)
November 1, 2003... If Ghana's finance minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, had not shown up in London the other day, I would have joined the large number of Ghanaians who believe that he is the most boring man in the world. How did they get this impression? They got it...

Chilembwe, the forgotten hero: the aim of John Chilembwe's Uprising was twofold: first, if successful, the creation of an African state in Nyasaland, with strongly theocratic elements and selected European guidance; second, if unsuccessful, a gesture of protest at what were conceived as the intolerable aspects of European rule.(Black History Month)
November 1, 2003... Trouble with the colonial government was the last thing that John Chilembwe wanted. But, sadly, the going-son at the Bruce Estates at Magomero near his home area and the grievances that were coming to the surface throughout the protectorate...

Tanzania a very African beauty contest: an alternative beauty pageant based on African values is taking Tanzania by storm and attracting both women and men in droves.(Feature)
November 1, 2003... Tanzanian women who have for years felt shut out from, or resent the criteria used for Westernised beauty contests, can now strut their stuff their own way--the African way--as Miss Bantu. Although only two years old and not done before in this...

France honours black death row inmate: the French capital, has bestowed one of its prestigious accolades, Honorary Citizen of Paris, on the radical African-American death row inmate, Mumia Abu-Jamal.(Feature)
November 1, 2003... Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, civil rights activist and journalist, sentenced to die over 21 years ago for the murder of a white policeman, has become only the second person in three decades to be given the Honorary Citizen of Paris...

Batting for Ghana in Windhoek: Africans abroad have been complaining for years that their embassies do not sufficiently look after them, but things might be changing for the better if the performances of some of the new-breed African ambassadors are any guide.(Feature)
November 1, 2003... As the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say Civis Romanus sum, so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England will protect...

Cancun a cause for celebration: for once, the developing world found its voice and would not allow itself to be trodden over by the richer countries at the WTO conference in Cancun, Mexico (10-14September). In the ashes of Cancun rose a new lobby group for the poor--the G21. It was a cause for celebration.(New African Market)
November 1, 2003... The World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico--aiming to promote 'free trade' in goods and services between richer and poorer nations-ended in a spectacular manner. "It's over" declared George Odour Ong'wen, a...

Chad joins the oil club: after years of waiting, and many months of battling with environmental and human rights groups, Chad has finally become an oil producer.(New African Market)
November 1, 2003... Chad has finally struck it lucky, becoming the latest member of Africa's oil club. On 10 October, in front of thousands of dignitaries (including African leaders), the Chadian president, Idriss Deby(photo, right), officially opened the 650-mile...

Why Cancun has upset the West? Cancun put me in this mood. Look at those blacks! They can get by with nothing, on nothing. They always have done. Still do. The West even has the gall to think we are happy to be poor. They believe we are happy to go without.(Not in Black or White)
November 1, 2003... I wonder what it costs to live a white life. How much money do you think a white person needs over his or her lifetime? What would they spend it on? I have tried totting it up but I get bored and start running out of paper. There are so many...

Africa: bright future for oil production: Africa has long been regarded as a region of importance to the international oil industry. Today, thanks to a string of major discoveries and the development of the Gulf of Guinea as one of the world's premier areas of deepwater activity, African production is becoming even more important.(Spotlight Oil & Gas)
November 1, 2003... Africa's share of global reserves is increasing. Nigerian and Angolan production looks set to double over the next decade, but it is difficult to escape the feeling that the continent could be doing more to make the most of its hydrocarbon...

Gas to the rescue: after years of neglect, fuelled by the obsession with oil, African oil powers are now taking the opportunities offered by the gas sector more seriously.(Spotlight: oil & gas)
November 1, 2003... The European Union (EU) is liberalising its gas and power regime, and a genuine dash for gas is taking place as many member states seek to phase out coal and oil-fired generating capacity in favour of using gas as a feedstock. Algeria is...

Mobil's new engine oil hits African market.(Spotlight: oil & gas)
November 1, 2003... The new Mobil 1 engine oil, with SuperSyn anti-wear technology, is the fifth-generation improvement of the world's leading synthetic motor oil, and it exceeds the current international lubricant standards set by vehicle manufacturers and the...

The flying Amos: is she a "forceful figure in her own right" or a "shooting morning star"? Time will tell--and soon--whether Africans would be right to celebrate her meteoric rise in British politics.(Diaspora)
November 1, 2003... Lady Amos, the new leader of the British House of Lords, is moving so quickly politically that her feet are hardly touching the ground. When Clare Short resigned from the British cabinet earlier this year over the invasion of Iraq--after...

All African Games: the 8th All African Games were still on in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, by the time we were going to press. We bring you here some of the highlights of the Games--in pictures.(Sport)
November 1, 2003... Nigeria's Patience Okoro on her way to the heptathlon gold. Ethiopia's Kutre Dulecha shows her joy after winning the womenis 1500m gold. Roger Milla, Cameroon's football legend, carries away the 12 gold medals won by his handball team...

Brazil's invisible blacks: legalised segregation has never existed in Brazil. And yet black Brazilians remain invisible citizens. The only areas where blacks are visible are in music and sports.(Endtail)
November 1, 2003... Brazil has the biggest black population outside Africa. It is estimated that about half of the country's population of 178.4 million (UN, 2003) is of African ancestry, and yet, the blacks are almost totally absent from positions of power. You...