New African articles from November 2006

New African archives from November 2006

Saving the Commonwealth.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... The Commonwealth Secretariat's rejoinder (NA, October) to your cover story, Trouble at the Commonwealth (NA, Aug/Sept), makes very sad reading. The rot in the Commonwealth Secretariat goes deep, but the principal point is, and remains, about...

Commonwealth distortions?(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... I am writing as chairperson of the Commonwealth Secretariat Staff Association (CSSA) in response to your story on the Commonwealth Secretariat in the August/September 2006 issue of New African. It would be inappropriate for me to respond fully...

Zimbabwe: Witts at his wits end.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... Let me take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to New African for its great work. My friends and I do not normally miss your publications. In the August/September issue, I was shocked by C. E. Witts writing from Exeter, UK...

Wanted: more information on Zimbabwe.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... I am a Canadian and have never had the opportunity to visit Africa. My husband is African-American. We receive New African magazine. I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about Africa, its history and life today. What is most disheartening...

I stand firmly with President Mugabe.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... I want to thank New African, in its September 2006 article, Zimbabwe "Our economy is under siege, but we'll soldier on" for bringing and keeping the light on Zimbabwe during these tumultuous times. Having said that, I want to ask all African...

Zimbabwe: where was Britain?(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... The leading democratic voices today in Zimbabwe were a big let-down in the 1980s, especially Britain, because they kept quite or remained indifferent when thousands of Ndebele people were exterminated by Zimbabwe government soldiers. It...

EU, Fifa & Zimbabwe.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... The arguments by Nicholas Ackerman and Clive Tiney (NA Oct) about the state of affairs in Zimbabwe are devoid of truth and honesty. The economic problems in Zimbabwe are a result of the illegal sanctions imposed by those who seek a regime...

Land reform in Southern Africa.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... After a decade of talking, the contradiction between the landless African majority and the landed white minority remains unresolved throughout much of Southern Africa. Akyaaba Addai-Sebo (NA October) is correct to draw attention to the...

Do as we say ...(nuclear weapons)
November 1, 2006... "The moral and political meaning of nuclear weapons is that states which renounce their use are acquiescing to the status of vassal states. All those states that feel satisfied with possessing conventional weapons alone are fated to become...

Stealing A Nation.
November 1, 2006... The sorry plight of the people of the Chagos Islands and their "crown" territory, Diego Garcia, is not new to New African readers. What is new are the intricate details of the conspiracy by the British and American governments to steal the...

Arise saint Nyerere?(Julius Nyerere)
November 1, 2006... Early this year, a crowd of Catholic faithful converged at the Musoma diocese in Butinama, on the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania, to formally launch a course that could pave the way for the canonisation of their former president, Julius...

Wanted: leaders! Unless we have the right leaders doing the right things, Africa may never emerge from the cocoon of misery. Leadership isn't only about who to be; it's also about what to be. A leader is a seer, seeker, servant, strategist, shepherd, sustainer, steward, and spokesman.(Nuggets in a Nutshell)
November 1, 2006... The portrait of 21st century Africa is disquieting. While Europe is taming the moon and befriending Mars, Africa trudges on in poverty, disease and illiteracy. Barring the multinational and partnership business ventures, you could rely on your...

Liberia: how far so far? It is now 10 months since President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's government came into office. How does the country look now? Jarlawah A. Tonpo reports from Monrovia.
November 1, 2006... In early July, the outgoing secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, visited Liberia to see how the country was doing seven months after President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's government came to power, and how best the UN could continue...

Mozambique.(Samora Machel's death)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Mozambican President Armando Guebuza has directly blamed South Africa's apartheid regime for a plane crash in 1986 which killed his country's independence hero Samora Machel (pictured above). He made the remarks at a joint tribute organised on...

Zambia: no winners, no losers; After the "difficult" election in September, President Mwanawasa has taken the reconciliation route. Austin Mbewe reports from Lusaka.(Levy Mwanawasa )
November 1, 2006... "In this election, there were no winners or losers. This is not the time to settle scores. Let us all be united to build Zambia," said President Levy Mwanawasa in his inauguration speech which was largely reconciliatory, and necessarily so for...

Drcongo: moment of truth; The first round of DRCongo's elections came and went without an outright winner. The second round therefore was high noon ... in Kinshasa. Stuart Price reports.
November 1, 2006... The bitter rivalry between the transitional president, Joseph Kabila, and his closest opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba was starkly exposed when it was announced that no candidate had secured a clear victory in the first round of voting held on 30...

Ethiopia/EU.(European Union)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The European Commission unveiled a new strategy in October to encourage peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, as two EU diplomats were expelled by Ethiopia for allegedly "trying to smuggle criminals into Kenya". The EU strategy aims...

Is Mbeki a user and dumper? Simphiwe Sesanti reviews Mervin Gumede's book, Thabo Mbeki And The Battle For The Soul Of The ANC (published by Zebra Press, Cape Town, South Africa).(Book review)
November 1, 2006... To counter any speculations or assumptions about the motives that inspired Mervin Gumede to embark on this exercise, the author informs us that the idea for writing this book was conceived in late 2000, following several years of observing and...

'Self-government was not given to British West Africa on a silver platter': Cameron Duodu concludes his series on Prof Adu Boahen's demolition of English historical "authorities" on the history of Ghana. A son of the soil had spoken. No one who wanted to study Ghana's past seriously relied upon the British historians after that.
November 1, 2006... It will be recalled from my earlier article that I told the story of how a young Adu Boahen, only seven years after returning to the University of Ghana from his PhD studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, was...

Africa, a continent (still) for the taking: after many centuries of slavery and colonialist rule, Africa is still politically so vulnerable to looting from outsiders with or without association with unscrupulous and corrupt Africans themselves.(Lest we forget)
November 1, 2006... The four centuries-long Atlantic Slave Trade, more than its even longer Arab predecessor or near equivalent, has, until quite recently, been the defining historical characteristic of black people, both in Africa and in the enforced diaspora. It...

Presidential hopefuls seek ethnic relevance.
November 1, 2006... The failure of President Olusegun Obasanjo's loyalists to amend the Nigerian constitution to enable him too run for a third term has thrown the field open to a plethora of ambitious aspirants. Unfortunately, because the loyalists made it seem...

Nigeria: why the troubles in the Niger Delta.
November 1, 2006... Over the years, the policy of neglect fostered by a revenue-sharing formula that has shortchanged the inhabitants of the Niger Delta from where Nigeria produces most of its oil, has bred serious discontent within the region. This inequality has...

Nigeria: Bonny, the travails of an oil kingdom; Lindsay Barrett reports on the extraordinary circumstances of Nigeria's oil-rich but poor Kingdom of Grand Bonny.
November 1, 2006... Since the 17th century, oil has been of special significance to the Kingdom of Grand Bonny in Rivers State. As one of the largest and most powerful city states, its merchants grew wealthy trading palm oil with Europeans. The region was known as...

The case for solar energy: the future for Africa is solar, solar, solar. So let's soar upwards and bring it down.
November 1, 2006... As I write, the Volta River Authority (VRA) of Ghana (which generates electricity from the Akosombo Dam) has begun to reduce the power it supplies to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which distributes power throughout the country because...

The Serengeti, Tanzania's treasure.
November 1, 2006... The Great Plains of East Africa is home to one of Mother Nature's greatest events, a spectacle which sees the coming together and annual migration of over 1.5 million animals. As a tourist attraction, the Serengeti is the jewel in the crown of...

The unforgettable Djerba experience: the Tunisian island of Djerba, tucked in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, is an oasis of peace and respite for the restless and the bold. Josephine Akarue reports.
November 1, 2006... In the beginning was an island: pure and unexplored. Tall, graceful palm trees sway in rhythmic motion to the soft rustle of sea breeze, whilst the sweet fragrance of olives and jasmine, mingled with the aroma of fish, waft through the warm,...

The beloved imperialist.(Gordon Guggisberg)(Biography)
November 1, 2006... To many people, the words beloved and imperialist would seem incompatible. But if you visit the Municipal Cemetery at Bexhill-on-Sea in England, you will find a red granite headstone which shows that at least one imperialist, a colonial...

Why Guggisberg was despised at home; An editorial in The Times (of London) in 1927 summed it all up: "he was furthering the lot of the Africans too quickly". In a bizarre sort of way, The Times, had cause. Guggisberg wanted the best for the Africans, especially in education. Below is the quintessential Guggisberg in his own words.(Gordon Guggisberg)(Editorial)
November 1, 2006... First, an introduction: Education in all its forms--primary to university--was very dear to Sir Gordon Guggisberg's heart. One of his main dreams was the establishment of a complex residential college for both sexes near Achimota, just east of...

The sex trade in colonial West Africa: in a three part series, Carina Ray examines the sex trade in colonial British West Africa and uncovers the racist ideologies that allowed the traffic in women and children to flourish despite its adverse effects in Nigeria and the Gold Coast, as Ghana was then known.
November 1, 2006... The global traffic in women and children for the purpose of prostitution is frequently regarded as a recent phenomenon. Often under the false pretence of obtaining legitimate employment, women from areas as diverse as Eastern Europe, Africa,...

New era dawns at KNUST.(Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology appoints Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa)
November 1, 2006... Something special happened at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, on 14 October. For the first time in the 57-year history of the university, the new king of Asante, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II (right, top...

Akwa Ibom: Victor Attah for president.(Obong Victor Attah)
November 1, 2006... AKWA IBOM: SETTING THE PACE FOR DEVELOPMENT Akwa Ibom's governor, Obong Victor Attah, is respected by his colleagues throughout Nigeria not just because he is the oldest and most experienced of the governors of the Niger Delta states and...

Let rich Africans enrich Africa; I was perplexed by a question I kept asking myself: what happens to an African's soul, be they rich African or poor African, after they come into contact with people from Europe?
November 1, 2006... I have a table around which sits my high command of dead loved ones. Three of them I've never met before. The others are there by default. They look after me and take action, revenge, or satisfaction. They are very engaged with my life but we...

Zamfara State; Ahmed Sani: "I am running for president".(Alhaji Ahmed Sani )(Interview)
November 1, 2006... Agriculture is wealth The slogan, "Farming is our pride" is not just on billboards in different parts of Zamfara State, it is also on the lips of every citizen of the state. This is because since coming into office, Governor Alhaji Ahmed...

South Africa: apartheid sinner seeks forgiveness; Adrian Vlok, the former apartheid kingpin in charge of a feared murder squad, is making waves in South Africa. In a bid to seek forgiveness, he has done everything short of wearing sackcloth and rolling in ashes. Kgomotso Nyanto reports from Johannesburg.
November 1, 2006... When it happened, the reaction of the nation was mixed. In late August, Apartheid's erstwhile minister of law and order, Adrian Vlok, who presided over the disappearance of many blacks, arrived at the Union Building in Pretoria, the seat of...