New African articles from November 2007

New African archives from November 2007

Sarkozy comments an insult to Africa.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I was shocked to read Baffour's Beefs (Shame on you, Mr Sarkozy, NA October). That someone, and for that matter a president, can afford to say that "the African man has never really entered history", on African soil and to African people and...

Open your eyes, Dr Sentamu.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... Allow me to air my views over the sentiments expressed by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, calling for more sanctions against Zimbabwe. Dr Sentamu, a Ugandan, was a law graduate before he turned to divinity. Therefore, he should be...

Africa led, others followed.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... Africa was smelting iron when Europe did not even have the faintest idea of what a furnace is. Cambridge, Oxford, La Sorbonne, Harvard or Yale, had not even been imagined when Africa's universities at Timbuktu were already teaching maths,...

Success lies in people.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... When we think of a model for development, progress and success, why do we always think in terms of money? Well, this is the way the Western world seems to operate and what seems to have evolved--but it is a misconception. The greatest tool for...

Africa must promote itself.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... As an avid reader of New African, I want to share my thoughts on African tourism, following my first ever trip to the continent recently. I spent my vacation in South Africa, doing many sightseeing excursions in the Western Cape Province. ...

Of what use is the president?(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I have been a reader of your wonderful magazine for 11 years. Thanks to New African, I now know that there are still some sane Africans left in this wretched world. But I was left seething by the speech of the former US ambassador to...

Bring back Palaver.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I am honoured to be a New African subscriber. But one thing has troubled and disappointed me: the disappearance of the Palaver section from your magazine. New African is, of course, a serious magazine, and in my opinion, unrivalled in...

Blind cameras.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... I would want to congratulate you on your significant contributions towards unearthing the truth about Africa. Despite the negative portrayal of Africa in the world media, New African has been steadfast in presenting a realistic view of the...

Black like me.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... It is amazing what the best combination of academic research and real world insight can do to reveal what you are missing in the narrow reality of our industry and economy. Your work at New African is a landmark in the meaning, development and...

The Malaysian example.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2007... Coming from Ghana, I can still remember the first time I set foot in Malaysia. That was 17 years ago. I was marvelled and impressed by the level of development. This was partly due to the fact that Ghana and Malaysia had independence from...

Go East, my son.(Opinion)
November 1, 2007... Femi Akomolafe on Sino-African relations. "The Chinese, as history records, were on the African shores long before Europeans could navigate outside their waters; yet the Chinese didn't think of conquest or colonisation. They engaged in...

Profiting from poverty: ... how Western companies and consultants exploit Africa.
November 1, 2007... The manipulative operations of international financial institutions have opened up African economies to exploitation by rich multinational corporations and consultancy firms who are maximising their profits from Africa's misery. As Regina...

The case for servant leadership: what Africa needs for its redemption is servant leadership instead of the self-serving governance that the continent is famed for. Our leaders should add the servanthood attitude to their attributes and demonstrate that their primary motivation for seeking to lead the people is rooted in a deep desire to serve and help out.(Nuggets in a Nutshell)
November 1, 2007... Africa needs new leadership. The mode of leadership by which most of the countries on the continent have been run since independence lacks remedial capacity because it isn't development compliant. African leadership lacks the radicalising edge....

UN: a tale of three speeches.
November 1, 2007... In late September, the United Nations General Assembly held its 62nd Session in New York City, USA. It was a time of passionate speeches. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, told the 192 member states assembled there: "I expect the year...

George Bush: 'we can build a world where people are free to speak'.(Diaspora)
November 1, 2007... "Every civilised nation has a responsibility to stand up for the people suffering under dictatorship... In Zimbabwe, ordinary citizens suffer under a tyrannical regime... The behaviour of the Mugabe regime is an assault on its people--and an...

Mugabe: 'let Mr Bush read history correctly'.(Diaspora)(Robert Mugabe)
November 1, 2007... "Mr Bush, Mr Blair and now Mr Brown's sense of human rights precludes our people's right to their God-given resources, which in their view must be controlled by their kith and kin. I am termed dictator because I have rejected this supremacist...

Thabo Mbeki: 'let our actions speak louder than our words'.(Diaspora)
November 1, 2007... "Indeed, even as we agree on the important programmes that should bring a better life to billions of the poor, the rich and the powerful have consistently sought to ensure that whatever happens, the existing power relations are not altered and...

Should Mandela statue be in UK's Parliament Square (2).(Under the Neem Tree)
November 1, 2007... I travelled to Johannesburg to interview Mandela in 1995. Obviously angered by Nigeria's General Abacha's extraordinary unconcern for the opinions of other world leaders, Mandela told me: "Abacha is sitting on a powder keg and I am going to...

A giant step for mankind (2): Osei Boateng concludes the amazing story of the mixed race marriage of Botswana's first president Seretse Khama, and "British typist" Ruth Williams, a union which rocked the foundations of the British Empire because of hostile opposition both in Britain and Southern African against black men consorting with white women.(Feature)(Book review)
November 1, 2007... In the last issue, we explored how in her powerful new book, The Colour Bar--The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation, Susan Williams shows how love and grit triumphed over politics and cultural adversity leading Seretse Khama and Ruth...

Ghana: 'moneycracy' and Kufuor's successors; Ghana's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) selects its presidential candidate for next year's elections at a crucial party congress fixed for 22 December. But already the money being splashed around by some of the 19 contestants has raised eyebrows countrywide. Stephen Gyasi Jnr reports from Accra.(Feature)
November 1, 2007... The fate of Ghana's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will be in the hands of the over 2,000 delegates attending the party's congress slated for 22 December to elect its presidential candidate for the 2008 general elections which will see...

Canada: mine all mine; Canada has become the number one investor in African mining and is expected to pour a further US$46bn into the continent's mining industry in the next three years. Innocent Madawo reports from Toronto.(Diaspora)(MineAfrica)
November 1, 2007... Whenever Canada is criticised for not prioritising Africa as an investment and trade destination, the mining industry is always mentioned as an exception. This is for a good reason. Canada leads the world in mining investment in Africa with 33...

Kenya: the race is truly on; After over a dozen presidential aspirants expressed interest in the December elections, the wheat has now been separated from the chaff and only three remain standing. Wanjohi Kabukuru gives some insight into the issues at stake and what the top three contenders have to offer.(Feature)
November 1, 2007... Next month's general and presidential elections in Kenya are expected to be tough and difficult, and thus difficult to predict the outcome. The battle ahead is fast shaping up and has revealed the top contenders--the incumbent Mwai Kibaki,...

Sierra Leone: hail to the new president; In football, the pundits would call it "scoring against the run of play". Nobody gave Ernest Koroma and his APC party a dog's chance to win Sierra Leone's elections. But they won! And their new government is already at work. Lansana Gberie reports.(Feature)(All Peoples Congress)
November 1, 2007... The peaceful transfer of power from ruling party to opposition after democratic elections is still meriting headlines in West Africa. When this happens in a country with a history of political violence, coups and a brutal civil war, the effect...

Zimbabwe: burying the truth; Hajia Aminata Sow, a retired Guinean jurist and historian, spent six months in Zimbabwe earlier this year, and, encouraged by the "Zimbabwe debate" in our last issue, writes about what she saw during her visit.(Diaspora)
November 1, 2007... I come from Guinea Conakry where in January and February this year, over 130 people were shot in cold blood for demonstrating against bad government policies. Interestingly, there was minimal Western media interest. After all, those killed were...

Cote d'Ivoire: how Houphouet's house of sand collapsed.(Feature)(Country overview)
November 1, 2007... Cote d'Ivoire should have conducted an election in October, following the end of the civil war of the last few years. But instead, the government has postponed the election, which may be held next year (unless postponed again). This is the...

Uganda: ready for Commonwealth; The Commonwealth holds its biennial heads of government meeting in Kampala, Uganda, from 23-25 November. Tom Mbakwe and Derek Ingram (an executive committee member of the Commonwealth's Human Rights Initiative), have looked through their crystal balls and seen some tough issues lying in wait for the Kampala meeting.(Feature)(Agency overview)
November 1, 2007... The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the highest decision-making body of the 53-member club of mainly former British colonies, is held every two years and brings together Commonwealth leaders to discuss global and Commonwealth...

Kampala, the host city.(City overview)
November 1, 2007... Kampala, the host city of CHOGM 2007, is an amalgamation of all the different peoples of Uganda (Bantu, Nilotic, Luo and Hamites), not to mention those from all corners of the African continent and the world--that calls to mind a modern-day...

African victims of the Anglo-Boer War: there are thousands of victims whose lives and deaths must be remembered as part and parcel of one of modern history's most painful and protracted birthing processes--the Anglo-Boer War. For without them, the Republic of South Africa might not have been born at all.(Lest We Forget)(Column)
November 1, 2007... It is with great honour and much humility that I have accepted New African's invitation to become the "Lest We Forget" columnist so that we may keep alive the memory of our dearly departed Antonio de Figueiredo. Each month Antonio drew upon the...

South Africa: the Scorpions vs the police boss.(Focus)
November 1, 2007... The national police boss and head of Interpol has openly admitted that one of his ("former"?) friends is a big-time criminal. But the national director of public prosecutions cannot arrest the police boss because of political considerations....

Soyinka: 'Obasanjo and me'; Controversy and Prof Wole Soyinka are bedfellows. And he is annoyed with Obasanjo's "lies" about his second coming as president in May 1999. "We've been on a roller coaster since we first met," Soyinka says. "The battle between us came with his second coming as he didn't win it." Uchenna Izundu went to interview Soyinka for New African.(Diaspora)(Interview)
November 1, 2007... Crisis management is the modus operandi in Nigeria. In one instance, the new president, Umar Musa Yar'Adua, is struggling to control militants attacking oil and gas infrastructure and kidnapping expatriates in the Niger Delta. Flick the switch...

Nigeria's man in London: Dozie Nwanna is Nigeria's acting high commissioner to the UK. He has many (some would say "controversial") views about his country, Africa and the world. Mercy Eze interviewed him, and here are excerpts.(Focus)(Interview)
November 1, 2007... Mercy Eze: When you look at Nigeria at 47, and the state of the nation since independence, what do you see? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dozie Nwanna: As for our independence, no other day in the country will be greater than 1 October 1960....

They're hunting monks in Burma--so what?(Not in Black or White)
November 1, 2007... Wasn't Burma a British colony invaded by the Japanese during the Burmese campaign? So how do you compare "human rights" with "human rights"? Threats of military intervention are screeched at President Mugabe's Zimbabwe. But for the missing...

Cameroon: good football bad facilities; When you see Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o mesmerising European opponents with his skills, you see Cameroon at its best. But back home, Cameroon football "at all levels is very sick", says Joseph Antoine-Bell, one of Cameroon's greatest goalkeepers. New African's Osasu Obayiuwana went to find out.(Sports)
November 1, 2007... With four Cup of Nations titles, an unforgettable quarterfinal run at the 1990 World Cup finals, not to mention "golden" glory at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Cameroon have been handed the heavy responsibility of carrying the hopes of a...

Zambian beauties lead the way: African women are advancing rapidly in high-profile activities such as television presentation and beauty pageants ... and Zambians are in the vanguard of that advance, reports Clayton Goodwin.(Fashion)
November 1, 2007... For several years, a Zambian lady, Rosemary Chileshe, has been Britain's leading African beauty contestant and model, and her compatriots are succeeding now in all aspects of the industry--from promotion to participation. [ILLUSTRATION...

The Diaspora and the future of Africa (2): we conclude the article by Dr Yves M. Lamour on how Africa and its Diaspora can survive and prosper under the current globalisation of values, way of life, information, technological methods and markets. Part One was published in the October issue.(Diaspora)(Report)
November 1, 2007... In the final analysis, whatever disabling and unjust external intentions and actions, the desired socio-economic change will be done by Africans themselves, or it will not be done. Considering the major economic transactions of African...

Angola: Africa's oldest athlete cycles into history; Brendan Sainsbury reports on the exploits of an extraordinary 85-year-old man, Alberto "Pepino" Silva, who is challenging over-65-year-olds worldwide to a cycle race in Angola next July.(Endtail)
November 1, 2007... Looking a good two decades younger than his 85 years, the image of Alberto "Pepino" Silva hunched determinedly over his bright orange racing bike on one of his gruelling 50km training rides is as extraordinary as it is eye-catching. The fact...