New African articles from October 2004

New African archives from October 2004

The language factor.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Rarely am I motivated to comment on a media article. American by nationality but African in my heart, I was delighted to read several articles appearing in the July issue of New African. The first, Africa: lost without translation by Kolo...

Great stuff.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... I was in Toronto recently for my friend's wedding and I came across your magazine by chance while I was there. As a Canadian of African descent who lives in Regina, Saskatchewan-one of the provinces of Canada where one hardly sees black...

Aggrey of Africa.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... I was very surprised to find my name among the "100 Greatest Africans of all time". I was even more surprised that Aggrey of Africa was not mentioned at all, which made me agree totally with your comment (NA, Aug/Sept) that in certain respects...

Mazrui is Kenyan.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... When I read our local newspaper coverage of your "100 Greatest Africans", I hurried to our local bookshop wondering whether the Kenyan-born (cited as Tanzanian in your citation about him) Professor Ali A. Mazrui has been included. To my...

They aren't my heroes.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... The result of your "100 Greatest Africans" survey shows again that strong men always convince people. There were enough votes for Mugabe, Museveni and the like, dismissing the fact that these "heroes" are anything but, who live off the fruits...

No, not IBB again.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... I read with dismay that Gen Ibrahim Babangida (aka IBB) will run for the Nigerian presidency in 2007 (NA, July). IBB should not be nominated as presidential candidate by the People's Democratic Party or any other party for that matter, for a...

Balance, please.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... I write regarding the article by Biamuel Njururi, Nobody could call me a fussy man (NA Aug/Sept). Blamuel is wrong when he states that the British high commissioner to Kenya, Edward Clay "apologised unreservedly" for the comments he made about...

Bravo Namibia.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... I write in response to the article, Namibia: Land reform moves into fast lane (NA, April). How welcome and timely! After years of going slow on land reform with the "willing-seller willing-buyer" approach, the Namibian government should be...

Stella is right!(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Forget what is being said about how democracies are supposed to behave! Most of what we hear are slogans intended to promote capitalist ideology and protect the ownership pattern associated with it. In a real world situation, most of them are...

Be strong, Stella.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... I write this letter to encourage Stella Orakwue to remain strong and steadfast in her writings. The greatest disservice she can do to herself and her race is to allow herself to be intimated by the antics of the spineless and faceless men who...

In defence of Teresa Heinz Kerry.(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... As a regular contributor to New African and a personal friend of Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Senator John Kerry who is running for president in America, Jaime Khamba's letter (NA Aug/Sept), questioning Teresa Kerry's African credentials...

Either you are with Kibaki or ...(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... As a Kenyan, I feel so disturbed when I see some ministers appointed by President Mwai Kibaki going off the cuff and criticising/undermining the same government that gave them their jobs. The time has come for these ministers, most of whom...

'An unencrypted email is like a letter without an envelope': "how do we know that Saddam has WMD? Because we've still got the receipts"--Bill Hicks, the late British comedian.(Baffour's Beefs)
October 1, 2004... "Imagine the scene--it is the bishop's first day in Heaven; dinner is over, he is relaxing in his room and there is a knock on the door and the Archangel Gabriel enters. "Sorry to disturb you Sir, but are you the bishop who told old Mrs Jones...

African Diaspora at the Olympics.(The Gallery)(Illustration)
October 1, 2004... Athens may not have been a happy place for athletes from Continental Africa, but the Diaspora excelled, bringing honour to themselves and their "adopted" countries. Kelly Holmes of Great Britain, having toiled for 20 years without much success,...

Ethiopia/Eritrea: close to war again! Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a devastating border war from 1998 to 2000 that killed over 75,000 people on both sides. The two countries are close to war again, according to reliable sources in both countries. Baffour Ankomah reports.(Around Africa)
October 1, 2004... As the world's attention has been focused on Iraq, tension has gradually mounted to boiling point in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and there are increasing fears that they may soon go to war--again--if the world does not stop them. This was the...

Tanzania: national dress, not on my life! Attempts to instil a sense of cultural identity in Tanzania through a national dress have hit the buffers. "In a country of 120 tribes and a wealth of dresses, is it logical to pick a foreign outfit as a national dress?" asks one Catholic priest. Herald Tagama reports from Dar es Salaam.(Around Africa)
October 1, 2004... A recent endorsement of a colourful kitenge wraparound and headscarf as the national dress for Tanzanian women, and for men a suit similar to the collarless one worn by the former Chinese prime minister, Chou en-Lai, have not gone down well...

The Gambia: for whom the bell tolls; Momodu Musa Secka reports on a new anti-corruption commission making waves in The Gambia.(Around Africa)
October 1, 2004... A presidential commission set up in July by President Yahya Jammeh to probe the assets and activities of all persons who have served in public office since 22 July 1994, has been welcomed with glee by the people. The commission will find out...

Cameroon: first African MP in Canada; On 28 June, Maka Kotto became the first African to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons, on the ticket of the Bloc Quebecois, a party dedicated to Quebec independence. Robin Philpot reports from Montreal.(Around Africa)
October 1, 2004... "The symbol is powerful," says Maka Kotto, the new MP for Saint-Lambert in Canada, located just south of Montreal, whose black population is less than 3%. "It is a symbol of open-mindedness. I received massive support from French-speaking...

Uganda: an end in sight? Hope springs eternal, and the long-drawn-out rebel war in northern Uganda may be nearing its end. Tom Okello reports from Kampala.(Around Africa)
October 1, 2004... There is fresh hope that the long-running conflict in northern Uganda between the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and the government of President Yoweri Museveni could finally be approaching its elusive end. A recent amnesty, which was extended for...

Ghana: Kufuor set for second victory; As the 7 December General Election draws near, the overriding concern of the electorate is peace and stability, reports George Frank Asmah from Accra.(Around Africa)
October 1, 2004... In Ghana's last three elections since 1992, the focus was on efforts to ensure that the polls were transparent, free and fair. In the upcoming General Election on 7 December, peace and stability is the overriding concern. [ILLUSTRATION...

Africa: fastest growing mobile market in the world; There is good news from the mobile telephone front in Africa. Celtel International, the continent's dominant provider, is making huge inroads and is now the leader in 10 of the 13 countries in which it operates. Stuart Price reports.(Around Africa)
October 1, 2004... Africa's leading mobile telecoms provider, Celtel International, has increased its number of customers to over four million, according to figures released by the company for the first half of this year. The company, which currently operates in...

Updating the black struggle; Recently The Economist--which these days could simply change its name to The Businessman--wrote: "Portugal was the first African colony in Europe." Blacks in the Diaspora are tired of the Brazilian-style "marginalisation" which they have suffered from for much longer than the term has internationally been applied to Africa.(Lest we forget)
October 1, 2004... To paraphrase the early 20th century comment, "the darkest thing about Africa is our ignorance of it", I begin this chronicle by recognising that the darkest thing about the "black experience" is still our ignorance of its diversity and...

Africa does have a glorious past.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)(Cover Story)
October 1, 2004... It was George Orwell, the famous English journalist and writer whose real name was George Arthur Blair (1903-50), born in India, died in the UK, who said: "He who controls the past, controls the future. He who controls the future, controls the...

Long before Columbus, West Africans traded with the Americas: Paul Barton writes on one of the least reported facts of African and world history.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2004... The history of West Africa has never been properly researched, but there were thriving trade and commercial activities between Ancient West Africa and the Americas long before Christopher Columbus (credited with the discovery of America) ever...

Truth submerged shall rise again: Paul Barton writes on how the Mende people of West Africa influenced the Olmec Civilisation in the Americas.(Black History Month)
October 1, 2004... Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without a doubt that the Ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally from West Africa and were of the Mende ethnic stock. According to Clyde A....

'No matter where you come from, so long as you are a black man, you are an African'.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)(Interview)
October 1, 2004... Akyaaba Addai-Sebo (right), is the man who started Black History Month UK. He shares the reggae star, Peter Tosh's view that you could be born in Alaska or Fiji or India, but so long as you are black, you are an African. This interview is a...

Brazil: the cult of whiteness; Abdias do Nascimento, the African-Brazilian senator, artist and author, writes on the disappearing blackness of the country's African-descended people.(Black History Month)
October 1, 2004... The African conceptual universe, the diversity of Africans in the Americas, in the mistakenly European world of Brazil, are essential to my painting, as are black people's social and human difficulties in a country they built for others. ...

Ancient Africans in recent America: in continental United States, there were Africans who came before slavery, before Columbus, and thousands of years before Christ. They were engaged in boat building, seafaring, trade and commerce. They still exist today, owning millions of acres of lands in the southern United States and the Mississippi Valley. But don't expect to read about them in the mainstream media, reports Paul Barton.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2004... In many parts of the Americas today, there are still people of African Negritic racial background who continue to exist either blended into the larger African-American population or are part of separate, indigenous groups living on their own...

'If you want a nigger for a neighbour vote Liberal or Labour': Smethwick 1964 is the nasty smell in British politics which everyone in the country's public life wishes would go away.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2004... 'If you want a nigger for a neighbour vote Liberal or Labour': Smethwick 1964 is the nasty smell in British politics which everyone in the country's public life wishes would go away. New African's Clayton Goodwin tried to get some of Britain's...

African development bank ... you kidding? This is the story of how Africa got a development bank in 1963, thanks largely to the determination of a visionary Liberian technocrat, Dr Romeo Horton, who would not allow even the World Bank to browbeat him on the issue. Omar Ben Yedder reports.(Black History Month)
October 1, 2004... As the first African countries gained independence, their pioneering leaders were passionate about the struggle for unity and development. The idea of African unity and the need for an institution for African development can be traced to the...

Seychelles, a fascinating history: Seychelles is a wonderful place. Baffour Ankomah looks at the history of how Britain came to run it as part of the empire, thanks to the then mysterious coco de mer fruits which grew exclusively on the islands.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2004... The history of the Seychelles is a fascinating story of itself--"a tale of intrepid explorers, fearsome pirates and brutal battles for the islands' bountiful treasures", says the Air Seychelles' in-flight magazine, Silhouette (named after the...

The Maasai vs the Crown: exactly 100 years ago, the British moved the Maasai people from their rich pasturelands in Kenya. Now they want their land back. And they are very uncompromising about it. Wanjohi Kabukuru reports from Nairobi.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2004... The Maasai are an indigenous pastoral people who for a long time have lived in the fertile Rift Valley that runs through East Africa. In Kenya, they are considered to be the country's indigenous people. Artefacts denoting Maasai culture have...

'Only the best is good enough for Africa'.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)(Biography)
October 1, 2004... "My people of Africa, we were created in the image of God, but men have made us think that we are chickens, and we still think we are, but we are eagles. Stretch forth your wings and fly! Don't be content with the food of chickens"--Dr J E...

When God was not looking: if you have an enemy, fight him straight--as so many gallant resistance-fighters have done throughout history. Picking on the innocent to use as human shields or as cannon fodder is amoral.(Under the Neem Tree)
October 1, 2004... The late British philosopher, Bertrand Russell, on contemplating the amount of evil to be found in the world, concluded that the world could not have been made by a good, omnipotent God, who was full of mercy and loving kindness. If such a good...

Africa: the mercenaries must be stopped! Cameron Duodu on the abortive attempt to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea by mercenaries. He wants Africa to send out a clear message that the continent will not tolerate interference in its affairs by any latter-day incarnations of Cecil Rhodes.(Analysis)
October 1, 2004... For hundreds of years, Africa has been seen by many Westerners not as the place of abode of sacred creatures like themselves, but as the supine depository of rich minerals. Plus, of course, in much earlier times, the source of human beings as a...

Cote d'Ivoire: no peace, no war; Efforts to put the fragile Ivorian peace pact back on course have taken the key stakeholders to Accra, the Ghanaian capital, for the third time. The question is, will the Accord work this time? Josephine Akarue reports from Abidjan.(Feature)
October 1, 2004... Hope is beginning to wane. Over a month after the 29 July "Accra III" peace meeting presided over by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and 12 African heads of state, the peace process has once again hit the buffers. [ILLUSTRATION...

Malawi: former president in trouble? The former Malawian president, Bakili Muluzi, may not enjoy the comfortable retirement he expected, reports Hobbs Gama.(Feature)
October 1, 2004... When former President Bakili Muluzi left office early this year, he expected a peaceful retirement "ever after", but a high profile scandal that happened under his watch and uncovered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) which investigated the...

This was not Africa's Olympics: African male athletes came to the Olympic Games in Athens and stamped their authority on the track with four gold medals and a cluster of silver and bronze--but where were the ladies? Clayton Goodwin traces Africa's disappointment at the just-ended Olympics in Athens.(Sport)
October 1, 2004... There was an African one-two-three shut-out in the men's 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m, and double-champion Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) proved himself to be the "champion of champions". Yet there were disappointments among the...