New African articles from October 2006

New African archives from October 2006

Commonwealth Secretariat replies.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... Your cover story Trouble at the Common-wealth (Aug/Sept issue), contains a high number of factual inaccuracies, and makes selected use of material which is often taken out of context. It is regrettable that your magazine did not take the basic...

Commonwealth: shut it down.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... For years, I have wondered what in the world the people who have escaped the yoke of British colonialism are doing "messing" with something called "the Commonwealth". Your cover story, Trouble at the Commonwealth (NA, Aug/Sept) really shows it...

In defence of the Commonwealth.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I was deeply touched by the troubles of Prof Ayeni, but your prestigious magazine should not be used to cast aspersions on the secretary general, Don McKinnon, or bring the Commonwealth into disrepute by a self-perpetuating professional who...

Commonwealth: lack of justice.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... Prof V.O. Ayeni's complaint about his unfair treatment by the Commonwealth Secretariat (NA, Aug-Sept) does not come as a surprise. I don't intend to comment on the actual details of his complaint but merely to draw his attention to the real...

Commonwealth: I'm shocked.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I am a young South African male aged 24. Your expose, "Trouble at commonwealth" (NA, Aug/Sept) has not only shocked me, but has left me angry at the way Prof Victor Ayeni has been treated by the Commonwealth which prides itself on bringing...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2006... I was quite taken aback on opening the August/September 2006 issue of New African to find that the title I gave my communication--Artesunate-Mefloquine Combination Therapy For Malaria--was changed editorially to Killing us softly? (Letters,...

We need mental decolonisation.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... With the previous columns, interviews, historical expose, etc, the time has come for New African to concentrate on the mental decolonisation of the African masses to ensure our total economic and political liberation. Imagine the...

Zimbabwe: blaming others.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I found the Zimbabwe story in the Aug/Sept issue (Our economy is under siege but we will soldier on) to be a lazy, sloppy example of one-sided parroting, centred around legislative history, five-year old statements of a US representative who...

Zimbabwe: biased article.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... I bought the New African thinking it would be a refreshing new view on that continent. But I was saddened to see your article on Zimbabwe (Aug/Sept) took such a biased, partial and blinkered anti-American stance. It failed completely to address...

Africa: this is how far we have come; A quick look at how Africans were seen in the past through the eyes of European historians, philosophers and writers and how we are seen today proves a huge point: the world (outside Africa) is making progress. This compilation was done by Sophie B. Oluwole.
October 1, 2006... * Homer (c.700 BC): "Ethiopia [or Africa] is a remote place at the extreme of the universe where the people worshipped and sacrificed to the gods." * Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): "Africa is a timeless place in which there are no art, letters...

When we ruled.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)(Editorial)
October 1, 2006... Once again, Black History Month is here, when black people in Britain celebrate the great and good in the long history of their mother continent and people in humanising the world. This year, New African has borrowed not only the title but...

When they came.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2006... In their own words, early European merchants, travellers and explorers describe what they saw when they visited Africa 500 years ago. One of them, a truly flabbergasted Major Dubois, a French scholar, wrote about the Malian city of Djenne in...

Nigeria: primitive peoples do not produce artwork of anything like this quality; Africa was a land of glorious civilizations that existed all over the continent. In 1928 one such civilization was accidentally uncovered in the forests of Nigeria. Robin Walker reports.
October 1, 2006... In central Nigeria, a hitherto unsuspected culture bloomed between 1000 BC and 1000 AD. Tin mining operations conducted in 1928 brought this civilisation out in the open. Lt-Colonel J. Dent Young, an Englishman, led mining operations in the...

Nigeria; How Yoruba art dazzled the Europeans; Herbert Wendt, a German science writer, said it all: "modern ethnologists have found the art of the Yorubas so astonishingly high in quality that they did not [at first] ascribe it to a Negro race." Well, welcome to an African civilization dating back to 600 AD.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2006... By the 11th century AD, the Yoruba, ruling from the city of Ile Ife, were the leading cultural force in southern Nigeria. Their civilisation has been widely admired by many scholars. Prof Cheikh Anta Diop, for example, wrote that: "It is...

London launches Black History Season: a new initiative put forward by Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, helps to cement African and Caribbean history into London's heritage.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2006... The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has always led the way in acknowledging the role that Africa and its people (or in modern parlance, "people of African descent") have contributed to the development of London. Thus, following another...

Nigeria: behold a city called Benin; Great Benin, also known as Edo, was an important state that flourished in southern Nigeria. In the 15th century, it was an empire distinguished by the sumptuousness and comfort of its capital, Benin City, and by the refinement of its royal art. Robin Walker takes us through the golden age of Benin City.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2006... From the 15th century onwards, West Africa began to face the rigours of the slave trade. The threat initially came from the Portuguese. Later it came from other Europeans. A few states survived this period, though in some of these, the...

Slavery: how the Church of England treated its slaves.
October 1, 2006... Early this year when the Church of England formally apologised for its part in the slave trade, many did not know what exactly the Church had done during that despicable era. Now we know, thanks to the meticulous research by Adam Hochschild....

'We repent for robbing Africans of their history and identity': a delegation of European church leaders, visiting Zimbabwe, has apologised on behalf their countries for the slave trade and other sins committed against Africans. Sifelani Tsiko reports from Harare.
October 1, 2006... James Baldwin once said: "History is not about the past. It's about the present. We take it with us, we cannot escape our history... It is through this prism of our history that we see the world. What was done in the past and the present...

This is Deeper Christian Life: an outsider's view through the eyes of Baffour Ankomah who travelled to four West African countries in August to see how the Deeper Life Bible Church is affecting lives.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEEPER LIFE: YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION)
October 1, 2006... There is a revolution taking place in Africa which those of us living in the West have not paid much attention to, or at best sniffed at. We may not like it, but it does affect the lives of many millions of Africans. Seeing it at close range on...

'The church has touched so many lives': "I have just seen somebody who teaches the Bible as if he was there when it was written".
October 1, 2006... The Deeper Life Bible Church--amongst the largest churches in the world, according to independent statistics--is the flagship organisation of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry which has its headquarters at Gbagada, Lagos, Nigeria. The church...

I don't want anything fake.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEEPER LIFE: YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION)(William Folorunso Kumuyi )(Interview)
October 1, 2006... Dr William Folorunso Kumuyi speaks about his background, how the Deeper Life Bible Church came into being, and what the future holds for the entire ministry. "There are no theatrics in our church," he says, "because from my background, I don't...

Miracles and wonders shall follow you ... For the first time in his life, Baffour Ankomah saw the lame and paralysed rise and walk, the blind have their sights restored, and many more miracles as he followed the trail of the Deeper Life Bible Church in West Africa.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEEPER LIFE: YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION)
October 1, 2006... Don't worry if you are one of those Doubting Thomases who will only believe when they see it with their own very eyes. I was like you--until late July 2006. In a world where people launch spacecrafts from Cape Canaveral on America's east coast...

Deeper Life the constitution.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEEPER LIFE: YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION)(Organization overview)
October 1, 2006... 1. Preamble 1.1 The name of the organisation is The Deeper Christian Life Ministry and shall be commonly known or called Deeper Christian Life Ministry or Deeper Life Ministry or DCLM. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 1.2 This constitution...

A church in transition: Deeper Life is a church in transition--in the sense that it is currently replacing all its temporary buildings for cathedral-type edifices. Baffour Ankomah went around west Africa to see the work in progress.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEEPER LIFE: YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION)
October 1, 2006... Anybody who has, or has had, children between the ages of 10 and 13 will sympathise with the Deeper Life Bible Church. The 10-13-year bracket is the time a child's growth spurt goes into overdrive, and thus when you buy them a pair of shoes,...

'Until Africa is won for the Lord ... we have no rest': para-church units at the forefront of spreading the gospel far and wide.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEEPER LIFE: YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION)
October 1, 2006... Christian Women Mirror A monthly magazine dedicated to women both inside and outside the church, the Women Mirror is by far the most successful stand-alone unit under the Deeper Christian Life Ministry. Published under the direct...

The future is bright, in Europe & USA: Mercy Eze reports on the growth of the Deeper Life Bible Church in Europe and the USA.(SPECIAL REPORT: DEEPER LIFE: YEAR OF TRANSFORMATION)
October 1, 2006... In the olden days, the "Great commission" to spread the word of God to all corners of the world, saw European missionaries come to Africa to win souls for the Lord. Today, there is a reverse revolution. More and more African missionaries are...

Have you heard of Mansa Musa? Fact: the Africans knew about the lunar cycle and its shadows long before any European thought about it. If you don't believe it, ask the BBC's Michael Palin.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2006... In a recent book, Cynthia Crossen, senior editor of the New York-based financial daily, The Wall Street Journal, wrote: "You've heard of the extraordinary wealth of Bill Gates, J.P. Morgan, and the sultan of Brunei, have you heard of Mansa...

How Adu Boahen unlocked Ghana's history.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2006... When the British historian, W.F. Ward, wrote in his 1948 book, History of the Gold Coast that the main ethnic groups of the Gold Coast--among them the Akan, the Akwamu, the Ga, and the Ewe--were relative "newcomers" to the country, and that...

Namibia: unfinished business within the ruling party.(Focus on Namibia: Politics)
October 1, 2006... There is a new president at the helm, but the jostling for position within the ruling Swapo party, which started in 2004, has not ended. Would the adversaries' long-held dream that the strongest and most viable opposition in Namibia emerges...

Namibia: a booming economy, but not for all; Namibia is a country of contrasts, a prosperous and highly developed territory living cheek by jowl with a downside that weakens all the positives. Axaro Gurirab reports.(Focus on Namibia: Economy)
October 1, 2006... A formal analysis of the Namibian economy creates the impression that it is well with our souls in the land of the brave. With a GDP per capita of US$1, 475, Namibia is ranked as a middle income country. In the context of the Southern African...

Namibia: President Pohamba speaks; Namibia's president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, has been in office for a year and a half. He has a clear vision as to where he wants to take his country. Omar Ben Yedder went to interview him in Windhoek. Here are excerpts.(Interview)
October 1, 2006... President Pohamba: I like the name New African because I was born, and grew up, in the "old Africa". I'm also happy that I saw the birth of the "new Africa", hence New African is such a good name. I like it. Omar Ben Yedder: Thank you for...

East African sailor led Da Gama to India: without the help of an anonymous East African sailor, it is doubtful that Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer, would have ever succeeded in 'discovering' India. Stephen Williams writes on the early history of the East African region.(BLACK HISTORY MONTH)
October 1, 2006... The history of Africa's 1,500km Indian Ocean coast from Somalia to Mozambique has been documented for more than 2,000 years, although small coastal settlements undoubtedly existed for many millennia before that. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

The dividends of democracy.(Borno State)
October 1, 2006... Democracy Day--history on display [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Democracy Day in Nigeria has been celebrated every year since 1999. It marks the return of democracy throughout the country. Every state chooses its...

Alienating Africans from their lands is to condemn them to death.
October 1, 2006... Akyaaba Addai-Sebo reacts to our June cover story on the thorny issue of land redistribution in Southern Africa. "We must listen to and support the rallying call for 'African lands in African hands' in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and...

African film puts World Bank, IMF on trial: the glitterati assembled at the Cannes Film Festival in May to strut their stuff, but one film stood out, Bamako. It made uncomfortable viewing for the economists at the World Bank and IMF.(The Arts)
October 1, 2006... Africa's lone entry in this year's Cannes Film Festival in France aimed to speak for millions with its ambitious tale of putting the World Bank and IMF on trial for the monetary policies choking African nations. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...