African Business articles from October 2002

African Business archives from October 2002

Letters.
October 1, 2002... Nigeria power LOOK TO TANZANIA FOR NEPA'S SOLUTION? Your coverage of Nigeria's power privatisation process was excellent (African Business September 2002). Your correspondent, Neil Ford, explained the difficulties that NEPA and the...

Correction.
October 1, 2002... Due to gremlins in the works, we unintentionally ran the wrong caption under a picture which appeared in the September issue of African Business on page 14. The picture was that of Michael Sata, leader of the Patriotic Front and not that of...

Running on empty. (Energy).
October 1, 2002... South African drivers are being stranded on the road without warning because their cars' fuel gauges may be faulty... and no one wants to take the blame. South Africa's National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Naamsa) declined to...

Africa body to tackle epidemic. (Conflict).
October 1, 2002... Ten east and central African countries have reaffirmed a pledge they took two years ago to crack down on the proliferation of illegal small arms in the region. The task is a daunting one as the area is awash with arms overflowing from war zones...

Dogfight over Nigerian landing fees. (Aviation).
October 1, 2002... The Nigerian commercial air navigational service is threatening to withdraw landing rights from those domestic and international airlines that owe it a total of $31m. The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) levies fees on airlines...

Anglo's anti-retrovirals initiative. (Health).
October 1, 2002... Multinational mining giant, Anglo American, is to spend nearly Rl7m a year in providing anti-retrovirals to all of its HIV-positive employees southern Africa-wide. The cost is estimated at some R500 per worker a month. It will also...

Namibian government sued for $10bn. (Law).
October 1, 2002... Allegations that the Namibian government illegally cancelled exclusive prospecting licences (EPLs) on the Skeleton Coast have led to a N$89bn (US$10bn) law suit by a local diamond mining operation. Nambib Resources - an exploration and mining...

SADC to keep track. (Diamonds).
October 1, 2002... The screws have tightened further on the sale of 'conflict diamonds' with the pending implementation by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) of a diamond certification scheme to trace sales. SADG mining expert John Chanda reports...

Set up fund, Africa urged. (Telecoms).
October 1, 2002... African governments should get together and set up a rural telecommunications development fund to enable 80% of the continent's population to access information technology within 10 years. Kenya's transport and communications minister, Musalia...

BHP Billiton spends $850m on expansion in Africa. (Mining).
October 1, 2002... Over $850m has been earmarked for southern African projects by BHP Billiton in its latest capital expenditure programme. The investment would all be spent on aluminium expansions: $450m has been set side for its smelter at Richards Bay in South...

Response: UN unveils map to safer world. (Disaster).
October 1, 2002... The United Nations has launched a global review on disaster reduction initiatives, calling for a world in which natural disasters do not shake economies. Living With Risk is a 400-page study of the lessons learned by experts and communities in...

AB Guide to African Currencies.
October 1, 2002... AB Guide to African Currencies COUNTRY CURRENCY [pounds sterling]STG ALGERIA (Dinar) 123.53 ANGOLA (New Kwanza) 75.16 BENIN ...

Mandela stands tall again. (Editorial).
October 1, 2002... Anyone who thought that when Nelson Mandela stepped down as President of South Africa he had also stepped away from being concerned bout world affairs was given a rude awakening when the Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke out loud and clear on...

When two worlds collide. (Cover Story).
October 1, 2002... After all the huffing and puffing, what did The UN World Summit on Sustainable Development actually achieve? What are the chances that resolutions passed will be turned into concrete reality? TOM NEVIN asks: Was the summit really about reducing...

Action at the side shows. (Cover Story).
October 1, 2002... Some notable, and certainly more exciting, events occurred on the periphery of the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), in satellite meetings around the main event. It was here that unlikely allies emerged, albeit in often thinly...

Beautiful things wow delegates: Wanderers' Cricket Club in Johannesburg, more famous for international sports, buzzed to a different beat when it was transformed into an information and cultural hub. (Cover Story).
October 1, 2002... Wanderers' Cricket Club in Johannesburg was transformed into the Ubuntu Village and attracted a steady flow of the 40,000 delegates to the WSSD conference in nearby Sandton - particularly to its cultural and traditional arts centre where ethnic...

With us or against us? (Dateline USA).
October 1, 2002... At the Earth Summit II meeting in johannesburg, south africa, the question was what role would the US play: that of a bullying superpower with a selfish agenda, or that of country leading the world to 'sustainable development?' The answer was...

SA economy now solid gold. (View from the City).
October 1, 2002... While economies all around it are collapsing, South Africa's is gaining in strength. The rand is now one of the top four performers in the world and the demand for S African bonds is rising. What is the secret behind South Africa's success? ...

Oiling the wheels of business. (Transport).
October 1, 2002... Nigeria's efforts to diversify and encourage greater foreign investment will come to nothing if the transport infrastructure, currently in a fairly dilapidated state, cannot be upgraded. NEIL FORD examines the government's options in this...

More than just a pipe dream? (Oil and Gas).
October 1, 2002... Many consider the proposed Trans Saharan Gas Pipeline as a typically Nigerian project. It's ambitious, it's headline grabbing and it's almost certainly not going to happen. But perhaps they've got it wrong and Nigeria could join the list of...

Put it on my card, please Maam. (Banking).
October 1, 2002... Remember when Mom gave you a few coins to buy lunch at the school tuck shop? Well, those days are numbered as smart cards begin to transform the way pupils pay for all manner of things at school. Multi-application cards are already...

Blow back pain away. (Health).
October 1, 2002... The good news is that real relief from chronic back pain is at long last at hand. The bad news is that it costs so much that few can afford it. In the hope that the cost might fall some time soon, we report that a procedure called kyphoplasty...

Telling it like it was. (Technology).
October 1, 2002... All cars may soon be equipped with 'black boxes' to make the vehicles safer and tell accident investigators what really happened. Some already are in the US, and have resulted in at least one successful prosecution of a drunk driver in a fatal...

Fighting malaria. (Medicine).
October 1, 2002... Mutation is the malaria mosquito's biggest defence against drugs developed to eradicate it. Now scientists have produced a vaccine that may overcome the plasmodium falciparum mosquito's instinctive capacity to acquire immunity by using the...

Fast-track HIV check. (Research).
October 1, 2002... Chinese scientists claim to have developed an HIV test that gives results in just three hours. In a report from Hong Kong, the researchers say their new method of screening for HIV invasion allows doctors to scan for the virus as soon as it...

Technology to transform Africa. (Development).
October 1, 2002... If effectively harnessed, new and emerging technologies could help to improve Africa's transition to sustainable development by lowering the incidence of disease and reducing food insecurity. This technology, according to a United Nations...

Whistling up a bath. (Invention).
October 1, 2002... When you're really ill and can't get to the bath or shower, what's the alternative? Well, you could get the bath and/or shower to come to you. Immobilised hospital or home patients need no longer endure the humiliation of the bed-bath now that...

Tunisia: relationship with the European Union. (Tunisia-EU).
October 1, 2002... Tunisia was the first country to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union. According to the terms of the Agreement, the EU and its Association partners will introduce a Free Trade Zone in 2010. This will mean that tariffs and other...

Luxury for the people? (Wheels).
October 1, 2002... Volkswagen is challenging Mercedes and BMW by adding a super-limo to their model line up. This move could either transform the company's image, or it could all end in tears. STEPHEN WILLIAMS looks at The Phaeton's chances. I here used to...

The French group Peugeot-Citroen built a total of 18,620 vehicles at five assembly plants in Africa last year. (Autos in Brief).
October 1, 2002... The French group Peugeot-Citroen built a total of 18,620 vehicles at five assembly plants in Africa last year. The company is a name long associated with Africa particularly Francophone West Africa for the ubiquitous 504 'taxi brousse'. The...

Rolls Royce has moved car production to its new plant at Goodwood in West Sussex, UK. (Autos in Brief).
October 1, 2002... Rolls Royce has moved car production to its new plant at Goodwood in West Sussex, UK, ending a 56 year history of hand-building cars at Crewe in Cheshire UK. The Rolls Royce marque is now owned by BMW, and the new Goodwood plant has begun trial...

Mazda has launched its new super-mini in Japan, the Mazda 2. (Autos in Brief).
October 1, 2002... Mazda has launched its new super-mini in Japan, the Mazda 2. Sharing much of the chassis specifications of the Ford Fiesta, it will replace the ageing Mazda 121. Further reflecting the increasing influence of Ford's tie-up with the Japanese...

The GM conundrum: will starving people care if the food they receive is genetically modified? probably not, but some governments are being extremely wary about letting GM food-aid enter their countries. (Agriculture).
October 1, 2002... The US lost its cool with Zambia last month and threatened to divert some 50,000 tons of genetically modified (GM) maize to other countries in the region if the Zambian government refused to accept it. The parcel was part of America's...

Gabon and Congo-Brazza: unidentical twins. (Spotlight).
October 1, 2002... Francophone oil producers of West and Central Africa such as Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville receive very little attention in the anglophone press yet the continent can draw interesting lessons from two states which are so similar and yet so...

The impact of debt relief. (Topic).
October 1, 2002... Of the five countries which have so far qualified for full assistance under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, four are in Africa: Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and most recently Burkina Faso. But what effect is the...

The self-exploiting exploited. (At Large).
October 1, 2002... Even before the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, the G8 Summit in Canada had clearly spelt out Africa's relative position in the scheme of things - at the bottom of the global rung. DR SONKO argues that we have brought about this dismal state...

Is Uhuru Moi's ace in the pack? (Countryfile: Kenya).
October 1, 2002... President Moi threw the cat among the pigeons when, against all expectations, he named the political lightweight, uhuru kenyatta as his heir apparent in the forthcoming presidential elections. Anver Versi analyses the strategy behind this move....

Obasanjo comes out fighting. (Countryfile: Nigeria).
October 1, 2002... The battle to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo has added a certain amount of spice to the Nigerian political scene in the run-up to next year's elections. Neil Ford looks at the drama being played out in Nigeria. From the point of view...

Children's charity wins Humanitarian Prize.
October 1, 2002... The global children's charity SOS-Kinderdorf International has won the 2002 Hilton HUMANITARIAN Prize for its work all over the world, including almost every country in Africa. The $1m prize will immediately benefit children affected by AIDS in...

Protection for diamond workers. (Countryfile: Sierra Leone).
October 1, 2002... In order to be 'clean', diamonds should not only be conflict-free, they must also have been produced in 'clean working conditions' Francois Misser reports on a new move to safeguard the rights of African workers in the diamond industry. In...

Mozambioue powers ahead.
October 1, 2002... Reports from Mozambique indicate a continueingly positive outlook for the economy, building on the spectacular growth experienced prior to the floods that devastated the country three years ago. The principle driving force behind Mozambique's...

A forest from shrimps. (Countryfile: Eritrea).
October 1, 2002... Eritrea's remarkably clean coastal waters provided the inspiration for an american scientist to launch a brilliantly integrated system starting with shrimps and ending with a new forest. Eyob Biemnet has the story. Eritrea's Red Sea...

Sugar boosts Malawi's economy.
October 1, 2002... Reports show that sugar as replaced tea as the Malawi's second highest forex earner. Under the European Union's 'Everything But Arms trade agreement, which provides for preferential quotas of various trade goods from 49 Least Developed...

Ghana water sale slammed. (Agenda).
October 1, 2002... A fact-finding mission on water reform and privatisation in Ghana delivered its report at the end of last month. KWESI OWUSU *, who led the delegation, reports that the final document made disturbing reading. For many in the developing...

Risky Business: Corruption, Fraud, Terrorism & Other Threats to Global Business. (Books).
October 1, 2002... BY STUART POOLE-ROBB & ALAN BAILEY [pounds sterling]25 Kogan Page ISBN 0-7494-38177 The broad premise of this book is that business is increasingly global and complex, and that globalisation offers both opportunities and a high degree...

The Hunt for Zerzuru: The Lost Oasis and the Desert War. (Books).
October 1, 2002... BY SAUL KELLY [pounds sterling]19.99 John Murray ISBN 0-7195-6162-0 An 1992 Michael Ondaatje won the Booker Prize for his novel, The English Patient. Subsequently, the book was adapted into an Oscar winning film starring Ralph...

Emerging Perspectives on Dambudzo Marechera. (Books).
October 1, 2002... EDITED BY FLORA VEIT-WILD AND ANTHONY CHENNELLS $24.95 (USA) Africa World Press Inc. ISBN 0-86543-645-2 This book of critical essays is devoted entirely to the prose and poetry of Dambudzo Marechera and draws together the work of...

Eritrea: The Bradt Travel Guide. (Books).
October 1, 2002... BY EDWARD DENISON & EDWARD PAICE [pounds sterling]12.95 Bradt Travel Guides ISBN1-84162-0572-2 Eritrea offers an untamed landscape of astonishing diversity, interior rich in historical remains, a coastal gateway to outstanding...

Thomas Mapfumo Collected: Classic Cuts and Rare Tracks from the Lion of Zimbabwe. (Music).
October 1, 2002... Nascente CAT: NS087 This is an important album from one of the giants of African music. Thomas Mapfumo, the man known as the Lion of Zimbabwe to his legions of fans overseas, and 'Mukanya' in Zimbabwe as a mark of respect to his totem...