Africa: Malaria Vaccine On the Way to Final-Stage Trials

SciDev.Net (London)
Nairobi — Sixteen thousand children in seven African countries are due to undergo final-stage tests of a potential malaria vaccine early next year after research showed it halves the risk of malaria among infants and children in Kenya and Tanzania.

The next trials will expand to include Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Malawi and Mozambique. They are scheduled to begin by March 2009.

Results from the two East African clinical trials using the vaccine, currently known as RTS,S, were published last week (8 December) in The New England Journal of Medicine.

"The results advance the vision that a vaccine will be capable of protecting young African children and infants against malaria," says research clinician Ally Olotu, a co-author from the Kilifi-based Centre for Geographic Medicine Research, part of the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

One study showed that the vaccine - which stops the bloodborne parasite before it reaches the liver - could be included in the standard childhood immunisation schedule in African countries without interfering with the effectiveness of other vaccines or damaging its own effectiveness, Olutu says.

A second study confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in babies and found that it reduced rates of malaria by half (53 per cent).

The next trials - on newborns 6-12 weeks old, and babies 5-17 months old - will provide even more information on the vaccine's effectiveness and safety, Olotu told SciDev.Net.

Salim Abdulla of the Ifakara Health Institute in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, says the latest Kenyan and Tanzanian trials confirm the results of earlier, smaller trials among adults in The Gambia and pre-schoolers in Mozambique, where the vaccine offered substantial protection against malaria for between 18 months and four years (see Mozambique starts malaria vaccine trial).
Relevant Links

* Health and Medicine
* Malaria

However, there are no plans to produce the vaccine in Africa and no information on its potential cost, Abdulla says. He told SciDev.Net that scientists are talking with nongovernmental organisations and health development bodies about a social marketing campaign for the rapid scale-up of the vaccine in the WHO and other immunisation programmes.

"These findings build a strong case for the phase III trials we have planned for 11 sites in Africa, says Abdulla, who participated in the trials at Tanzania's Tanga Medical Research Centre.

Africa's top 10 positive developments 2008

Nothing good ever comes out of Africa? Nonsense. In this top 10 we profile events and developments of 2008 which are significantly positive and meaningful. These 10 events bring hope. Join our discussion.
haile wins berlin.jpg
Good things out of Africa in 2008 according to the AfricaNews editorial team

1. Peaceful elections in Ghana,
2. Continues growth of many African economies (Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Angola, etc, etc),
3. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, president of war torn Liberia keeps her country stable,
4. Peaceful elections in Angola,
5. Cheap broadband internet seriously on its way (Seacom, Intelsat, O3B),
6. Haile Gebrselassie breaks word record marathon,
7. Mobile banking in Kenya,
8. University Mogadishu lauds its first 20 doctors in 20 years,
9. President Mutharika greatly improves food security Malawi,
10. Zimbabwe's Eric Moyo wins Idols Africa.

(11. Barack Obama elected president of the USA)

This is a first step. Now we want your imput: What did we miss? Do you disagree? Perhaps you know a better top 10? Let us know. Make yourself heard and join the discussion.

SOLAR FOR CHILDREN

It's christmas time and it's a moment we all see the year coming to an end and christians celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ:It is also a moment that instills hope and opens the heart of many.I decided to publish this post as a medium to reopen the hearts of many of us,to do do important acts of kindness in favour of underpreviledged children and also to forster development.

The problem:
The majority of Tanzania's electricity supply is generated by hydropower. This is highly vulnerable to drought, which is occurring more frequently with climate change. In 2006, a severe drought resulted in countrywide power cuts and blackouts.

Currently, the electrical grid reaches a small proportion of the country's population. In rural areas, families rely on firewood for cooking, kerosene for lanterns and disposable batteries to power small electric appliances such as radios. Rural schools often have no access to electricity at all, which makes study difficult. Many children never receive the education that could help them build lives free from poverty.

Hydropower is already under immense strain and cannot be extended. There is an urgent need for Tanzania to use alternative sources of energy to improve access to electricity.

p2p2still_night_study.jpg

The solution:
Tanzania benefits from some of the highest levels of sun exposure in the world. This makes it ideal for establishing solar-power as a major source of electricity, which can be done in three ways:

Micro-solar enterprise
We urgently need to train poor people in rural Tanzania to build solar-powered radios, mobiles and lamps. With your help, we can teach them finance and marketing skills, so they can set up their own business selling their products to local people, at an affordable price.

Solar education
To fight global warming, we must work with school children and teachers to raise awareness of the need for renewable energy sources. With funding, we can teach them to assemble solar lanterns, so children can study at home.

Solar school installation
This project aims to install 300W systems in 100 schools over four years. This will give pupils and teachers access to the Internet, as well as lighting for evening study and extracurricular activities. A reliable electricity supply will help increase literacy, school attendance and teacher retention.

Outcomes:
By supporting this project you will help us to:


1. Alleviate poverty by providing poor rural people with a valuable income.

2. Raise awareness of solar energy as a clean and renewable source of power, which can replace polluting fossil fuels.

3. Make solar power technology readily available to school children and their respective families, enabling students to study during the evenings.


What your gift will buy:
We urgently need funds to pay for materials and training:


* Micro-solar materials: Solar glass, diodes, wood, wires, crocodile clips, rechargeable batteries, battery holders, battery connectors and fold-back clips, frames.

* Support funds and training for SolarAid Project /Training coordinators.

* Volunteer expenses and accommodation.

* Solar materials for schools.

* Travel and insurance costs for volunteers and staff.

To meet the people involved, watch videos and read updates from Tanzania, go to the blog
Light up the developing world
Categories: Education and Livelihoods
Project Name: Solar for children
Country: Tanzania
About: This project will create jobs for the poorest people, and bring solar power to local communities and school children.
Regions: Mtwara/Lindi, Kagera and Dodoma
Duration: Four years and three months
Cost: £999,038.95

"MAMA AFRICA" -MIRIAM MAKEBA IS NO MORE!

Rome - South African singer Miriam Makeba has died aged 76 after being taken ill following a concert near the southern Italian town of Caserta, Ansa news agency reported on Monday.

Makeba was the legendary voice of the African continent, who became a symbol of the fight against apartheid in her home country.

She died overnight after taking part in a concert for Roberto Saviano, a writer threatened with death by the Mafia, the Italian agency said.

She sang for half an hour for the young author of Gomorrah at Castel Volturno near Naples along with other singers and artistes.

She was taken ill and was quickly taken to a clinic in Castel Volturno where she died of a heart attack, Ansa said.

Career

Makeba was born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932. She made an international farewell tour in 2005.

Born from a Swazi mother and Xhosa father, Makeba captured international attention as vocalist for the South African group, The Manhattan Brothers, while they toured the United States in 1959.

The following year, when she wanted to return home to bury her mother, the apartheid state revoked her citizenship and later also banned her music. As a result she spent 31 years in exile, living in the United States and later in Guinea.

She became the first black African woman to receive a Grammy Award, which she shared with folk singer Harry Belafonte in 1965.

Two years later her fame sky-rocketed with the recording of the all-time hit Pata Pata (Xhosa for "touch, touch" describing a township dance) although she unknowingly signed away all royalties on the song.

She hit an all-time low in 1985 when her only daughter, Bongi, died aged 36 from complications from a miscarriage. Makeba did not have money to buy a coffin for Bongi, and buried her alone barring a handful of journalists covering the funeral.

But she picked herself up again, as she did many times before, like when her father died at a young age, or when she recovered from cervix cancer, or her many unhappy relationships, or unfounded rumours of alcoholism, according to her biography.

She returned to South Africa in the 1990s after Mandela was released from prison but it took a cash-strapped Makeba six years to find someone in the local recording industry to produce a record with her.

She since released Homeland which contains a song describing her joy to be back home after the many years in exile in which she spoke out against apartheid and testified twice before the United Nations.

"I kept my culture. I kept the music of my roots. Through my music I became this voice and image of Africa and the people without even realising," she said in her biography.

BARACK OBAMA--God No Di Sleep!!

It's a wonderful day for me and i obviously believe for more than many of you.The weekend began so well with Joe Wilfred Tsonga winning his first tournament in the Paris Tennis Open and subsequently the stunning victory of lewis Hamilton in the Formula 1 world championships,after a drammatic show down in Brasile to become the first black and youngest winner of this competition.And that's where i affirmed the fact that"GOD NO DI SLEEP" and i knew the miracle was on the way.
It was 5AM in the morning here in Cameroon and we kept vigil all night long waiting for this HISTORIC MOMENT.In Africa we say "GOD NO DI SLEEP" meaning that God doesn't sleep.Infact,God's time is the best and he sent us this man BARACK OBAMA to enable MARTIN LUTHER KING's famous "i have a dream" to become reality,at a moment when the world needed this dream at the most,the whole world i mean.
Barack Obama made history early today by becoming America’s first black president.
'It's been a long time coming, but tonight... change has come to America,' the president-elect told jubilant supporters in Chicago."The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there," Obama said in Chicago, Illinois, before an estimated crowd of up to 240,000 people.
Americans emphatically elected Democrat Barack Obama as their first black president Tuesday, in a transformational election, which will reshape US politics and the US role on the world stage.

Obama, 47, will be inaugurated the 44th US president on January 20, 2009, and inherit an economy mired in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a nuclear showdown with Iran.

His presidency also marks a stunning social shift, with Obama, the son of Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, the first African American president of a nation still riven by racial divides.

African free trade zone is agreed

The leaders of three African trading blocs on Wednesday agreed to create a free trade zone of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated $624bn (£382.9bn).

It is hoped the deal will ease access to markets within the region and end problems arising from the fact several countries belong to multiple groups.

The deal also aims to strengthen the bloc's bargaining power when negotiating international deals.

Analysts say the agreement will help intra-regional trade and boost growth.

The three blocs which struck the deal were the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).

"The greatest enemy of Africa, the greatest source of weakness has been disunity and a low level of political and economic integration," said Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at a meeting with the heads of state who chair the three trade blocs.

The agreement will also lend its backing to joint infrastructure and energy projects in the zone.

Redressing imbalance

Six heads of state from 26 countries in Comesa, SADC and the EAC attended the meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to sign the agreement.



Many of the leaders and representatives consider the new pact a way of giving Africa a greater voice on the world stage.

"By coming together, the member states will have a strong voice in advancing our interests on the international scene," said South African President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Meanwhile, President Museveni said that it was a step in the right direction for a continent that suffered unfairly when it came to global trade.

President Motlanthe also called for developing countries to have positions within global institutions.

""While Africa and other developing countries had marginal influence over the decisions that have brought the international finance systems to the brink of collapse, unjustifiably, African countries will bear the brunt," he said.

"Development countries must be included in the governance of all international financing institutions to mitigate adverse effects on them," Mr Motlanthe added.

Groupings

The three blocs are already well-established in their own right but cover varying swathes of land and numbers of people.

The SADC was first established as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference in 1980 in order to reduce independence on apartheid South Africa.

It was reincarnated as the SADC in 1992. It covers a population of some 248 million people and a zone whose cumulative GDP is $379bn in 2006.

The SADC's members include South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Comesa was established in 1994 and replaced the Preferential Trade Area. It includes 398 million people and the area has a combined GDP of $286.7bn in 2006. Among its members are Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda and Sudan.

EAC is the smallest of the group in terms of GDP, and had a GDP of $46.6bn in 2006. Set up in 1967, disagreements between founding members Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania led to its collapse.

A treaty was signed for its re-establishment in 1999 and the new EAC was formed in 2000.

Johann Hari: How we fuel Africa's bloodiest war

What is rarely mentioned is the great global heist of Congo's resources

The deadliest war since Adolf Hitler marched across Europe is starting again – and you are almost certainly carrying a blood-soaked chunk of the slaughter in your pocket.


When we glance at the holocaust in Congo, with 5.4 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a "tribal conflict" in "the Heart of Darkness". It isn't. The United Nations investigation found it was a war led by "armies of business" to seize the metals that make our 21st-century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you.



Every day I think about the people I met in the war zones of eastern Congo when I reported from there. The wards were filled with women who had been gang-raped by the militias and shot in the vagina. The battalions of child soldiers – drugged, dazed 13-year-olds who had been made to kill members of their own families so they couldn't try to escape and go home. But oddly, as I watch the war starting again on CNN, I find myself thinking about a woman I met who had, by Congolese standards, not suffered in extremis.
I gave her a lift, and it was only after a few hours of chat along on cratered roads that I noticed there was something strange about Marie-Jean's children. They were slumped forward, their gazes fixed in front of them. They didn't look around, or speak, or smile. "I haven't ever been able to feed them," she said. "Because of the war."


Their brains hadn't developed; they never would now. "Will they get better?" she asked. I left her in a village on the outskirts of Goma, and her kids stumbled after her, expressionless.


There are two stories about how this war began – the official story, and the true story. The official story is that after the Rwandan genocide, the Hutu mass murderers fled across the border into Congo. The Rwandan government chased after them. But it's a lie. How do we know? The Rwandan government didn't go to where the Hutu genocidaires were, at least not at first. They went to where Congo's natural resources were – and began to pillage them. They even told their troops to work with any Hutus they came across. Congo is the richest country in the world for gold, diamonds, coltan, cassiterite, and more. Everybody wanted a slice – so six other countries invaded.


These resources were not being stolen to for use in Africa. They were seized so they could be sold on to us. The more we bought, the more the invaders stole – and slaughtered. The rise of mobile phones caused a surge in deaths, because the coltan they contain is found primarily in Congo. The UN named the international corporations it believed were involved: Anglo-America, Standard Chartered Bank, De Beers and more than 100 others. (They all deny the charges.) But instead of stopping these corporations, our governments demanded that the UN stop criticising them.


There were times when the fighting flagged. In 2003, a peace deal was finally brokered by the UN and the international armies withdrew. Many continued to work via proxy militias – but the carnage waned somewhat. Until now. As with the first war, there is a cover-story, and the truth. A Congolese militia leader called Laurent Nkunda – backed by Rwanda – claims he needs to protect the local Tutsi population from the same Hutu genocidaires who have been hiding out in the jungles of eastern Congo since 1994. That's why he is seizing Congolese military bases and is poised to march on Goma.


It is a lie. François Grignon, Africa Director of the International Crisis Group, tells me the truth: "Nkunda is being funded by Rwandan businessmen so they can retain control of the mines in North Kivu. This is the absolute core of the conflict. What we are seeing now is beneficiaries of the illegal war economy fighting to maintain their right to exploit."


At the moment, Rwandan business interests make a fortune from the mines they illegally seized during the war. The global coltan price has collapsed, so now they focus hungrily on cassiterite, which is used to make tin cans and other consumer disposables. As the war began to wane, they faced losing their control to the elected Congolese government – so they have given it another bloody kick-start.


Yet the debate about Congo in the West – when it exists at all – focuses on our inability to provide a decent bandage, without mentioning that we are causing the wound. It's true the 17,000 UN forces in the country are abysmally failing to protect the civilian population, and urgently need to be super-charged. But it is even more important to stop fuelling the war in the first place by buying blood-soaked natural resources. Nkunda only has enough guns and grenades to take on the Congolese army and the UN because we buy his loot. We need to prosecute the corporations buying them for abetting crimes against humanity, and introduce a global coltan-tax to pay for a substantial peacekeeping force. To get there, we need to build an international system that values the lives of black people more than it values profit.


Somewhere out there – lost in the great global heist of Congo's resources – are Marie-Jean and her children, limping along the road once more, carrying everything they own on their backs. They will probably never use a coltan-filled mobile phone, a cassiterite-smelted can of beans, or a gold necklace – but they may yet die for one.

LIBERIA; A DAWN OF A NEW ERA

For the first time in the history of fiscal probity in Africa's oldest republic, the supreme audit outfit in Liberia, the General Auditing Commission-GAC, has presented its first special Forensic Audit report of the Auditor General to parliament. It is mandated by law to report to the Legislature.
liberian president
In 2005, an Act of Legislature amended section 53 of the Executive Law of 1972 creating the GAC; making the entity independent of the executive branch of government. This led to the recruitment of the current head of the institution, John S. Morlu II, 2006 by the European Union in alliance with the Liberian government. This was done through a conventional vetting process that saw the participation of other nationals having advertised the job in 150 countries the world over.

The presentation of the audit report on Wednesday to the Lawmakers at the Capitol Building-home of the Lawmakers- in Monrovia, signals a dawn of a new era in the fight against fraud and abuse of public fund in Liberia. Till now, this is the inaugural presentation of an audit report to parliament in the history of the continent’s oldest republic.

The Special Forensic Audit Report of the Auditor General on the Bong Mines Community Escrow Account was received by Genevee Massaquoi, Assistant Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representative, Atty. James Karbah on behalf of the lawmakers.

Thirty one copies of the report were given to the Senate, while the Representative received 65 copies. The Liberia National Legislature, the first branch of government, comprises 96 Legislators, 64 Representatives making up the lower House and 30 Senators.

Making the presentation on behalf of the Auditor General, in separate remarks, GAC head of communication, James Jensen, said “GAC’s unbending commitment in making sure that public monies are truly accounted for the general goods of the public”.

“The proper management and application of public resources, is a cardinal platform of directing more donors funding for Liberia and a truest means for Liberia’s post war economic recovery,” Jensen noted.

He praised international partners like the European Commission, American government plus other partners that have been backbones of support to GAC’s quest to cleanse Liberia from the chain of fiscal improprieties, wastes, corruption and abuse of resources.


He assured the lawmakers that the Auditor General (AG), John S. Morlu II, will in a short period present additional audit reports to members of the legislature.

Both Massaquoi and Chief Clerk Karbah expressed appreciation for the report and promised to present them to the lawmakers. The Special Forensic Audit report of the Bong Mines Community escrow account covers the fiscal year ended 2006/2007.

The former mining town, Bong Mines is situated in Bong County, central Liberia. The audit commissioned by the Auditor General included the audits of financial and related records pertaining to three projects in Fuamah District in Bong County. They included Handii road, rehabilitation of the annex to Handii Clinic and seven classroom school construction and clinic renovation all totaling US$236,693.9.

In a related development: a GAC source said the entity has “completed the audits of several government institutions, including, the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP); National Housing Authority (NPA), National Lotteries, Independent Human Rights Commission (IHRC); and the Ministry of Finance”.

NIGERIA; SHELL TO FACE TRIAL IN THE U.S OVER SARO WIWA

Oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum, will go on trial in the United States on February 9, 2009 for alleged complicity in human rights abuses in the Niger Delta, THISDAY has learnt.

The case entitled Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Shell and Wiwa v Anderson concerns the November 10, 1995 hangings of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Movement of the Emancipation of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) known as "Ogoni Nine" and the shooting of a woman protesting the bulldozing of her farm by Shell in preparation for a pipeline project.

After several years of litigation, Judge Kimba Wood ruled that the trial would he held next year.

According to documents made available by EarthRights International, one of thecounsel, Shell was engaged in "acts of oppression" against peaceful opposition to the company's environmental damage and human rights abuses in the Ogoni area.

THISDAY gathered that the plaintiff's action was brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) and alleges violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO).

The defendants dismissed the complaints on grounds of lack of personal jurisdiction over Royal Dutch/Shell and lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

According to the defendants, ACTA did not apply to a corporation and the claim was precluded by the political questions and act of state doctrines as well as Nigerian law on corporate liability. They also argued that the case should be heard in the Netherlands or England.

But on September 25, 1998, Judge Wood ruled that personal jurisdiction was appropriate in New York but also ruled that England was a more convenient forum and therefore that the defendant's motion to dismiss should be granted for forum non conveniens (Latin for "inconvenient forum" or "inappropriate forum").

Plaintiffs appealed to the US Court of Appeals for Second Circuit, arguing that a forum non conveniens dismissal would vitiate Congressional intent to allow plaintiffs claims to be heard in US courts.

Defendants cross-appealed the ruling personal jurisdiction. And the Court of Appeal on September 15, 2000 reversed the district court's forum non conveniens dismal, thereby concluding that the US was the proper forum.

The court further upheld the district court's ruling that jurisdiction over the defendants was proper.

EarthRights International is a co-counsel for the plaintiffs together with Judith Brown Chomsky, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Paul Hoffman and Julie Shapiro.

The "Ogoni Nine" were hanged by the government of late military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha after they were found guilty of murder by the military tribunal headed by Justice Ibrahim Auta.

Those hanged were Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine

There was a global outcry on what was described as "judicial murder" and outrage heightened against Shell which was accused of collaborating with the military regime to silence environmental activists in the oil-producing region.
Last August, another oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited, had also lost its bid to halt its trial in United States after exhausting all appeals to stop the company from being tried for the alleged murder of villagers in the Niger Delta region in two separate incidents between 1998 and 1999.

The US District Court Judge in San Francisco, California, Susan Illston, had ruled last year in the Bowoto v. Chevron Corp., No 99-2506, that Chevron was directly involved in the alleged attacks by acting in consonance with Nigerian government security forces and therefore would stand trail.

Chevron appealed the California Superior Court's ruling unsuccessfully.

In her ruling, Judge Illston found "evidence that CNL [Chevron Nigeria Limited] personnel were directly involved in the attacks; CNL transported the GSF [Nigerian government security forces], CNL paid the GSF; and CNL knew that GSF were prone to use excessive force".

The plaintiffs are also taking action on the legality of the Nigerian government's conduct at Parabe and Opia/Ikenyan, asking the state court to issue an injunction regulating the manner in which the Nigerian government may provide law enforcement services in Nigeria, and asking the court to limit CNL's ability to obtain armed protection in Nigeria.Chevron argued this will hinder its operations in the country.

In addition to Environmental Rights Action and Traber &Voorhees, the plaintiffs are represented by the private law firms of Hadsell & Stormer and Siegel & Yee, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Paul Hoffman, Michael Sorgen, Robert Newman, Anthony DiCaprio, Elizabeth Gu-arnieri, and Richard Wiebe.

afrol News - Africa to pay for Europe's "green policies"

In efforts to make quick and symbolic gains in Europe's otherwise failed policies to curb climate gas emissions, environmental and anti-globalisation politicians are aiming at Africa's few economic success stories. Campaigns to buy locally produced food and travel to local destinations particularly hit out against African products.

Consumers in Europe are again growing more environmentally conscious and are willing to use their purchasing power to assist in what is widely seen as our era's most pressing problems - the overspending of energy and global warming. Meanwhile, European politicians have been those pressuring strongest to gain support for the Kyoto Protocol while having totally failed to lower emissions of climate gases in their own countries. In every country, emissions have steadily increased.

Populist solutions that are to satisfy costumers, politicians and the European industry alike are therefore surfacing all over Africa's neighbour continent and the main market of its products. And the solutions seem neat and nice - easy to understand and with the potential of creating more work locally. Even the industry starts propagating these solutions.

The victim mainly is Africa, because the message is that, as longer as a product or person is transported, the more energy is wasted unnecessarily. Worst of all is airborne transport, having the highest emissions of climate gases such as CO2. Unluckily, Africa is far away from European markets and poor transcontinental infrastructure puts most products and travellers on an airplane.

All over Europe, therefore, home-grown campaigns are being promoted, attacking Africa's newest and most successful export products. Anti-globalisation activists, "green" politicians, local industry and even occasional experts and scientists head these "buy local" campaigns.

One of the latest campaigns is being launched in Germany, Europe's most populous state and biggest single market. The campaign goes "Sylt instead of Seychelles", referring to a fragile German North Sea island with an overstretched and environmentally damaging tourism industry. Tourism and climate expert Dr Manfred Stock developed the slogan and told the daily newspaper 'Berliner Zeitung' that consumers worrying about global warming should avoid intercontinental flights and rather take the train to a German or European destination.

The much-quoted researcher is in line with policies promoted by Germany's Federal Environment Agency (UBA). UBA President Dr Andreas Troge has made the climate change issue his agency's foremost focus, and one of the ways consumers could "do something on your own" is by changing their travel behaviour, UBA says. A single traveller flying to an intercontinental destination produces more than five tonnes of CO2, he told the German press, while someone travelling by train within Germany only had the emission of ten of kilograms of CO2 to account for.

Some even go further and have started penalising air travellers. In Norway, flyers have started paying for their CO2 emissions. So far, only domestic flights are penalised to make sure Norwegian airliners are not losing out in competition with other companies on international flights. But Norway is among many countries working for a CO2 tax on world-wide flights, which of course in particular would make long distance flights much more expensive.

This comes as most African states are investing massively in their nascent tourism industry and as Africa is surfacing as a modern and exciting travel destination in most Western markets. Some sub-Saharan states, in particular Seychelles, Mauritius, Cape Verde and The Gambia, already see tourism as their greatest foreign exchange earners. In Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, the travel industry by now is a vibrant success, while newcomers as Mozambique, Ethiopia, Gabon and Burkina Faso pin great investments and development hopes to the industry.
Read on;

afrol News - Africa to pay for Europe's "green policies"

Kenya: Why are Western media better at African feel-good stories? (opinion)

The Nation (Kenya), by Charles Onyango-Abbo - October 9, 2008.
Nairobi (Kenya) - “Victor Matioli’s organic pumpkins are plump, his coriander aromatic, and his spinach ‘very soft, sweet, and tasty’.
This story appeared in the British newspaper, The Guardian. You will be very surprised where it came from: Kibera slum in Nairobi.

This half-acre farm is a former rubbish dump… “So arresting is the sight of tall sunflowers… Matioli and his fellow growers have had to put up a ‘No Photographing’ sign to allow them to work in peace. Their reputations — the farmers are all reformed criminals — mean the warning is rarely seldom ignored.”

Kibera’s first organic farm was born out of a national disaster — the post-election violence. It needed Matioli on one side, and the worthy Su Kahumbu, managing director of Green Dreams, one of the country’s organic produce farms, on the other. Ms Kahumbu feared that the country would be ravaged by a famine, and she wanted to organise mass distribution of seeds to small-scale farmers in the Rift Valley so they could plant before the April rains. But she couldn’t find money for the project.

A friend told her about a group of young, unemployed men in Kibera who wanted to learn how to farm — and to do it right there in the slum. Kahumbu thought the idea was crazy. But the energy and optimism of Matioli’s 36-member Youth Reform Group eventually won her over.

This story might have appeared in the local media, but I definitely missed it. It raises a question about why, despite criticism that the Western media usually gives Africa a bad rap, they tend to beat us to quite a few feel-good stories about the continent.

Last year, the Hollywood makers of one of the most successful animated TV series, The Simpsons, ordered a large consignment of stone models of the characters from stone carvers in western Kenya. We found out about it in the Western press.

Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama, who has a good shot at becoming America’s first black president, first came to the attention of the world with a rousing speech in 2004 at his party’s convention. Keen observers said at that point that “one day, this young man will be US president.”

It took another two years, just before he visited and well after the American press had run the story of his family in Nyanza, for Kenya’s media to pick it up.

A colleague likes to tell a story about how, after the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, Daily Nation went to interview the families of the suspected bombers for their profiles, and to get their photographs.

They found that some chap from The Washington Post had beaten them to the punch days earlier, bought off all the best pictures, and left the dregs for the local press.

We are beaten, not because we are indifferent, lazy, or out of touch. It’s just that when you live in a place too long, it loses its novelty and even the most dramatic of events can sometimes just be part of the local furniture.

It was like covering the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 in which nearly one million people were slaughtered. It would be quite unnerving to sit back and watch ourselves at work. However, after the first few days of horror at the bodies littering every place you looked, you got used to it and it became normal to step over — and on — bodies as you walked through the church to see how many more were hidden behind the altar where they had been killed.

At the height of the rebellion by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda, in the evening, thousands of people would flee the villages with their mattresses and pots to spend the night on the streets, in churches, and hospital grounds of the nearest major town, Gulu that was heavily defended by the army.

It was both a heart-wrenching and awesome sight, watching the long files they formed against the sunset and sunrise when they trooped back to the villages. Gulu-based correspondents who had lived in the war zone for a long time and gone through every imaginable test, didn’t think this massive to-and-fro movement by the villagers was a story, and they never wrote it.

Then Kampala-based journalists went to the conflict area, and the story grew wings. Nearly every major international newspaper, magazine and news TV descended upon the region, and for the better part of eight years, no matter where you lived in the world, you couldn’t escape the “amazing” story of the northern Uganda night exodus.

So, indeed, as the Luhyas say, the one who lives by the river dies of thirst.
The Nation (Kenya), by Charles Onyango-Abbo - October 9, 2008.
Nairobi (Kenya) - “Victor Matioli’s organic pumpkins are plump, his coriander aromatic, and his spinach ‘very soft, sweet, and tasty’.
This story appeared in the British newspaper, The Guardian. You will be very surprised where it came from: Kibera slum in Nairobi.

This half-acre farm is a former rubbish dump… “So arresting is the sight of tall sunflowers… Matioli and his fellow growers have had to put up a ‘No Photographing’ sign to allow them to work in peace. Their reputations — the farmers are all reformed criminals — mean the warning is rarely seldom ignored.”

Kibera’s first organic farm was born out of a national disaster — the post-election violence. It needed Matioli on one side, and the worthy Su Kahumbu, managing director of Green Dreams, one of the country’s organic produce farms, on the other. Ms Kahumbu feared that the country would be ravaged by a famine, and she wanted to organise mass distribution of seeds to small-scale farmers in the Rift Valley so they could plant before the April rains. But she couldn’t find money for the project.

A friend told her about a group of young, unemployed men in Kibera who wanted to learn how to farm — and to do it right there in the slum. Kahumbu thought the idea was crazy. But the energy and optimism of Matioli’s 36-member Youth Reform Group eventually won her over.

This story might have appeared in the local media, but I definitely missed it. It raises a question about why, despite criticism that the Western media usually gives Africa a bad rap, they tend to beat us to quite a few feel-good stories about the continent.

Last year, the Hollywood makers of one of the most successful animated TV series, The Simpsons, ordered a large consignment of stone models of the characters from stone carvers in western Kenya. We found out about it in the Western press.

Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama, who has a good shot at becoming America’s first black president, first came to the attention of the world with a rousing speech in 2004 at his party’s convention. Keen observers said at that point that “one day, this young man will be US president.”

It took another two years, just before he visited and well after the American press had run the story of his family in Nyanza, for Kenya’s media to pick it up.

A colleague likes to tell a story about how, after the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, Daily Nation went to interview the families of the suspected bombers for their profiles, and to get their photographs.

They found that some chap from The Washington Post had beaten them to the punch days earlier, bought off all the best pictures, and left the dregs for the local press.

We are beaten, not because we are indifferent, lazy, or out of touch. It’s just that when you live in a place too long, it loses its novelty and even the most dramatic of events can sometimes just be part of the local furniture.

It was like covering the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 in which nearly one million people were slaughtered. It would be quite unnerving to sit back and watch ourselves at work. However, after the first few days of horror at the bodies littering every place you looked, you got used to it and it became normal to step over — and on — bodies as you walked through the church to see how many more were hidden behind the altar where they had been killed.

At the height of the rebellion by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda, in the evening, thousands of people would flee the villages with their mattresses and pots to spend the night on the streets, in churches, and hospital grounds of the nearest major town, Gulu that was heavily defended by the army.

It was both a heart-wrenching and awesome sight, watching the long files they formed against the sunset and sunrise when they trooped back to the villages. Gulu-based correspondents who had lived in the war zone for a long time and gone through every imaginable test, didn’t think this massive to-and-fro movement by the villagers was a story, and they never wrote it.

Then Kampala-based journalists went to the conflict area, and the story grew wings. Nearly every major international newspaper, magazine and news TV descended upon the region, and for the better part of eight years, no matter where you lived in the world, you couldn’t escape the “amazing” story of the northern Uganda night exodus.

So, indeed, as the Luhyas say, the one who lives by the river dies of thirst.

Collapse at WTO gravely undermines Africa: minister

GENEVA (AFP) - The breakdown of talks on a world trade pact has "gravely undermined" efforts by African countries to fight poverty, Kenya's trade minister warned on Wednesday.
"Africa's opportunity to achieve fair trade has... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations," the minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told a news conference, speaking on behalf of a grouping of African countries at the World Trade Organization talks here.

"Africa critically needs to realise development and get itself out of poverty through the establishment of fair trade rather than aid," he said.

"Most of the key issues of interest to the African continent were not even discussed, especially the issue of cotton."

WTO Director-General announced on Tuesday that the latest negotiations for a much-delayed trade liberalisation deal under the so-called Doha Round had broken down after nine days due to unresolved differences.

Delegates said the deaddlock centred on a row between the United States and India over special tariff measures to protect poor farmers from surging imports or price falls.

Obama – The 30 Minutes Berlin Speech

After watching this video over and over again, I decided to make it a post. It takes 30minutes to go through, but its worth the time.
In front of a 200,000 man crowd (according to German Police), Obama delivered what many considered his most powerful speech- I remember the Race-Address was then considered the most powerful. Maybe it is time we get used to such inspiring addresses from the man Obama.

Many have made statements pro and contro on this speech, have you really gone through it, its time you do so, for yourself only.

In one way or the other were and are still people of Berlin.

Help Africa Friends – New Look with Ndomche Summary Theme

Hi friends, I've been out and around the world for a while now, and I almost forgot I had a blog and friends at MyblogLog. My last post was on February 25 – a way back.
For my come back I decided to get a face-lift for this blog, I asked my friend Martin from Kabatology to give me a hand. The result is right there in front of you. This is a Blogger version of the Ndomche Summary Theme – II Columns.

This template will soon be available for all Blogger bloggers at Kabatology ~ Open Source, Linux.
In the mean time permit me to say – I'm happy to be back.

CHINA DEFENDS ARMS SALES TO SUDAN

China has defended its sale of weapons to Sudan, amid growing criticism of its alleged failure to help resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.China's special envoy on Darfur told the BBC that Beijing accounted for just 8% of Sudan's total arms imports.

Liu Guijin said the US, Russia and UK were the biggest arms exporters to developing countries including Sudan.About 200,000 have died in the five years of conflict between rebels, the army and pro-Khartoum militias.


In an exclusive interview with the BBC's China analyst Shirong Chen, Mr Liu said Chinese weapons were not fuelling the conflict."Sudan is the third largest conventional arms producer in Africa next only to South Africa and Egypt and there are seven countries selling arms to Sudan. So even if China stopped its sale, it still won't solve the problem of arms in Sudan," he said.

Mr Liu, who is currently in the UK, is expected to travel to Sudan as part of an apparent diplomatic push to counter international criticism over Darfur.He told the BBC that he would advise Sudan to co-operate on the deployment of a UN-African Union force.
The UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur, Unamid, began deploying in January but the force still lacks most of the 26,000 personnel planned for the mission.

China has strong trade and military links with Sudan, which is accused of backing militias that have raped and murdered in Darfur.Critics say Beijing should use these links to pressure Khartoum on this issue. China says it is already doing all it can.

Mr Liu said that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China had been asked to help find a long-term solution to the Darfur issue, but that it had done so with respect for Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

It was during China's tenure of presidency at the council that a controversial precondition was passed that Sudan must give its approval to the deployment of the Unamid force.

EASTERN EUROPE STARTS REPAYING AFRICA

afrol News - The fall of the Iron Curtain cost Africa much in terms of reduced investments and development aid, which in the 1990s was redirected to Eastern Europe. But now, following EU demands and increased wealth, country after country in the region is setting up development cooperation agencies focusing on Africa, with booming budgets.
Slovenia, an ex-Yugoslavian republic bordering Austria and Italy, was the richest of the eight formerly Communist countries that entered the European Union (EU) in 2004, priding itself with a GDP per capita at US$ 17,700. But as a moderately rich nation, not even Slovenia came close to EU goals of spending 0.39 percent of GDP in development aid - let alone the UN recommendation of 0.70 percent of GDP.


As most other formerly Communist nations in East and Central Europe, Slovenia had benefited from generous EU programmes during the 1990s to reshape its economy, boost economic growth and make it fit for entering the common market. At the same time, analysts were complaining about the reduced efforts by rich, Western countries to assist African development.

Both investments and development aid for Africa were cut dramatically in real term during the 1990s, something analysts blamed both on an "aid fatigue" following the poor performance of African economies in the 1980s, but also on the new, large investments in Eastern Europe.

But in the longer run, Eastern Europe's growth and EU membership is set to pay off for African countries. Indeed, among the demands made by the EU to applying countries were their definition of an international development aid policy, plans to set up development aid agencies and adopting the long-term goal of spending at least 0.39 percent of GDP in development aid.

This is what is happening in country after country right now, as in Slovenia. After independence from Yugoslavia, foreign aid was unsystematic, amounted to a microscopic percentage of GDP and was mainly given as ad hoc humanitarian aid to nearby countries, mainly war-ravaged ex-Yugoslavian republics. With the start of EU membership negotiations, however, aid turned more systematically.

By 2004, Slovenia's foreign aid had reached 0.10 percent of GDP and by 2007 it is estimated at 0.14 percent of GDP. This comes at the same time as a rapid growth in Slovenian GDP.

While the development aid budget is steadily growing, so is also the governmental development cooperation agency, which still is an integrated department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Like most other new EU members, Slovenia receives capacity building assistance from the EU and other countries with longer development aid traditions to make sure well functioning development aid agencies and programmes are established.

Also, as new funds emerge and the new agencies have received training, the geographical focus of these Eastern European aid agencies start shifting. Still, the poorer parts of South-eastern Europe "remains the priority of Slovenia's bilateral development cooperation," according to a whitepaper by the Ljubljana Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

But, "development policy which aims at poverty reduction must also be effective in Africa," the same document emphasises. "Slovenia's development cooperation will therefore also focus on Africa to a certain extent, in accordance with the EU development policy." There are already plans to co-finance projects carried out by Slovenian NGOs in Madagascar, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Uganda and Malawi.

The Czech Republic, also among the richest new EU members, has already come a bit further. In 2006, according to preliminary data by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prague government spent 0.11 percent of its considerable GDP on foreign aid. The government has promised to increase this percentage to 0.17 by 2010 and to 0.33 by 2015. Much of this will go to Africa.

Among the Czech development agency's eight - mostly European and Asian - priority countries, there are already two African ones; Angola and Zambia. According to Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, "in 2006, we implemented 18 bilateral development projects and 11 small local projects in eight countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2007, we expect to launch six new bilateral projects."

In 2006, the total value of the bilateral assistance projects in Sub-Saharan Africa by the Czech Republic nevertheless was only at about US$ 3 million. But according to Mr Schwarzenberg, this was only the beginning. "Encouraged by the good results of the pilot programmes, we have decided to allocate more funds and increase the number of what is known as micro-projects, projects bringing immediate and tangible results," he told African ambassadors in Prague in late May 2007.

Neighbouring Slovakia has even had time to set up a full-fledged development aid agency, Slovak Aid, on 1 January 2007 with the aim "to support implementation of the Slovak Republic's international commitments in the field of official development assistance." But the poorer half of former Czechoslovakia so far only has implemented one project i Africa (Kenya) and it lags behind in development aid spending (0.07 percent of GDP in 2006).

The eastern country that so far has come furthest in developing its aid policies is the region's most populous country, Poland, which also has the largest total GDP among the newer EU members. In Warsaw, the agency PolishAid has been set up as part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Angola has been Poland's only African "partner country" for several years, but since 2004, PolishAid has also given assistance through its Small Grants Fund for the African continent. Still, in 2005 only 2 percent - or US$ 1 million - of PolishAid's bilateral aid went to Africa. More than half went to Europe's poorest countries. But the Warsaw government plans to change this as development aid is to more than triple by 2015, as percentage of GDP. Tanzania is already set to become Poland's next African "partner country".

Also Hungary, the second most populous of the countries joining the EU in 2004, is slowly discovering Africa. "We intend to pay greater attention to Africa," promised Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Göncz during the first celebration of Africa Day on 25 May 2007 in Budapest, meeting African ambassadors.

While Hungary reached a 0.1 percent of GDP spending in development aid in 2006, national humanitarian agencies complain that growth in spending is now all too slow. Given the country's current economic crisis, the development aid budget for 2007 was cut considerably. "Our goal is not only to keep the cooperation at the present level, but also to develop further the relationship that we established in the past decades," Minister Göncz nevertheless promised African ambassadors. His Ministry currently receives training from the Canadian development aid agency CIDA to empower it to launch projects in Africa.

Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia are among the fore-riders in setting up national development aid agencies and reaching EU spending targets among the new member states. But also poorer countries, like the Baltic ex-Soviet republics, are making steady advances.

Estonia, for example, only spent 0.01 percent of GDP on foreign aid in 1998, which steadily increased to 0,05 percent in 2004 and aims at reaching 0.10 percent in 2010 and 0.35 percent in 2015. Equally, Estonia still has no African development projects, but foresees this for the coming years.

In 2007, two new big eastern countries joined the EU, Bulgaria and Romania, both the poorest current member states. But the year before joining the EU, Romania had already started to adhere to EU demands and spent 0.04 percent of GDP on development assistance. Like other EU newcomers, Romania and Bulgaria have pledged to increase this percentage to 0.17 by 2010 and to 0.33 by 2015 - meaning an almost tenfold increase in just one decade.

At the moment, development aid for African countries is still very modest from the EU's new members. But the tide is just about to turn as most countries will have to double their aid by 2010, and then again triple it by 2015. In this process, the most advanced eastern donors have already shown, new relations with Africa have to be made. And African governments could start finding key partners in Eastern Europe right now, as the window is wide open.

PHAROAHS OF EGYPT ARE AFRICA'S BEST-

Ghana 2008 will be filed away as a vintage edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, perhaps even the best yet

It was a tournament where new records were set by individuals, teams and the competition itself.More importantly, it was the overall level of play and attacking philosophy that made these finals special.

"I think it has been a wonderful Nations Cup though a little sad that Ghana were not able to win the tournament," said former Ghana captain Abedi Pele.
"We've also learnt a lot from the way that Egypt came here to win."

Although they failed to make it to the World Cup in 2006, Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata galvanised his team to light up the tournament.
And Fifa President Sepp Blatter said the spectacle proved that African football could no longer be considered inferior to the more traditional football hotbeds.

"I have followed, with lots of interest, most of the matches of this competition and I have to say that the state of African football is at a very high level when compared to other tournaments around the world," he told BBC Sport.

Evidence of attacking philosophy can be taken from the much-mentioned fact that 99 goals were scored over the three weeks.

The new record surpassed the previous best tally of 93, set some 10 years ago.

But quality of goals, as well as quantity will also be etched in the memory.


I was in Egypt in 2006 and the (standard of) football we have seen here in Ghana is much higher

Former Nigeria striker Daniel Amokachi

To mention just two, there was Kader Keita's strike for Ivory Coast against Egypt, and Manucho's swirling shot for Angola, also against the eventual champions.

But quality football is not just about goals.

Some, like former Nigeria striker Daniel Amokachi, claimed the players would not care as much playing for their countries as they would their clubs.

But the former Everton ace was happy to be proved wrong.

"I was in Egypt in 2006 and the (standard of) football we have seen here in Ghana is much higher," he told BBC Sport.

"When you have players like Samuel Eto'o running for every ball over 90 minutes and Didier Drogba trying so hard - it's great to see and great for African football."

The positive approach was underlined by the fact there were no penalty shoot-outs and there was a need for extra-time on only one occasion.

In Ghana, it seemed, all coaches were gamblers.

We also witnessed Eto'o surpassing Laurent Pokou's all-time goalscoring record and Rigobert Song's 33-game appearance record.

There was Ahmed Hassan becoming the first player to finish three finals as a winner, and Egypt's awesome sixth title.

Away from the action itself, the stadiums had all been renovated or built from scratch to a high specification.

Despite grumblings from some in the media, Blatter argued the tournament had its own unique challenges.

"I think the organisation was not so bad, it is not easy to organise a Africa Cup of Nations," he told BBC Sport.

"There is always improvements to be made with tickets, hotels, transport and so on but I don't think we should criticise so much."

Indeed there were some nice touches. In the Kumasi press area we worked off a marble-topped table.

And in terms of playing surfaces, while they were not the standard of the English Premier League, they were higher than in previous years.

Even the Accra surface - which faced the challenge of excessive and unprotected use ahead of the opening ceremony - held up well as the tournament unfolded.

The decision to stage a group in the dusty northern city of Tamale was either brave or misguided, given the poor infrastructure there.

But what a wonderful legacy it is for the city's professional club Real Tamale United, which produced Ghanaian great Pele.

If there was a failing of Ghana 2008 it was that once again the local fans did not fill the stadiums, even for some of the bigger games.

The day when African fans can take two to three weeks off work and travel in numbers, as happens at the World Cup, is still a long way off.

Local organising committees have to accept this, and Angola, who host the tournament in 2010, must work hard to sell the tournament to local people.

But if they tackle this and with rising star Manucho to lead them, Angola may yet be able to breach the final step that eluded the hosts this time around.

Cameroon: Business Climate - Taxation Authorities Take Lead

The fiscal component of the measures to ease investment in Cameroon has gone operational at the department of Taxation.

Owing to its technicalities and the difficulty of understanding the new dispensation, authorities of the Taxation department have resolved to explain and sensitise tax payers on what ever measure may be taken in that direction.

In an unsigned explanatory paper published in Cameroon Tribune on Thursday, taxation authorities underscore the four areas through which the measures will be implemented. These include: procedure simplification and business creation incisive measures; improvement on the business legal security and reinforcement of tax payers' guarantee; support to the competitiveness of national enterprises and enhancement of enterprise treasuries.

According to the new law, the simplification of procedure has to do with exonerating new enterprises from business licences during the first two years of their creation. "The implementation of this law entails the delivering of an exoneration certificate following an application from the newly created company", the statement said. This aspect will be implemented by the chief of centre for taxes. The law equally entails the suppression of tax deduction at the source for private, public and para-public enterprises.

Improving the business legal security and reinforcing tax payers' guarantee are measures taken to facilitate issues for foreign investors. In the same light, other measures set out to foster competition among national enterprises. These particular measures seek to help improve the performance level of local enterprises in order to face their international counterparts within the framework of the Economic Partnership Agreement. In this vein, local enterprises will be exonerated from Value Added Taxes for those using agricultural in-puts and fisheries.
Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)

WEST AFRICA: Why is child development stalled?

DAKAR, 28 January 2008 (IRIN) - Experts put the lack of progress on children’s development in West Africa down to pervasive poverty, chronic malnutrition in many countries, piecemeal aid responses, and health systems broken by protracted conflicts.

Nine of the 12 countries with the world’s highest rate of child deaths are in the region, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) State of the World’s Children 2008 which was released on 22 January.

According to the report, the region is the only one in the world showing “no progress” on reaching the Millennium Development Goal to reduce under-five mortality by two thirds by 2015.

While the number of children dying before their fifth birthday has declined by almost a quarter globally since 1990, in West and Central Africa it dropped by only 1.2 percent, the report showed. On average 18.6 percent of children in West Africa die before their fifth birthday, while one in 10 will die by their first.

The reasons for such slow progress are complex, but some factors stand out according to UNICEF’s Dr. Genevieve Bagkoyian, UNICEF’s regional adviser on child survival and development.

High death rates among children are largely a result of chronic poverty and the legacy of conflict in Chad, Liberia and Sierra Leone; poor management of health systems in some of the wealthier states such as Nigeria; and chronic malnutrition in parts of Sahel countries of Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, Bagkoyian said.

“Throughout the region, how many governments do we have that are stable, have adequate funds and good governance to tackle change?” she asked.
Leading cause

Malnutrition is a leading cause of death in the region, killing half of all children under five, according to UNICEF. This is because it weakens children’s ability to fight other diseases, such as malaria or pneumonia.

"Poor nutrition in the first five years of a child’s life combined with high levels of disease will lead to high death levels," Greg Ramm, West Africa regional director of Save the Children, told IRIN.

According to a previous UNICEF report, malnutrition-related death rates in West Africa are double the global average.

Malnutrition also affects reproductive health, leading to low birth weights and in some cases, premature births.

In Niger, of the 19 percent of children who die by their first birthday, a quarter die on the day they are born, mainly because of these factors, combined with a lack of access to skilled doctors or midwives, according to Bagkoyian who estimated that across the region 60 percent of women give birth at home without a doctor present.

Mothers

But giving birth also leads to death for simpler reasons that are easier to rectify, such as the lack of a clean blade to cut umbilical cords and cultural behaviours such as an avoidance of breastfeeding Bagkoyian said.

“In many of these countries, if we changed a number of taboo behaviours, we could save a lot of children even if they are born at home,” she said.

The lack of trained medical staff points to a need for stronger health systems that prioritises the health of mother and child, she said, adding that aid agencies and donors have not had as much impact as they could because they have not coordinated themselves to tackle root problems.

‘’In the past we had one agency working on a polio campaign, another on measles, when what is needed is commitment from agencies and donors to come up with joint solutions to these problems, rather than one by one.’’

She added that prevention efforts are crucial. “Simple preventive actions, if expanded to reach higher numbers, could reduce child mortality by 5 percent per year,” she estimated, pointing to mass immunisation campaigns, working with donors to provide children with Vitamin A and mosquito nets and spreading simple reproductive health messages as good examples.

''...What is needed is commitment from agencies and donors to come up with joint solutions to these problems...''
Government role

But building better health systems also depends on governments, Save the Children’s Ramm said. Poverty can create a major barrier to achieving this, because it leaves such a small tax base for governments to invest.

“In many of these places, even when governments have prioritised healthcare within their available budget resources, there would still not be enough money to get the job done, because there’s simply no tax base to fund it.”

“When addressing if it’s a question of poverty or of priorities, the answer is both, but ultimately you can’t prioritise what you don’t have,” he said.

But while some West African governments channel a relatively generous proportion of their annual income to health, some of the most marginalised give the least, including Chad, which according to UNICEF allocated just 3 percent of its annual gross domestic product (GDP) to health in 2007.

To reverse the situation in West Africa, Ramm said, aid agencies and governments need to tackle change at different levels: working on prevention efforts at the community level, working with governments to set up stronger health systems, and lobbying donors to meet their aid commitments.

But donors also have a responsibility to increase the proportion of their aid budgets that goes to healthcare and nutrition, he said, starting with meeting the UN target of committing 0.7 percent of their GDP to official development assistance. To date only five countries – Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – have done so.

“Even among donors who are doing better at upping their aid levels, most of them not reaching these targets,” Ramm said.

IT'S THE N° 100th POST FROM MY BLOG

It's really incredible that we've sent out a hundred posts since i started this blog last summer.Actually i'm not a good writer but luckily i'm sensible to problems,especially what is happening to my sweet Africa and i can't just sit down and watch,without giving my own contributions in my own way.I know the journey is far too long but i also believe step by step,we'll one day achieve some good results from the seeds many out there are sowing.

Haven met a lot of people,friends and well wishers in this adventure,i used this opportunity to thank all of you good fellows who read me often and for the experience i've gathered also coming to know you through your blogs.
This day is important to me because initially it was a challenge as i never new exactly what blogging was all about.I'll consequently consider this experience as a beginning that will enable me gear towards other goals.
I wish on this day that all the conflicts devastating our beloved continent should come to an unconditional end,extending my cry to all leaders,the masses,politicians,chiefs,musicians,artists,footballers,civil servants,business and laymen,men and women;please stop the killing of Africans by Africans.We are doing harm just to ourselves and to no one else.The aid would only come after disaster has left a lot of wounds that aren't easy to heal in our hearts.
Think of the children,the old,the women and the future of your communities,violence will never be the solution,whatever be the reason.
Luckily watching the AFRICAN NATION'S CUP in Ghana,one has the possibility of seeing the actual colors of Africa full of folklore and happiness,despite the hardship.
I'm sure the pursuit for positve development will continue in Africa so long as there are many people of goodwill out there contributing everyday for this long acclaimed social change!

PICTURES FROM GHANA 2008

FAMILY DESTINATION | AFRICA; Trips to Help Shape the World

HAVING watched celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Bono give their time and money to Africa in recent years, families can now play a role in the global campaign to ''make poverty history,'' while also enjoying the beauty of the land -- and maybe even a quick safari.

Thanks to a group of volunteer organizations now offering ''volun-tourism'' trips to Africa, families can take part in vacations that involve clearing trails, building houses, teaching the young and helping the elderly in tribal villages throughout the continent.

''I think parents are getting tired of the typical beach resort with a kid's club,'' said Kristina Pentland, a spokeswoman for ResponsibleTravel.com, a Web directory of thousands of prescreened vacation operators from around the world who work to ensure that the local communities benefit and the environment suffers minimally from tourism.


''Now they are looking for destinations where they can immerse themselves in the local culture, experience the benefits of giving back, and bond as a family in a more life-altering way. Africa is one of those places that they hear so much about and really want to see,'' she said, adding that a Kenya family volunteer and safari trip (a 10-day trip that combines both community development work, time on the beach and a visit to an elephant sanctuary) is now particularly popular, despite a cost of roughly $4,000 per family for a 2- to 3-bed tent or $5,200 for a 4- to 5-bed tent, not including flights.

David Taylor, a psychiatrist living in California decided to forgo a bar mitzvah for his son, Virgil, in 2006, in favor of a three-week trip to Tanzania with Global Citizens Network, a nonprofit volunteer organization based in Minnesota that welcomes families. ''Part of my motivation was to expose him to what the world is like and make him think about what he can do to shape it,'' said Mr. Taylor, who, along with his son and a team of volunteers, split rocks to help prepare a new school building site in a hill town. ''It was daunting,'' said Mr. Taylor, remembering the lack of books and teachers at the local school, which led to his son's running an art class with the supplies they had brought over with them.

Brandon Wick, a spokesman for Cross-Cultural Solutions, an organization that sends volunteers on a wide range of international community work projects, said the company recently added a second volunteering trip to Tanzania in the coastal area of Bagamoyo, in addition to one it already operates in Kilimanjaro. ''It was our response to demand as there is such a great interest in Africa right now,'' he said, adding that children under 16 work alongside their parents on projects, rather than engage in separate volunteer activities. ''Most parents work in schools so the children can enjoy the cultural exchange.''

Cross-Cultural Solutions' trip to Tanzania costs $2,885 per adult for three weeks and $1,709 for children under 12, not including airfares, and is tax deductible, Mr. Wick said. Programs are run year around.

Luckily for those who actually want something of a vacation while on these trips, almost every African family volunteer program includes activities beyond work, whether it be hiking, taking drum or dance lessons, or learning a few words of Swahili. And though some accommodations are less luxurious (sleeping in tents or in a room shared with your fellow trip mates), that is also meant to be part of the experience.

''Ours was not a fun trip in the traditional sense,'' said Mr. Taylor of his journey to Africa with his son, even though they did add on a safari. ''But it will be in our minds for a lifetime.''

Cave to Casbah: Adventure for All Ages

The family vacation is increasingly taking an adventurous turn, with more parents looking for exotic alternatives to yet another trip to Disney World. Here are three far-flung destinations on some families' to-do lists for 2008:
Vietnam has historic cities (the picturesque French colonial outpost Hanoi; Hue, a Buddhist center and former imperial capital; and the bustling, urban Ho Chi Minh City), as well as beaches, caves, parks, pagodas and museums. Children should love being pedaled around on a cyclo, shopping at the markets, and even eating the food (kid-friendly noodle soups are a Vietnamese specialty). And parents need not worry about finding suitable accommodations -- nearly every major hotel chain now has an outlet in Vietnam.

Rock the casbah in Morocco by first visiting Marrakesh, where the main square is like a circus for kids with snake charmers, jugglers, acrobats and food stalls (lots of child-friendly chicken and couscous here). Then head across the Atlas Mountains and stay in a real 17th-century casbah in the desert. With souks, Berber villages, Roman ruins and even camel trekking, Morocco has something for every age.

Croatia has not only the historic cities of Dubrovnik and Split to offer, but also the ''Dalmatian Riviera,'' where active families can take part in sailing, kayaking and even mountain biking trips around the various Croatian islands. This region has some of Europe's best seafood, though the kids might prefer bureks (pies filled with beef or cheese).

Nigeria takes on tobacco giants

Nigeria's government is suing three international tobacco firms for $44bn (£22bn) - the first such case in the developing world - due to start in the capital, Abuja.

Smoking at a young age is a problem across Africa. Tobacco manufacturers are putting unacceptable pressure on the country's health services, and companies are targeting younger and younger people in an attempt to replace former smokers in Europe and America.

British American Tobacco (BAT), Philip Morris and International Tobacco Ltd, deny the claims and say they are socially responsible companies who do not target children.

They question the massive sums demanded by the government and say the case "has no merit".

But government lawyers are convinced they have a strong case.

E-mails between tobacco firm employees to be shown to the court in the capital Abuja will reveal deliberate attempts to increase the number of "young and underage" smokers and attempts to influence lawmakers to keep tobacco sales unregulated, they say.


Documents we have refer to ways of increasing the number of 'YAUS' [Young And Underage Smokers] in Nigeria
Babatunde Irukera
Government lawyer

Four Nigerian state governments also plan to go to court early in 2008 to argue similar cases.

Cigarette smoking is widespread in Nigeria and BAT recently set up a factory in the West African country.

Campaigners in Nigeria say children are sent positive messages about smoking all the time.

And young people across Nigeria can buy cigarettes from vendors in single "sticks", which campaigners say makes it easier for young people to pick up the habit.

The World Health Organization estimates that 18% of young Nigerians smoke - storing up huge potential health problems in a country of 140 million people, most of whom are under 20.

Dossier

"If this case gets to the evidence stage, the companies are dead on arrival," says Babatunde Irukera, prosecuting the case for the government.

"We expect they will try to delay the case by questioning the jurisdiction of the court. But if they see that they're in trouble we expect them to try and settle out of court."


We haven't got a clue where the government got the amount they are asking for
Catherine Armstrong, BAT
He says they have a dossier of evidence that runs to 3,000 pages consisting of internal company e-mails discussing how to target children and influence lawmakers in Nigeria.

"Documents we have refer to ways of increasing the number of 'YAUS' in Nigeria. We have expert testimony that says YAUS means 'Young And Underage Smokers'," he said.

The e-mails come from a public depository of evidence uncovered during a series of class-action lawsuits across the US.

Many of those cases have been initially successful, but litigants have seen payouts slashed or kicked out on appeal.

In 2000 a Florida court awarded $145bn damages to hundreds of thousands of smokers, but the case was thrown out on appeal.

The Florida supreme court said making such an award would "result in an unlawful crippling of the defendant companies".

Poor hospitals

Nigerian public hospitals are chaotic, poorly funded places where equipment is often out of date or broken.

Corruption and inefficiency are also responsible for the overload on the health service.

Tobacco company lawyers may argue there is little evidence that the government has been taking responsibility for its own health services.

"We haven't got a clue where the government got the amount they are asking for. Much of what they claim doesn't add up," said British American Tobacco spokesperson in London Catherine Armstrong.

The company says they have been operating in Nigeria since the early 1900s and has never targeted children.

"It is false to suggest that tobacco companies have had a knee-jerk reaction to falling markets elsewhere in the world," Ms Armstrong said.

The tobacco firms expect legal arguments to go on for "years and years", she added.

Counter-productive

But anti-smoking campaigners say children are definitely the targets of marketing campaigns.

Cigarette companies sponsor fashion shows and music concerts, said Eze Eluchie of People Against Drug Dependence and Ignorance (Paddi), a Lagos-based organisation.

"They have something called an 18-plus programme, which they say tries to prevent young people from taking up smoking. But when 16- and 17-year-olds see that, it makes them think smoking is grown-up. It's counter-productive," he said.

Whatever happens with the court case, the government is already trying to curb the spread of smoking.

Cigarette adverts have been restricted - only allowed on radio and TV after 2200 and billboards have been scrapped.

The authorities in the capital, Abuja, are also considering a smoking ban in public places.

China: Poverty at heart of Darfur crisis

BEIJING - A Chinese special envoy described the true cause of conflict in Darfur as internal competition over resources, saying Thursday that activists should not try to shame Beijing into dropping its support for a Sudanese government accused of carrying out genocide.

China has been denounced for not using its economic leverage to apply more pressure on the Sudanese government for peace in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million are homeless. Activists have attempted to shame China by saying its inaction makes it unworthy as host of the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics.

"The heart of the problems in Darfur is lack of development ... Desertification has spread quickly and this makes the people in the area fight over the limited resources, leading to conflict and bloodshed," Liu Guijin, China's special envoy to the region, said in a question-and-answer interview posted on government Web site http://www.china.com.cn.
By ANITA CHANG, Associated Press Writer

"People shouldn't just pay attention to the political process and peacekeeping, but also the development and reconstruction of the area," Liu said. "Otherwise, once the peacekeepers pull out and the political treaties are signed, the Darfur region will continue to be poor and people will still fight for resources."

Liu repeated previous statements from Beijing officials that groups should not try to "politicize" the Olympics, which China wants to use to show that it is ready to join the ranks of the world's top countries.

Energy-hungry China buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil output and has refineries, a pipeline and joint exploration projects in the east African country. Beijing also sells weapons to the Khartoum regime, which is accused of unleashing janjaweed militias on ethnic African rebels.

Liu denied that Beijing was complicit in allowing atrocities that have included razed villages and rapes.

"China's government has never supported a massacre of Sudanese citizens by their government. Of course, we acknowledge that because of conflict and war and because of reasons related to both the government and rebels, there has been unnecessary deaths and a humanitarian crisis," he said.

The United Nations and African Union have struggled to establish an effective peacekeeping mission in Darfur, with Khartoum being blamed for resisting a force that is not predominantly African.

Liu, a longtime diplomat, said he was taken aback by the grinding poverty in the region on his first visit as special envoy in May 2007. His group arrived in a sandstorm and conditions in major Darfur cities were worse than those in the Chinese countryside in the 1960s or 1970s, he said.

"Even though I had been working in Africa for many years, I had rarely seen such tough environmental conditions like those in Darfur," he said.

Kenya: World Bank Boss Under Fire

"World Bank Boss' Leaked Memo Stirs Controversy"

A World Bank internal memorandum endorsing the controversial re-election of President Kibaki has stirred a major diplomatic controversy over the polls outcome.

The memo has also put Mr Colin Bruce, World Bank's Kenya country director, on a collision path with the Orange Democratic Movement, whose presidential candidate Raila Odinga is contesting Mr Kibaki's re-election and has opened internationally mediated talks, demanding his removal from office.

The talks, led by Ghana's President John Kufuor, were yesterday wavering with Reuters news agency claiming that former UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan would take over as the mediator.

The international community's attention was, however, focused on the leaked memo and the subsequent exchanges within the World Bank, the European Union and the UK.

It reveals the behind-the-scene battles that ensued as the international community struggled to deal with the poll outcome and the political fallout that has claimed nearly 500 lives and destroyed Sh60 billion worth of property. Analysts said the memo also unravelled the various diplomatic interests that are shaping debates on Kenya in Western capitals - mostly driven by foreign policies of the participating governments.

The battles will also help shed light on the underlying positions that the various international organisations have taken and the great powers that support them. This could influence the outcome of the political settlement reached by the mediation process.

Email correspondence between senior World Bank officials in Washington and Nairobi show that two leading international bodies, the UN and the World Bank - which offer the most development aid to Kenya - consider the re-election of President Kibaki to have been proper.

The UNDP office in Kenya however denied having agreed with the World Bank on anything in relation to the Kenyan elections. The UNDP office in Kenya told the Business Daily that the World Bank "had misquoted them".

While the US has dispatched Jendayi Frazer, its Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and asked her to stay in the region - as long as it takes - the Kenyan problem now appears to be tied to the future of the war on terror.

Endorsement by the World Bank was also being understood to explain President Kibaki's confidence in announcing the date of the opening of the 10th Parliament and his naming of a Cabinet, even as President Kufuor, the preferred mediator of both President Kibaki and Mr Odinga, tried to arbitrate.

On January 7, a statement from White House "condemned the use of violence as a political tool and appealed to both sides to engage in peaceful dialogue." A day later Mr Odinga called off the protest rallies he had planned for the next day as Mr Kibaki went on to name a Cabinet and announce the opening of Parliament.

"The endorsement could of course have contributed to the confidence the president had in announcing a date for the opening of Parliament and naming the Cabinet," said Dr Kithure Kindiki, the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law, at the University of Nairobi.

In a clear departure from the stand taken by international observers, and in particular the European Union the Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) in Kenya, the World Bank memo indicates that Mr Bruce, who is in charge of Kenya, Comoros, Eritrea, Rwanda, Seychelles and Somalia, together with the UN, had initially broken ranks with the EU-EOM about the results of the presidential elections.

"The considered view of the UN is that the ECK announcement of a Kibaki win is correct," reads the internal memo between Mr Bruce and Hartwig Schafer, the Director of Operations Africa Region based in Washington DC.

Mr Graham Elson, the Deputy Chief Observer of the EU-EOM, however told the Business Daily, that the EU-EOM still stands by the contents of the preliminary statement they issued.
Relevant Links
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"We will release a full statement in February which will give more details," he said.

The email, obtained by the Business Daily on Monday concludes that upon receiving complaints from the opposition about irregularities, the ECK spent 24 hours, in the presence of observers, reviewing each concern.

"On balance, they determined that there were more irregularities of consequence on Mr Odinga's side than on the Kibaki side. For example, ECK considered reported turnout above 90 per cent to be a red-flag for irregularities. Data available so far indicates that the highest reported turnout in a Kibaki stronghold was 90 percent; in Mr Odinga's strongholds, there were six heavily populated areas with a reported turnout of between 102 to 116 per cent," reads the email, which however does not name the six areas.Click on the title above entire article at www.allafrica.com

The effect of $100 oil price on African economies

During the past week, the price of crude oil eventually and finally reached the $100 record mark per barrel thanks to the unrest in Nigeria's Niger Delta, the locked production in Iraq, surging demand in growing Asian economies...
Kpalimé, Togo

...and the cold winter months. This forebodes many things for different groups. Ordinarily, when the price of any commodity goes up, it means good news for the seller or producer.

African nations make up 6 of the 23 top oil-producing countries and this ought to mean good news for these African nations. These nations would be awash with cash, never mind that the oil companies too would also go away with large profits. The windfall these nations would experience could not have been dreamt possible some 5 years ago. The question is what does this translate to for the African nations and by extension the people of Africa?


Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, Libya, Egypt, Algeria - to a lesser extent Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Tunisia and Cote d’Ivoire - all have significant production and income generation from the sale of crude oil and natural gas. Nothing stops these countries from deploying the windfall into laying a solid foundation and investment in infrastructure. The UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar -not to mention the oil rich Saudi Arabia- are but few examples of what a purposeful government can do with accumulated wealth- transform the landscape and by extension the living conditions of your people.


Africans for decades have complained of poor development and blamed poverty and thin financial capacity as the excuse for not being able to grow their economies, but with this unprecedented gold-mine in high oil prices, one wonders why there is yet so much despair and so little progress being seen in changing the fortunes of the African people. At least, for a start, let these nations set the example for the rest of Africa to follow.


Corruption and blatant mismanagement of resources has been a recurring malaise in most African nations. Governments and politicians sit tight and amass the wealth meant for the people and instead of building the social infrastructure that will galvanise growth and generate employment opportunities to the average person, they feather their own nests, and steal stupendous mind bogging sums.


The high technology dependent world of oil business makes it difficult for the small scale investor to be a player in the business. Big multinationals and government corporations like the NNPC, are the ones that can provide the financial muscle and skill to play in this big game.


In Nigeria, insecurity and unrest in the Niger Delta has become the natural fall out, as the local communities allege years of neglect while bearing the brunt of social and environmental degradation occasioned by the activities of exploring and drilling for crude oil. Corporate Social Responsibility and partnering with the communities are attempts being made to douse the angst and raging insecurity in the region. These efforts have been described as too little too late.
African governments have to formulate policies and muster the discipline to execute programmes that will develop the continent, provide adequate infrastructure including education and health care to the suffering people that have become victims of this blessing turned curse.


Oil being a depleting resource needs significant investment to ensure new reserves are found and developed. The IOCs are therefore not in this for charity. They also have to compete among themselves and ensure they keep their shareholders happy. It behoves on these lucky African governments to ensure that revenues including taxes and royalties, they generate in these auspicious times, are judiciously deployed in the best interest of the people.


Overdependence on oil, as a mono-cultural economy, is a bane of most of these African economies.
There should be an effort to diversify away from oil to other sectors where the ordinary medium scale business person can participate, such as in local home-grown industries and the services sector.

Esi Ejumabone currently resides in the Netherlands and works for an international oil and gas company. His interests cover studies into how local governments and private organisations can partner with rural communities to achieve sustainable small scale business growth in Africa.