Pambazuka News 546: US/NATO occupation of Libya & tributes to Samir Amin
Pambazuka News 546: US/NATO occupation of Libya & tributes to Samir Amin
Africa will conquer hunger when its governments give the citizens tools and resources they need to feed themselves, Kanayo F. Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said on the eve of an international conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to address the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa. In a statement sent to PANA, Nwanze urged African countries not to wait for the international community to solve problems facing the continent.
This schematic diagram based on figures from On Device Research shows that for African internet users, well over 50% have mobile internet as the sole access method. In contrast, only 20% of UK mobile internet browsers never or infrequently (once a month or less) use the desktop internet. Most mobile internet users in Africa are aged between 13 and 34 (91%) and male (83%), the typical early adopter profile. Many are in school or university, showing the need for a level of education.
Kenya is losing its grip in the battle for foreign direct investments (FDI) to Uganda and Tanzania as heightened political tensions and restrictions on foreign ownership in some sectors turn away multinationals. The FDI inflows to Kenya dipped from Sh67.8 billion in 2007 to Sh13.1 billion in 2009 and Sh12.4 billion last year, according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Last year, Uganda’s FDI inflows jumped to Sh78.8 billion from Sh75.9 million while Tanzania’s increased from Sh60 billion to Sh65.1 billion—making the twin countries the key beneficiaries of the region’s common market.
Many scholars acknowledge that industrial policy can work well in countries with strong merit-based public services and political checks and balances. However, there are very few empirical studies available that analyse industrial policies in low and lower-middle income countries. This study by Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik intends to help fill this gap by assessing the quality of industrial policies and industrial policy making in Mozambique.
Local authorities in South Africa are unable to consider the full effect of population migration trends in their budgeting and planning, leading to inadequate service provision, poor social cohesion and economic marginalisation, the South African Local Government Association (Salga) warned.
South Africa is one of Africa's most liberal outposts, while Kenya has a reputation for conservatism. But no society is static, least of all in Africa. And the recent appointment processes around new chief justices in these two regional powerhouses demonstrates just how important – and potentially vulnerable – the democratic rule of law is, in places that have long histories of human rights abuse, and where inevitable social change threatens age-old customs. An opinion piece by Mark Gevisser for The Guardian.
infoDev's Climate Technology Program published an article in The Africa Energy Yearbook 2011, co-written with the Kenyan government and private partners. The publication discusses the Climate Innovation Center (CIC) in Kenya and how it will support the government's objectives in the Greening Kenya Initiative.
The Frontier Strategy Group finds that the adoption of new forms of communication in Africa over the past decade – both mobile telephone and internet – has been nothing short of revolutionary. The continent is estimated to have produced over 316 million new mobile phone users since 2000, passing 500 million total subscriptions late in 2010, and its total internet user population is now estimated at almost 120 million. Previously, communicating over long distances was fraught with difficulty and expense; that outlook has been transformed. The significance of these trends for African economic development, transparency and democratization is profound; the opportunity for technology companies and indeed for businesses across many other sectors capable of leveraging such channels for advertising and delivery is no less significant.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have collected evidence indicating that the Sudanese Armed Forces may have committed war crimes in Southern Kordofan. In a rare trip to the Nuba Mountains region of Southern Kordofan, researchers from the two human rights groups found that an indiscriminate bombing campaign carried out by the Arab government in Sudan since early-June is killing and maiming men, women and children.
South Africa's official opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA) has launched a website developed to track the opportunity cost of not implementing the youth wage subsidy policy announced by President Jacob Zuma in his February 2010 State of the Nation Address. Nobody disputes that South Africa has a crisis of youth unemployment. The rate of joblessness in the country is amongst the highest in the world, and 71% of the unemployed are under the age of 34.
This new report by Economics Research Foundation and GRAIN provides a detailed examination of the role of the Indian government and Indian companies engaged in overseas agricultural land acquisitions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Botswana is developing a policy to protect, preserve and promote its indigenous knowledge and mainstream it into the country's macro-economic framework. Development of the policy will involve identifying, documenting and gathering local traditional knowledge practices from areas including agriculture, health, culture and religious beliefs, and then feeding them into a legislative framework.
Members of a regionally appointed team that is meant to assist Zimbabwe’s unity government with implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) have still not been selected, months after SADC leaders resolved that the political parties needed help. Additionally, no timelines for the process have been set.
Though much of the attention on land grabs in Africa has focused on Asian and Middle Eastern buyers, the Oakland Institute has been revealing that U.S.-based institutions are active as well. This is particularly true of South Sudan, where 'US investors are intimately involved' in land dealing.
A report in the FT states that Libya’s rebels are examining possible corruption at the country’s $65 billion sovereign wealth fund and its links to the family of Colonel Muammer Gaddafi, according the man in charge of the investigation. Mahmoud Badi, a former technocrat with the Gaddafi regime, has been appointed by the National Transitional Council to track Libya’s foreign assets, including those held by the Libyan Investment Authority.
In an opinion piece in the FT, William Wallis asserts that Africans are relishing something of a reversal in roles. The former colonial powers in Europe are wrestling with debt crises, austerity budgets, rising unemployment and social turmoil. By contrast much of sub-Saharan Africa can point to robust growth, better balanced books and rising capital inflows. There is an opportunity in this novel scenario: for Africa to assert itself on the global stage, and for European countries to take advantage of their historic footprint in Africa by stimulating commercial expansion to their south. But it is far from clear either side will grasp it.
A Human Rights Watch report documents conditions in South Africa’s fruit and wine industries that include on-site housing that is unfit for living, exposure to pesticides without proper safety equipment, lack of access to toilets or drinking water while working, and efforts to block workers from forming unions. While the Western Cape’s fruit and wine industries contribute billions of rand to the country’s economy, support tourism, and are enjoyed by consumers around the world, their farmworkers earn among the lowest wages in South Africa. The report also describes insecure tenure rights and threats of eviction for longtime residents on farms.
The Karonga Natural Resources Justice Committee (KANRJC) has petitioned the government of Malawi for access to information that would allow them to monitor effectively mining activities to ensure compliance of labour standards and respect of people's rights.
Opposition parties urged the ANC to strike a provision from the Protection of Information Bill that would allow intelligence agents to classify any part of their work, but the ruling party refused.
A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) examines how the Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) programme has succeeded in stabilising wildlife while improving agriculture in the Luangwa Valley. The ten-year-old initiative, run by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), is even close to becoming financially self-sufficient.
Nigeria's anti-graft agency, set up in 2002, was supposed to crack down on corruption in Africa's most populous nation but it has failed to deliver, Human Rights Watch said.
The Mobile Media Toolkit is a project of MobileActive.org, a global network of people using mobile technology for social impact. The Secure section of the Mobile Media Toolkit also features another project from MobileActive.org called SaferMobile, which helps activists, human rights defenders, and journalists assess the mobile communications risks that they are facing, and then use appropriate mitigation techniques to increase their ability to organize, report, and work more safely.
Research on futurechallenges.org, including an African climate vulnerability map via finds that floods, droughts, desertification, coastal storms and famine are just a few of the impacts of climate change in Africa. Climate change is endangering the lives and livelihoods of millions of Africans and also hindering the continent’s economic growth and social progress.
A number of jobs and business opportunities will arise as the South African government continues to design implementation programmes that favour renewable energy and energy efficiency. This information was made available at a workshop for women organised by the national Department of Energy. The aim of the day-long meeting was to help women understand this sector and the potential it holds for them in terms of job creation and business ventures.
The objective of the Africa Business Women Connect Summit is to enhance economic performance on the continent in the three largest export sectors for women: craft/textiles, agribusiness and services. ABW intends to unite successful African businesswomen from 53 countries in Africa. The initiative will be launched at a summit in Ethiopia in 2013, reaching 530 African Business Women, followed by in-country activities reaching an additional 5300 women supported by a Wisdom Exchange TV.
Although the 2010/11 agriculture season was affected by a number of shocks including localized floods during the first half of the season and midseason long dry spells, national staple food availability is estimated to have increased, as indicated by the recently released preliminary production estimates from the Ministry of Agriculture. These figures indicate that 2010/11 cereal production (maize, sorghum, millet, and rice) was about 2.91 million MT, an increase of 4.6 percent over last year and 21.5 percent above the five?year average.
While Libya's neighbours rush to recognise rebels who ousted Muammar Gaddafi, regional powerhouse South Africa is blocking the release of Tripoli's frozen millions to them. The policy reflects Pretoria's strong ties to Libya's former strongman that date back to the anti-Apartheid struggle, and frustration that Western intervention, not African mediation under the African Union, has again proven decisive on the continent.
An article in Health New’s 'Health Canal' describes the disappearance of mosquitoes carrying malaria in areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The article explains why there may still be cause for concern in the malaria fight.
HIV affects older people in two main ways. Large numbers of older people are themselves living with HIV. Many are also taking on vital caring responsibilities for loved ones living with HIV and the children orphaned by AIDS. This briefing is aimed at the European Union (EU) and member states. It sets out the need to strengthen the response to HIV in Africa by providing interventions on the basis of genuine need rather than age.
Concern Worldwide, an international humanitarian organisation dedicated to tackling poverty and suffering in the world’s poorest countries, has set up an aid initiative in the slums of Nairobi to combat the sharp increase in severe malnutrition in slums. Concern Worldwide plans to use M-PESA money transfer service to enable people to buy food. It is hoped that the initiative will help 20,000 people over the next five months.
The discussion paper on the 'emotive' land reform issue is now out, and the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, is set to table it in Parliament. Releasing it to the media, he said that the draft Land Protection Bill would be out in the next three months. The minister said consultations around land reform were scheduled for completion in the next two months.
The African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) commissioned the production of a second round of Country Status Overviews (CSOs) on water supply and sanitation, to shed light on the factors that underpin progress in the sector. The World Bank, Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), and the African Development Bank implemented this task in close partnership with UNICEF, WHO, and the governments of 32 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
There is continuing debate about the impact of microfinance on poverty reduction. In this analysis for Africa Renewal, David Mehdi Haman and Oliver Schwank argue that while microfinance cannot transform African economies, the scheme is necessary to help advance the continent’s development goals.
A blog post by People to People International documents that the PTPI family joined together in support of their Mombasa, Kenya Chapter, sending more than $6,000 to help the chapter cover school fees for 23 students who otherwise would not be able to attend school.
Led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) the U.S. is stepping up its war in Somalia, The Nation magazine reports. 'The CIA presence in (the capital) Mogadishu is part of Washington’s intensifying counter-terrorism focus on Somalia, which includes targeted strikes by US Special Operations forces, drone attacks and expanded surveillance operations,' writes Jeremy Scahill, the magazine’s national security correspondent.
China's fast-growing consumerism and lax policing of ivory laws are the latest threats to wild elephant populations, said an author of a recent report on endangered species. Esmond Martin and Lucy Vigne, authors of the report that was presented at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Geneva in mid-August, visited ivory carving factories and stores in southern China in January.
If more small farmers in Africa's drought-prone regions grew improved varieties of dryland crops, their communities would be better prepared for prolonged dry spells and scarce rain, reports The Guardian.
This report from Christian Media Cross finds that the chairman of Liberia’s National Elections Commission is expressing concern about the large number of invalid votes in the constitutional referendum. Elections chief James Fromayan says some voters marked both 'Yes' and 'No' as if it were done deliberately.
Friday August 26, 2011 saw the Coalition of African Lesbians, CAL, launch its LGBT Human Rights Defenders, HRD project in Lagos, Nigeria. Participants in the HRD workshop, which was held in collaboration with The Initiative for Equal Rights, TIER, a Nigerian-based LGBT human rights organization, attended the launch alongside some members of the Lagos LGBT community.
Malawi’s president has been running the country’s 22 ministries on his own after firing his entire cabinet. But political and economic analysts say that his delay in appointing a new cabinet is detrimental to the country’s development. Some analysts say government has come to a standstill because of this, while others say the situation shows that the president has lost control.
The Telegraph reports that the African Union has refused to recognise the National Transitional Council as the legitimate authority in Libya, calling instead for an 'inclusive government'.
A Sudanese reporter was freed after President Omar al-Bashir ordered the release of all detained journalists, a government official said. But a press freedom activist and local journalists say a number of media professionals and technical staff are still being held.
Fish is the primary source of protein for the majoirty of Ghana's 23 million inhabitants. Because of significant challenges impacting the global fishing industry, including unsustainable fishing practices, these individuals are rapidly losing their primary source of income and nutrition. Rural entrepreneurs across the country have attempted to start their own fish farms to fill the protein need and subsequent market demand. These fish farmers, however, have not been successful due to poor dissemination of technical resources, lack of quality supplies, and ineffective business models. Tilapiana was created to address this market opportunity and social need by working with village entrepreneurs to design, implement, and manage sustainable fish farms.
Two men who are currently being tried for alleged homosexuality in Yaounde were recently denied bail. Police said the men - aged 19 and 20 - were caught having oral sex in a car after visiting a nightclub in the capital, Yaounde. Their bail application was refused and they are to remain in custody at the Kondengui maximum security prison in Yaounde until the case is over.
The purpose of the 5th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights is to catalyze dialogue on the interrelationship between, culture, sexuality and attainment of sexual health for all in Africa.
Low price cellular telephones are helping advance mHealth opportunities across Africa, prompting developers to examine possible applications to address public health challenges. One application being developed for the Kenyan market provides symptom checkers, medical alerts and a searchable database of medical facility locations.
Brian Moonga reports for Radio Netherlands Worldwide that widows in Zambia are increasingly experiencing theft, alienation and sexual exploitation. According to Ruth Mwewa, president of Zambia Widows Association, the privatisation of numerous industries over the past two decades, which resulted in the liquidation of over 2,000 companies, saw many families become destitute and desperate.
Kenya has finally joined a growing number of countries in the world which have allowed the importation, growing and commercialisation of genetically modified organisms. The National Biosafety Authority (NBA) gazetted the final regulations that allow for the commercialisation of genetically modified organism in Kenya. This means that on application to the agency, one can import such products for commercial use, and soon, modified seeds and planting materials will be available to Kenyan farmers.
A new SDC Working paper soon to be published titled 'Deepening Participation and Enhancing Aid Effectiveness through ICTs and Media' examines why and how development practitioners can adopt ICTs and media for increased participation and better results into their daily practice.
At least 24 people were arrested for trying to stage a rally calling for more democracy and the resignation of Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos. The rally, organized in Luanda by a youth movement, gathered about 200 at Independence Square, in Luanda when the police stepped in and made the arrests. Protesters, journalists and several police officers were injured.
While both North–South partnerships and South-South Partnerships have strengths and limitations, linking these in networked models is an effective way to mobilise expertise and funding and achieve success. Such a networked partnership, involving six public water operators from Europe and two from Africa, was developed to improve access to water in Mauritania. The partnership rests on a solid basis of shared public service principles. A crucial factor in the partnership is the contribution of the Moroccan state water company ONEP, one of Africa’s best performing public water operators.
With rising population growth and changes in the earth's climate putting stress on the consumable 1% of the planet's water, the global water crisis risks becoming a source of cross-border conflict. Sub-Saharan Africa is especially vulnerable given its dry climate, which is exacerbated by underdevelopment and mismanagement of water resources. In 2000, countries in Africa and in other regions set targets to halve by 2015 the number of people without access to these basic services. Some of them may meet these targets.
Ethiopia has expelled a delegation of international rights group, the Amnesty International, and detained two opposition party leaders. Amnesty said its delegation was on an official visit to the Horn of Africa country. The opposition leaders were arrested on the back of individual meeting with the expelled delegation, a statement issued by Amnesty said. 'We are extremely concerned that the arrests of the two men occurred within days of talking with our delegates. Although the government denies it, we are worried that their arrests are not a coincidence,' said Michelle Kagari, deputy programmes director for Africa.
Even as Kenyan LGBTI activists fight for legal recognition they are confronted by the spectre of violence against community members based upon their sexual orientation. Many members of the LGBTI community have faced violence in the course of their lives and as a result are psychologically affected by this. Behind the Mask’s Melissa Wainaina interviewed two LGBTI individuals about such violence and the effect it had on them.
Famine has spread to six out of eight regions in southern Somalia, with 750,000 people facing imminent starvation, the United Nations said, and hundreds of people are dying each day despite a ramping up of aid relief.
ARTICLE 19 is seeking to engage a Legal Consultant, fluent in both English and Arabic, who will be responsible for ensuring it is able to play an enhanced role in promoting the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of information by developing an enabling legal and policy environment in the MENA region.
Kenya's anti-corruption chief and his deputies have been given seven days to leave office after lawmakers adopted legislation establishing a revamped anti-graft watchdog enshrined under the new constitution.
An iWatch News report finds that as the famine in southern Somalia worsens, aid experts fear that corruption and the politics of terrorism are crimping the flow of humanitarian relief to areas where starvation is worst. Abundant U.S. aid targeted for the Horn of Africa cannot directly reach starving people in southern Somalia because it’s blocked by Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda-aligned Islamist group labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
Zimbabwe has expelled Libya's ambassador who abandoned Col Muammar Gaddafi and backed the rebels. Taher Elmagrahi joined protesters who stormed the embassy and raised the pre-Gaddafi flag. Zimbabwe's foreign minister said it did not recognise the rebel National Transitional Council.
In Human Rights Watch’s newest report, 'Corruption on Trial? The Record of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,' this highly credible NGO takes a break from its more usual investigations into conflict and violence to assess the successes and failures of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) — the agency tasked to investigate and prosecute financial crimes ranging from advanced fee fraud, more commonly known as '419' scams, to money laundering to government corruption.
According to the novelist Helon Habila, editor of Granta’s forthcoming Book of African Short Stories, to put together a collection representing every African language, people and nation is impossible. Instead, Habila has compiled Granta’s new collection to showcase what he sees as a ‘new generation’ of emerging African short story writers.
The new . This issue includes breaking news about Australia's plan to 'swap' asylum seekers with Malaysia; an in-depth article on the issue by Dr Savitri Taylor; a trio of pieces about the situation faced by Rwandan refugees, including an important statement, which you can sign on to, against the planned invocation of the Cessation Clause; a review of issues faced by LGBTI people in Sudan, a little-known topic; case notes on rulings about Dadaab camp and UK-Cyprus return; discussion of a recent review of asylum in Poland; and a report from visits to Syrian refugees in camps in southern Turkey – as well as our usual announcements of opportunities, requests and relevant new resources.
A squadron of airmen with key skill sets, including air traffic control and civil engineering, is preparing for a mission to train air forces in Africa to deliver supplies and large numbers of troops into conflict zones. The New Jersey-based 818th Mobility Support Advisory Squadron was established in April and is expected to become operational later this year in support of U.S. Africa Command, according to Air Force officials.
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Tank versus protest placard…
Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) in session.
Gaddafi agrees to negotiate…
In a review of ‘Haki Zetu: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Practice’, Hakim Mbanzamihigo writes that the ‘handbook could be a useful tool for the promotion of ESCR at the most local level’.
In the era of globalisation, post-modernism and culturalism, many a Marxist intellectual of the 1960s and 1970s has metamorphosed, abandoning the class stand of the working people against the voracious capitalist system and imperialism. Not so Samir Amin. He has stood firm against capitalist barbarism. He does not mince his words nor does he capitulate to intellectual fashions. He does not seek accolades from Western scholarship nor does he curry favours to be counted among the 'best' 100 intellectuals. He remains steadfast in the great struggle of national liberation and social emancipation of the working people of the world. He remains anchored in class struggles at 80 as strongly as he was at 30 when he wrote his 'Class Struggle in Africa'.
Your prodigious, insightful work on the nature of world capitalism, its origins and evolution, and on the long but necessary transition to socialism has educated, enlightened and inspired us over the last half a century. Truly you are one of the most original thinkers of the 20th and early 21st century. Your treatment of Eurocentricity and on the epistemological and philosophical consequences of the worldwide expansion of European capitalism has given us a frame of reference within which the cultural diversity of humanity is validated as an intrinsic part of authentic socialism.
Although I only met Samir Amin in late 2010, I had studied his work for decades, finding in them superior analyses and inspiration. In fact, after reading so much of his work I was quite unprepared for the person I actually met. He was very down to earth, incredibly funny, and could actually listen, the latter characteristic not one that can ever be taken for granted, particularly in the case of individuals who gain iconic status.
The global aid industry has made a core group fabulously wealthy, writes Rasna Warah.
The recent Paris meet was a grim victory celebration by the NATO powers who wanted non-European poodles on the bandwagon, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar.
Gaddafi’s fall points to more Western interventions to come in Africa, writes Mahmood Mamdani.
As a WikiLeaks cable reveals, the US was even more actively involved than originally thought in ‘enforcing the siege of Gaza along Egypt’s border’, writes Ali Abunimah.
With South Sudan continuing to face a number of acute historical challenges, the Pan-Africanist movement must move to develop campaigning and lobbying on the side of the ‘marginalised majority’ in South Sudan and Sudan alike, writes Explo Nani-Kofi.
In the wake of England’s riots, Nigel C. Gibson draws on Frantz Fanon: ‘How to be human in a dehumanized society? This question haunted Fanon and it haunts our age.’
In a letter to Hollywood actor George Clooney regarding his activism on Sudan, Samar Al-Bulushi raises a number of concerns around the motives, accountability and politics behind the Satellite Sentinel Project.
With serious concerns around the city’s pro-pollution policy and activity, will Durban – the host of the upcoming COP17 summit – clean itself up, asks Patrick Bond.