Cameroonian blogger, reports on one of the most gruelling races in the world – the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope. The post includes a variety of photos from the race.

'600 athletes from about 12 countries will gather in the town of Buea at the foot of Mount Cameroon, West Africa's tallest mountain. for one of the most gruelling but least known extreme sports events in the world; the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope.'

Gambian blogger, Home of the Mandinmores, comments on the Gambian President’s statement that he can cure HIV/AIDS and on US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

'Will Barack Obama make it to the white house? I dunno. However the fact that despite the odds he is trying to make it there embodies the American ideals so eloquently spelt out in the declaration of independence thus: “that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with inalienable rights”. It is true that for most of its history America hasn’t lived up to this creed and white men have been more equal than all others. Having said that I still believe Obama’s candidacy embodies the ideals behind the American dream: that regardless of race, color, creed, gender or class, anyone can aspire to, and become anything they want to be provided they are willing to work hard for it. That is the appeal of Obama’s candidacy to most of us.'

Everyone is jumping on the Obama bandwagon in one way or the other. I saw a TV interview on You Tube where his “blackness” was being discussed in terms of him being not Black but African which is rather a strange racial differentiation as I thought they were the same thing.

R. E. Ekossa’s Blog comments on Chinua Achebe’s famous Joseph Conrad essay which leads to her reflecting on her relationship with people from the West and she asks the question (in terms of racism) 'who is bad for me?'

'...is it the ones who would be deeply distressed if you suggested that they were racist, but whose lack of curiosity about your world makes them, at best, unwitting co-perpetrators in the crimes that are committed against your people? Do these well-intentioned, law-abiding people who give generously to charities, who dutifully pay the taxes to sustain the governments that allow greedy multinationals to exploit us while claiming to bring development to us - as we are primitive and undeveloped - bear some of the blame for our sorrows? At what point does ignorance become culpable? At what point does it become difficult for me to deal with people who have the time and resources to learn about things, and whose refusal or lack of interest in learning causes them to take decisions that cost lives in places that they neither know nor really care about? When does a person’s lack of knowledge or curiosity about where his coffee or the cotton in his shirt is farmed become dangerous self-absorption, at least from my viewpoint?'

Nigerian blogger, African Shirts posts on the speaking and usage of the English language, something which Achebe has discussed many times and which he touches on in the Conrad essay. Nkem uses the BBC Hardtalk interview with Nigerian Presidential hopeful Orij Kalu and his “butchering” of the English language.

'What seems to have emerged from people's reaction to the Kalu interview is a disdain for English, or the ability to express one's self in English. English isn't Kalu's first language, so he should be allowed to butcher it the way he did - or so goes the thinking. I had two problems with the interview. First, he couldn't express himself, and second, even if he could, he had nothing to express. It wasn't about accent, because if it was, 99% of Nigerians would fall short of whatever glorious standard people imagine I've set.'

The issue of language is a political issue in a country such as Nigeria that has at least 250 languages, so how does one communicate without having a universal language that stands outside of the country. You cannot get 140 million people speaking 250 languages to agree to use one of those as the Lingua Franca of the nation and I have to agree with Nkem’s conclusion.

'People in Nigeria forget that English is not just a colonial imposition, but is the egg that binds Nigeria together. I cannot think of anything else Nigerians have in common. The arbitrary colonial borders do not bring Nigeria together, as there are still vastly varying customs, languages, landscapes, an inexhaustible list of differences. This is Nigeria: a vast piece of land, around which Lord Lugard and his people drew a line, and then asked all the people within that line to speak English. It's the story of Africa, and now we have to deal with it.'

Musings of a Naijaman also comments on Nigeria’s forthcoming elections. This time it is the anti-corruption agency (EFCC) who have submitted a list of “corrupt candidates”.

'Meanwhile in Nigeria, the farce continues - The anti-corruption agency EFCC has now submitted its arbitrary list of "corrupt candidates" to the electoral commission, after a kangaroo panel is set up to vet the list. And just in case the electoral commissioners are in any doubt about how seriously to take it, two of them are arrested by (you guessed it) the EFCC. By using the anti-corruption agency in this cavalier blackmailing way, Obasanjo seems set to do more damage to democracy and the cause of anti-corruption than he realizes. It would all be laughable if not for the fact that at the end of the day, human lives are at stake.'

Black Looks has an expose of US interests in Nigeria and a request made to her by contractors for the US Marine Corp to undertake research on the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta. Black Looks comments on this and a recent report by the Center for International Policy on the 'converging interests of the US and Nigerian governments'.

'Clearly the Nigerian Government is planning on working with the US military in the Niger Delta - whether this will continue in a low profile advisory capacity or escalate into something more is not clear. But the US Marines / US Government are not going to carry out their own research into the region unless they are going to use the information to pursue a specific set of agendas presumably with the knowledge of the present Nigerian regime.'

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org and is Online News Editor of Pambazuka News.

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org