{jcomments on}OMAR, BXL, AGNEWS, le 14 july 2010 — Recent clashes between the army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRP) and some Ugandan rebels caused that approximately 20,000 people fled from their villages in the North Kivu province, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.
BURUNDI :
China to construct conference center for Burundi’s state-run media
July 14, 2010/ Source:Xinhua
China has pledged to construct an international conference center for Burundi in the compound of the state-run Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi, RTNB.
Speaking on Tuesday after touring different departments of the state-run media, Chinese Ambassador to Burundi Yu Xuzhong told reporters that the complex will also be equipped with translation tools.
“We are going to talk to the management of the China CCTVF state-run radio and television and advocate twinship relations between CCTVF and RTNB,” Yu said.
RTNB Managing Director Chanel Nsabimbona thanked China for its support to the state-run media.
He said the Chinese ambassador also pledged to replace the main relay transmitter installed at Manga hill, which is often out of order, to ensure Burundians can follow programmes of RTNB more smoothly.
China has provided support for Burundi in many sectors including education and infrastructure construction.
Source:Xinhua
Burundi: Campaign for Senatorial elections begins
Pana /14/07/2010
Campaign for Senatorial elections begins in Burundi – The campaign for the Senatorial elections in Burundi began Tuesday, PANA reported from here. The campaign will end 25 July and voting will take place 28 July.
Electoral officials said the election of new senators would be done on ‘indirect universal suffrage’ by locally elected officials as was done during the first post-conflict general elections in 2005.
For this year, the local elections took place 24 May and gave a comfortable majority of 64 percent of the votes to the ruling National Council for the Defence of Democracy/Forces of Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD).
Burundi will also hold legislative elections, to be carried out by direct universal suffrage, on 23 July.
Analysts say the CNDD-FDD should easily dominate the two chambers of the Burundian national assembly because there are no serious threats from the opposition parties which have protested against what they called ‘massive frauds’ in previous local elections.
The opposition also withdrew from the presidential election on 28 June, which paved the way for a sweeping victory by incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza, with more than 92 percent of the votes.
Bujumbura
RWANDA
Journalist arrested in Rwanda over Hitler comparison
2010/07/14/Reuters
RWANDAN police have arrested an independent journalist for comparing President Paul Kagame with the Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler, police said, but an official denied her detention was linked to upcoming elections.
Saidati Mukakibibi, an unregistered journalist who works for independent newspaper Umurabyo, was arrested for defamation, inciting public disorder and ethnic “divisionism”, police spokesperson Eric Kayiranga said on Monday.
“She wrote articles through the paper comparing President Kagame to Hitler. Behind his picture they put insignia of the Nazis,” Kayiranga said. — Reuters
UGANDA
Suicide bomber involved in Uganda blast: official
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 /www.thenews.com.pk
KAMPALA: A suicide bomber was involved in one of the two bomb attacks that rocked the Ugandan capital Kampala at the weekend and killed at least 76 people, a government official confirmed on Wednesday.
The attacker blew himself up at an Ethiopian restaurant in Kabalagala, a southern Kampala district, where crowds had gathered to watch the World Cup final late on Sunday.
“We can confirm at least for the case of Kabalagala that it was a suicide bomber,” State Minister for Internal Affairs, Matia Kasaija, told media, adding that they had also made some arrests.
He added: “We have arrested some suspicious characters. These are people of interest. Some are Ugandans, some are Somalis.”
Ugandan police on Tuesday began compiling evidence in their investigation into the attacks that were claimed by Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked Shebab militants.
TANZANIA:
Blasts: Tanzania calls for action
Wednesday, 14 July /By Alex Bitekeye and Agencies/thecitizen.co.tz
Foreign Affairs minister Bernard Membe yesterday said Sunday’s bomb attacks that killed 74 people in Kampala were a wake-up call on the threat posed by Somali militants.
He said the attacks could not be ignored, and added that more efforts were needed to contain the insecurity posed by anarchy in Somalia.
The minister was quoted by TBC urging East African Community member countries and other African governments to take a new approach to containing insecurity linked to activities of Somali insurgents.
Mr Membe recently revealed that a special meeting had been planned for Nairobi next month to discuss the way forward in the Somali crisis. The Nairobi meeting was mooted after a high-level UN meeting on Somalia held in Turkey last month.
“We pledged to provide training to their police and military forces and will be ready whenever the Somali forces are available,” he said in a recent interview.
Other countries that have pledged military support to Somalia are Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi and Sierra Leone. However, only Uganda and Burundi have dispatched troops to Somali as part of a special AU-backed peacekeeping force.
Meanwhile, the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Mr Robert Manumba, told The Citizen yesterday that members of the public should be vigilant against any suspicious activities.
Mr Manumba said security organs in the country and the region were working closely with Interpol as part of joint measures to check terrorism.
He said that terrorism was not an African or Tanzanian problem, but a global scourge.
Foreign Affairs deputy minister Seif Ali Idd confirmed that no Tanzanian had been killed or injured in the Uganda attacks.
Reports from Kampala indicated that Ugandan authorities have found an unexploded suicide belt and made several arrests over the raid.
A government spokesman said the unexploded suicide belt was found at a third site in the capital Kampala, a day after the twin explosions ripped through two bars heaving with soccer fans late on Sunday.
“Arrests were made late yesterday after an unexploded suicide bomber’s belt was found in the Makindye area,” government spokesman Fred Opolot said.
He did not say how many people were arrested, or where they were from. Such coordinated attacks have been a hallmark of al Qaeda and groups linked to Osama bin Laden’s militant network.
The al Shabaab militants have threatened more attacks unless Uganda and Burundi withdrew their peacekeepers from the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM).
Uganda’s opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party urged President Yoweri Museveni to pull his soldiers out and said it planned to withdraw if it won elections scheduled for early 2011.
“There is no peace to keep in Somalia and Uganda has no strategic interest there. We’re just sacrificing our children for nothing,” FDC spokesman Wafula Oguttu told Reuters.
“Our objective is to withdraw our troops immediately after coming to power.”
Amisom said the explosions would not affect its mission in Somalia, where it shields the presidential palace from insurgent attacks and guards Mogadishu’s airport and port.
Burundi stepped up security in response to a direct threat from Somalia’s Shabaab, it was reported.
“We want to reassure the Burundian population. We have taken the necessary measures and adopted strategies that I cannot reveal,” army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza said.
“Shabaab will not find in Burundi a terrain where it can operate,” he said. Mr Baratuza was defiant and insisted that his country would not pull out the three battalions it has deployed to Amisom since December 2007.
“We have taken this threat seriously. But while Shabaab wants to carry out attacks to show its strength, I don’t think this is a true measure of strength,” Mr Baratuza said.
“There is no reason to withdraw Burundian troops from Somalia… it would not stop Shabaab from (carrying out attacks abroad). We must continue to help the Somali population, which is suffering,” he added.
MPs advises govt to expand tax sources
Wednesday, 14 July 2010 /By Florence Mugarula, Dodoma/thecitizen.co.tz
The Parliament Committee on Finance and Economy yesterday advised the government ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs to create new sources of income and to enhance tax collection in efforts to build an independent economy.
Contributing to the Finance and Economic Affairs Budget tabled in the House yesterday, the committee’s chairman, Dr Abdallah Kigoda, said the ministry needs to explore new strategies to boost tax collection from different sources instead of relying on traditional sources.
He said during the 2009/2010 fiscal year for example, the government failed to reach its tax collection target and that such a situation leads to a debt burden on the government unnecessarily.
The ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs had planned to collect Sh5096.016 billion during the financial year which was 16.4 per cent of the national income, but until April this year, it managed to collect only Sh3821.162 billion.
Among other reasons, the committee advised the government to stem out mismanagement of the public funds, which has become a chronic problem in public funds management.
According to Dr Kigoda, the government was spending more than its income and asked the Finance ministry to deal with the problem accordingly if Tanzania is to build an independent economy in future.
“The government must create new sources of income, the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs must expand tax sources instead of sorely relying on traditional sources,” said Dr Kigoda.
He added that the committee has also advised the government to lower the cost of doing business in Tanzania and reduce the bureaucracy which discourages businesses from investing in the country.
“In Kenya and Uganda, the procurement laws provide that acquisition of goods and services have to concluded not more than 40 days, but in Tanzania the same process takes between 80 and 100 days. This actually discourages investors,” argued Dr Kigoda.
He said his committee has advised the government to reduce the period to 40 days so as to attract businesses and to avoid unnecessarily delays caused by the bureaucracy to create fertile ground for corruption to thrive.
He added that there was a need for the government to reduce production tax for local industries to enable them compete with imports especially at this time when the East African Common Market is in place.
According to Dr Kigoda, it was easy for Tanzanians to buy products from neighbouring countries because of affordability of prices.
“The government must draw strategies to secure markets for locally produced goods. For example, he said, today many Tanzanians were using cement from the Kenya because Tanzania industries sell their products at high prices,” said Dr Kigoda.
The opposition camp spokesperson in Parliament, Mr Hamad Rashid Mohamed, said the ministry of Finance ignores opposition advices on Budgets and funds allocation during the past five years and as a result the government has failed to initiate new tax sources.
Mr Mohamed added that the government debt has been increasing from time to time and that in 2009 it increased by 17.66 per cent.
<
br />“The government debt has increase to Sh7,621,286,730,034 during the 2008/2009 fiscal year up from Sh6,477,451,842,418 in 2007/2008,” said Mr Mohamed.
The opposition camp wants the government to enhance tax collection, reduce public expenditure and check theft of the public funds if it real intends to build the country’s economy.
Presenting the ministerial Budget, the minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr Mustafa Mkulo, told the House of plans to strengthen supervision of public expenditures of government ministries, financial institutions and municipal councils in the country.
He added that the government was also looking forward to increase income sources and to enhance tax collection to build a strong economy.
CONGO RDC :
New technology helps reach youth in Democratic Republic of Congo
14 July, 2010/www.mnnonline.org
Dem Rep. Congo (MNN) ― HCJB Global Partner Radio Kahuzi has launched a cutting-edge spiritual outreach to young pastors and youth in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.). The program, only two months old, is interactive with instant feedback via SMS text messages.
“Even though there are no land lines in eastern D.R.C, there are cell phones,” explains missionary Richard McDonald in a Web site report. “Like young people in America, African youth are learning how to utilize this new method of communication, and in this case, for the glory of God!”
Young pastors, young people and adults are hungry for answers to life’s perplexing questions about “how to live righteously and godly in a perverse generation,” said McDonald who serves at the station with his wife, Kathy. “Each one of these young people has lived through horrific experiences over the past 18 years of war, famine and disease. Yet they are hopeful and hungry for the Word of God and for contact with believers in the outside world.”
In the first two radio Bible studies aimed at and developed by this audience, there were exhortations against imprudence in the Christian community in Swahili, discussing 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 and Ephesians 6:31, with “very positive ratings.” Suggested follow-up topics were received via SMS text messaging from young pastors and youth up to 300 miles away.
The next topic developed for broadcast was suggested by a young man who leads one of the local Bible studies in Bukavu. “Improving Youth Participation in the Lord’s Work,” based on a passage in 1 Timothy, was the theme. It was followed by discussion and SMS feedback.
“There are so many obstacles Satan seems to put in the way,” McDonald added. “But the recognition that God is not willing that even one of these beautiful young people should die without the knowledge of His Son makes it all worthwhile.”
Though Radio Kahuzi reaches millions in eastern D.R.C., in many territories such as Kambabari it is the preferred radio station for more than 70 percent of that area’s 262,000 residents. Now the ministry is making plans to install three additional FM relay sites.
Help to put these relay sites on the air is coming from many sources. The Kahuzi Radio Club in Stephens City, Va., for example, reported on Facebook that the youth in their daily vacation Bible school had raised $1,000 to help purchase an FM relay transmitter from Galcom for the outreach in D.R.C.
Radio Kahuzi, one of HCJB Global’s partner ministries, is owned and operated by Believer’s Express Service, Inc. (BESI). Started in 1992, the station broadcasts via shortwave and FM in English, French, Kikongo, Mashi, Lingala, Tshiluba, Kinyarwandan and Swahili.
Clashes in DR Congo leave around 20,000 people displaced
www.islandcrisis.net/2010/07/14
UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) – Recent clashes between the army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRP) and some Ugandan rebels caused that approximately 20,000 people fled from their villages in the North Kivu province, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.
The national army and fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are the last remnants of a Ugandan insurgency. The ADF confronted the DRP Army and caused the evacuation of almost 20,000 thousand of internally displaced people, nothing in contrast to the estimated 1.8 million of internally displaced people (IDP).
Last week, the ADF clashed with federal forces causing several displaced people for the first time since 2006. The inter-agency Rapid Response to Movements of Population (RRMP) program has sent a team to the affected area in a bid to ensure that life-saving assistance is urgently provided.
The ADF started as an opposition group to the Ugandan government. They began conducting attacks inside Uganda from hideouts in the country but it was almost annihilated in 2004 after a massive Ugandan army.
There were also reports of a large number of large numbers of sexual violence cases reported between May and June in the Isiro area of Haut-Uele. According to local officials, Perpetrators of those acts of violence are believed to be civilians.
In 2009, the UN Population Fund (OCHA) reported 15,275 cases of rape , mostly by armed men in the Eastern 2009.
Zuma’s nephew receives backing of DRC officials
Congo state says sale of two oil blocks done in country’s best interest
July 14, 2010/By Wiseman Khuzwayo and Bloomberg
The sale of two disputed oil blocks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to firms owned by Khulubuse Zuma, a nephew of President Jacob Zuma, was done in the best interest of the country, a DRC government spokesman said yesterday.
The DRC awarded blocks 1 and 2 in Lake Albert to Caprikat and Foxwhelp by a presidential decree published in Congo Journal Officiel on June 22. Both companies were recently incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
The DRC had previously signed contracts with two other companies to develop the blocks, including Tullow Oil in 2006. After the contracts were awarded to the two new firms, Tullow said that a “legitimate” oil company would work with either Caprikat or Foxwhelp to explore the two sites.
“There’s always acrimony on the part of those who lost the bid and the first accusation they make about others is that they aren’t well-known,” Lambert Mende, a DRC government spokesman and former oil minister, said yesterday.
The oil blocks are located in Albertine Graben in the western Rift Valley of east Africa on the border with Uganda, where an estimated 2 billion barrels of reserves have already been discovered. The DRC wants exploration to begin soon.
“The fact that a company isn’t well-known means little when it comes to exploring a zone like this,” said Mende. “Congo needs to work with unknown companies who dare to work in new frontiers where there’s not 100 percent certitude of finding interesting prospects.”
Tullow never received a presidential decree to begin exploration of its blocks and is considering legal action.
Divine Inspiration Group (DIG), a South African company, signed a competing contract for block 1 in 2008. DIG spent more than $4 million (R30.2m) in signing bonuses and fees to secure the block, said Andrea Brown, the executive director of DIG.
“The developments with respect to the block 1 contract are not in line with principles of transparency and due process, which are key elements of an investor-friendly business environment,” Brown said. “We will appeal for compensation and we look forward to constructive engagement with the government on this matter.”
The president’s nephew is a director of the embattled Aurora Empowerment Systems together with Zondwa Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela.
The grandson of the former president refused to acknowledge if he was also a director of Caprikat and Foxwhelp.
“I can’t comment on the matter,” he said.
French-speaking parliamentarians to meet in Kinshasa 2011
Pana /14/07/2010
Kinshasa, DR Congo – French-speaking parliamentarians, under the aegis of the Parliamentary Assembly of Francophonie (APF), have scheduled their 2011 meeting for Kinshasa, in the DR Congo, PANA reported from here Tuesday.
The decision to move the 37th meeting of the group to DRC was taken at the 36th forum held 4 to 8 July in Dakar, Senegal.
More than 501 speakers of parliaments in the francophone countries attended the Dakar meeting.
Citing the international community’s positive response to the Haiti earthquake, the parliamentarians urged the world to come to the aid of victims of the 6 July tank truck explosion in Sange, South Kivu.
A tank truck travelling from Tanzania overturned in the village of Sange in South Kivu, and later exploded
Kinshasa
KENYA :
Kenya lauds His Highness the Aga Khan
By crocodila Nairobi : Kenya /By George Okore/www.allvoices.com/ Jul 14, 2010
The Kenyan government has paid glowing tributes to His Highness the Aga Khan for his concerns towards improving the quality of life, well being and dignity of the mankind.
The Speaker of the National Assembly Hon. Kenneth Otiato Marende said His Highness the Khan has immensely improved quality of life through massive investments in people, their cultures and environment . He was addressing guest at Serena Hotel, Nairobi during celebrations marking the 53rd anniversary of the day his Highness the Aga Khan became the Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims.
The Speaker thanked several Ismaili institutions in Kenya for uplifting the standards of life through provision of healthcare, media and education services among others. The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) Resident Representative Mr. Aziz M. Bhaloo thanked the Kenyan government for creating investor friendly environment. He reiterated AKDN commitment to continued social, cultural and economic development in East African region. “His Highness the Aga Khan has a vision for this region including healthy democracy, peace, mutual co-existence and strong civil society. AKDN will continue to regionalize its institutions the spirit of the East Africa Community Common Market”, he said.
Yesterday’s ceremony was attended by several dignitaries including Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, Tourism Minister Najib Balala, Nation Media Group CEO Mr. Linus Gitahi and TPS Serena counterpart Mr. Jan Mohammed and guests from University of Alberta . Led by Imam His Highness the Aga Khan are the most influential Muslims and have made social and economic developments in financial, education and healthcare services.
The teachings of His Highness the Aga Khan give Ismailis strong desire to follow ethics, responsibility and conscience, qualities that have inspired Ismaili institutions especially in Kenya. In East Africa, Ismailis manage several social development covering education scholarship, social welfare and development institutions including Aga Khan Schools, University, Hotels and Hospitals among others. The Daily Nation, set up by His Highness Aga Khan in March 1960, is among widely circulating newspapers in East and Central Africa.
ANGOLA :
Africa.27th Luanda International Fair to count more than 700 exhibitors
[ 2010-07-14 ] /(macahub)
Luanda, Angola, 14 Jul – The 27th Luanda International Fair (FILDA) is set to run from the 20th to 25th of this month and will count 754 exhibitors from 34 countries, including Angola, indicates the head of the FIL fair management body, Matos Cardoso.
FIL has made a major effort to renovate the venue, with a view to serving as many exhibitors as possible, Cardoso said on Tuesday in Luanda, cited by Angolan news agency Angop. He added that the current facility’s capacity had been reached.
“We have no more room for anyone,” he said, indicating that this year there were 100 more exhibitors than last year and that 120 are Portuguese companies, followed by Brazilian, Spanish, Chinese and German companies.
Without specifying, Cardoso said at least five countries will be taking part for the first time, “and it is good, because the business climate is currently favourable in Angola.”
The 27th Luanda International Fair venue comprises six covered pavilions and one 30,000 square metre open space for exhibiting machinery.
Besides FILDA, FIL organises various other fairs, among them those devoted to real estate (SIMA), decoration, furniture and home textiles (ExportHome Angola), construction (Constroi Angola), food (Alimenticia) and automobiles (Angola Motor Show). (macahub)
Angolan government seeking to resume cotton cultivation in the country
2010-07-14/(macauhub)
Luanda, Angola, 14 Jul – Agriculture Minister Pedro Canga said on Tuesday in Luanda that the government is undertaking a programme to re-introduce cotton cultivation to support the textile industry in Angola.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting devoted to “Re-launching the Textile Industry in Angola”, Canga said the project began in Kwanza Sul province with the use of irrigated systems.
Cotton planting will be reactivated in the provinces of Malanje, Benguela, Zaire, Kwanza Norte, Uige and the Lundas, per the scope of the Agriculture Ministry’s programme, he said.
The minister explained that the work is going as planned, and that land plots needed for cotton cultivation are currently being identified. (macauhub)
Angola: Experts Assess Situation at Border With DR Congo
14 July 2010/AngolaPress
Uíge — Experts from the six angolan provinces bordering with DRCongo are discussing today in Uige (North) the security situation along the common border and the prevailing conditions of the angolan nationals recently expelled from DRCongo.
The experts for the provinces of Cabinda, Zaire, Uige, Malanje, Luanda Norte and Moxico are also assessing the situation in the border posts, namely infra-structures, personnel, migratory procedures and the situation of the border markets.
Opening the meeting, Uige province deputy governor for organization and technical services, Nazario Vilhena Bomba, stressed the creation of human and material conditions to preserve order and tranquility as the priority role of the angolan government towards the creation of a modern, prosperous anddemocratic nation.
He urged upon the need to combat all sources of conflicts in the relations with neighbouring countries backing the “Zero Tolerance” to illegal immigration, human trafficking, gemstones and drugs smuggling, border crime and other practices that may hinder the country’s social and economic development.
The meeting, ending Wednesday, is chaired by the national director for interchange and cooperation in the ministry of interior, José Paulino da Silva, gathering officials from the ministries of defense, external relations, territorial administration, assistance and social reinsertion and justice.
Japan to finance re-launch of textile industry in Angola
[ 2010-07-14 ]/(macauhub)
Luanda, Angola, 14 Jul – Angola has obtained US$500 million in funding from Japan to implement the project to re-launch the country’s first three textile industry units, said the Minister of Industry, Geology and Mines, Joaquim David.
The financing obtained by Angola’s Forestry Development Institute will cover 85 percent of the cost of the phased project, David said on Tuesday in Luanda, cited by Angolan news agency Angop.
He made his comments at the opening of a meeting on “Re-launching the Textile Industry in Angola”, explaining that the project involved the companies Textang II (Luanda), Africa Textil 1 de Maio (Benguela) and Satec (Dondo).
The project will begin with the rehabilitation of Textang II, where US$240 million will be applied, followed by Africa Textil 1 de Maio in Benguela (US$480 million) and finally Satec in Dondo, where US$150 million will be invested, David explained.
Suspended operations at the three plants have left hundreds of people without jobs, the minister said, adding that he hoped that Angolan entrepreneurs would soon be able to run them, instead of keeping them under state control and management. (macauhub)
Angola: Namibians Expect Good Business At Expo-Cunene 2010
14 July 2010/AngolaPress
Ondjiva — Namibian businessmen at Expo-Cunene 2010 expect good results considering the business volume and trade exchange with angolan exhibitors, the head of the namibian company Leathercon, Eliser David, told Angop today.
Paul Salao, another namibian businessman representing the Venus cosmetics enterprise, said to be astonished with the high number of visitors, stating that the fair is doing well and people is very funny, easily interacting with exhibitors.
Also expecting good results in both the sale of products such as in trade relations between the two countries exhibitors is Fernand Droger who highlighted the organizational level of this 5th edition of Expo-Cunene namely in sanitation and the stand spaces.
Some 100 namibian trade and industrial exhibitors participate at the fair opened Saturday by the provincial governor, Antonio Didalelwa.
SOUTH AFRICA:
Hunt for ‘ghost’ KZN teachers
Jul 14, 2010 / By Sapa
The KwaZulu-Natal education department will on Thursday start head-counting its workers to identify ghost employees, the department said.
In addition to finding workers who didn’t exist, but were on the payroll, the move would also help verify qualifications of all the department’s employees, superintendent general Dr Cassius Lubisi said on Wednesday.
“On the day of the headcount each employee will receive their payslip and will be expected to sign the payroll for the salaries paid on 30 June and 15 July 2010,” he said.
Anglo Platinum, Naspers, Telkom: South African Equity Preview
July 14, 2010/Bloomberg
July 14 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.
South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index rose 303.63, or 1.1 percent, to 27,495.94 in Johannesburg, its highest close since June 23.
Anglo Platinum Ltd. (AMS SJ): Platinum prices may face months of declines, possibly losing more than $200 an ounce with a “major reversal” under way, according to a technical analysis from Commerzbank AG, which cited trading patterns. Anglo Platinum gained 15.99 rand, or 2.2 percent, to 736.50 rand.
Barnard Jacobs Mellet Holdings Ltd. (BJM SJ): The brokerage said conditions for the sale of its securities unit to Renaissance Capital have been met and the transaction was completed. The stock rose 2 cents, or 0.5 percent, to 4.23 rand.
Naspers Ltd. (NPN SJ): The media company said it will take a 28.7 percent stake in Digital Sky Technologies Ltd., investing $388 million in cash. The stock rose 6.51 rand, or 2.4 percent, to 283.01 rand.
Shoprite Holdings Ltd. (SHP SJ): Statistics South Africa is scheduled to release May retail-sales data. Shoprite, Africa’s biggest retailer by market value, gained 2 rand, or 2.3 percent, to 88.50 rand. Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. (PIK SJ), the country’s second-largest food retailer, gained 50 cents, or 1.2 percent, to 44 rand.
Telkom South Africa Ltd. (TKG SJ): Africa’s largest fixed- line phone company said Chief Financial Officer Peter Nelson quit, days after the departure of its chief executive officer. Telkom fell 1.18 rand, or 3.4 percent, to 33.56 rand, its lowest levels since March 15.
Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:
Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) rose 2.2 percent to $18.29. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) increased 0.8 percent to $41.37. BHP Billiton Plc (BBL US) gained 2 percent to $56.19. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) added 1.4 percent to $4.30. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) increased 0.6 percent to $13.20. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) rose 0.8 percent to $10.52. Impala Platinum Holdings (IMPUY US) climbed 2.2 percent to $25.10. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) gained 2.9 percent to $4.31. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) added 2 percent to $37.68.
–Editor: Vernon Wessels.
AFRICA / AU :
S’pore steps up Africa links
By Lai Han-Wei /www.straitstimes.com/Jul 14, 2010
WITH the growth of business interests in Africa, two initiatives promoting links between African and Singaporean businessmen were launched on Wednesday at the Africa Singapore Business Forum (ASBF).
Jointly organised by the International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and Singapore Business Federation (SBF), the ASBF aims to ‘shed light on business opportunities that Africa presents’, said a joint statement by IE Singapore and SBF.
The gathering will also serve as a networking platform for government officials, business and thought leaders.
The first of the two initiatives announced by Minister of State for Trade & Industry and manpower Lee Yi Shyan, involves an MOU signing between Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) and Togo to develop Togo’s industrial and educational sector.
It was signed by Mr Alphonsus Chia, Chief Executive Officer of SCE and Mrs Dede Ahoefa Ekoue, Togo’s Minister for Planning, Development, Town and Country Planning.
The Africa Business Group (AFBG), a business-to-business platform that aims to enhance interaction between business communities in Africa and Singapore, was also launched at the Forum.
Speaking at the forum, Mr Lee said the AFBG would ‘enable Singapore businesses to establish contacts, build market knowledge, and enhance advocacy efforts’. He said the group aims to recruit 200 members in the next year.
About 400 participants attended the opening of the ASBF, with roughly a third of them hailing from 17 out of Africa’s 53 countries. Eight African ministers from Angola, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Mauritius, Nigeria, Togo were present.
A report by the United Nations shows that Singapore is the largest investor among all Asean countries in Africa.
Chairman of the SBF AFBG Shabbir Hassanbhai said: ‘The continent of Africa with more than 900 million consumers is one of the world’s fastest growing markets and this clearly reveals a remarkable marketplace with massive needs and surprising buying power for the enterprising to seize.’
‘…CENTRE IN LINE WITH ‘AU PEACE FLAME’
14 July, 2010 /By Musa Ndlangamandla /www.observer.org.sz
His Majesty King Mswati III says the launch of the SADC Early Warning Centre came at an opportune time as it coincides with the African Union’s Campaign for Peace as symbolised by the ‘AU Peace Flame’.
He said it was an honour for SADC to be the first to hoist the torch when it was rolled-out earlier in the year.
The torch hit Swazi soil in April during His Majesty’s birthday celebrations and was received very well by the world. “Today’s launch of the SADC early warning Centre resonates very well with the spirit of the ‘AU Peace Flame’.
“Over the years our organisation has grown from strength to strength and member states have exhibited greater unity and cooperation.
“This has enabled us to withstand a number of challenges in pursuit of our common goals for sustainable development through regional integration. the Kingdom of Eswatini remains committed to SADC programmes and activities aimed at our prosperity and we wish SADC many more years as it strives to work for the sustainability of our region,” the King said.
UN /ONU :
UN Women emerges
New agency for women should have greater priority, resources.
July 14, 2010/by Elsie Hambrook for the Moncton Times and Transcript/www.straightgoods.ca
This week, decades after the United Nations created agencies to deal with children, health, population and other world issues, it created one for women. Finally, there will be a United Nations agency to promote gender equality with as much power and financial stability as other full-fledged UN agencies.
The UN has said that it is taking this major step in recognition that, “Gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth.” As former UN head Kofi Annan said, “Empowered women can be the most effective drivers of development.”
“When you’re left out of the club, you know it. When you’re in the club, you don’t see what the problem is.”
Yet, as the UN Women website notes immediately, “gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society.” Even in Canada, women are the target of violence and discrimination because of their sex, are under-valued in their paid and unpaid contributions and are severely under-represented in decision-making.
Imagine then, the situation of women in countries where cultures or religions have even less regard for women, where wars or extreme poverty leave women and children with the worst of a bad lot, or where maternity and marriage are not choices.
The International Herald Tribune and the Pew Research Centre recently released the results of a sobering poll about what the world thinks of women. The poll, done in 22 of the world’s most influential nations (not including Canada) found, on the positive side, that “gender equality” is embraced by almost all countries, at least in theory. On the depressing side, widespread practice remains that men should get preference when it comes to good jobs, higher education or even the right to work outside the home.
The pollsters had set out to find out if people believed in the proposition, set out 15 years ago by the UN Conference on Women, that men and women should share power and responsibility “at home, in the workplace and in the wider national and international communities.”
Women are far more likely than men to perceive gender inequalities and to think more needs to be done to create equality. As Jacqui True of the University of Auckland put it, “When you’re left out of the club, you know it. When you’re in the club, you don’t see what the problem is.” Even in the United States and Germany, many men think nothing more needs to be done to bring about equality.
Other substantial differences were found between men and women’s opinions. In only 13 of the 22 countries did the great majority — 90 percent — of people say they supported equal rights for women. In India, Pakistan and Egypt, half or more said a university education is more important for a boy. In almost half of the 22 countries, when asked what should happen when jobs are scarce, more than 50 percent of people said the jobs should go to men.
In nations where equal rights are at least set out in law, real progress seems stopped and women’s quality of life is affected by their major workloads at home and at work.
Although saying we believe in equal rights for women may be politically correct, we do not seem concerned enough to make it happen. The International Herald Tribune highlighted the example of France: 100 percent of French women and 99 percent of French men back the idea of equal rights, yet 75 percent say men have a better life.
Would we be more outraged if we were discussing some other kind of discrimination? Perhaps the comparison is unfair, but if the poll had found that “people around the world say they firmly support equal rights for white and non-white populations, but many still believe whites should get preference when it comes to good jobs, higher education or even the right to work,” would we not react more strongly?
Would we organize boycotts of those countries where “the majority say whites should get preference for jobs,” like we did against South Africa?
Is sexism more acceptable than racism? Although the comparison is problematic and racism is still a major problem, it is interesting to examine our attitudes and society’s tolerance for the two forms of prejudices.
The new agency, says the UN Women website, “is a result of years of negotiations between UN Member States and advocacy by the global women’s movement.” Bolivia brought the motion, and on July 2, the General Assembly voted unanimously to build on the successes of its four existing agencies for women. The four existing agencies issued a joint statement that they “enthusiastically” welcome the change and look forward to more resources, and to working with a new Under-Secretary-General for UN Women.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the new agency, saying, “UN Women will significantly boost UN efforts to promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe.”
One of the main arguments for the new UN agency was that in the United Nations system, it is typical for women’s rights to lose ground every time the UN sets priorities. “Something is always more important than women,” said one of the main advocates for the new agency.
The poll seems to suggest that for many people around the world, even those who agree with women’s rights in principle, something else is always more important
Business leaders worried about biodiversity loss, UN-backed report finds
www.un.org/14 July 2010
13 July 2010 – One in four corporate titans worldwide view biodiversity loss as a threat to their business growth, according to a new United Nations-backed study released today.
It found that more than half of chief executive officers surveyed in Latin America and 45 per cent of their counterparts in Africa see biodiversity decline as detrimental to profits, compared to less than 20 per cent in Western Europe.
The publication also found that business leaders who do not include the sustainable management of ‘natural capital’ as part of their strategies may be at a disadvantage in the global market.
Compiled by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), a body hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the study said that 80 per cent of consumers would stop purchasing products from companies that disregard ethical considerations in their sourcing practices.
“Through the work of the TEEB and others, the economic importance of biodiversity and ecosystems is emerging from the invisible into the visible spectrum,” said Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB Study Leader and head of UNEP’s Green Economy initiative.
The new report points to multinational mining giant Rio Tinto as one company that has committed itself to having a so-called “Net Positive Impact” on biodiversity, developing new methods of assessing the biodiversity values of its landholdings. It has also started to apply biodiversity compensation in Madagascar, Australia and other countries.
Coca Cola, Walmart and BC Hydro are among corporations with similar commitments on softening biodiversity loss.
“We are entering an era where the multi-trillion dollar losses of natural and nature-based resources are starting to shape markets and consumer concerns,” said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.
“How companies respond to these risks, realities and opportunities will increasingly define their profitability; corporate profile in the market-place and the overall development paradigm of the coming decades on a planet of 6 billion, going to over 9 billion people by 2050,” he added.
USA :
Suicide bomber identified in Uganda blasts, US warns of al-Qaeda
By RFI /Wednesday 14 July 2010
A suicide bomber was involved in one of the two bomb attacks that killed at least 76 people in the Ugandan capital Kampala, a government official confirmed Wednesday. As police compiled evidence the attacks were claimed by a Somali group with links to al-Qaeda, United States officials heightened their diplomatic response to extremists elements across Africa.
Matia Kasaija, Ugandan State Minister for Internal Affairs, said the attacker blew himself up at an Ethiopian restaurant in Kabalagala, a southern Kampala district, as crowds watched last Sunday’s World Cup final.
“We can confirm at least for the case of Kabalagala that it was a suicide bomber”, he said.
Ugandan police on Tuesday began arresting suspects in the attacks claimed by Somalia’s al-Shebab militants, which have links with al-Qaeda.
“We have arrested some suspicious characters”, Kasaija said. “These are people of interest. Some are Ugandans, some are Somalis.”
United States president Barack Obama warned Africans that groups like al-Qaeda say their “innocent” lives as cheap.
“What you’ve seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organisations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself”, Obama told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
“They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences.”
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Obama was making clear al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups “do not value African life.
“In short, al-Qaeda is a racist organisation that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life”, the official said.
Another official confirmed al-Shebab’s claim to responsibility for the blasts was legitimate and that the US had been monitoring the group’s al-Qaeda links.
The official added they nonetheless had no forewarning of the Kampala attacks.
US officials drew parallels between the Uganda attacks and the 1998 bombigs of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania to underline fears of al-Qaeda threats growing inside and outside the continent.
“On the one hand, you have a vision of an Africa on the move, an Africa that is unified, an Africa that is modernising and creating opportunities”, the US president said.
“On the other hand, you’ve got a vision of al-Qaeda and (al-Shebab) that is about destruction and death.”
Obama moratorium shifts oil production jobs from U.S. to Africa
Submitted by The City Wire staff / 07/14/2010
Murphy Oil Corp. and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. announced a decision late Monday to suspend their drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico and relocate to central Africa.
In a news release after the close of market Monday (July 12), Diamond Offshore said it reached an agreement with Murphy to suspend a Gulf of Mexico contract, and has entered into a new multi-well international commitment to relocate the deepwater drilling rig Ocean Confidence to the Republic of Congo.
“As the uncertainty about continued deepwater drilling in the GOM (Gulf of Mexico) persists, we must consider alternatives that allow our deepwater assets to remain employed,” Diamond Offshore President and CEO Larry Dickerson said in a news release. “The contract we suspended with Murphy has been restructured into a one-year commitment in the GOM that is expected to recommence when our customer is satisfied that it can obtain the necessary permits and can meet any new regulatory requirements.”
Diamond and Murphy’s decision came on the same day that the Obama administration issued a revised moratorium Monday on deepwater offshore to replace an early ban that U.S. courts cited as “overreaching.”
Murphy and other oil industry officials have repeatedly warned that the Obama administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could slow oil and production in the region and shift U.S. jobs overseas.
The first ban was implemented in response to the massive oil spill following the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. London-based BP said recently that it is spending about $100 million a day to clean up the Gulf of Mexico’s polluted waters.
Murphy said earlier this summer that it had suspended production in the Deep Blue exploratory well development in the Gulf region until the drilling ban is lifted. The Arkansas oil giant’s Gulf of Mexico production is approximately 50 million cubic feet of natural gas and 20,000 barrels of oil per day.
Murphy’s new contract with Diamond is a three-well commitment, plus an option for additional work, and includes an obligation for the Murphy to move the rig to and from the Republic of Congo. Diamond said that it’s Gulf of Mexico and central Africa drilling pacts with Murphy will add approximately $234 million to the Houston-based driller’s bottom line.
The Ocean Confidence is a massive rig that can drill up to 35,000 feet. It was first commissioned in 2001 in a five-year contract with BP.
Ironically, Murphy and Diamond’s decision to pull of the Gulf of Mexico, along with the Obama administration’s newly-written ban, preempted BP’s announcement that it had installed a new tighter-fitting cap on the leaking Deepwater Horizon well.
The British oil giant said it hopes after testing is completed (today) that oil will stop leaking into the Gulf of Mexico.
“It is expected, although cannot be assured, that no oil will be released to the ocean for the duration of the test,” BP said. “This will not however be an indication that flow from the wellbore has been permanently stopped.”
CANADA :
AUSTRALIA :
Hundreds attend Talbot’s funeral
By Christine-jared-perrin /au.ibtimes.com/Jul 14, 2010
A multitude of family members and friends came together to bid mining magnate Ken Talbot farewell at a funeral service held at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane this morning.
Mr. Talbot, 59 years of age, was aboard a flight with a Sundance team of executives when their plane crashed in thick west African jungle in the previous month.
The crash had no survivors.
Mr. Talbot achieved astounding successes with his mining ventures and was one of the richest men of Australia with reported assets of almost $1 billion.
Liam Talbot, his son, said in the funeral service his father has lived a full life and touched many other lives.
The Talbot scion gave the first eulogy among six, describing how his father was truly a remarkable man.
Wayne Bennett, coach of Rugby team Brisbane Broncos, was one of those who paid their last respects to Mr. Talbot.
Mt. Talbot founded the mining giants the Talbot Group and Macarthur Coal, which has investments in local and international mining projects, including Sundance Resources, a mining firm based in Perth.
Shane Edwards, Talbot Group’s CEO, said this morning that Mr. Talbot supported many charities and organisations including Starlight Foundation, Lifeline, and the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia, but many will remember him as a leader in the Australian mining sector.
A private wake is set at Lang Park after the funeral service.
EUROPE :
NGOs slam EU-Brazil plans to develop biofuels in Africa
The Corporate Financial Centre, Brasilia. Mr Van Rompuy is also set to meet a number of the country’s top bankers
ANDREW WILLIS/euobserver.com/14072010
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU and Brazilian leaders are set to announce a new “triangular co-operation” initiative, under which they will aim to work together in some of the world’s poorest countries, but NGOs say the duo’s scheme is self-centred and will simply make conditions worse.
At a bilateral summit in Brasilia on Wednesday (14 July), European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are to agree to co-operate on a range of different projects in Portuguese speaking parts of Africa, Haiti and East Timor in the coming years.
The development of renewable energy is likely to be a central theme, and a first step will see the EU and Brazil sign an agreement with Mozambique this week to develop bioelectricity and biofuels projects, EU sources have indicated.
Brazilian companies are world leaders in the production of biofuels and are looking to expand their operations both internally and abroad, while the EU is looking to increase its biofuel use at home in order to meet its target of sourcing 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.
But as EU and Brazilian officials prepare to start studies on how best to develop bioethanol, biodiesel and bioelectricity projects in Mozambique – already a leading African producer of biofuels – environmental groups say the initiative will simply serve to displace people from their land and exacerbate food shortages.
“In a country that suffers persistent hunger, using millions of hectares of agricultural land to grow crops to power European cars is immoral and perverse,” Adrian Bebb, a biofuels expert with Friends of the Earth, told this website.
“European biofuels targets are what is driving this global expansion,” he added. “Instead of doing deals to grab more land in the South, the EU should be scrapping its biofuel policy.”
Development NGOs such as ActionAid have also criticised the EU’s biofuel target which demands that 10 percent of transport fuel come from renewable energy by 2020.
Studies suggest that a third of the land sold or acquired in Africa, some five million hectares or an area greater than the size of Denmark, is intended for fuel crops.
The gains for both sides as a result of the new deal are clear however. By teaming up with Brazil in Africa, the EU stands to create a new and cheaper supply of biofuel, while Brazilian companies could make considerable savings on EU import tariffs.
Biofuel produced in Brazil is currently subject to high tariffs when entering the EU, while duties on African-produced biofuels are much lower.
Reports suggest that Cosan and Copersucar are among the Brazilian ethanol producers that stand to gain the most from setting up new production bases in Africa.
As part of his trip to Brazil, Mr Van Rompuy is set to visit a Cosan production line and meet with senior company officials on Thursday afternoon.
Summit
Other deliverables from the bilateral summit are likely to include two aviation agreements and a deal to allow all EU citizens from Schengen countries to enter Brazil without the need for a visa.
Citizens from new EU member states Malta, Latvia, Cyprus and Estonia still currently need a short-term tourist visa when visiting the South American country.
The two sides will also discuss EU-Latin American relations, as well as the non-proliferation of nuclear arms. Brazil was recently involved in an initiative with Turkey to monitor the production of nuclear material in Iran, but the deal received a cold reception from the EU and US.
On manoeuvres with the troops trained to fight al-Shabaab
Paul Ames reports from Uganda on an EU mission to protect the Somali government
Wednesday, 14 July 2010/www.independent.co.uk
Belly-down in the grass, the Somali soldiers cock their Kalashnikovs and take aim. When the order comes, they squeeze the trigger and bellow out a chorus of: “Boom, bang, boom!”
The European Union instructors given the task of forming the core of Somalia’s new model army have yet to entrust their students with live ammunition. So the men whose fighting techniques have been honed on the mean streets of Mogadishu are learning grenade-throwing with fist-sized rocks and target-shooting with empty rifles. “They are familiar with the AK-47,” Lieutenant Jukka Vuorio, of the Finnish navy explains with some understatement. “We have to teach them to use it safely.”
The EU has gathered 900 Somali recruits in a remote military base in the rolling hills of south-west Uganda, aiming to create the backbone of a force capable of breaking the grip that the al-Qa’ida-linked al-Shabaab movement and other Islamist militias have on much of Somalia.
The insurgents have the Western-backed government penned up in a sliver of land in Mogadishu, the capital, protected by Ugandan-led African Union troops.
Uganda paid a price for its engagement in Somalia on Sunday when two bomb blasts claimed the lives of 76 people watching the World Cup final in Kampala. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility, sparking fears that the Somali jihadis are ready to widen the conflict through international terror attacks.
In Brussels, the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton insisted the blasts would not diminish Europe’s willingness to work with Uganda to “bring stability to the region”. But after the disastrous American-led UN intervention in Somalia’s civil war in the early 1990s, Western nations are reluctant to send troops.
The training camp in Bihanga is one example of how they are trying to make up for it. The weekend’s attack underscored how strategically important Somalia and Uganda are. Even if they are unwilling to commit their own military resources, the urgency of stopping Somalia from becoming a safe haven for al-Qa’ida – and thwarting the pirates who have wreaked havoc on international shipping in the Indian Ocean – is lost on none of the Europeans.
They believe that the solution may be to train up local forces that just might be able to impose some sort of stability on the country. “One-thousand well-trained soldiers can make a difference,” insists Swedish Major Johan Rudhe, the acting commander of the EU camp in Bihanga.
Warrant officer Abdullah Ibrahim Aden of the Somali army agrees, but like many others, this 28-year-old veteran of Mogadishu’s street-fighting says the key to success will be the level of follow-up support he and his fellow trainees receive when they return to Somalia.
“If we are trained by the European Union and they continue to care about the way we things are in Somalia, we can take control away from al-Shabaab,” he says. “But if the soldiers don’t get paid and they don’t get food, they will take their guns and split off.”
That is exactly what happened with previous attempts by African nations to train Somali troops. In a sign of the growing international concern about the implications of an al-Shabaab victory, the United States is joining with the EU to ensure the Somalis do get paid. Washington is already supporting the EU mission by providing transport, uniforms and other equipment for the recruits, as well as a $100-a-month (£66) salary during the six-month course. “What has dogged previous efforts at security-sector reform is the fact
that after the trainings, everybody washes their hands and leaves these boys with just the (Somali) government to take care of them,” says Rashid Abdi, a Horn of Africa analyst with the International Crisis Group.
“If the European Union and the Western partners undertake some form of long-term help for these units to ensure that they are well catered for, then …the government may get the kind of military muscle it needs to begin to roll back the insurgency,” Mr Abdi said by telephone from Nairobi.
The daily routine for the Somali recruits at Bihanga starts when they are awakened at 5am and taken for a run. After porridge for breakfast, most spend the day following basic training with Ugandan army instructors assisted by the EU. About 200 selected as potential officers or NCOs are split into platoon-sized groups and given specialised training by EU teams working through Somali-speaking Kenyan interpreters.
“You can see the improvements on a daily basis,” says Captain Donal Burke, of the Irish Defence Forces. “The Somali trainees just want to learn, they want military knowledge and they want to fight al-Shabaab. There is a feeling their country is being held to ransom.” A Portuguese team arrived at the beginning of July to teach urban-warfare techniques. The Germans are giving classes in radio communications; the Italians are teaching medical skills. A Finnish female officer is lecturing on human rights and gender issues, and French experts will be taking on the around 27 Somalis selected for officer training.
“They may have battle experience, but they need training. They fire from the hip like in the movies rather than taking aim from the shoulder,” says Maj Rudhe, the camp’s commander.
“They have no clue about the laws of combat, about communications, about how to save a friend who has been wounded, and we can give them that sort of skill,” he said. “It’s like having a guy who can play great football on the beach in Rio, but you still need to train him before he can play in the World Cup.”
The selection of the troops sent for training was done by the Somali government with US-funded vetting to ensure none was under 18 or had any record of war crimes. The EU’s insistence that the group be representative of a broad range of the country’s clans and regions caused some problems. About 250 recruits from the breakaway Puntland region dropped out after a dispute with the Mogadishu government over where they would be deployed when they return to Somalia, explains Colonel Ricardo Gonzalez Elul, commander of the 120-strong EU mission.
The Spanish officer said he’s optimistic that can be resolved so the Puntland troops can join the second intake of 1,000 trainees due to arrive later this year. Col Elul said about 10 “troublemakers” had also been sent home at the start of the mission for stirring up clan rivalries among the recruits.
“We knew it would happen before we arrived here, and it will happen in the future because it is an intrinsic issue within the Somali culture,” Elul said. “It’s not considered as a major concern.”
One of the few English-speaking recruits, Aden, was a refugee in Kenya who returned to Mogadishu to serve as a paramedic with Somali government forces in 2006. He said there were few tensions among the Somalis billeted together on the base in Bihanga, but he warned the impression of unity was fragile. Whether the bombs on Kampala will strengthen or dilute that unity will only become clear with time.
“Relations among us are good,” he said. “But you don’t know what’s going on in their minds because in Somalia you can’t trust anyone, even your own brother.”
CHINA :
China buys into Africa mine
business.iafrica.com/14 Jul
China’s Shandong Iron and Steel Group has agreed to pay $1.5-billion for a stake in London-listed African Minerals’ Sierra Leonean mine project, African Minerals said.
The investment, which would give Shandong Iron and Steel a 25 percent stake in the Tonkolili iron ore mine, is the latest in a series of investments by resource-hungry China in West Africa’s rich mineral deposits.
Shandong’s funding would help build the Tonkolili mine and pay for related rail and port infrastructure, said a statement posted Tuesday on African Minerals’ website.
“When completed, this strategic investment will enable us to accelerate the development of Tonkolili,” it said.
Shandong would also gain stakes in two other African Minerals subsidiaries and secure long-term supplies of 10 million tonnes of iron ore annually at prices discounted from the market.
Shandong Iron and Steel is China’s fifth-largest steel mill by output, according to the country’s state-run press.
China’s hunger for raw materials has soared in recent years along with the development of its economy and its firms have increasingly looked at West African countries for minerals.
Last month, African Minerals sold a 12.5 percent stake in the company to China Railway Material, a supplier of steel products to China’s rail industry, for $280-million, Chinese state press has said.
And in March, Chinalco, the state-owned Chinese mining giant, reportedly signed an agreement to pay Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto $1.4-billion for a 47 percent stake in Rio’s Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.
Naspers to buy share in Digital Sky Technologies
Staff Writer Sapa / 14 July, 2010
Listed media company Naspers will buy 28.7 percent of one of Russia’s leading internet firms, it said on Wednesday.
It would purchase the stake in Digital Sky Technologies (DST) in cash and shares, according to a statement.
The company would exchange its 39.3 percent stake in its Russian unit Mail.ru which it co-owned along with DST, and it would also pay a further US388 million (R2.9 billion) for the 28.7 percent stake.
Naspers comprises a broad-based media group operating in 129 countries. Its principal operations are in internet platforms, pay-television and the provision of related technologies and print media.
The group’s most significant operations are located in emerging markets including South Africa and elsewhere in Africa, China, Central and Eastern Europe, India, Latin America, Russia, Thailand and the Netherlands.
INDIA :
More of world’s poor live in India than in all sub-Saharan Africa, says study
New UN index replaces simpler method of calculation
Jason Burke in Delhi The Guardian/Wednesday 14 July 2010
There are more poor people in eight states of India than in the 26 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, a study reveals today.
More than 410 million people live in poverty in the Indian states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, researchers at Oxford University found. The “intensity” of the poverty in parts of India is equal to, if not worse than, that in Africa.
When the vast central Indian Madhya Pradesh state, which has a population of 70 million, was compared with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the war-racked African state of 62 million inhabitants, the two were found to have near-identical levels of poverty.
The study is based on an innovatory “multidimensional poverty index”, or MPI, developed by specialists at Oxford. To be used for the first time in the authoritative and influential United Nations Human Development Report when it is published this autumn, it will replace a simpler method of calculating poverty introduced over a decade ago.
The index uses 10 major variables including access to good cooking fuel, schooling, electricity, nutrition and sanitation. “[It] is like a high-resolution lens which reveals a vivid spectrum of challenges facing the poorest households,” said Dr Sabina Alkire, director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and a co-developer of the index. “Before, you might know a person was poor but did not know if their children went to school, if they had a floor or if they cooked on wood.”
The survey found that in Madhya Pradesh poverty levels were higher because of malnutrition. In Congo, access to schooling was a problem.
The study’s conclusions will reinforce claims that distribution of the wealth generated by India’s rapid economic growth – recently around 10% year on year – is deeply unequal. The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has repeatedly said he wants to see “inclusive” development.
Poverty has long proved difficult to define. The World Bank bases its definition on household income and estimates that a quarter of the developing world lives on $1.25 (85p) a day or less. However, relying simply on money “excludes everything that is outside the cash economy and doesn’t look at issues such as housing [or] access to safe water” said William Orme, a spokesman for the United Nations Development Programme in New York. “The new index gives us a much fuller portrait.”
To compile the index, researchers analysed data from 104 countries with a combined population of 5.2 billion, 78% of the world total. About 1.7 billion – a third – live in multidimensional poverty, they found. This is 400 million more than are estimated by the World Bank to be in “extreme” poverty. The new index is also designed to track variations within countries much better. So while the poverty rate is more than 80% in the rural state of Bihar, it is about 16% in the southern state of Kerala.
Some countries have dropped steeply down the poverty rankings in the new list. Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Morocco were found to have much more poverty under the new index than when using simple household income. Others, such as Tanzania, Nicaragua, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and China were found to have less. China was ranked 46 out of 104, three places behind Brazil. India came in 63rd, just after Togo but ahead of Haiti.
“In many cases, it is probably linked to previously high levels of social investment,” Alkire said. “It shows that a low per capita GDP income doesn’t necessarily mean high poverty.”A second index to gauge poverty in developed nations is now planned.
Tata Coffee, Asia’s Largest Grower, to Enter Africa
July 14, 2010/Bloomberg
July 14 (Bloomberg) — Tata Coffee Ltd., Asia’s largest publicly traded grower of the bean, may invest 1.3 billion rupees ($27.7 million) in a factory to make instant coffee in Africa to meet rising global demand.
The company, majority-owned by Tata Global Beverages Ltd., may build the plant in Uganda, Africa’s biggest producer of the robusta variety, Kenya or central Africa, Managing Director Hameed Huq said in an interview. Tata Coffee may also consider acquiring a company in the continent, he said. The company’s shares rose as much as 2.7 percent in Mumbai.
Bangalore-based Tata Coffee expects a global economic recovery to help boost demand for instant coffee, a market valued at $19.6 billion, according to researcher Euromonitor International. Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop operator, in April raised its annual forecast after reporting second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates, helped by sales of Via instant coffee.
“As Europe and other nations come out of recession we will be looking to expand our instant coffee capacity,” Huq said in an interview today. “The rate of development we are seeing in Asia or Africa, we are not seeing in Europe.”
Robusta futures have gained 32 percent on London’s Liffe exchange on reduced supplies from main producers and rising demand.
The prices of robusta at about $1,700 a metric ton is a “good price,” Huq said. “I don’t see coffee prices coming down as global consumption is going up by two percent and carry-forward stocks are not large. So it is a fairly bullish market.”
Tata Coffee, which has more than doubled in the past year, gained 1.2 percent to 423.95 rupees in Mumbai at 9:52 a.m. after rising 2.7 percent. The company is 57 percent owned by Tata Global Beverages, formerly known as Tata Tea Ltd., a unit of India’s second-biggest industrial group.
‘Upwardly Mobile’
Exports from India, Asia’s third-largest coffee supplier, have gained this year after production rebounded from a year earlier, according to the state-owned Coffee Board.
Tata Coffee and its domestic rivals shipped 161,974 tons between Jan. 1 and July 12, compared with 107,990 tons a year earlier, data from the board showed. The shipments were valued at $343.6 million, 43 percent more than a year earlier.
“Export markets look very good,” Huq said. The company’s green beans and instant coffee exports have grown “substantially” in the last three months, he said, without elaborating.
Domestic Consumption
Domestic consumption has more than doubled to 100,000 tons from a decade ago, Huq said. “Consumption will grow as it is being consumed by the upwardly mobile middle class.”
Cafe Coffee Day, India’s biggest coffee-cafe chain, Barista Coffee Co., a unit of Italy’s Lavazza SpA, and rivals have opened 1,200 shops in the past decade as people in the world’s largest tea-growing nation develop a taste for cappuccinos, G.V. Krishna Rau, chairman of the Coffee Board said in April.
Global coffee output may rise 12 percent to 135 million bags next season, led by gains in Brazil, the world’s largest grower, the International Coffee Organization said. A bag weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds).
Production in India may reach a record 308,000 tons in the year starting Oct. 1, the board said last month. That may lift exports to 220,000 tons in the next season, Ramesh Rajah, president of the exporters association.
–With assistance from Thomas Kutty Abraham in Mumbai. Editors: Arijit Ghosh, Abhay Singh
BRASIL:
Tributes paid to Irish missionary killed in Uganda blast
Wednesday, 14 July 2010 /www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
An Irish-born lay missionary who was among the victims of the horrific Ugandan bomb attacks was last night described as a “wonderful person”.
Marie Smith (51), who left Ireland more than 30 years ago, was yesterday officially named among the dead as the toll from last Sunday’s attacks climbed to 76.
Officials in the East African country believe suicide bombers may have taken part in the twin blasts which devastated Kampala city during the World Cup final.
Ugandan police have now found an unexploded suicide vest and arrested six of the cell of at least 20 Somalis and Ugandans suspected of planning the twin bombings.
The Dublin-born woman, who was about to turn 52, was watching the soccer final in the crowded Ethiopian Village restaurant when the bombers struck.
Earlier she had been talking to a missionary colleague from The Family International, a Christian fellowship organisation, but he had left before the explosions.
Ms Smith, a widow, has three adult sons, Benjamin, who is in Brazil, Samuel, and Roger, who lives in Holland. A colleague said she had also adopted two African-born children.
“She was a wonderful person, a missionary at heart,” Malaika Damnola, a project co-ordinator at Family Care based in Kampala, said. “She was a bubbly personality, she loved Africa and two of her children were born here.”
Ms Damnola said her colleague’s son Benjamin was due to fly from Brazil for the cremation service, with church services due to take place in both Uganda and South Africa.
Ms Smith, who worked part-time for The Family International, was engaged in envangelism work which mainly involved holding Bible classes.
She was living in Uganda for two months and previously resided in South Africa where she also worked with the organisation.
Somali al-Shabaab Islamists linked to al-Qaida said on Monday they had carried out the attacks on the restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala. However, an official from the al-Shabaab group said yesterday that there had been no suicide bombers involved in the attack.
A Ugandan military intelligence source said intelligence officials had received a tip-off last month that an attack was being planned. “On 17 June, an informer from the Kise nyi suburb of Kampala told intelligence that some Somalis were planning an attack during the World Cup,” the source said.
The official said more than 20 people, Somalis and Ugandans, were involved in planning the attacks. “So far we have arrested six people from that racket,” the official added.
The Republic’s Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said he was “horrified and saddened by the appalling loss of life” in the bombings in the country.
Officials said that Ugandans, Ethiopians, Eritreans and Americans were among those also killed and injured.
EN BREF, CE 14 juillet 2010… AGNEWS /OMAR, BXL,14/07/2010
