{jcomments on}DAM, NY, AGNEWS, le 14 décember 2010 — – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved US$25 million for Burundi’s Fourth Economic Reform Support Grant (ERSG IV). ERSG IV is the first in a new series of operations that aim to consolidate many of the reforms that began in the last series (ERSG II and ERSG III).
BURUNDI :
Three civilians, one policeman killed in Burundi
(AFP) – 14/12/2010 – BUJUMBURA — Three civilians and one policeman were killed in Burundi overnight in two separate incidents which authorities blamed on “armed bandits”, officials said Tuesday.
In Isale district, 10 kilometres (six miles) east of Bujumbura “a group of armed bandits in military uniform went into three homes in Benga and killed a man and two women in cold blood,” Pontien Barutwanayo, a district official said, adding that nothing was stolen in the attack.
“These bandits left behind tracts “warning men, women and children in the area against following the example of the traitors who have just been killed,” he continued.
Police sources said the three people killed had handed over to the army two months ago two armed men who were hiding on their property. The two were subsequently found dead in a nearby river.
Isale is part of Bujumbura Rural province, a stronghold of the former rebel group National Liberation Forces (FNL), today part of the political opposition.
FNL leader Agathon Rwasa, who went into hiding in July, is suspected of being behind the latest wave of killings.
In a separate incident in Gitega province two policemen on patrol came across five armed men.
“There was an exchange of fire and one of the policemen was killed,” Josias Mbuzenakamwe, a Bugendana district official told journalists.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon last week told the Security Council he was “deeply concerned about signs of a returning climate of impunity, the resurgence of acts of torture, intimidation, extra-judicial executions and arrests of opposition members” in Burundi.
Several political opponents either returned to he bush or fled the country after elections earlier this year which the regime of President Pierre Nkurunziza won.
The dispute over the electoral process has brought renewed fears of a fresh wave of violence in this tiny central African country which is only slowly emerging from 13 years of civil war that ended in 2006 and left 300,000 dead.
World Bank Grants US$25 Million for Economic Reform in Burundi
14 DECEMBER 2010 WASHINGTON – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved US$25 million for Burundi’s Fourth Economic Reform Support Grant (ERSG IV). ERSG IV is the first in a new series of operations that aim to consolidate many of the reforms that began in the last series (ERSG II and ERSG III).
ERSG IV focuses on two main areas: improving budget credibility, planning, and controls; and strengthening the business environment and performance of the traditional export crop sectors.
“After more than a decade of conflict, Burundi has made progress toward restoring macroeconomic stability, implementing financial and structural reforms, improving social services, and promoting investment and economic growth,” said Jean-Pascal Nganou, the World Bank’s Task Team Leader for this operation. “This grant will help improve fiscal transparency and accountability; as well as make the business environment more conducive to private sector-led growth.”
The public finance management component of ERSG IV has three main sub-components: strengthening strategic and budget planning to improve the quality of public spending; reinforcing PFM systems; and improving the management of the public wage bill.
Private sector development includes three main sub-components: promoting private investment development through improvements in the legislative framework and economic infrastructure; facilitating the restructuring or privatization of public enterprises; and modernizing export sectors.
Contacts:
In Bujumbura: Marie-Claire Nzeyimana, +257 22 20 62 47, mnzeyimana@worldbank.org;
In Washington: Francois Gouahinga, (202) 473-0696, fgouahinga@worldbank.org
For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/burundi
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RWANDA
Rwanda, ex-Yougoslavie : le Conseil de sécurité prolonge les mandats des juges
Publié par Service d’information des Nations Unies le 14 décembre 2010 dans la catégorie International -Le Conseil de sécurité a prorogé mardi les mandats de plusieurs juges du Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda (TPIR) et le Tribunal pénal international pour l’ex-Yougoslavie (TPIY) afin de permettre aux tribunaux de clore les affaires en cours et de terminer les enquêtes.
Les Etats membres du Conseil de sécurité ont adopté une résolution relative au TPIR sur la base des résolutions précédentes 1503 du 28 août 2003 et 1534 du 26 mars 2004, dans lesquelles le Conseil demandait au Tribunal « de prendre toutes mesures en son pouvoir pour mener à bien les enquêtes avant la fin de 2004, achever tous les procès en première instance à la fin de 2008 au plus tard et terminer ses travaux en 2010 ».
Le Conseil a décidé que malgré l’expiration de leur mandat le 31 décembre 2010, le juge Joseph Asoka de Silva et le juge Taghrid Hikmet sont autorisés à siéger jusqu’à la fin de l’affaire Ndindiliyimana dont ils ont été saisis avant l’expiration de leur mandat. La résolution proroge également le mandat du juge Joseph Masanche qui est autorisé à siéger jusqu’à la fin de l’affaire Hategekimana.
Les Etats membres ont aussi décidé « de permettre au Tribunal pénal international d’achever les procès en cours ou de mener à terme de nouveaux procès » et ont réaffirmé leur engagement « pour que le Tribunal soit doté des effectifs qui lui permettront d’achever rapidement ses travaux ».
Le Conseil a adopté mardi une autre résolution relative au TPIY permettant de proroger les mandats du juge Kevin Parker pour qu’il puisse siéger jusqu’à la fin de l’affaire Dordevic dont il a été saisi. De même, le juge Uldis Kinis est autorisé à siéger jusqu’à la fin de l’affaire Gotovina dont il a été saisi avant l’expiration de son mandat. Enfin, le Conseil a décidé d’autoriser le juge Kinis à siéger au Tribunal au-delà de la période de service prévue.
Le Conseil demande aux deux Tribunaux « de redoubler d’efforts » pour se concentrer sur les fonctions de base.
UGANDA
Eating Uganda’s oil; America only saw the curtain raiser
By Charles Onyango-Obbo Posted Wednesday, December 15 2010
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/CharlesOnyangoObbo/-/878504/1072316/-/gochny/-/
US diplomatic cables leaked by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks last week, alleged that in conversations with the US Ambassador to Uganda, Tullow Oil had accused the Italian oil biggie Eni of bribing two ministers in the war for control of Ugandan vast oil and gas fields. The two ministers named in the cables are Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Hilary Onek, and of Security (also NRM party Secretary-General) Amama Mbabazi.
For the record Onek, Eni, and Tullow have denied the allegations in the cables.
The allegations themselves don’t concern us here. What does it say about the long-term prospect for Uganda when it begins digging out the oil and selling it.
Irrespective of the truth of the specific claims in the cables, there is a widely held view that (like in most parts of the oil world) corruption has already taken hold in Uganda’s oil business even before we put a barrel in the international market.
Since 1969 or earlier, according to some documents I have seen, the existence of oil in Uganda was a well-known fact. What was not clear, was exactly how much. New exploration methods made it easier to establish that — plus a determination by the government to find it.
The Milton Obote 1 seemed to fear the “oil curse”, and didn’t go big on it. Strongman Field Marshall Idi Amin was too inept. That said, the existence of oil in commercial quantities, was established well before the February 2006 elections.
However, it seems there was fear that if the finds had been announced earlier, it would have raised the stakes too much in the 2006 polls. Also, that President Yoweri Museveni would be accused of having amended the Constitution and made himself virtual president for life in 2005, in order to profit from the oil.
In the end, the announcement was made shortly after Museveni was sworn in.
Now the way I see, as this column has noted before, that by 2005 the corrupt in Uganda had eaten what they could lay their hands on. As with Daniel arap Moi’s Kenya, the next thing was to go for land, forests, and so on.
Indeed, we had the Temangalo land sale scandal after that, then leasing the sacred “source of the Nile” to an investor to build a hotel. Things like Shimoni Demonstration School were torn down to be given to investors. Then Chogm came, and it turned out the only way it could – into an “eating” frenzy, the type of which the country had never known.
With oil, foreign businesses have now fully established the essential character of the government and their elite support structures (the law firms that handle crooked business, bank managers who handle dirty money, and security officers who facilitate corruption) – which nearly all of them are on the take.
Almost every major and foreign businessman I have met, says the same thing: “From the very top, to the bottom, everyone is stealing.” What the cables suggest about corruption in Uganda oil, is nothing. They are the opening shots. To get a sense of what will happen when a country like Uganda commercialises massive oil fields, look no further than Nigeria and Angola.
While Nigeria and Angola are among the largest African oil exporters, they have something else in common – they also have Africa’s most frequent fuel shortages and the longest queues of motorists waiting at filling stations. That is because oil often brings an irrational form of economic nationalism that descends into extreme stupidity. Together with corruption, they form a lethal mix.
So look ahead and imagine what will happen with a corruption-riddled oil sector. Like in Nigeria, the chiefs will be stealing the big money at the top, but the small people will be busy below.
So you will have endless sabotages of oil pipelines by small-time bandits who siphon it off to sell in the black market as happens in Nigeria. The government will respond by sending more police and military officers. As in Nigeria, because there is a lot of money to be made, the security chiefs become part of the criminal rings, offering protection to the oil bandits in exchange for a handsome cut.
Then, to get elected from the oil areas, you have to be secretly in the pockets of the gangs and or the big multinationals. The choices for the President become clear. He cannot transfer corrupt police officers and army commanders, without difficulty. If he does, he makes sworn enemies who will be out to get him.
However, if he doesn’t, he incurs the wrath of the officers who want a chance to go into the oil areas and enrich themselves too. So this group will do him in if he doesn’t reshuffle.
His next alternative is to become the Eater-in-Chief, in which case he will be the property of the oil companies, and will have to grant them the best tax and profit repatriation policies. If he doesn’t, they will get rid of him.
We asked for oil. The gods answered our prayers; and in the same breath, cursed us too.
cobbo@nation.co.ke
TANZANIA:
Ardent Mines Ltd. (ADNT.OB) Acquires Mineral Rights in Tanzania
By QualityStocks | Tuesday, December 14, 2010 –
Ardent Mines Ltd. reported that the company has signed an agreement to explore and develop gold resources at a project in Africa. The company did not disclose the price paid for the mineral rights.
The agreement permits Ardent Mines Limited to explore for gold on the Shenda License, a ten square mile property located in Tanzania. The company estimates possible gold resources at between 500,000 and 1,000,000 ounces.
Ardent Mines Limited signed the agreement with Afrocan Resources Ltd., a Canadian mining company, and owner of the Capri General Trading Company Ltd. Ardent Mines Limited will acquire 100% of Capri General Trading Company Ltd., which holds the mineral rights on the property.
Ardent Mines Limited said that the property is located in the Bukombe District, in the Shinyanga Region of Tanzania. The company said that the property was previously explored by Anglo Gold Exploration, Ltd. and Barrick Exploration Africa, Ltd., two major mining companies.
Tanzania coffee prices rise, tight supply seen
Tue Dec 14, 2010 http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE6BD0AW20101214By Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania’s coffee prices rose at the latest weekly auction as buyers stocked up in anticipation that supplies of high quality coffee will tighten as the close of the harvesting season approaches in early 2011.
More than 80 percent of Tanzania’s estimated coffee production for this season ending late March to early April has already been sold, according to coffee traders.
“Coffee prices will remain high in the foreseeable future because of a shortage of mild arabica at the world market due to low output in Colombia, which is the world’s top producer,” said Geoffrey Mwangulumbi, executive director of the Association of Kilimanjaro Specialty Coffee Growers.
Tanzania produces mainly arabica coffee and some robusta coffee. Prices of its arabica normally track the New York market, while those of robusta follow the London market.
“Exporters are scrambling to buy coffee before the Christmas holidays to cover their positions. Coffee prices usually decline in January, but I’m not sure if this trend will repeat itself this season,” said a trader at a coffee exporting company.
“Tanzania’s coffee auction season ends in March or April, so supplies are dwindling at the moment. Tight supplies should keep prices fairly high over the coming auctions.”
Regulator Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said 22,318 60-kg bags were offered at the latest sale and 18,710 bags were sold. At the previous sale, a total of 18,028 60-kg bags were offered, with 15,399 bags sold.
“Overall average price at Moshi exchange for mild arabica was up by $13.69 per 50 kgs compared to the last auction,” TCB said in its weekly report.
CONGO RDC :
Congo: des réfugiés de RDC sensibilisés par l’ONU sur la violence aux femmes
(AFP) – 14/12/2010 – BRAZZAVILLE — Le Haut commissariat de l’ONU pour les réfugiés a sensibilisé pendant deux semaines plus de 15.000 réfugiés de République démocratique du Congo (RDC) installés dans la Likouala (extrême nord du Congo) sur les violences faites aux femmes, a annoncé le HCR mardi.
“Du 25 novembre au 10 décembre, les équipes du HCR et de ses partenaires ont mené une vaste campagne de sensibilisation dans la Likouala (…) contre la violence liée au sexe+”, indique un communiqué du HCR.
“C’est la plus importante du genre réalisée par le HCR au Congo depuis l’afflux de réfugiés de la RDC dans la Likouala la fin 2009”, ajoute le texte.
“Dans les districts de Bétou et d?Impfondo, des milliers de personnes ont participé aux nombreuses activités: tribune radiophonique, sensibilisations de proximité, activités artistiques et sportives, causeries-débats”, poursuit-il.
“Au terme de cette campagne, force est de constater que la violence liée au sexe est répandue, tant en milieu urbain que rural, et demeure un sujet tabou”, souligne le HCR.
Depuis octobre 2009, quelque 120.000 personnes se sont réfugiées dans la Likouala où elles vivent dans des conditions précaires, selon les autorités congolaises.
Elles ont fui un conflit opposant deux ethnies qui se disputent étangs piscicoles et terres agricoles dans la province de l’Equateur (RDC, nord-ouest).
Le HCR a dénombré plus de 90 sites de réfugiés dans un rayon de 600 kilomètres le long du fleuve Oubangui, frontière naturelle entre les deux Congo.
En juin dernier, le Dr Isaac Wadbrind Madress, coordinateur humanitaire en santé de reproduction au Fonds des Nations unies pour la population (UNFPA), avait affirmé à l’AFP que l’UNFPA constate “de plus en plus de violences sexuelles et sexistes” dans ces sites.
“Ce sont des filles mineures et des femmes qui ne sont pas protégées qui sont victimes de ces actes de barbarie. Les cas de viols sont perpétrés par les réfugiés eux-mêmes, mais aussi les populations locales”, avait-il expliqué.
RDC: le HCR devant le défi des déplacés internes
14/12/2010 – http://radiookapi.net – Le Haut commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) a totalisé 60 ans d’existence ce 14 décembre. A cette occasion, le bureau de coordination du HCR en RDC a organisé une journée porte ouverte à ses installations de Kinshasa. Il s’agissait, pour cette agence onusienne, de faire le point sur ses réalisations, la situation des réfugiés congolais dans les pays limitrophes et sur celle des déplacés internes de la RDC.
Près de 440 000 Congolais sont réfugiés dans plusieurs pays limitrophes de la RDC. Ils sont au moins 122 000 au Congo Brazzaville, selon l’administratrice du HCR chargée des relations extérieures, Céline Schimit.
Cependant, le HCR s’est efforcé, au cours des trois dernières années, à rapatrier un nombre important de ces réfugiés congolais. Il s’agit notamment de 47 000 Congolais venus de la Zambie et de 900 du Burundi.
Nouveaux défis
Entre-temps, selon même source, des négociations sont en cours pour le retour des réfugiés congolais se trouvant dans plusieurs pays limitrophes, mais aussi pour le rapatriement des étrangers en exil sur le sol congolais.
Céline Schimit a poursuivi:
«Il y a un côté positif, des gens qui rentrent chez eux, qui reconstruisent leur vie. Mais, il y a toujours des gens qui sont réfugiés et déplacés et nous devons les assister et leur apporter protection.»
Le HCR fait face à un autre défi, celui de prendre en charge au moins 1,8 million des déplacés internes en RDC.
Dans son programme d’opérations en 2010, le HCR déplorait les conflits dans la Province Orientale et au Nord-Kivu, où «les personnes qui relèvent de la compétence du HCR sont victimes d’exactions incessantes, perpétrées par des groupes armés et les violences sexuelles augmentent.»
A cela s’ajoute le fait que des régions où ses interventions sont jugées indispensables demeurent inaccessibles et la présence des acteurs du développement et des institutions des Nations unies est très limitée dans certaines zones de retour.
Les tripartites
La plupart des réfugiés et des déplacés de retour vivent dans des régions reculées, où l’autorité de l’Etat est faible, selon ce document du HCR.
Pour réussir le rapatriement des réfugiés de la sous-région, le HCR a signé des accords tripartites avec RDC et ses voisins.
C’est le cas du Rwanda, Burundi, Ouganda, etc.
KENYA :
Kenya’s big day as Ocampo set to name six suspects in chaos case
By BERNARD NAMUNANE bnamunane@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Tuesday, December 14 2010 http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/-/1064/1072606/-/79kb4g/-/
Prosecutor goes before judges seeking their permission to prosecute masterminds of chaos
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will on Wednesday afternoon name the six Kenyan leaders he holds responsible for crimes against humanity during the post-election violence of 2008.
He will go before the ICC judges to ask for permission to open charges against the six. He is expected to file two cases, each involving three persons.
The documents he will give to the court will have the names of the persons he wishes to charge, the crimes they are alleged to have committed and the penalty that he will be asking for.
A three-judge bench will evaluate the two 80-page bundles of documents that Mr Moreno-Ocampo will file and decide whether he can proceed and file the charges he has identified.
In Nairobi, some officials said they believed President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have been briefed about the suspects.
The officials, who cannot be quoted because the information they are privy to is confidential, said they believed Mr Moreno-Ocampo had followed through his plan of going after key suspects in the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement.
After putting his case to the judges, the prosecutor will hold a press conference at which he is expected to “make an important announcement concerning the investigation in the Kenya situation.”
ICC took over the Kenyan poll chaos case after MPs failed to form a tribunal to try the suspects.
The six individuals are being named because they are believed to have planned, financed and executed the chaos that followed the disputed December 2007 presidential election results. The violence claimed 1,133 lives and displaced 650,000 people from their homes.
From August 15, 2008, when Justice Philip Waki’s commission released its report on the violence advocating a local tribunal as an option to prosecute the masterminds of the chaos, there was no agreement among powerful political groupings about whether the tribunal was a good thing or not.
The Waki report had recommended that if the government did not form a tribunal, the matter would be handed over to the ICC.
Factions formed quickly, with some pushing for the President and the Prime Minister to adopt the local tribunal option, while others lobbied The Hague to take over the cases.
This pushing and shoving was partly the reason President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga waited until the last day, on December 17, 2008, to sign the agreement promising to establish the tribunal.
The agreement committed the government to enacting two tribunal Bills by January 30, 2009, and forming the tribunal by February 28, 2009.
If the government failed, then the ICC was to take over automatically.
What followed in early 2009, was a game of political manoeuvring by the various factions. Parliament failed to pass Constitution of Kenya (amendment) Bill and the Special Tribunal for Kenya Bill by the January 30, 2009, deadline. In fact, the vote on the Bills took place on February 12, 2009, 13 days after the deadline. Both Bills were rejected.
Although concerned, chief mediator Kofi Annan on February 24, 2009, gave the government more time to reintroduce the Bills. The Then Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Martha Karua returned the Bills to the House.
Parliament voted on March 2, 2009, in the presence of President Kibaki and Mr Odinga. Once again, they were rejected.
Ironically, the factions were driving very different goals. A group from Central Kenya preferred The Hague on grounds that a local tribunal could be manipulated.
Another one, mainly from the Rift Valley, said it feared it was the target of The Hague option and supported the tribunal.
AFRICA / AU :
Le Vice-président angolais au sommet des Grands Lacs en Zambie
ANGOP / 14/12/10 Luanda – Luanda – Le vice-président angolais, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, a quitté Luanda mardi, pour Lusaka, en Zambie, où participera, le 15 décembre, au Sommet des Chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement sur la région des Grands Lacs (CIRGL).
Fernando da Piedade représentera, à ce sommet spécial sur l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles dans cette région, le chef de l’Etat angolais, José Eduardo dos Santos.
L’idée de convoquer une réunion spéciale sur l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles est issue du Sommet de l’Union africaine (UA), tenue à Addis-Abeba, en Ethiopie, en janvier 2010.
Les chefs d’Etat ont souligné la nécessité d’examiner le problème d’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles et toutes les conséquences négatives qu’elle avait dans la région.
Depuis lors, un certain nombre d’initiatives ont été prises par différents acteurs impliqués dans le secteur minier.
Il est connu que l’exploitation illégale et le commerce des ressources minérales sont les principales causes du conflit dans la région des Grands Lacs et particulièrement en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC).
Au cours de ces réunions, CIRGL a proposé aux experts et, plus tard, aux ministres, une série d’outils qui se sont développés afin de trouver une solution durable à ce problème.
Outre les États membres, des représentants du Groupe d’amis et des envoyés spéciaux dans les Grands Lacs, co-présidé par l’UE et le Canada participent à la réunion. Ce Sommet extraordinaire coïncide avec le quatrième anniversaire de la signature du Pacte sur la sécurité, stabilité et développement dans la région des Grands Lacs, à Nairobi, Kenya.
La CIRGL a été créée en 2004 comme réponse aux conflits qui ont ravagé la région des Grands Lacs, y compris le génocide rwandais et la guerre civile en République Démocratique du Congo. Il a son siège à Bujumbura, au Burundi.
La CIRGL regroupe l’Angola, le Burundi, la République Centrafricaine, le Congo-Brazzaville, la République démocratique du Congo (RDC), le Kenya, le Rwanda, le Soudan, la Tanzanie, l’Ouganda et la Zambie.
Politique / Le premier ministre gabonais au Sommet Spécial sur l’Exploitation Illégale des Ressources Naturelles dans la région des Grands Lacs, mercredi, à Lusaka
Libreville, 14 décembre (GABONEWS) – Le premier ministre, chef du Gouvernement gabonais, Paul Biyoghé Mba, parti de Libreville, ce mardi, pour Lusaka, capitale zambienne, représentera le président Ali Bongo Ondimba, au sommet spécial sur l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles dans la région des Grands Lacs.
Cette rencontre -qui verra la présence de onze Chefs d’Etat et de Gouvernement et placée sous la présidence du numéro un zambien, Rupiah Banda – rentre dans le cadre de la Conférence Internationale sur la Région des Grands Lacs (CIRGL) mise en place en 2004, en réponse aux conflits qui avaient ravagé ce vaste espace géographique dont le génocide au Rwanda et la guerre civile en République Démocratique du Congo.
L’idée de convoquer un Sommet spécial sur l’exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles est née lors du Sommet de l’Union Africaine(UA) tenu à Addis-Abeba, en janvier 2010.
Les Chefs d’Etat avaient exprimé la nécessité d’analyser le problème relatif à l’exploitation des ressources naturelles et toutes les conséquences négatives qui en ont découlé au sein de la région.
A cet effet, un bon nombre d’initiatives ont été réalisées par diverses parties prenantes impliquées dans le secteur minier.
SYSTÈME DE CERTIFICATION RÉGIONAL DES MINERAIS
Les experts et ministres qui ont préparé le sommet de Lusaka vont ainsi soumettre à l’approbation des dirigeants des outils portant entre autre sur l’introduction d’un système de certification régional des minerais afin de garantir qu’ils ne proviennent pas des zones de conflit.
Les autres mesures supplémentaires portent sur l’harmonisation des législations des pays membres qui régissent l’exploitation des ressources minières et la mise en place d’une base de données régionale sur le flux des minerais.
Au terme de leurs travaux, les participants procéderont la signature de la Déclaration de Lusaka et avant la nomination du nouveau Secrétaire Exécutif du CIRGL dont le siège se trouve à Bujumbura (Burundi).
Les pays membres de la CIRGL sont: Angola, Burundi, République Centrafricaine, République du Congo, République Démocratique du Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Soudan, Tanzanie, Ouganda et Zambie.
En plus des pays membres et pays cooptés, participeront également au sommet le Groupe des Amis et Envoyés Spéciaux de la Région des Grands Lacs, co-présidé par l’Union Européenne (UE) et le Canada.
Le Sommet Spécial va coïncider avec le quatrième anniversaire de la signature du Pacte sur la Sécurité, la Stabilité et le Développement dans la Région des Grands Lacs, qui avait eu lieu à Nairobi au Kenya, le 15 décembre 2006. GN/RA/10
Réunis à Lusaka, les pays des Grands Lacs cherchent l’équilibre entre croissance économique et développement durable
Lusaka, 14/12/2010 (Xinhua/MCN, via mediacongo.net) – Une dizaine de ministres en charge des ressources naturelles des pays de la région des Grands Lacs se sont réunis lundi à Lusaka, capitale zambienne, pour réfléchir à une solution aux conflits régionaux et trouver un équilibre entre croissance économique rapide et développement durable des ressources naturelles.
Les réunions ministérielles, dans le cadre de la Conférence internationale sur la région des Grands Lacs (CIRGL), devraient aboutir à un Projet de déclaration sur la lutte contre l’ exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles, qui sera présenté aux chefs d’Etat lors du Sommet spécial mercredi.
Le vice-président zambien, George Kunda, a présidé la cérémonie d’ouverture et a réaffirmé l’engagement de la Zambie vis-à-vis de la mise en place efficace des outils visant à enrayer l’ exploitation illégale des ressources naturelles adoptés par les Etats membres de la CIRGL.
La secrétaire exécutive sortante de la CIRGL, Liberata Mulamula, a appelé les Etats membres à n’épargner aucun effort pour trouver une solution au problème des forces négatives dans la région, faisant ainsi allusion aux atrocités commises par les Forces démocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda/Intarahamwe et la LRA dans l’est de la RDC et en République centrafricaine.
La CIRGL est composées des pays africains qui partagent les lacs Kivu, Albert, Edward, Victoria, Mweru et Tanganyika. Ces pays sont l’Angola, le Burundi, la République centrafricaine, la RDC, le Kenya, la République du Congo, le Rwanda, la Tanzanie, le Soudan, l’Ouganda et la Zambie.
Great Lakes group to discuss illegal use of minerals
(AFP) – 14/12/2010 – LUSAKA — Foreign ministers from Africa’s Great Lakes nations will on Wednesday discuss how to curb illegal exploitation of diamonds, oil and gold which experts say is fuelling armed conflicts in the region.
“This special summit is meant to see how we can put an end to armed groups getting access to minerals,” Liberata Mulamula, a spokeswoman for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) told AFP.
“The summit has been convened following concerns and a number of reports on illegal exploitation of natural resources.”
Zambia’s President Rupiah Banda, the current chairman of the ICGLR, is slated to address delegates on Wednesday. Other heads of state expected to attend include Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi.
The ICGLR’s 11 members also include Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. About 200 delegates, including ministers for mines and foreign affairs are attending the conference, which convened on Monday.
Mulamula said the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly its eastern region, was an example of where diamonds had been a source of conflict while oil was the cause of disturbances in Angola.
“We have to harmonise our laws to do with natural resources because the resources have led to conflicts in many lands,” Mulamula added.
In September a UN expert warned a precious metals conference in Berlin that rebels in eastern DRC, including those blamed by the UN for the rapes of at least 303 civilians in four days in July-August, were being financed by illegal mining of gold and other minerals that are exported worldwide.
The Great Lakes region has been a theatre of repeated violence since the 1990s, with a civil war in Burundi in 1993, the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and rebellions and wars in the DRC from 1996 to 1997 and 1998 to 2003.
UN /ONU :
USA :
USA coach excited to meet Egypt Friendly
Eslam Omar, Tuesday 14 Dec 2010 – http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/6/52/1878/National-Teams/USA-coach-excited-to-meet-Egypt-Friendly/USA-coach-excited-to-meet-Egypt-Friendly.aspx
United States coach Bradley expressed great delight with plans to meet the Egyptian national team in a friendly match
United States head coach Bob Bradley has expressed great delight with plans to meet the Egyptian national team in a friendly match on Wednesday, Feb. 9, at Cairo International Stadium.
“Egypt is an extremely talented and competitive team,” Bradley said on the USA Soccer Federation’s official website.
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) had reached an agreement with the USA Soccer Federation to play a friendly match in Cairo, as part of the Pharaohs’ preparation for their important clash against South Africa in the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The seven-time Africa champions have only faced the US twice before. The first time was on 8 June, 1987, in Seoul, South Korea, when the US collected a 3-1 victory. The second time was at the 2009 FIFA Confederation Cup, where the US beat Egypt 3-0, with goals scored by Charlie Davies, Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey.
The 2009 game is unforgettable for both sides. It allowed the US to reach its first final of a major FIFA competition, after defeating World Cup champions Spain in the semifinal, and it was also the Pharaohs’ last match in the tournament. The Egyptian team had to then return home to face disappointed supporters and angry media.
“Their performances in the Confederations Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations have demonstrated their ability to challenge the top teams in the world. To play against the champions of Africa in what will be a fantastic environment in Cairo is a great opportunity as we get ready for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.” Bradley added.
Meanwhile, Egypt coach Hassan Shehata and his squad have arrived in Doha Monday night to meet the Qatari team in a friendly, Thursday.
CANADA :
Africa’s Future Lies in a Green Energy Grid
By Stephen Leahy* UXBRIDGE, Canada, Dec 14, 2010 (IPS) – Development in Africa could falter as climate change grips the continent, increasing the length and severity of droughts and floods by altering precipitation patterns, among other impacts.
The region needs a major shift in its economic development policies and thinking towards decentralised, green economic development, experts now say.
“The world’s big economies are largely living off financial transactions which are unconnected to development,” warns Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
“Export growth does not automatically result in green economic growth, we must look at trade for development,” said Panitchpakdi.
In a rejection of failed neoliberal economic policies, Panitchpakdi said strong national policies on investments, taxation, protection of local industries, including subsidies, and changes to less restrictive intellectual property regimes are what is needed to green economies in Africa and elsewhere.
“Green economic development underpins environmental protection, economic growth and development,” he said.
The tentative global economic recovery this year is largely a jobless recovery because the current economic growth model is designed to make “people redundant”, said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP).
“It favours large concentrated power grids, for example, which require very few people,” Steiner told IPS.
A low-carbon economy is not for the rich countries, it is for the poorest because it is more resource-efficient, employs more people and brings development at a lower cost, he said, adding, “We have to grow the economies of Africa but only through green sustainable development, delinked from increasing resource use.”
“After 50 years of development, 80 percent of Kenya’s population had no access to electricity. Now, after a 2008 shift to renewable energy, more Kenyans have access to electricity than ever before,” he noted.
Kenya’s feed-in tariff, similar to Germany’s, is expected to produce about 1300 MW of electricity generation capacity from biomass, geothermal, biogas, solar energy, wind, and small hydro this year. A feed-in tariff offers long-term contracts at a set price based on the cost for renewable energy generation.
Germany now employs more than 380,000 people in its renewable energy sector and 1.8 million in its environmental sector – far more than its vaunted automobile sector, Steiner said.
“More than half a billion people in rural Africa have little or no access to electricity,” noted Nebojsa Nakicenovic of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.
“They pay a large part of their incomes for some kerosene lighting or diesel electric at a cost that is twice that of what the average European pays,” Nakicenovic, a leading energy economist, told IPS. “Or worst of all they are forced to rely on flashlights, which is the most expensive form of lighting available.”
Universal access to modern energy services globally has been estimated to cost between $80 and $100 billion a year in a number of recent studies, including those by the International Energy Agency and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in Vienna.
“That seems like a lot of money but it is significantly less than the $300 to $600 billion being spent annually to subsidise the fossil fuel sector,” Nakicenovic pointed out.
Technically, it is doable, representing roughly 20 gigawatts of energy generation – less than what countries like Brazil and South Africa have been able to add in recent years.
Increasing energy access in Africa has a huge range of benefits, he says. It would drive economic development, improve the health of millions by reducing indoor air pollution from kerosene and biomass burning, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases like black carbon and reduce deforestation.
Local technology and local energy distribution in the form of small-scale hydro, biomass, biogas, solar, wind and other forms of production are best suited to Africa. The challenge is mobilising the investments needed, he said. These should be national programmes with long-term financial commitments from the international community.
“We don’t need international climate treaties to do this,” said Nakicenovic. “Doing things right will bring green growth and prosperity.”
*This IPS story is part of a series supported by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network – http://www.cdkn.org.
AUSTRALIA :
EUROPE :
The Embassy Cables: The relationship between France and Africa
By Laura Krantz / http://blastmagazine.com/2010/12/14/the-embassy-cables-the-relationship-between-france-and-africa/
PARIS — A 2008 cable sent from the American Embassy in Paris to the Secretary of State and other U.S. embassies around the world outlines the history of the diplomatic relationship between France and Africa, as President Nicholas Sarkozy has tried to reshape.
The memo, recently released by Wikileaks, outlines Sarkozy’s efforts to reform the relationship between France and Africa.
The policy of Sarkozy’s predecessors, termed the France-Afrique, or Françafrique model, had become “a complex web of economic, military, political, social and cultural ties that linked France with its former colonies and to a lesser extent non-francophone Africa,” the memo said.
This included the governmental, educational, legal, military, bureaucratic and administrative systems of many African countries, which were modeled on French systems. These countries, some of which have French as the lingua franca and can only be reached by airplanes connecting through Paris, have long depended on France’s aid to stay afloat.
In addition, the memo says, African leaders were often able to amass private fortunes, enjoy luxurious lifestyles in Europe, and occasionally achieve high-ranking French government positions.
African troops fought for France during the World Wars and veterans still receive pensions from the French government, the memo says.
Perhaps the most poignant signal of the special relationship between France and its former colonies is the “Mr. Africas,” a long series of advisers to French presidents beginning with de Gaulle, whose special status allowed him to reported directly to the president with advice on Africa.
But nearing the end of the 20th century, the costs of maintaining a special relationship with Africa became too costly, the memo states.
“France-Afrique provided privileges to France but carried a burden of expectation that has become harder to shoulder,” the memo says.
And although the rest of the world had come to expect that France takes care of problems in Africa, Sarkozy made it clear that this is a burden the French government no longer can, or wants to, shoulder.
In a series of three speeches in Dakar and Lisbon in 2007 and Cape Towin in 2008, Sarkozy outlined his new plan for relations with former African colonies.
“The general theme emerging from these speeches is that France will seek to modernize relations, get rid of lingering colonialist and post-colonialist baggage, engage with Africans on a more business-like and arms-length basis, no longer seek to play a paternal role and instead opt for a partnership among equals.”
Sarkozy, the first French president to have grown up without meaningful personal experience with the colonial era, the memo points out, abolished the Mr. Africa position, and adopted a favorable stance towards countries like the U.S. and China, as well as the European Union and the United Nations, who all want larger roles in African relations.
But while France has actively supported EU and UN involvement, the memo says they are concerned about Chinese activity in Africa, that it is too rapid and too effective – “too much China too fast.”
“Publically, Sarkozy’s attitude has been that France has no objection to China’s becoming more present in Africa – so long as Africans apply the same rules to the Chinese that are applied to everyone else,” the memo states.
The memo concludes by suggesting that the new Africa policy, an abrupt break with French tradition, is perhaps a reflection of Sarkozy’s own personality, as a figure who has, from the beginning, advocated for vast reform, especially in foreign relations.
“To Sarkozy, France-Afrique no longer makes sense, with France and Africa needing to modernize their ties on both sides and move on, based on a calculation of interests on both sides,” the memo says.
A third part of the memo focuses on the impact of the new Africa policy on France’s military presence in Africa.
The memo, written in September of 2008, states that the French intend to consolidate their military presence and re-group into two hubs, one in the Atlantic Ocean and one in the Indian Ocean.
In addition, they want to update France’s Defense Agreement with its former colonies, and establish a new department that will more closely correspond with Africa’s sub-regional groups rather than the European-drawn country lines.
“He sought a more modern and transparent relationship, ostensibly of ‘equals,’ that would allow both sides to conduct relations on a business-like and rational basis,” the cable says.
But the cable points out that an attempt to reform the Africa policy is a formidable task that must overcome “a certain level of comfort on both sides that has accumulated over many years.”
CHINA :
INDIA :
South Africa is India’s big test
CENTURION, décembre 15, 2010 / http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article952777.ece
A cricket rivalry is a curious thing, a shifting, self-contained world governed and held together by an internal logic — and yet it’s full of those delightful little paradoxes that demand engagement and enable understanding.
This is perhaps best appreciated in comparison. Despite the loss of accuracy when generalising, this much can be ventured: India has had Australia’s number since 2001, Australia has had South Africa’s number for longer than that, and South Africa, in turn, has had India’s since readmission in 1991.
Where Australia has stirred India into playing brave, evocative cricket, both at home and away, South Africa has frequently had the opposite effect on India, even in India to a considerable degree, but most plainly in South Africa.
In India’s worst displays abroad, certain trends repeat. It struggles to excise the opposition’s lower-order often after having made early incisions with the new ball; the batsmen, for all their greatness, are beset by the canker of negativity; the fielding splits like spoilt milk.
Although India has addressed these concerns on its way to becoming the world’s best Test side, building a magnificent away record in the process, South Africa has retained its facility for opening seemingly healed wounds. Even after India had finally won its first Test in South Africa in 2006-07, after three barren tours, South Africa swiftly exposed the old vulnerabilities to swing the series.
SIGNIFICANT TOUR
And so while South Africa isn’t India’s ‘Final Frontier’ — despite matching Australia in Australia, it is yet to win a series there — the tour is its most significant engagement as the No. 1 ranked team.
The six-week enterprise will accommodate a Twenty20 International and five One-Day Internationals later in its schedule, but it’s the three Tests that are most keenly awaited.
South Africa has been formidable at home — and not just against India. Only Australia (four times) and England (once) have got the better of South Africa in 31 Test series since it returned to international cricket. Only once in those 31 home series has South Africa failed to win at least one Test.
Cricket has a distinctive tenor in each land: the sonorities of the game, the sounds of its essential rhythms as conveyed by modern-day broadcast, offer a feel for how it’s played in different places — the crisp sparkle that emanates from Australia, or the sense of well-worn comfort that is common from many venues in England, for instance.
The timbre of cricket in South Africa has a sombre resonance, “a continued vibration that … would hang in the air and dwell on the ear,” as Joseph Conrad wrote of Africa in another context. It’s the sound of a war of attrition, which is how Rahul Dravid described playing South Africa, the sound of a struggle to the end.
As Dravid noted, India will need to stay with South Africa through the course of a Test match, remaining committed to positive cricket. When the opportunities present themselves — as they invariably do in South Africa, where the bounce offers every department something to work with — India will need to capitalise.
LOOKING BACK
M.S. Dhoni’s side needs look no further than how India, then under Dravid, registered its first win on South African soil. It’s the template, in fact, of many of India’s famous away wins since the turn of the millennium, the batsmen doing better than their counterparts in difficult conditions, and the bowlers bowling with greater penetration because of the increased assistance.
That win, in Johannesburg in December 2006, was made possible by defiant knocks from Dravid himself, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly in the first-innings, and a mini-blitz from Virender Sehwag and a valuable 73 from V.V.S. Laxman in the second.
But the game-breaker was Sreesanth. Zaheer Khan complemented Sreesanth’s match-haul of eight wickets with five of his own. Anil Kumble took five as well. Encouragingly for India, many of the cast remain. In several ways, this is actually a better Indian team; certainly, it’s a team more at peace with itself than the one in 2006-07.
And in Gary Kirsten, who the players credit for creating the atmosphere that made possible this harmony, Paddy Upton, and Eric Simons, India has coaching staff that knows South Africa intimately.
In a contest between closely-matched teams, that isn’t an insubstantial edge.
BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 14 décembre 2010… AGNEWS /DAM, NY,14/12/2010
