{jcomments on}OMAR, AGNEWS, BXL, le 21 mars 2010 – www1.voanews.com- March 21, 2010–This weekend South Africans will mark the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre in which 69 people were killed and hundreds more were injured by police in an incident that marked a turning point in the country’s history.
RWANDA
U.S. criticizes Ethiopia for jamming VOA broadcasts
March 21, 2010/ edition.cnn.com
(CNN) — American officials have condemned plans by the Ethiopian prime minister to block U.S.-funded Voice of America broadcasts in Amharic, the main local language.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused the media organization of “engaging in destabilizing propaganda,” according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Zenawi said Thursday that he would allow efforts to jam the network’s broadcasts, according to the press freedom advocacy group.
He compared the VOA to a Rwandan radio station accused of stoking the 1994 genocide that killed about 800,000 people.
A U.S. State Department spokesman condemned the accusation.
“Comparing a respected and professional news service to a group that called for genocide in Rwanda is a baseless and inflammatory accusation that seeks only to deflect attention away from the core issue,” spokesman Gordon Duguid said.
The Ethiopian government may disagree with VOA news, but interfering with its broadcasts undermines the nation’s constitutional commitment to censorship and freedom of expression, he added.
“This right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers,” Duguid said.
VOA said its Amharic language listeners have experienced interference since February. Its other broadcasts in the Horn of Africa nation have not been affected.
The U.S. government funds the media service, which broadcasts news and other programming in different languages worldwide.
Press freedom advocacy groups have said Ethiopia is trying to limit media coverage leading up to the May elections, an accusation the government denies.
UGANDA
Cleveland High School students among a generation fully engaged in changing the world
By Steve Duin, The Oregonian /www.oregonlive.com/March 21, 2010
In a column that is sustained, I hope, by its variety, I worry now and then that I spend too much time on high-school campuses.
A field trip to Cleveland on Thursday reminded me why I find those visits so unpredictable and refreshing.
On the eve of spring break, the Southeast Portland high school was visited by Invisible Children, a group dedicated to ending Joseph Kony’s reign of terror in northern Uganda.
Since the late 1980s, Kony’s band of rebels — the Lord’s Resistance Army — has plagued the central African nation. Among other atrocities, they have abducted 30,000 children, employing the pubescent girls as sex slaves and arming the boys with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Invisible Children’s presentation was arranged by two teachers, Kent Siebold and Matt Sten. Siebold, who spent several weeks in Uganda in 2000, believes the group’s response to this barbarity reinforces the theme of social justice in Cleveland’s senior English classes: “What motivates us to act, and why? When are we able to turn away?”
Sten considers the “Invisible Children” film a powerful polemic. The movie was crafted by three San Diego surfers who went looking for adventure in Uganda and stumbled upon thousands of children living in fear of Kony, who has successfully mocked the militias and peaceniks who have tried to rein him in.
It took the U.S. Senate until March of this year to realize it was time to confront Kony and his child soldiers. If I ventured to Cleveland expecting a more passionate reaction, I wasn’t disappointed. The students gave a young Ugandan named Jacob — who was abducted at the age of 11 — several standing ovations.
They wrapped their arms around Jacob’s mentor, a woman named Peace, who reminded them, “What you have in your heart for other people, that is changing the world.”
But that’s not all they did.
While sitting in two of Sten’s classes after the schoolwide assembly, I listened to students debate whether Kony’s endurance is a call for war or peace and discuss the potential impasse when idealism encounters irrationality.
I watched them weigh the odds of whether the world will be a better place when my generation dies off and theirs takes the headphones off long enough to exert its will.
And when I asked the students to email me with additional thoughts, I got more than I bargained for.
Robert Olney, a junior, argued that Invisible Children is a marketing machine, not an agent of change. With an assist from Jeffrey Gettleman at Foreign Policy, he insists that killing Kony would be more productive than simply educating young Ugandans, the IC imperative.
“Decades of foreign aid have wrecked Africa. Wrecked it,” Olney said. “The onus needs to be placed on Uganda to provide education for itself. This eliminates the dependency Africans will have on foreign education, and creates a strong sense of unity and self-confidence.”
Russell Brown, another junior, confessed that “white guilt” is central to the question of why events in Uganda matter to him:
“I see the LRA conflict and poverty in general in Uganda as a symptom that goes all the way back to colonial times. It was my ancestors, or people close to my ancestors, who colonized the ancestors of those people in Uganda. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that I am still much better off than they are.”
Impressed? You better believe I’m impressed. Impressed that the leadership class at the International Baccalaureate school will divide its annual fund raising dollars between Haiti and Uganda.
And gratified to discover that Cleveland students who want to change the world believe that having a head in the game is as crucial as wearing your heart on your sleeve.
— Steve Duin
TANZANIA:
CONGO RDC :
KENYA :
Kenya: Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Conference Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group: ‘Media and the African Promise.’
21 March 2010/Aga Khan Development Network (Dar es Salaam) /allafrica.com
A speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Nation Media Group: “Media and the African Promise,” delivered on 18 March 2010:
I am genuinely pleased to join you at this conference – an event which looks back at a distinguished past, and ahead to a daunting future.
The presence at this conference of President Kibaki and many other government leaders, past and present, has immense importance for me personally and for the Nation Media Group. For there is no doubt that relations between governments and the media are central to the future of Africa, challenging and even exasperating as that experience at times may be.
In many respects, this has been a new challenge for Africa. Prior to independence there were no national media owners, no national newspapers, television or radio stations, no indigenous corps of trained journalists. Newly independent governments had to work with media which had no African antecedents, even as both political leaders and journalists wrestled with massive debates about capitalism, communism and non-alignment.
It was against this backdrop that I decided to create the first East African media group. I was 24, and had no background – whatsoever – in the media field. In Swahili, I was Kutia Mkono Gizani. Or as we say in English, “the blind leading the blind.”
I am tempted to reminisce at some length about those early days – our big dreams and the steps we took to achieve them. And I would be remiss if I did not take this moment to salute those who have devoted so much time and talent to the progress of the Nation Media Group – in those opening days and ever since.
What did we hope and predict for the Group 50 years ago? We certainly aspired for its transformation from a loss making infant enterprise to a profitable blue chip corporation, and then its transformation from a private venture into a public company – owned principally today by many thousands of local shareholders. We also worked to stay ahead on the technology front, determined not to burden Africa with outmoded production techniques.
What we may not have foreseen, is how the company would diversify and expand – into the whole of East Africa – into television and radio, and now onto the Internet – enabling us to connect our work intimately with the wider world.
But even as we look back with pride, we must also take this occasion to look forward.
As we do, our goal, I submit, should be a future in which Africa will be served by some of the greatest, most respected, media enterprises of the world – an Africa in which both Governments and the media respect and abide by their appropriate roles in your still young democracies.
What should those roles be? This question, too, has been with us from the very start. For we were also aware back then of a critical historical pattern: the fact that, in many places, much of the time, the transmission of news had been the work of advocates – organizations with agendas – political parties, special interest groups and governments.
News media that sought independence, generally speaking, had a difficult life. One of them was the now defunct British newspaper, the News Chronicle, edited by the late Michael Curtis, who later played such a central role in the Nation story. With him, we believed that the tradition of non-aligned newspapers was the most appropriate for Africa. We still believe that today.
It has not always been easy to explain this role – to share our understanding that independence from parties, or interest groups or governments should not and does not mean some sort of reflexive opposition to them. Not having a special agenda does not imply some counter-agenda. Being independent is not the same thing as being oppositional.
Truly independent media cannot be predictably partisan, narrowly politicized, nor superficially personalized. Journalistic shortcomings cannot be disguised behind political or partisan agendas. So the idea of “best practice” became a second NMG goal: to try to identify, educate, and harness the best media talent we could find.
Recent studies from the Freedom House organization report that media freedom is increasingly threatened globally. For every nation that moves forward in terms of press freedom, two nations are said to be slipping backward. Media freedom requires continuing vigilance.
But here let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would be a sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported.
I am convinced that the best way for media, in Africa and elsewhere, to maintain their independence is to prove their indispensability.
This is not an easy task. Information flows more quickly, over longer distances at lower cost than ever before. But sometimes more information – in and of itself – can also mean more misinformation, more confusion, more manipulation, more superficial snapshots of events, lacking nuance, lacking context, or hiding agendas.
We talk a great deal – in Africa in particular – about protecting and improving our natural environment. Similarly, we should be increasingly vigilant about protecting and improving our media environment.
So let us take a closer look at what this could mean in practice for African media.
First, it should be, in my view, more African, taking the lead in addressing Africa – specific concerns intelligently and wisely.
As African media work to sustain African identity and culture, one of the issues we face is language. In Kenya, for example, Swahili readership has been shrinking compared to English readership, while in Tanzania, the opposite is true. How should public policy makers and the communication industry support traditional languages?
On another front, I think we must focus more on questions of media ownership. For as long as I can remember, the quality of African journalists has been topic number one. But I wonder if the principal issue is not rather about the aims and intentions of the owners of communications enterprises. What are their agendas – personal, religious, political, economic?
Crisis management is another issue where the industry must be better prepared. During times of crisis, how do African media leaders respond? We know the challenges – NMG experienced them during the Kenyan crisis two years ago – as did so many others -tribalism, gangsterism, disinformation, corruption and religious intolerance are horrible forces which the media in Africa must sometimes face.
Of course we also have seen – here and elsewhere – courageous, and even heroic, media efforts to respond to these crises and to point the way out. But can African media do more?
When there are strong and legitimate opportunities to give credit for positive African initiatives, is African media paying attention? So many countries where I work, for example, have dysfunctional constitutions – but in many African countries this problem is being wisely addressed. Do we recognize such efforts? In many African places, as well, intelligent regionalism is replacing narrow-minded nationalism, but I wonder if the media gives sufficient credit.
When independence came to most sub-Saharan African countries, nearly all professions were under-developed: law, medicine, education, nursing, public administration …. and journalism. In some professions remuneration was inadequa
te to attract the most talented. Today that is improving. In my view the time has come when a sometimes dysfunctional relationship born out of government inexperience or media shallowness can be replaced by a new level of constructive intellectual empathy. I am convinced that an improved relationship is now possible. No! It is essential – if African development is to progress at the pace African peoples need and want.
Spirited debate, intelligent inquiry, informed criticism, principled disagreement – these qualities must continue to characterize a healthy media sector. At the same time, advancing the cause of media responsibility, grounded in professional competence, is nothing less than a moral imperative.
But all of these aspirations must be rooted in better education.
I take up this topic today in my role as Chancellor of the Aga Khan University – an institution which is now 25 years old and based in eight countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, Syria and Egypt. This University, which originally focused on health sciences and education, is now pursuing a widening array of subjects.
I am pleased to tell you that The Aga Khan University is planning to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications, based in East Africa and dedicated to advancing the excellence of media performance and the strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world.
The School will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality.
It will have several components. It will offer a Masters Degree program, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists. It will also offer continuing education classes – short courses designed to enhance media skills and to nurture media values. It will establish a special program in media management – one of the first in the developing world – devoted to enhancing more robust media institutions. Journalistic independence, after all, depends on financial independence.
In addition, the new School will create a Forum on the Media Future, a place for conducting and disseminating cutting edge research that will help shape public communication in the decades ahead.
In all of these efforts, the School will be driven by an active public service agenda providing a resource for the media community throughout Africa – and in places beyond.
The School’s emphasis on the developing world will be reflected in its faculty and student body, as well its curriculum and research pursuits. We foresee, for example, a strong emphasis on using the case study method in our courses, as many law and business schools now do, drawing lessons from concrete historical examples. We intend to develop case studies which grow out of African media experiences, while also reflecting global best practices. These case studies will address recurrent media issues I have mentioned -such as crisis management, trivialization, incompetent analysis, and corruption.
This new School will also work on the cutting edge of media technology, embracing especially the new on-line world – its complications and its potentials. Here, as in other areas, Africa has the capacity to leap-frog into an advanced position in applying these new technologies. The rapid spread here of mobile phone technology supports this view – as do recent advances in broadband availability – including the new SEACOM undersea cable development.
A new campus hosting this program will be developed in Nairobi over the coming year. It will work closely, of course, not only with the Nation Media Group – but also with other local, continental and international media organizations.
Over the longer term, the Graduate School of Media and Communication will ally itself with another new project of the Aga Khan University – a Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to be created over the coming years in Arusha. In a world of growing complexity, journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report – from medical and environmental sciences, to economic and financial disciplines, to legal and constitutional matters. And a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be born from programs which blend economic and media disciplines.
We hope and trust the new School will contribute to achieving the objectives I have discussed with you today, and I hope these reflections and opportunities of the African media future will be taken into account. May it be a future in which Africa will be served by some of the greatest most respected, media enterprises of the world.
Thank you.
EASSy lands in the Kenyan coast
BY SARAH WAMBUI/www.capitalfm.co.ke/21032010
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 21- The third East Africa Submarine Cable System EASSy will land in the Kenyan coast this Sunday says Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio.
In December, the largest investor in EASSY, West Indian Ocean Cable Company had anticipated the landing of the 1.4 terabyte per second cable to be in June 2010. Mr Poghisio said the cable system was expected to raise the bandwidth capacity although activation and utilization of the first two cables (SEACOM and TEAMS) had not been fully implemented.
The Communications minister said Kenyans were yet to fully utilize the opportunities presented by the landing of the sea cables.
“EASSy will be landing in Mombasa on the 21st of March this year. The East African Marine system called TEAMS cable and another called SEACOM are now actively serving the East African region to access international network. We must use technology to keep up and aim to prove our professional standards,” he said.
He also said the new technology brought challenges to both the East African governments as well as to the media.
“Because with this technology we are playing catch up and the media must therefore be in the forefront of training their personnel to use these technologies so that we can also catch up with development. We do not sacrifice our own economic development at the altar of expediency in reporting and business,” he said.
He also challenged Africa to rapidly enhance their uptake of the incoming capacity of broadband which would fast track ICT as one of the key pillars of development.
“I must single out the government of Rwanda for taking up the challenge very seriously and is now a global leader which is represented very well here by His Excellency,” he said.
He further added that his ministry was in the process of completing the second phase of its terrestrial national optic fiber network to cover all Kenyan districts and that it had already set the network to cover all the provinces.
During the Pan African Media Conference, Ugandan Minister for Information and National Guidance Kabakumba Labwoni challenged the media and ICT sectors to look for quality content that would fill the information vacuum created by the new technological advancements. She said the media so far lacked adequate content that would fully utilize the opportunities presented by the technologies.
“It will be very important as we move into the digital transmission because we are going to have a lot of space and getting content to fill that space may be a challenge,” she said.
The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) is an initiative to connect Eastern African and landlocked countries with the rest of the world through high bandwidth fibre optic cable system. Although it is considered a milestone in the development of information infrastructure in the region connections to the Internet stand at 8 percent in Africa with only 3 percent of the population having access to broadband.
The 10,800 kilometers long cable system is scheduled to go live in June 2010 and will run from
Mtunzini in South Africa to Port Sudan in Sudan, with landing points in nine countries. It will be connected to at least 10 landlocked countries including Botswana, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho. These countries will no longer have to rely on expensive satellite systems to carry voice and data services.
The project, partially funded by the World Bank, was initiated on January 2003, when a handful of companies investigated its feasibility.
Most of the nine landlocked countries have contributed to EASSy through the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) consortium, formed by 12 telecom operators from the continent to pool financial resources for EASSy’s implementation.
SEACOM and TEAM cables landed at the Kenyan coast last year.
Plentiful and readily available bandwidth will result in lower telecommunications costs and new opportunities across many sectors of the Kenyan economy including ICT industries, educational, clinical and scientific applications which rely on the real-time sharing of data around the world at lightning fast speed.
SEACOM’s enormous capacity also enables new technologies such as high definition TV, peer to peer networks, and surging Internet demand at prices significantly lower than currently possible.
Democrats expect U.S. health reform to pass on Sunday
By Sheldon Alberts, Canwest News Service/ www.montrealgazette.com/ March 21, 2010
WASHINGTON – Energized and exuding confidence after a weekend pep talk from President Barack Obama, Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives claimed they’ll have the votes to pass landmark legislation on Sunday to overhaul the American health-care system.
“Clearly, we believe we have the votes,” said an upbeat Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House. “We expect to have the votes.”
The prediction of victory – which only a few days ago seemed very much in doubt – followed a whirlwind 72 hours of backroom negotiating, cajoling and political arm-twisting that swayed holdout Democrats who had withheld their support out of skepticism about flaws in the $940-billion legislation.
Two more of those wavering lawmakers – Arizona Representative Harry Mitchell and Washington state Representative Adam Smith – issued statements on Saturday saying they would back the bill. Democrats need 216 votes to approve the legislation – at least 200 have already said they are voting no, leaving little margin for error for party whips who are counting votes.
Much of the political heavy lifting has fallen over the past two days to Obama. He cancelled an overseas trip to Indonesia and Australia to try and persuade Democrats the legislation was too important to oppose out of fear their votes could cost them re-election in this November’s mid-terms. The U.S. president has talked with more than three dozen lawmakers either by phone or in personal meetings at the White House, aides said.
On Saturday afternoon, Obama travelled to Capitol Hill to deliver a closing argument to the entire Democratic caucus. He cast the upcoming vote as an opportunity for lawmakers to “vindicate” all their best hopes for public service by helping provide health-care insurance for 32 million Americans who either can’t afford coverage or are denied it by private insurers.
“Every single one of you at some point before you arrived in Congress and after you arrived in Congress have met constituents with heartbreaking stories, ” Obama said. “And you’ve looked them in the eye and you’ve said, `We’re going to do something about it – that’s why I want to go to Congress.’ And now, we’re on the threshold of doing something about it. We’re a day away.”
If passed, the health-care legislation would trigger the biggest changes in decades to a system that has ballooned in cost to $2.5 trillion and represents one-sixth of the U.S. economy.
The final bill would enrol millions of Americans in an insurance plan by imposing an “individual mandate” requiring them to buy coverage. To make insurance more affordable, the legislation offers enhanced federal subsidies for lower- and middle-class Americans. It also expands funding to states for Medicaid, the public insurance plan for the nation’s poorest citizens.
It would immediately bar insurance companies from denying coverage to sick children and – by 2014 – make it illegal to deny insurance to anyone with a pre- existing condition.
It also includes provisions to curb massive premium hikes and to eliminate the practice of setting lifetime limits on coverage.
For individuals and small businesses currently priced out of the private insurance market, the legislation seeks to lower the cost by creating a series of health-care exchanges that would allow people to shop around for better deals.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, savings included in the legislation would ultimately reduce the U.S. deficit by about $130 billion in the first decade. The cost savings come largely by provisions in the bill to eliminate fraud in the existing Medicare program for U.S. seniors, by placing a Medicare tax on unearned income and eventually taxing high-cost “Cadillac” insurance plans.
The legislation does not include the creation of a new government-run insurance plan, a disappointment to many liberal Democrats who lobbied heavily for Americans to be offered a “public option” for their coverage.
“Now, is this bill perfect? Of course not. Will this solve every single problem in our health-care system right away? No,” Obama said.
“But is this the single most important step that we have taken on health care since Medicare? Absolutely.”
Much of the drama surrounding the vote has been created because of concerns among pro-life members of the Democratic caucus, who fear the legislation leaves open the possibility that federal subsidies will go to pay for abortion.
One of the leading anti-abortion lawmakers, Michigan’s Bart Stupak, was in talks with the White House on the weekend about the possibility Obama could issue a separate “executive order” affirming his plans to prevent federal funding for abortion. It’s estimated that only about a half-dozen pro-life Democrats – out of about a dozen original opponents – continue to plan to vote against the bill.
Democrats are headed into a complicated, two-step process to secure passage of the health-care legislation.
The House of Representatives will essentially be voting on two pieces of legislation – an $875-billion health-care bill passed before Christmas by the Senate, and the new $940-billion reconciliation version incorporating a set of “fixes” proposed by Obama to make the legislation more palatable to some Democrats.
The U.S. president would then be able to immediately sign the original $875- billion version into law.
The revised $940-billion version – the one that would ultimately be the law of the land – would then go to the Senate for passage. Democrats in the upper chamber of Congress plan to use a tactic known as `reconciliation’ to trump a Republican filibuster and pass the legislation with a simple 51-vote majority. Obama hopes to sign that final version into law before Congress’s Easter break.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid said Saturday he has “the commitment of a majority of the United States Senate” to approve the final reconciliation bill.
“I still know this is a tough vote, though. I know this is a tough vote,” said Obama, referring to some polls that show a slight majority of Americans oppose the health-care legislation.
“Don’t do it for me. Don’t do it for the Democratic Party. Do it for the American people. They’re the ones who are looking for action right now. … Let’s get this done.”
Kenya PM, VP root for unity
BY LABAN WANAMBISI/www.capitalfm.co.ke/21032010
MERU, Kenya, Mar 21 – Prime Minister Raila Odinga has censored a section of Kenyan leaders for propagating tribal politics at the expense of national cohesion and unity.
He accused the politicians of deliberately causing disharmony and mistrust among local communities through their ethnic stereotypes whenever they took to the podium.
“We must shun theses ethnic rhetoric and fight graft at all cost if the country is to make headways in tackling poverty, ignorance, disease and bad governance which our founding fathers swore to fight at independence,” he said.
The premier told a rally in Meru of how ethnicity and widespread corruption backpedal and eroded the gains the country had made owing to the failure by successive regimes to overcome the four main post independence challenges.
Mr Odinga said that Kenyans could only conquer the challenges when all communities were brought in the fold for a common purpose in the spirit of national unity.
He cautioned leaders who he claimed had developed a habit of engaging in double speak in public forums in the pretext of championing for the we
lfare of certain communities to stop the trend and focus on issues of national interest.
The Premier who also held consultative sessions with leaders from the larger Central Eastern Province assured the residents that the long awaited constitutional dispensation in the country had reached the final stretch.
“I want to assure you that we are going to reach consensus next week before we subject the final draft constitution for a referendum by all means so that we conclude this journey that took us for more than two decades” he said.
Elsewhere, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka asked Kenyans to avoid blame game in the ongoing constitutional making process and instead support the efforts undertaken by Parliamentarians towards realization of the new document.
“This process is in critical stage and it is my believe that Parliament through dialogue and consensus building, is able to deliberate on various issues in the document and provide leadership towards the realization of a new constitution,” he said.
The Vice President was speaking during the conferment of honorary Professorship and Doctorate Degrees to eminent personalities by the United Graduate College and Seminary of the United States of America, held at the Charter Hall, Nairobi.
Mr Musyoka asked leaders to be at the forefront in helping Kenyans realize national aspiration and development.
“Let us walk the talk and help our citizens attain their aspiration. We are in a position to progress and be an example of a great nation in the African continent,” the VP added.
ANGOLA :
Family affairs minister praises women position
3/21/10/www.portalangop.co.ao
Luanda – The Angolan Family and Woman promotion minister, Genoveva Lino, said that angolan women have been playing an active and fundamental role for the country’s development.
Addressing a meeting this weekend on the Angolan women role in the decisive sectors, the minister stated that thanks the women active participation the society is getting stronger.
She added that nowadays men are more companions in the professional point of view and in the economic, political and social participation, regretting the prevailing domestic violence and conflicts.
Outgoing namibian government pay tribute to late president Neto
3/21/10 /www.portalangop.co.ao
Windhoek – The outgoing namibian government on saturday paid tribute to the first angolan president, António Agostinho Neto, and to the former external relations minister, Office Minister Paulo Teixira Jorge, for their contribution to the independence of Namibia.
Also honoured were other african leaders who stood out in the struggle for the For the same cause were also granted homage other Arican figures that struggled for the decolonization of the african continent as former zambian president Kenneth David Kaunda.
Attending the ceremony the angolan parliament speaker, António Paulo Kassoma, the widow of late president Neto, Maria Eugenia Neto, and his daughter, MP Irene Neto, amongst other guests.
Commenting the tribute, the former chief of staff of the angolan armed forces (FAA), António França “Ndalu”, told the angolan media reporting the ceremony that Angola paid a valuable support to the struggle for Namibia’s independence.
“During our liberation struggle against portuguese colonialism we had the support of neighbouring countries as Zambia, therefore we had the useful and prestigious task to help other countries to gain their independence” – retired general França Ndalu stressed.
He recalled the successive military victories of Angola against the apartheid regime in South Africa and the long road to the independence of Namibia on March 21, 1990, under the UN resolution 435.
The retired angolan general who took an important role in several international meetings which ended up with the independence of the former german colony, and later a south african protectorate, told the press to be proud with the achievement of the Namibia’s independence and the abolition of apartheid in South Africa.
The angolan parliament speaker is attending today, on behalf of president José Eduardo dos Santos, the swearing in ceremony of the namibian elected president Hifikepunie Pohamba, and of the new government issued in the parliamentary elections of November 2009.
SOUTH AFRICA:
Zuma in Namibia for 20th anniversary and President’s inauguration
Sunday, March 21, 2010/www.therichmarksentinel.com
The Republic of Namibia gained independence from South Africa on the 21 March 1990 following the ‘Namibian War of Independence’. Sunday 21 March 2010, marks its 20th anniversary and South African President Jacob G. Zuma will be there to celebrate the occasion as well as the inauguration of His Excellency Mr H. Pohamba, for a second term as President.
The festivities will take place at the country’s Independence Stadium in the capital Windhoek.
Zuma’s visit follows what appears to have been a successful visit to Zimbabwe where he met with the leadership of Zanu-PF and MDC in an attempt to break the deadlock which has been dogging the coalition government for awhile now.
Namibian celebrations were preceded by an Official Gala Dinner which was hosted by Pohamba last night in honour of the Heads of States/Governments.
Zuma is being accompanied by South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Namibia is the second least densely populated country in the world, after Mongolia with a population of 2.1 million people and a stable multiparty parliamentary democracy.
South African rapper Jub Jub accused over deaths of four schoolboys is targeted by angry pupil army
Police intervene as thousands of stick-wielding, stone-throwing children attempt to storm court hearing
David Smith, Johannesburg The Observer/ www.guardian.co.uk/Sunday 21 March 2010
The mob was baying for blood. When a South African rapper known as “Jub Jub” appeared in court last week on murder charges, thousands of schoolchildren wielded sticks, threw stones and tried to storm the building. “We will kill him today, but we are thinking of ways to kill him,” one pupil was reported to have said.
Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye, pictured right, and his friend, Themba Tshabalala, are accused of killing four schoolboys after racing two Mini Coopers in the streets of Soweto only to lose control and plough into a group of children. A magistrates’ court has heard that Jub Jub tested negative for alcohol but positive for cocaine and morphine. He denies drag racing in the township or being under the influence of illegal substances.
But the court of public opinion has already found him guilty of callous disregard for the people who helped make him famous. Police warned against giving him bail last week because his life could be in danger. Yet on Friday Jub Jub and Tshabalala were granted bail of R10,000 (£900) each, prompting more fury from thousands of protesters who hurled rocks at the court compound.
Children growing up in the townships of South Africa, which competes with Brazil for the unwanted title of the most unequal society in the world, often set out at dawn, without breakfast, and return to a cramped home with scarce resources. Jub Jub, not unlike rappers in America, is among a tiny minority of black celebrities who enjoy a lucrative career and lavish lifestyle. White businessmen still own a disproportionate share of the economy, but the conspicuous “bling” of some upwardly mobile black people can cause resentment among those left behind. Julius Malema, the populist leader of the African National Congress’s youth wing was criticised recently for a birthday party costing a reported 400,000 rand (£36,000), where he sprayed journalists with champagne.
Some political pundits and religious leaders warn that if the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, South Africa will burn – and vigilante justice will have its day.
AFRICA / AU :
Sharpeville: Legacy of a massacre
Sunday, March 21, 2010 /By Imran Garda /english.aljazeera.net
There is something quite unnerving about looking at old archive footage, particularly when you know what is coming. The grainy black-and-white footage from Sharpeville, South Africa seems at first innocuous.
Bored-looking policemen appear to casually chit-chat, just as the footage begins to resemble a badly-shot 1940s neo-realist Italian film. Suddenly, the true horror unfolds.
A man, with a limp lifeless body nestled in his forearms, tilts it slightly toward the camera. And then … more bodies … more policemen.
On March 21, 1960, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) launched a campaign for black South Africans to protest against the pass system. Bearers, who had to carry the pass every where they went or face arbitrary imprisonment casually referred to it as the “Dompass” – which roughly translates as “the stupid pass”.
It was more than stupid, it was draconian, dehumanising and epitomised the essence of Apartheid.
The pass laws regulated and limited travel and employment for black South Africans in their own country.
There had also been a rallying call to campaign against low wages, high rents and poor living conditions in the townships.
Black nationalism
The PAC was a breakaway group from the African National Congress (ANC). It was actually the ANC that had called for the protests against the pass laws, to be held later that month.
The PAC, who were South Africa’s Malcolm X to the ANC’s Martin Luther King Jr, had decided to pre-empt it and converge on a local police station anyway.
They were considered hardliners; “Africa for Africans” they said. Their slogans were for freedom, driven by black nationalism. The ANC’s manifesto, “The Freedom Charter”, was too soft for the PAC, and spoke too much of a multi-racial utopia that they hoped South Africa would one day become.
Spurred by the injustices of Apartheid, which had been state policy since 1948, and the decades of oppression that predated it before it became enshrined in policy, around 20,000 protesters arrived in the township of Sharpeville, just south of Johannesburg.
Mayhem ensued
The police, claiming to have come under attack by the mob, opened fire and killed 69 people. Over 200 were injured. Hendrik Verwoerd, the then prime minister, also dubbed the architect of Apartheid, had claimed that the protesters had “shot first”. No arms were found on any of the protesters, or victims, however.
The repercussions of the police brutality were colossal: A state of emergency was declared triggering thousands of arrests.
The United Nations Security Council, previously so often opaque in regards to the plight of South Africa’s non-white majority, issued its first resolution against Pretoria.
Foreign investors quickly pulled out of the country.
Verwoerd then proceeded to ban the ANC and PAC.
Writing in 1987, author Millard W. Arnold suggested that the ban and heavy-handed crackdown had “welded together three generations of black people united in their opposition to Apartheid.”
The actions of the Apartheid Government politicised a “younger, more militant generation determined to battle the government from the townships rather than taking up the struggle abroad.”
ANC “terrorism”
There was also a rethink of the ANC’s non-violent approach. Despite being an underground outfit, “Umkhonto we Sizwe” or “The Spear of the Nation”, was formed in the aftermath of Sharpeville and became the military wing of the ANC.
The struggle had now become the armed struggle.
Acts of sabotage against government targets, which sometimes took civilian lives, were enough for the US State Department and Margaret Thatcher, the then British prime minister, to label the ANC a “terrorist organisation”.
Whether resistance or terrorism, the taking up of arms by the biggest opposition movement in the country most certainly found its roots in Sharpeville and redrew the battle lines.
The PAC, committed to Pan-Africanism, often served as an ideological fountain where later proponents of the Black Consciousness movement, like Steve Biko, would find inspiration.
Black Consciousness filled the vacuum left by the banning of the two parties, and served as a platform for uprising from within the townships themselves, particularly among the youth.
A shocked world
And it was the youth who were spurred to action in Soweto in June 1976. They protested and rioted against the imposition of Afrikaans as their mode of instruction at school. Afrikaans was the mother tongue of the white-Afrikaner minority but sometimes the third or fourth language of the students.
Dozens of youth were subsequently gunned down by police, many shot in the back.
The iconic image of teenager Hector Pieterson, (this time a black and white still, not video, but still as menacing) in the throes of death after being shot generated another blast of furious condemnation from a shocked world.
Soweto was like a chilling sequel to Sharpeville. Sharpeville 1960 laid the foundations for the world to see the true nature of the Apartheid regime. Soweto 1976 embarrassed the world for not doing enough, as the situation in South Africa had now become completely unpalatable.
The Pretoria government would last another 18 years, amid international condemnation, boycotts, divestments and sanctions; in 1994, the formerly jailed ANC leader Nelson Mandela was elected president in South Africa’s first democratic elections.
Today, the ruling-ANC is a leviathan of the political arena. It won just under 70 per cent of the vote in the 2009 election. Meanwhile, the PAC will be forgiven for feeling forgotten, marginalised and deemed a movement best-suited for a bygone era.
Claiming a paltry 0.27 per cent of the vote in 2009, it can hardly be considered a major political player any more. But its role in those dark and confusing days of grainy footage and sadistic policemen brutalising an entire populous can never be forgotten.
Sharpeville: 2010
Today, the township of Sharpeville is about to get an $8mn face-lift from state funds. Much of it is to make it feel welcoming for the start of the Fifa World Cup. Locals will get to see footballers from Ivory Coast and Switzerland training at facilities in the township and its surrounding areas.
But while the dream of seeing Didier Drogba may come true for some locals – the ghosts of the 1960 nightmare are a far more pressing concern.
They seemed to reappear earlier this year when Sharpeville residents torched cars and clashed with police – citing poor living conditions and the government’s inability to provide basic services.
The guns were heard again in Sharpeville. There is no Apartheid but there is anger; there are no “Dompasses” anymore, but there is desperation.
A half century on from the event that was so instrumental in shaping its history, tough questions remain for the rainbow nation.
Can Jacob Zuma, the president, and the ANC-led government give the majority of South Africans, unshackled from the racism and brutality of the past, the economic prosperity they desire to match the political freedom they now enjoy?
The video footage of the recent “service delivery” protests in Sharpeville, in Sakhile, in KwaDukuza and in other townships may have less dead bodies. The footage may be clearer, may be in colour and not the old grainy black and white – but it is equally unnerving.
Bharti says ties up financing for Zain Africa deal
2010-03-21 /sify.com
Bharti Airtel said on Sunday it had tied up the entire financing requirement of $8.3 billion for its planned acquisition of Zain’s African assets.
The company said in a statement the financing was oversubscribed, with major international banks committing to underwrite the total amount.
(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Hans Peters)
No evidence of mine collapse in Sierra Leone town
March 21/Reuters
BAOMAHUN, March 20 (Reuters) – Gold mines around the remote Sierra Leone town of Baomahun showed no evidence of a collapse on Saturday, a Reuters television crew said, corroborating an official denial that a mining disaster had occurred there.
Stocks | Basic Materials
A Minerals Ministry spokesman said on Friday at least 200 people had been killed when a mine in the area some 180 miles (300 km) south of the capital Freetown collapsed, a statement that was refuted hours later by his minister.
Local shallow pit artisanal mines seen by Reuters were all intact, while a larger mine project run by UK-listed resources company Cluff Gold (CLUF.L) there showed no signs of damage.
“Nothing like that ever happened,” Baomahun town chief Jospeh Kowa said. “This is bad for the image of the town.”
Town life appeared as normal, with a bustling market and no public evidence of grieving among locals.
The statement by the ministry spokesman was carried widely by local and international media including Reuters. Mineral Resources Minister Alpha Kanu said on Friday the misinformation was based on a rumour but did not elaborate further.
Unofficial gold mining is common in Africa where miners usually have no professional training or equipment and often dig by hand. Accidents are frequent at the sites, which do not meet safety standards found at professionally engineered mines.
Eight Days in Africa: Part 8
By J.W. WINSLOW /Special to The Herald/ www.montereyherald.com/Posted: 03/21/2010
Surprisingly enough, the next morning we departed en masse from the Grand Palm close to the appointed hour. Kenny and Colleen had parked their car at the Gaberone Airport in anticipation of their flight home from Joburg that evening. We piled into the big van for one more trip, reversing our journey of arrival.
This time we were prepared and sailed through the Customs Offices in Botswana and South Africa, setting off for Johannesburg with plenty of time to spare. The idea was to drop off the car before 3 PM to avoid paying for another day, and then spend some time together before their 6:30 PM flight. Needless to say, as in all things African, things did not go as planned.
The roads in South Africa are well marked but confusing, and we got lost again, despite the careful preparation of Colleen. She clutched the Google Map pages, trying to decipher the correct direction after our lunch stop, but it was her husband who finally got out of the car at a gas station to ask for directions. Apparently, there are many ways to get to the airport, and we finally arrived at the modern garage around 5 PM. A frantic call had been placed to Hertz, to no avail, and they tacked on another day anyway. We left the newlyweds to haggle with them, while secretly plotting amongst ourselves to pitch in and make up the difference.
Perhaps it was just as well that we only had a few minutes to say goodbye, for the tears flowed between Colleen and her mother at farewell, and we all turned a bit misty-eyed. They ran off to catch their flight and we grabbed some dinner before our final boarding for Atlanta. We joked about how cool and modern the airport was and figured out that they are in deep prep for the World Cup visitors in June! On all the roads to the city, we had seen signs and locations for the various games, and realized what a big deal this will be for South Africa. Even the local Wimpy’s (Mc Donalds + a hostess to seat you) boasted signs of the upcoming celebration of soccer!
Security was tight as we boarded the plane, with a second search of carry-on luggage plus a pat down by guards. We gladly acquiesced to their requests, thankful to have an extra layer of protection. The long flight to Atlanta ended with more scrutiny, this time with dogs sniffing the luggage upon arrival, passport and customs control, and yet another security screening to enter the US. This time the shoes came off, which seems to be more of an American priority, and they checked my laptop twice.
Of course, we had been delayed on the tarmac at Joburg by the lack of a truck to push us out to the runway, and that extra 45 minutes plus strong headwinds got us into Atlanta an hour late. Passengers were frantic at the carousels, racing to make their connection, and everyone did Ð except me. I was eleven minutes too late for my flight, but Delta promptly booked me for an hour later, and soon I was headed for LAX! The ease of this arrangement was amazing, they just slipped my boarding pass into the computer and it rescheduled the flight. No more haggling with the flight desk and no explanations. They were on top of it, which is a welcome sign after fifteen hours in the air.
Later, as I sat in the tiny terminal at LAX, waiting for the puddle jumper to Monterey, I had to smile at the usual suspects sitting around me. They were fresh and chatty, and probably had a good night’s sleep, but they could not have been more excited than I was about the final destination. There’s still no place like home.
Monterey Airport looked so small and quiet when we landed, and after my big old fatso bag tumbled out into baggage claim, I found my friend Gilbert waiting with a taxi. He had driven me home from Manhattan six months before, and recalled the trip and the wedding in the Big Apple. I told him about Africa on the way home, in a traveler’s daze of gratitude.
So there was my house and my garden, everything in place and waiting for me on the eighth day. The deer grazed outside my patio and people walked by with their dogs, so nothing had changed. Nothing, except for me.
Now I find myself in Botswana in the blink of an eye, and I will never be the same. That’s a positive sign, perhaps you will agree. They got me good, with their smiles and their customs and the lazy time clock and the Chuckalucka. They surrounded me with their love and hugs and generous spirits. They welcomed me into their family.
I wore my bracelet with the wild animals from Mokolodi while I walked on the beach today, wondering what they are all doing.
They are waiting for my return!
UN /ONU :
Fifty Years On, South Africa Remembers Sharpeville Massacre
Delia Robertson | Johannesburg/ www1.voanews.com/21 March 2010
This weekend South Africans will mark the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre in which 69 people were killed and hundreds more were injured by police in an incident that marked a turning point in the country’s history.
It was a day that, like the bullets that flew across the dusty streets of the impoverished township of Sharpeville, would soon reverberate across South Africa and across the globe.
Soon after 1:00 pm, on a warm autumn afternoon police fired without warning on a crowd of about 5,000 peaceful protesters who had converged on the Sharpeville police station to burn their so-called apartheid era pass-books and offer themselves for arrest. Most of the 69 people killed, and 180 injured, were shot in the back as they attempted to flee.
Ahmed Dangor, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, tells VOA the massacre set in motion what many now see as an inevitable chain of events.
“And in a sense what it did was put in motion the slow chain of events that ultimately led to the South African government yielding to local and international pressure and un-banning the liberation movements and un-banning Nelson Mandela in 1990,” he said.
The protesters in Sharpeville, like thousands more in several other black townships across the country, were protesting against the hated “dompas’ or pass-book which black South Africans were compelled to carry at all times. Dangor explains the pass-book was so much more than simply a document of identification.
“But think about 1960, here blacks were burning the very document that in a sense was their passport to life. You couldn’t get work without a pass [identification document that identified people by race, and where they were able to live and work]; you couldn’t travel without a pass, and yet people were brave enough to burn it,” he said.
The protests on March 21st, 1960 were organized by the Pan Africanist Congress, PAC, which led by Robert Sobukwe, had broken away from the African National Congress, ANC, the previous year.
In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, former President Nelson Mandela writes that the ANC had already announced plans for a series of protests starting March 31, but was pre-empted by the PAC plans.
The events on March 21 precipitated a crackdown on the liberation movements and individuals by the apartheid state led at the time by the National Party’s Hendrik Verwoerd. As Prime Minister, Mr. Verwoerd had introduced numerous laws to establish the raced-based discriminatory system known as apartheid – earning him the title, architect of apartheid.
By 1964 many of the leaders of the liberation movements were in jail or in exile. But Dangor says that while the post-Sharpeville crackdown may have prolonged the struggle against apartheid, it also shook the government.
“But in a sense what it also did was undermine the, both the reality and the perception of this monolith, this concrete monolith that was unmovable. They were shaken enough to respond as violently as they did,” he said.
On December 10 1996, Mr Mandela chose Sharpeville to sign into force South Africa’s internationally acclaimed constitution, which includes a Bill of Rights and other clauses to guarantee human rights. Pregs Govender, Deputy National Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission, tell VOA many of the protections enshrined in the founding law can be traced back to how people responded to the Sharpeville massacre.
“So I think the sense of commitment to say never again was a very, very strong one and motivated the people who fought within the liberation movements across the country, and who participated in the negotiations and in the drafting of the constitution,” he said.
In 1994, Mr. Mandela’s newly elected government designated March 21 as Human Rights Day, a national holiday in South Africa.
OPINION COLUMN: World faces fresh water crisis
By Gross, Zach www.waterworld.com/21032010
Earth’s population is now closing in on 6.5 billion, having tripled in the 20th century. Our use of water resources, however, actually has increased six-fold over that same time period!
With world population expected to increase by half over the next 50 years and with urbanization and industrialization growing at an alarming rate, especially in the most populous “developing” countries, our demand and hope for fresh water, sanitation and a clean environment are clearly in jeopardy.
More than a billion people today lack safe drinking water while moe than two billion lack adequate sanitation. The United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 4,000 children die every day of water borne diseases. Half of those facing sanitation challenges don’t even have toilets, latrines or other means to separate human waste from daily life.
The effect on women and girls in particular is shocking. Half the girls who drop out of school in Sub-Saharan Africa do so because there are no facilities for their use and/or because they must spend that potential learning time carrying water long distances for family use.
To keep up with population and consumption increases, more land is being made productive via irrigation, accounting for a large percentage of water use (two-thirds in some regions), and literally draining lakes and aquifers around the world.
For instance, the size of Lake Tanganyika has been greatly reduced due to irrigation for export agriculture, particularly of cut flowers for the European market, resulting in part in the violence in Kenya last year.
It is with this statistical backdrop that we usher in another United Nations-declared World Water Day on March 22.
Not only does our fresh water shortage affect daily human health, but it has also become a cause of regional conflict. Globally, around East Africa’s Lake Victoria, which borders on a number of countries including Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, pollution of the lake due to local agriculture and industries, stock depletion due to overfishing and poaching across international boundaries has caused regional tension and actual fighting.
More locally, pollution, flooding and invasion of foreign fish stocks have caused tensions between Manitoba and North Dakota along the Red River axis over the past couple of decades.
Lake Winnipeg has also been affected by human activity across the numerous provinces and states that form its watershed.
The theme for World Water Day 2010 is Clean Water for a Healthy World, and the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) is using the occasion to raise the profile of water quality issues at regional and national political levels. A year ago, the focus was water and climate change, with the World Water Council, made up of international organizations and experts, producing a paper – “Don’t Stick Your Head in the Sand” – that highlighted 16 in-depth studies in world water “hot spot” areas.
Weather in recent years has featured extreme occurrences – drought, major storms, snow in more tropical areas, unusual warmth during northern winters, and so on.
This has caused not only obvious death and destruction, but also damage to the world’s agricultural production, leading to a food crisis for the most vulnerable.
At the community, family and individual level, we can do much on a daily basis to improve the quality of water and sanitation. Effective recycling and composting, and proper treatment or disposal of sewage and toxic wastes can reduce local pollution of water and land.
Reducing the use of bottled water to avoid both the plastic waste and the commercialization of our most precious resource is a cause of many environmental groups. Governments, educational institutions and sports arenas are working to make tap water onc
e more acceptable to consumers.
Municipalities across Canada are moving to promote the collection of pet waste by owners and reduce the use of toxic lawn and garden chemicals. All of these poisons run off or sink down into water sources.
Councils are also asking homeowners to sweep, not hose down, their driveways and sidewalks, and to employ rainwater catchment tanks for use in watering. Programs are being debated these days in Manitoba about the best ways for farmers to protect our water resources from animal waste and chemical inputs while still being able to run profitable operations.
Of course, part of the protection and most efficient use of our water is the planting of trees to retain the soil and soak up runoff.
The water issues that face our world today are not simple, impacting on health, food production and relations between states.
The greatest value of World Water Day is not that it will necessarily accomplish immediate change, but rather that it offers us the opportunity to publicize the challenges, get people – young and old – learning, thinking and talking, pushing decision-makers and setting the right course locally, nationally and globally.
USA :
CANADA :
Niger to Review Areva Uranium Accords, Official Says (Correct)
March 21, 2010/Bloomberg/By Franz Wild and Anna Stablum
(Corrects spelling of mines minister’s name in second paragraph.)
March 18 (Bloomberg) — Niger, the world’s sixth-largest uranium producer, will review mining agreements with companies including Areva SA to ensure they’re fair to the West African country, a mines ministry official said.
Minister of Mines and Energy Souleymane Mamadou Abba, appointed by Niger’s military rulers on March 1, hasn’t yet set a schedule or format for the audit, Mahaman Laoun Gaya, an official at the ministry and a former government minister, said by phone today from the capital, Niamey.
“The military authorities have decided to audit all the uranium and gold contracts,” Gaya said. “These are the most important ones to look at. The new government has only just taken office, so we don’t have any details yet.”
Niger made up about 6 percent of world uranium output in 2008 and it may reach 9 percent by 2015, BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Sterck wrote in a Feb. 19 note. Most of the output is managed by Areva, which is investing 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in its third mine in the country, he wrote.
Salou Djibo, a squadron leader in the military, on Feb. 18 overthrew President Mamadou Tandja, who changed the constitution to allow himself a third term in office. The military junta hasn’t set a date for the democratic elections it promised.
Areva, the world’s biggest supplier of nuclear reactors, “is ready to meet the Nigerien authorities if they wish to review the mining agreements signed with their government,” the company said in an e-mailed response to questions.
‘No Problem’
Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said March 4 that Niger’s president “clearly stated that there was no problem” with Areva. “My understanding is that some announcements have suggested that certain mining permits, with other companies, were not established in a completely transparent way.”
Nigerien transparency campaigner, the Network of Organizations for Budgetary Transparency and Analysis, on March 12 called for a review of all mining and oil deals in the country. The group “strongly recommends a commission of inquiry on the mining and petroleum contracts as soon as possible,” it said in an e-mailed statement.
Canadian gold producer Semafo Inc. operates the Samira Hill mine in Niger, which produced 56,900 ounces in 2009, Jean-Paul Blais, the company’s vice-president of corporate affairs, said by phone from Montreal, Canada today.
Shares Slide
“This is a transition government in Niger and we have not seen any changes,” Blais said. “We have absolutely no reason to be worried at this moment.”
Semafo shares fell as much as 5.8 percent today in Toronto trading. Areva slid as much as 1.4 percent in Paris.
Areva operates the Cominak and Somair uranium mines, which last year produced 1,300 metric tons and 1,700 tons respectively, the Paris-based company said on March 5. Areva plans to start producing 5,000 tons a year at its concession in the northern Agadez region in 2012, it said.
Niger was the world’s sixth-largest uranium producer in 2008, behind Canada, Kazakhstan, Australia, Namibia and Russia, according to the latest data available on the Web site of the London-based World Nuclear Association.
–With assistance from Djibril Saidou in Niamey. Editors: Alastair Reed, Simon Casey.
Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada
March 21, 2010/www.conservative.ca
Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued the following statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination:
“In 1966, the United Nations declared March 21 the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The date is significant as March 21 marks the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. The memory of that day serves as a powerful reminder of the evil of racial discrimination and the importance of its eradication.
“Canada has an international reputation for embracing pluralism and we encourage diversity and welcome newcomers. Our Government has streamlined foreign credentials recognition to ensure that new residents and citizens can find jobs in their chosen fields quickly. Through the Action Plan for Faster Immigration, our Government is reducing the backlog of skilled immigrant applications. And increasing numbers of foreign students choose Canadian universities and contribute to the vibrant intellectual life of our colleges and universities.
“But even a country as open and welcoming as Canada has been touched by racial discrimination. We have apologized to those affected by the Chinese Head Tax and to victims of the Indian Residential School system. To promote awareness, our Government continues to fund initiatives that recognize the experiences and contributions of cultural communities in Canada.
“On March 21, I hope all Canadians will join with me in reflecting on the need to eliminate discrimination and in showing solidarity with the victims of racial discrimination.”
16 Year Old Charged in Racist Walmart Announcement
Written by Rudi Stettner /Moderator/www.rantrave.com/21032010
The “All blacks please leave the store” announcement has been solved. The perp was a 16 year old boy, who picked up one of the courtesy phones in a New jersey Wal Mart and made the boneheaded announcement. According to Philly.com he has been charged with bias intimidation after an investigation by the store into the incident. The NAACP has reported similar such incidents at the store.
It would seem to be prudent for Walmart to put some restrictions on the courtesy phones they make available to the public. The temptation for an immature teenager to pick up a phone and say something real stupid should be taken into account by Walmart store managers. A pass code for employees to access the phone system might be a good idea.
I don’t think that the 16 year old who did the phone prank should face jail time. He should do a combination of community service and educational assignments to bring home to him the hurt his prank may have caused shoppers. I would recommend that he be assigned to speak with an older African American about life under segregation at a time and place in America when it was legal to exclude African Americans from a store or employment.
There are a lot of violent crimes that are motivated by bigotry. There are black on white, Hispanic on black , white on Hispanic and any number of other configurations of ethnic bias. It is almost impossible to get a black on white bias crime to be recognised as such.
I have ridden many dollar vans in which the passengers are mainly African American. With one exception I did so without incident. That one time I got on a dollar van, which was picking up passengers from an underserved bus route. The driver told me that he would not leave until I got off. The Taxi and Limousine Commission never contacted me about the complaint, in which I included the driver’s plate number.
Black on white bias crimes are all too often buried by law enforcement and by the media. Great pains are far too often taken to exclude bias as a motive when it would seem to be an obvious motive. If law enforcement and the media must have such a lopsided view of crimes motivated by bigotry, perhaps it would be better to use existing laws to prosecute crimes motivated by bigotry.
I have seen people outgrow racism. With proper counseling, the 16 year old who disturbed the peace in a New Jersey Walmart will probably do so as well. Although I do not care to know the boy’s name, I am curious. Was his announcement in Walmart motivated by a dare? Was it boredom? Or had he been a victim of anti white bigotry? It’s worth asking.
I feel for some of the older customers in the New Jersey Walmart whose memories of segregation may have been jarred by a thoughtless teenage prank. A face to face meeting with such people would be good for the young man. But if we are going to talk about racism in America, let’s make it a two way street.
AUSTRALIA :
Bharti Gets $8.3 Billion in Funding for Zain Purchase (Update1)
March 21, 2010/By Madelene Pearson/Bloomberg
(Adds bank names in sixth paragraph.)
March 21 (Bloomberg) — Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest mobile-phone company, said it obtained $8.3 billion in funding for its proposed acquisition of Zain’s African assets.
Bharti will get $7.5 billion in loans from a group of banks led by Standard Chartered Plc and Barclays Plc, the New Delhi- based company said in an e-mail statement.
“The financing was oversubscribed, with major international banks committing to underwrite the total amount,” Bharti said in the statement.
Bharti intends to make a formal offer this week for its planned $9 billion purchase of the African wireless assets of Zain, Kuwait’s biggest phone company, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations.
The Indian company will also get a rupee loan equivalent to as much as $1 billion from the State Bank of India, which would cover transaction costs, Bharti said.
The other lenders are State Bank of India, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas SA, Credit Agricole CIB, DBS Group Holdings Ltd., HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.,
Global Investment House KSCC is acting as regional financial adviser on the deal, Bharti said.
–Editors: Suresh Seshadri, Dan Liefgreen
EUROPE :
European Union, ACP adopt second revision of Cotonou Agreement
Pana /21/03/2010
The European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states on Friday reached agreement on the second five-year revision relating to the Cotonou agreement signed in June 2000 in the Beninese capital.
In a press conference at the close of the joint ACP-EU committee meeting in Brussels, the Gabonese minister of Economy and Trade, Paul Bunduku-Latha, leading the ACP delegation, said the official ceremony to sign the revised EU-ACP partnership Ag reement would be held in June this year in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital.
The revised agreement will strengthen partnership between the 27 EU countries and the 78 countries from ACP, the two groups having succeeded in making consistent their positions about crisis, energy, food aid and financial support.
The EU Commissioner of Development, Andries Piebalgs, said, however, that because of continuing disagreements, the two parties would resume negotiations on immigration, a topic that would later be the object of common declaration.
On sexual orientation, supposed to be on the list of discriminatory measures, the EU and ACP delegates agreed that the issue be solved in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Brussels –
CHINA :
The week ahead
Italian regional polls will show if Silvio Berlusconi’s popularity is waning
Mar 21st 2010 | From The Economist online/www.economist.com
JAS• THE prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, will be able to assess the damage that a string of scandals has meted out to his government when Italians go to the polls for two days of voting in regional elections starting on Sunday March 28th. Elections are set to take place in 13 of Italy’s 20 regions. Eleven regions are held by the centre-left opposition. Mr Berlusconi, hoping to capitalise on a wave of sympathy after an attack by a mentally unstable man in December, had hoped his People of Freedom (PdL) movement might oust up to five centrist and left-wing governors. But its campaign is in chaos—and the government’s ratings are plunging.
• FOUR employees of Rio Tinto, a huge Anglo-Australian mining company, go on trial in China on Monday March 22nd on charges of bribery and industrial espionage in connection with negotiations over the price of iron ore. The accused, three Chinese and one Australian, were arrested last year shortly after Rio had spurned a big investment from Chinalco, a Chinese state-backed metals firm, infuriating the Chinese authorities. That led to speculation that the two events were linked while also dealing a blow to relations between China and Australia. But now relations seem to be improving, at least between Rio and Chinalco. The two companies are have announced a big iron-ore joint venture in Africa.
• BRITAIN’S chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister), Alastair Darling, unveils Britain’s budget on Wednesday March 24th. With an election looming—a poll must be called before June and May 6th is widely touted as the likely date—Mr Darling will be gratified that recent figures show Britain’s deficit, while vast, has not expanded quite as much as predicted. Britain’s lacklustre economy and dreadful public finances are sure to be important election issues. But Mr Darling’s urge to tackle the deficit with a budget of nothing but austerity measures make take second place to doling out a few election sweeteners to the country’s voters.
• EUROPE’S leaders will converge on Brussels for a two day EU summit starting on Thursday March 25th. The Greek debt crisis and the fragility of other European economies is sure to be the main talking point. Greece’s prime minister, George Papandreou, has called on the EU to come up with a way of channeling financial aid to his country as a reward for the drastic austerity package he has pushed through. But any scheme aimed at saving Greece will have to overcome severe misgivings about a rescue package brewing in Germany. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, has even suggested a mechanism to throw out countries from the euro area if they repeatedly flout fiscal rules.
INDIA :
Dubai’s Depa buys UAE marble firm Carrara
Mar 21, 2010 /business.maktoob.com
DUBAI – Dubai-based interiors contractor Depa Ltd said on Sunday it bought UAE-based stone producer Carrara Mid East Industrial Co as it looks to tap new opportunities abroad and weather a downturn at home.
Depa, which earlier in March received shareholder approval to pursue a two-for-one stock split and to list its shares in UAE dirhams instead of U.S. dollars, has continued to diversify its revenues away from Dubai.
Depa said it would support Carrara’s expansion in Saudi Arabia, India, Azerbaijan and Nigeria.
“This acquisition is another important step in our longstanding vertical integration strategy of acquiring leading suppliers in our core business markets,” said Hadi El-Solh, Depa’s managing director of investments in a statement on Nasdaq Dubai’s website.
The statement did not give a value for the deal. Carrara reported revenues of 150 million dirhams ($40.85 million) in 2009, Depa said in the statement.
Founded in 1977, Carrara has three facilities in the UAE which serve clients in Europe, South Africa and Asia.
Its projects include Dubai’s sail shaped Burj Al Arab hotel.
Earlier in March EFG-Hermes initiated coverage of Depa with a “buy” rating and said the market was discounting the company’s growth profile and future business potential.
Depa’s shares were unchanged at 0.7 dirhams a share at 0758 GMT on Nasdaq Dubai.
BRASIL:
Street kids stage their own WC in South Africa
STAFF WRITER/www.ptinews.com/AFP/Mar 21
Durban, Mar 21 (AFP) Wearing jerseys in national colours, football teams from eight countries face off on a South African pitch, in full World Cup fervour. But in this tournament, the players are all street kids, including those from India.
Child welfare groups from across the globe brought to Durban teams from India, Brazil, England, Nicaragua, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania and Ukraine.
It’s the first event of its kind, aiming to grab the football spotlight to give the children a platform to speak about the poverty and violence they face on the streets.
“I represent most of the kids who are on the streets.
Because, us street kids, our voice is not heard amongst the people so, we are trying to do that,” said Ashley Vincent, on the South African team.
EN BREF, CE 21 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,21/03/2010
