SOMALIA: CLASHES IN CAPITAL AS ETHIOPIANS LEAVE TOWN

At least 15 people were killed and 40 were wounded in fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, between a group of Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian forces, which began pulling out of bases there on Tuesday. The fighting began when a hard-line Islamist group, El Shabab, attacked an Ethiopian convoy that was withdrawing from Mogadishu Stadium, residents said. El Shabab, which the United States has listed as a terrorist organization, seeks to turn Somalia into an Islamic state. In a news conference in Mogadishu, Sheik Muktar Robow Abu Monsur, El Shabab spokesman, warned Somalis not to give any support to the Ethiopians, vowing that the group would continue fighting until all foreign troops withdrew from the country.

Many Western diplomats and other Somalia analysts have warned that once all the Ethiopians are gone, the various Islamist factions will unleash their considerable firepower on one another in a scramble to take over the country. Some of that fighting has already kicked off, with dozens of people killed in the past week in combat between moderate and radical Islamist factions.

American officials, who had supported the Ethiopian intervention, have been pushing to replace the African Union troops with a larger, better-trained United Nations peacekeeping force. So far, though, there is broad reluctance among members of the United Nations to take the lead role in such an operation.

http://nytimes.com


MY COMMENT:

The Ethiopian troops stormed into Somalia in 2006 to oust an Islamist movement that briefly controlled much of the country and to help shore up Somalia’s weak transitional government.
It did not go as intended. The Ethiopian intervention set off a bitter guerrilla war, killing thousands of civilians and driving nearly one million people out of Mogadishu. [nytimes.com]

“I am happy they finally left our neighborhood,” said Fadumo Mohammed Jimale, an 18-year-old whose family had been displaced by intense urban street fighting. “They killed my father.”

Hundreds of cheering Somalis lined the streets to watch the dozens of Ethiopian military trucks rumbling out of Mogadishu, Somalia’s bullet-pocked capital.

Fadumo M. J and many other Somalians will be quick to express joy on the exit of the Ethiopians. I clearly see Fadumo’s view point and why he wants them to leave. Wait, before you say anything, here is another excerpt:

On Tuesday, gunmen from one Islamist faction rushed into an old pasta factory in central Mogadishu that the Ethiopians had been using as a base. The Islamists were quick to take credit for the Ethiopian withdrawal.

“We drove the Ethiopians out by means of muscle and bullet,” announced Sheik Yusuf Mohammed Siyad, an Islamist leader. “Today, we got the victory we were expecting. We will restore order in this neighborhood.”

“We are ready to unite with our brothers now, since the enemy is leaving,” he added.

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised at this action; this is exactly what I anticipated. The insurgents will quickly occupy the vacuum and unleash more terror on the Somalians. They have already begun attacking the withdrawing troops; this should give you an insight of what lies ahead. The situations in the country will definitely get worse; these groups will make the civilians pay for their losses.

The Islamist movement wants to turn Somalia into an Islamic country by brute force. This is their main aim, the reason for all the fighting. Why should people be forced to belong to a particular sect or religion or group in the 21st century? The Islamist insurgent in Somalia if not checked and stopped will become like the Taliban group in Afghanistan.

In their regime, the Taliban banned music and dancing, shut down movie theaters and television stations, destroyed public works of art that depicted living beings, and forbade the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Men were ordered to grow full, untrimmed beards (in accordance with orthodox Islam) and were rounded up and beaten with sticks in an effort to force prayer in the mosques. The Taliban strongly enforced the ancient custom of purdah, the veiling and seclusion of women from men. Women were ordered to cover themselves from head to toe in burkas (long, tentlike veils). Girls’ schools were closed, and women were forbidden to work outside their homes. As a result, hospitals lost almost all their staffs and children in orphanages were abandoned. In a country where hundreds of thousands of men had been killed in warfare, widows found themselves unable to work to provide basic necessities for their families. (Microsoft Encarta)

Same thing will happen in Somalia – my prediction – if these insurgents are not stopped now.

Few days ago Somalia was confirmed as a piracy capital. This restoration and reformation must start from somewhere.

DRC: THOUSANDS DISPLACED BY LATEST LRA ATTACK

Thousands of civilians have been displaced in another deadly attack by suspected Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to local sources.

“The population of Sambia fled to nearby Tadu and Tora; others sought refuge in the gold mining pits,” said Félicien Balani, chairman of the civil society organisation in Haut Uélé district.

Residents in the gold-mining village of Sambia, 130km east of Dungu, Orientale Province, put the number of dead at between five and 30, and said almost 10,000 people had fled following the 8 January attack. Another 10,000 civilians displaced from the town of Niangara have fled to Bangadi because of LRA activity in the area.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that some 70,000 civilians in Haut Uélé had been displaced since armed forces from DRC, Uganda and Southern Sudan began joint operations against the LRA in northeastern DRC in mid-December 2008.

Humanitarian access to many of these people remains problematic.

http://irinnews.org


MY COMMENT:

I wonder the day these wars will end in Africa. War has now become the headline in Africa. Almost every country has one rebel group or another. Some of them even setup branches like banks or companies. When will these stories end? Everyday is war; everyday people fight and kill one another. When the world looks for news stories on war they turn to Africa. We now make headlines not positive headlines but devastating stories. We have the resources to heal our land but instead we use them to kill each other. Is there a curse on us? Is it something we have done or what? Every part of the continent is engaged in one fight or another. We are not in chains but we are still in bondage. If we continue like this we will be the very cause of our extinction; we will cease to exist and the lands that we fight for will be laid to waste. Africans let’s come together and stop this war, let’s end this ..…. this curse that has tormented us for years, and is still tormenting us. Let’s stop killing ourselves and our children. AFRICA UNITE!

NIGERIA'S GAS PROFIT UP IN SMOKE

The latest deadline set by the Nigerian government to stop flaring natural gas from oil wells in the Niger Delta has passed without stopping the flames, which campaigners say are poisoning local people.

"Sometimes you can't tell whether it's the dawn breaking or the flame," says one activist in the region. She says doctors have reported higher rates of cancer, children with asthma and a suggestion that the burning gasses may be making residents infertile.

Everyone agrees gas flaring wastes billions of dollars in useful gas. Campaigners say it causes huge environmental damage and according to doctors, it is responsible for causing chronic health problems among people who live in the Delta.

But the government and the oil companies are blaming each other.

Nigeria flares the second largest volume of gas of any producer, behind Russia. About 40% of Nigeria's gas is flared as it is produced. Nigeria also accounts for 12.5% of the world's gas flaring. These flaring exercises take place from thousands of well heads in an area the size of Britain. (Source: NNPC, Shell)

The flames also light up the sky 24 hours a day, and the noise that comes from them is a continuous roar like a jet aircraft taking off.

Royal Dutch Shell, the largest operator of onshore wells, has not commented on the claims that gas flaring affects the health of local residents.

Now experts believe Nigeria is burning billions of dollars of gas from its aging wells, letting potential profits go up in smoke. Even more ironically, campaigners say, the biggest need for that gas is in Nigeria. Nigeria is in the grip of a power generation crisis and the gas that is being burned could go a long way towards providing the electricity the country desperately needs in order to develop its economy.

The government and the oil companies agree they want to end gas flaring. Shell says it has reduced the amount of gas flared by more than 30% since 2000. Shell officials also said it is the government's fault that gas flaring still happens. A lot more pipelines would have to be built to collect all the gas. The government isn't keeping up its end of the funding agreements, preventing more investment, they say. Also the government can't guarantee oil workers' security in a region patrolled by armed gangs who kidnap oil company employees.

The government oil regulators seem unable to get tough with the companies who operate the wells. Two deadlines have been set and passed without making any difference.

http://bbc.co.uk


MY COMMENT:

The issue of gas flaring in Nigeria is something that has been overlooked by the government and the oil companies with the local residents bearing the burden. The oil companies blame the government and the government blames the oil companies, nobody is willing to accept. These oil companies when in their own country in America or Europe will never attempt this type of damage because they would not want to mess up their environment, but whenever they come to Africa they become very unruly and negligent. Shell being a British company will never try this in Europe or anywhere else; this will tell you that all these foreign companies care less about Africa; they just come to reap us off and go, see the case of Madagascar (see post on ‘Madagascar land deal’), the increasing presence of foreign countries in Africa is really disturbing, especially Asian countries. They come here claiming to render assistance to us when they truly want to destroy our continent and go, they contribute absolutely nothing to the people and environment, all they care about is their profit. We need to put an end to this, our leaders should wake up and see what is happening to us, they should stop being puppets for these companies and countries. They should stand up and talk like men, not fidget like sissies. They give way to these rubbish attitudes, that’s why Africans are being treated like trash wherever they go. This has to stop!

DR CONGO'S BEMBA ACCUSSED OF RAPE

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague have accused Jen-Pierre Bemba, a former rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, of ordering mass rapes.

At a hearing on Monday to decide if Bemba will face trial, the prosecutors said he had used rape to terrorise civilians suspected of supporting rivals in the Central African Republic.

Bemba, who also served as vice-president in DR Congo's post-civil war transitional government, faces three counts of crimes against humanity and five counts of war crimes.

"Bemba's men went from house to house, pillaging and raping mothers, wives and daughters," Petra Kneuer, the prosecutor, said. The troops were instructed to "traumatise and terrorise" the population to prevent them from supporting any resistance to Ange-Felix Patasse, the Central African Republic president, the prosecution said.

A representative of victims told the hearing that a district chief in the capital of Bangui was raped for four hours in front of his wife and children before troops turned to them.

Bemba's defence lawyers argued that he was not responsible for the campaign of torture, rape and murder between 2002 and 2003 as his Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) forces were operating under the command of Patasse.

Bemba was arrested in Belgium last May. He fled DR Congo for Portugal in 2007 saying he feared for his life after his fighters had battled the presidential guards of Joseph Kabila on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital, following his defeat in presidential elections.

The MLC was formed to overthrow Laurent Desire Kabila, Joseph's father and DR Congo's former president, during the 1998-2006 war in DR Congo.

http://aljazeera.net


MY COMMENT:

There goes another war criminal. These are men that have committed atrocious acts against their people, against humanity. A man that resorted to raping and terrorizing people is no longer a human, that man is seriously possessed. To rape a fellow man in front of his family is indeed diabolic. The number of reported rapes in Africa is on the increase, demonic people now see it as a way of oppressing people. Especially in the war-stricken zones, the number is continuously on the rise. And this man adopted it as a weapon against his people; this is very atrocious and inimical. I suggest they gather his troops and colleagues as well, they all should be charged the same. None of them should be spared even those acting on order; they are all guilty and should face the same fate.

NEW GHANA PRESIDENT SWORN IN

John Atta Mills, Ghana's new president, has taken office following a peaceful but tense election that secured the country's status as one of the continent's few stable democracies. Atta Mills won a run-off election last month with over 50 per cent of the vote.

The closest election in the country's history marked the second time power in Ghana has been transferred from one legitimately elected leader to another.

Analysts say the handover proves democracy in the country has matured after an era of coups and dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, but tensions still ran high during the election and some had feared violence could erupt.

Most Ghanaians remain among the world's poorest people, earning an average of $3.80 a day. Ghana is the world's second largest cocoa producer and the recent discovery of oil is eventually expected to bring in between $2bn and $3bn a year.

But Atta Mills will have to struggle with the effects of a global economic downturn, and the poor are already complaining that wealth is not trickling down.

http://aljazeera.net


MY COMMENT:

KUDOS TO GHANA! THUMBS UP! This is one of the minute elections that have been reported as being fair and legitimate in Africa. The issue of election rigging and corruption has always been in the fore front of African elections, at some point it kind of seemed like a curse or something but Ghana has demonstrated that it is really possible and can be achieved. Kudos to them once again! Congratulations President Atta Mills on your new office.

To say that most Ghanaians live on average of $3.80 a day is actually high when compared to other African countries living on less than $1.00 a day. Ghana, although still among the world’s poorest countries, is really moving by general African standard. I pray they regulate the oil very well (oil being volatile commodity in Africa).

Cheers Ghana! Cheers Mr. President!

TUTU: 'USE FORCE TO REMOVE MUGABE'

The South African archbishop says force may be needed to remove Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, from power.

Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace prize winner, told BBC radio that he hopes members of the African Union can be persuaded to issue Mugabe an ultimatum. Tutu described the situation inside Zimbabwe, which has been crippled by hyper-inflation and a protracted battle for political power, as "desperate".

"All of us want to see a resolution of what is just an awful situation and I don't think you can have any real solution unless Mugabe steps down," he said. "They can ask him to step down and if he steps down, OK, and if he doesn't, maybe he should be forced down."

Tutu also accused South Africa of betraying its legacy of struggling against apartheid by failing to take action against Mugabe. South Africa had strong historic links with Mugabe, who provided support during the struggle against apartheid.

Amid the political stalemate, Zimbabweans continue to sink deeper into poverty, and more people have died from a cholera epidemic that threatens to spread to neighbouring South Africa.

http://aljazeera.net


MY COMMENT:

I totally agree with Tutu, no solution can be proffered in Zimbabwe unless Mugabe steps down. The people have been oppressed to an extent that they cannot even speak for themselves again. I’m very sure more than 2/3 of the population wants him out but can’t or do not know how to set off.

As long as he is on that seat nothing can be done, the situation in Zimbabwe will continue to fester and the people will continue to suffer.

ETHIOPIAN TROOPS WITHDRAWS FROM MOGADISHU

Ethiopian troops have withdrawn from two of their main bases in the Somali capital two years after they intervened in Mogadishu to oust Islamist forces. Some fear that the Ethiopian withdrawal could lead to a power vacuum, others say it could pave the way for peace.

Some 16,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict between Somalia's transitional government and the Islamists, and a million more have been forced from their homes.

A small African Union peacekeeping force remains in Mogadishu but analysts say it is not strong enough to withstand the Islamists, who once more control much of southern Somalia. At least 25 people were killed few days earlier in fighting between two armed opposition groups in central Somalia, witnesses said. Fighters from the al-Shabaab movement clashed with members of the Ahlu Sunna Wal-jama'ah in Guriel, about 500km northeast of the capital Mogadishu on Sunday.

Uganda, Burundi and Nigeria are willing to send extra troops but the African Union has no money to pay for them and is wary of taking on an open-ended commitment.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, since when various militias have been battling for control. They are also in danger of descending into famine while the world's attention is focused on the problem of piracy off its coast, the Red Cross has warned.

There have been nearly 100 pirate attacks in Somalian waters this year, despite the presence of several foreign warships.

http://bbc.co.uk


MY COMMENT:

Somalia currently has too many stones in their bread to eat. First, with the withdrawal of the Ethiopian armed forces, which to some locals is a relief even though it is not really a good idea right now, the stage is now clearing for the Islamist insurgents to take over. The insurgents are still in control of a large portion of southern Somalia, the Ethiopian and other peacekeeping forces are controlling the northern part. So this exit of the Ethiopians who constitute the major part of the forces just doesn’t sound nice at all.

Secondly, the food shortage in the country is seriously deepening. They are in danger of ‘total famine’ says one report.

Thirdly, the pirates patrolling their waterways are slowing down trade and food supply. Not forgetting to mention that their president resigned few weeks ago (the first African president to actually resign because the cards on the table are just too much to handle). Men! This is really plenty to fit into one plate at a time, I really understand the president’s decision to quit, it’s not just working. Peacekeeping is indisputably not an easy task especially in another man’s land, but I think it would be best if the Ethiopians can hold on a little longer since the AU is broke in terms of sponsoring other countries willing to send troops into the region, at least to maintain some sought of calmness in the northern part and also keep the general tempo on check.

RBZ UNVEILS $20BN, $50BN NOTES

THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has introduced new $20 billion and $50 billion notes as part of measures to increase convenience to the banking public.

The introduction of the new notes is also expected to coincide with the withdrawal of full salaries by workers upon production of a pay slip.

Consumers have, over the past few months, watched helplessly as businesses increased prices each time higher denomination notes were introduced.

http://herald.co.zw

Newsweek reports that Zimbabwe residents are going through severe hardships yet surviving it with humor. The reporter found a fast-food joint was selling burgers and fried chicken, and a double cheeseburger cost 50 billion Zimbabwean dollars. And if you order a full meal with fries and a Coke, it cost 80 billion Zimbabwean dollars.

http://digitaljournal.com


MY COMMENT:

"... Introduced new $20 billion and $50 billion notes as part of measures to increase convenience to the banking public." How considerate and thoughtful of Mugabe. What a joke. "... to increase convenience to the banking public" He might as well turn their pay slip into a legal tender. I really wonder if they have an economist in the whole country at all.... If he wants to be considerate and thoughtful, he should vacate that seat immediately.

And how about that, the world's most expensive fast-food. That should be the food to eat. Eat up and you'll never go hungry again ...lol!. I wonder what's next.

TAYLOR SENTENCED TO 97 YEARS

Charles Chuckie McArthur Emmanuel Taylor, the son of former Liberian President, Charlse Taylor has been sentenced to 97 years imprisonment for torturing opponent of his father's administration during his tenure of office.

Taylor was commanding the ‘Demon Forces’ a paramilitary group which is specialized on torturing of political opponents during 1999 to 2003. The ‘Demon Forces’ was accused of applying various torturing techniques to political opponents including electric shock, molten plastic, lit cigarettes, hot irons, bayonets and ants bites.

Meanwhile, Charles Ghankay Taylor father of ‘Chuckie’ Taylor is similarly standing trial in the Hague for his alleged involvement in the Sierra Leone civil war. He is charged with various war crimes and crimes against humanity. His trial is expected to resume in The Hague after it went into a long break last year. His case was transferred to The Hague citing security concerns in the region a Senior Official of the Special Court for Sierra Leone said.

http://africanews.com

US Federal agents arrested Emmanuel as he tried to enter the US at Miami international airport in March 2006.

During the trial, witnesses said Emmanuel, known as Chuckie in Liberia, stood by and laughed as soldiers forced prisoners to play "stone football", kicking large stones until their bare feet were bruised and bleeding. One witness described having flaming plastic melted onto his skin; another said soldiers cut his genitals.

In April 1999, Emmanuel summarily executed three men and ordered guards to cut another prisoner's throat, his indictment said.

http://runningafrica.com


MY COMMENT:

When will Africans learn? We are our own greatest enemies, we are the major reason why Africa is still behind. We starve our people, we torture them, we deny them the right to exist. The blood that flows in Africa today is not by the whip of our colonial master, rather it is by the matchets, guns and laws of our leaders. This Taylors' case is absolute nemesis. This is the fate of tyrants in Africa and around the world, there is no escape. I hope other leaders learn from this.

OIL: A CURSE OR CURE IN NIGERIA

Hundreds of billions of dollars has been made from the Niger Delta's oil reserves and many people have gotten very rich. Conversely, the average Nigerian has suffered as a result of the country's oil prosperity. The United States Agency for International Development says more than 70 percent of the country lives on less than a dollar a day -- the population is among the 20 poorest in the world.

Oil companies are only part of the equation. The other is the Nigerian government. Transparency International, a global organization intent on stamping out corruption, has consistently rated Nigeria's government one of the most corrupt in the world.
Over the last few years, a culture of militancy and violence has arisen in the absence of jobs and services. Kidnappings for ransom and robberies happen with regularity.

It has provoked an environmental disaster of monstrous proportions. Since the 1970s, the United Nations estimates there have been more than 6,000 oil spills in the Niger Delta -- that is equal to more than 10 times the amount spilled from the Exxon Valdez in 1989. Yet, there is no international outcry and rarely are the spills reported, even to most Nigerians. They are still happening and the consequences are nothing short of devastating.

Communities along the Niger Delta have lived off subsistence fishing and agriculture for decades. Collecting food becomes impossible when a spill happens, like one that occurred in August. The waterways and mangroves are blanketed in thick brown oil sludge that goes on for miles. Toxicity overpowers the air and a sense of lifelessness pervades the landscape. Trash litters its cities. Electricity is sporadic at best. There is no clean water. Medical and educational services are limited. Basic infrastructure is severely lacking. These are not conditions that should plague one of the richest oil states in the world but in the Niger Delta this is life.

- http://cnn.com/

MY COMMENT:

Is oil really a curse in Nigeria? Is it a cure? In the war against poverty in Africa, Nigeria being one of the richest oil states should not be counted among the poorest nations in this world. The Niger-Delta region has become a terror zone, cases of kidnapping and robbery is very rampant due to excess poverty. Communities in this region have about 2 or 3 multi-national oil companies drilling on their lands, some even have 4 and yet they cannot even boast of clean water supply or good education. In other countries, oil companies provide certain facilities free of charge to the community they reside in but that is a different case in the Niger-Delta region. Who is responsible, who is to be blamed? The government, whose officials are only interested in looting the nation’s treasury, or the oil companies, whose negligence and sloppiness have cost the lives in various communities, or both? These are some of the questions the Niger-Delta people ask.

HUMANITARIAN AID STUCK AT EGYPTIAN BORDER

It was the second straight day that Mouzala Ioannis, five other physicians and a nurse from Doctors of Peace waited at the locked Rafah crossing amid eerie silence. Ioannis blamed the Egyptian government for holding up more than 25 trucks and SUVs filled with medical supplies donated by Greece, Turkey, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

- http://indybay.org/

Egypt is facing sharp condemnation from elsewhere in the Arab world. Near the border — closed to visitors, including journalists, both ways — there is a heavy presence of police, military and secret police, the Mukhabarat, and numerous checkpoints along the roads on the way to the split border town of Rafah, which has been declared a military zone. The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and his ally, the Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, have called on Egypt to open the border and the Egyptian people to break down the barriers. But Egyptian forces have clashed with Palestinians trying to leave Gaza, and Mr. Mubarak has said firmly that the border will remain closed.

- http://nytimes.com/


MY COMMENT:

“Chaos at the Gaza-Egyptian border, with aid shipments halted and the gates firmly shut।”“Egypt and France propose plan to end Gaza conflict.”“Egypt offers humanitarian aid.”

These are excerpts from 3 news reports. So I ask ‘what role is Egypt really playing in the on-going crisis between Israel and Gaza?’ On one side, they sent out 30 closely-monitored ambulances into Gaza and on the other, ‘…holding up more than 25 trucks and SUVs filled with medical supplies donated by Greece, Turkey, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.’ I believe that Egypt’s aid to Gaza is more political than humanitarian; they are really focused on the political gains in the Israeli-Gaza crisis than actual assistance to the victims.

CHOLERA EPIDEMIC IN ZIMBABWE

The International Red Cross has deployed seven emergency response units to Zimbabwe in a bid to bring under control a cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 1,500 lives. Such units, which will provide medical care and increase the availability of safe drinking water, are deployed only in "critical humanitarian situations," a Red Cross statement said.

The Red Cross said it hopes to deliver services to 1.5 million Zimbabweans by July, indicating that it anticipates a long battle to stop the spread of the disease.

The World Health organization reported 30,938 cases of cholera to date in the country, with 1,551 deaths through Tuesday, when another 630 cases were documented. Abdul Abdulkadir, the Red Cross disaster management coordinator for Southern Africa, told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the continually rising death toll indicates a critical humanitarian situation demanding an aggressive response. He said the emergency response units will be working closely with the Ministry of Health.

A spokesman for the international relief group Medicins Sans Frontières, which took an early lead treating victims, also called the situation dire. MSF Coordinator Marcus Bahamann said the group is doing all it can but has limited resources to meet "massive" needs.

- http://voanews.com/

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's President, is trying to hide the real extent of the cholera epidemic sweeping across his nation by silencing health workers and restricting access to the huge number of death certificates that give the same cause of death.

A senior official in the health ministry said the health ministry, which once presided over a medical system that was the envy of Africa, had been banned from issuing accurate statistics about the deaths, and that certificates for the fraction of deaths that had been registered were being closely guarded by the home affairs ministry.

Harare's Central Hospital officially closed last week, doctors and nurses are scarce and even those clinics offering a semblance of service do not have access to safe, clean drinking water and ask patients to bring their own. The Zimbabwean Association of Doctors for Human Rights has accused the government of dramatically under- reporting the spread of the disease. Doctors and nurses – whose salaries can just buy a loaf of bread thanks to hyperinflation – tried to protest last week against the health crisis, but riot police moved in swiftly.

As the ordinary people suffer Mr Mugabe is locked in a bitter power struggle with the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over who should control which ministries in a unity government.

- http://independent.co.uk/

CHOLERA FIGURES IN ZIMBABWE SINCE AUGUST 2008

1 December - Deaths: 484 - Cases: 11, 73

25 December - Deaths: 1,564 - Cases: 29,131
Total Cases in December 68%

MY COMMENT:

What is this despot doing to his country? First, he blames the West for all of his problems, then he tries to hide this case of cholera probably because he cannot put the blame on the West, as usual. Zimbabwe's problem cannot be solved in a day, but the first step in solving it is by removing Robert Mugabe from that seat. He has now become the Black version of the Rhodesian, Ian Smith whom he was fighting.

MADAGASCAR LAND DEAL

South Korea's Daewoo has signed a 99-year lease for half of Madagascar's arable land, reports the Financial Times. The firm expects to pay "nothing" for the lease.

The agreement covers 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) — an area half the size of Belgium. Daewoo says it plans to plant corn on 1 million hectares in the arid western part of the island and 300,000 ha (740,000 acres) of oil palm on land in the tropical east, a region that is home to the bulk of Madagascar's rare rainforests. The company will produce the food for export and plans to import workers from South Africa, although a Daewoo spokesman said that the project could create up to 70,000 local jobs. The company expects the project to cost $6 billion over the first 25 years.

The Daewoo annoucement comes after the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that the push by some countries (notably China, Malaysia, and Middle Eastern nations) to secure farmland overseas could create a 'neo-colonial' system.

"We suspect there will be very limited direct benefits [for Madagascar]," added an unnamed 'European diplomat in southern Africa'. "Extractive projects have very little spill-over to a broader industrialization."

Environmental concerns

The development will likely stoke environmentalists' fears that agricultural expansion will come at the expense of Madagascar's biologically-rich ecosystems that are home to rare and unique species of lemurs, frogs, and reptiles. Daewoo has done little to allay these concerns.

"It is totally undeveloped land which has been left untouched," the Financial Times quoted Hong Jong-wan, a manager at Daewoo, as saying.

But officials from Madagascar are denying they have reached an agreement to turn over half the island nation's arable land to a South Korean corporation for food production, reports Reuters. The controversial deal — which would have paid Madagascar nothing and turned over 1.3 million hectares to produce corn and palm oil for export at a time when one-third of country's children are malnourished — was reported last week by the Financial Times.

- http://news.mongabay.com

MY COMMENT:

I honestly cannot believe that a country (Madagascar) whose ecosystem is revered by every country in this earth would think of touching a plot of its vegetation, much more give it away for what?! It is a very ’stupid’ act by the government. Madagascar has about 5% of the world’s total ecosystem, and to give it away for nothing is very distressing. Even to give it away for something is still not acceptable, for 99 years is PURE MADNESS, giving away the size is ……..??????……….. I really have no word for that yet.

‘Underdeveloped’ what is that?! No Asian country will ever lease more than 5 plots of land to an African country. The sizes of our embassies in these countries will give you an idea on how small they are willing to lease properties African governments.

One thing we Africans should understand is that these Asian countries creeping into Africa are not here to help us but to deplete the little resources we have left (through PIRACY and NEO-COLONIALISM). All they want is to really make us beg. They want to colonize us again. We have been through a lot in history, we suffered under colonization, and Madagascar case is nothing but neo-colonialism and piracy. We CANNOT go through it again.

It’s time to SAY NO TO PIRACY & NEO-COLONIZATION!