{jcomments on}OMAR, BXL, AGNEWS, le 02 juillet 2010 –— A fugitive suspect in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide with a $5m reward on his head has been arrested in Uganda.
BURUNDI :
Burundi holds peaceful poll
Friday, 02 July 2010/By The Citizen Reporter, Arusha
East African Community (EAC) election observers said yesterday that the recentpolls in Burundi were peaceful despite being boycotted by all the opposition parties. The EAC observer mission to Burundi said there were no malpractices during the June 24 polls.
The 23-person EAC team led by Mr Otieno Karan, a member of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala), was deployed to eleven areas in the country.
The objective of the mission was to assess whether conditions were favourable for “free and fair” elections in Burundi, which has just emerged out from many years of civil war. The observer mission was also assessing whether the elections were conducted in accordance with the country’s legal framework.
“Despite the elections being boycotted by the opposition parties, it was “orderly and peaceful,” Mr Karan said in a statement. He added that peaceful conclusion of the exercise and re-election of the incumbent president Pierre Nkuruzinza should be used as a platform to reconcile various political groups in Burundi, which joined EAC bloc in 2007.
“There is a need to encourage all political stakeholders in Burundi to engage in dialogue and ensure that the peaceful atmosphere prevailed during the polls is maintained,” the statement said. Mechanisms should also be explored and instituted to allow combined elections in order to avert voter fatigue, the EAC team leader argued.
EAC has in recent years been sending observer teams to elections and referendums held among its five partner states of Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda. The election observer team would also be deployed to Rwanda during its second multiparty elections scheduled for next month.
They would also be headed to Kenya and Tanzania during the Constitution Referendum and General Election set for next month and October respectively. The mission comprises Eala members as well as MPs from the partner states’ National Assemblies, the EAC secretariat and the private sector.
The EAC observer mission to Burundi was undertaken pursuant to Article 3 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community which requires adherence to universally acceptable principles of good governance democracy, the rule of law, observance of human rights and social justice.” On the other hand, Article 5(1) of the Treaty provides for “…widening and deepening cooperation among the Partner States in political, economic, social and cultural fields, research and technology, defence, security and legal and judicial affairs, for their mutual benefit.”
Burundi, through the Independent National Electoral Commission (Commission Électorale Nationale Indépendante-CENI), which is vested with the authority of organising and supervising election in the country – extended an invitation to EAC to send the observer mission to monitor the polls.
Burundi conducted communal elections on May 24, the first in a series of elections scheduled for this year. These was followed by the presidential elections on June 28 and Senate elections (conducted indirectly) on the same date. The National Assembly elections set for July 23 follows in the series and finally the local elections on September 7, this year.
RWANDA
Top Rwanda genocide suspect arrested
Friday, 2 July 2010/www.rte.ie
A fugitive suspect in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide with a $5m reward on his head has been arrested in Uganda.
Suspect Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi, accused of helping to orchestrate the mass killings, was arrested after entering Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
‘The people in Arusha were tracking him. As soon as he crossed into Uganda, which was on 26th or 27th (June), they informed us. We picked him up on Wednesday in Mbarara,’ said Edward Ochom, head of Uganda’s Criminal Investigation Directorate.
Mr Uwinkindi was indicted by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity in 2001.
Until his arrest in western Uganda, he was among 11 suspects still at large and wanted by the ICTR, based in Tanzania’s northern town of Arusha.
Elly Womanya, deputy director of Interpol’s Kampala office, told said that Uwinkindi would be transferred to the ICTR as soon as possible.
According to a copy of his indictment, Mr Uwinkindi, aged 59, was a pastor at Pentecostal Church near Kigali during the genocide, and allegedly collaborated with an extremist political organisation that professed hatred for the Tutsi ethnic group.
In early April 1994, Mr Uwinkindi is accused of helping organise and instruct groups of Hutus to kill Tutsis, and after allowing Tutsi women and children to seek refuge in his church, he ordered their execution, according to the indictment.
The US State Department, through its Rewards for Justice Programme, had previously offered a five-million-dollar reward for information leading to Mr Uwinkindi’s arrest.
Uganda’s independent Daily Monitor newspaper reported Friday that Mr Uwinkindi entered the country using the alias Jean Inshitu and was attempting to buy land and settle under that assumed name.
‘Agents’ behind SA shooting of Rwandan Nyamwasa
Friday, 2 July 2010 /news.bbc.co.uk
Foreign “security operatives” were involved in the shooting of a Rwandan military officer in Johannesburg, South Africa’s foreign ministry has said.
Lt Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa was wounded outside his house last month.
He had fled to South Africa earlier this year after falling out with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.
Rwanda has denied accusations it tried to assassinate Lt Gen Nyamwasa. Four people have been charged with his attempted murder.
They are reportedly from Tanzania, Somalia and Mozambique.
“It also involves a country with which we have good and strong diplomatic relations,” foreign ministry official Ayanda Ntsaluba said, refusing to name the country involved.
His wife, Rosette, said a lone gunman approached the car after the couple returned to their house from a shopping trip on Saturday 19 June.
The gunman told the driver of their car to allow space so he could aim at Lt Gen Nyamwasa, she said.
Rwanda had asked South Africa to extradite both Lt Gen Nyamwasa and Patrick Karegeya, a former colonel in the Rwandan army also living in exile in South Africa.
Lt Gen Nyamwasa is accused of being behind grenade attacks in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, earlier this year in which more than 30 people were injured and one person was killed.
Mr Ntsaluba said the general, who has denied the grenade allegations, was seeking asylum in South Africa.
“This matter involves security operatives and an attack on a person who has gone through the correct legal channels to seek asylum in South Africa,” the foreign ministry’s director general said, South Africa Press Association reports.
A week ago, Rwandan journalist Jean Leonard Rugambage, who had been investigating the general’s case, was shot dead outside his home in Kigali.
The Rwandan authorities say that two men have been arrested for that attack, which they say was a revenge killing, denying reports it was linked to the exiled general.
Defections
Since arriving in South Africa, Lt Gen Nyamwasa has accused Rwanda’s leader of corruption – charges Mr Kagame denies.
There have been several recent defections from the military ahead of elections due in August.
Lt Gen Nyamwasa played an important role in the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Mr Kagame, which put a stop to the 1994 genocide and which is now in power.
But France and Spain have issued arrest warrants against Mr Nyamwasa for his alleged role in killings in the lead-up to and during the genocide, along with other senior RPF figures.
Mr Kagame is viewed by many in the West as one of Africa’s more dynamic leaders.
However critics have raised concerns about his more authoritarian tendencies and the government has recently been accused of harassing the opposition ahead of the elections.
UGANDA
Uganda arrests pastor accused in Rwanda genocide
Fri Jul 2, 2010/ Reuters
* Uwinkindi accused of crimes against humanity
* Second suspect arrested in Uganda in a year
KAMPALA, July 2 (Reuters) – A Rwandan pastor accused of leading and coordinating attacks on his country’s minority Tutsis during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide has been arrested in Uganda, a police spokeswoman said on Friday.
Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi, a pastor in the Kigali-Rural prefecture, was taken into custody on Wednesday in Isingiro district, southwest Uganda, Judith Nabakoba told Reuters.
Uwinkindi is accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of genocide and crimes against humanity during the slaughter in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.
“The information I have is that he entered the country on Tuesday from the Democratic Republic of Congo but our intelligence operatives were tracking him and he was arrested on Wednesday,” Nabakoba said.
She could not confirm whether Uwinkindi had been transferred to the custody of the tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania.
According to an ICTR indictment, Uwinkindi “led a group of killers to look for and exterminate Tutsi, in particular Tutsi civilians from Kanzenze commune”.
He is the second Rwandan genocide suspect to be arrested in Uganda in less than a year.
In October 2009 Uganda seized another suspect, Idelphonse Nizeyimana, after he slipped into the country from Congo.
Nizeyimana was a former deputy intelligence chief in Rwanda and was accused of genocide, complicity in genocide and public incitement to commit genocide.
“We’ve been improving our intelligence coordination with neighbouring countries and that has made it easier for us to track these suspects and arrest them,” Nabakoba said.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Michael Roddy)
Uganda shilling gains as world majors strengthen
Fri Jul 2, 2010 /Reuters
KAMPALA July 2 (Reuters) – The Ugandan shilling UGX= trimmed its losses against the greenback on Friday as commercial banks squared their dollar positions, but it is expected to shed the gains next week, traders said.
At 0750 GMT commercial banks quoted the local currency at 2,261/2,266 to the dollar higher than 2,280/2,285 at Thursday’s close.
“We have seen the shilling gain ground due to the absence of corporate demand for dollars. Commercial banks with long dollar positions are trying to square them off, easing pressure on the shilling,” said Faisal Bukenya, head of market making at Barclays Bank Uganda.
Bukenya said global market developments in which major currencies have regained a footing against the dollar have also supported the local currency.
“All major currencies have rallied against the dollar globally and this development has fed into our currency market,” he said.
The shilling is expected to trade within 2,260-2,275 range in the days ahead.
“We might see the local currency strengthen marginally on the back of expected month end flows from the aid agencies. We might see it trading within 2,258/78 levels today,” said Stanbic Bank Uganda’s market report.
Bukenya however forecast the local currency would lose ground next week as corporate demand from energy and telecommunications sectors bounces back into the market.
“Corporate clients have been meeting their tax obligations this week to meet the end of financial year deadline. Next week, we expect them to come back into the market to purchase dollars,” he said.
UGX Spot Rate…..UGX=
Ugandan Shilling Money Guide….
Calculated Cross Rates……….UGXX=
Deposits……UGXDEPO=
Deposits & Forwards………….UGXF=
Uganda Equities Guide…….
Uganda All Share Index………ALSIUG
Shilling background …..
Ugandan Debt Guide…………
All Uganda Bonds………….
Uganda T-Bills…………..
Uganda Benchmark………….
Central Bank BOUGINDEX
Ugandan Contributor Index….
Uganda Coffee Prices…… (Reporting by Susan Nabadda; editing by Mike Peacock)
Uganda: VP Tells Buganda to Avoid Idle Talk
Jeff Lule/The New Vision/allafrica.com/2 July 2010
Kampala — The Baganda have been advised to avoid propaganda and focus on economic development of the kingdom.
“You have to make money if you want to develop your kingdom. Without money, Buganda can never move forward,” the Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, said.
He advised the kingdom to diversify from agriculture to other economic opportunities for quick development.
“Though agriculture is Buganda’s traditional economic activity, it is very tricky. The world is changing and Buganda is not exceptional,” he said.
Bukenya was addressing the public at the Buganda Tourism Expo at Lubiri Palace in Mengo on Wednesday.
He expressed concern that many youth spend time in idle talk instead of coming up with new ideas to improve their livelihood.
Bukenya stressed that many people were dying of poverty in villages due to lack of market for their products.
He thanked the kingdom tourism ministry for opening up a historical museum for the Kabaka, Ronald Muwenda Mutebi, saying it will attract more tourists to Buganda.
The museum, which is to be officially opened by the Kabaka on Wednesday, is a collection of information from his childhood.
The Buganda premier, Eng. J.B. Walusimbi, said promoting tourism and small-scale industries would fight poverty.
The kingdom tourism minister, Florence Nakiwala, said the expo has attracted over 150 participants from different parts of the country.
Uganda: Kyenjojo School Closes Over Strike
The New Vision/allafrica.com/2 July 2010
Kampala — Kyenjojo Secondary School was closed on Wednesday following a students strike.
The headteacher, Francis Kiwewa, said an emergency staff meeting resolved to send the students home for a week as the school administration discusses the way forward.
The Police, on arrival at the school, fired in the air to disperse the rowdy students, causing panic among the residents of Kyenjojo town.
The western regional Police commander, Wilson Kwanya, told The New Vision on Wednesday that the strike started at midday and lasted for two hours.
He said a Police officer identified as Vincent Ekwe was injured during the scuffle. Ekwe was admitted at Kyenjojo Health Centre IV in critical condition.
Kwanya said it all started when one of the students told his peers not to go to class after one of their colleagues was chased away from school due to non-payment of fees.
Kwanya disclosed that a Senior Four student, who led the strike, was arrested as the Police continue hunting for other participants.
He said the students destroyed windows, a vehicle belonging to the Kyenjojo district State Attorney and three computers.
This is the fourth school to go on strike in the Rwenzori region in one month.
Over the weekend, students of Nyakasura School in Kabarole district went on strike and 20 students were suspended.
Last week, students of Fort Portal Secondary School also went on strike and all the Senior Four students were suspended.
Early last month, St Leo’s College Kyegobe students went on strike and destroyed school property, burnt a teacher’s car and destroyed his banana plantation.
TANZANIA:
East African countries launch new regional trade regime
PANA /02072010
Five East African countries moved closer to the creation of a borderless state Thursday, after the launch of a Common Market, which allows for the free movement of goods and labourforce across their borders unhindered.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, while officially announcing the coming into force of the regional common market protocol, called for the lifting of all barriers to immigration.
President Kibaki ordered the removal of all work permit fees for all the citizens of the other four East African states, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, to ease the movement and allow citizens from the region to acquire jobs within the sub-region.
“The Common market will avail greater opportunities for trade in goods and services,” President Kibaki said, while officially launching the commencement of the new trade regime.
East African countries have been aiming at forming a political federation, which would include having a single president for the five countries and a single currency.
So far, the region has successfully launched the regional customs union, which allows for a common system of taxing all incoming goods and services.
The three-band taxation system, allows for the duty-free movement of all raw materials for industrial production and levies a surcharge of 10 per cent on all semi-processed goods. It slaps a 25 per cent tax on all finished imported products into the region.
President Kibaki said the launch of the common market would help attract new capital for investments into the East African Community (EAC), which he said had a combined Gross Domestic Product of (GDP) of US$ 75 billion.
The Common market will also enhance the movement of investors across the region.
The Customs Union deal negotiations dragged on as the five countries argued over the ways and means of allowing the freedom of residence.
“It is my expectation that public servants charged with executing the Common Market, especially those responsible for immigration, labour, customs and education will facilitate the process rather than adopt a control attitude,” President Kibaki said.
The new deal allows the region’s 126 million citizens to reside in any of the five countries. It has raised concerns from each of the five countries, whose citizens have panicked on the protection of their jobs and the security of their land.
In Uganda, authorities said the issues of land would be governed by the Ugandanland policy. In Kenya, the panic has been about the expected influx of cheap labour from the regional neighbours, which would affect earnings.
CONGO RDC :
Democratic Republic of Congo to get billions of dollars in debt relief
By the CNN Wire Staff/July 2, 2010
(CNN) — The Democratic Republic of Congo is in line to get billions of dollars in debt relief, World Bank officials said, cutting the amount the nation owes by more than 80 percent.
International Monetary Fund and World Bank boards released a statement Thursday supporting $12.3 billion in debt relief for the central African nation.
Congo received $11.1 billion in relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and $1.2 billion under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, the organizations said in a statement.
Congo qualifies for the relief because it has made efforts to strengthen its economy and resume good governance despite years of conflict, according to the Washington-based organizations.
“Progress in each of these areas also sets a solid foundation for advancing the country’s development agenda going forward,” said Brian Ames, the nation’s mission chief for the International Monetary Fund.
Congo marked 50 years of independence on Wednesday.
The nation remains one of the world’s poorest countries despite abundant natural resources such as copper and cobalt. Conflicts, mostly over natural resources, rage on in some regions.
Violence, disease and famine have killed at least 5 million people in the past 12 years, leaving the country grappling with a humanitarian crisis.
Mixed feelings as DR Congo celebrates 50th anniversary
Friday, 02 July 2010/By JUAKALI KAMBALE/www.africareview.com/thecitizen.co.tz
Belgium’s King Albert II (right) reviews a guard of honour with Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila (centre). King Albert was on a three-day official visit to Congo to attend the celebrations of its 50th anniversary of independence.
More than 50 per cent of DR Congolese were born after 1960, the year of independence from Belgium.
They don’t know much about the Belgian Congo or the 80 years of colonial rule. The ‘new Congo’ they know of leaves them with mixed feeling even as they celebrate its 50th anniversary.
For the officials and the so-called “Fathers of independence”, who inherited power from the Belgians, the Jubilee is a great event. But for the younger generations, it is almost a non-event.
They consider the government’s investment of millions of dollars in the celebrations to be wastage in a country suffering from acute economic malaise and underdevelopment.
Jean-Pierre Tshibanda was born on June 30, 1960, the exact day of independence. He will be 50 years old on the Jubilee day.
“I am proud to belong to such a big country called DRC in Central Africa, but at the same time, I regret the way the country has been managed. People live in great poverty while the country is so wealthy,” he says.
Tshibanda’s sentiments are shared by many.
Kamanda Kabongo, also 50 years old, is a taxi driver living in Kinshasa. He used to hear from his parents how life was better during the colonial period. Indeed, there are many in that generation who refer to Le bon vieux temps (the old good times) whenever they talk of the high cost of living today.
They like to say: “We had good schools and good hospitals and we did not suffer from hunger but, nowadays, we are lacking the minimum we need to live.”
Of course, this exaggerated nostalgia does not quite capture the rapacious colonial rule of the Belgians. It is a pointer to the massive disappointments the Congolese have endured since independence.
Kabongo’s taxi business does not earn him enough money to educate his five sons, two daughters and two nephews.
His wife does not earn much either despite spending most of her time in the local market in Kinshasa’s Masina district.
In the course of his taxi work, he has to deal daily with the awful traffic jams of Kinshasa as well as the diversions caused by road projects in various parts of the city.
Indeed, there have been a lot of infrastructure projects going on in the city, but residents link them primarily to the government’s desire to spruce up Kinshasa to impress the visitors attending the Jubilee celebrations.
Since January 2010, several Chinese companies have been contracted to rehabilitate the main streets of the capital, especially Boulevard Triomphal where the official ceremonies are planned.
The country has been led by four presidents – Joseph Kasavubu, Joseph Desire Mobutu alias Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent Desire Kabila and his son Joseph Kabila.
The country has changed its official name four times, starting with the Republic of Congo, then to the Democratic Republic of Congo during Kasavubu’s rule, then to the Republic of Zaire during the Mobutu regime, and then back again to the Democratic Republic of Congo following the coming to power of Laurent Kabila.
The consensus among Congolese is that none of the four has succeeded in using the country’s enormous natural potential for its good.
The country remains a veritable scandal of un-exploited and mismanaged natural resources. Worse, it has been home to civil wars and rebellions that are largely ignited because of these same natural resources.
The trend started in July 1960 in the copper-rich province of Katanga where there was a secession attempt backed by Belgian mining companies.
A month later, the diamond-rich province of Kasai followed, creating the autonomous state of South Kasai under the leadership of Albert Ditunga Kalonji. He too was supported by Belgian mining interests, in cahoots with South Africans.
And since 1996 to date, the eastern DRC is troubled by various rebellions generally supported by Rwanda and Uganda.
These rebellions and insecurity nightmares have stunted development.
There is the copper of Katanga, the diamonds of Kasai, and the coltan of the two Kivu provinces in the east. There is a lot else, like cobalt, uranium, manganese, gold and hardwood.
What’s more, oil has since been discovered in the east and off the Atlantic shelf to the west.
The Katanga province alone used to generate 80 per cent of national income until the early 70s, when international copper prices collapsed.
In the 90s, the market for diamonds dipped, too.
Rather than diversify or tackle its inefficiencies, DR Congo went on a debt-accumulation spree. Currently, the external debt is valued at $14 billion.
Fortunately, things have improved marginally on several fronts. In December 2002, the government and the various armed groups signed a peace agreement in Sun City, South Africa, which led to the establishment of an all-inclusive transitional coalition government.
Then the incumbent president, Joseph Kabila, won the subsequent election and promised to restore peace and to rebuild the country.
About 12 heads of state are expected to join the Congolese in celebrating their Jubilee. Among them will be King Albert II of Belgium, whose presence carries much symbolic significance. It will be his first visit to the former Belgian colo
ny.
Warning to SA firms in Zim, DRC
Jul 02 2010 /André le Roux /- Sake24.com/www.fin24.com
Johannesburg – South African companies forming “cartels” to strip Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of their raw materials will be brought to book.
On Thursday this warning came from Bongani Masuku, a senior Cosatu spokesperson. He was addressing a forum of expatriate Zimbabweans at the University of the Witwatersrand, and said such companies represented a threat to democracy in southern Africa.
Together with unions in neighbouring states, an investigation will be launched into these companies, and this will be discussed during a regional union conference in September.
He was referring to the current debate about the sale of Zimbabwean diamonds and the so-called Kimberley Process, and held that certain companies were bent on making money from the “militarised elite” who assert their right to the raw materials of Zimbabwe and other countries in southern Africa.
He said the unions would see to it that the accumulation of resources and raw materials is democratised. There is a big difference between a junta-elite (such as in Zimbabwe) and a democratic elite that controls national assets and benefits from them.
Diamonds being mined in southern Africa will be specifically investigated. Masuku says 87% of those currently in world trade originate from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and many of these are blood diamonds, he maintains.
Masuku says mining cartels are also engaged in an unseemly quest for Angola’s mineral riches. This will also be looked into.
The purpose of the investigation into the cartels is to single out the companies concerned and, he declares, expose them.
But Cosatu’s sights are set not only on private mining companies. Steps will also be taken to tackle the SADC political leaders who fail to protect their workers from exploitation in the mines.
SADC will be put on the spot.
Masuku says that during the SADC leadership conference in Windhoek later this year Cosatu and other unions in southern Africa will make sure that the 14 heads of state will be called to account because the proceeds of mining are not reaching their people.
KENYA :
Kenya: Low Occupancy Complicates Plot for Property Firms
Moses Michira/Business Daily (Nairobi) /allafrica.com/2 July 2010
Investors who bought furnished apartments hoping to make a killing less than two years ago are staring at a drastic fall in rents as more commercial banks roll out property loans.
Property managers are having a difficult time achieving optimal tenancy levels, lowering their expectations on management fees.
Mr Gilbert Jumba, the assistant head of agency at Regent Management in Nairobi, attributes the low occupancy rates in furnished apartments to the seasonal nature of the business.
It peaks during school holidays in April, August, and December.
“Furnished apartments are having a very low occupancy level at the moment because they are mostly occupied by expatriates who would usually take out a tenancy of between one and three months,” said Mr Jumba.
He said competing mortgage offers from financial institutions were encouraging more people to build own homes or purchase ready units, reducing the number of would-be tenants.
Mary Mbatia, a senior projects accountant at Muigai Commercial Agencies, says they take long to get tenants, forcing them to reduce the rents.
“The demand for apartments has not increased over the last two years unlike the supply that has almost doubled. This has forced us to reduce the rents for most units because the tenants are aware they can get a better deal,” said Ms Mbatia.
Market correction
This trend shows the industry is headed for another round of correction since the prices cannot justify the rents they attract and the payback period has been stretched beyond 18 years.
“Ideally the payback period for investments in real estate should be about 13 years. The current situation shows if the rental incomes remain as they are then the payback period will stretch even beyond 18 years,” said Ms Mbatia.
However, there seems to be a mismatch as property developers continue churning out units especially in the upper class estates in Nairobi.
Daniel Biwott, an estate manager, says the market is saturated and the demand for rental property is falling.
He says those who can afford the rent qualify for mortgages.
“Rents from residential houses have dropped by as much as 15 per cent since the beginning of last year because there has been an oversupply of units without a corresponding demand,” said Mr Biwott, the managing director of Zenith Homes Limited.
He predicted that demand for the exclusive houses would continue heading south because supply has outstripped demand by over 50 per cent.
He said the 10:10 ratio that meant a Sh15 million unit would attract a monthly rental income of Sh150,000 was crumbling.
A significant proportion of the new home buyers eye the rental income, but they may have to dig deeper into their pockets to service the mortgages as the decline gathers pace.
ANGOLA :
Angola: Care Invests 450,000 Euros in Renewable Energy Project
2 July 2010/AngolaPress/allafrica.com
Andulo — The United States of America (USA) Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) CARE International through the fund of the Netherlands Government will spend 450,000 Euros to implement and execute a renewable energy project in the municipality of Andulo about 130 kilometres north off Kuito city, Bie province.
The consultant of the US NGO in Bie, Uli Spriessler said that in the first phase the project will be executed as an experimental in the health centres of the village of Etunda Tchissokokua, Chiombo, Buanga, Camunda, administrative areas of the municipality, six schools and in the rural areas of the district.
He said that for a good beginning of the project, CARE International organized in the municipality of Andulo a workshop about the implementation of renewable energy called “Sol do Andulo” for representatives of Development Organization of Villages (ODA), members of administration and traditional authorities.
The adviser of Care International said that workshop will take three days and aims to provide knowledge to participants about the advantages of the project, adding that it seeks to minimize cost of supplying thermal energy.
Luanda Port’s modernisation to benefit consumers
7/2/10 /www.portalangop.co.ao
Luanda – The ongoing modernisation of Containers Terminal II of the Luanda Port will turn in short term the company more efficient and with reduced ships jamming along the coastline, as well as will benefit consumers.
The project results from an investment agreement, estimated at USD 56, 507, 604 signed Thursday between Sogester and the National Private Investment Agency (ANIP).
After signing the agreement, ANIP’s chairman, Aguinaldo Jaime, said to the press that the country needs to equip itself with fficient port facilities to prevent ships’ overstay which can affect goods quality to the detriment of consumers.
Angola, he stressed, is essentially an importing country, despite being in process of economic expansion and increase of its production capacities.
On his turn, the deputy director-general of Sogester, Anatólio Barreira, said that the investment enabled to employ more staff and will help to improve working conditions at Terminal II, sort out the matter with ships overstaying at the Port of Luanda.
The investment accord was signed between Aguinaldo Jaime and the director-general of Sogester, Francisco Cristóvão, and counted also on the presence of the CEO of Luanda Port, Francisco Venâncio, managers of both companies and ANIP top staffs.
Angola: Kwanza Sul Governor Happy With Social Undertakings
2 July 2010/AngolaPress/allafrica.com
Sumbe — The governor of central Kwaanza Sul province, Serafim do Prado, Thursday here learned about the pace in the works of construction of houses for vice governors, youths, markets, a stadium and a cemetery in the provincial capital city, Sumbe.
This was during a visit he paid to the works, having on the occasion expressed satisfaction at their advanced stage, predicting their inauguration in three months time.
The governor also learned about the works on the Land Reserves I, having announced that his office is ready to start the allocation of plots for self-construction.
SOUTH AFRICA:
BHP Billiton, Imperial, Investec: South Africa Equity Preview
July 02, 2010/By Renee Bonorchis and Janice Kew/Bloomberg
July 2 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.
South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index fell for a third day, retreating 249.29, or 1 percent, to 26,009.53, after losing 8.7 percent in the three months through June, the first decline in a quarter since the period ending March 2009.
Beige Holdings Ltd. (BEG SJ): The pharmaceutical and cosmetic manufacturer said full-year net profit for the fiscal year ended March fell to 13.4 million rand from 29.1 million rand a year earlier. Beige was unchanged at 4 cents.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BIL SJ): Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard reached a deal with mining companies on a proposed tax, lowering the headline rate to 30 percent from 40 percent. The world’s largest mining company led a campaign against the tax, which it said would slow investment. BHP dropped 1.64 rand, or 0.8 percent, to 199.22 rand.
Imperial Holdings Ltd. (IPL SJ): The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa releases June’s vehicle sales data, with sales having climbed an annual 35.3 percent in May. Imperial, the owner of South African auto dealerships, fell 1.30 rand, or 1.5 percent, to 84.50 rand. Bidvest Group Ltd. (BVT SJ), owner of companies from auto dealerships to financial services, climbed 1.36 rand, or 1.1 percent, to 123.25 rand.
Investec Ltd. (INL SJ): The private banking group said Australia’s decision to lower its proposed mining taxes will spur investment and that “anyone not related to coal and iron ore is a winner”, according to Hunter Hillcoat, a Sydney-based analyst at Investec. The stock fell 1.30 rand, or 2.4 percent, to 52.55 rand.
Merafe Resources Ltd. (MRF SJ): The mining and exploration company said the European benchmark ferrochrome price has been settled at $1.30 per pound for the third quarter of 2010, a decrease of 4 percent from the three months through June. Merafe retreated 8 cents, or 6.4 percent, to 1.17 rand.
Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:
Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) rose 0.4 percent to $17.30. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) dropped 6.2 percent to $40.52. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BBL US) gained 0.3 percent to $51.61. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) fell 2.1 percent to $4.26. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) retreated 4.3 percent to $12.79. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) declined 3.6 percent to $10.19. Impala Platinum Holdings (IMPUY US) shed 1 percent to $23.09. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) dropped 0.5 percent to $3.76. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) rose 0.4 percent to $35.41.
–Editors: Ana Monteiro, Ben Holland.
AFRICA / AU :
Sadc regional parliament set to strengthen member integration
PATSON PHIRI /www.newsday.co.zw/— sardc.net/ Jul 02 2010
Parliamentarians from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) have again called for a regional parliament to strengthen integration among member states.
The initiative to set up a regional assembly was mooted a few years ago and has the support of many leaders.
However, regional parliamentarians noted at their recent meeting that little progress has been made to make sure the project becomes a reality.
Sadc Parliamentary Forum (Sadc PF) chairperson Prince Dlamini said a regional parliament has the capacity to cement relations among member states, as it would discuss economic and political development from a regional perspective.
Dlamini, who is also the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Swaziland, said the forum has since resolved to take an active role to ensure that Sadc heads of state and government seriously consider and approve the plan.
“We have resolved as the Sadc Parliamentary Forum that a delegation be sent to meet the current Sadc chairperson to discuss the matter,” he said.
Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila is the Sadc chairperson. He took over the rotating chair from his South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma, at the 2009 Summit held in Kinshasa, DRC.
“The forum will propose that the establishment of the regional parliament be put up for discussion at the forthcoming Sadc summit,” Dlamini added. Namibia is scheduled to host the summit in August.
A regional parliament is considered important for development as it has potential to widen Sadc citizenry participation in regional integration as well as guiding ratification, domestication and implementation of Sadc Protocols and other decisions.
Sadc PF Trade, Development and Integration Committee chairperson David Matongo also said the establishment of a regional parliament was crucial to address some of the socio-economic challenges facing the region.
He said a number of challenges that affect individual countries also have an impact on the whole region.
“As such, a regional parliament is best placed to deal with regional issues. We cannot speed up the implementation of regional integration benchmarks without a policy-maker to guide that process,” he said.
At the meeting, the parliamentarians also deliberated on issues such as the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), status of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and the smooth movement of goods, services and people across the region.
“Mindful of the MDGs and the targets set for 2015, the plenary emphasises the need for governments to scale up efforts towards the attainment of these goals and the need for parliamentarians to increase oversight on this matter,” the parliamentarians said in a statement.
With regard to the adoption of the Protocol on the Facilitation of Free Movement of Persons by heads of state and government in August 2005, the plenary said it is sad to note that the protocol is yet to come into force as only four countries have ratified it.
The parliamentarians urged member states to speed up the ratification process in order to strengthen socio-economic cooperation and regional integration.
Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland are the only four countries to have ratified the protocol. At least a two-thirds majority of the 15-member regional community should ratify the protocol for it to have binding force.
While a number of member states are still to ratify the protocol, most Sadc countries have, however, signed bilateral agreements between themselves to encourage the smooth movement of Sadc citizens within the region.
On the current status of EPA negotiations, the plenary reiterated the need for governments to consider the long-term benefits of the deal and urged national parliaments to continue to play the oversight role on the matter.
The meeting also noted that the gender imbalance in regional parliaments where women continue to be the minority, posed a challenge to the pursuit and attainment of the 50/50 gender representation in politics and decision-making positions in accordance with the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development. “The plenary recommends that greater effort be put into the advocacy for the engendering of the structures and processes of political parties especially ahead of primary elections. The plenary further urged countries that are still to do so to ratify the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development”.
The 27th Plenary Assembly of the Sadc Parliamentary Forum was held on May 27 to June 5 in Livingstone, Zambia.
Zambian vice president George Kunda officiated at the meeting, which ran under the theme Towards Facilitation of Free Movement of Persons in Sadc.
Guinea Conakry: cases of frauds are recognised
www.african-bulletin.com/02072010
The president of the CENI, Ben Sékou Sylla recognised the existence of several cases of frauds during the presidential ballot of Sunday. The authors are introduced to the Guinean justice. The thesis had already been raised by 21 of the 24 parties engaged in the election race, multiplying the charges of frauds and stuffing of the ballot boxes.
Former Prime Minister Lansana Kouyaté and François Louncény Fall are among the complaining candidates. They are joined by the opponent Alpha Condé, leader of the RPG party and one of the favourite runners of the ballot. He fustigated, in a press release, the excessive votes by proxy, the existence of false electoral cards and the manipulation of the results by the CENI.
But assertions on behalf of the observers are as follows: “What we observed was a deficit for some of the local electoral agents in the districts in particular. But, the electoral commission is doing its work with the maximum honesty that is expected of it. There was no attempt, whatsoever, on the part of the electoral commission, or anybody, to defraud”.
The Supreme Court emitted a prescription extending of 48 hours the deadline concerning the publication of the temporary results. And the CNEI president has declared: “We are working around the clock to make sure that the electoral commission comes up with the results. We are appealing to the political leaders to exercise maximum restraint and to wait patiently for the results to be announced on Friday evening… But, several opposition groups say the delay is a calculated attempt to rig the vote.
Somalia fighting kills 17
02 July 2010/ Source: APTN
Fierce fighting between government forces and insurgents has left at least 17 people dead and dozens wounded in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Violent street battles took place between African Union troops and Islamist rebels, with many running for cover as the sound of heavy artillery could be heard overhead and on the streets from armoured vehicles.
An emergency official said 11 people were killed in one attack when an artillery shell struck a building where families had sought shelter, wounding 22 others.
The head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service said the 11 killed included five children and three women.
Six other civilians were killed earlier on Thursday and an additional 21 wounded, the official said.
Radio Mogadishu, the state-run radio station, reported that President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed visited the front lines.
Somalia’s fragile, United Nations-backed government has been battling an Islamist insurgency that controls much of the country’s south and centre.
The government controls only a few blocks of Mogadishu and relies on African Union peacekeeping troops to protects key government officials and installations.
Somalia has not had a functioning government in nearly 20 years.
UN /ONU :
UN: Somalia situation deteriorating daily
Jul 2, 2010/www.monstersandcritics.com
Geneva
– The people of Somalia are facing an increasing lack of security and a humanitarian situation which is worsening daily, a United Nations official said Friday.
‘The situation is worsening and everyday violence and human rights abuses in Somalia continue to displace thousands of civilians,’ Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency
(UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva.
Edwards noted that the previous day over two dozen people were called in the capital Mogadishu.
The International Committee of the Red Cross on Thursday appealed for fighters to cease shelling a surgical centre, after at least one patient at the hospital was killed in the violence.
UNHCR said that despite the deteriorating situation, less refugees are fleeing the country than at this time last year, most likely because it is becoming more dangerous to leave. Militant groups patrol the roads and the smugglers who get people out charge high prices.
Somalia, widely regarded as a failed state, has been embroiled in conflict since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Siad Barre.
There are believed to be some 1.4 million people displaced within the war-torn state and another 600,000 Somali refugees in neighboring countries. Since a new insurgency began in 2007, over 20,000 people are estimated to have been killed.
Security experts warn the country is becoming a haven for international terrorist groups.
UN food agency declares operation in Niger an emergency as child malnutrition rises
By The Associated Press (CP)/02072010
GENEVA — The World Food Program has declared its work in Niger an “emergency operation” after a survey found a sharp rise in malnutrition rates among young children.
WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella says 16.7 per cent of children under 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition in the African country. Children under 3 are particular affected.
She says last year the malnutrition rate was 12.3 per cent. The threshold for declaring an emergency is 15 per cent.
Casella told reporters in Geneva on Friday that the WFP plans to boost its child feeding program from 500,000 to 640,000.
It will also double food aid in Niger to reach 4.7 million people this year.
Food shortages in Niger have been exacerbated by bad harvests over the past year.
UN – Secretary-General’s remarks to civil society representatives
www.isria.com/2_July_2010
Representatives of civil society,
Distinguished guests,
Good afternoon. I am very happy to be with you today.
Thank you for coming to meet me. I will be brief to leave maximum time for discussion. I want to hear from you.
Gabon is preparing to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary of independence.
The country has much to be proud of. You have a firm platform to build on as you look to the future.
Since independence, Gabon has witnessed neither conflict nor ethnic strife. Your country is widely recognized for its commitment to peace and dialogue.
It is 20 years since Gabon successfully moved to multi-party democracy. Gabon is now consolidating its democratic experience.
Last year’s peaceful transition, and this month’s legislative elections, are testament to the maturity of your democratic process.
Civil society is integral to preserving these important advances.
You can help create and maintain an environment conducive to good governance, development and respect for human rights.
You can help to ensure the electoral process is inclusive, credible and transparent.
As you know, I have made three trips to Africa in the past six weeks.
I have visited Malawi, Uganda, Burundi, Cameroon, South Africa, Benin, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday.
I wanted to see for myself how Africa is making progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and to hear of the challenges that remain.
Wherever I go I meet with civil society representatives. Your insights are invaluable.
Your values are our values: empowering women ? education and opportunities for the young ? good governance ? fighting corruption ? reinforcing the rule of law and democratic processes ? harmony among communities ? protecting the environment.
You are our essential partner as we work with governments for peace, human rights and sustainable development.
I encourage you always to lead by example.
Implement sound governance and democratic practices among your own organizations. Ensure inclusiveness with respect to ethnicity and gender.
And I call on you to take the lead on the Millennium Development Goals.
Gabon is helping to show the world that the Goals are within reach, but much more needs to be achieved.
As representatives of civil society, you are central to making it happen.
The United Nations will stand with you. Our Country Team will work by your side.
I would now like to hear about your hopes and concerns for Gabon.
Thank you.
Prominent model ordered to testify before UN-backed war crimes court for Sierra Leone
www.un.org/02072010
1 July 2010 – Judges at the United Nations-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone today ordered the high-profile British model Naomi Campbell to give evidence later this month about a blood diamond in the ongoing trial of the notorious former Liberian president Charles Taylor.
A subpoena was issued for Ms. Campbell, 40, to appear on 29 July in The Hague in the Netherlands, where the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) is sitting for the trial of Mr. Taylor on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Three judges of the SCSL’s trial chamber, in announcing the subpoena, said they were responding to a request from prosecutors for Ms. Campbell to testify.
Media reports say the prosecution wants to ask Ms. Campbell about allegations that she was given a so-called blood diamond – a diamond that is mined in a war zone and then sold to finance the activities of an army, insurgency or warlord – by Mr. Taylor while attending a private dinner at the home of the former South African president Nelson Mandela in 1997.
Mr. Taylor has long been accused of using blood diamonds to fuel conflict in Sierra Leone while he served as president of neighbouring Liberia.
Mr. Taylor has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges, which include pillage, slavery for forced marriage purposes, collective punishment and the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The charges relate to his alleged support for two rebel groups in Sierra Leone – the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and the Revolutionary United Front.
The SCSL was set up jointly by the Sierra Leonean Government and the UN in 2002 and is headquartered in Freetown, the capital. It is mandated to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and national law committed on Sierra Leonean territory since the end of November 1996.
USA :
CANADA :
Mbeki accuses summit leaders of abandoning Africa
Former South African president sees violation of G8 commitments, which he helped fashion
Geoffrey York/From Friday’s Globe and Mail /Jul. 02, 2010
Johannesburg —
.Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has launched a blistering attack on the G8 and G20 summits in Canada, accusing the summit leaders of abandoning Africa and conveying a “message of despair” to the world’s poorest region.
Mr. Mbeki, a key leader in earlier G8 plans to help Africa, said the summits demonstrated that Africa has been relegated to the sidelines of the global development agenda. This is a tragedy and a violation of the G8’s earlier commitments, he said.
The critique by Mr. Mbeki is significant because he was a crucial figure in the global efforts to help Africa over the past decade. He played a key role at the G8 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., in 2002, when the Group of Eight created its Africa Action Plan – the most ambitious development plan for Africa in decades.
The change in rhetoric since then has been unmistakable. In 2002, the G8 adopted a statement about “the special needs of Africa.” This year, at its summit in Huntsville, Ont., the G8 instead made declarations about “responsible partnership” and African responsibility. By choosing those words, the G8 summit in Muskoka sent out a sharply different message from the 2002 summit, Mr. Mbeki said.
“The difference is that in Canada in 2010, as opposed to Canada in 2002, the rich of the world conveyed the message that Africa had once again drifted to the periphery of the global development agenda,” Mr. Mbeki said in a commentary published on Thursday in The Star, a Johannesburg newspaper.
While millions of Africans have been celebrating the successful hosting of the World Cup in the past few weeks, the summits in Canada showed that “the richest in the world were communicating to Africa a contrary message of despair,” he said.
Over the past decade, he said, the developed world has “regressed” in its attitude toward Africa. He said the evidence of this backsliding was clear at the G8 summit and the G20 summit in Toronto last weekend.
In its final communiqué, the summit of the eight leading industrialized nations “made only a passing reference to its own Africa Action Plan,” he said. The G20 summit, meanwhile, “maintained a deathly silence about it.” In effect, the wealthy nations “walked away” from their commitments to Africa, he said.
He noted that the G8 at Muskoka emphasized the “global development challenge facing the world as a whole.” This means that Africa has lost its central place in the development agenda, he said.
Mr. Mbeki, president of South Africa from 1999 to 2008, was hand chosen by Nelson Mandela to succeed him as the nation’s leader. He was ousted in 2008 in an internal party coup that led to the rise of Jacob Zuma, the current president.
AUSTRALIA :
Quitting Australia is ‘right’ but ‘not easy’
MICHAEL BLEBY/ 2010/07/02/www.businessday.co.za/blebym@bdfm.co.za
GARETH Ackerman has quit Australia before. In 1984, he went to Brisbane to start the company’s first hypermarket there.
“Ironically, my wife and I went out as part of the opening team in 1984,” he says.
By 1987, Pick n Pay was building a second hypermarket in Melbourne. They had brought their own innovations. “I think our hypermarket in Brisbane was the first scanning store in Australia,” Mr Ackerman says.
A third store was planned for Sydney. Then trouble came for the company from apartheid SA. Australia’s construction unions refused to build the store. “We couldn’t expand. For political reasons we were forced out,” Mr Ackerman says.
Pick n Pay left in the late ’80s and did not return until May 2001. The sale, announced yesterday, of its 85 store-strong Franklins business to Metcash is good for Pick n Pay, but not a nice thing to do, Mr Ackerman says.
“The whole issue here is that strategically it’s the right thing for us. It’s not emotionally what we would have liked in the long term, but short term it’s the right thing. We put a lot of time and effort into a project of this nature. You often have to make hard decisions.”
Pick n Pay bought 50 Franklins stores for A134m in 2001 and spent that again, and more, over the next nine years adding stores and doing them up.
“When we took over, some of them were not in a great state. There was quite extensive refurbishment necessary. Three years ago we also took the decision to introduce a full service into those stores which could accommodate it space-wise — mainly including a produce and deli section ,” says financial director Dennis Cope.
Pick n Pay used Australia as an “incubator” to perfect processes it has since used in SA, such as central distribution centres and SAP software, now being installed in South African stores, Mr Ackerman says.
Analysts yesterday welcomed the decision to sell the Australian unit and focus on southern Africa, but nine years ago, there was no such impetus.
“At that stage, we looked at it and said, ‘How do we expand?’ Africa was not at the stage of development they’ve done in the past five to six years. That’s grown enormously,” Mr Ackerman says.
But while the African market changed, Australia did, too. “It’s become far more competitive. Woolworths have spent a huge amount improving their systems. Coles was bought by Wesfarmers and is getting new stores and upgrading systems. (German low- end retailer) Aldi’s entered the market. It’s a very, very different place (from) when we entered.”
The exit was expected. “I’m surprised it took so long,” Absa analyst Chris Gilmour says.
The board only agreed to a sale or entry of an investment partner 10 days ago, after the June 18 annual general meeting, Mr Ackerman says. These were the two proposals out of a strategic review he began in March.
One observer says former chairman Raymond Ackerman would have been more willing to stick it out and expand the operation. Was the disposal something that could happen only after his departure?
“You don’t expect me to answer that question?” Raymond Ackerman’s son asks with a touch of incredulity.
The company culture would have influenced the decision, Mr Gilmour says.
“When you’re pulling out, you’ve got to make sure people’s jobs are looked after — that’s very much a Raymond Ackerman hallmark. He’d have wanted to make sure there was as little human damage as possible.”
Gareth Ackerman says his emotional commitment is “very much” towards the 5000 Pick n Pay Franklins staff .
“We’re having to say to them, ‘Thank you very much, you now work for Metcash.’ With the Pick n Pay culture, it’s not an easy thing to do.”
It is the end of Pick n Pay’s Australian dream. In theory, Mr Ackerman could be back a third time, but his focus, he says, is on higher-yielding Africa.
“ Our strategic focus is to build on our home business and regional businesses.”
EUROPE :
ACP-EU Regional Seminar
europa.eu/02072010
DATE 07.Jul.2010 To 09.Jul.2010
Where:Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Action:Political Meetings
Description
The European Economic and Social Committee will organise the 11th Regional Seminar of ACP-EU Economic and Social Interest Groups in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
During the three day seminar, 12 EESC members will be joined by representatives of economic and social interest groups from the 16 countries of the East African Community (EAC) and of Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) to discuss the future of the EU-Africa Strategic Partnership, the 2010 Revision of the Cotonou Agreement and the role of non-state actors in its implementation, the negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements, sustainable food security and the role of the African social economy in combating poverty.
Invited keynote speakers include H.E. Mr. Meles Zenawi , Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Mr. Louis Michel, European co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Dr. Maxwell M. Mkwezalamba, Commissioner for Economic Affairs for the African Union Commission, Mr. Muna, President of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union, H.E. Mr. Sufian Ahmed, Minister of Finance and Economic Development of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and National Authorising Officer for the EU-Ethiopia Cooperation and Mr. Milupi, ACP co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
A press conference will take place on 7 July at 12.30 p.m. in the 2nd Conference room of the United Nations Conference Centre.
At the end of the regional seminar the delegates will adopt a final declaration on each of the five topics to be discussed during the event.
Background note:
Under the auspices of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the EESC organises meetings with ACP-EU Economic and Social Interest Groups. This role has been confirmed by the Cotonou Agreement, which mandates the EESC to organise consultation sessions and meetings of ACP-EU economic and social interest groups.
EU must boldly address the issues! – by Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro
02 July 2010 /www.newera.com.na
AS you may be well aware, Namibia has yet to sign the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). It is gratifying to see the EU, in the face of Namibian insistence, eventually shifting and being prepared to further listen to Namibia, negotiating and thrashing out Namibia’s reservations about the contents of the IEPA.
Contrary to the initial hardened attitude of especially the European Trade Commissioner, Karel de Gucht, the IEPA talks are due to resume this month. Central to these talks are Namibia’s concerns. It is also re-assuring to see Namibia’s partner states in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), despite having signed the agreement already, now squaring up behind her and its position for issues which remain ambivalent to be clarified in the least, or at most that the EU gives a firm commitment that at one stage or another they shall be properly, honestly and cordially be addressed in a spirit of partnership.
One cannot but also note the European non-governmental organisations’ stance on the matter, adding their voice to the Namibian Government’s concerns. All along, Namibia seemed to be a lone voice in what are essentially pertinent matters as far as the new trade regime between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, replacing the last such trade regime, Lome 1V, which essentially expired in 2000. So to speak, the new EU-ACP trade deal is well past midnight, as it was expected to have been concluded by September 2007. Namibia has been the hold-up, giving the impression that somehow it has been intransigent being the odd country in the SADC folder that has not signed the Interim EPA.
She has not been without her reasons. The EU, as much as it is yet to become the best market for Namibian goods and services, is nevertheless an important market.
Thus it could not have been expected of her to jump into a new deal without the necessary caution. More so, given the fact that the new deal contains many loose ends needing tightening up. Tighten these loose ends and we are on board! This is simply what we have been saying all along, which is not asking too much at all.
Namibia’s cautiousness entering into a new deal may not be informed by her personal experience alone, but that of many other ACP countries, the wretched nations of the current and ever unequal world economic order.
And Europe cannot pretend to be without any blemish in this regard. Despite years of trading between the European Union and the ACP countries, one is even hesitant to refer to this relationship as one among equal partners, unsure about to what extent the ACP countries have actually been benefitting from this trade relationship in a balanced way, let alone in a way balanced in their favour. After three to four decades of engagement between the EU and their ACP trading partners, there is little to show for how the ACP countries have advanced on the various indicators they were meant to benefit by terms of this engagement. The ACP’s underperformance in trade is an open book with its share of the market at one point falling from 3.4 percent to 1.1 percent.
Where its products have managed to reach the European market, the range has also been limi-ted and confined to a few products and diversification of their products has thus been a pipe dream. The very same underdevelopment the ACP countries inherited from their former colonial masters is the very same condition they are still wrestling with today with their economies marked by under-industrialisation, despite the good intensions of the trade deal. If these seem to be the experiences of many ACP countries that have been in this relationship longer than Namibia, how can Namibia then, during her relatively short existence as a sovereign nation, be expected to take the new deal at face value? Given this re-awakening realisation, dare one really blame her cautiousness not to enter any trade deal, however well meaning, blindly?
This is simply the context of Namibia’s seeming intransigent stance. Unfortunately, while one would have expected much understanding for her position, what is thrown in one’s face is an attitude of intransigence, strangely enough from apparent equal and smart partners. The issues that Namibia has been raising are issues like the Most Favoured Nation or the MFN clause requiring countries to treat all trading partners equally; the liberalisation of services, which is about opening up one’s borders to all sorts of services and products from the EU, while Namibia sees the need for the protection of her infant industries, before leaving them at the mercy of European companies that may still have protection and subsidies in their home countries.
Then there is the issue of Rules of Origin, which for Namibia and its Southern African Customs Union can be a tricky matter.
Needless to say, these and others are all matters that Namibia, its SACU and SADC partners, and indeed all ACP countries are wary about being bambooz
led into just like that but need to prepare well and with time as the process of establishing a new economic trade cooperation is not a simple one.
It entails them making sure how such a trade regime would dovetail with other regimes, bilateral and multilateral, and sub-regional, regional and international.
It’s a process that demands give and take among many different players.
Most crucially as at this stage it is hard for one to forecast the benefits any one country can reap from it, as much as the negatives, meticulousness is utmost in dealing with the necessary adjustments that may necessary, especially in terms of the negatives. Not that one can hold much brief, and anticipate much from the new deal in view of the neo-colonial experiences of the ACP countries vis-à-vis forerunning trade regimes.
The ACP countries have largely been caught in a dependent web of still exporting raw materials in terms of previous trade regimes. But due to a lack of a better alternatives on the globalised scenario, an euphemism for the continued exploitative relations between the developed and developing world they have been compelled to remain tied to the apron strings of their former colonial masters in the name of trade.
A glimpse into the Cotonou Agreement reveals loud and clear that economic and trade cooperation should be based on “a comprehensive approach, which builds on the strengths and achievements of the previous ACP-EC Conventions”. On its side the EU agreed that “trade liberalisation shall build on the acquis and shall aim at improving current market access for the ACP countries through inter alia, a review of the rules of origin”.
Namibia is simply informed by such a spirit well cognisant that in its current form the deal need much more polishing to avoid any ambivalence, now or later.
So the onus is on the EU to assure Namibia, and her ACP fellow travelers that they do not have anything to fear from the new trade deal. Until then her legitimate fears and misgivings shall remain an issue against the good wish of progress in signing the IEPA!
CHINA :
GE head Jeffrey Immelt slams China over hostility: Report
2 Jul 2010/AGENCIES/economictimes.indiatimes.com
LONDON: The head of General Electric has slammed China, alleging a hostile approach towards foreign companies, the Financial Times reported on
Friday, but the group objected that the comments were taken out of context.
“I really worry about China,” CEO Jeffrey Immelt told a business audience in Rome, according to the FT.
“I am not sure that in the end they want any of us to win, or any of us to be successful.”
Immelt added: “China and India remain important for GE but I am thinking about what is next.”
The GE chief referred to the “most interesting resource-rich countries” in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America plus Indonesia.
“They don’t all want to be colonised by the Chinese. They want to develop themselves,” Immelt added, according to the paper.
The FT also reported that the CEO was critical of US President Barack Obama, expressing concern that excessive US regulation, in the wake of the global financial crisis, would dampen a “tepid” economic recovery.
INDIA :
BRASIL:
EN BREF, CE 02 juillet 2010… AGNEWS /OMAR, BXL,02/07/2010
