{jcomments on}OMAR, AGNEWS, BXL, le 17 mars 2010 – globalvoicesonline.org- March 17, 2010–Two separate tragedies struck Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on Tuesday: students at Makerere University rioted after the shooting death of two of their peers, and the Kasubi Tombs, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the burial location of the kings of one of Uganda’s largest ethnic groups, burned to the ground.
RWANDA
UGANDA
Fire guts down world heritage site in Uganda
English.news.cn / news.xinhuanet.com/ 2010-03-17
KAMPALA, March 16 (Xinhua) — Fire broke out on Tuesday night at a 126-year-old royal burial ground, Kasubi Tombs, enlisted for the World Heritage Site, leaving the main structure almost burned down.
Judith Nabakooba, the police spokesperson confirmed to Xinhua by telephone that the fire which gutted down the tombs where four Kabakas or Kings of the once most powerful Kingdom in the East African region, Buganda Kingdom, were buried, started at 8:40 P.M. (1740 GMT).
She said the cause of the fire is still unknown as the crowd there is rowdy and did not allow the police to access the place.
“You can not establish the cause of the fire now because the people there are throwing stones at our officers. One of our policemen has been admitted at Mulago Hospital,” she said.
“Immediately they saw our fire attendants, they started pelting stones at them,” she added.
Located on a hill in Uganda’s capital Kampala, Kasubi Tombs, a former palace of the Kings of Buganda, was built in 1882 and converted into the royal burial ground in 1884.
The tombs laid within the main building, a 10 meter tall, 15 meter in diameter thatched hut made of wood, reed, wattle and daub.
The tombs were a tourist attraction as well as an important spiritual and political site for the Baganda, one of Uganda’s largest ethnic group.
It was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2001.
Uganda: Students riot, Kampala burns
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010/by Rebekah Heacock/ globalvoicesonline.org
Two separate tragedies struck Kampala, the capital of Uganda, on Tuesday: students at Makerere University rioted after the shooting death of two of their peers, and the Kasubi Tombs, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the burial location of the kings of one of Uganda’s largest ethnic groups, burned to the ground.
Riots at Makerere University
According to Ugandan newspapers, the riots at Makerere University, Uganda’s largest university, began after two students were shot dead and another critically injured by a security guard Monday night during a meeting about the current Student Guild elections. The Daily Monitor reports two versions of the events:
Police say many students had gathered at the Hostel for the final leg of the Guild election campaigns when the watchman, suspecting one of the students could have intended to damage a vehicle in the parking lot, opened fire.
Earlier reports suggested supporters of Simon Kamau, one of the contestants in the guild presidential race, clashed with those of NRM’s John Taylor, prompting the shooting of the Kenyan students.
The New Vision suggests the shootings were a result of a disagreement between one candidate and the supporter of another:
As the group prepared to leave, they were confronted in the compound by Nyongesa, who is believed to belong to the camp of John Kamau, one of the two Kenyans in the guild race.
He reportedly tried to hit [candidate John] Teira with a bench when the group rejected his calls to leave the hostel.
A brief commotion ensued, which, according to eyewitnesses, compelled the guard to fire the bullet that hit the three students.
Students responded on Tuesday by marching through Makerere University grounds, carrying signs and a coffin to protest the killings. Both newspapers report that the protests turned violent and that police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.
Ole Tangen Jr, a journalist living in Kampala, was one of the first to blog about the Makerere riots. He wondered why more students weren’t using social media networks to spread the news:
Last night two Makerere students were shot by an armed security guard leading to widespread riots near the university today.
However no one thought to utilize Twitter to get the story out. Searches for #Makerere all day on Twitter Search resulted in nothing more than news reports. How is it that students — particularly politically-active students — are not making use of the social media tools available to them. Is it ignorance of Twitter? Is it the high cost of an internet connection? What has led to this?
A Twitter search for “makerere” largely supported his claim, with most tweets consisting of links to newspaper articles. Still, some Twitter users in Kampala were able to add some context:
@arthurnakkaka (18 hours ago): Gunshots being fired. Or its tear gas? #Makerere
@arthurnakkaka (18 hours ago): Students screaming and running. Situation getting bad #Makerere
@aspindler2 (18 hours ago): Demonstrations at Makerere Univ. Kampala uganda after shooting of 2 stdnts last night by security guard. Police firing teargas disperse crwd
@mirembe_maria (14 hours ago): The makerere University Strike has left two dead and one in critical condition, what is the way forward for the Government about all this??
Kasubi Tombs Burn
On Tuesday night, in an apparently unrelated incident, the Kasubi Tombs, the burial site of the kings of Uganda’s Baganda ethnic group, burned to the ground. The current king of the Baganda people has been in the news recently for his clashes with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni. In September 2009, the tension between the two led to deadly riots in Kampala, and citizens fear that the fire could lead to future unrest.
Ugandan blogger 27th Comrade writes:
Usually it is arson when a place like that burns down. They are made of grass thatch, the tombs, so the fire will be absolutely devastating.
Already, some f***wits around me are saying “Government!” I’d be more-likely to say “Opposition!” But I guess it is more-likely some staffer who was careless with fire. Let us wait for news.
Blogger and journalist Rosebell writes:
This relationship between President Museveni’s government and Buganda Kingdom is far from rosy and this has already given fertile ground for many to think there was some foulplay. Many people seem to expect riots to breakout at dawn. We only hope there will be a thorough investigation into the burning of the tombs and that no people will lose their lives and property. This is crucial time for Buganda leadership too. The Kasubi tombs are equally a heritage for the country so i hope both sides deal with this issue with maximum restraint.
Ugandans on Twitter are equally worried:
@daphnzempire (6 hours ago): kasubi tombs is on fire..oh my God where are we headed
@Kakazi (6 hours ago): Kasubi tombs burnt down about 2hours ago.. I honestly pray it wasn’t arson!! A great loss to our heritage..:-(
@mugumya (6 hours ago): I fear there might be some kind of disturbance 2moro after Kasubi tombs are gutted in Kampala
Lauren, an American who formerly lived in Kampala, remembers taking friends to visit the tombs:
The Kasubi Tombs are more than important cultural and historic structures to me. When we lived in Uganda, they were my neighbors. Our apartment was at the bottom of Kasubi Hill, and we passed the Tombs every day to and from downtown Kampala. We took numerous visitors to see the tombs to learn more about the Buganda tribe, its history and culture. I always loved passing the guards of the Tombs; dressed in the traditional saffron-colored robe and leaning against the big tree out front, they waited patiently to greet the next set of visitors.
TANZANIA:
Zambia, Tanzania in standoff with Kenya over sale of ivory
By Chibaula Silwamba and Agness Changala / www.postzambia.com/ Wed 17 Mar. 2010
ZAMBIA and Tanzania are embroiled in a standoff with Kenya over the two southern African countries’ application to Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to allow them to sell their ivory.
And minister of tourism and natural resources Catherine Namugala has appealed for support and understanding from the international community on Zambia’s proposal to sell its ivory.
In an interview yesterday, Namugala said Zambia and Tanzania want to sell part of their ivory.
Kenya and 23 other African countries, with the support of the US government and some European countries, are opposed to Zambia and Tanzania’s proposal to sell the ivory, contending the one-off sale of ivory would heighten poaching that will led to extinction of elephants.
“Tanzania and Zambia have made proposals to CITES to ask that the parties to the conference when they meet must allow the two countries to sell their ivory stockpile, they must also be allowed to continue to sell the skin.
You know we have a lot of human and wildlife conflicts in Zambia and most of these elephants are killed or controlled. Zambia and Tanzania is to collectively sell 105 tonnes of ivory that is in their custody,” Namugala said.
She dismissed assertions that the sale would increase poaching.
She said some countries opposed to Zambia and Tanzania’s proposal did not even have elephants.
“It is not true for our friends who get money from NGOs from outside to believe that just because they can be funded by outsiders and they plough that money into conservation and that we are also going to give up our sovereignty and fail to make decisions that are good for our people,” she said.
Namugala said SADC countries and Norway were supporting Zambia.
“Norwegians have been working with us in South Luangwa National Park and they know how impoverished the community of Mambwe district is because of elephants destroying their fields and homes,” Namugala said. Zambia wants to sell 21.7 metric tones of ivory while Tanzania, 90 metric tones.
The Zambian government requires about US$10 million annually for conservation of elephants.
Namugala explained that money from the sell of ivory and elephant skins would help in wildlife conservation.
Addressing journalists in Lusaka yesterday, Namugala called for understanding from all those opposed to Zambia’s proposal to down list the African elephant population from appendix I to II.
Appendix I listing means that the species is threatened with extinction and no commercial activities or exploitation are allowed while appendix II allows for commercial utilisation of elephants.
She said the government wanted to clear stocks of ivory while at the same time allowing sustainable use of the species through trophy hunting for non-commercial purposes and trade in live animals to acceptable destinations.
“I wish to emphasise that Zambia recognises that its elephant population is a valuable and prestigious resource in tourism development. Therefore, the country would not have proposed the down listing of the elephant if doing so endangered the survival and existence of a species it considers critical in nature based tourism,” she said.
Namugala said the value of stockpile at Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) is US$ 4 million (about K18.4 billion) at a conservative price.
She said funding to ZAWA from the government and the international community was too little for it to effectively carry out its functions.
“We are ready to sustainably utilise the elephants to the benefit of the Zambian people,” said Namugala.
CITES members have been meeting since last Saturday and will on March 25, 2010 conclude in Doha Qatar, where they would make a decision on whether or not to approve the proposal by Zambia and Tanzania to sell their ivory.
CONGO RDC :
KENYA :
Britain Stops Funding to Kenyan Education Ministry Because of Corruption
National Association of Parents Secretary Musau Ndunda hopes the British action would force the Kenyan government to seriously deal with corruption
James Butty/www1.voanews.com/Washington, DC 17 March 2010
The British government said it will stop funding Kenya’s Free Primary Education Program through the country’s ministry of education because of the risk of fraud.
Instead the head of Britain’s Department for International Development, Alistair Fernie announced Tuesday in Nairobi that the UK was exploring ways to channel about $30 million earmarked for 2010-2011 directly to schools.
The United States earlier this year suspended about $7 million in funding to Kenya’s Primary Education Program because of allegations of fraud.
Musau Ndunda, secretary general of the Kenya National Association of Parents said he hopes the British decision will force the Kenyan government to aggressively deal with the issue of corruption within the education ministry.
“I think the suspension of the aid by the British government will go a long way in making the government knuckle up because the people who are involved in the fraud and the mismanagement of the funds are still very much working with the Ministry of Education. And therefore I think time has come for our President of Kenya, His Excellency Moi Kibaki needs to take a quick action to save the lives of 8.8 million children in our country,” he said.
Ndunda said the Kenya National Association of Parents since last year has been pointing out to the government the level of fraud that was going on in the Ministry of Education.
He said unfortunately the government never took any serious action to address those issues.
Ndunda said the Association of Parents welcomes Britain’s announcement that it was exploring ways to channel education funding perhaps directly to the schools.
He said non-governmental organizations have a good record of managing funds and it would be a good move to channel funding for education through them.
“I think that’s a good move because I remember two years ago we had the same problem with the HIV/AIDS funds, and I remember that the same money was taken from the government and given to the NGOs and it’s now working very well in our country. So NGOs have a lot of credibility and they are able to work with the grassroots community,” he said.
The Kenyan Ministry of Education has been on a hot seat since the scandal of missing funds broke last year.
Ndunda said several audits support the allegations of missing funds at the Ministry of Education.
“One of the things that I want to tell you is that our Ministry of Education officials are not open, and they would not want to come out clearly because they know what has happened at the Ministry of Education,” Ndunda said.
He said the Association of Parents carries some weight on issues relating to education, but parents’ participation of on issues of governance leaves much to be desired.
“In one way, being a National Association of Parents we represent quite of a big constituent in the country. We have close to 7.8 million parents who have children in school, and we have been able to influence a lot policy chances in the country. But the only problem is that the participation of parents in the issues of governance of education in the country leaves a lot to be desired because parents do not participate in the national policy formulation,” Ndunda said.
ANGOLA :
Angola may open oil bids round in 2011-minister
Wed Mar 17, 2010/Reuters
VIENNA, March 16 (Reuters) – Angola could re-open a bidding round for oil exploration next year, Oil Minister Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos said in an interview in Vienna on Tuesday.
“The signals sent by the economy last year led us to withhold some bidding rounds,” he told Reuters. “We have a process that was suspended in 2008. We hope to re-open it at the right time, maybe next year. 2011 could be better.”
Angola needed to speed up its $8 billion Lobito refinery project, the minister said while in Vienna to attend Wednesday’s OPEC meeting.
“This is a project that we need to accelerate because our internal fuel consumption is growing,” he said.
“It doesn’t make sense that an oil-producing country does not meet its own domestic demand. We are going to accelerate this project to make it possible to produce fuels in 2014, with the refinery in operation.”
(Reporting by By Alejandro Barbajosa)
Vaalco posts 4Q profit on higher oil prices
The Associated Press /March 17, 2010
HOUSTON
Oil exploration and production company Vaalco Energy on Tuesday posted a fourth quarter profit as revenue doubled on higher crude prices.
Vaalco, whose operations are located primarily in Gabon and Angola in West Africa, said it made $2.2 million, or 4 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a loss of $7.5 million, or 13 cents per share, in fourth quarter of 2008.
Revenue nearly doubled to $32.6 million in the quarter compared with $16.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Vaalco sold 452,000 barrels of crude equivalent at an average price of $72.19 per barrel during the quarter compared with 399,000 barrels of oil equivalent at a price of $41.29 in the fourth quarter of 2008.
For the year, Vaalco reported a loss of $7.9 million, or 14 cents per share, compared with profit of $29.7 million, or 50 cents per share, for 2008. The company said it was hurt in 2009 by dry hole exploration costs of $33.4 million and a 36 percent decline in average oil prices.
Total revenues declined to $115.3 million in 2009 from $169.5 million in 2008.
The results were released after the stock market closed Tuesday. Vaalco’s shares fell 10 cents in after-hours trading to $4.22 after climbing 9 cents during the regular session
SPEAKER OF ANGOLA’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY INVITED TO VISIT CUBA
news.brunei.fm/NAM NEWS NETWORK/ Mar 17th, 2010
LUANDA, March 17 (NNN-ANGOP) — The Speaker of Angola’s National Assembly, Paulo Kassoma, has received an invitation from his Cuban counterpart, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, to visit the Caribbean island republic.
The invitation was delivered here Monday by Cuban Ambassador to Angola Pedro Ross Leal during a call on Paulo Kassoma to congratulate him on his appointment to the post on behalf of the Cuban Speaker.
The ambassador later told the media that the invitation was accepted and the date for the visit would depend on Paulo Kassoma’s agenda. The Angolan Parliament was also invited to send a delegation to visit Cuba with a view to reinforcing co-operation between the two parliaments.
The Cuban Parliament Speaker expressed his wish to boost friendship ties between the Angolan and Cuban parliaments, said the envoy.
He also disclosed that at least 200 Cuban doctors were due to arrive inAngola over the next months to boost assistance to the local people. He added that Cuban physicians wouldcontinue to come to Angola as long as accommodative conditions were created.
Noting that 1,300 Cubans were working in Angola in the area of health, among them physicians, nurses and pharmacists, he added that there were also about 600 Cuban teachers working in this country, at the state-run Agostinho Neto University and in privately-run universities.
At the same time, some 100 Angolan students were preparing to study medicine in Cuba, where last year, 108 Angolan students graduated as physicians. — NNN-ANGOP
IMF Says Angola Must Take Steps for Sustainable Fiscal Position
March 17, 2010/By Candido Mendes/Bloomberg
March 17 (Bloomberg) — Angola must take further steps to create a sustainable fiscal position, limit inflation and build its foreign-exchange reserves, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement on its Web site.
The Washington-based lender loaned Angola $1.4 billion in November to help the oil-rich southern African country recover from the impact of the global financial crisis. Under the accord, Angola is subject to quarterly performance reviews.
Angola hopes OPEC will heed its plight
March 17, 2010/www.theafricareport.com/Reuters
By Alejandro Barbajosa VIENNA (Reuters) – A drop in the oil price to less than $70 a barrel would force OPEC members to increase compliance with the group’s output cuts, Angola’s oil minister told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. Prices above that level allow producers some leeway to exceed agreed targets, Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos said. “If prices are falling, we have no alternative other than to comply with established cuts,” he said ahead of OPEC’s Wednesdau meeting. “The price is in a stable range between $70 and $80 that satisfies both producing and consuming countries. This is the appropriate time for us to sensitise other member countries so that they understand our reality,” Botelho de Vasconcelos has compared Angola’s history of conflict with that of fellow OPEC member Iraq, which is exempt from quotas. He said as he was leaving Angola earlier on Tuesday that last year he had asked OPEC “two or three times” to be exempt from the cuts, but the move had failed to gain approval from the group. The minister said Angola’s production capacity exceeded 2 million barrels per day (bpd), and production in the first three months of 2010 will probably average 1.75 million bpd. That was more than its OPEC target, which Angola claims is 1.656 million bpd, and way above the 1.52 million bpd assigned as part of the group’s decision to trim 4.2 million bpd of output in December 2008. Asked whether he would like Angola to pump at capacity, the minister said: “As a country, if it were possible within the organization, it would be important for us, but since we are members of the organization we should comply with its decisions.”
SOUTH AFRICA:
South Africa: Zuma to Meet All Factions in Harare
Dumisani Muleya/Businessday/allafrica.com/17 March 2010
Johannesburg — PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma held brief talks last night with his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe soon after his arrival in Harare on an official visit during which he will hold critical talks with the country’s bickering political leadership.
Zuma’s intervention in Zimbabwe could determine the future of the weakening coalition government, formed last year in a desperate bid to halt the country’s long-running political instability and precipitous economic collapse.
Zuma, who was not accompanied by any ministers, was welcomed at the airport by Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, among other senior officials.
Zuma will hold substantive talks with the three leaders today.
Official sources said issues which would weigh heavily on the talks during Zuma’s visit included unresolved issues linked to the Global Political Agreement, which is the blueprint of the current government, the new constitution and future elections.
The sources also said Zuma was likely to raise concerns over Mugabe’s indigenisation policy which threatens South African companies with seizures, and the plight of several South African farmers.
When he visited Zimbabwe last August, Zuma publicly urged Mugabe to “promote democracy, human rights and good governance”. But the ruling Zanu (PF) has failed to implement several political reforms, while Mugabe has run roughshod over small gains made so far. Mugabe and Zuma held talks for 30 minutes last night at a local hotel in the capital Harare to start off what could prove to be difficult political bargaining over the next two days.
Meetings will start at 9.30am with Zuma meeting Mugabe, followed by separate talks with Tsvangirai and Mutambara.
Zuma will then meet the three men together.
Zuma’s visit comes at a time when negotiations between the three political parties involved in the inclusive government were deadlocked. The parties have been in talks since November 23.
Zuma earlier met political parties’ negotiators, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche for Zanu (PF), Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma for the main wing of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Welshman Ncube and Priscillah Misihairabwi-Mushonga for the smaller MDC faction. Zuma’s facilitators are Charles Nqakula , Mac Maharaj and Lindiwe Zulu.
issues include the appointment of provincial governors, the swearing in of MDC member Roy Bennett as a deputy minister, and the unilateral appointments of attorney-general Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono by Mugabe.
After Zuma’s visit, the negotiators are set to resume talks on March 25. These talks could make or break the inclusive government.
Zuma’s visit comes in the midst of renewed infighting within the coalition over new issues in dispute, which include ministerial mandates. On March 5 Mugabe stripped four MDC ministers, three from MDC- Tsvangirai and one from MDC-Mutambara, of their functions and powers. The functions and powers were allocated to Zanu (PF) ministers.
On January 25, Mugabe, through a memo written by the chief secretary to the president and cabinet Misheck Sibanda, stripped Tsvangirai of some of his powers and allocated them to his vice-presidents, Joyce Mujuru and John Nkomo.
Aveng, Old Mutual and Shoprite: South African Equity Preview
March 17, 2010/By Carli Lourens/Bloomberg
March 17 (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 gained 219.72, or 0.8 percent, to 28,252.59 at the close of trading in Johannesburg.
Aveng Ltd. (AEG SJ): South Africa’s biggest construction company by market value said profit for the six months through December fell to 640 million rand ($87 million) from 952 million rand a year earlier. The stock fell 15 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 40 rand.
Old Mutual Plc (OML SJ): Julian Roberts, the chief executive officer of Africa’s largest insurer, is scheduled to speak to reporters in Johannesburg. The stock was unchanged at 13.95 rand.
Shoprite Holdings Ltd. (SHP SJ): The contraction in monthly retail sales probably eased to 2.4 percent in January from 3.7 percent the previous month, according to the median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Statistics South Africa will publish the data at 11 a.m. local time.
Shoprite, South Africa’s biggest retailer by market value, gained 70 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 77.90 rand. Massmart Holdings Ltd. (MSM SJ): South Africa’s largest food and goods wholesaler rose 1 rand, or 1 percent, to 102.80 rand. Truworths International Ltd. (TRU SJ), South Africa’s largest clothing retailer by market value, retreated for a fourth day, losing 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 53.55 rand.
Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:
Anglo American Plc (AAUKY US) gained 1.2 percent to $20.55. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) rose 2.1 percent to $38.41. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BBL US) dropped 1.2 percent to $65.84. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) fell 5.7 percent to $5.01. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) increased 3.2 percent to $12.34. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) added 1.9 percent at $9.77. Impala Platinum Holdings Co. (IMPUY US) slid 0.3 percent to $26.61. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) rose 2.3 percent to $4.44. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) gained 1.1 percent to $38.59. Telkom South Africa Ltd. (TLKGY US) advanced 1.8 percent to $18.34.
–Editors: Alastair Reed, Karl Maier.
Leaders’ Lavishness Gives Rise to ‘Lifestyle Audits’
By BARRY BEARAK/www.nytimes.com/Published: March 17, 2010
JOHANNESBURG — Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, has 20 children, three wives and a fiancée. Recently, the matter of how he supports this large and widely dispersed family has been vigorously questioned.
Indeed, the finances of everyone in government are suddenly viewed with a skepticism that often drifts into contempt. Zwelinzima Vavi, a labor leader and longtime ally of Mr. Zuma’s, is calling for “lifestyle audits” of all senior officials to surmise who is on the take and just how much they are taking.
For years, people have noticed a mismatch between the income and the outgo of many within the governing African National Congress. The A.N.C. is the party of Nelson Mandela, the organization that liberated the country from apartheid, the home of many heroes now struggling to get rich.
In his novel “Black Diamond,” Zakes Mda, one of the nation’s leading writers, wryly observed, “In this brave new world, accumulation of personal wealth is dressed up in militarism, as if capitalism is the continuation of the guerrilla warfare that was fought during apartheid.”
The catalyst for the current demand for accounting is not Mr. Zuma but rather the second most quoted member of the A.N.C., the leader of its youth league, Julius Malema. A virtual unknown two years ago, Mr. Malema, 29, is a young man seemingly unwise beyond his years.
His A.N.C. comrades could perhaps tolerate his abuse of political opponents, enjoying how he denounced them as Satanists or demeaned the women as too ugly to marry. He recently insulted the country’s Afrikaner minority by leading students in the old struggle chant, “Kill the farmer, kill the Boer.” In a nation where the police say 861 white farmers have been killed since 2001, some deemed this sing-along insensitive to say the least.
But Mr. Malema has also turned his tongue on veteran A.N.C. stalwarts, particularly leaders of the party’s alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, calling them reactionaries. He said the Communists presented themselves as champions of the working class while “they spend most of their time drinking red wine.”
Mr. Malema is popular in the townships, where most young people delight in the entertainment value of his scalding wit. But he is increasingly despised within his own party’s hierarchy and now claims that several A.N.C. leaders are out to “smear” him. This hardly seems implausible.
For a long time, people have wondered how a young man with an impoverished past has collected enough cash to own a fine home in the Johannesburg suburbs. Mr. Malema serves Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky and Moët & Chandon Champagne at his parties. He wears Gucci suits and a Breitling watch. He walks through poor communities in designer jeans.
In a single weekend last month, three major newspapers published exposés about Mr. Malema, asserting that he has amassed a fortune through government contracts steered to businesses in which he owns an interest.
According to The City Press, one company, SGL Engineering Projects, which listed Mr. Malema as a director, won $20 million in contracts from municipalities in Mr. Malema’s home province. The company’s earnings have multiplied in just the past two years, even though its work has often been found shoddy, news reports said.
These simultaneous revelations may have been a case of coincidental sleuthing — or perhaps closely timed leaks from well-informed enemies.
Under pressure to respond, Mr. Malema, speaking through his attorney, said that in 2008 he resigned his directorships in all companies. He insisted that he was unaware that he currently held a position in SGL.
Mr. Zuma has routinely supported his pugnacious acolyte, and this time was no different. “I’m not sure Malema has no right to business, on what basis I don’t know,” the president said.
But blood was in the water, and soon the call for lifestyle audits stretched into the presidency itself. Mr. Zuma said such invasive accounting was unnecessary, arguing that by law government officials already were obligated to disclose their business interests, gifts and assets.
The president was correct about that. In fact, by law he was supposed to report the details of his finances within 60 days of assuming office. He was inaugurated 10 months ago but had yet to comply with the ethics code.
Last Wednesday, a week after the news media finally awakened to Mr. Zuma’s non-compliance — and after even some political allies had joined political adversaries in their disapproval — the president submitted an accounting of his holdings, though the extent of that disclosure has yet to become public.
As to how he supports all those dependents, part of the answer emerged Tuesday when Collins Chabane, a minister within the presidency, said the government provided more than $2 million a year for “spousal” support. The examples he gave were for expenses relating to the duties of Mr. Zuma’s wives in their capacities as first ladies, such as secretaries, air travel, cellphones and computers. No details were given regarding government support for the president’s children.
The payment of Mr. Zuma’s bills has been an issue before. In 2005, a close friend and financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, was found guilty of bribing Mr. Zuma in return for help in various business deals. The moneybags were open for items big and small: vacations, medical bills, even the allowance for Mr. Zuma’s children. The trial judge said the two had a “mutually beneficial symbiosis.”
Mr. Zuma was later charged with 16 counts of fraud, corruption and racketeering. He avoided a trial when prosecutors dismissed the case because of misconduct within their ranks, just weeks before he was sworn in as president.
Mr. Shaik, sentenced to 15 years, spent only 28 months in jail before being freed on medical parole in March 2009. At the time, he was said to be near death, though he has since been observed driving around Durban in his BMW X6.
That is not the automobile Mr. Malema prefers. He sits behind the wheel of a black C63 Mercedes-Benz AMG.
Oprah in court
Ordered to testify at headmistress trial
By MAXINE SHEN /www.nypost.com/March 17, 2010
Oprah Winfrey will be starring in a Philadelphia court room in the next few weeks — facing the former headmistress she fired from her exclusive girls school in South Africa after a student sex-abuse scandal.
A federal judge refused yesterday to throw out a defamation lawsuit filed by Nomvuyo Mzamane, who Oprah handpicked to run the school in 2007, against the queen of daytime TV and ordered the trial to begin later this month.
Mzamane was caught up in a widely-reported sex-abuse scandal at Winfrey’s $40-million Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. She was the headmistress at the time a school dorm matron and several students were accused of taking advantage of other students.
The matron, Tiny Virginia Makopo, was charged with sexually assaulting six girls and is on trial in South Africa.
Following an investigation by private detectives, Winfrey suspended Mzamane and told parents and the media that she had “lost confidence” in the headmistress and was “cleaning house from top to bottom.”
The suit charged that Oprah suggested Mzamane had been aware of the mistreatment and ignored it.
Since her dismissal, Mzamane has not been able to find a job in education, her lawyers claim.
Prior to being signed by Winfrey to run the South African school, she was the assistant head of operations at Philadelphia’s prestigious Germantown Friends School. She is seeking more than $250,000 in damages.
Winfrey, who is named as a defendant along with her Harpo Productions, is likely to be called as a witness during the trial, which is expected to take two weeks. She has rearranged her production schedule to accommodate the trial.
Winfrey’s lawyers argued the talk-show host’s statements were merely an opinion that she could not be sued for — but the judge said that would be up to the jury to decide.
“Oprah and Harpo await the opportunity to present the case in court,” said lawyer Chip Babcock on behalf of his clients Winfrey and Harpo.
This is second time the talk show host has landed in court for criticizing someone publicly. An Amarillo, Texas-based beef processor sued her in 1998 over statements she made during an episode of “Oprah” on mad-cow disease two years earlier,
Winfrey hired jury consulting firm Courtroom Sciences Inc. — co-founded by Dr. Phil McGraw — to help her prep for the two-month-long trial.
When the jury found in her favor, Winfrey credited Dr. Phil with her success and invited him to appear as a guest on her show. She then made him her relationship and life strategy expert and gave him a regular weekly segment.
AFRICA / AU :
UN /ONU :
EU to look beyond UN to speed up climate deal
Mar 17, 2010/www.monstersandcritics.com
Brussels – There is so little time for negotiation before United Nations talks on fighting climate change in Cancun, Mexico in November that the European Union should consider holding talks outside the UN to speed things up, an EU summit next week is to say.
The EU was largely sidelined in UN talks in Copenhagen in December and is keen to reassert its influence on the proceedings by looking for allies in the negotiating process.
The EU ‘remains firmly committed to the (UN) process … Given the short time available before Cancun, this process could usefully be complemented by discussions in other settings and on specific issues,’ reads a draft summit statement seen by the German Press Agency dpa.
The EU will ‘strengthen its outreach to third countries … by addressing climate change at all regional and bilateral meetings, including at summit level, as well as other fora such as the (Group of 20) G20,’ the draft, for discussion by EU leaders, says.
At the Copenhagen summit, the EU was left out of key talks between the United States, Brazil, China, India and South Africa which led to a weak and much-derided deal.
EU leaders therefore want to find ways to regain their influence over developed and developing countries.
‘Opportunities for cooperation, including with industrialized partners, need to be exploited in areas such as green technologies … Common interests with emerging countries on issues which could create leverage in the climate change debate should be rapidly identified,’ the draft says.
As part of its bid to win international agreement, the EU in December agreed to pay part of a 10-billion-dollar annual fund to help poor states to deal with global warming up to 2012, with world funding by 2020 tipped to reach 100 billion dollars a year.
‘The swift implementation of this commitment will be crucial,’ the draft acknowledges.
UN animal conference tackles Mideast animal trade
By ZEINA KARAM (AP)/17032010
BEIRUT — A 2-year-old lion, emaciated and barely breathing, is found in a tiny cage off a Beirut highway. Monkeys are hauled through the dark tunnels of Gaza, bound for private zoos. Rare prize falcons are kept in desert encampments by wealthy Arab sheiks.
The trade in endangered animals is flourishing in the Middle East, fueled by corruption, ineffective legislation and lax law enforcement.
“It’s a problem in the Arab world that we can no longer ignore,” said Marguerite Shaarawi, co-founder of the animal rights group Animals Lebanon.
The group is pushing for Lebanon to join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, whose signatories are meeting this month in Qatar. It is the first time the 175-nation convention is meeting in an Arab country.
Lebanon and Bahrain are the only Arab countries yet to sign the convention.
Delegates at the U.N. conference are considering nearly four dozen proposals on a range of endangered species from rhinos to polar bears.
John Sellar, chief enforcement officer for CITES, said it is difficult to estimate the extent of the illegal trade in the Arab world, but Animals Lebanon estimates that it is the third largest illegal trade in the region, after weapons and drugs.
“Much of the illegal trade that takes place here is of a specialized nature,” Sellar said, citing the example of prize falcons, kept by many Arab sheiks in desert encampments, particularly in the United Arab Emirates.
“We’ve also seen some smuggling of very exotic species … like very rare parrots, young chimpanzees, gorillas and leopards that seem to be for the private collections of some of the rich individuals in the Gulf area,” he said.
Several recent incidents have underscored the plight of animals in Lebanon — a country where the only law that refers to animal rights stipulates that anyone who purposely harms an animal has to pay a fine of up to $15.
Willem Wijnstekers, the secretary-general of CITES, said countries must have strong laws in place to discourage animal smuggling. Otherwise, he said, smugglers will simply see the penalties as part of the cost of doing business, and not a deterrent.
In December 2009, Animals Lebanon began a campaign against Egypt’s Monte Carlo Circus after it received a tip that the circus animals — six lions and three tigers — did not have proper certificates and had not received water or food during the six-day trip from Egypt to Lebanon.
The group sent several activists and a veterinarian to the circus grounds to investigate, and they reported the animals were malnourished and that one cub had been de-clawed.
The circus was declared illegal in January after Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan sent the ministry’s own experts to investigate, but the circus has appealed. While the case continues, the circus is still giving daily performances attended by small crowds.
“The case of the circus, and the trade of the lions and tigers, highlighted the urgent need to have Lebanon join CITES and protect these endangered species,” Hajj Hassan said.
A circus employee at a recent performance denied the animals were treated badly.
“They say we are not feeding them. Look at them, do they look hungry to you?” the employee asked the audience as lions and tigers dutifully performed acrobatics around a caged tent near a highway just north of Beirut.
There was no official comment from the circus.
The animals looked healthy at the performance, weeks after the allegations were made.
In February 2009, Animals Lebanon managed to close down a zoo and rescue its 42 neglected and dying animals that had become a health hazard to its neighbors.
The starving animals languishing in dirty, rusty cages included bears, jackals, a chimpanzee, monkeys and a vulture that had apparently spent years tied by a chain that prevented it from flying or moving out of its cage, which measured just 20 square feet (2 square meters).
“The lion and chimpanzee died, but we flew the monkeys to a sanctuary in Wales and two bears to a sanctuary in Turkey,” Shaarawi said. “I cannot describe the happiness I feel when we are able to rescue abused animals and find new homes for them.”
In September, a 2-year-old lion cub was rescued by members of another local animal welfare organization after he was apparently abandoned off the main road in Beirut by the owner of the pet shop that imported him.
The severely dehydrated “King of the Jungle” was emaciated and malnourished with open sores on his body, according to Beta, the organization that rescued him. Beta tried to save the animal — which the group named Adam — but it died shortly after it was found.
There are similar problems across the region.
In Egypt, a gateway from Africa to the Middle East, there is a flourishing chimpanzee trade and exotic animals are frequently smuggled in and out. The owners are believed to bribe airport officials to look away.
Last year, panic broke out on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Egypt when a foot-long baby crocodile wriggled out of a passenger’s hand luggage.
In blockaded Gaza, residents smuggle animals through tunnels that link the territory to Egypt to supply their private zoos. Smugglers proudly speak of hauling lions, monkeys and exotic birds through the underground passageways, making deals with animal smugglers in Egypt.
Most animals are drugged first, but in a particularly cruel practice, zoo owners usually rip out the teeth of lions to ensure they don’t bite visitors.
Activists say many of the pet shops in Lebanon are unlicensed and keep the animals in appalling conditions without proper health care.
One pet shop owner who identified himself only by his first name, Elie, to avoid “trouble” from activists, scoffed at the allegations.
“Everything in here is legal,” he says of the dogs, cats, parrots and rabbits he sells. Asked whether it was fair to keep a puppy locked up in a cage the size of a bird cage, he shrugged: “They are fine. It is only until I sell them.”
Associated Press writers Diaa Hadid in Gaza and Sarah El Deeb in Cairo contributed to this report.
USA :
Trial date set for Oprah defamation lawsuit in US
March 17, 2010/ Sapa-AP
PHILADELPHIA: A judge says Oprah Winfrey must defend a defamation suit filed by the former headmistress of her girls’ school in South Africa.
The case is now set for trial on March 29 in Philadelphia.
Judge Eduardo Robreno said former headmistress Nomvuyo Mzamane had enough evi- dence to pursue claims that Winfrey defamed her. Winfrey made the remarks in 2007 when sex-abuse complaints surfaced. – Sapa-AP
CANADA :
No pension boost for Britons abroad
Some retirees have not had increase in 20 years
By MARK IYPE and MIKE BARBER, Canwest News Service/ www.montrealgazette.com/ March 17, 2010
The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that British retirees living abroad – including more than 150,000 in Canada – will not have their pensions indexed to reflect inflation.
The decision means more than 500,000 British expatriates living in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will continue to receive their payments at the unadjusted levels.
“We’re obviously incredibly disappointed,” said John Markham, a spokesman for the International Consortium of British Pensioners.
The case was first heard by the British courts in 2002, but every level of the judicial system denied the pensioners’ claim.
Finally, in 2009, the case was brought to the human rights tribunal by pensioners who claimed that Britain’s policy violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
Some retirees living abroad haven’t seen their payments increase in 20 years, meaning they could be losing out on thousands of dollars a year compared with those living in Britain, the U.S. or elsewhere in the European Union.
The British government has bilateral agreements with the EU and 15 other countries that allow for inflation-indexing of pensions. But most Commonwealth countries do not have similar agreements.
Markham, a 76-year-old retiree who has been drawing a pension for 11 years, called the ruling “completely indefensible.”
“There should be equal freedom of choice no matter where we retire,” said Markham, who lives in Ottawa. “This is unjust.”
The current basic state pension in Britain is about $145 Canadian per week, but for the oldest overseas pensioners, who retired in the early 1970s, benefits can be as little as $10 a week.
The basic pension for those who retired in the early 1980s is about $50 a week, while for those who retired in the early 1990s, it is about $75 per week.
About 155,000 expatriates in Canada contributed to National Insurance while employed in Britain.
Many of those continued paying into the national pension fund after emigrating mid-career.
If the pensioners return to Britain, their payments are raised to current pension levels, but Markham said that is not possible for most of the affected retirees.
“We have lives in our new countries, we don’t want to just leave,” he said.
Had the court ruled in favour of the applicants, reports suggested the decision could have cost the British government more than $1 billion.
Harper fields questions on YouTube
March 17, 2010/CBC News
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fielded questions on hot topics ranging from legalizing marijuana and Afghanistan to aid for Africa and the deficit in his first YouTube interview Tuesday night.
Almost 2,000 questions were submitted and the favourites by far concerned the legalization of marijuana.
Harper said drugs damage society.
“We all need to make sure our kids understand, not just that our kids … hopefully not just understand the damage drugs can do to them, but they understand as well the wider social disaster they are contributing to if they, through use of their money, fund organizations that produce and deliver illicit narcotics.”
Harper gave mostly the same answers he does to mainstream media during the 40-minute interview hosted by Google Canada.
“We will be able to balance our budget over basically a five-year term without raising taxes,” the prime minister said in response to a question on the deficit.
Another question was whether the government will continue its current financial commitment to provide $2.1 billion a year in aid to Africa
“Over the next year, foreign aid will increase again and Canada will go up another eight per cent, very rapid growth. After that it will be flatlined,” Harper said.
On Afghan prisoners, the PM repeated what he has said in the House.
“I think our men and women in uniform and other public servants have been doing a, you know, a good job in Afghanistan under extremely difficult conditions.”
A lot of questions concerned the environment. For example, “Is your government willing to take the strong measures necessary to deal with climate change,” and “When do you plan on getting serious about developing green energy solutions for Canadians?”
Harper replied: “That’s why we’re investing in things like carbon capture and storage. That’s why we have, you know, we have the green infrastructure fund in our economic stimulus program.”
Though the answers were not surprising, the format has worked for him in the past. A video of Harper belting out a Beatles tune went viral on YouTube last year, helping to soften his austere image and briefly boosting support for his ruling Conservatives.
Email responses from Lifesgood Inc.
Mar 17 2010/www.thestar.com
In a response to questions about his involvement with a charity under investigation by Revenue Canada, charity consultant Craig Copland sent the following emails:
To: David Bruiser
From: Craig Copland
1. There are complete records confirming the shipment of all anti-retroviral and related pharmaceuticals to the partner hospitals and clinics assisted by Pediatric AIDS Canada. Any allegation or suggestion that these medicines may not have existed is false and if claimed would be slanderous. The only documents that have not been provided to date to CRA are some certificates confirming whether or not some of the shipments met national standards for approval. These certificates were requested by CRA long after the shipments had been made and received by the hospitals and the records were no longer extant. Similar documents for more recent shipments were available and were submitted to CRA.
Full documentation has been made available to CRA concerning all shipments made and all corresponding shipments claimed by Pediatric AIDS. There is no question whatsoever from CRA that these pharmaceuticals may have not existed. You either know that or you could easily find it out. Any suggestions by you that the shipments may not have existed are false. And you know they are.
2. My company, Lifesgood Inc., assisted Pediatric AIDS Canada in acquiring pharmaceuticals from reputable and fully registered and inspected pharmaceutical agents and manufacturers. All funds received by Lifesgood Inc. from Pediatric AIDS were spent for this purpose. My company made no profit whatsoever from providing this service and carried it out based on humanitarian purposes. Approximately 93% of funds received from Pediatric AIDS were paid directly to the pharmaceutical manufactures or their agents. Full documentation exists confirming the expenses incurred by Lifesgood Inc. The remaining approximately 7% were spent on my costs for providing this service, including several trips to Africa to confirm suppliers and shipping. Any allegation that I personally profited from my role in assisting Pediatric AIDS by helping them in this way is absolutely false.
3. I have had no role whatsoever in the management or management decisions of Pediatric AIDS for the past seven years. It is my understanding that during the summer of 2009 the Board made a number of major decisions aimed at re-structuring and re-organizing the work, office and management.
Lifesgood Inc. had no role either in determining the allocation of the pharmaceuticals. All decisions on which programs to support were made by Pediatric AIDS and not by Lifesgood inc. The charity was the sole controller of the selection of the recipient program, and the contents of the shipments. Any suggestion that Lifesgood Inc. ‘controlled’ these factors is false.
4. All pharmaceuticals secured by Lifesgood Inc. for Pediatric AIDS Canada were sent to qualified and respected medical programs in Kenya and Uganda. The names and descriptions of these programs are listed on the Pediatric AIDS website. There is nothing I can add to the information that you already have about these medical centres. Any allegations you make that these programs do not exist, or do not provide the programs they are claimed to provide or have not received the shipments Pediatric AIDS claims to have sent them are false. Again, you know they are.
5. CRA has full documentation on the sources of the pharmaceuticals. They come from the same sources that supply PEPFAR (the US government HIV-AIDS program in Africa), the Clinton Foundation, the Ugandan and Kenyan hospitals that treat HIV-AIDS and almost all other NGO’s who carry out work related to HIV-AIDS is east Africa.
Over the past several years, Pediatric AIDS Canada has supplied anti-retroviral drugs for the continuing treatment of over 1000 children who had been diagnosed with advanced AIDS. Most of these children are now still alive directly as a result of receiving those treatments. It has been a privilege to have been able to assist in some way with this life-saving work.
No doubt your article will assist in destroying any chance of its continuing in the future.
You may contact me by email should you require further information.
===
Text of second email from Copland:
I have had no role in establishing the value of the pharmaceuticals as shown by the charity. The values set have been determined solely by the charity. It is my understanding that the values are in line with the values declared by the Ministry of Health, Government of Ontario.
As I have informed you in the past, the terms of my relationship with Xentel are bound by contractual confidentiality. Your continuing to ask me to disclose those terms is a deliberate attempt to have me violate the terms of that contract. Cease and desist from doing so.
AUSTRALIA :
Bharti Said to Plan Agreement on $8.5 Billion Loan This Week
March 17, 2010/By Katrina Nicholas/Bloomberg
March 17 (Bloomberg) — Bharti Airtel Ltd. plans to agree to terms with banks this week for an $8.5 billion loan that would help it buy most of Zain’s African assets, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Bharti, India’s biggest wireless operator, is seeking a six-year loan with an average life of 4.75 years, said the people, who declined to be identified as the details are private. The New Delhi-based company may pay interest of 2 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, they said.
Zain, Kuwait’s biggest phone company, said on Feb. 15 that it entered exclusive talks to sell Bharti its African operations, excluding those in Morocco and Sudan, for $10.7 billion including assumed debt. The exclusive talks will continue until March 25, the companies said.
Bharti is also seeking a 100 billion rupee ($2.2 billion) six-year loan to fund the purchase, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. It may pay interest of about 8.5 percent on that facility, the newspaper said.
Banks seeking internal approvals to contribute to the dollar loan include BNP Paribas SA, HSBC Holdings Plc, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Credit Agricole CIB, the people said today. Standard Chartered Plc and Barclays Plc are advising Bharti on the acquisition, two people said last month.
Bharti spokesman Senjam Raj Sekhar didn’t answer a call or immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.
–With assistance from Mehul Srivastava in New Delhi. Editors: Will McSheehy
EUROPE :
EU pushes rich states on fast-start climate funding
www.earthtimes.org/By : dpa /17 Mar 2010
Category : Environment
Environment News | Home
Brussels – European Union finance ministers on Tuesday urged more rich countries to offer poor states immediate aid to fight global warming, as the EU, US and Japan have already done. The three powers promised in Copenhagen in December to pay up to 30 billion dollars over the next three years to help poor states gear up to adapt to global warming, but the money has not yet started to flow, raising questions over the credibility of their promises.
Tuesday’s EU meeting “reaffirmed the EU and its member states’ commitment to contribute 2.4 billion euros (3.3 billion dollars) annually over the period 2010-2012 and calls on other parties to announce their fast-start contributions,” a joint statement said.
The fast-start funding is meant to help poor countries prepare to fight climate change and gear up their administrations to handle the much larger sums of funding Western states have pledged further in the future.
Rich states in Copenhagen put that future funding need at 100 billion dollars a year by 2020.
The EU statement included a pledge to provide an annual report on how the EU is coming up with the money and where it is being spent, with the first report due to be delivered in world climate talks in Mexico in November.
The EU sees the offer of funding as one of its main bargaining chips in United Nations talks on fighting climate change.
But the bloc was largely sidelined in the Copenhagen talks, where the key agreements were drawn up between the United States, China, Brazil, India and South Africa.
EU officials say it is therefore crucial to live up to the funding pledge, in an attempt to restore EU influence in climate talks.
CHINA :
China’s Foreign Investment Rebounds
Posted by: Bruce Einhorn / www.businessweek.com/ March 17, 2010
Industry groups representing multinationals are grumbling again about China. They’re upset about new “indigenous innovation” policies encouraging the purchase of locally-generated technology. See, for instance, comments from the head of the Business Software Alliance in a story I wrote last week, “Software Industry Loses Patience with China.” Other industries are angry, too, as Forbes reports in this story, “Growing Bearish: U.S. companies despair of doing normal business in China.” According to Forbes, China used to go out of its way to encourage foreign investment. Now, “American business leaders in a range of different industries are ringing the alarm” as Chinese leaders decide they don’t need to worry so much about promoting foreign investment. Indeed, Forbes writes, “Beijing seems to have had a change of heart.” Throw in the problems Google has had with Beijing, China’s imprisonment of four Rio Tinto employees and foreign irritation with Premier Wen Jiabao’s hardline position on China’s currency and you seem to have a formula for foreign businesses to rethink their commitment to the People’s Republic.
The latest numbers on foreign direct investment (FDI), though, don’t quite support the argument that Beijing’s new policies are having much of a negative impact. FDI rose 4.86% in the first two months of the year, an increase that AFP interprets as “a sign of growing confidence in the world’s third-largest economy.” (We need to look at the first two months because the week-long Chinese New Year holiday was in January in 2009 and in February this year, thus distorting the monthly figures.) The two-month total of $14 billion is down from the $18.1 billion in January-February 2008, before the crisis hit. Still, the nearly 5% year-on-year increase is a good indication that, despite the complaints from some chambers of commerce about annoying policy changes from Beijing, companies remain keen on building up their China operations.
The bad news for the multinationals: The latest figures might make Chinese officials feel even more confident that Western businesses are just bluffing when they say China’s indigenous-innovation push is scaring away investment. For more on FDI in China and around the world, check out this slide show by my colleague Andy Reinhardt on the top 25 countries for FDI. China, as it has been every year since 2002, is No. 1.
UNAIDS Head Worried by Rising Antigay Tide
By Julie Bolcer/Advocate.com/ March 17, 2010
UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibé leveled criticism Monday against laws that criminalize homosexuality, saying that punitive stances make it significantly more difficult for his agency to maintain progress in the worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS.
Sidibé spoke at a luncheon for journalists Monday at the U.N. Foundation in New York City. He received the Outspoken Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission later that evening.
Declaring the AIDS epidemic to be “in transition,” Sidibé noted substantial progress, saying that more than 4 million people were being treated for the disease worldwide today, compared to just 50,000 receiving treatment in South Africa five years ago. However, the agency head expressed worry about the increasing inability to reach marginalized groups such as gays, sex workers, and drug users, often because of laws that criminalize their behavior and drive them into the shadows.
“Unfortunately, there is a call for a growing normalization of response when we are facing a growing criminalization.” said Sidibé. “It is unacceptable today to say that 85 countries still have laws which are criminalizing same-sex relations among others. Even seven of them have the death sentence for homosexual practice.”
In countries such as China, Kenya, and Malawi, said Sidibé, around 33% of new HIV infections occur in men who have sex with men. He said that in the United States, more than 50% of new HIV infections last year occurred among gay populations, and the rates were even higher for people under age 25, who represent about 44% of new HIV infections worldwide.
Sidibé commended new moves in China as an example of the “pragmatism” that will help lower infection rates in the future. The country has adopted evidence-based and inclusive policy reform that shuns a punitive approach, while encouraging government ministries to work synergistically and fostering open debate.
“I like the pragmatism of the Chinese government,” he said. “Today, they are one of the most progressive programs in Asia.”
Sidibé said he hopes China’s behavior can influence major trading partners in Africa. Efforts to overturn British colonial-era laws that criminalize homosexuality and to fight new proposals like the death penalty for gays in Uganda are major challenges facing UNAIDS in the developing world, he said.
“We are in a situation today which makes me very scared,” said Sidibe. “At the same time, we are claiming for universal access and trying to scale up our program, that’s where we are seeing bad laws being introduced by countries making people not have access to services. We cannot accept what I am saying, the tyranny of the majority. We must insist that the rights of minorities are upheld. If we don’t do that, I think the epidemic will grow again,” he said.
Sidibe said he anticipates progress on the decriminalization of homosexuality this July at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, bolstered by moves like the Delhi high court decision that struck down the sodomy law in India last year, and a law passed last month to decriminalize homosexuality in Fiji.
“I think Vienna is not the General Assembly, so Vienna is an international meeting which has always been helping us to make a shift,” he said, recalling negotiations that lowered the price of AIDS drugs at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2001.
On the particular case of Uganda, Sidibe called the proposed law “unacceptable” and “shocking” for a country that had been one of the most progressive in dealing with HIV.
“You have economic issues, but you have also a growing conservatism that is making me very scared,” he said. “Where we have a little space for offering political and social changes which has been started even a few years ago, we are seeing that being reversed in the name of what, I don’t know.”
Saying that UNAIDS was “pushing, writing and communicating” with officials in Uganda about the bill, Sidibe projected that the measure would be thwarted. He credited pressure from the United States, the United Kingdom, a recent op-ed in The Washington Post from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and even statements against the bill from Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren.
As for the increasingly strident antigay statements of Uganda minister Martin Ssempa, a former ally of Warren and chief proponent of the bill who has gone so far as to screen gay pornography in churches, Sidibe attributed his behavior to domestic politics.
“Sometimes, you have an internal rationale which you don’t understand and a political momentum, why things are happening like that,” he said. “Sometimes, you are in a period of election so you have a change happening in many of those countries where you can see conservative positions for which reasons you don’t understand.”
INDIA :
BRASIL:
Street Child World Cup Kicks-off in Durban
www.soschildrensvillages.ca/17/3/2010
– Street children from eight different countries will come together in sport and advocacy in the following days for a South African charity’s Street Child World Cup, hosted in Durban.
Yesterday, for the first time ever, the Deloitte Street Child World Cup kicked off in Durban, South Africa. Street children aged 14-16 from across the world gathered in a day of friendly competition and awareness-raising about the plight of the millions of children without homes or families.
The tournament is being held by Umthombo Street Children (an organization created by former street children themselves). The countries competing this year are South Africa, Brazil, Philippines, United Kingdom, Tanzania, India, Ukraine, and Nicaragua.
The sporting events will be complemented with recreational activities for the competitors and the local community, as well as public engagement events headed up by children’s advocates and child rights specialists. As such, this “mock-World Cup” is able to use the growing media focus on the FIFA World Cup that South Africa will host in June in a way that highlights the immense challenges of child poverty around the globe. The timing of these events is providential, as a recent South African AIDS conference in Durban raised issues about the lack of research and awareness about the depth of the troubles facing street children in South Africa.
The children all have different reasons for being on the streets. Some are runaways and some are orphans. Some have had their families ripped apart. Others have faced physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of those who are supposed to love and protect them the most. In South Africa, the average age of street children in 16 years old, though most begin living on the streets at 13, reports UNICEF.
Tragically, a life on the streets can be as fraught with danger as the situations they fled. Street children may face brutalization and forced displacement by police cracking down on crime; they are also vulnerable to kidnapping and child trafficking, as well as economic exploitation by handlers who force them to beg. Street children rarely have the chance to attend school or receive adequate health care. They are also more likely to be chronically hungry.
Children consigned to a life on the streets have fallen through a gap in many countries’ social planning. The Street Child World Cup presents a way to restore to many children their sense of empowerment, confidence and sense of self.
EN BREF, CE 17 mars 2010 … AGNEWS / OMAR, BXL,17/03/2010
