POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES
West Africa: In its second Africa Governance report, the UN Economic Commission for Africa noted several countries making progress on the political inclusion and promotion of multiparty democracy, while Ghana has been quoted as an example of good governance in West Africa.
A Pakistani general, Lieutenant General Sikander Afzal, a veteran of the United Nations quick reaction force in Somalia is set to become the next military head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
As part of the post-amnesty arrangements in Nigeria the New Partnership for Africa's Development NEPAD is to reintegrate 15,000 youths. Also the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has finally declared an "indefinite ceasefire" following President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's meeting with one of its former leaders, Mr. Henry Okah. In the meanwhile a group of repentant militant leaders issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal government, warning a return to the creeks, if the induced division among their ranks was not stopped.
In the meanwhile Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) granted Guinea Bissau $3.5 Million to Pay Soldier’s Salaries to maintain stability in the region.
South Africa: President Robert Mugabe has shrugged off the former opposition's
boycott of Zimbabwe's unity government, saying he would not yield to pressure to make concessions
East Africa/Horn of Africa: Sheik Mohamed Mo'allin, a secretary for the information affairs of Hizbul Islam, a Somali faction has denounced the AU troops for the heavy shelling in Mogadishu. In the meanwhile Ethiopian troops who arrived in parts of central Somalia in August have reportedly withdrawn from their bases. Also Security has been beefed up in a Kampala suburb with a big Somali population, following threats by the al Shabaab Islamists to attack the region.
Peacekeepers serving with the joint United Nations-African Union mission in Sudan's war-wracked Darfur region have intervened in deadly tribal clashes, bringing the situation under control. The peacekeeping mission also voiced grave concern over a significant surge in the number of Government and rebel troops in the war-ravaged western region. The new policy on Sudan announced by the Obama administration has been welcomed after months of ambiguity in this very critical policy region.
Central Africa: Tutsi rebels integrated into the Congolese army have warned of a possible return to conflict. The warning comes nearly a year after a peace agreement was first signed.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS
West Africa: The United Nations human rights chief has welcomed a new treaty to protect and assist displaced populations in Africa, which accounts for nearly half of the world's 26 million (IDPs).
Nigeria amongst other African countries and the Organization of Islamic Countries, OIC, is proposing a bill on "defamation of religion”, that human rights organizations have described as potentially dangerous. In the meanwhile students in Nigeria are demanding compensation for the educational standstill in three months of protest strikes.
Guinea's junta Chief Moussa Dadis Camara has postponed an announcement on whether he will stand for president, as a top UN diplomat arrived in the country to lead an international probe into the massacre of opposition supporters last month. Also Reporters without Borders have condemned the latest disturbing escalation in the Guinean military’s clampdown on reporters on their arrival at Conakry international airport.
South Africa: In Namibia a large crowd marched last week to protest for the right to choose, and to show solidarity for 15 women who were allegedly sterilized against their will. Court proceedings against the Government commenced last week as well.
The South African cabinet has expressed "strong displeasure" at the decision by University of the Free State vice-chancellor Prof Jonathan Jansen to drop the internal charges against four white students who humiliated black workers at the university.
East Africa/Horn of Africa: Muslims have been ordered by Kenya’s Sheikh Mohammed Dor to withdraw their children from Catholic-run schools in protest at the church's Hijab ban. Also as debate continues over the same-sex marriage of two Kenyan men in London, the team writing a new constitution in Kenya ruled out enshrining the rights of homosexuals. Similarly in Uganda some rights activists have described a proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill as a violation of human rights and have called for its immediate withdrawal. While according to officials a total of 7,538 children in Uganda have been rescued from forced labour and returned to school.
Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes against humanity did not attend the AU summit on refugees, returnees and IDPs in Kampala last week, hence sparing Uganda, a signatory to the Rome Statute, international embarrassment at the refusal to hand over an ICC suspect.
The refugee situation in East Africa has reached alarming levels and the United Nations is urging member countries to adopt the Tanzanian formula of integration. Even though there is no armed conflict in East Africa at the moment, there are about 880,000 refugees and IDPs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
Central Africa: According to officials remains of victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, have been discovered buried in the Kagera region in Tanzania.
Also IRIN reported a burgeoning humanitarian crisis among the tens of thousands of people expelled by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighboring Angola.
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS
West Africa: The government of Ghana is to spearhead a strong African voice at the Copenhagen talks on climate change at the end of this year, for which African leaders have drawn up a $65 billion dollar budget demand to deal with the effects of environment change.
Malaria Consortium, a non-profit organization has been appointed to help implement a new USAID net distribution project worth up to $110 million across Africa. Fresh outbreak of Cholera has been reported in Nigeria, a region ravaged by the disease for the last 2 months.
Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) has accepted responsibility over cyanide spillage and has promised to review its operating procedures. Also Studies carried out by the Ministry of Environment in Nigeria have revealed that out of half a million used computers comprising e-waste that come into the country every month, 45 % come from America.
South Africa: It was revealed at the International AIDS Vaccine conference that further research on the world's only vaccine to show some protection against HIV may be conducted in South Africa. This vaccine was developed in Thailand.
East Africa/Horn of Africa: The Kenyan Government has been asked to curb the high rate of cancer-related deaths attributed to an acute shortage of public early diagnosis centers. While an outbreak of cholera in northern Tanzania continues to spread. A draft bill seeking to provide compulsory insurance against health risks has been passed in Rwanda; also the government has unveiled e-health programmers in charge of developing and implementing Open Medical Record System (OpenMRS). Moreover the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) is currently finalizing a law governing the exploitation of wetlands in the country.
Oil tests by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) have shown unacceptable levels of heavy metals in the waste water and mud cuttings left behind by exploration activities. Ethiopia needs an additional $175 million this year to help feed 6.2 million people (8% of the population) ravaged by prolonged drought and crop failure.
Uganda is not rushing to build a nuclear power plant, it has been announced. Sources privy to the matter said the country will wait until its human resource capacity, legal and regulatory framework as well as financial obligations have been strengthened.
Central Africa: Heavy rains have destroyed 214 homes, leaving about 1,070 people without shelter in Burundi.
POLITICAL ECONOMY
West Africa: The European Commission commitments to West Africa on Aid for Trade are expected to reach 8.5 billion Euros. In the meanwhile Telecommunications investment in Nigeria since 2001 has hit an $18 billion mark, while controversy continues to trail the Federal Government's proposed plan to fully deregulate the downstream sector of the nation's petroleum industry for fear of increased poverty rates in the country. Also the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria has hired foreign forensic analysts to help trace over one trillion naira allegedly looted from various Nigerian banks.
South Africa: South Africa’s ferrochrome producers are calling for government support against their Chinese counterparts in another trade skirmish between the two countries. While International food giant Nestlé has this week come under growing pressure from groups loyal to Robert Mugabe to renew it’s recently severed commercial ties with the Zimbabwean First Family.
East Africa/Horn of Africa: The soon to be launched African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) is a platform that will facilitate mutual cooperation among African Tax Administrations and other relevant interested stakeholders with the aim of improving the efficiency of their tax legislation and administrations. In the meanwhile the signing of the long-awaited East African Community Common Market Protocol is scheduled for the 20th of Nov. this year.
Central Africa: South African farmers have gained access to an estimated 10 million hectares of arable land in the DRC following the signing of a deal.
The government of Rwanda is developing a Petroleum Exploration Policy to facilitate oil exploration in the country. Also a specially-adapted bank for small and medium-sized enterprises, (SMEs) is expected to go operational in Cameroon by mid 2010.
NORTH AFRICA:
In Tunisia President Ben Ali has won the 2009 Presidential Elections With 89.62 %. However repressive acts and tight controls on the election process tainted the integrity of the results. Nigerian solidarity movement with Western Sahara last week called on the federal government to condemn the political trial of about seven Saharawi activists by the Moroccan government. While the clashes between police and young people protesting poor housing conditions in Algiers earlier this week reflect growing efforts in recent weeks to stem public demonstrations by a government which, fearing terrorist threats, is determined to maintain a grip on order.
West Africa: In its second Africa Governance report, the UN Economic Commission for Africa noted several countries making progress on the political inclusion and promotion of multiparty democracy, while Ghana has been quoted as an example of good governance in West Africa.
A Pakistani general, Lieutenant General Sikander Afzal, a veteran of the United Nations quick reaction force in Somalia is set to become the next military head of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
As part of the post-amnesty arrangements in Nigeria the New Partnership for Africa's Development NEPAD is to reintegrate 15,000 youths. Also the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has finally declared an "indefinite ceasefire" following President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's meeting with one of its former leaders, Mr. Henry Okah. In the meanwhile a group of repentant militant leaders issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal government, warning a return to the creeks, if the induced division among their ranks was not stopped.
In the meanwhile Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) granted Guinea Bissau $3.5 Million to Pay Soldier’s Salaries to maintain stability in the region.
South Africa: President Robert Mugabe has shrugged off the former opposition's
boycott of Zimbabwe's unity government, saying he would not yield to pressure to make concessionsEast Africa/Horn of Africa: Sheik Mohamed Mo'allin, a secretary for the information affairs of Hizbul Islam, a Somali faction has denounced the AU troops for the heavy shelling in Mogadishu. In the meanwhile Ethiopian troops who arrived in parts of central Somalia in August have reportedly withdrawn from their bases. Also Security has been beefed up in a Kampala suburb with a big Somali population, following threats by the al Shabaab Islamists to attack the region.
Peacekeepers serving with the joint United Nations-African Union mission in Sudan's war-wracked Darfur region have intervened in deadly tribal clashes, bringing the situation under control. The peacekeeping mission also voiced grave concern over a significant surge in the number of Government and rebel troops in the war-ravaged western region. The new policy on Sudan announced by the Obama administration has been welcomed after months of ambiguity in this very critical policy region.
Central Africa: Tutsi rebels integrated into the Congolese army have warned of a possible return to conflict. The warning comes nearly a year after a peace agreement was first signed.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS
West Africa: The United Nations human rights chief has welcomed a new treaty to protect and assist displaced populations in Africa, which accounts for nearly half of the world's 26 million (IDPs).
Nigeria amongst other African countries and the Organization of Islamic Countries, OIC, is proposing a bill on "defamation of religion”, that human rights organizations have described as potentially dangerous. In the meanwhile students in Nigeria are demanding compensation for the educational standstill in three months of protest strikes.
Guinea's junta Chief Moussa Dadis Camara has postponed an announcement on whether he will stand for president, as a top UN diplomat arrived in the country to lead an international probe into the massacre of opposition supporters last month. Also Reporters without Borders have condemned the latest disturbing escalation in the Guinean military’s clampdown on reporters on their arrival at Conakry international airport.
South Africa: In Namibia a large crowd marched last week to protest for the right to choose, and to show solidarity for 15 women who were allegedly sterilized against their will. Court proceedings against the Government commenced last week as well.
The South African cabinet has expressed "strong displeasure" at the decision by University of the Free State vice-chancellor Prof Jonathan Jansen to drop the internal charges against four white students who humiliated black workers at the university.
East Africa/Horn of Africa: Muslims have been ordered by Kenya’s Sheikh Mohammed Dor to withdraw their children from Catholic-run schools in protest at the church's Hijab ban. Also as debate continues over the same-sex marriage of two Kenyan men in London, the team writing a new constitution in Kenya ruled out enshrining the rights of homosexuals. Similarly in Uganda some rights activists have described a proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill as a violation of human rights and have called for its immediate withdrawal. While according to officials a total of 7,538 children in Uganda have been rescued from forced labour and returned to school.
Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes against humanity did not attend the AU summit on refugees, returnees and IDPs in Kampala last week, hence sparing Uganda, a signatory to the Rome Statute, international embarrassment at the refusal to hand over an ICC suspect.
The refugee situation in East Africa has reached alarming levels and the United Nations is urging member countries to adopt the Tanzanian formula of integration. Even though there is no armed conflict in East Africa at the moment, there are about 880,000 refugees and IDPs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
Central Africa: According to officials remains of victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, have been discovered buried in the Kagera region in Tanzania.
Also IRIN reported a burgeoning humanitarian crisis among the tens of thousands of people expelled by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighboring Angola.
HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS
West Africa: The government of Ghana is to spearhead a strong African voice at the Copenhagen talks on climate change at the end of this year, for which African leaders have drawn up a $65 billion dollar budget demand to deal with the effects of environment change.
Malaria Consortium, a non-profit organization has been appointed to help implement a new USAID net distribution project worth up to $110 million across Africa. Fresh outbreak of Cholera has been reported in Nigeria, a region ravaged by the disease for the last 2 months.
Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) has accepted responsibility over cyanide spillage and has promised to review its operating procedures. Also Studies carried out by the Ministry of Environment in Nigeria have revealed that out of half a million used computers comprising e-waste that come into the country every month, 45 % come from America.
South Africa: It was revealed at the International AIDS Vaccine conference that further research on the world's only vaccine to show some protection against HIV may be conducted in South Africa. This vaccine was developed in Thailand.
East Africa/Horn of Africa: The Kenyan Government has been asked to curb the high rate of cancer-related deaths attributed to an acute shortage of public early diagnosis centers. While an outbreak of cholera in northern Tanzania continues to spread. A draft bill seeking to provide compulsory insurance against health risks has been passed in Rwanda; also the government has unveiled e-health programmers in charge of developing and implementing Open Medical Record System (OpenMRS). Moreover the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) is currently finalizing a law governing the exploitation of wetlands in the country.
Oil tests by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) have shown unacceptable levels of heavy metals in the waste water and mud cuttings left behind by exploration activities. Ethiopia needs an additional $175 million this year to help feed 6.2 million people (8% of the population) ravaged by prolonged drought and crop failure.
Uganda is not rushing to build a nuclear power plant, it has been announced. Sources privy to the matter said the country will wait until its human resource capacity, legal and regulatory framework as well as financial obligations have been strengthened.
Central Africa: Heavy rains have destroyed 214 homes, leaving about 1,070 people without shelter in Burundi.
POLITICAL ECONOMY
West Africa: The European Commission commitments to West Africa on Aid for Trade are expected to reach 8.5 billion Euros. In the meanwhile Telecommunications investment in Nigeria since 2001 has hit an $18 billion mark, while controversy continues to trail the Federal Government's proposed plan to fully deregulate the downstream sector of the nation's petroleum industry for fear of increased poverty rates in the country. Also the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria has hired foreign forensic analysts to help trace over one trillion naira allegedly looted from various Nigerian banks.
South Africa: South Africa’s ferrochrome producers are calling for government support against their Chinese counterparts in another trade skirmish between the two countries. While International food giant Nestlé has this week come under growing pressure from groups loyal to Robert Mugabe to renew it’s recently severed commercial ties with the Zimbabwean First Family.
East Africa/Horn of Africa: The soon to be launched African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) is a platform that will facilitate mutual cooperation among African Tax Administrations and other relevant interested stakeholders with the aim of improving the efficiency of their tax legislation and administrations. In the meanwhile the signing of the long-awaited East African Community Common Market Protocol is scheduled for the 20th of Nov. this year.
Central Africa: South African farmers have gained access to an estimated 10 million hectares of arable land in the DRC following the signing of a deal.
The government of Rwanda is developing a Petroleum Exploration Policy to facilitate oil exploration in the country. Also a specially-adapted bank for small and medium-sized enterprises, (SMEs) is expected to go operational in Cameroon by mid 2010.
NORTH AFRICA:
In Tunisia President Ben Ali has won the 2009 Presidential Elections With 89.62 %. However repressive acts and tight controls on the election process tainted the integrity of the results. Nigerian solidarity movement with Western Sahara last week called on the federal government to condemn the political trial of about seven Saharawi activists by the Moroccan government. While the clashes between police and young people protesting poor housing conditions in Algiers earlier this week reflect growing efforts in recent weeks to stem public demonstrations by a government which, fearing terrorist threats, is determined to maintain a grip on order.
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Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and jointly developed by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
Business and Politics in the Muslim World (BPM)refers to the project entitled, "Globalized Business and Politics: A View from the Muslim World.' The blog development project has been undertaken and jointly developed by the Gilani Research Foundation and BPM as a free resource and social discussion tool.
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