Zone 2- Africa Summary, week # 119

Week # 119, Dated 9^th-16^th May, 2010

POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES

West Africa The Nigerian Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) held a special valedictory session in honor of its late Chairman, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua who passed away this month on the 6^th of May 2010. Following the demise of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was sworn in as the nation's 14th head of state.

Soldiers and policemen in Katsina, Nigeria averted protests as former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the city to condole the family of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.The visit to the bereaved family had been shrouded in secrecy following security reports that Yar’Adua’s supporters, who were angry with Obasanjo over his recent outburst on the health of Yar’Adua, were planning to hold a demonstration against the visiting former president.

In Gambia a major shakeup occurred at the National Intelligence Agency in Banjul, as there was a massive transfer of Intel officers at the agency’s main headquarters that came into effect in April. The NIA directorate said the move was aimed at strengthening the work of the Agency, as well as its smooth running.

A high powered delegation consisting Senegalese and Gambian officials last week had a meeting in The Gambian village of Tranquil in the Western region of The Gambia, seeking to chart a way forward to find a lasting solution to the looming border impasse between the two countries.

South Africa: Madagascar’s President, Andry Rajoelina, surprised many by announcing on state television that he will not participate in the upcoming presidential elections he has scheduled for 26 November this year, in a bid to end the political crisis on the Indian Ocean island..

Last week The National Democratic Institute, a pro-democracy group, gave one of its highest honors, the NDI's W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award, to Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The award recognizes individuals and groups who have demonstrated a commitment to democracy and human rights.

Comoros' highest court has annulled a law which extended the mandate of the islands' leader after weeks of heightened political tensions on the coup-prone archipelago. The Constitutional Court said President Mohamed Abdallah Sambi's term in office would end later this month, and not November 2011, and recommended an interim period to agree on when the next ballot should be held.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: a Forum of NGOs and the 47th Ordinary Session of African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) was organized by the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) and ACHPR in collaboration with United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) and Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR). The three-day meeting in the Gambian capital, Banjul, reviewed the situation of human rights violations in the continent.

The lingering crisis that engulfed the American giant, Pfizer Pharmaceutical company, over the 1996 Trovan clinical test in Kano, Nigeria has taken a dangerous dimension as all the 192 victims of the test withdrew their quest for the payment of compensation through the fund technical hospital board voicing issues of mistrust and asked the trust fund to return all their documents and other valuable items in their custody in seven days' time.

Following criticism leveled against Gambia’s worsening human rights record by delegates attending the African Commission’s 47th Ordinary Session in Banjul. Justice Minister Edward Gomez rejected the notion while accusing media of destroying Gambia’s image.

South Africa: Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert, one of South Africa's most prominent white opponents of apartheid who initiated talks between Afrikaner businessmen and the then-banned ANC in 1987, died last week.

In Malawi, NGOs and the government are working together to end forced marriages and other traditional practices that violate the rights of girls. The effort follows reports that more and more girls are being forced into marriage with older men.

HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

South Africa: With one month to go before the kick-off of the football (soccer) World Cup in South Africa, organizers say they are pleased with the preparations.

South Africa has achieved near universal access to health services for pregnant women and their children, but maternal and infant mortality rates have continued to rise making the chances of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on maternal and child health increasingly remote.

Meanwhile a South African government agency has become the first to join the world's leading patent pool for neglected diseases, a move that could bolster home-grown innovations in the fight against diseases including tuberculosis (TB).

POLITICAL ECONOMY

West Africa: China continues its run on African commodities with a $23 Billion Nigeria Oil Deal. Meanwhile the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is proposing a minimum core capital of N25 billion for establishing a non-interest bank in the country.

Abba Abacha, one of the sons of former Nigerian Head of State, Late Gen. Sani Abacha, is facing trail in Geneva, Switzerland, to defend an earlier appeal against his conviction of plundering state resources estimated at $2.2 billion and involvement in criminal organizations.

In its search for investors for its sovereign bonds, Nigeria’s Federal Government has commenced an aggressive drive to sensitize Nigerians in Diaspora on the need to invest in the debt instrument. Meanwhile the Senate approved the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Bill to buy bad debts from the rescued commercial banks and inject funds into the industry through share purchases.

Nigerian Justice Wada Abubakar Omar of a Kano State High Court has dismissed the application of three tobacco companies challenging, among other issues, the jurisdiction of the court to entertain a suit filed against them by the Attorney-General of the state. Meanwhile a civil society organization, Socio Economic Rights Advocacy Project (SERAP), has vowed to challenge the Federal Government in court if it fails to probe the former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida’s alleged involvement in the missing $12.4 billion oil revenue accrued to the government during the Gulf war.

Meanwhile the Nigerian federal Government has fine-tuned plans to jack up the Value Added Tax (VAT) by 100 % as President Goodluck Jonathan recently met federal lawmakers and other stakeholders, lobbying them to support the proposed increase when brought to the floor of the National Assembly.

In Nigeria hundreds of passengers were stranded at the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos last week following a power outage that paralyzed operations.

A collaboration which will ensure that the Nigerian entertainment industry is taken to the international market kicked of last week, with the World Bank pledging a whopping $20 million to the project.

Gambia is gearing up to host the Africa Travel Association (ATA)'s 35th Annual Congress this week.

South Africa: China has announced a 170 million euros deal with South Africa aimed at building a giant cement plant in the African nation.

Thousands of South African transport workers went on strike last week, an action that could cripple port, freight rail, and pipeline operations across the country. The union called the strike after rejecting a proposed pay raise by the state-owned ports and Rail Company.

The leader of Zambia’s main opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party says the government’s announcement of a $1 billion Chinese investment to help build an electric power plant is a “cheaply conceived” ploy to garner votes ahead of next year’s general elections.

Central Africa: A three-day gathering of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where delegates exchanged ideas on Africa's growth strategy and the continent's response to the global economic crisis earlier this month. §

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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.
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Zone 2- Africa Summary, week # 118

Week # 118, Dated 2^nd -8^th May, 2010

POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES

West Africa In Ghana the Zongo Caucus of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has mapped-out schemes to expand and solidify its dominance in the Muslim communities nation-wide to boost the party's chances of retaining power in Election 2012.

Meanwhile participants at a review meeting in Ghana on the 1992 Constitution has called for an amendment of Article 71 (1) to allow the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC) to determine the salary and allowances of the President.
Togolese Prime Minister Gilbert Houngbo last week tendered the resignation of his government to make way for the formation of a new governing team following the presidential inauguration. Incumbant President Faure Gnassingbe, while praising his predecessor has asked Houngbo to "ensure the expedition of current affairs until the nomination of a new prime minister."

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated the people of Togo on the nation’s 50th independence anniversary.

Following recent reports of tension among Guinea's transitional authorities, the interim President Sékouba Konaté has reassured the United Nations and its African partners that presidential elections will be held as scheduled on 27 June this year.

Two newly elected MP’s for the Conservative Party in the UK, are of Ghanaian origin.

Ghana’s Vice President John Dramani Mahama has pledged that the Government would offer all the necessary support to Zimbabwe to politically stabilize for economic prosperity and freedom for all its citizens.

A potential boundary dispute is looming within the Mano River Union basin as Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has confirmed that Guinea has grasped portion of Liberian territory along Liberia's northern border with neighboring Guinea.

South Africa: Madagascar's armed forces have rowed back on an ultimatum given last month to the island's leader Andry Rajoelina and said they have no place to influence the make up of a new government.

Meanwhile Madagascar's leader said that he could form a politically "neutral" government after last-ditch power-sharing talks failed over the weekend, and said he expected to retain the military's support.

Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam is set for a second term after the opposition conceded victory to an alliance led by his Labour Party following a landslide election win in parliamentary elections.

Three U.S. senators have introduced a bill, Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (DEERA), aimed at bringing a more flexible approach to sanctions against Zimbabwe.

According to the police minister South African police have broken up a plot by white supremacists to plant explosives in black townships, just a month after the murder of a prominent white separatist.

Central Africa: In Rwanda a new accomplice Capt. Jean Marie Vianney Karuta in the case involving Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, was produced in court last week, accused of being a member a terrorist group and planning activities aimed at causing state insecurity.

Meanwhile Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) members in the eight districts of the Southern Province last week voted overwhelming for incumbent President Paul Kagame as their party candidate at the district level.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: The Supreme Court of Liberia has placed a stay order on the passage of the controversial population Threshold Bill currently before the Liberian Senate. The bill amongst other things, seeks to reapportion constituencies in keeping with the conduct of the Population and Housing Census.

Ghana’s Mr. John Tia Akologu, Minister of Information, last week assured Ghanaians of government's commitment to passing the Information Bill into law that would encourage democratic participation in the national development process.

Meanwhile Doha-based Ghanim Bin Saad Al Saad & Sons Group is setting up the first Islamic university in Ghana at an estimated cost of $30mn.

The United Nations is setting up a human rights office in Guinea to help the Government prevent abuses such as last year's violent suppression by the then military junta of mass protests in which 156 people were killed, women raped, political opponents arrested and their homes looted.

South Africa: Parliamentarians from all over Africa are pushing for a continent-wide ban on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and are calling on the UN to pass a General Assembly resolution appealing for a global FGM/C ban.

Central Africa: The Human Rights Advisor to the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), Oumar Kane, has described Rwanda's progress in observation of human rights as impressive and promising.

In DRC a report alleging that government troops summarily executed fifty civilians in early April in fighting around Mbandaka, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo's northwestern Équateur Province has been rejected by the government.

Meanwhile the top United Nations humanitarian official last week ended a five-day visit to areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that have witnessed some of the worst atrocities against civilians, stressing the vital need that UN peacekeepers remain beyond the August 2011 deadline set by the Government.

Reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) indicate that 'disarmed' FDLR elements have been allowed to relocate to Kisenge in DRC's south-eastern Katanga Province. The United Nations-funded Radio Okapi, revealed last week that the move is a bid to diminish the militia's security threat to Rwanda.

Meanwhile the UNHCR says its teams have now regained access to some 35,000 DRC refugees now on the Republic of Congo (ROC) side of the Oubangui River. They are part of a larger group of some 114, 000 refugees, who have fled clashes sparked by fishing and farming disputes in Equateur Province in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo.

A week after Rwandan Prosecution revealed that it would soon issue a warrant of arrest for a top Genocide fugitive in the Netherlands ex-FAR Maj. Pierre-Claver Karangwa, three other alleged Genocide suspects have been confirmed to be living in the same country.

HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: A United Nations-backed pilot programme that supplies electric generators to rural women farmers in Burkina Faso, freeing them from lengthy chores so that they can devote more time to education, childcare and health care, is to be adopted on a national scale.

South Africa: Meanwhile Zambia's ruling party has accused the Netherlands of financing the main opposition party, a charge that threatens to raise tensions with donors who froze funding for AIDS and other health programmes last year amid concerns about corruption. The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has denied these allegations.

Decaying road infrastructure in Binga district, in Zimbabwe's province of Matabeleland North, prevented anti-malaria spraying teams from reaching the area, and is being blamed for an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease.

Meanwhile $ 5.6 Million have been allocated under United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for Zimbabwe to fight against measles epidemic.

Central Africa: A recent survey by the Public Policy Information, Monitoring and Advocacy (PPIMA) project of the Rwanda Civil Society, shows that 90 % of Rwandans are happy with the education and health services offered by the government.

Meanwhile in a bid to maintain a healthy workforce, Rwanda’s ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) has embarked on a nationwide sensitization campaign to fight against HIV/AIDS within the public sector.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

West Africa: Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has challenged the Dunn Commission's report on the e-mail scandal linking her and some family members with the alleged transfer of US$600,000 from Cellcom.

As a strategic partner of Liberia’s post-war development goals, the Liberian Government in the Spring Meetings of the World Bank in Washington, D.C has made a series of pleas with the organization to step up and consolidate its efforts toward the country’s infrastructure and social services.

Meanwhile Ghana has struck a deal with Equatorial Guinea for the supply of one million barrels of oil a year.

The Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), has committed $401.94 million in various contracts as at the end of April 2010. According to the Chief Executive Officer of MiDA, the five-year programme is on course and the expectation is that the Programme budget would be fully utilized within the period.

In Liberia the Ministry of Finance has confirmed that a select group of cabinet ministers and other top officials are benefiting from a dual remuneration scheme wherein they are paid lucrative sums - from both government and the United Nations Development Program's capacity development fund.

South Africa: According to last week’s reports Zambia has fired private lawyers who appealed against a court decision that acquitted former President Frederick Chiluba of stealing millions of dollars from public treasury.

Meanwhile in Zimbabwe a public disagreement between Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, and Finance Minister Tendai Biti over pay increases in public servants' salaries is being seen as evidence of greater divisions between two of the most senior leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Last week South African stocks booked their biggest one-day fall in almost 13 months as panicked investors dumped everything from banks to resource firms on concern about the fall-out from Greece's debt crisis.

Namibia and Angola are moving ahead with a $1.1 billion hydropower plant on a river that runs along their common border in a bid to end power disruptions that have plagued their economies for decades.

Meanwhile according to a senior official South Africa's goal-shy team has been offered one million rand ($132,200) to share for every time they find the net at next month's World Cup on home soil.

The leaders of Ethiopia, Malawi, the Netherlands, Spain and Vietnam have been invited to attend the G20 summit in Toronto next month.

Eastern Africa: Suspected Somali pirates have seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel off the waters of Seychelles, the second incident off Somalia in two days, according to a regional maritime body.

Central Africa: The Rawandan Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, has handed over 25 boats worth Rwf 346m to Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) to be used by marines to fight crimes that affect food production around the lakes.

IHT Network Limited, one of India's largest organizations in providing computer hardware, software and networking training is set to invest Rwf17m as a move to establish a base in the Rwandan market. §

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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.
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Zone 2- Africa Summary, week # 117

Week # 117, Dated 25^th April – 1^st May, 2010

POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES

West Africa US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield has informed Liberian legislators that setting a population threshold for legislative representation and constituency demarcation is a compelling and essential factor for the 2011 elections.

At the Summit Meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the countries of Mano River Union comprising, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia, held in on 24 April 2010, Heads of states discussed the current prevailing and emerging challenges facing the sub-region. They also voiced their support and commitment to ensuring the conduct of free and fair presidential and legislative elections in Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire.

Last week Charles Taylor, ex Liberian leader refused to attend his trial in protest of security measures by Dutch security personnel responsible for taking him from his detention facility to the courtroom in The Hague.

Special Envoy of President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire, Bahi Seri, has called for closer ties between his country and Nigeria. He also voiced the need to seek ways for both countries to partner in forging closer collaboration and cooperation among member states of the ECOWAS.

South Africa: South Africa’s ANC youth leader Julius Malema, in trouble for singing banned apartheid-era songs, faced a disciplinary hearing last week. Malema has defied calls from South African President Jacob Zuma to cease making inflammatory comments and earned a rebuke last month for supporting Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his controversial land reform policies, under which white-owned farms have been given to black Zimbabweans.

In Madagascar Interim leader Andry Rajoelina and his three predecessors failed to reach an agreement last week after three days of talks. The Political rivals have agreed to reconvene in two weeks to continue their talks aimed at creating a unity government.

In Botswana, Sydney Pilane, spokesman of the newly formed Botswana Movement for Democracy has said that the country’s democracy is deteriorating and under serious threat after describing President Khama’s rule as festooned with dictatorial tendencies.

Central Africa: According to reports an arrest warrant is soon to be issued for a former ex-FAR, Maj. in Holland, allegedly a key mastermind in the massacre of thousands during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

Meanwhile two suspects accused alongside Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, for planning activities aimed at causing state insecurity, Lt. Col Tharcisse Nditurende and Lt. Col Noel Habiyambere, who were senior commanders of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), have admitted having worked with Ingabire and Paul Rusesabagina to form rebel groups to launch offensives in Rwanda.

Lawyers for former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba are challenging the case against him at the International Criminal Court. ICC prosecutors are charging Bemba with two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes for leading troops into the Central African Republic to put down a coup attempt against then-president Ange-Felix Patasse.

Elections in the Central African Republic have been postponed for a second time, raising the likelihood that the president will remain in office past the end of his June mandate. Francois Bozize, President of CAR agreed to delay the May 16 vote after meeting with opposition leaders who say the Central African Republic must first update its voter lists and disarm rebel groups.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: In Ghana Malam Issah Hassan Tikumah, a former Social Studies lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has alleged that he is being hounded by security men and some "reactionary forces" because of a book he wrote on the niqab (face veil worn by Muslim women).

In Liberia a stunning discovery of the HIPC audit on the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) has revealed that the dead are on payroll and earning salaries along with even those who were long dismissed or retired by the Ministry.

The head of UNESCO the United Nations agency tasked with upholding press freedom, last week called for a full investigation into the "tragic" death in jail of a newspaper editor in Cameroon. According to Reporters Without Borders, a non-governmental organization, detained for nearly two months, Ngota Ngota Germain, editor of the weekly Cameroon Express, suffered from asthma and high blood pressure.

South Africa: Zimbabwean journalists have accused a commission set up to drive media reforms of delaying the registration of new newspapers. However a cabinet minister said that the issue was being used for anti-government propaganda.

According to media reports the Zimbabwe high court has approved the sale of diamonds from a field plagued by human rights abuses, as Harare moves to defy the Kimberley Process. The sale of the Marange diamonds belonging to British-owned African Consolidated Resources was blocked last year by the international regulator after it found that Zimbabwe had failed to comply with human rights standards.

Harare initially stopped the sale pending authorisation from local authorities and the Kimberley Process -- set up to prevent the sale of so-called blood diamonds, which are used to fund rebel movements. However last week the high court approved the sale of 129,000 carats of diamonds belonging to African Consolidated Resources (ACR).

Central Africa: At a five-day workshop on human rights that took place in the DRC capital city Kinshasa last week, hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC), Church leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda have made a ‘firm commitment’ to Promote Human Rights in the region.

Tanzania has taken a bold decision to offer citizenship to 162,000 Burundian refugees who fled their country in 1972 and have since been living as refugees in the nation.

France has offered to help the Congo Republic feed more than 100,000 refugees who have been displaced by fighting in the western Equateur Province.

HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: According to recent reports Cameroon is to construct a Medical Emergency Centre with aid from Korea. Meanwhile The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Sierra Leonean Government embarked last week on a new initiative to provide free health care for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five across the West African nation. Donors and NGOs welcomed the Sierra Leone government's launch on 27 April of free health care for some 1.5 million women and children, but health experts say it is just one step in a long, complex process as critical gaps in the health system remain.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

West Africa: In Ghana, former Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs, Mr. Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, who was the Chairman of the National Planning Committee (NPC) of the Ghana@50 celebrations, along with some other officials may be prosecuted for causing financial loss to the state during the course of the celebrations.

The Czech Government has expressed its willingness to support Ghana to explore its oil and gas potentials while providing the needed expertise to increase Ghana's power generation capacity. According to the nation’s vice president Ghana is on track to deliver oil from the Jubilee field from December this year, with initial output doubling to 250,000 barrels per day by 2013.

Meanwhile Ghana cedi depreciated last week to the major international trading currencies that pushed up the GCS-Cedi Index by 0.54 points to close the week.

The Government of the People's Republic of China has revealed that its investment in Liberia has reached a total of US$9.9 billion dollars.

Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire held a two-day meeting last week on demarcation of the maritime border boundary between them to draw up a road map on the negotiating process.

South Africa: According to a government source Angola expects to receive its first credit rating in the coming days, paving the way for the African nation to issue up to $4 billion in bonds to foreign investors.

Zimbabwe has signed a $400 million agreement with China's Sinohydro to expand its Kariba hydro electricity plant at a time when rolling power cuts are threatening to dim the country's economic recovery prospects.

According to the SA Finance minister South Africa's government will amend the country's Reserve Bank Act to tighten rules on shareholding in the central bank and will undertake a wider review that may change it to public ownership.

South Africa's biggest union said last week that it had declared a wage dispute with the world's top diamond producer De Beers, and had asked an arbitration authority to mediate.

Central Africa: The East African Community (EAC) and the European Union has reached consensus on most of the contentious clauses rooted in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), signaling a commitment between the two trading blocs to ink the deal by the end of the year.

The African Development Bank's (AfDB) shareholders have authorized the request to tripling its (Bank's) capital resources to nearly US$100 billion to allow the bank to sustain a higher level of lending in response to overwhelming demand in all countries. The decision was made in Washington last week during the meeting by the Committee of Governors that represents the Bank's shareholders. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts, output in sub- Saharan Africa in 2010 will expand by 4 % in 2010 compared to 2 % in 2009.

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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.

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Zone 2- Africa Summary, week # 116

Week # 116, Dated18 - 24 April, 2010

POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES

West Africa: In Ghana President John Evans Atta Mills has indicated that he will not be influenced by calls by some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to dismiss some District Executives (DCEs) for alleged nonperformance.
In Liberia last week visiting US under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William J. Burns, disclosed that the United States Government will provide US$19.75 million this year to support the capacity of the Liberia National Police (LNP).

The Cameroonian Minister of State, Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MINATD), Marafa Hamidou Yaya announced last week that Governors of the nation’s10 Regions will have to better coordinate and ensure the harmonious functioning of external government services that contribute to effective and efficient execution of the decentralization process in Local and City Councils.

A senior UN official said last week that Guinea requires continued support from the United Nations and its partners now that the West African country is preparing to transition from military rule to a civilian Government once elections scheduled for 27 June are held.

A Dutch court has overturned the acquittal of Mr. Kouwenhoven accused of supplying arms to Liberia during the presidency of war crimes suspect Charles Taylor, referring the case for a retrial. Meanwhile another defense witness has again contradicted Mr. Taylor's testimony regarding the whereabouts of Sierra Leonean rebel leader Foday Sankoh prior to the invasion of Sierra Leone.

South Africa: The rise of an organized poor people's movement in South Africa's most populous province, KwaZulu-Natal, is being met with increasing hostility by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government, which claims to be the legitimate representative of the poorest of the poor.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s controversial visit to Zimbabwe last week has been condemned by Mugabe's opponents as a meeting of despots which could further isolate Harare. Meanwhile Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has backed Iran's controversial nuclear programme and accused the West of seeking to punish the two countries for asserting their independence.

Security forces in Madagascar arrested 19 people last week on suspicion of plotting a coup, the latest in a series of plot rumors to hit the Indian Ocean Island’s capital in the past few weeks.

Central Africa: In Rwanda Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire, the leader of the yet-to-be registered political party, FDU-Inkingi, was arrested last week accused of association with a terrorist group, propagating the Genocide Ideology, Revisionism and Ethnic Division. Ingabire has been granted bail on condition that she will report to the prosecution, once a week and stay within the boundaries of Kigali City.

Meanwhile the leader of Rwanda’s opposition United Democratic Forces (UDF) has said that President Paul Kagame’s government is determined to prevent her from participating in the upcoming election scheduled for August 9. President Kagame’s government has often accused the FDLR of playing a part in the country’s 1994 genocide.

Two of Rwanda's most senior army officials were arrested after a major shake-up in the military was announced by President Paul Kagame last week. Allegedly suspended due to serious charges of corruption and misuse of office, Lt-Gen Muhire was formerly the head of Rwanda's air force while Maj-Gen Karenzi was one of the country's highest ranking soldiers and a member of the military's ruling elite.

The top United Nations envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has pledged to strengthen military presence in the northwestern province of Equateur to help the Government provide better protection for civilians following a deadly raid by rebels earlier this month on the regional capital.

Heads of state from the Central Africa Economic and Monetary Community inaugurated a new regional parliament CEMAC but are facing problems since lack of fiscal coordination, uneven business and visa regulations hamper cooperation.

Gabon's opposition National Union party, uniting several major parties since March, has finally been recognized by authorities and can now function officially as a main opposition political party.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: The 2009 US State Department Human Rights Report on Liberia, concluding pervasive corruption at 'all levels" of the government, has again come under attack, with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf describing it as "erroneous".

The Chairman of the Upper East Regional Inter-Sectoral Gender Network (RISEGNET) has called upon all Political parties to support more aspiring assemblywomen to contest the forthcoming District Assembly election scheduled for the third quarter of this year.

South Africa: Human Rights Watch has said in a recent report that Zimbabwe's power-sharing government has not carried out critical media reforms as promised under the country's September 2008 Global Political Agreement.

Central Africa: Last week Canada's Governor General, Michaelle Jean, apologized on behalf of her government for the unresponsiveness and inaction of the international community in the lead up to, and during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi.

Fighting in western provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo has displaced more than 100,000 people. Some are seeking refuge across the border in Congo-Brazzaville where relief officials say they have only enough supplies to feed one-third of the refugees.

According to the UNHCR more than one third of recorded cases of rape, in the first three months of 2010, are in North and South Kivu provinces in eastern DRC, which hosts some 1.4 million internally displaced people. Authorities are highly alarmed by the disturbing figures at an average of almost 14-assaults each day.

HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: A new strain of meningitis, strain NMX, also known simply as strain 'X', has broken out in Burkina Faso, where it caused just over half the new cases reported in the past week. Six of Burkina Faso's 13 regions are at epidemic level.

South Africa: The Lesotho Highlands Water Project will move into its second phase in 2010. The first phase has been praised as a shining example of trans-boundary water sharing in Africa, but community dissatisfaction may mean a rough ride for its extension.

Last week SA President Jacob Zuma launched a national campaign to test 15 million South Africans for HIV by June, 2011.

Central Africa: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that Countries in West and Central Africa have been hit by a measles outbreak affecting more than 22,000 children, with a shortage of resources for vaccination threatening to roll back progress on limitation child death in the region.

The third ordinary session of the conference of the African Union (AU) on youth has elected Rwanda to chair the Conference of Ministers in Charge of Youth (COMMYIII) for the next two years.

POLITICAL ECONOMY

West Africa: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has asked the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), the umbrella organization of media entities and journalists in the country, to give comprehensive account of the US$100,000 donated to the Union by her government.

Turkish Airlines is now to connect Accra, Ghana through Lagos during the summer season as part of its expansion policy in Africa. Meanwhile Pineapple producers in Ghana faced problems because of the lack of flights to Europe caused by volcanic ash. Also Ghana International Airlines (GIA) has pegged its revenue losses so far as a result of the Icelandic volcanic disruptions at a provisional figure of approximately US$ 500,000.
Ghana’s Tullow Oil PLC's shares fell as much as 3.3% last week after the U.K.-listed company said it failed to find oil or gas at a test well off Ghana's coast. Meanwhile Ghanaian stocks rose to a seven- month high, the second-biggest gain worldwide, as investors bought stock in Standard Chartered Plc’s local unit before its dividend deadline and SIC insurance declared a payout.

Also the Gross International Reserves position of the Bank of Ghana which increased to 3.2 billion dollars in December 2009 grew further by 4.4 % in the first quarter of 2010 to 3.3 billion dollars.

The Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry is soon to start doing business with their Iranian counterparts according to a memorandum to this effect signed by a recent visiting delegation to Iran.

In Cameroon two projects piloted by the Ministries of Scientific Research and Innovation and that of Industries, Mines and Technological Development seek to modernize oil palm production in the country.

Dr. Fu Ziying, Vice Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China led a delegation to visit Liberia from April 22 to 25, 2010 as part of his five-nation (Chad, Central Africa, Gabon, Liberia and Congo (Brazzaville) tour in Africa.

South Africa: The African Department Director at the International Monetary Fund has said that Sub-Saharan Africa is proving surprisingly resilient in emerging from the global financial crisis compared with previous downturns.

According to projections Foreigners will inject 13 billion rand into South Africa's economy during the World Cup, helping the soccer spectacular boost economic growth by 0.5 % points.

According to stock exchange Chief Executive Emmanuel Munyukwi controversial new policies to give black Zimbabweans majority stakes in foreign companies in the country have scared off investors from abroad. Meanwhile the controversial policy will reportedly begin in the key mining sector. Uncertainty over South Africa's land reform programme meant to hand over 30 % of farm land to the country's black majority by 2014 has also slowed investment in its sugar sector.

According to South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom the nation will face a power supply crunch between 2011-13 and 2018-24 unless more power plants than are planned are built.

Central Africa: According to the Rwanda Revenue Authority Government has recorded large sums of tax revenue from alcohol, and tobacco products. According to data from last year government collected Rwf952 million from wines and liquors and Rwf3 billion from cigarettes. §

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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.

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