Zone 2- Africa Summary, week # 129

Week # 129, Dated 18^th- 24^th July, 2010

POLITICS OF SECURITY AND CONFLICT ISSUES

West Africa: The Scramble for a flag bearer with the ruling party in Nigeria over the zoning issue has generated heat among several political groupings which has caused a split among the Northern governors.

At border of Mali and Mauritania six suspected al Qaeda militants were killed, while four other members escaped the operation led by the Mauritanian army.

In Gambia a judge has sentenced to death eight men, including The Gambia's former army chief, for their parts in a coup plot last year in the Country.

Doubt over January Election Date of the 2011 elections in Nigeria as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is now in a serious dilemma over the date while seeking N55bn for Fresh Voters registration.

Meanwhile the Nigerian Senate has passed the new Electoral Act, putting the conduct of Presidential and National Assembly elections ahead of Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections.

Amid the lingering contention over the retention or jettisoning of the zoning arrangement within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President of Niger Delta Professionals in the Diaspora, Mr. Teddy Obaseki, has admonished ethnic minorities in the country against decisions that would go against the zoning arrangement. Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, has joined the debate on zoning of the presidency and declared that Nigeria has outgrown the formula adopted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for sharing offices between the North and South in 1999. Meanwhile the agitation for zoning of political offices should not arise because the North has had its share of leadership positions in the past, elder statesman Chief Solomon Lar has said. According to him, the demand for zoning heightened in the past after it became clear that the North had wronged other sections of the country in the choice of leaders.

Guinea's top court last week overruled challenges to the results of a hotly contested June 27 presidential poll, paving the way for a run-off between the West African state's top two candidates. The court added that votes from five districts, including two loyal to the third-place finisher, were thrown out due to "severe irregularities." The No. 1 bauxite-exporting nation is seeking to replace a military-led government with what would be its first freely elected regime since independence from France in 1958 amid widespread concern the results could trigger unrest.

Central Africa: The appeals chamber of ICC ruled to put the Release Mr. Lubanga Dyilo (Warlord) a former rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on hold pending the determination of the prosecution's appeal of the verdict remain under the custody of the ICC.

In the Central African Republic the army confirms the control over an army base after the Rebels in the country attacked the base near the country's border with Sudan.

A leading member of Burundi’s opposition Forces for National Liberation (FNL) has called on supporters of his party as well as other opposition parties to boycott the parliamentary election as was done during the Presidential election.

East & the horn of Africa: The US State Department expressed disappointment over Chad's failure to arrest the Sudanese leader Omar Bashir during his visits to the country, as it was nominally obliged to do as an ICC signatory country.

The United Nations acknowledge the steps taken by Eritrea and Djibouti to resolve their border dispute through mediation by Qatar, and ready to provide technical support if needed to facilitate a settlement.

The African Union has agreed to change the mandate of its peacekeeping mission, Amisom, in Somalia into peace enforcement in an effort to engage the Al Shabaab militia.

Nationwide tension and potential violence preceded the August 4 vote in Kenya, to Vote for or campaign against the proposed Constitution. Close to 70 % of Kenyans have voted in favor of the country's new constitution, according to preliminary results, all but ensuring it will replace the colonial-era British document that preceded it.

Southern Africa: The island of Seychelles has convicted 11 Somali pirates on attempting to hijack a Seychelles coast guard boat last December.

HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: Humanitarian agencies and relief organizations pushed for continued economic support from the international community on behalf of the drought-ridden African countries in the Sahel region, like Niger and Mali at the United Nations last week for their level of food insecurity.

According to reports Africa has seen a slow but marked decrease in the number of internal "refugees" during the last decade and has become more peaceful. While internal displacements continue to rise in the world at large.

African Union's current president Bingu wa Mutharika said at the opening of the AU summit on the Issue of ICC “To subject a sovereign head of state to a warrant of arrest is undermining African solidarity and African peace and security that we fought for so many years,".

As Gambia celebrated its national holiday tagged “Freedom Day” last week, about 89 national and international non-governmental organizations in 14 countries called on President Yahya Jammeh to stop “widespread human rights violations with total impunity”.

Sources have told news agency AFP that the French military stepped up action making fresh efforts to free Michel Germaneau the 78-year-old hostage, held in Mali by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim). French officials deny that an operation is taking place but Mauritania's army is said to be moving in on the group in its desert stronghold.

A judicial inquiry in Ivory Coast into corruption allegations against Interior Minister Desire Tagro cleared him on Monday of charges including stealing money meant for victims of a toxic waste dumping.

Central Africa: Representatives of the United Nations and the Sudanese opposition movement, the Justice and Equality Movement, have signed an agreement on the protection of children in the Darfur conflict area.

Meanwhile the top officials from United Nations food and refugee agency has expressed hope that security will soon improve to allow people of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to return home and begin farming their lands.

East & the horn of Africa: The main international backers of Somalia's government have pledged additional resources for the drive to defeat al-Qaida-linked militants trying to establish a beachhead in the Horn of Africa.

HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND DOMESTIC POLITICS

West Africa: About half the babies exposed to HIV may not be getting the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs they need to be born HIV-free and stay that way, say the findings of a four-country study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study, conducted in Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, South Africa and Zambia, found that only 51 percent of HIV-exposed infants had received a single dose of nevirapine before and after birth, the basic tool in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT).

POLITICAL ECONOMY

West Africa: Ghana is expected to generate revenue from energy export through an estimated 75-million-dollar power transmission project that would link her to Burkina Faso and other countries in West Africa.

Meanwhile Liberia recovering from civil war has signed a one-year oil supply contract with Nigeria that will allow it to take 20,000 barrels of Nigerian crude per day and resell to bolster its Economy. Also Petroleum Engineers on all oil platforms in Nigeria last week declared that the country could double its current production, which stands around two million barrels per day, by 2030.

Ivory Coast's SIR refinery has taken a 50 billion CFA ($98.37 million) loan from Groupe Banque Atlantique to buy crude oil at 80,000 barrel-per-day. §

________________________________________________________

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.

Please Preview your comments before posting.