Africa

Record Number of Africans, Most from Ethiopia, Flee to Yemen

In this image released by UNHCR, unidentified refugees rest on an undisclosed beach in Yemen in March 2007. Many Ethiopians and Somalis hire smugglers to get them to Yemen. However, many are robbed, abused and some even thrown overboard. The smugglers’ bo

May 18, 2012 (VOA News) – A record number of African refugees and migrants have arrived in Yemen this year. Most are from Ethiopia. U.N. refugee agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic says more people are crossing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to get to Yemen.

“There are now more than 43,000 people – migrants and refugees – from the Horn of Africa who have reached Yemen during the first four months of this year. We are looking at the record figures compared to the same period last year or any other year before,” he said.

For the same period last year, 13,000 fewer people made the journey.

“Last year, we have about 103,000 people arriving from the Horn of Africa into Yemen and that was the record year. Now should this trend of a high number of arrivals continue, this year, 2012, could sadly become another record year,” he said. Read more…

Food security talks must address Africa’s lack of free press

By Mohamed Keita/CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator

May 16, 2012 (Huffington Post) – Timely and accurate information about conditions of drought  and famine in Africa’s Sahel could save lives. But if the press is unable to  report freely, how does a country build consensus on tackling national food  security and ensure that official policies are the result of broad consultation  with all segments of society? What happens when leaders of a nation respond to  this caprice of nature by deliberately downplaying the extent of the crisis,  limiting journalists’ access to sensitive areas, and censoring independent coverage  of the problem, in the name  of protecting the country’s image?

Today, in a public letter,  the Committee to Protect Journalists asked President Obama to consider these  questions as he prepares to host the Group of Eight and discussions  on food security with four leaders from Africa, including Prime Minister  Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia.

Meles has introduced large-scale agribusiness and  land-leasing practices in an effort to increase Ethiopia’s food output. But  without a free press, it’s impossible for citizens, aid groups, or  international donors to contextualize official claims about the impact of these  reforms. Read more…

Ethiopia: The Meles Zenawi Show – World Economic Forum On Africa, 2012

ANALYSIS

May 15, 2012 (AllAfrica) – The World Economic Forum is best known for its annual meeting at Davos in the Swiss Alps where, recently, focus has been on the poor state of the world economy – particularly that of Europe. So, the annual Africa version of the event (held last week in the swanky surroundings of the Sheraton, Addis Ababa) must make a welcome change, as the atmosphere was robustly positive.

African economies are on the rise, none more so than Ethiopia’s which, if you believe the numbers, (and most informed sources do) grew at between 5 and 10 percent over the past half a decade.

Sitting astride this economic growth, and taking pride of place at this year’s WEF, was Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. In an event that boasted such political heavyweights as former British PM Gordon Brown, and private sector luminaries like the Ivorian boss of The Prudential, Tidjane Thiam, whose $600 billion worth of assets makes Ethiopia look like a minnow, I was surprised by how much Meles came out as the dominant figure. Read more…

UN adopts historic ‘land grab’ guidelines

In recent years large-scale acquisitions of farmland in developing countries have caused concern

May 11, 2012 (BBC News) –The United Nations has adopted global guidelines for rich countries buying land in developing nations.

The voluntary rules call on governments to protect the rights of indigenous peoples who use the land.

It is estimated that 200m hectares, an area eight times the size of Britain, has been bought or leased over the past decade, much of it in Africa and Asia.

But aid agencies warn it will be very difficult to ensure the guidelines are implemented everywhere.

AFP quoted Clara Jamart from Oxfam as saying this was just a first step and urging caution.

“Governments have no obligation to apply these measures,” she said. Read more…

AFRICAN UNION: Instrument of Imperialist Rule

by Thomas C. Mountain

May 10, 2012 (Global Research) – The African Union has mutated into a particularly corrupt and brutal enforcer of western rule in Africa. When it comes to the interests of Pax Americana, you must start with the crimes committed in the AU’s “War on Terror” in Somalia, a.k.a., the War on the Somali people.

In 2006, the Somalis themselves under the umbrella of the Union of Islamic Courts brought about a miracle in many observers’ eyes and established a functioning government in the former capital of Mogadishu, bringing peace and security to the region for the first time in 15 years. Read more…

Africa: Charles Taylor conviction in Liberia sends warning message to tyrants

April 26, 2012 LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Former Liberian President Charles Taylor today became the first head of state since World War II convicted by an international war crimes court, a legal landmark observers say sent a clear message to tyrants around the world that their days of impunity are numbered.

Taylor, 64, was found guilty on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for sending guns and bullets to Sierra Leone rebels in return for so-called blood diamonds mined by slave laborers and smuggled across the border.

The verdicts were hailed by prosecutors, victims and rights activists as a watershed moment in efforts to end impunity for leaders responsible for atrocities.

Judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone said Taylor’s aid played a crucial role in allowing the rebels to continue a bloody rampage during that West African nation’s 11-year civil war that ended in 2002 with more than 50,000 dead. The rebels gained international notoriety for hacking off the limbs of their enemies and carving their groups’ initials into opponents and even children they kidnapped and turned into killers. Read more…

Ethiopia: Africa’s Free Press Problem

By MOHAMED KEITA

April 16, 2012 (New York Times) – AS Africa’s economies grow, an insidious attack on press freedom is under way. Independent African journalists covering the continent’s development are now frequently persecuted for critical reporting on the misuse of public finances, corruption and the activities of foreign investors.

Why this disturbing trend? In the West, cynicism about African democracy has led governments to narrow their development priorities to poverty reduction and stability; individual liberties like press freedom have dropped off the agenda, making it easier for authoritarian rulers to go after journalists more aggressively. In the 1990s, leaders like Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia were praised by the West as political and social reformers. Today, the West extols these men for achieving growth and maintaining stability, which they do largely with a nearly absolute grip over all national institutions and the press. Read more…

Migrant boat disaster: Europe’s dereliction of duty

A report into the deaths of Africans in the Mediterranean highlights a reluctance to help those fleeing danger

Many refugees and other migrants risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

March 30, 2012 (The Guardian) – The Council of Europe’s damning report into the horrific deaths of 61 people in the Mediterranean last year is a wake-up call to European states – people fleeing atrocities are putting their lives at risk to reach safety on the continent.

Details of the unnecessary suffering of those who died are extremely distressing. The majority, including two babies, died from thirst and starvation over a two-week period. It is a disgrace that Europe and Nato’s failure to act meant “many opportunities for saving the lives of the persons on board the boat were lost”.

We don’t know the personal circumstances of all of these people, but we know about the atrocities taking place in Libya at the time, that forced many people to flee their homes. We know some were refugees from sub-Saharan African countries, such as Eritrea and Ethiopia, where we know human rights abuses, including torture and sexual violence, consistently take place. Some of the nine survivors on the boat have since been recognised as refugees by the UN, suggesting many on board were fleeing individual persecution. Whatever they were fleeing from, they were desperate to reach a place of safety, but instead were left to die by the people they thought would help them. Read more…

U.S. Defense Department Develops Map of Future Climate Chaos

A new mapping tool shows where vulnerability to climate change and violent conflicts intersect throughout Africa

March 23, 2012 (Scientific American) – University of Texas researchers have developed a sophisticated new mapping tool showing where vulnerability to climate change and violent conflicts intersects throughout the African continent.

More than a year in the making and part of a $7.6 million, five-year Department of Defense grant, the Climate Change and African Political Stability project culls data on riots, civil unrest and other violent outbursts dating back to 1996. It overlaps with information about climate-change-induced vulnerabilities like drought, as well as the type of aid that is being delivered to various parts of Africa.

The end result, researchers said, is something they hope can be used to help policymakers understand vulnerability better, and eventually help the Pentagon decide where resources might be best placed in order to ensure regional stability.

“It’s a starting point for a conversation,” said Joshua Busby, an assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Texas. “These maps and this process of understanding climate vulnerability starts a conversation that gets people to start thinking about how we prioritize resources.” Read more…

Big oil groups join scramble for east Africa

March 14, 2012 (Financial Times) – Norwegian oil company Statoil does not normally have naval patrols guarding its drilling operations. But not everywhere it operates is threatened by Somali pirates.

Statoil set the oil industry abuzz late last month when it announced it had found large volumes of natural gas off the coast of Tanzania, confirming east Africa’s reputation as one of the energy world’s most promising new frontiers.

The find is “fantastic”, says Tim Dodson, Statoil’s head of exploration – “our biggest ever discovery as operator outside Norway”. African waters can be treacherous, however. Statoil had lockdown facilities on all its rigs and support vessels to keep staff safe in the event of a pirate attack, while a small flotilla, operated by security contractors and Tanzanian navy personnel, guards the drilling site.

The threat of piracy might loom large, but it has not prevented a new scramble for east Africa, led by some of the world’s biggest oil companies. Suddenly Mozambique and Tanzania, which until recently did not even feature on the world energy map, have become some of the gas industry’s hottest real estate. Read more…

Police intercepts 71 illegal lags from Ethiopia, Somalia

Porus borders? Malawi's borader with Tanzania in northern district of Karonga

March 4, 2012, Malawi (RBC) – Malawi Police in northern district of Chitipa have arrested 70 Ethiopians and a Somalian for illegally entering the country. The Police have also arrested three Malawians for aiding these illegal immigrants.

The three are Mashaka Mumba 26, Lughano Nyondo 32 and Albino Mwambene 31. They all come from Mwandambo village in Karonga.

According to Chitipa Police Officer-in-Charge Ellen Liganga the illegal aliens were hiding in a bush near Weluza village, Traditional Authority Mwenemusuku in the district.

Porus borders? Malawi’s border with Tanzania in northern district of Karonga

Liganga said the Police worked on a tip from villagers who spotted ‘strange’ people in a bush within their village.

The Officer-in-Charge said whilst in the process of arresting the illegal immigrants, the police also discovered a decomposed corpse believed to be for one of the illegal immigrants who might have died due to starvation or illness. Read more…

Feature: Separating myth from truth in Bachwezi tale

In spite of the invasions, southern Egypt and southern Ethiopia remain black to this day so much that there are Luo speaking communities in southern Ethiopia. Among these are, Anguak/Anywar- the connection with Luo/Acholi names cannot be mistaken in Uganda. In southern Ethiopia, we have Shua region as well as Oromo. The Oromo of Ethiopia see themselves as black people. We have the Oromo area of Acholi in Northern Uganda.

March 4, 2012 (The Observer) – Did you know that Egypt was a land of black people back in the day? That the biblical Moses was in fact a black man? And that the word ëAbairuí might have emerged from ‘Hebrew’?

In this widely researched article, JUSTICE PATRICK TABARO unravels the mystery of the Bachwezi, making some very interesting revelations about African history along the way. One of the most controversial epochs in the history of the Great Lakes Region is that of the Abachwezi. Legends abound linking them to heaven and portraying them as spirits or demigods. This article is an attempt to place them in the history of the African people without any embellishment or concealment of information, based on historically verifiable facts.

It is very often said that it is impossible to divorce prejudice, personal experience, class bias and ideology from historical presentations. I take solace in the fact that what follows is largely an analysis of publications and oral tradition. Your presenter claims no credit for original research; that is why authoritative sources will be stated, without unnecessary pedantry or discourses in academia. Read more…

Long distance relationship: Haiti’s bid to join the African Union

Yet anyone who has been to Haiti, or even compiled a hasty historical timeline of the Western hemisphere, can scratch out a tenable storyline that explains Haiti’s unusual, but not unfathomable bid to join the African conglomerate. A blend of history, culture, and economic realities answer why Haiti is joining with nations that are more than 5,000 miles away.

Haiti is famous throughout the Africa Diaspora – the loosely, but close knit spectrum of nations with significant populations of slave descendents – for its revolt against slaveholders. Haiti became the first freeblack republic in 1804, when a group of slaves overtook the French to earn the nation’s freedom. That act alone made the small island nation special to Africans all over the world, but there are other ties as well.  These include language, food, music and art. Read more…

Saleh formally steps down; may seek refuge in Ethiopia

Arab News (Feb. 28) Aides to Ali Abdullah Saleh said that the ousted Yemeni president plans to go into exile in Ethiopia, as pressures mounted on him to depart the country for fear of sparking a new cycle of violence. Saleh stepped down yesterday after 33 years at the helm.
Saleh’s presence in Yemen is a major source of discontent, and undermines confidence that his departure from office will lead to lasting political change. Read more…

Africa Talking to Beijing: Ethiopia

The Africa Report (Feb. 27) Tough governments are able to get the most out of the rise in emerging-market interest in Africa. Here is one example of countries trying to get beyond the ‘win-win’ rhetoric in engagements with their Chinese partners. In Ethiopia, Addis Ababa holds the reigns.
During his August 2011 trip to China, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi visited the Pearl River Delta, where higher production costs are driving manufacturers offshore. Read more…