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Volume 48, No. 3 August -October 2008

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Rediscovering Roots: Africa & Globalisation Fostering a ‘Green Revolution’ in Africa For a new face of universal humanism Dynamics of Indo-Nigerian relations " ALSO in the issue: ! Interview with Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai ! War and women ! ! !

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frica has come to mean many things to many people. More often than not, the resource-rich continent that is trying to meld ancient traditions with modernity ends up being a victim of mass media clichés. The real Africa, grounded in centuries-old traditions of oral story-telling, myths and folklore, and a long history of democratic practices, remains hidden from the voyeuristic public gaze that is only looking to reaffirm its prejudices about the continent. Negative images dominate: images of stark poverty, famine, chronic tribal wars and HIV/AIDS saturate the public perception of Africa. Eminent African scholar Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai calls this willed stereotyping “the problematic Africa” that takes the focus away from the African way of being in the world. The result: Africa has become “the dark toy in the carnival of others”.

How does one find one’s way to the real, authentic Africa in the midst of all this epistemological fog that has been complicated by mass media distortions? In a stirring and profound lecture he delivered in New Delhi recently, Joseph Yai spoke eloquently about the pressing need to rediscover anew “the unknown human face” of our respective cultures and civilisations. Quoting eclectically from legendary Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and iconic African poet Aime Cesaire, the scholar of African languages and literature, who is also chairman of the UNESCO Executive Board, argued that homo economicus, as exemplified by competing brands of Western capitalism, must be replaced by a new human being that can connect with the “backup heart of humanity”. In other words, as India and Africa join the process of globalisation to embrace their new destiny, they should return to their roots and what he calls “the philosophies and worldviews of Africa, India and pre-Colombian Americas”.

He also calls for “a new cultural Bandung” in which the “Man of the East meets the Man of the West” and do not see each other as the hostile Other.

In an interview with Africa Quarterly, Joseph Yai refines some of his ideas about globalisation with a human face and articulates his hopes of the long-delayed African renaissance.

“We need an African renaissance. But for that we have to go back to the foundation of our own culture, the values that animated us before the Europeans came, the village values of Africa,” he told the journal. He is no nostalgia-hungry romantic or an Orientalist, but his faith in the boundless possibilities of Africa is indeed touching and inspiring. Afro-pessimism and rhetoric notwithstanding, Africa, a continent whose cultures have demonstrated ample evidence of resilience despite four centuries of slave trade and a century of colonialism and neo-colonialism, deserves the benefit, not of doubt, but of hope, he says memorably. In many ways,

Joseph Yai penetrates to the very heart of Africa’s predicament.

The economic reforms in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and its oil hub, telescope some of these conflicting strands in Africa’s attitude towards change and globalisation.

In his article entitled “Challenges of Nigeria’s Reforms”, Nigerian scholar Osita Agbu examines how Nigeria was forced to reform its economy and embark on trade liberalisation due to the pressure of globalisation. “Until recently, Nigeria’s persistent balance of payments deficit left Nigeria heavily indebted to the major economic powers (Nigeria has now paid off most of her debt),” he says. Ultimately, it took an economic crisis, characterised by high unemployment, depleted foreign exchange, and corruption that afflicted Nigeria when Olusegun Obsanjo came to power in 1999 that left no choice for the country but to reform and globalise its economy. The reforms have yielded substantive gains: inflation decelerated to 10 percent, the non-oil sector grew faster than the oil sector, real GDP grew by 6.1 percent in 2004 and foreign reserves increased manifold to $60 billion in 2008.

However, Agbu says the major challenge before the Nigerian government now is how to deploy these vast resources to improve the living standards of Nigerians and to sustain these reforms through institution-building.

In another article on Nigeria and India-Nigeria relations, Professor Osita C. Eze diagnoses the malaise of globalisation in terms of power structures and argues that the philosophy of globalisation, as embedded in the WTO instruments, supported by the IMF and World Bank, are too narrow and limited to address the concerns of economic growth and financial stability. Moreover, this pattern of globalisation neglects broader human concerns such as persistent global poverty, growing inequality between and within countries, the exclusion of the poor and persisting human rights abuses, he argues. The current global financial meltdown underlined the failure of the market-driven globalisation and prompted IBSA countries to protest against this kind of “casino capitalism” and ask for a reform of the international financial architecture at the IBSA summit in New Delhi in October.

Globalisation is, however, a huge opportunity for India and Africa with their kindred cultures and their appetite for a bigger role in global affairs. “India has a central role to play in an international power system, which is not based on power and empire,” says Joseph Yai. It’s time to return to core values and roots, in short. Or as Cesaire sang so beautifully about this insistent hunger for roots and spiritual nourishment. “Let us take up again/The useful patient path/Lower than roots, the path of seed/The summary miracle that shuffles the deck/But there is no miracle/Only the strength of seeds/Depending on their stubbornness to ripen.”

Manish Chand

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IBSA slams rich countries for financial crisis, bats for reforms

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laming rich countries for the global financial crisis, India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA), at the Third IBSA Summit held in New Delhi on October 15, vigorously backed reforms of the UN and international financial institutions even as they agreed to expand their cooperation in areas ranging from nuclear energy and climate change to trade and terrorism.

The IBSA, which brings together the three economic powerhouses from Asia, Africa and Latin America, agreed to scale up their trilateral trade to $25 billion by 2015 and signed seven pacts in diverse areas, including environment, commerce, maritime projects, tourism, gender equality and human settlements. In yet another significant step that underlined growing IBSA solidarity, Brazil and South Africa supported civil nuclear cooperation within international safeguards and agreed to sell uranium to India.

The three major economies of the developing world also asked their finance ministers and governors of central banks to convene a meeting soon to establish a coordination mechanism to address issues relating to the financial crisis that has also begun to impact the developing world.

“Our voice on how to manage this crisis in a way that does not jeopardize our development priorities needs to be heard in international councils,” Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said at the launch of the three-day-long IBSA summit.

“We need more than ever before a renewed effort to reform the institutions of international governance, whether it is the United Nations or the G-8,” the prime minister stressed.

Hailing IBSA as “an effective model of South-South cooperation”, Dr. Singh also underlined the need for greater cooperation among the three

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Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh with President of Brazil Lula da Silva and President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe, at the Third Summit of the India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum, in New Delhi on October 15.

countries for the satisfactory conclusion of the Doha round of negotiations in a manner that “promotes development and inclusive growth”.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was unsparing in his indictment of wealthier developed nations and asked why developing countries should become “victims of the global financial crisis generated by the rich countries”.

Silva, known for his fiery rhetoric, said that it was unfair that poorer nations had “to pay for the irresponsibility of speculators who have transformed the world into a gigantic casino”. “We did not participate in the casino. Why should we suffer?” the Brazilian president said.

Calling for a collective IBSA response to the crisis, Silva stressed that he had warned of the current U.S. meltdown triggered by the sub-prime mortgage crisis a year ago, but nobody paid heed to him.

“Our countries should participate more directly in international coordination to confront the financial crisis,” Lula said.

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Motlanthe was equally unstinting in his critique, saying the “ill-conceived decisions of a few have brought the international financial system to the brink of collapse”.

“As the developing world, we must accept that one-size-fits-all solutions prescribed to us by the developed world must be approached with a great deal of caution,” Motlanthe said.

“The pillars of stability... potentially lie in the south,” said Motlanthe.

The leaders of IBSA welcomed the “consensus decision of the IAEA Board of Governors to approve the India-specific safeguards agreement and the decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to adjust its guidelines to enable full civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the international community,” said the Delhi Declaration adopted at the end of the third IBSA summit.

Pushing for international civilian nuclear cooperation under appropriate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, the three countries underlined the importance of non-polluting nuclear energy to combat climate change.

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‘India, South Africa ties need to grow faster’

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conomic ties between India and South Africa have flowered in the last few years but have not yet reached full potential, says India’s Ambassador to South Africa, R.K. Bhatia, pressing for an umbrella trade and investment pact.

Addressing a gathering on September 23 while launching a conference on ‘Doing Business with India’ in Johannesburg, the ambassador said bilateral trade had increased by 261 percent to $4.7 billion within six years.

“This may seem to be a satisfactory growth but, on the other hand, it may not really be so, especially if we take into account the growth in trade of India and South Africa with some of their other trading partners,” he said at the conference organised by Confederation of Indian Industry

(CII) and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

The ambassador noted that both countries had already started talks for a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement.

“South Africa has been aware of our interest in an early conclusion of a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement, but perhaps it needs to move forward quickly in that direction,” he said.

Bhatia said that current trade figures were also “not fully satisfactory” if compared to bilateral trade targets of $10 billion and intra-IBSA (India

Brazil, South Africa ready to sell uranium to India

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hortly after a global cartel lifted an embargo on atomic trade with New Delhi, Brazil and South Africa on October 15 vigorously supported civil nuclear cooperation with India and agreed to sell it uranium.

The leaders of IBSA welcomed the “consensus decision of the IAEA Board of Governors to approve the India-specific safeguards agreement and the decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to adjust its guidelines to enable full civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the international community,” said the Delhi Declaration adopted at the end of the Third IBSA Summit held in New Delhi.

Pushing for international civilian nuclear cooperation under appropriate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, the three countries underlined the importance of non-polluting nuclear energy to combat climate change.

“We have no objections to selling uranium to India,” South African President Kgalema Motlanthe told reporters when asked whether his country would sell uranium to India following the NSG waiver.

Both South Africa and Brazil have huge reserves of uranium and are planning a major expansion of their civilian nuclear power plants.

Brazil South Africa) trade of $15 billion by 2010. At the same time, Bhatia said steady growth of two-way investment flows, estimated to be $2.5-3 billion, is a “highly promising feature”.

Based on the decision at the IBSA Summit in October 2007, business leaders had asked for removal of curbs on the movement of goods, services, investments and business people.

The senior Indian diplomat said that progress had been made, with India and South African Customs Union negotiations put on a fast track.

Due to “persistent efforts” by India, South Africa has liberalised its business visa regime “to a certain extent”, he added. “This should encourage our business people to visit South Africa more as their business needs grow in future.”

India, Brazil, South Africa to cooperate in healthcare

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ndia, Brazil and South Africa on October 14 agreed to cooperate among themselves to provide quality healthcare, said experts in New Delhi at a trilateral summit on trade.

“We together can bring a turnaround in our health facilities for the people. There is huge scope for cooperation,” said Jasimar Henrique da Silva of Brazil at the India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) business summit.

A group of six experts deliberated for an hour at the summit to identify greener pastures in the three nations where each of them can chip in with expertise to help out the others.

“From Research and Development to creating infrastructure, India can play a pro-active role in enhancing Brazil’s health facilities and vice-versa,” said da Silva, who represented the South American nation at the tri-nation trade summit.

Daljit Singh of Indian healthcare chain Fortis Healthcare said: “India offers the cheapest tertiary healthcare in the world. We are doing extremely well in research and development.”

“India, Brazil and South Africa can jointly research clinical trials. We can carry out continuing medical education programmes,” said Singh, who looks after strategy and organisational development at Fortis.

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India demands greater voice for developing nations in World Bank

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ndia has demanded “substantial and effective enhancement” of the voice of Developing and Transition Countries (DTCs) in the World Bank Group (WBG), saying a proposal approved by global financial leaders failed to live up to promises.

The proposal approved at a meeting on October 12 of a key panel of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank “on the important dimension of ‘Voice as voting power and shareholding’ has failed to live up to the promises made at the Spring Meeting of 2008,” Finance Minister P. Chidambaram stated on October 13.

“While in the interest of consensus, we agreed to the proposals at the Development Committee recently, we believe that the efforts now to be made on realignment must lead to substantial and effective enhancement of the individual as well as collective voice of DTCs,” he said.

In the absence of Chidambaram,

who stayed back home to deal with the impact of the global meltdown on the Indian economy, his statement at the plenary session of the Fund-Bank’s annual meeting was read out by Economic Affairs Secretary Ashok Chawla.

“The ongoing voice and participation reform process at the Bank is a great opportunity to make a far reaching reform of its governance structures so that it continues to play a vital developmental role in global economic affairs,” Chidambaram stated.

According to a communiqué issued on October 12, the proposal approved DTC voting shares in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) will increase, giving special emphasis to smaller members.

But further realignment of Bank shareholding would be taken up for review that “will consider the evolving

World Bank launches new fund to help emerging countries

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s wealthy nations deal with their own struggling economies, the World Bank launched a new fund on October 11 to help emerging countries trade lessons amongst themselves.

The new programme was described as a “simple, low cost” means of helping developing economies learn about new ideas in their own back yards to help cut poverty, improve agriculture, manage their natural resources and improve political systems.

The first project is aimed at repeating in African countries India’s rise to one of the world’s largest dairy producers. Tanzanian, Ethiopian and

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Ugandan dairy farmers would travel to India to get new insights. The World Bank said it expects to get $10 mn over three years for the fund.

Seven countries have already offered support.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the World Bank’s MD, said the programme would help spread ideas to poor countries that “can’t afford the luxury of long waits to receive support.”

“Its credibility relies on the fact that it is developing country people sharing their own success,” he said.

During 1970-1996, Operation Flood, transformed a milk-deficient India into the largest producer of milk and milk products in the world.

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weight of all members in the world economy and other Bank-specific criteria consistent with the WBG’s development mandate, moving over time towards equitable voting power between developed and developing members.”

“The Board would develop proposals by the 2010 Spring Meeting and no later than the 2010 Annual Meetings, with a view to reaching consensus on realignment at the following meeting,” the communiqué added.

Turning to the issue of development and climate change, Chidambaram said: “Issues relating to finance and technology are fundamental to the success of any global strategy to address climate change.”

As at the Development Committee meeting on October 12, he again emphasised that developed countries must provide new and additional resources that do not detract from the Official Development Assistance.

IBSA signs tourism cooperation pact

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ndia, Brazil and South Africa signed a draft tripartite tourism cooperation agreement on September 21 at the fifth edition of the Kerala Travel Mart (KTM).

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurated the mart on September 20. On behalf of India, Leela Nandan, joint secretary in the tourism department of the central government, signed the agreement.

Diplomats Carlos R. Santana of Brazil and Zukiswa Nekhgranye of South Africa did the honours on behalf of their countries.

A 32-member delegation of tour operators from both these three countries also participated in the agreement signing function.

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India should head International Coffee Organisation: Africa

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ndia has been elected chairman of the International Coffee Organisation’s executive board — a step that a senior African diplomat hoped would take it to the very top of the London-based body.

Josefa Leonel Correia, the Angolan diplomat representing the African continent at the ICO, said Africa would support a bid by India to lead the organisation at the next election for the post of the executive director, due in 2012.

“I very much hope that India will lead this organisation in 2012.

Leadership should be on a rotational basis. Africa will support India’s candidature,” Correia, secretary-general of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO), told Indo-Asian News Service.

The ICO is often seen as a talking club that has been dominated by Latin American countries since its inception in 1962 and Correia’s comments signalled the start of a move that could break the mould.

The election to the post means India would be responsible for running the day-to-day affairs of the body — an intergovernmental organisation representing 77 exporting and importing countries — as it moves towards an important new phase.

India’s election comes at a crucial moment in the ICO’s history as it transits to a new International Coffee Agreement, which was formally adopted by members recently.

The agreement — the sixth in the body’s history — will pave the way for new activities, including funding mechanisms, aimed at protecting the livelihoods of the 25 million poor

peasant farmers who produce 70 percent of the world’s coffee. India, which will be represented by Coffee Board chairman G.V. Krishna Rau, could help transform the world of coffee — the second-largest traded commodity after oil.

Indian diplomats say that as with a number of other commodities, the direction of the global trade in coffee is shifting toward Asia — and with India’s emergence as an economic power, it is seen to be a strong contender for leadership of the ICO. India is the sixth-largest producer of coffee and has a rapidly growing coffee-consuming middle class poised to rival the U.S. and Europe for size.

At the same time, its coffee growers are mostly small farmers — not unlike those who produce the bulk of the commodity in Africa’s 23 coffeegrowing nations.

“India is now a global player, and coffee is a growing industry. The coffee industry has to be re-invested in India,” ICO executive director Nestor Osorio, a Colombian, said.

“It is a sophisticated industry with two million extra bags added to the global production every year. It has a growth rate of two percent — that shows there is dynamism in coffee,” Osorio added.

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SA to emulate Indian Twenty20 success

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outh Africa plans to emulate the highly lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket format in 2009, with cricket bosses from India, Australia and New Zealand having agreed to make their players available for the game, according to the Johannesburg newspaper Afrikaans Weekly Rapport.

Cricket South Africa (CSA), presently undergoing a leadership change with the recent resignation of its president, Norman Arendse, is, however, yet to confirm the possible tournament, but Rapport said that talks were already at an advanced stage with the other three nations.

CSA reportedly plans to use the same formula used very successfully by India in its inaugural IPL League earlier this year, which had fans globally glued to their TV sets.

Major South African cities will get the opportunity to secure top players from across the world for their local teams.

Estimates indicate that such a Twenty20 tournament could generate more income for South Africa than the Champions Trophy planned for India in December later this year between South Africa’s provincial teams Titans and Dolphins; Victoria Bush Rangers and the West Australian Warriors of Australia; Middlesex from England; a Pakistani team to be announced next month; and the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings from the host country.

Rapport also reports that CSA chief executive Gerald Majola has already had discussions with Cricket Australia and plans are being initiated to have the tournament as early as possible in 2009.

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Mosquito net, water filter, condoms in exchange for taking HIV test

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n the small rural village of Eshisiru in Western Kenya, hundreds of women in colourful dresses, many of them surrounded by a gaggle of children, queue patiently in the midday sun. These women are not waiting to draw water from a borehole or to buy food. Instead, they are waiting to be tested for HIV — something that campaigners say is virtually unheard of in Africa.

The concept behind the programme that has brought people out in such numbers is very simple: Giving away a long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito net, a water filter and condoms in exchange for taking the test.

“The response has been overwhelming,” says Peter Cleary, communications director of Vestergaard Frandsen, the private company providing the free pack and funding the testing. “Over 10,000 people showed up on the first day; on the second day we had almost as many.”

The project, run in cooperation with the Kenyan Ministry of Health and other non-governmental organisations, aims to test 43,000 sexually active people aged 15-49 across Lurambi District.

At the moment, less than 20 percent of Kenyans know their HIV status and there are an estimated 1.2 million HIV-infected Kenyans who do not know they carry the virus.

You don’t have to be a health worker to deduce a person ignorant of his or her status is more likely to spread the disease, and most of the people taking the test acknowledge this. “It is important to be tested because if people know their status they are going to change their behaviour,” says 30year-old Sarah Mukoshi, who queued for hours before receiving her pack.

However, those involved in running the project — many of whom have taken part in previous, less

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successful testing campaigns for various diseases — are in no doubt the real reason people have turned out is the freebies.

“They are all saying they came to be tested, but you have to ask yourself why there is such a difference in turnout now,” says Louis da Gama of Global Health Advocates.

Even experienced campaigners like da Gama are surprised by the demand, but the desire to get a hold of a free mosquito net is perfectly understandable given that malaria is one of the top killers in Africa.

Around 90 percent of the one million deaths from malaria each year occur in Africa, largely due to the lack of preventative measures. In Kenya, only 52 percent of all children sleep under a mosquito net. The figure for pregnant women is 37 percent.

Considering that according to World Health Organisation figures, diarrhoea accounts for up to 7.7 percent of all deaths in Africa, the water filter also is a major draw.

So attractive is the free pack that even frail old men and women, not exactly a high-risk group for HIV/AIDS, have been showing up to be tested. Part of the apparent success is also down to holding the testing in a

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central location, thus encouraging everyone to come at the same time and overcoming the stigma of individual testing.

“Most people come expecting to be negative because they don’t feel sick ,” says Beatrice Awino, manager of the Eshisiru testing site.

Also important is the fact that machines are located at many of the sites to test people’s CD4 count — the marker which determines the need to begin anti-retroviral treatment. At Eshisiru alone, 40 people tested positive out of 650 in the first two days — slightly below the estimated national infection rate.

Of those 40 people, eight had to be put on to anti-retrovirals — made available in advance by the Kenyan Ministry of Health — immediately.

However, as successful as the testing programme appears to be in the early stages, it still has to be rolled out across Kenya to help the East African nation meet its goal of having 80 percent of all adults know their HIV status by 2010.

Vestergaard Frandsen is only funding the initial 43,000 tests, but from the level of interest being shown in the project, the money to take the project nationwide should not be long in coming.

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National holiday in Kenya on Obama victory

K

enyans took to the streets early on the morning of November 5 to celebrate Barack Obama’s election to the White House as US president and declared the day as a national holiday.

In downtown Nairobi and in Kibera, one of Africa’s largest slums, people dressed in suits on their way to work joined those who had stayed up all night watching the election returns to dance and chant Obama’s name.

Similar excited scenes took place in Kogelo, western Kenya, where many of Obama’s Kenyan relatives had gathered at the home of his grandmother, 86-year-old Sarah Obama. She said she would attend her grandson’s presidential inaugural in Washington early next year. Speaking to journalists, Sarah said she would take Obama’s favourite food, chapatti, a traditional Kenyan pastry, with her when she goes to the ceremony. She is also already planning what to serve the Illinois Senator when he makes his first visit to the village as the leader of the United States. She said: “It will not only change our lives but the whole of Kenya.”

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki congratulated president-elect Obama on his victory and designated November 6 as a public holiday for Kenyans to celebrate the “historic achievement”.

“This is a momentous day not only in the history of the United States of America, but also for us in Kenya,” Kibaki said in a statement.

“The victory of Senator Obama is our own victory because of his roots here in Kenya. As a country, we are full of pride for his success.”

Obama’s late father was Kenyan, although he abandoned his son when he was only two years old.

Despite the fact he has only visited Kenya a handful of times, Obama is considered a hero in the East African

nation. Many Kenyans feel that while having an African-American in the White House may not bring concrete change for Africa, it will bring a new self-respect for black people everywhere. “In colonial times black people were considered unimportant,” said Joseph Mjomba, a 21-year-old student.

“Now we have a black man in the White House.”

Drums of victory began to roll across Kenya and East Africa on the night of November 3 with Ugandans arriving in groups in the lakeside town of Kisumu to join the celebrations.

“I could not get a flight to Kisumu on November 3. That’s why I am driving to Kisumu to join my family in celebrations,” Joy Auma said.

Nairobi, Kisumu and Coast hoteliers announced a special Obama night to last till morning, where patrons were expected to eat and drink to their fill as they monitored the poll results.

A popular Nairobi restaurant, The Carnivore, lowered its prices for the day to allow their customers to moni-

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tor the US election results.

Dozens of public transport vehicles — matatus — around Kenya have been colourfully decorated with Obama’s name and picture on their sides and windows. And everyone wants to ride in the Obama vehicles. “He is huge here. We followed our hero through the primaries, through Iowa, Florida and everywhere else. We are now ready to usher him into the gates of the White House,” said James Onyango, a resident of Kisumu.

The preparation for the parties and all night vigils came as both Obama and McCain went on frenzied lastminute campaign rallies across the socalled battleground states. But the situation was no different in other major Kenyan cities and towns where entertainment spots were expecting booming business from revellers keeping awake to monitor the US election.

Many Kenyans regard Obama as one of their own. Obama himself detailed his Kenyan ancestry in his memoir Dreams From My Father.

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Lesotho thanks India for help in training professionals

L

esotho Deputy Prime Minister Archibald Lesao Lehohla has lauded the constructive role being played by the local Indian community in the tiny southern African kingdom which is landlocked by South Africa.

Lehohla was speaking at an ‘India Day’ event on November 2, at the Manthabiseng Convention Centre in Maseru, the capital city, organised by the Indian Association of Lesotho in collaboration with the Indian High Commission.

The different facets of India’s cultural heritage and contemporary developments among the Indian community in the kingdom of Lesotho were highlighted at the event, spearheaded by an impressive performance from a 12-member Gujarati dance troupe, Panghat Performing Arts, sponsored by the Indian Council for

Lesotho Deputy Prime Minister Archibald Lesao Lehohla addressing the UN General Assembly on October 1, 2007. (File photo)

Cultural Relations. Lesotho Foreign Minister Mohlabi Kenneth Tsekoa, citing the message of peace and nonviolence espoused by Mahatma Gandhi as an example for all, said that relations between India and his country have “grown from strength to strength” over the years.

Tsekoa thanked the government of India for the development cooperation agreements it had entered into with

Lesotho, especially in training a large number of Lesotho nationals in a variety of professional programmes.

Rajiv Bhatia, India’s high commissioner to South Africa, who is concurrently accredited to Lesotho, underlined the need to fully utilise the potential that existed between the two countries to further strengthen relations.

Bhatia commended the Indian Association of Lesotho for its initiative in organising the ‘India Day’, as well as for its important role in the socio-economic development of the kingdom.

While the 650 guests were treated to a Bollywood bonanza, fashion show, bhangra and other dances, representatives of the Bank of India and the National Small Industries Corporation interacted with their counterparts and interested entities to explore the possibilities of greater cooperation with Lesotho in future.

Auction of ivory tusks begins in South Africa

T

he last and the biggest of four exceptional auctions of ivory stockpiles got underway in South Africa on November 6, with Chinese and Japanese buyers vying to

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buy up 51 tonnes of the so-called “white gold”. The sale took place nearly a decade after the last authorised sale of ivory in southern Africa in 1999.

The ivory trade has been banned since 1989 but the 171 members of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have given the go-ahead for four countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) with thriving elephant populations to sell off ivory accumulated in their national parks.

In total 108 tonnes of ivory, harvested mainly from elephants that died accidentally or of natural causes in national parks, have been up for grabs.

The following quantities of raw ivory registered by January 31, 2007 have been approved for sale: Botswana: 43,682.91 kg, Namibia: 9,209.68 kg, South Africa: 51,121.8 kg, and

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Zimbabwe: 3,755.55 kg.

Animal rights activists have opposed the auctions, arguing that all sales of ivory — even legal — stimulate the black market trade in the produce, and consequentially, elephant poaching.

After the November 6 sale, the trade will have to wait another nine years at least before CITES can envisage another sale.

Under an agreement reached in The Hague in 2007, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were authorised to make a single sale of a total of 108 tons of governmentowned ivory.

The CITES Secretariat is monitoring the Chinese and Japanese domestic trade controls to ensure that unscrupulous traders do not take this opportunity to sell ivory of illegal origin.

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South African Indians splurge on Diwali lights, luxuries

T

he Diwali spirit seemed to have survived the global financial crisis in Johannesburg with South African Indians splurging on luxury sweets, lamps and gifts and getting together to celebrate the festival of lights.

Shopping centres across the country, mainly in Indian dominated areas like Lenasia near Johannesburg and Chatsworth and Phoenix near Durban, were swamped by families ahead of the festivities doing last minute shopping for Diwali, which was officially marked in South Africa on October 27.

North Indians, however, privately celebrated the festival on October 28 while south Indians observed the day on October 27.

The South African Hindu Maha Sabha decided some years ago to recognise a single day for official purposes, alternating each year between the north and south Indian Diwali dates.

This was to facilitate discussion with the government to recognise a single day each year as a public holiday for Diwali. Employees and pupils also use this single date to negotiate days off from work or school.

As shoppers piled everything from fancy clay lamps and fireworks to imported sweetmeats and fancy lighting into their cars, shopkeepers, who had expected a downturn, rubbed their hands in glee.

The favourites appeared to be sweetmeats imported from India, many varieties being seen in South Africa for the first time.

Arvind Roopanand, owner of a family chain that is the oldest importer in the country of all things Indian, told Indo-Asian News Service from his Durban head office that there had definitely been a change in the Diwali shopping pattern this year.

“Influenced by Bollywood films and the expanding number of televi-

sion channels from India that are available by satellite, the younger generation are splurging on fireworks, sweetmeats clothing and gifts,” Roopanand said.

“They no longer want the same traditional things — diyas must be more than just the plain traditional ones; clothing is influenced by the movie stars.” To meet this demand, Roopanand said they had imported “top-class” sweetmeats from India, which were selling out fast.

Lighting sellers also reported increased demand for decorative kits, either for self-installation or more elaborate ones to be fitted out by an electrician. In one case, a Chatsworth businessman, Kuben Naidoo, paid more than 4,000 rands (over $350) to light up the outside of his home for Diwali. Many other Indians across the country did similar things to brighten their neighbourhood.

Thousands of people also attended huge Diwali gatherings arranged by community organisations, some bolstered by sponsorships from big national and Indian companies.

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!"##$%""&'()*+('(,-./' Bollywood stars Upen Patel, Celina Jaitley and Kim Sharma initially upstaged African National Congress President Jacob Zuma when they all appeared at a Diwali festival organised by the Rameshwar Mahadev Mandir, in the suburb of Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, on October 29.

But Zuma, who got lesser applause than the stars, turned the tables on them with a better short speech than any of them after all three artistes had made short addresses to the crowd, each with a customary politically correct message of loving their fans.

The Bollywood artistes were brought to Johannesburg by the Gupta family — originally from India who now run Sahara Computers, one of the largest IT companies in South Africa. It has become a Diwali tradition for several years now for Sahara to sponsor Bollywood artistes and a huge fireworks display at the Diwali Festival.

Crowds cheered and clawed from behind barriers to shake the hands of Patel and Jaitley.

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n the eve of Independence, India was beset with a severe food shortage. By the 1970s, the Green Revolution had made India self-reliant in food production and agriculture. Today, India is the world’s top milk producer in the world, the second-largest rice and wheat producer, third-largest cotton, groundnut and fruit producer, and the fourth-largest grower of sugarcane and potato. India’s 2008-09 wheat production is estimated at 78.4 million tonnes, up 2.6 million tonnes, or 3 percent from 2007. The crop area is estimated at 28 million hectares and the yield is a record 2.8 tonnes per hectare, up 3 percent from 2007.

Favourable weather conditions, particularly cool temperatures during the growing period, are primarily responsible for the reported record output this year.1 The government of India encourages private sector investment in the sector. (About 60 percent of Africa’s population is engaged in agriculture; Asia has about 55 percent.) India offers Africa seed technology and irrigation methods, scientific techniques and instruments, besides infrastructure aid to spur out-

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put and help support poverty alleviation programmes. More than 90 percent of agriculture in Africa is rain dependent even though the continent has abundant water resources.

Therefore, Africa needs water management techniques from India. The continent also needs farm mechanisation that will facilitate higher productivity.

In fact, Indian investors have aided mechanisation and have supplied sowing machinery to African farmers. India’s private sector also invests in Africa’s agro-processing industry and agricultural research and development while connecting the farmer’s land directly to retail markets selling vegetables, fruits and cereals.

Agriculture holds the key to Africa’s progress and prosperity. Today, India and Africa are together pushing for a rapid resurgence in agriculture. The development partnership includes self-reliance schemes in Africa to help minimise debts.

Africa’s agriculture sector needs better infrastructure, such as road connectivity from the villages to the cities, telecom-

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , munication and better transport. Trade and investment in agriculture and agro-infrastructure are inter-linked and need mutual support. It would be useful for Indian investors and African governments to draw appropriate lessons from India’s Green Revolution and help tackle the continent’s problems on one hand and facilitate mutual benefit on the other.

0/(1+2/.)'3*+)./+(,-4'*.&'5""&'6/71+-)$' Africa’s agriculture sector faces the challenges of assuring better food quality and spurring productivity while ensuring that farmers are able to use environment-friendly agricultural methods. The sector needs sophisticated technology for optimal yields, precision farming, fuel saving, lesser soil compaction, and safety. India shares with Africa concerns about quality, profitability and environmental preservation while raising production to meet growing requirements.

A UN study on Asia says that poverty declined faster where agricultural growth had occurred rapidly. Urban poverty also diminishes when rural poverty declines. In India, land under irrigation rose from 72.9 million hectares to 87.2 million hectares during 1991-2007. Africa too needs a similar shift to achieve food security as its population is expected to touch the 1.8 billion mark by 2050. Table-1 highlights key statistics on irrigated land area and the potential through irrigation in this sector in Africa and Asia.

Major water bodies across Africa include rivers, such as Blue Nile, White Nile, Limjpopo, Niger, Volta, Senegal and Chari, and lakes, such as Chad, Victoria and Malawi. There are 73 other major rivers and lakes, 1,300 small lakes, 13 major river basins and 104 small river basins across Africa.

Only 20 percent of Africa’s water resource is required to make the continent food secure. It is thus essential to enhance irrigation facilities aided by extensive infrastructure to fulfil the continent’s basic needs (Food Security: 3-6). African personnel can be trained to instal pumps on a large scale and transform even deserts into green areas. Egypt is a good example where more than 100,000 Kirloskar pump sets have been helping to green over 200,000 hectares of desert land along the Nile for the last 40 years. The pumps are in operation at more than 50 large pumping stations. These pumping systems also work in South Africa, Lesotho, Angola, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwemaking a difference in key sectors of the economy. (Food Security: 14-15) Africa needs farm mechanisation that will facilitate higher productivity. Besides, it needs agricultural tractors and machinery for use in more arable land. Indian investors have helped African farmers save on seeds and fertilisers and enhance cropping intensity, which in turn, has raised the farmers’ gross incomes and returns. India manufactures agricultural tractors, mould board ploughs, disc ploughs, spring-loaded tillers, harrows, levellers, bund formers, scrapers, rotary tillers, back hoes with tractors, laser graders, and scrapers with tractors.3 India also manufactures sowing machinery and paddy

)=5?61J&$779.=068&!76=&H/K&L406;09=?&!.793-?0-76&?=;8 Particulars (ha)

World

Asia

Africa

Total Area

13.4 bn

3.1 bn

3.0 bn

Cultivated Area

1.5 bn (11.3%)

560 mn (17.6%)

200 mn (6.6%)

Irrigated Area

277 mn (18%)

194 mn (34%)

13 mn (6%)

Source: www.fao.org

planters, seed drills for cotton seeds, seed cum fertiliser drills, potato planters, and multi row vegetable planters. Besides, it also manufactures irrigation systems, such as sprinklers and drips, irrigation pumps, centrifugal pumps, stationary diesel engine driven centrifugal pumps, engine sets, electric and submersible pumps. Sowing and harvesting machinery include maize, sugarcane, paddy and wheat combines, mowers, reapers, fruit and onion harvesters, potato diggers, and cotton pickers. Post-harvest machinery includes bailers, tipping trailers, sugarcane grabbers, trailers, threshers and maize shellers.

87"."9-7'0/(1+2/.7/'*.&':;+-7* Indian institutions and bodies, such as ASSOCHAM, CII, FICCI, Exim Bank, IOR-ARC, TEAM-91 and Focus Africa have been working towards forging mutual understanding in trade, finance and industrial ventures. CII organised four conclaves on India-Africa (2005-08)2 and has developed an integrated strategy for promoting Indian exports into Africa, to supplement the Focus Africa programme of the Ministry of Commerce. It lays emphasis on project partnership in agriculture. The CII Africa Committee is identifying areas of mutual cooperation and issues of concern and is evolving guidelines for trade and investment in Africa’s agriculture sector. It is also seeking to develop a long-term sustainable relationship with the private sector in African countries. Felix Matati, Zambia’s Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry, pointed out: “African countries would prefer Indian investment as we understand each other. You have cost-effective technology, which we want. We are able to understand each other better as we are both from the South. India-Africa trade has been lacking visibility. We would want to change that.” (I. T. Christie) These institutions regularly share their experiences with the Indian government to help reshape its poverty alleviation and development policies in Africa.

Similarly, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) shares their developmental approach with India and Indian institutional partners. This bonding may usher in multi-polar ideas, political stability, economic development and advancement, which will cater to the needs of smaller countries as well. CII, ASSOCHAM, FICCI and FIEO1 have identified the region as a thrust area and have initiated different schemes to help promote economic and business cooperation in Africa’s agriculture sector.

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The investments (as per physical conditions of the region) in the sector have helped commercial farming of fruits and vegetables, processing of fruits and vegetables, production and export of de-hydrated fruits, organic farming of fruits and vegetables, and packaging of fruits and vegetables. Local governments have built cold storage facilities at collection points, while improving production has created opportunities for local manufacture of attractive packaging for fruits and vegetables.

Besides, irrigation schemes today ensure harvests throughout the year. Table-2 elaborates the investible sectors for an economic resurgence in Africa. Further, low cost species such as tilapia and happochromis (Uganda), king and queen fish (Eritrea)

and premium fishes such as Nile Perch (Uganda), tuna (Kenya, Djibouti and Eritrea) could be processed (Table-2).

The livestock development (cow, goat, sheep, chicken, duck and pig) strategy focuses on establishing an efficient livestock disease control system based on cost recovery, and achieving self-reliance in meat, milk, poultry and other livestock products. It promotes and develops industrial linkages for livestock products including dairy, leather and meat. The strategy has also helped propel livestock export while strengthening research in livestock breeding in order to upgrade the quality and productivity of the present livestock breeds (Table-2). In sum, investments in the sector have helped develop and promote production, processing and marketing of milk and dairy products as well as the general facilitation and development of the dairy industry (Table-2).

)=5?61M&$;:6/0@6;0&9;&!.793-?0-76&F63047N& L4:670O&!??6:9=094;&G&B6:6?4P@6;0 Agriculture Engineering

Industrial units for: ! Manufacturing tractors, pump sets for irrigation, and agro-food products ! Manufacture of textiles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; cotton fabrics, yarn and garment ! Agro-chemicals fertilisers and pesticides

Fish Farming

Production of: ! Value-added fish products â&#x20AC;&#x201D; canned fish, fish sausage, fish soup and fish finger ! Low cost species for local and regional markets and premium fishes for premium export markets ! Aquaculture development ! Frozen and chilled fillet processing in Africa ! Dry/Smoked fish â&#x20AC;&#x201D; mainly for the domestic market and for export into the regional market

Livestock Industry

! Vaccine development and production ! Animal feeds production and processing ! Integrated beef production and feedlot finishing ! Animal breeding, establishment of modern abattoirs and leather processing

Food and Beverages

! Value addition to a variety of agricultural produce locally available ! Planting and processing of coffee and production of instant coffee ! Extraction of vegetable and essential oils ! Packaging of vegetables and fruits for exports ! Breweries and distilleries for alcoholic beverages ! Soft drinks and packed fruit drinks manufacturing units ! Commercial farming and processing of sugar, corn flakes, gram flakes, etc

Dairy and Dairy Products

! Establishment and production of collection centres and transportation of milk to the

processing plants ! More processing plants to cater for excess production ! Powdered milk for use in ice-cream manufacturing, confectioneries and homes ! Long-life (UHT) milk ! Processing of butter, cheese, butter oil, ice-cream and yogurt ! Local commercial dairy breeding and production of semen reduce in the import of

heifers Source: 4th CII-Exim Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership, 19-21 March, 2008.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , ?/=/#"49/.)'3+"@/7)('<94#/9/.)*)-".'-.':;+-7* Indian investors have played an active role in the continent’s agriculture sector (See Annexure-1). For example, Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (I) Pvt. Ltd. is currently executing supply of 132 kv power transmission lines, substation and distribution equipment projects worth approximately US$78 million for Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO). It is setting up a $345 million sugar project in Tendaho, Ethiopia, with a capacity to crush 26,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day and is installing a new power plant worth $142 million at the Finchaa Sugar Factory in Ethiopia. The company is also electrifying the rural Gaza province of Mozambique — a project worth $20 million. International Tractors Limited (ITL) is one of the top five tractor selling companies in India and exports tractors to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Zambia, Senegal and Ghana.

ITL has a marketing arrangement with Tata International.

Sonalika Agro is supporting farmers with world-class farming equipment to usher in a second Green Revolution in India and now looks forward to taking the agrarian revolution to Africa (Annexure-1). Kamani Engineering Corporation (KEC) International is setting up power transmission lines in the scorching deserts of North West Africa and Egypt. It is also executing a rural electrification project in Ethiopia — at an altitude of 2,100 metres above sea level and along the politically sensitive Somalia-Ethiopia border. The company also has similar projects in other parts of Africa. It helps the continent’s farmers to adapt to mechanisation and technology driven irrigation methods. Angelique International Limited is working on rural electrification and is also setting up agro-processing plants and sprinkler/drip irrigation systems in Botswana (Botswana Today). Table-2 shows the investment opportunities in Africa, which is explained through case studies drawn from different parts of Africa.

samples to Holland for analysis. The cost of the services ($200600/ha) justifies the establishment of soil analysis laboratories and services in Uganda. Greenhouse plastics constitute 6 percent of the investment requirement and need to be replaced every 2-3 years, providing commercial opportunities for local manufacturers. Fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides are currently imported.” (Outline of Business Linkage and other Investment: 8) Ugandan flowers have managed to mark their presence in the world — today, the country is Africa’s fifthlargest exporter of cut flowers.

The most important market for Uganda’s fruits and vegetables is the European Union. In 2005, EU imports of fresh vegetables amounted to 10.5 million tonnes, worth Euro 9.8 billion. Uganda is capable of producing most tropical and subtropical or even temperate fruits, and therefore, offers tremendous investment opportunities. Uganda’s livestock production constitutes 17 percent of Africa’s total agricultural output.

Several firms in Uganda are involved in production of fish fillets for export, but the annual quota of 60,000 tonnes of processed fish, has never been met. In addition, the local market is expanding. Entry into this sub-sector is viable and there are possibilities of joint ventures with existing fish processing firms. Dry/smoked fish is mainly meant for the domestic market but can also be exported into the regional market (Outline of Business Linkage and other Investment: 11). However, Uganda’s agro-industry needs strong infrastructure such as roads and railways. It could do with a more efficient railway to transport its goods to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Southern Sudan, an important area of investment. The railways would be a better mode of transport for goods in Uganda for the country’s heavy rains play havoc with the roads. Thus the railways is an area India can tap for investments. In fact, the East African railway system was built by Indian workers.

Besides, the rate of return in Africa and Uganda is very high

AB'C2*.&*' Uganda is mainly an agricultural country with over 80 percent of its population relying on agriculture for livelihood. The potential for linkages in the plantation and agro-industry sectors lies in outsourcing field operations, including seedbed preparation, and supply of produce to processors and maintenance of machinery (Outline of Business Linkage and other Investment: 10). Uganda is East Africa’s food basket. There are investment opportunities in the production of instant coffee, extraction of vegetable and essential oils, packaging of beans, alcoholic beverages, soft drink manufacturing and sugar processing. “Uganda needs a $15-30 million investment to expand its rose growing industry. All rose plantations send soil

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DB'!")(%*.* India and Botswana began collaborating in agriculture, livestock and human resources development in 1999. Over the years, Indian seeds (maize and paddy rice) have been sent to this country for field trials while Indian buffalos are regularly exported to Botswana. After a farming project was finalised, six farmers from Punjab have since 1999 travelled to Botswana to help the project. A tender for large-scale purchase of Indian tractors is under process. On the other hand, Botswana regularly export s cotton to India. Today, Botswana looks forward to setting up commercial farming and production units for fruits, vegetables, Arabic gum and cotton.

As livestock occupies an important place in Botswana’s economy, the sector holds out significant opportunities.

Investors can help set up small industrial units for milk processing (dairy plants), breweries, small industrial units for production of animal feed and veterinary pharmaceutical products, meat and leather processing, and cattle rearing and poultry.

EB'!1+F-.*'5*(" Burkina Faso is the second-largest producer of cotton in West Africa while ranking third in the continent. Agriculture plays a key role in the country’s economy, accounting for over 40 percent of the country’s GDP, 80 percent of export revenue and 85 percent of employment (Business magazine, Burkina

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Faso in Focus: 30). The government gives priority to twelve fields for investment — cotton, cereals, fruits and vegetables, oil seeds, skin and leather, meat, milk, chemical products, fertilisers and pesticides. It is a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and shares a common currency — CFA Franc — and has set up a full custom union since 2000. WAEMU comprises Burkina Faso, Benin, Cote d ‘Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, with the same custom duty tariff. In 2002-03, the volume of trade between India and Burkina Faso rose by 30 percent. India imports nearly 66 percent of cotton yarn produced

by FILSAH, a major producer in Burkina Faso. The country also exports animal skin, leather and cashew to India, and imports agro-machinery (tractors and farm implements) and rice, besides small and medium-scale industrial machinery (such as those used in oil processing) from India.

Burkina Faso guarantees foreign investors the right to full business information, and the right to acquire real estate, forested land and industrial estates in addition to concessions and the right to transfer capital and profits.

The other advantages of investing in Burkina Faso include the scope for setting up joint ventures, availability of cheap labour, good infrastructure (telecommunication, roads, railways and airport) and services, and its strategic position in the heart of West Africa (Business magazine, Burkina Faso in Focus: 26).

Investments are required to set up industrial units for the manufacture of tractors, pump sets for irrigation, agro-food products, agro-chemicals (fertilisers and pesticides) and textiles (cotton fabrics, garment production and yarn). The country also needs commercial farming units for fruits, vegetables,

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Burkina Faso has more than 20 million livestock comprising bovines, aprons, ovine, pigs, mules and poultry. The production of fish is around 10,000 tonnes per year mainly for the local market. There is potential for investments in small industrial units for milk processing (dairy plants), production of animal fats, veterinary pharmaceutical production, meat processing, leather processing and cattle rearing and poultry.

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expanding shipping and landing operations. Higher storage and conservation capacities will improve the fluidity of port traffic.

The railway infrastructure needs material for the railway network and material for transportation of people and goods. The airport infrastructure is looking for installation of fixed and ancillary equipment besides higher storage capacities (Business magazine).

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GB'6/./2*# The agriculture sector, which covers 70 percent of Senegal’s population, is central to the country’s development. “India has provided Senegal 510 tractors, equipment for tilling, carts, drilling machines, pumps, trucks and maize processing and enriching equipment under a IndoSenegalese cooperation treaty” (Le Messager). Meanwhile, the Senegal government and the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Limited (IFFCO) have signed an agreement for aid worth $240 million (Business magazine:54). India has also extended credit worth $15 million to Senegal for acquisition of agricultural material and creation of rural enterprise, besides $27 million for irrigation projects to help the country achieve self-sufficiency in grain production (Senegal in Focus: 6).

There are export opportunities in the agri-business sector, in floriculture, fruit cultivation, gardening, cashew nut plantation, diversification of industrial processing of groundnut, fish cultivation, and support to the development of horticultural exports. Besides, improving the conditions of market operations, helping agri-business producers and operators access the market, and developing private irrigation and landrelated activities also call for significant investments (Senegal in Focus: 24-25).

Senegal is dependent on imported rice — in fact, importing as much 400,000 tonnes worth CFA Franc 118 billion in 2003. As an alternative, the Senegal government offers investment opportunities in this sector, particularly, in the Senegal River Valley region. Senegal has become a leading exporter of cherry, tomatoes, fine green beans, basil, green asparagus, onions, potatoes and abogines.

Areas eligible for trade and investment in Senegal offer an upper limit of CFA-F 15 million. The primary sector and related activities, such as agriculture, fishing, breeding and activities related to storing, packaging and processing local vegetable, animal, halieutic and food products. “The upper limit of CFA-F is 100 million in infrastructure (ports, airports and railways). The port infrastructure includes installation of fixed equipment and calls for investments in

Ghana is looking for an investment location and offers opportunities in agriculture (cassava, cotton, sugarcane, soya beans, oil palm, pineapples, etc), agro-processing (cocoa, fruits and vegetables), general infrastructure (agricultural and industrial estates, roads, railways and ports) and fisheries. “The government gives incentives such as tax rebates for manufacturing in certain locations, ranging from 5 to 10 years depending on sectors, and custom import duty exemption for plant machinery, equipment and parts thereof (Ghana, The Financial Express).

JB'K*.L-M*+ Zanzibar, part of the United Republic of Tanzania, offers investment opportunities in horticulture and floriculture, agro-processing, fruit processing and canning. There is potential for development of various types of fish, shrimps, lobsters, seaweed and other marine resources. Investors are free to choose suitable areas for deep sea fishing, fish farming and processing and canning. Zanzibar is known as the ‘Spice Islands’.

There are significant investment opportunities in spices, such as cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper and chilies.

NB'8+-)+/* The government of Eritrea announced a new economic investment policy known as Proclamation No.159/2007 on Foreign Financed Special Investments (FFSI). It applies to all FFSIs of more than $20 million or its equivalent in other convertible currency. The Eritrean government policies give priority to the agriculture sector.

Article 3 (9) of FFSI describes an investor as any physical person or any juridical person registered outside Eritrea who has invested foreign capital and goods and equipment in Eritrea. Along with it, Article 3 (7) of FFSI describes foreign capital as investments of foreign origin which shall include foreign convertible currency, negotiable instruments, plant machinery, equipment, buildings, spare parts, raw materials and other business assets brought into Eritrea and includes profit converted into capital. In light of the oft reported fears

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I # * * D & # * H 2 + ( ) $ 2 D and insecurities of foreign investors, this investment scheme gives economic incentives to the business community and could lead to greater security and confidence among investors.

Case studies illustrate that Indian entrepreneurs target trade and investment that would help in poverty alleviation and agrarian development. “India is setting up cooperation programmes in Ethiopia and Botswana to improve agricultural productivity while in Ghana, Benin, Senegal and elsewhere, it is establishing poverty alleviation programmes (Jorge Heine: July 2008).

Africa needs a land reform policy to secure the lives of the continent’s landless farmers. A land redistribution scheme will hold in check illegal land acquisitions and help Africa’s indigenous people regain land. This will, in turn, check rural mass migration to urban areas for alternative sources of employment.

The India-Africa Partnership Conclave, held in New Delhi from March 19-21, 2008, highlighted the potentially investible sectors in Africa, which includes agriculture, infrastructure (construction, transport), agro-processing, fisheries and other sectors. The rural mass of Africa, with land holdings, can with the help of foreign investments take up dairy and poultry farming, honey production and fishery as additional sources of income.

2.

3.

4.

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5.

The following suggestions may be useful in promoting and developing scientific agriculture in Africa: 1. Population growth calls for more agricultural land with better irrigation facilities and technology developed by agriculture research stations in Africa. The applications of science and technology (S&T), bearing the physical con-

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ditions of Africa in mind, will lead to positive results.

Better seeds, dwarf plantations, optimal use of water, crop rotation, and use of proper insecticides will go a long way in spurring Africa’s agricultural production.

The need of community farming under a ‘collective land system’ should be promoted, which will help in using scientific instruments like ploughers, levellers, harvesters, seed sowers, tractors, harrows, seed-drills, cutters, carbines, sprinkling and drip irrigation systems, pumping irrigation systems and thrashers. It will help in increasing crop production, diverting human resources into related sectors like agro-industry, and raising per capita income.

A scientific agriculture system will persuade the farmers to take to agricultural education, literacy programmes and other awareness programmes related to agriculture.

African governments could help build wells and check dams and train people to collect and store rainwater for their daily use.

Different programmes like dairy farming, poultry, piggery, aquaculture, sericulture, horticulture, floriculture and shrimp and prawn cultivation should be introduced in Africa as alternate sources of food. These related programmes would improve production systems while an agriculture extension system will expose the mainly agrarian population to the market economy and help forge a link between urban and rural areas.

Mutual cooperation will help forge scientific awareness among rural people, which in turn will persuade the younger generations to take to schooling. Moreover, agriculture extension is an important component of agriculture universities throughout the world, which will help Africa’s agriculture education system to strengthen in rural areas.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , 6. A scientific agriculture and extension programme will help spread awareness about the importance of nutritious crops, such as mushroom, soya bean, green beans and green vegetables, and their importance in the value chain of rural economic development. Africa needs more agricultural scientists and practitioners who will help Africa’s educated youth to take to agriculture.

7. To modernise scientific farming methods, the government could initiate the process of rural cooperative banking. These banks could provide different loan schemes for modern mechanical support like tractors and other implements, credit to farmers, insurance schemes on crops and subsidised technical guidance and other financial assistance for the uplift of rural society.

Alternate sources of domestic energy like bio-gas plants, energy saving stoves, solar pressure cookers and stoves and wind energy systems should be introduced and people motivated to use alternate sources of energy and plant trees in their fields or surroundings for environmental conservation.

8. The importance of growing trees/plants should be communicated to people which will spread awareness about soil erosion, land protection and conservation of environment. Along with it, the use of alternative building material, such as galvanised iron sheets, cement and relevant wood materials should be promoted. The permission to cut trees should be made conditional.

9. There is a need to build veterinary hospitals, introduce commercial feed to save grazing areas and share information regarding poultry, fishery, floriculture, horticulture, mushroom culture, prawn culture and

dairy farming. Farmers should be introduced to scientific patterns of cropping and crop rotation, besides new yield varieties of seeds in terms of early maturing seeds and drought resistant hybrid seeds, and proper fertilisers.

10. Scientific innovations will persuade farmers to seek agricultural training and take to information technology in agriculture. Soil conservation awareness programmes meant to reorient and train farmers should be broadcast on national television and radio. In addition, incentives should be given to those farmers who adopt scientific methods of cultivation.

11. Finally, the governments should devise food for work and cash for work programmes in agriculture and related sectors. Related sectors include road networks, dam construction, boring wells, building channels from rivers for irrigation, establishment of power projects and thermal units. Infrastructure development, credit schemes for farmers, proper storage system, abolition of the role of middle-men, and direct government procurement from the farmers will strengthen the use of scientific methodologies in a systematic way that would help in maintaining the balance between demand and supply. Besides, the governments need to keep a vigilant eye on demand and supply.

Overall, a scientific agricultural system would motivate people to become change leaders, enjoy more responsibility and foster a more scientific and educated future generation. Along with it, a modern agricultural system will help develop a healthy market economy, and lead to self-reliance in food and sustainable development.

Notes and References 1. Indian trade and industry associations such as Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Federation of Indian Exporters Organization (FIEO), Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank), Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) and TEAM-9 (member countries are Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, India, Mali, Senegal).

2. I actively shared my opinion from the First Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership titled ‘Expanding Horizons’ in New Delhi in 2005 to the Fourth Conclave titled ‘Strengthening Partnership’ in 2008 as a delegate organised by CII-EXIM in Delhi. I participated in India-Africa Forum Summit, 8-9 April 2008 in New Delhi.

3. Escorts, Sonalika, Eischer, HMT, International Tractors, Mahindra & Mahindra are the largest producers of agricultural equipment in India.

4. Annual Report (2007-08). Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.

5. Burkina Faso for Business. 2008, Delhi.

6. Business magazine, Burkina Faso in Focus, Dec 11, 2004.

7. Business Magazine, Senegal in Focus, Delhi, 2007.

8. CII: www.ciionline.org (14 September, 2008).

9. Food Security in Africa through Water Management (April 9, 2008). Kirloskar Brothers Ltd. 10. Ghana, Financial Express, Delhi, September 2005.

11. I. T. Christie and D. E. Crompton, Tourism in Africa, Washington DC: World Bank Africa region Working Paper Series No. 12.

12. Improving Farm Productivity through Agro Machinery (2008). Escorts Limited, Faridabad.

13. Le Messager, No. 670, February 2006.

14. Outline of Business Linkage and other Investment, Opportunities in Uganda, 2008.

15. Sonalika Profile, March 2008.

16. Uganda 2007, 3rd edition, Delhi.

17. Your Partner in Progress, Overseas Infrastructure Alliance, March 2008.

18. World Agricultural Production - August 2008 (http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/7/markets-and-economics/2361/world-agricultural-production-august-2008.

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t is quite clear that Nigeria is undergoing fundamental reforms in its society. As in many other countries around the world, the reform programme has different aspects and objectives, but what is generally agreed is that it is a process aimed at changing what is considered to be undesirable conditions. The word â&#x20AC;&#x153;reformâ&#x20AC;? has taken on a stronger meaning in the 21st century. It implies a change made to a system or an organisation to improve it or remove the unfairness in it.

From international best practices on sectoral reform programmes, reform is used to connote a change in the method of operating, funding, maintaining, administering and managing a system. It is a change to a preferred, or more effec-

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tive and more efficient method of doing things in order to achieve better results, (Ogunsanya, 2007:285).

Often a number of factors and developments in and around the economy may suggest the need to reform its fundamental rules and principles. The most common of such factors and events is economic crisis (Jimoh, 2007).

Sometimes, pressure or justification for reforms could come from international occurrences like globalisation. Generally, the reforms in Nigeria are considered comprehensive, and include amongst others the deregulation of the financial sector, privatisation/commercialisation as well as trade liberalisation. Indeed, a major force behind reforms in Nigeria could be said to be globalisation. Until recently, Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s persistent balance of payments deficit left Nigeria heavily

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , National Rolling Plan. The manufacturing sector also continuously recorded poor to negative growth rates. The performance was below the National Rolling Plan target of 6.7 percent per annum. In fact, manufacturing was characterised by low capacity utilisation that averaged 30 percent in the last two decades. It was also marked by a decline in contribution to GDP that averaged 6 percent. Besides, the sector was dominated by light consumer goods manufacturing while the presence of several unviable state-owned enterprises worsened the situation. Most importantly, sub-standard products that could not compete internationally dominated the market (Obadan and Edo, 2007:41).

Further, crude oil production in the country was characterised by both positive and negative growth during the period due to instability in the world oil market. The growth O,*+*7)/+-()-7('";'P-2/+-*Q('87"."9$ rate fluctuated and reached an all-time high of 14.6 percent Nigeria is a country endowed with significant natural and in 1989, and thereafter, declined and remained below 10 human resources. These include petroleum, natural gas, percent. Other problems in the industry included inadetin, columbite, iron ore, coal, lime stone, lead and zinc. In quate funding, poor operating conditions, inadequate and the agricultural sector, prominent products include cocoa, unreliable supply of petroleum products and weak operatpalm oil, yam, cassava, sorghum, millet, corn, rice, live- ing standards of refineries caused by poor maintenance. Gas stock, groundnut and cotton. The industrial sector produces was then still being flared at about 75 percent, the highest rate in the world. textiles, cement, food products, As of 2000, Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oil and gas footwear, metal products, detergents, D9.679=A/&IBL&V=/&=54-0&W__ production stood at 2.03 million car assembly lines and so on. The 59??94;&9;&M``X&=;8&<=8&=;& barrels and 2.5 billion standard commodities are primarily produced =:67=.6&.74V0<&7=06&4>&=54-0 cubic feet, respectively. Total for industrial export.

However, various macroeconomic a&P6736;0&P67&=;;-@K&$;>?=094;&9; proven reserves of crude oil and indicators suggest that the Nigerian M``b&V=/&c&P6736;0&V<9?6&49?Z& natural gas stood at 27 billion barrels and 120 trillion standard cubic economy had been performing poor=&@=\47&;=094;=?&76/4-736Z feet, respectively, during the period. ly since 1980. The decline was indicated by a real GDP growth rate of =334-;068&>47&=54-0&d`&P6736;0 The downstream side had four 4>&IBLZ&_`&P6736;0&4>&6UP470/ refineries with daily production 7.08 percent in 1980, which fell furcapacity of 445,000 barrels, a ther and recorded negative growth =;8&c`&P6736;0&4>&76:6;-6K& pipeline network of over 5,000 km, from 1981 to 1984. It recovered in 21 storage depots and 9 liquefied 1985 and recorded a growth rate of 9.4 percent, but declined again in the two years that fol- petroleum gas depots, (Obadan and Edo, 2007:42). In spite lowed. This fluctuation in growth continued even up to of the high investment by both the Nigerian government 2002. The period spanning 1980-2002 witnessed 19 years and the private sector, its performance was still unimpresof growth rates that fell short of the over 7 percent required sive.

The solid minerals sector, whose potentials have not been to improve the living conditions and welfare of the people optimally explored, was again unsatisfactory. Nigeria is (Obadan and Edo, 2007:40).

Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GDP was about $99 billion in 2005 and had an blessed with a variety of solid minerals, including gemstones average growth rate of about 3 percent per annum. The that are yet to be exploited.

However, the only exception to the general trend of poor inflation rate in 2006 was 8 percent with a per capita GDP of about $694 in 2005. About 50 percent of the population performance in the economy over the years was the finanlives below the poverty line according to president cial sector. In 1980, bank credit to the economy stood at Obasanjo in his 2007 budget speech. Oil, a major national N10.8 billion, which steadily rose to a remarkable level of resource, accounted for about 40 percent of the GDP, 90 N1,329.4 billion in 2002 (CBN, 2001, 2002). The aggregate percent of exports and 80 percent of government revenue financial savings in the sector, which included savings and time deposits with commercial banks and other depository (FRN, 2007).

In the real sector, agricultural production has recorded an institutions, as well as pension and life insurance funds, unimpressive growth in the last two decades, and has even showed a steady increase from N5.8 billion in 1980 to exhibited negative trends in some years. The highest growth N501.2 billion in 2002. While foreign resources declined rate of 4 percent is lower than the 5.8 percent targeted in the from US$7.1 billion in 1998 to $4 billion in May 1999, it indebted to the major economic powers (Nigeria has since paid off most of her debt). A key demand of the creditors had been for Nigeria to reform.

In 1999 when Olusegun Obasanjo came to power, the combination of economic crisis symbolised by high unemployment, output stagnation, external indebtedness, depleted foreign resources as well as corruption, internal inefficiency and globalisation had made economic reforms attractive.

This article examines the character of Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy, economic reforms between 1999 and 2007, the state of implementation and challenges inherent in the reforms programme.

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however, gradually increased to $5.5 billion in December ■ Social reforms through transparency, accountability, and 1999, and significantly increased thereafter following a anti-corruption campaigns. recovery in crude oil prices. The balance of payments posiThe document is an action plan that presently forms the tion was weak with the current account balance shifting basis for budgeting. In fact, several aspects of the plan have from surplus to deficit (Obadan, 2004). already been implemented. Indeed, with NEEDS, it is the It was predominantly against this background that the first time that both the state governments under the State Nigerian government under President Obasanjo (1999- Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy 2007) decided to embark on a comprehensive reforms pro- (SEEDS) and the Federal Government under NEEDS are gramme. The aim was to put in place a competitive, private coordinating a planning framework with agreed common sector-led market economy and exploit comparative advan- priorities (Yahaya, 2007:599). tage. The government wanted an economy that was to be For coordination, there is a National Council on Reform technology-driven, broad-based, humane, open and glob- chaired by the president and principal officials of the govally significant (FEC, 1999). It intended to achieve this ernment. There are also steering committees that include through the use of the following instruments: stabilised the Economic Team headed by the Finance Minister, a market-responsive exchange rate within narrow bands and Public Service Reform Team headed by the Minister of the with sufficient predictability, reduced interest rate (to sin- Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and the Governance and gle digit), institutional rationalisation of government, pri- Accountability Team headed by the Special Adviser to the vatisation, general incentives for local and Foreign Direct President on Due Process. The Bureau of Public Service Investment (FDI) and the reduction Reform serves as the secretariat for $0&V=/&P7684@9;=;0?O&=.=9;/0 of Nigeria’s external debt burden all sectoral reforms of the governthrough negotiations. It also intendment.

0<9/&5=3C.74-;8&KKK&0<=0&0<6 ed to improve on development It is near impossible to examine all D9.679=;&.4:67;@6;0&-;867 indices that had GDP running at 2.4 the sectors that NEEDS and the ecopercent, inflation rate at 13 percent, P76/986;0&2?-/6.-;&25=/=;\4 nomic reforms programme have unemployment 50 percent and with RJ___1M``[S&8639868&04&6@5=7C impacted on. Let us, however, briefly only 34 percent of the people having 4;&=&34@P76<6;/9:6&76>47@/ examine the oil and gas, power, access to safe water and only 4 perP74.7=@@6K&)<6&=9@&V=/&04&P-0 banking and telecommunications cent to a telephone (FEC, 1999). sectors.

This was generally the background 9;&P?=36&=&34@P60909:6Z&P79:=06 that necessitated the introduction of /630471?68&@=7C60&634;4@O&=;8 R,/'S-#'*.&'I*('6/7)"+ a reforms programme, principally 6UP?490&34@P=7=09:6&=8:=;0=.6K The oil and gas sector is the mainembodied in the National Economic )<6&.4:67;@6;0&V=;068&=; Empowerment and Development stay of the Nigerian economy, and 634;4@O&0<=0&V=/&04&56& Strategy (NEEDS) produced in prior to 2003, was characterised by 2004. massive corruption and lack of trans063<;4?4.O1879:6;Z& parency. With reforms in this sector, 574=815=/68Z&<-@=;6Z& P-2/+-*Q('87"."9-7'0/;"+9( the government sought to tackle cor4P6;&=;8&.?45=??O&/9.;9>93=;0K& ruption in the industry, make the The National Economic decision-making process transparEmpowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) is ent, ensure proper oil and gas revenue accounting, enforce rooted in the lessons and experiences of the failed plans of an international audit of the sector between 1999 and 2003, the past, articulation of a clearer national purpose and vision and be more open in the award of oil blocks (Daily and realistic/feasible goals within the medium — to long- Independent, May 2, 2006: C7). term framework (NEEDS: 121). As stated in the NEEDS With the reforms, the contracting process in the oil secdocument, NEEDS rests on four key strategies: reforming tor would appear to have changed from what it used to be. the way government works and its institutions; developing Contracts now follow due process of expression of interest, the private sector; implementing a social charter for the peo- pre-qualification to the general bid list, and a technical evalple; and reorienting the people to an enduring African value uation to select technically qualified bidders. system. The strategies arose from four key domains of There are also oversight functions by different agencies.

NEEDS: There is also a process of reconciling revenues at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with records provided by Federal ■ Public sector reforms, including public expenditure and Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Nigerian National budget reforms; Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) (Okogu, 2005).

■ Economic reforms through macroeconomic stability and As this sector has had a long-standing poor image, there accelerated privatisation and liberalisation of the economy; is now an oil sector audit. Nigeria is also presently a mem■ Institutional reforms and systemic improvements;

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , ber of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative demand for restitution and access to development in the (EITI), whose activities are aimed at checking corruption Niger Delta (Agbu, 2004, Brandtzaeg et.al, 2008). To and ensuring transparency in the industry. In order to check enhance sustainable empowerment of the people of the the abuse of office and privilege in the industry, the discre- Niger Delta, the government established the Calabar Export tionary award of oil blocks was cancelled. The bidding pro- Processing Zone and the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone. cess for oil blocks would appear to have improved tremen- This was designed to generate multiplier-effects in employdously as evidenced in the 2005 bid round (Okogu, 2005). ment generation and capacity building of local industries.

However, this does not mean that underhand deals have Also, in order to encourage indigenous participation, marginal oil-fields were farmed out to state governments in been completely removed.

The situation in this sector, prior to this period, was found the Niger Delta (AAPW & NNPC), 2004:37).

In a more comprehensive effort at addressing the probunacceptable by the federal government. Take for example, the issue of local content. The situation continued to remain lem of the Niger Delta, the federal government also estabthe same inspite of the efforts of the government to improve lished the Niger Delta Development Commission on local content. Subsequently, the government initiated the (NDDC), whose goal was to accelerate economic developLocal Content Bill in the National Assembly. The local ment in the region and provide the much-needed social content, or in this case, the Nigerian content, is the quan- infrastructure in the area. Though the NDDC has impletum of composite value added through the utilisation of mented several projects in the region it appears that much still needs to be done to convince the people and carry them Nigerian human and material resources in the oil sector.

It should also be noted that liberalisation and deregula- along, especially in respect of political inclusiveness in the tion of the downstream sector of the oil industry is a governance of resources. fundamental part of the reform agenda. The incessant scarcity of !?/4Z&P=70&4>&0<6&76>47@&=.6;8=& 3"%/+'6/7)"+'0/;"+9(' petroleum production and unhealthy 9;&0<6&D9.679=;&49?&9;8-/07O&9/&0<6& Power sector reforms is again an government monopoly in the supply of fuel and its attendant shortcomings @4;609/=094;&4>&.=/K&!/&4>&M``XZ area that the Nigerian government must have influenced the government 0<676&V=/&/-5/0=;09=?&768-3094; has given tremendous attention to, but unfortunately with very little to in the rigorous pursuit of the deregu9;&0<6&Y-=;090O&4>&.=/&569;. show for it. At the last count, about lation policy (The Report of the >?=768&04&=54-0&d`&P6736;0K& $16 billion had been spent between Special Committee on the Review of $0&9/&6UP63068&0<=0&84@6/093& 1999 and 2007 on improving power Petroleum Production Supply and =;8&6UP470&.=/&-09?9/=094;& generation in the country with no Distribution, 2000). However, deregulation is unfortunately constrained V9??&6;8&.=/&>?=79;.&5O&M``cK& visible results. Though contracts were awarded to private sector by two factors beyond the control of companies to establish power plants the government; namely, international price of crude oil and the exchange rate of the Naira in different parts of the country, there was no evidence of work done which was commensurate with the mony paid (Aremu, 2006: 171).

Also, part of the reform agenda in the oil industry is the out by the government. Recently, state governments like the monetisation of gas. As of 2005, there was a substantial Rivers State government have begun setting up independent reduction in the quantity of gas being flared to about 40 per- power plants to ensure continuity to economic activities.

The objectives of the reforms in the power sector include: cent. The Gas Masterplan is now in place, while there has been substantial progress in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural ■ Improving efficiency and affordability of power supply Gas Plan. It is expected that domestic and export gas utili- (current electricity generation is at about 3,000 megawatts, sation will end gas flaring by 2008 (Eghre and Omole, while estimated minimum demand is around 8,000 1999:303) though indications are that this deadline may not megawatts; be met. In addition, the government and all oil majors are ■ Encouraging private sector participation and competirigorously pursuing other LNG projects, such as the West tion; African Gas Project.

■ Attracting investments; Related to the problem in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria ■ Establishing an independent regulatory agency to ensure is the Niger Delta Crisis. So far, this crisis has defied all solu- a level playing field for all market participants; and tions that have been put forward thus far — a source of great ■ Providing a conducive environment for long-term distress to the Nigerian government. In the spirit of the development of the sector. reforms, the federal government under then president Other key reform activities in this sector include the proObasanjo implemented the principle of 13 percent deriva- mulgation of the Electricity Sector Reform Act and the tion as enshrined in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. This incorporation of an initial holding company known as however, did not seem to have assuaged the heightened “Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc (PHCN)” to

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replace NEPA. This has been done, and the PHCN board was inaugurated on May 31, 2005. In addition, a regulatory agency, the National Electric Regulatory Commission (NERC) has been established, and successor companies have been issued licences by NERC for a period of 18 months. The 18 successor companies are, however, to be privatised. These companies will consist of six generation companies, one transmission company and 11 distribution companies (Chigbue, 2007:437). !*.F-.2'6/7)"+'0/;"+9(' The banking sector could be said to be a success story arising from the economic reforms in Nigeria. Prior to the introduction of the current reforms, the banking system did not fully facilitate economic development. Rather, it was characterised by a number of structural and operational inadequacies ranging from small banks (89 in number) with only 3,382 branches, with only about 10 of them controlling 51 percent of aggregate assets, 52 percent of deposits and 45 percent of aggregate credits (Soludo, 2007:188).

Against this backdrop, the objectives of the reforms in the sector included facilitating the evolution of a sound and stable banking system that depositors could trust, enhancing transparency and accountability, bringing down the banks’ cost of doing business and positioning the sector as a key regional and global player and thus making Nigeria Africa’s financial centre within 10 years.

The elements of the reforms include; ■ Minimum capitalisation of banks to the tune of N25 billion with full compliance by end of December 2005; ■ Consolidation of banking institutions through mergers and acquisitions; ■ Phased withdrawal of public sector funds from banks, starting July 2004; ■ Adoption of zero tolerance in the regulatory framework, especially in the area of data/information rendition/reporting; ■ Currency reforms; and ■ Institutionalisation of Good Cooperate Governance.

The challenges in implementing the banking sector consolation included: ■ Lack of country experience and technical knowledge in large-scale consolidation; ■ Dominant government ownership in some banks and its implications; ■ The enormous cost of consolidation, arising from statutory fees, concessions and taxes which initially discouraged some banks; ■ Challenges arising from integration of ICT systems; and, ■ Possible litigations arising from mergers and acquisitions (Soludo, 2007).

In tackling the challenges in its implementation, the CBN

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contacted the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) for technical assistance in order to benefit from the experience of other countries that had undertaken similar banking reforms. The CBN, through a circular, advised all tiers of government to reduce their investment in banks to not more than 10 percent of a bank’s equity capital before the end of 2007.

The outcome of the banking consolidation programme resulted in fewer number of banks (25 banks emerged from 75 banks) out of a total of the 89 banks that existed as at June 2004. The remaining 14 banks had their licences revoked.

The successful banks accounted for 93.5 percent of the deposit liabilities of the banking system. Since then, there have been enormous new investment in banks, reduction of interest rates, deepening of the capital market (market more liquid and total capitalisation increased), well capitalised banks, a few but large banking organisations, greater capability for foreign partnership, and predominance of listed banks in the Nigerian Stock Exchange (Soludo, 2007:196).

In short, despite criticism and fears at the beginning of the banking sector consolidation programme, it received support locally and internationally. The successes recorded in this sector have so far been accomplished without any systemic crisis.

The reform has generated considerable optimism about the potential of Nigerian banks to provide finance for productive investment in the economy. Indeed, it is generally agreed that a positive landmark development had taken place in the Nigerian banking sector following these sectoral reforms, and that the economy had benefited immensely consequently.

A lesson from the banking sector reform in Nigeria is that a capable and knowledgeable leadership, a positive attitude, and support from government and stakeholders are all necessary ingredients for a successful reform package.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Charles Soludo, epitomised some or all of these qualities needed to initiate, institutionalise, consolidate and reposition this important sector.

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Generally, the economic reforms through privatisation and public offers, initially carried out during the first phase of the programme, demystified the operations of the capital market, making it key to economic performance and R/#/7"9'0/;"+9( management.

Privatisation was known to have raised market capitalisaReforms in the Telecom sector were launched in February 2000 after the approval of the New Telecoms Act. tion by over 500 percent in the first phase alone (Chigbue, It involved the design of a new legal and regulatory frame- 2007:440), with several companies engaged in insurance, work, and strengthening of the regulator, the National banking and oil marketing listing on the stock exchanges.

In brief, the impact of privatisation on the economy can Communications Commission (NCC). The privatisation of Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), which has so be summarised as follows: far been characterised by controversies, is the last item on ■ Privatisation changed the pattern of government expenthe list. diture with resources that would have been allocated to However, what is of importance is that since the telecom enterprises, being redirected to the provision of infrastrucreform, there has been a marked ture and social facilities; #6>47@/&0<74-.<& improvement in the number of people ■ Revenues of government from prienjoying access to telephone services, vatised enterprises improved; P79:=09/=094;&=;8&P-5?93 especially since the introduction of the 4>>67/&86@O/09>968&3=P90=?

■ Cement companies, such as BCC, global system of mobile telephone Ashaka, WAPCO were revived, expand(GSM). Indeed, a mobile telephone @=7C60&4P67=094;/Z&@=C9;. ed and made profitable; 90&C6O&04&634;4@93& provider CELTEL (now ZAIN), hit the ■ Insurance companies discarded armone million lines mark in their opera- P67>47@=;36K&L79:=09/=094; chair policies as competition made busitions in Nigeria within a few years (Agbu, V=/&C;4V;&04&<=:6&7=9/68 ness more customer-focused; 2006:41).

■ There was a telecommunications @=7C60&3=P90=?9/=094;&5O This is significant because in year revolution after sector reforms initiated 4:67&X``&P6736;0&9;&0<6 by BPE; 2000, Nigeria had only 700,000 lines for a population then of around 120 million ■ Due process and transparency is now >97/0&P<=/6&=?4;6K& (about 140 million in 2007). The counthe norm in the conduct of government try then had one of the lowest tele-denbusiness; sity ratios in the world (West African Business, 2000).

■ Privatisation provided avenues for training domestic Today, statistics from NCC indicate that Nigeria has human capital with emphasis on the use of local profes5,33,32,149 million active lines on the network as of June sionals in the process; 2008. This figure has pushed Nigeria’s tele-density to ■ Helped reverse the country’s brain drain by ensuring 38.09 percent, which translates to about 38 phones to every that brilliant Nigerians abroad were persuaded to return 100 of Nigeria’s population of 140 million (The Guardian, home and contribute to the development of the country August 13, 2008:38).

(Chigbue, 2007).

The development of the telecommunications sector in In addition, NEEDS is a reform strategy different from Nigeria is one of the few instances where globalisation other conventional approaches. Its thrust was clear and through privatisation has produced a significantly beneficial focused while specific benchmarks and targets as well as result. time limits and implementing agencies were put in place. In Generally, the expectations from the reforms in Nigeria sum, NEEDS helped to lend focus to the reforms prois that after a short while, economic growth rate would gramme. increase substantially at not less than 6-10 percent per However, a major worry encountered initially was that of annum and poverty reduced by 50 percent. The reforms, the use of “core investors” for the sale of state-owned entertherefore, focused on using the private sector to drive the prises. Some questioned whether, by some, was whether economy while generating employment, creating wealth ownership should be transferred and diffused to the generand reducing poverty. al public? The issue of safety nets for the very poor and small On the whole, it appears that what has been achieved are scale enterprises also arose. Not surprisingly, privatisation mixed results as we saw from the sectors discussed earlier. through a state agency like the Bureau for Public Enterprises Some successes here, some failures there.

(BPE) raised questions of transparency. How transparent However, the expectation is that with more efforts and was the privatisation exercise? The fact that most of the unflinching focus on the reforms programme, the econo- enterprises were sold to “core investors” did not go down my will look up further. well with some. They felt that a voucher-based approach as

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implemented in the Czech Republic was a better approach to selling shares to the public (Jimoh, 2007). Again, the reforms in many aspects do not appear to have safety nets for the very poor, and initially neglected small-scale businesses. Most components of the reforms were pushing workers into the labour market, with few, however, absorbing labour. The banks were subsequently persuaded to rechannel their funds into micro-finance. While it has been observed that the reforms have resulted in macro-economic stability (reduction in inflation rates and moderate growth in GDP) it is doubtful if these have translated into poverty reduction and any significant empowerment.

The reforms have been sometimes associated with negative real interest rate deposits which may injure savings and capital accumulation, constraining economic growth in the future (Jimoh, 2007:11).

As opposed to these concerns, the government believes that there has been a reduction in the level of poverty while citing the banking consolidation policy as a dividend of the reforms. Some have also identified the issues of monetisation of fringe benefits of public servants, the adherence to due process in awarding contracts, and the war against corruption as having led to the arrest and removal of corrupt public officials and a gradual improvement of the external image of the country as some rewards of the efforts.

No doubt, these are indeed positive developments associated with the reforms, and one only hopes that with more focus, more coordination, and more efforts, a lot more can be achieved.

Indeed, challenges are bound to arise, and they do arise because reforms are necessarily painful, especially for certain segments of the society. It is a continuous process which should be sustained in order to attain desired goals. Again, reforms may not necessarily have to be economic.

The ultimate aim of all reform efforts across the globe is always the concern to put right certain supposedly wrong

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steps of the past, or devise new approaches to addressing social, political and economic issues.

Nigeria’s current president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, is further spurring the reforms programme by delineating it into “The 7-Point agenda” for ease of execution.

Fundamentally, the Agenda aims at accelerating growth and reforms in order to make a concrete and viable difference to the lives of ordinary Nigerians (Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, 2007).

The key areas of the 7-Point Agenda are: ■ Critical Infrastructure: These include power, transportation, national gas distribution and telecommunications. The aim is to enable Nigerian develop a modern economy and industrialised nation by 2020.

■ The Niger Delta: The Agenda aims to address the existing issues in the Niger Delta region through the execution of the existing Master Plan and appropriate funding of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

■ Food Security: The government intends to lay stress on agricultural production and development. The aim is to improve the use of modern technology in agricultural development and infuse funds into research.

■ Human Capital: The agenda emphasises the empowerment of individuals through the provision of healthcare, education and social protection.

■ Land Tenure Changes and Home Ownership: The government has proposed changes in land laws. The agenda is expected to help release land for housing, commercial farming and large-scale businesses in the private sector.

■ National Security: Security is high priority in the 7-Point Agenda. The government plans to create a ‘Central Directorate of Intelligence’, and encourage neighbourhood security to check crime. Police stations are to be computerised and networked to a central fingerprinting records system.

■ Wealth Creation: Poverty alleviation is one of the key objectives of the Agenda. It intends to create wealth by enabling a conducive environment for economic growth and increase in the personal incomes of individuals.

The challenge for the Yar’Adua administration pertaining to the 7-Point Agenda is to ensure that the lofty issues identified for implementation are speedily concretised, and that these actually touch the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

However, if the initial momentum set by the Obasanjo administration is not maintained, it could become increasingly difficult to actualise key aspects of the reforms programme, especially those that affect the people directly.

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An effort has been made in this paper to present as much as is possible the economic reforms thrust, constraints, complexities and achievements of the Nigerian government mainly between 1999 and 2007.

What is evident is that, as a former president used to say, it is indeed, “Not Business as Usual” in the Nigerian eco-

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , nomic environment. Gradually, there has been a positive value re-orientation towards what is public. That should be sustained, certain malfeasances notwithstanding.

Having said this, it is in order to note that the reform measures, especially in the banking system, had salutary effects on inflation and economic growth.

Inflation rate decelerated to 10 percent, which conforms to the NEEDS target value for the year 2004, the non-oil sector grew much faster than the oil sector, and the real GDP grew by 6.1 percent in 2004 compared to 10.2 percent in 2003 (Obadan & Edo, 2007:58).

Nigeria’s foreign reserves have risen to over $60 billion by 2008. For now, the major challenge is how to effectively deploy the huge resources currently available to the government from increased oil earnings and proceeds from privatisation to improve the living standards of Nigerians. And the necessity of not only selling the reforms to the public, but also ensuring its sustainability through institutionbuilding. There is no gainsaying that in order to derive the

desired impact from the reforms agenda, the nation must have a suitable and conducive political environment.

In the background of the current political and electoral reforms, the hope is that these would complement the economic reforms in repositioning Nigeria as a key player in Africa and in global politics capable of protecting the interests of its citizens.

Further, the Niger Delta crisis is snapping at Nigeria’s heels, as it were, and efforts must be intensified to resolve the very fundamental issues fuelling the crisis, namely, equity in the utilisation of resources accruing from the oil-producing areas, and political inclusion.

It is heartening to note that the economic reforms programme came at the time it did, and that the reform is being sustained through the 7-Point Agenda.

Had the country waited longer, the economic health of the nation could have deteriorated to a level from where it would have been difficult to successfully prosecute the political transition and consolidation programme.

■

References 1. Federal Executive Council (FEC) (1999), Nigerian Economic Policy 1999-2003, Abuja.

2. Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) (2004), National Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), National Planning Commission, Abuja.

3. Yahaya Haliru (2007), “The Reform Agenda: How Far, So Far”, Hassan Saliu et.al, Nigeria’s Reform Programme: Issues and Challenges, University of Ilorin, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.

4. Okogu, B. (2005), “The Quest for Transparency at the Petroleum Sector: Case Study of Nigeria in the Context of Ongoing Reforms”; Paper presented at the Workshop on Good Governance of the National Petroleum Sector — II, organised by Chatham House at the Royal Academy, London, 21-23 September. http://www.chattemhouse.

Org.uk/Pdf/research/sdf/Gnigeria.pdf (Accessed 16/03/2006).

5. Aremu, I. (2006), Tears Not Enough, Lagos, Frankad Publishers.

6. Eghre, M and Omole, O (1999), “The Economics of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Project”, OPEC Review, Vol.XXIII, No.4.

7. Ogunsanya, Ade (2007), “Transport Sector Reforms”, Nigeria’s Reforms Programme: Issues and Challenges, Ilorin, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.

8. Jimoh Ayodele (2007), “Introductory Nigeria’s Reforms Programme”, Nigeria’s Reforms Programme: Issues and Challenges, Ilorin, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.

9. Obadan I. Mike and Sam E. Edo (2007), “An Overview of the Reform Programme”, Hassan Saliu et.al, Nigeria’s Reform Programme: Issues and Challenges, Ilorin, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.

10. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2007), 2007 Budget Speech

by President Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua.

11. Central Bank of Nigeria (2001), Annual Report and

Statement of Accounts, December.

12. Central Bank of Nigeria (2001), Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, December.

13. Obadan M.I. (2004), “The Nigerian Economy: A Review of the Past and Some Reflections on the Way Forward”, Paper presented at the Roundtable on Challenges of National Integration in Nigeria, Abuja, October.

14. Academic Associates Peace Works (AAPW) NNPC (2004), “Report of the Niger Delta Youth Stakeholders Workshop”, Port Harcourt, April 15-17.

15. Chigbue N. Irene (2007), “Privatizing the National Economy: The Journey So Far”, Hassan A. Saliu et.al (eds.), Nigeria’s Reform Programme: Issues and Challenges, University of Ilorin, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.

15. Soludo Charles (2007), “The Banking Sector Reforms”, Hassan A. Saliu et.al (eds), Nigeria’s Reform Programme: Issues and Challenges, University of Ilorin, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences.

16. Agbu Osita (2004), Ethnic Militias and the Threat to Democracy in Post-Transition Nigeria, Uppsala, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.

17. Agbu Osita (2006), “Globalization and Nigeria’s Economy”, Nigerian Journal of International Affairs, Vol.32, No.1.

18. Brandtzaeg et.al (2008), Common Cause Different Approaches: China and Norway in Nigeria, ECON — Research Report No.2008 — 014, Project no. 52240, 27 February.

19. West African Business (2000), “Nigeria’s Economy Ripe for Business”, August 24.

20. The Guardian (2008), “Nigeria hits 53 million phone lines”, August 13.

21. Federal Ministry of Information and Communications (2007), Overview of the 7-Point Agenda: Transforming Nigeria, Abuja.

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh being greeted by Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua before their meeting at the presidential villa, Aso Rock, in Abuja, on October 15, 2007.

I

t is generally accepted that contemporary global society is one where countries, organisations, and even individuals are forced by the circumstances of global dynamics to cooperate with each other in order to attain desired objectives and ensure their survival.

As has been the case, states remain the key actors in the global architecture. However, the problem of globalisation lies in its nature and consequences. Suffice to state, without going into the definition of this phenomenon, that the philosophy of globalisation as embedded in the WTO instruments, supported by the IMF

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and World Bank and its operationalisation indicates that: ■ It is too narrow and limited to address the concerns of economic growth and financial stability and neglects broader human concerns such as persistent global poverty, growing inequality between and within countries, exclusion of the poor and developing countries, and persisting rights abuses.

■ Too geographically unbalanced, dominated by the largest economies — usually the G-7, and only occasionally bringing in the large newly industrialising countries. Most small and poor developing countries are excluded, as are people’s organisations. Nor does the debate address the current weaknesses, imbalances and inequities in global gover-

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , nance, which, having developed in an ad hoc way, leaves many gaps.

■ Multilateral agreements have helped established global markets without considering their impact on human development and poverty.

■ The structures and processes for global policy-making are not representative. The key economic structures — the IMF, World Bank, G-7, G-10, G-22, OECD, WTO — are dominated by the large and rich countries, leaving poor countries and poor people with little influence and little voice, either for lack of membership or for want of capacity for effective representation and participation. There is little transparency in decisions, and there is no structured forum for civil society institutions to express their views.

■ There are no mechanisms for making ethical standards and human rights binding for corporations and individuals, not just governments. In short, a stronger national and global mode of governance is needed for human well being, not for the market.1 With respect to Indo-Nigeria relations, while both may claim to belong to the group of ‘Third World’ countries, India is truly an emerging economy, with sometimes converging interests with the developed countries in the areas of export of industrial goods and services, and increasing demand for raw materials.

It is in this context that Indo-Nigeria relations are better understood. Nigeria and India have a historical relationship, which, over the years, have remained relatively cordial. Both have friendly relations that are marked by mutual respect and understanding.

There appears to be no contentious issues in their relations.

India established a diplomatic mission in Nigeria in 1958 and both countries were at the forefront of the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggles.

The solidarity in anti-colonial struggles, ethnic diversity and geo-political calculations has created affinity and mutual goodwill and cooperation between both countries. Both countries are members of the United Nations, the NonAligned Movement (NAM), G-15, G-77 and the Commonwealth and have collaborated at various international fora. Both share common perspectives on global political, social and developmental issues.

With a population of about 140 million people and considerable revenue from oil exports, Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa. Bilateral annual trade turnover now exceeds $6 billion.2 Some say it is close to $10 billion.

What is the origin and character of Indo-Nigeria relations? Has the relationship been gradualist or has it been characterised by changes? What other areas of cooperation could both countries explore against the backdrop of globalisation?

The observable dynamics of relations between both countries is one of cordiality. The two countries, destined by similar historical experiences, are set to play a cooperative role in enhancing development in South countries.

T-()"+$'*.&'7,*+*7)/+'";'<.&"UP-2/+-*'+/#*)-".(' There are as many as 8,000 Nigerians of Indian origin in Nigeria. If one includes Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), there are about 25,000 Hindus in Nigeria. Most live in Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria. Hinduism as a vehicle of migration spread to Nigeria mainly through emigrating Hindus from India and through Hare Krishna Missionaries. Also, records have it that Sindhi traders reached Lagos in 1919 through the sea route from London, Accra and Sierra Leone, stopping finally at Lagos. Most of the early settlers sold textiles and handloom products imported from Madras through Liverpool in England. Later, they acquired agencies from well-known brands from Europe and the Far East. Gradually, the traders moved into wholesale trade and soon set up supermarkets and departmental stores.

In terms of trade relations, presently the principal exports to Nigeria comprise spices, guergum meal, miscellaneous processed items, drugs/pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, dyes, inorganic/organic and agro-chemicals, paints/enamels, rubber products, metal manufactures, machinery and instruments, transport equipment, primary and semi-finished iron and steel and cotton yarn/fabrics.

India’s major imports from Nigeria, by principal commodities, include cashewnut, wood and wood products, raw hides and skins, natural rubber, and non-metals.3 Statistics show that India’s exports to Nigeria between 2005 and 2006 stood at $875 million, while imports from Nigeria between April and September 2006 was $3.3billion. This figure makes Nigeria India’s largest trading partner in Africa.

India’s exports to Nigeria actually grew from $293.71 million between 1999 and 2000 to $875 million in 2005 and 2006.

Nigeria’s crude oil export to India is about 400,000 barrels per day, which is 96 percent of its total imports.4 Petroleum products account for 10 percent of India’s fuel imports. The total volume of India and Nigeria’s trade was put at $7.9 billion in 2006-2007.5 Clearly, the balance of trade is in favour of India with Nigeria also having the disadvantage of exporting mainly a mono-product — crude oil.

Another meaningful and enduring relationship between India and Nigeria is in the area of military cooperation. This relation dates as far back as the time of Nigeria’s independence in 1960. In fact, beginning 1963, India assisted Nigeria in training personnel and establishing training facilities. Large numbers of Nigerian military personnel have received training in Indian military institutions during the last four decades. Indeed, the officer corps of both countries have interacted closely at various British military training institutions, while colonial antecedents forced both Indian and Nigerian soldiers to fight on the same side during the First and Second World Wars. Two former Nigerian heads of state, Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, received military training in India.

Also, in 1997, 10 out of the 36 military administrators in Nigeria had received military training in India.6 Under the framework of the Joint Commission, many Nigerian officers have been

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rience in strategic sectors such as iron and steel, as well as in the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) sector are germane to Nigeria’s industrialisation objectives. However, what concerns Nigeria greatly is the poor performance of its power sector and infrastructure development, which has grave implications for achieving industrialisation. Even Indian businesses are not spared. These are the sectors where Indian businesses could cooperate with Nigerian partners. According to Anil Trigunayat, India deputy high commissioner to Nigeria, an agreement has been signed between an Indian company and the Nigerian Ministry of Mines and Power to set up a power plant in Nigeria. The company is to train local technicians to help them run the plant efficiently.

On infrastructural development, the poor network of roads and railways in Nigeria also necessitates higher investments in the transport sector that Indian businesses could benefit from.

In fact, India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is to invest $6.5 billion in various cap?$.*9-7('";'),/'0/#*)-".( L4//95?6&=76=/&>47&>-0-76& ital projects to be outlined by the 344P67=094;&560V66;&$;89=;&=;8 Nigerian government. An InterRelations between both countries D9.679=&9;3?-86&0<6&P74:9/94;& Ministerial Task Force of the govhave mainly been at the political, ecoernment of India visited Nigeria in nomic, military and cultural levels. The 4>&P40=5?6&V=067&=74-;8&0<6& 2005 under the framework of the broadening and strengthening of 34-;07OZ&06?6P<4;6Z&86:6?4P@6;0 Nigeria-India Joint Commission mutually beneficial cooperation has 4>&=.793-?0-76&=;8&=.7415=/68 during which an MoU was signed been the leading tendency in the relabetween ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd. tionship between both countries in this 9;:6/0@6;0Z&86:6?4P@6;0&4>& present era of globalisation. <9.<&063<;4?4.OZ&974;&=;8&/066?Z& (OMEL) and the Nigerian government for a $6 billion infrastructure During the visit of the Indian prime /4?98&@9;67=?&86:6?4P@6;0Z& deal. According to the Indian High minister to Nigeria in October 2007, =-04@409:6/&=;8&6;.9;6679;.K& Commission in Nigeria, by this conboth countries signed a series of bilattract, the company would be sourceral agreements on culture, education, health, science & technology, information technology, and ing 450,000 BPD of equity oil and 200 BPD equity gas per year exchange programmes between parliamentarians, youths and from Nigeria for 25 years.9 members of civil society of the two countries. Both countries Having highlighted possible areas of cooperation, there are stressed the need to enhance air and maritime connectivity. of course some concerns. For Indians in Nigeria, general conMemoranda of understanding (MoU) were also signed cerns include the problem of power supply, personal and genbetween the India’s Foreign Service Institute and the Nigerian eral security, policy changes and smuggling activities that have Foreign Service Academy; the Indian Council for World Affairs a negative impact on their businesses. On the other hand, for and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs; and on Nigeria, immigration involving Indian citizens with low qualdefence cooperation, and the Protocol for Foreign Office ifications for the jobs they do in Nigeria has caused concern.

Consultation. The four MoUs, now known as the “Abuja This problem involves almost half of the number of Indian Declaration on Strategic Partnership between India and nationals in Nigeria. Other concerns of Nigeria include the Nigeria” were closely followed by an additional nine agree- manufacture of sub-standard products, financial fraud against ments that were signed during the Joint Commission meeting the government and banks, and the underemployment of in October 2008.

Nigerian staff by Indian-run companies.

Though Nigeria and India are categorised as developing Generally, it suffices to observe that in tandem with intercountries, India is obviously more advanced industrially. national best practices under globalisation, Indian and Nigerian Nigeria, on the other hand, is striving to enhance its productive governments have responded to grey areas in their relations in capacity and develop supporting infrastructure. Recently, India a positive and proactive manner. The manner of response could has succeeded in improving its productive capacities, especial- be described as incrementally positive and augurs well for a ly with respect to manufacturing, and is increasingly becoming mutually beneficial and sustained relations. an important player in terms of its investment portfolio. Indeed, India could be strategic to Nigeria’s goal of nurturing a com- :+/*(';"+';1+),/+'7""4/+*)-".' petitive economy in the next 20 years.

India’s indigenous industrial technological capacity and expeWe have already discussed the importance of power and

offered scholarships for training in India, under the Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan (SCAAP).7 In November 2005, the Indian chief of army staff, general J.J Singh, visited Nigeria and had fruitful talks with his Nigerian counterpart for strengthening relations in the defence sector.8 However, though military relations constitute an important aspect of Indo-Nigeria relations, very little cooperation exists in the area of weapons procurement. This is an area that should be explored.

In October 2007, when the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Nigeria, an agreement was signed requiring India to establish two information technology laboratories at the Nigerian Defence Academy. Also, Singh and president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua agreed to enhance cooperation with relation to United Nation’s peacekeeping operations, where both countries have played vital roles.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , transportation development in Nigeria. Other possible areas for future cooperation include the provision of potable drinking water around the country, telephony, development of agriculture and agro-based investment, development of high technology, iron and steel, solid mineral development, automotives and engineering. With respect to engineering, Nigeria needs to improve the provision of motive power (through electric motor and tractors) for a wide range of industries to support the SMEs, micro-industries, and the development of rural communities.

Indeed, Nigeria and India recently agreed to enhance mutually beneficial trade investment exchanges in sectors like railways, agriculture, food processing, SME, power generation, fertiliser, information communication technology (ICT), pharmaceuticals, automobiles and spare parts.

Prior to this period, Indians in Nigeria had largely been engaged in commerce, and to a lesser extent in manufacturing.

Indian investments in commerce centre mostly on rice, sugar, cars, electronics and batteries. Indian companies also export commodities like cocoa, ginger, cashewnut, palm kernel, wood, and other agricultural products. Ideally, Nigeria will prefer more investment in manufacturing as much as in agricultural technology, electronics, plastic technology, pharmaceuticals, food processing, iron and steel, weapons development, and high technologies.

In terms of political relations, though this has been largely cordial, it is still imperative that more intense political relations be cultivated in order for both countries to adequately promote and protect their interests and the interests of other developing countries. Indeed, there are indications to this effect.

Recently, India and Nigeria co-sponsored a draft resolution pertaining to the UN Security Council reform process at the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly.

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From the foregoing, it could be concluded that Indo-Nigeria relations are, indeed, alive and growing. There is little doubt

about the fact that Indians feel much at home in Nigeria. But do Nigerians equally feel at home in India? Is the business environment conducive for Nigerian businessmen? These are some of the questions that the Indian authorities need to address. In fact, present challenges in the relationship between both countries include the activities of unscrupulous individuals from both sides tarnishing the image of both countries, the matter of hard drugs trade involving Nigerians, and the export of fake and sub-standard drugs to Nigeria. The situation calls for a high level of vigilance on the part of both countries, and the strengthening of regulatory and law enforcement capabilities by the governments of the two countries.

Further, it is evident that significant relations exist in commerce and the retail business, though very little collaboration appears to be taking place in the area of basic research and development. Nigeria urgently requires cooperation in the development of basic technologies especially in agriculture, ICT and solid minerals.

While India and Nigeria have their own strategic interests, there is a need for an expansion of defence cooperation between the Nigerian and Indian ministries of defence and service-toservice military exchanges. Joint mechanisms are required to cover technical and defence policy issues. With respect to the MoU on Nigeria-India defence cooperation, this could incorporate Nigerian private entrepreneurs and defence-related companies in the various stages of the design of platforms, both onshore and offshore.

Finally, apart from the growing relations in political, economic, educational and cultural spheres, a major challenge facing both countries, especially Nigeria, is how to ensure that democracy is sustained at the global level by upholding its tenets, ethos and values and being able to satisfy the expectations of their people.

In this age of globalisation, sagacity dictates that India and Nigeria have little option but to take their relations to a level from where each will be adequately empowered to cater to their citizens and contribute to global peace, development and security.

■

References 1. UNDP Human Development Report 1999.

2. Gopal Krishna V. Shambavi (2007), “The Impact of India’s Economic Transformation Since the 1990s on Nigeria-India Relations”, Paper Presented at the Roundtable on NigeriaIndia Relations in the 21st Century, December 13.

3. India High Commission (2007), “Nigeria Fact Sheet, IndiaNigeria Relations”, http://www.hicomindlagos.com/docs/Nigeria-FactSheet.doc, 2006 (Accessed 03/10/07).

4. Agbu Osita (2007), “Nigeria-India Relations Under SouthSouth Cooperation”, Paper Presented at the Roundtable on Nigeria-India Relations in the 21st Century, NIIA, December 13.

5. IANS (2007), Manmohan Singh Heads for Nigeria, South

Africa”, Yahoo News India (Accessed 30/10/07).

6. Daily Champion (1997), “Indian Envoy Pledges Support to Graduates”, October 20.

7. Ram (2004), “Nigeria-India: Partnering for a Better Future”, http://www.nigeriahindia.com/nigeria-2004.pdf (Accessed 03/10/07).

8. Singh S.K (2007), “India and West Africa: A Burgeoning Relationship”, Africa Programme/Asia Programme Briefing Paper.

9. Nkwocha Stanley (2007), “Nigeria-India Bilateral Relations”, http://www.leadershipnigeria.com (Accessed 07/12/07).

10. Eze Osita C. (2004), Nigeria and World Trade Organisations, Lagos, NIIA.

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nowledge is transferred from one generation to the next and from one country to another through trading ties and social interactions between different communities.

This has given rise to a number of cross-regional exchanges and knowledge-sharing activities across regions. Despite geographical differences, the ways in which communities in India, for instance, make effective use of their environmental and social assets provide useful lessons for similar communities in Africa.

8*()':;+-7*U6"1),':(-*'V/*+.-.2'8W7,*.2/(' In March 2002, a multi-sectoral team of 33 World Bank staff from the Africa Region embarked on a learning tour of five East Asian countries in order to better understand the underlying principles of the Asian development success. The team

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visited Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The objective of pioneering learning across regions was to enable staff to provide better quality service to clients by helping them learn more about successful development practices, and by enhancing their behavioural skills in adapting good practices from one region to the institutional capacities in another.

Inspired by the success of the pilot study tour, the Africa Region embarked on a more ambitious initiative of targeting clients and building cross-regional partnerships to integrate local best practices into Bank supported operations.

The focus was on indigenous knowledge as it is found to be a key element of the social capital of the poor, assisting them in their struggles to improve their livelihoods. Farmers have used organic fertilisers to increase soil fertility in parts of Asia and Africa for centuries. Similarly, local healers have used medicinal plants in India and Tanzania to treat common human and animal diseases.

Many local organisations, institutions and communities have a wealth of knowledge of IK (indigenous knowledge) practices.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , However, these practices are not disseminated effectively because community-based organisations (CBO) lack the capacity to capture, document, validate and share them. As a result, IK is under-utilised in the development process, and local communities are constrained in their ability to shape the debate on development priorities and lack the means to achieve them. To bridge the knowledge gap, the Africa Region organised a cross regional IK learning exchange between East Africa and South Asia. The aim was to leverage the experience of best practices across regions, from South Asia into Bank supported projects in East Africa. This would also help foster new partnerships for South-South dialogue, cooperation and technical assistance.

The first step was to identify potential projects in South Asia and East Africa that have either already developed effective IK components to promote community driven development, and those lacking these elements. The purpose was to match knowledge seeking communities with those having made effective use of their local assets for development.

Dr. Z.M. Nyiira, executive director, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) was selected as an appropriate facilitator, given his vast experience and interest in indigenous knowledge related subjects.

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A video conference (VC) was arranged involving all participating clients where specific information on use of IK (case studies) was presented and discussed. This gave them an opportunity to understand the importance of IK and to voice their opinions on what they hoped to get out of the exchange, thereby giving the organisers an opportunity to design the study tour in ways that met the needs of the clients. A separate video conference was held with Dr. Nyiira, the facilitator, to familiarise him with the planned activities and agree upon a modus operandi.

The cross regional partnership was developed in four phases. The first phase built linkages between the East African and South Asian projects. The second phase involved a learning exposure for project personnel and CBO partners from project communities to actual project sites in India and Sri Lanka.

The third phase focused on building capacity for integrating IK into project activities and strengthening country level initiatives in the East African projects. The fourth phase will help the projects to continue the partnership for further cooperation and learning. The activities were designed in these four phases to emphasise the importance of building and continuing the partnership rather than just undertaking study tours.

3,*(/'<'X''!1-#&-.2'#-.F*2/( Mapping exercise: The first activity to be undertaken was to identify nodal persons from each of the participating projects and develop shared perceptions on the purpose of the initiative and role of the partners. Information and guidelines already available on integrating IK and practices in project planning and implementation were shared with the projects.

Initiating dialogue: Contacts between the various partners were initiated and initial information on the initiative was exchanged. The use of IT for exchange of information was encouraged. It is expected that a number of projects already have websites. They will be encouraged to post IK related information and the progress that has already been made in identifying IK and practices. If needed, a common web page for the partnership will be created to link to project specific information.

Finding a Facilitator: Given the broad range of clients and variety of topics to be covered during the exchange, it was deemed necessary to identify a facilitator to ensure that a structured learning process was put in place during the exchange.

Video conferencing and exchange of information.

3,*(/'<<'X'V/*+.-.2'8W4"(1+/';"+'8:'O"1.)+-/( In September 2002, a group of clients (16 development practitioners) from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, accompanied five Bank staff on a visit to India and Sri Lanka. The participants included project staff from early childhood development and medicinal plants projects, civil society representatives, a traditional healer, a parliamentarian and a minister.

The group visited counterparts in Sri Lanka and India, including projects using informatics for social sector development.

The learning exposure comprised: (a) field visits to selected project sites/communities to understand how the process worked; (b) interaction with field functionaries to understand how IK catalysed the communitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; environmental and social assets into economic gains; (c) meetings with three state chief ministers to understand how good governance and leadership can lead to sustainable development policies.

Learning through reflection: In addition to discussions with their counterparts and visits to project areas in South Asia, the learning exchange included opportunities for the group to reflect on their learning through debriefings. This learning approach, recently pioneered in the Africa Region, involves video taped narratives based on open-ended questions designed to distil a â&#x20AC;&#x153;storyâ&#x20AC;?. Over five debriefings with the participants were encouraged to reflect on what they learned, how

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% ! L ! % $ ) , & ] ( $ + B $ D I The East African delegation felt that South Asia was more advanced in several key areas related to the application of indigenous knowledge in early childhood development practices, the conservation of medicinal plants and use of ICTs for rural development. They were particularly impressed by India and Sri Lankaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s holistic approaches to development and were keen to test some of these methodologies in an African context. In exchange, they also felt that South Asia could learn from East Africa, particularly from their efforts to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The key lessons learned and areas for future cross regional cooperation include the following: Ethiopia: The Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants Project seeks to initiate support for conserAn activist explains the principles of conservation and sustainable use vation, management and sustainable utilisation of medicinal of medicinal plants at a workshop in Mozambique. plants for human and livestock healthcare in Ethiopia. The relevant the learning was in the East African context, and what project is into its second year of implementation. The project adaptation to the observed practices will be needed to replicate staff visited a similar project on medicinal plants in Sri Lanka it in East Africa. The debriefings results were synthesised into that is near completion. There were a number of lessons learned from the Sri Lankan experience that the Ethiopians short video clips that are available online on the Intranet. plan to integrate into their project. These include the legal pro3,*(/' <<<' X' O*4*7-)$' !1-#&-.2' *)' O"1.)+$' V/=/#' *.&' tection of IK and benefit sharing mechanisms, documentation of IK practices and exchanges of experiences, institutionalisa6)+/.2),/.-.2'O"1.)+$'V/=/#'<.-)-*)-=/( tion of traditional medicine, in-situ and ex-situ cultivation of The participants from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia devel- medicinal plants. To this end, the project team intends to conoped Country Action Plans for strengthening the incorpora- sult IUCN Sri Lanka on the Medicinal Plants Project and the tion of IK practices in their projects and also to share their Tropical Botanic Garden Research Institute of India on conlearning experiences with other partners such as NGOs and servation and benefit sharing mechanisms.

Uganda: The Nutrition and Early Childhood ministries of health and education in their countries and carry out appropriate activities. The activities will involve training Development Project seeks to improve growth and developand technical support to undertake initiatives in using IK for ment of children under five years of age, in terms of nutrition, development and also for networking with other partners in health, psycho-social and cognitive aspects. The project is near the country. Each country team focused on the following key completion and a second phase is in the pipeline. A number of lessons learned from India and Sri Lanka will be integrated areas for South-South Cooperation: Partnerships and Networking: Mainstreaming IK into into the new project. These include the integration of IK into development policies, documentation and exchange of IK ECD policies, integrated approaches to early childhood development, training of care givers and adolescents in integrated practices, use of ICTs for rural development.

Cross-Institutional Capacity Building: Institution- ECD services and parenting, use of ICTs for community data alisation of traditional medicine, collaborative research on collection, documentation and information sharing to improve medicinal plants, policy formulation and resource mobilisation. access to information for decision making, market access, Policy Level: Legal protection of traditional knowledge, val- health and agricultural sectors. In this context, the minister for primary healthcare recently brought idation of IK practices, integration of )<6&P=70939P=;0/&>74@& another official delegation to India IK into ECD programmes. ^6;O=Z&(.=;8=&=;8&*0<94P9= and plans to host a regional training Grass Roots: Integration of 86:6?4P68&%4-;07O&!3094;& workshop in Uganda on traditional womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s empowerment in all promedicine. The Uganda National grammes, involving communities L?=;/&>47&/076;.0<6;9;.&0<6& Council for Science and Technology in project design and implementa9;347P47=094;&4>&$^&=;8&P7=30936/ (UNSCT) is sponsoring a group of tion, using ICTs to link communi9;&0<697&P74\630/&=;8&=?/4&04&/<=76 IK practitioners to visit India and Sri ties with markets.

Lanka. UNCST also plans to develAwareness Raising and 0<697&?6=7;9;.&6UP6796;36/&V90< op an IK proposal for South-South Dissemination: Seminars to share 40<67&P=70;67/&/-3<&=/&DI2/& Cooperation, with NASTEC â&#x20AC;&#x201D; its South Asian experiences with nation=;8&@9;9/0796/&4>&<6=?0<&=;8& counterpart in Sri Lanka. al stakeholders, inter-ministerial 68-3=094;&9;&0<697&34-;07O&=;8 Kenya: The Early Childhood meetings to raise IK to policy level, and press conferences to disseminate 3=77O&4-0&=PP74P79=06&=309:9096/K& Development Project seeks to improve the quality and education experiences to the public.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , of poor Kenyan households, with a focus on improved teacher performance and community capacity building.

The lessons learned from South Asia related to IK and ICTs were similar to the ones mentioned in the Uganda case. The project is in its third year of implementation and plans to also focus on issues that were being effectively tackled in India and Sri Lanka. These include: community empowerment, women self help groups, income generating activities, micro finance, multi-sectoral approaches to development and poverty reduction that involve the community at all levels of planning and implementation.

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The last phase will have activities that will ensure that the partnership is continued beyond the initial exchanges and visit. Two activities are envisaged at this stage: a) The South Asia and East Africa projects will access and use information on IK already available to them through the web and be part of a regional partnership that builds on IK and people’s participation; b) The participating projects will also put together a news letter on IK initiatives and participatory M&E. In case more than one project gets involved from a country, one of the institutions/project will be chosen as a nodal agency.

O#-/.)'5//&M*7F' In a client survey, the East African delegation provided the following feedback on the study tour: ■ This is a window of opportunity for exposing institutions to each other’s programmes.

■ One can see the different options and approaches that can be used to implement developmental activities.

■ Such exchange visits are beneficial in guiding policy objectives and targeting vulnerable groups, and help redirect efforts to attain holistic approaches towards development.

■ Participants should be selected from multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary activities to include legislators, researchers and community workers.

■ There is a need to develop networking for both regions and also the institutions that have common programmes. The East African country teams should organise exchange visits among themselves.

■ Learning experiences once documented and disseminated to rural communities can strengthen poverty alleviation efforts in each country.

nesses in the bustling cities of Kolkata, Dakar and Rio and the remoter parts of rural towns and villages such as Tanga, Mopti and Sally.

The Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) is a World Bank supported initiative that seeks to use technology to promote development through learning. The goal of the GDLN is to connect development practitioners across the globe and enable them to interact with each other through a virtual platform provided through video-conferencing. There are several GDLN centres in operation in major capitals in Africa, Asia and Latin America that offer regular courses on development topics to a diverse range of stakeholders. In addition to training, the GDLN offers a cost effective platform for development practitioners to share experiences, network and learn from each other to improve their impact on the ground.

The World Bank’s Africa Region organised a pilot fiveday cross regional distance learning course on The Millennium Development Goals in March 2005. Over 100 participants attended the course through local GDLN centres in Uganda, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and India. These included policymakers from health, agriculture and environment ministries, researchers and academia, engineers, NGOs, civil society and local practitioners including farmers and healers.

The primary objective of the multi-media course was to demonstrate to participants how to address development challenges through the application of local knowledge. The course was designed to help clients incorporate community best practices into their programmes and policies and promote South-South dialogue and cooperation among practitioners.

:;+-7*'V/*+.(';+"9'<.&-*'C(-.2'<OR( Information communications technologies have helped to reduce geographical boundaries and connect people located across different countries, cities and villages. The Internet and the mobile phone revolution have enabled millions of people to engage in a global dialogue. Cyber cafes are thriving busi-

The Second African ICT Best Practices Forum held in Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso, from April 21-23, 2008

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Indian NGOs visiting a natural resource management project in Senegal.

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A ten-part lecture series conducted by experts based in different parts of the world, demonstrated the role of community knowledge in helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The course focused on local success stories where local knowledge was applied to help increase food security and agricultural productivity, reduce maternal mortality, treat diseases associated with HIV/AIDS, and help conserve bio-diversity. The lectures centred around providing development practitioners a ‘hands-on’ guide on the use of community knowledge in the development process.

This was achieved through lectures by: (i) local experts and practitioners who shared their lessons of experience; and (ii) experts from the scientific community (US National Institutes of Health/NIH) and UN agencies (WIPO) who addressed critical challenges related to the efficacy, validation, protection, documentation and conservation aspects of traditional knowledge.

guide the participants through the course, address their concerns, and help them develop individual action plans during offline sessions.

The online and offline interactive group discussions as well as cross-regional discussions helped participants clarify and discuss community development issues and share experiences.

Additionally, the course material provided through the World Bank Publication on “Indigenous Knowledge: Local Pathways to Global Development” provided useful learning course material to the participants and further illustrated the resource that IK provides in solving development challenges. A special website was created for the participants that included the core presentations, project documents, case studies, debriefings and lessons learned during the course.

The course materials were complemented by multimedia learning tools including video documentaries of real life community applications, which facilitated the internalisation of IK in development by participants. The outputs from the course have been developed into a DVD which serves as a stand-alone toolkit.

?/#-=/+$'*44+"*7, S1)7"9/( The course consisted of presentations by experts including case studies as well as interactive group and cross regional discussions. These were facilitated through video-conference sessions by the GDLN centres. The training course was delivered through a series of presentations of case studies and subjects related to local knowledge development and application, by selected resource persons with knowledge and experience from different countries. The presentations drew on success stories from Africa and South Asia. Each centre had a local facilitator who was an expert that served as a resource person to

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Cross regional exchanges: Participants of the course attentively listened to and engaged in conversations with 10 speakers from developed and developing countries. The presentations enabled them to understand the dynamics of community knowledge systems and the processes through which they can help development practitioners achieve the MDGs. The cross regional discussions enabled the two regions to share experiences and learn from each other. For example, the Tanga AIDS Working Group, an NGO in Tanzania, revealed how

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , the course include the foltraditional medicine can help lowing actions in the four treat the opportunistic infections countries: related to HIV/AIDS. India responded by citing the example ■ Ten national agricultural of a similar NGO that had used institutions have begun to neem based herbal remedies to initiate work on documentreat over 3,000 patients of simitation and incorporation of lar diseases. local farming practices into The course enabled local practheir programmes; titioners (traditional birth atten■ Seven universities have dants, healers and farmers) to started to incorporate local talk to each other across counknowledge into teaching tries and continents. For the first curriculum; An awareness campaign organised by students against AIDS. time, local healers were able to ■ Four ministries of health raise their concerns with international agencies such as WIPO and agriculture have initiated work on validation and protecand the NIH on an equal footing. The video-conference ses- tion of traditional knowledge to support integration into sions, were supplemented with local translators to enable national development projects and policies; Swahili and Sinhalese speakers to learn more about how to ■ Five World Bank projects have allocated resources to finance address the dual challenges of scientific validation and intel- specific community development activities within projects; lectual property rights protection. In some cases, local practi- ■ Sixty-five participants have begun to incorporate lessons of tioners challenged the wisdom of contemporary development experience from other countries into their own work proparadigms. For instance, participants in Uganda and Sri Lanka grammes. felt that a UNFPA project that set out to reduce maternal mortality had focused too heavily on information technology, Lessons learned: The course, on the whole, was well without paying due diligence to local maternal health practices. designed and smoothly executed. There are several lessons to The most productive part of the course was the cross region- be learnt from the pilot experience that can be used to improve al exchange among the participants. The local facilitators in each the delivery of future courses: country had helped identify like-minded professionals in the ■ Follow-up courses could be directed towards community same fields. As a result, there was much to share and learn development in specific sectors and activities to allow for from each other. Often sector specific presentations sparked off wider participation and deeper understanding of the sector or intensive cross regional discussions that enabled the participants activity. to carefully dissect the subject and adapt the lessons of experi- ■ In order for local knowledge to penetrate many areas ence to their own specific context. In the field of agriculture for through many players, some of the training modules could be example, when a participant from India spoke of banana fer- presented in training programmes not designed for IK per se. tilisers he used in the fields, a participant from Uganda respond- For example, the module on traditional knowledge and health ed that he had also used the fertiliser; however it did not work could be incorporated into a general training course on for him. He asked the Indian participant for details on the time, HIV/AIDS. The community knowledge and agriculture modquantity, and application of this fertiliser to see if the scientif- ules could be incorporated into agricultural training courses. ic methodology used by the Indian participant could yield sim- This could sensitise project teams and policy makers not curilar results in Uganda. In this way, the course facilitated South- rently dealing with local knowledge, to consider incorporatSouth cooperation and indigenous technology transfer on a vir- ing components into their undertakings. tual platform.

■ The time for the course was limited for the amount of mateAction plans: At the end of the rials presented. Future courses course, the participants developed an B9/0=;36&?6=7;9;.&P74:986/&=&34/0 should be expanded to two weeks to action plan outlining how they 6>>6309:6&@689-@&4>&9;/07-3094;K&$0 cover many more topics and shorter intended to incorporate community 9/&=?/4&=&P7=3093=?&P?=0>47@&>47&= courses for specific topics. knowledge and the relevant course ■ The course timings could be .?45=?&86:6?4P@6;0&89=?4.-6Z materials: (i) into their own work improved for some countries. In Sri 6;=5?9;.&6UP670/&04&@=C6& programmes, (ii) at the project level, Lanka for example, the debriefing (iii) at the policy level, (iv) through sessions cut into the night making it P76/6;0=094;/&>74@&=374//&0<6 cross-regional exchanges and dia.?456&=;8&/0=C6<4?867/&04&/<=76 difficult for participants to travel logue and, (v) through specific activhome. ities to promote South-South 6UP6796;36/&=;8&?6=7;&>74@&?43=? ■ The entire course material should =;8&374//&76.94;=?&6U3<=;.6/K& be made available in hard copy to Cooperation. The most notable achievements to date as a result of each participant as not everyone has

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■ Presentations should include more photos, pictures as it helps to visualise the situation better. Some presentations were not visible during the VC sessions. There is also a need to develop a VC friendly format for power-point presentations.

■ The use of videos is an effective way to introduce a subject such as community knowledge that focuses on intangible assets that are often difficult to visualise.

Documentaries should be used to start offline sessions.

■ There is a need for flexibility and preparedness to resolve technical difficulties arising during video-conferences. For instance, when Sri Lanka lost power during one session, the local facilitator quickly arranged for a local expert to make a presentation on the subject of discussion.

■ It is critical to recruit dynamic local facilitators who are experts on the course subject and familiar with local stakeholders who could be potential course participants.

■ It may be necessary to provide local facilitators with advance training on how to recruit participants and deliver the course through offline and VC sessions.

■ It is also critical to provide the facilitators with autonomy to enable them to adapt their own teaching approaches to meet the specific and different needs of participants in each country.

■ In countries like India, it may be necessary to have two different locations for the distance learning centres. This will enable participants to attend from all over the country, given the vast distances.

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Distance learning provides a cost effective medium of instruction. The costs of running similar courses range from $10,000 for a two-day course, to $30,000 for a five-day course, with the potential of reaching a target group of 150-200 participants spread across four to five countries. Distance learning also provides a practical platform for a global development dialogue, enabling experts to make presentations from across the globe and stakeholders to share experiences and learn from local and cross regional exchanges.

The potential for using distance learning as a tool to help clients achieve the MDGs, can be gauged through the impact of the pilot course on community development. Participants rated this novel form of doing business on a virtual platform as being extremely useful and have requested the organisation of such courses on a regular basis. The technology enabled participants to share experiences, but also impart technical knowledge and challenge conventional development paradigms. A number of grass roots innovators were rewarded by the recognition they received during the course from UN agencies in

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the West and their counterparts in other countries in the South.

In this way, such courses provide a practical mechanism for promoting South-South cooperation that can be sustained over time.

3*+)-7-4*.)';//&M*7F The feedback provided by 87 course participants demonstrates a great demand for distance learning courses. The participants have urged their institutions to allocate budgetary resources to fund their participation in similar activities in the future. Some have managed to go even further. The Distance Learning Centre in Tanzania for example, has incorporated community knowledge into its core activities and schedule of courses. Similarly, in Sri Lanka a university vice-chancellor has agreed to establish a small video-conference centre to promote distance learning courses. Plans are also under way to organise a follow-up course to assist post-tsunami rehabilitation efforts in Asia.

O*.'<.&-*.('R+*-.':;+-7*.'8.)+/4+/./1+(Z The African continent is on the move. Bold economic reforms have enabled several countries to climb up the growth trajectory. Sixteen countries have sustained annual GDP growth rates in excess of 4.5 percent since the mid-1990s; inflation on the continent is down to historic lows; most exchange rate distortions have been eliminated; and fiscal deficits are dropping. According to a World Bank study, “twothirds of African countries made at least one reform in 2006 and Tanzania and Ghana rank among the (world’s) top 10 reformers.” Today, productivity in Africa’s best performing firms is on par with competitors in Asia (India and Vietnam), for example. As a result, foreign companies have begun to establish a presence in Africa. By mid 2006 for instance, Chinese direct investment into Africa crossed $1.18 billion.

Exports from Africa to Asia have tripled, making Asia Africa’s

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , third largest trading partner after the EC and USA. According to a report entitled Africa’s Silk Road, “the knowledge that can be conveyed from India and China could contribute more towards Africa’s growth than current trade and investment inflows. This proposal seeks to nurture new business opportunities in Africa by developing a programmes of cross regional exchanges and training courses between Asia and Africa that would target local entrepreneurs and foreign investors.

The objective is to capitalise on the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) — a series of distance learning centres with video-conferencing facilities; to leverage the best local and global knowledge, skills and experience in the areas of trade and business development. The greatest impediment to sustaining a successful business in Africa remains the scarcity of entrepreneurial, technical and management skills at the operational level.

O".7/4) Objective: To provide technical assistance and training to build local entrepreneurial capacity in Africa in order to stimulate growth and investment. The key is to adapt success stories from Asia (India and China) to help resolve the supply side constraints that prevent Africa from achieving economies of scale and increasing its share of world trade. This will entail developing a 10 part cross regional distance learning training course aimed at enabling African policy makers and entrepreneurs to address the challenges of doing business in Africa through learning from the experiences of different countries, regions, and private companies. The objective is to help African innovators create new businesses that will provide jobs and opportunities for growth.

Design: The proposed course will build on the pilot series of training courses that were conducted in 2006, for World Bank staff and clients working on health, agriculture and environmental projects. The participants comprised 500 practitioners, development partners and policy makers located across twenty countries and four continents. ICT helped to bridge the geographical and perceptional distance between them through the video-conference facilities of the global development learning network. The courses effectively demonstrated how leveraging traditional and modern knowledge systems can help solve operational challenges and improve the impact of Bank projects.

The proposed course will offer technical assistance through a mixed menu of local and global solutions to help Africans: ■ Gain entry into overseas universities and higher education institutions; ■ Seek employment opportunities abroad; ■ Overcome trade and market access restrictions facing local exporters; ■ Benefit from business opportunities arising from bilateral trade and FTAs; ■ Attract foreign direct investment comparable to FDI levels in Asia; ■ Enforce intellectual property rights for African innovators;

■ Nurture local innovation and entrepreneurship ■ Build local capacity and management skills ■ Engage the private sector through public/private partnerships, as in healthcare, for example ■ Nurture and sustain local forms of corporate leadership and governance In the area of trade and investment, for instance, lessons will be drawn from India and China’s efforts to undertake sustained economic reforms and nurture a culture of local innovation and entrepreneurship. The course will bring global and regional experts to provide practical advice to help African policy makers and entrepreneurs to better understand the nuts and bolts of establishing and sustaining a business.

The course will also identify specific measures that governments need to undertake to improve the regulatory environment and incentives to attract foreign investment.

Training will be provided on all aspects of launching a startup venture, with a focus on marketing business plans to potential investors. The course will also provide adequate training to enable Africans to diversify beyond coffee exports to services such as call centres.

Mode of Delivery: The courses will centre around providing private entrepreneurs, individuals and policy makers a ‘hands on’ guide on local and global best practices. This will be done through lectures by: (i) government reformers, local entrepreneurs and private companies in Asia who will share their lessons of experience; and (ii) experts from the private sector and overseas investors that can mobilise resources to invest in businesses across Africa.

This will include trouble shooting exercises, whereby international law/consulting firms could advise African governments and exporters on strategies to overcome overseas market access barriers for their goods.

Business associations in different countries can use the virtual forum to agree on common strategies to engage with their respective governments for domestic support and representation of their other concerns at the WTO and bilateral negotiations.

The course will offer a combination of presentations by experts, case studies, interactive group and cross regional discussions. The course materials will be designed to provide users with practical guidelines on how to replicate and scale up successful approaches to business development. The second half of each session will be geared towards helping the participants to develop business plans for start-up ventures that can be showcased to potential overseas investors. Each project proposal will seek to apply the knowledge and technical assistance imparted through the training through a pilot venture.

In this way, the cross regional training courses and exchanges will have reached out to a wide range of potential innovators and entrepreneurs in Africa. It will nurture a new management and work culture at the local, regional and global levels and empower Africans and foreign investors with strategic knowledge, experiences and skills to do business in Africa.

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or all Africans of my generation who were nurtured on the sayings of Mahatma Gandhi, Tagore and the Upanishads, and therefore have, in the words of Octavio Paz, the great Mexican poet and ambassador to this land, some “glimpses of India”, coming to India is equivalent to a pilgrimage in the cradle of wisdom.

A proverb of my country says: “Go to your neighbour’s farm; there you will discover that you should put your father’s farm in proper perspective, which is the beginning of wisdom.”

As an overture to my remarks, I have found no more inspiring, relevant and melodious note than a poem of the most illustrious Baul of modern India. Let Tagore speak of Africa: In an insane time, the long, long past, When the creator himself gravely displeased himself, Destroyed his own creations over and over again,

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The ocean with its angry arms, snatched, Away a piece of the eastern earth, And called in Africa…

Alas, Africa of shadows, Your human face remains unknown To the darkened vision of contempt.

They came Human hunters all.

The iron chains, Amd claws sharper than wolves.

Their pride blinder than your sunless forests.

The barbaric lust of civilised men Revealed in ugliness of their own Inhumanity.

Only a poet from India, like Tagore, rich in poetic sedimentation spanning millennia could have captured the African condition in such deceitfully simple, but rhythmic and beautiful words so reminiscent of the verse of our African village bards.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , The words of Tagore are echoed in a poem aptly titled A Salute to the Third World by Aime Ceasaire, undoubtedly the most powerful contemporary African poet, from the African diaspora: I see Africa multiple and one vertical in the tumultuous upheaval with her flab, her nodules, slightly to the side, but within reach of the century, like a backup heart.

I would like to particularly draw your attention, to the following lines of Tagore’s poem: Your human face remains unknown Tomorrow When in tomorrow my people The mercenary rout Once the feast is over Instead the redness of the east in the balisier’s heart People of interrupted foul sleep People of reclimbed abysses People of tamed nightmares Nocturnal people lovers of the fury of thunder A higher sweeter broader tomorrow And the torrential swell of lands Under the salubrious plow of storm.

I would like to surmise that both Tagore and Cesaire are asking us to discover or rediscover the “unknown human face” of our respective cultures and civilisations. It is after — and only after — we answer this vital question of “who am I”, the question of our being-in-the-world, that we could possibly visualise the lineaments of what kind of globalisation we want or deserve.

Perhaps at this juncture, I should confess or make explicit the human interest implicit in the title of my lecture. We are all familiar with the assertion by Jurgeon Habermas, to the effect that any knowledge harbours or hides some human interest. If the few words I am about to offer in the next few minutes have any claim to knowledge, their human interest or, in Lucien Goldman’s words, the “hidden god” inspiring them is as follows: If we really desire and hope for a globalisation with a human face, we must ensure that cultures are its driving force or engine. Homo economicus as exemplified by all brands of capitalism has failed or is failing before our eyes. For humankind to survive, it must invent, perhaps, a variety of sustainable development cemented by cultures — in this context philosophies and worldviews of Africa, India, and Pre-Columbian Americas are essential ingredients. Together, they constitute what Cesaire called the “back up heart” of humanity. In my opinion, they hold the strongest and surest redemptive potentials for humankind.

In this regard, when I refer to Africa, I mean the sum total of African cultures as sedimented for millennia in philosophies, wisdoms, ways of being and doing things as well as ways of relating to others. That Africa, epistemologically as well as methodologically, should be contrasted to the Africa, that

resulted from the Berlin Conference (1884-1885) and the resulting partition of the continent, which I would like to call the “problematic Africa”. The latter matters, no doubt, and I certainly do not want to be seen as a nostalgic that encourages some version of “pessimism”.

But in all fairness, the problematic Africa, as widely publicised in the media with its HIV-AIDS, famine, and so called “tribal wars”, as the only characteristics of the continent, cannot be taken as paradigmatic of the African way of being.

In fact, precisely because the problematic Africa, including that is at the helm of affairs in most African states, is yet to “cease being the dark toy in the carnival of others”, it would be insulting to our ancestors to consider it as a legitimate representative of the continent. Afro-pessimism and rhetoric notwithstanding, a continent whose cultures have demonstrated ample evidence of resilience despite four centuries of slave trade and a century of colonialism and neo-colonialism deserves the benefit, not of the doubt, but of hope.

Perhaps one of the most urgent tasks of ours and the next generation of Africanists by which I restrictively mean those who are committed to the understanding of the past, present, and future Africa of the defence and promotion of the interests of African children on the continent and in the diaspora, as opposed to those who prey on Africa for a living is to effect a thorough terminological, epistemological, and hermeneutic overhauling of the field. It is scientifically unsound, to uncritically “inherit” and endorse the conceptual tools forged by one’s oppressors’ organic intellectuals to discourse on oneself and one’s realities.

This task is a long-term agenda that will restore African terms and African languages as a media of scientific discourse.

One such term that needs critical examination by African scholars, is “globalisation”.

At a seminar on “Globalisation and Indigenous Cultures” in Tokyo some years back, I told an amazed and incredulous Japanese audience that we Africans have been very active in the globalisation process before them. For, although we have been somehow forcefully precipitated into the process through what Basil Davidson so aptly termed “the curse of Colombus”, that is, the Atlantic slave trade, Japan decided to open itself to the capitalist West only in 1868, with the Meiji Restoration. Likewise, African cultures were “globalised” through the Tran-Saharan Arab slave trade. Hence, African cultural traits can be found in Mediterranean Europe, with Saint Benedetto il Moro as an emblematic representative in Sicily. Even the European hinterland was not immune to African cultural traits. We may recall the ancestor of Pushkin, the great Russian, who hailed from a village in what is now called Central African Republic.

The most massive engagement of Africa with other cultures is undoubtedly in the Americas. They understand the nature of this engagement; and we must bear in mind the African concept of culture.

I shall be particularly concerned with the Yoruba culture, in which the “culture”, that is, the set of characteristics pro-

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# * B $ F % 2 H * # $ D I & # 2 2 ) F It is above all though their philosophies, religions and attiposed to a community is called àsà. This same word may apply also to an individual, in which case it describes his or her per- tudes to life and death that African cultures give us the best sonality and habits. The word àsà dervies from the verb sà, example of their “stubbornness to ripen”, which is also a stubwhich means to choose, discern, discriminate, select, sort. bornness not to die.

Their concept of culture thus allowed Africans in the homeWhen it is applied to a community, it describes a set of collective behaviours normally expected of individuals whose land and in the American diaspora, to invent an original notion have chosen it consciously and responsibly. In other words, and practice of the nation. An individual belonged not only to in principle, àsà cannot be imposed. Since àsà brings in the the nation of his or her country of birth but also to the birthplace of the deity he/she worshipped. notion of choice, it can be said that Yoruba Multiple nationalities, an invention in culture is part of a tradition open to innoEurope, were thus a common practice in vation. What has not been the object of a West Africa. collective choice is not part of tradition.

What matters in the definition of nation Individuals, professional groups, lineages, in Africa and in the African diaspora is not ethnic groups, etc., have their own àsà, so much the place where one was born. It each forming a set that can be pictured as is rather the set of values this place stands a chain with intersections. In Yoruba culfor, or the set of values invested in it by ture, as oriki (which means approximateconscious agents. This is why Africans may ly mottoes) or oral poetry, shows very claim or desire several nations without any clearly, the plural character of identities sense of contradiction. It is indeed possigoes without saying. ble that one’s ori (inner head) suggests or Faced as they were with the hostility of their New World environment (inhuman $&=@&;4&2796;0=?9/0Z&5-0&$ selects one’s nation, by divination for example. work in mines and plantations), making a C;4V&0<=0&!>793=;&3-?0-76/& One of the main reasons for the surselection among the flow of cultural traits proposed by tradition took on for the =;8&0<6&3-?0-76/&4>&$;89= vival of African cultures, especially African religions, is the activation of the principle Africans every appearance of a necessity. =76&34;:67.6;0K&"47& of àsà, i.e. the right to initiative, even in the The African traditionalists of the New @9??6;;9=Z&0<6O&<=:6 midst of the hardest and inhuman condiWorld must have learned, probably in a few decades, to choose in their respective 6@P<=/9/68&0<6&4;6;6// tions of slavery. As Jean-Paul Sartre put it, traditions which cultural traits and values 4>&6U9/06;36Z&0<6&<=7@4;O what is important is not what they make of to retain in toto and which traits of other 560V66;&.48/Z&;=0-76&=;8 your, but what you make of what they make of you. We have such Afro-Christian cultures to choose to forge the admirable <-@=;&569;./K&)<6O&540< syncretic religions as Candomble, and syncretism that we know today which is, 56?96:6&9;&0<6&>47@-?=& Santeria, in which Jesus Christ is insignifit must be stressed, Afro-American, before it is Afro-Christian. As Aime Cesaire e$&=@&563=-/6&V6&=76fK icant. Like the religions they evolved from in the African homeland, these are devoreminds us in this poem “Transmission”, “forces are not exhausted that quickly when one is only their tions with no dogmas, proselytising, missionaries or crusades.

Therein lies their strength and potential for nurturing a puny trustee”.

Thus, generations of Africans dumped in the plantations, healthy cultural dialogue in the age of globalisation.

I am no Orientalist, but I know that African cultures and mines and cities of the colonial Americas experienced their common condition as a “misdeal to negotiate step by step, with the cultures of India are convergent. The two cultures are it up to them to discover each water hole” (Cesaire). Research largely based on very similar “weltanschauungen”. For milis needed in this aspect as well, indeed, as on the notion of lennia, they have emphasised the oneness of existence, the har“seed”, in the sense in which the Soninke of Mali and Senegal mony between gods, nature and human beings. They both speak of the “seed of the word”. Beyond roots, a useful con- believe in the formula “I am because we are”. The word “We” cept but one, which harbours the danger of fixity, it is the seed here includes the totality of those who exist and the yet to be of African cultures that we ought to be analysing. Ceasire born. As a result of the expansion of capitalism, African and Indian cultures have been in contact in South Africa, made this point in verse when he wrote: Mauritius, Guyana and the Caribbean. There have been no Let us take up again cases of clashes based on or inspired by worldviews. We have The useful patient path to conjecture that the largely peaceful coexistence of the bearLower than roots the path of seed ers of African and Indian cultures is the result of the converThe summary miracle shuffles the deck gence of these cultures. Yet, we have to admit that in all these But there is no miracle countries, it was a case of culture contact under surveillance.

Only the strength of seeds The hegemonic Judeo-Christian states, ideologies and culDepending on their stubbornness to ripen.

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , tures set the conditions of the contact with its cohort of racism, prejudices and hierarchisation of cultures and people. No doubt those were not the ideal contexts for a healthy cultural dialogue. Yet, despite those adverse conditions, dialogue did occur. In Trinidad, for example, the syncretic African religion called Shango has included gods of India into its pantheon.

The challenge today for African and Indian cultures in the homelands and the diaspora is to activate the core values of these cultures as the first threads in the communal weaving of a new universalism.

By accident of history, African and Asian cultures have been forced into exile and have suffered the agony of colonialism.

Their bearers have reacted with the least humanly possible aggressiveness, animosity and resentment to the colonial West.

More important, both cultures, have by and large, offered a metonymic, as opposed to metaphoric, response to the engagement of western culture. This, in my view, qualifies them for potentially becoming the wisdom nucleus with the capacity to recognise in their cultures those elements that could drive our humanity back to what Tagore once termed “the moral orbit”, a sine qua non condition for a newly appeased humanism and a globalisation with human face.

Perhaps, the time has come for a new cultural Bandoeng that could trigger a vaster deeper and healthier cultural dialogue. Let me briefly elaborate all the newness of the suggested “new cultural Bandoeng”. It must avoid the well known Manichean but philosophically and historically untenable posture that pits an imagined “West” as the quintessential “other” of its colonial discontents. Another feature of the new cultural Bandoeng is its inclusiveness. Not only the idea of the West as the “absolute other” of “the rest of us” is unacceptable to the proposed cultural Bandoeng, but the latter must actively seek to identify and to federate within the West cultural elements and agencies that have been undermined, repressed or ostracised, precisely because they kept insisting on the “moral orbit” dimension of human kind. We should always bear in mind the wise observation of Tagore in his celebrated essay ‘The East and the West’: “…we often come across the Western sailor, the Western soldier or the big bosses of offices and the Bar; but alas! The Man of the East never meets the Man of West”. This suggestion of a new cultural Bandoeng is a far cry from the expressed by Samuel Huntington in his simplistic theory of globalisation, if

ever they deserved to be called theory. I expect politicians to mount an ultimately facile criticism of such a project, dismissing it as an exercise in abstract, disembodied culturalism.

Amartya Sen has convincingly dealt with his kind of objection in his Identity and Violence.

Besides, culturalism as a concept derives its validity from the colonial or neocolonial context and lacks legitimacy in the context of African and Indian worldviews.

To be sure there are felicitous conditions for a true dialogue.

Paramount among them is the establishment of institutions for the study of African cultures in India and, reciprocally, the creation of centres for Asian languages and civilisations in institutions of higher learning in Africa.

An additional crucial condition is democracy, which includes economic democracy. Embedded in our culture are traditions of democracy and discourses on its practices. In his book mentioned earlier, Sen says that while discussing colonialism in Africa and the situation of democracy on the continent “…there is in fact, a long tradition of participatory governance in Africa”, he also stresses “the important role and continuing relevance of accountability and participation in the African political heritage”. Our duty is to (re) discover and (re) invent those traditions to suit the diversity of our modern globalised world.

Surely the potentials are as vast as the challenges.

In conclusion, allow me to borrow the words of the poet Ceasire again: “The honour of our inner self is at hand.”

(Eminent African scholar Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai and chairman of the UNESCO Executive Board, delivered this lecture, entitled ‘Africa, African Diaspora and the Prospects of Global Cultural Dialogue’, in New Delhi recently. The lecture, organised by IIC-Asia Project, was chaired by Nalin Surie, Secretary (West) in India’s Ministry of External Affairs.)

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Jawaharlal Nehru (left), along with Nasser and Tito, played a key role in the 1955 Bandung Conference on Afro-Asian solidarity.

From left: Nehru of India, Nkrumah of Ghana, Nasser of Egypt, Sukarno of Indonesia and Tito of Yugoslavia.

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labiyi Babalola Joseph Yai, Chairman of UNESCO’s Executive Board, is a scholar extraordinaire and an impassionate advocate of “globalisation with a human face”. He is a specialist in African literatures and languages, literacy, oral poetry and the cultures of the African diaspora. His formidable knowledge of African culture and literature harks back to his traditional education with sages and elders in his village in Benin where he was born in 1942.

Before his election in November 2007 as Chairman of the UNESCO’s Executive Board, he was Ambassador Permanent Delegate of Benin to UNESCO, member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and president of the Finance and Administrative Commission of the Executive Board. He has taught in countries around the world and has resolutely stood for cultural authenticity in a recklessly globalising world driven by money and power.

Manish Chand, Editor, Africa Quarterly, caught up with Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai during his brief visit to India in

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September 2008. In this wide-ranging conversation, Joseph Yai speaks about the need for Africa and India to start an authentic dialogue sans intermediaries and makes an eloquent case for a new model of globalisation that is moored in traditional cultures and values. He also speaks about his hopes for an African renaissance that amalgamates the “village values of Africa” with the demands of modern, globalised existence and calls for a “central role” for India in a value-based international power system.

Excerpts from the interview: Q) What is Africa’s attitude towards globalisation? You have spoken about the need for adopting an indigenous approach to globalisation rooted in one’s language and culture…

A) India has a central role to play in a new international system, which will not be based on power and empire. The European countries created empires and colonies. I believe they understand the language of power and force. It’s time to

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , go back to the foundation of our own culture, the values that animated us before the Europeans came — the village values of Africa. Very few people know village values because they move to big cities and they lose a sense of those values. They don’t speak the language of their grandparents. They know French and English but they don’t know oral texts and stories of their own culture.

What I mean to say is that that we have lost access to the foundational text of our culture.

adopt a new approach to relations between states. We have to play a fundamental role in this process. Today, countries like India, Brazil and South Africa are becoming more visible and more prominent economically, leading to a different kind of relationship that is closer to their cultures. We have been victims of colonisation in the past. We, therefore, can’t victimise our own people.

Q) What model of globalisation do you advocate?

Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai A) We don’t think that we have any model. The model has to be created. Right now, the kind of Q) How can this process of recovery of culture and memory hapglobalisation we are witnessing is one-way globalisation, which pen? is a kind of wrong way. Some people describe the world as a A) It can be recovered through research. They have to transglobal village. But this description is a big misnomer. It’s noth- mit these foundational texts to mainstream education. You can ing like life in a village where everybody knows each other; find young Africans in cities. Very few of them cope up with there is no harmony and similarity that I experienced in a vil- pressures of urban life. There is a sense of disconnection with lage. To create a genuine global village, we have to learn from their roots and culture. The media has a big role to play in this each other’s language and culture and not be confined to process of cultural recovery.

European and American cultures. We can’t make business or economy the centrepiece of our relationship. In other words, Q) India and Africa have centuries-old economic and cultural we have to make active efforts to evolve a new form of glob- ties. A few months ago, India had its first summit with 14 repalisation. We should focus on culture. Culture is about ideas resentative African countries to give a more contemporary complexion to ties with Africa. What kind of relationship and diaand values that inspire society.

My point is that homo economicus has failed as commerce logue is possible between India and Africa in the 21st century? can’t be the guiding principle of human organisation. We have A) Dialogue starts with mutual knowledge. Africa does not witnessed that since the 16th and 17th centuries that pro- know enough about India. And India must show genuine duced industrialisation that, in turn, led to colonialisation by interest in Africa. The fact is that they don’t know each other European and American countries. We can no longer rely sufficiently well. This is a basic problem. We don’t need interupon economic relationship as the main ingredient of our preters when we speak to each other. We have to, therefore, relationship. We have to put values before economic organi- create institutions where we can tell our stories to each other so that we know each other better. India also need to forge a sation.

Talking about the model, we should think of a new relationship with the African media.

Reports about Africa in the media are mostly negative. We Bandung. Nehru, along with Nasser and Tito, was very instrumental in the 1955 Bandung Conference on Afro-Asian need to hold exhibitions of African art and Indian art. Culture solidarity. Now this solidarity has to be extended to include counts a lot in this process of mutual comprehension. people who value the eminence of culture and religion instead Education is another area where a lot can be done. We want of economic relationship. But, sadly, we don’t hear much of Indians who teach Indian history in African universities and culture and religion in global affairs. That’s why a new vice-versa. Right now, we see Africa through alien eyes. It’s absolutely necessary for the Indian media to forge a relationBandung is necessary. ship with the African media to exchange information and stories about each other.

Q) Do you see any movement in that direction?

A) Right now, I don’t see any movement in that direction. We don’t yet put values and solidarity as the main engine of glob- Q) How is India seen in Africa? What kind of power Africa alisation. We should go back to essential values of Africa, India, expects India to be? and pre-colonial America to create a new kind of globalisation A) India is perceived as a rising global power and an important economy. But with increasing economic weight, India has which is rooted in human values and indigenous cultures. to build stronger partnerships with emerging powers like Q) You have spoken about an African renaissance. What is China, Brazil and African countries like Nigeria. We should have a partnership in which a big brother is more underneeded to make this renaissance a reality?

A) We need an African renaissance. But for that we have to standing and wants the younger brother to come up in life.

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Students of a South African school rehearsing for a school function. The focus of the programme was ‘Wars in Africa’.

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raditionally, women and war are regarded as being opposed to each other. The phenomenon of war has always been considered to be a strictly male preserve. In fact, a woman writer’s depiction of warfare is considered to be an anomaly as the traditional space of the woman is supposed to be the hearth and the home. She is also seen as the angel of peace. Therefore, in most war novels, it is the man who goes into combat while the woman aids from the periphery by taking care of the family. The cross-cultural consistency of gendered war roles, which this chapter will explore, is set against a backdrop of great diversity of cultural forms of both war and gender roles considered separately.

Apart from war and a few biological necessities — gestation and lactation, gender roles show great diversity across cultures and through history. Human beings have created many forms of marriage, sexuality, and division of labour in

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household work and child care. Marriage patterns differ widely across cultures. Some societies practice monogamy and some polygamy. Of the polygamous cultures, most are predominantly polygynous (one man, several wives) but some are predominantly polyandrous (one woman, several husbands). Regarding ownership of property and lines of descent, a majority of societies are patrilocal; women move to their husbands’ households. A substantial number are matrilocal, however, with husbands moving to their wives’ households.

Most societies are patrilineal — tracing descent (and passing property) on the father’s side — but more than a few are matrilineal. Norms regarding sexuality also vary greatly across cultures. Some societies are puritanical others are open about sex. Some work hard to enforce fidelity — for example, by punishing or killing adulterers — whereas others accept multiple sexual relationships as normal. Attitudes towards homosexuality also differ across time and place, from relative acceptance to intolerance. Today, some countries officially prohibit discrimination against gay men and lesbians, while other

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , countries officially punish homosexuality with death.

Gender roles also vary across cultures when it comes to household and child care responsibilities. Different societies divide economic work differently by gender. Political leadership, while never dominated by women and often dominated by men, shows a range of possibilities in different cultures, from near-exclusion to near-equality for women. The puzzle, War, then, is a tremendously diverse enterprise, operating in many contexts with many purposes, rules, and meanings. Gender norms outside war show similar diversity. The answer in a nutshell is that killing in war does not come naturally for either gender, yet the potential for war has been universal in human societies. To help overcome the soldiers’ reluctance to fight, cultures develop gender roles that equate “manhood” with toughness under fire. Across cultures and through time, the selection of men as potential combatants (and of women for feminine war support roles) has helped shape the war system. In turn, the pervasiveness of war in history has influenced gender profoundly — especially gender norms in child-rearing.

In war, the fighters are usually all male. Exceptions to this rule are numerous, but these exceptions together amount to far less than one percent of all warriors in history (Goldstein 54). As interesting as that fragment of the picture may be — and it is — the uniformity of gender in war-fighters is still striking. Within this uniformity, some diversity occurs. For one thing, women’s war roles vary considerably from culture to culture, including roles as support troops, psychological war-boosters, peacemakers, and so forth. Although men’s war roles show fewer cross-cultural diversity, societies do construct norms of masculinity around war in a variety of ways. Nonetheless, these variations occur within a uniform pattern that links men with war-fighting in every society that fights wars. According to Joshua. A. Goldstein, In the present interstate system, the gendering of war is stark. About 23 million soldiers serve in today’s uniformed standing armies; of whom about 97 percent are male (somewhat over 500,000 are women). In only six of the world’s nearly 200 states do women make up more than 5 percent of the armed forces. And most of these women in military forces worldwide occupy traditional women’s roles such as typists and nurses (see pp. 83-87; 102-5). Designated combat forces in the world’s state armies today include several million soldiers (the exact number depending on definitions of combat), of whom 99.9 percent are male. In 1993, 168 women belonged to the ground combat units of Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway combined, with none in Russia, Britain, Germany, France, and Israel. Change since 1993, although not trivial, has been incremental. In UN peacekeeping forces, women (mostly nurses) made up less than 0.1 percent in 1957-89 and still less than 2 percent when UN peacekeeping peaked in the early 1990s. (54) Goldstein’s data reflects a time period in which women had reached their highest social and political power to date, and in which the world’s predominant military force (the United

States) was carrying out the largest-scale military gender integration in history. Despite these momentous changes, combat forces today almost totally exclude women, and the entire global military system has so few women and such limited roles for them as to make many of its most important settings all-male.

Did these rigid gender divisions in today’s state military forces occur in other times and places, or are they by-products of specific contexts and processes embodied in today’s states? Gender division existed in some form or the other in most pre-colonial societies. Yet there are examples of societies where women had near parallel roles with men. And myths abound in the creation of Amazonian figures.

The gendering of war is similar across war-prone and more peaceful societies, as well as across very sexist and relatively gender-equal societies. Joshua Goldstein gives the examples of two different kinds of societies — one gender insensitive and the other professing gender equality. The two societies occupy extreme positions regarding both war and gender equality and yet warfare seems to be considered as the man’s prerogative even in the most gender equal societies. The two societies are the Sambia of New Guinea and the inhabitants of Vanatinai Island in the South Pacific.

The Sambia are among the most warlike cultures ever studied, and also among the most sexist. Women are not only disenfranchised and subject to abuse, but villages are laid out with different paths for men and women. Male Sambia warriors are taken from their mothers at 7 to 10 years old to be trained and raised in a rigid all-male environment. Younger boys sexually “service” older ones, eventually reversing roles as they grow into warriors. This homosexual phase is supposed to build masculinity in the warrior. After marrying, these young men adopt heterosexuality but treat their wives very harshly. Sambia society is marked by extreme male dominance and the suppression of the feminine in the male’s world. Not surprisingly, warfare among the Sambia is strictly a male occupation. Nor are the Sambia exceptional in this regard. Of the most warlike societies known, none requires women to participate in combat, and in all of them cultural concepts of masculinity motivate men to fight.

Vanatinai Island, by contrast, is one of the most genderegalitarian societies ever studied. In this culture, men and women are virtually equal in power and move fluidly across gendered roles. One exception to this gender equality (mentioned late in a newspaper article that declared the “sexes equal” on Vanatinai) was that “in earlier times, warfare was the one important activity reserved exclusively for men.”

(Goldstein 33) Although long pacified by colonial rule, the culture still retains this asymmetry: when a six-year-old girl joined some boys in throwing mock spears, her mother “came out of the house… and said, irritably, ‘Are you a man that you throw spears?’ The girl burst into tears and ran into the house.” (Goldstein 34) So although gender relations on Vanatinai are radically different from those among the Sambia, one commonality is that war fighting is seen as a male

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I * D B * # & $ F F ( * F Bhabha have all presented their particular “readings” of nationalism, it remains clear that these critical readings are gendered (Hobsbawm 2). One of the only prominent theorists talking about the “woman question” and the woman’s role is Partha Chatterjee. Despite the ascendancy of feminist theory in the academy and all its discourses, national allegories are still seen as the domain of the male authors. Revolutions are fought and nations are constructed by men and are also written about by men.

Women, though, have been involved in revolutions and in national constructions; they have been theorised and have been written about. The assumption that women around the globe would and could remain passively at home while soldiers fought for “god and country” is itself a bourgeois ideolThe Genesis of War and Nationalism ogy predicated on Anglo-American and ‘modernist’ notions Marxist scholarship has portrayed both sexism and war as of femininity. Women have been active players in the war. products of a certain stage in human history — that of pri- Their invisibility is not due to their lack of participation but vate property and the state system following the invention of because they have not been adequately acknowledged in the agriculture over ten thousand years ago. Originally, it is colonial and post-colonial narratives. This study attempts to claimed that humans lived in matriarchal societies where address and redress the literary representation of women as women held political power, which did not have war. national subjects within their respective geo-political locales.

Evidence comes from the supposedly peaceful and gender- Individual female authors represent female characters within their country’s national allegories. equal character of modern-day gath)<6&=//-@P094;&0<=0&V4@6; In writing about national borders ering and hunting societies. Thus, both patriarchy and war are products =74-;8&0<6&.?456&V4-?8&76@=9; and boundaries in the era of indeof economic class relations, which P=//9:6?O&=0&<4@6&V<9?6&/4?8967/ pendence, many post-colonial intelchanged with the rise of the state. >4-.<0&>47&e.48&=;8&34-;07Of&9/ lectuals have described what seem to be sites of confusion and contradicFriedrich Engels links the begin90/6?>&=&54-7.649/&9864?4.O& tion. Indeed, the very idea of a clearning of war to the rise of the state — P76893=068&4;&!;.?41!@6793=; ly defined national border in the conand thus the end of war to the antictext of decolonisation seems contraipated post-state era of communism. =;8&g@4867;9/0A&;4094;/&4>& Engels argues that societies before >6@9;9;90OK&&E4@6;&<=:6&566; dictory, given the deep ethnic and religious divisions within many the invention of agriculture were =309:6&P?=O67/&9;&0<6&V=7K&)<697 decolonised nations. This is mainly matriarchies and that when, with agriculture, private property came 9;:9/959?90O&9/&;40&8-6&04&0<697&?=3C because, during the colonial era, the into being, gender relations were 4>&P=70939P=094;&5-0&563=-/6&0<6O actual territorial borders of many colonised nations were either drawn transformed, and men seized power. <=:6&;40&566;&=86Y-=06?O completely at random or to enclose a The rise of the state and the beginning of war were products of that =3C;4V?68.68&9;&0<6&34?4;9=?&=;8 particular administrative zone.

(Hobsbawm 137) Frequently large same transformation. Gender and P4/0134?4;9=?&;=77=09:6/K& colonised nations were created out of war are here linked, but only indirectly, both being effects of the transformation of economic existing areas of colonial administration without any knowlclass relations after property came into being. The solution edge of cultures within them and without the consent of their to war, therefore, is to move beyond private property to a people. (171) In the post-colonial era, many nations became classless society, by means of a revolution against the current hybrids, taking linguistic, popular and official versions of phase of private property, namely capitalism. (Hobsbawm nationalism from previous models of Europe and elsewhere.

(Anderson 113) 56) In this context, novelists and literary critics have suggestNations and nationalisms enjoy a great deal of currency in contemporary theoretical debates. Most notably, post-colo- ed that post-colonial nations are, by nature, artificial, pointnial theories and post modern ideologies have rigorously ing out that they are false and unnatural, with imaginary addressed, investigated and problematised the roles of claims to unity, frequently corresponding to no real geo“nations” and ‘nationalisms” in this increasingly globalised graphic space. As Timothy Brennan suggests, “Nations are world. Critics seem to suggest that the phenomena are pre- imaginary constructs that depend for their existence on an rogative of the male subjects or of male theorists. Ernest apparatus of cultural functions in which imaginative literature Gellner, Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm and Homi plays a decisive role.” (173) Buchi Emecheta’s Destination occupation. The pattern of Vanatinai repeats in five other relatively peaceful and gender-equal societies — the Semai of Malaya, the Siriono of Bolivia, the Mbuti of central Africa, the Kung of southern Africa, and the Copper Eskimo of Canada.

All are gatherers or hunters and the first two also engage in some slash-and-burn agriculture. All have in common open and basically egalitarian decision making and social control processes. Long-term material inequality between individuals cannot exist because these societies produce little or no surplus. In these five societies, relative gender egalitarianism prevails in most areas of life (compared with agricultural and industrial societies).

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , Biafra (1982) describes the post-colonial Nigerian society as politics in the middle of a bloody civil war caused and fuelled by Western economic imperialism and resulting in genocide and economic disaster. Although Emecheta focuses at length on the unprecedented horror that the war brings, she points out that constant obsession with drawing and redrawing boundaries is, in many ways, part of the horror. However, Emecheta’s main task seems to be to give the woman her due in the wartime situation.

Besides that, she also seems to suggest that the position of Nigerian women within these fluctuating borders is very ambivalent. Sometimes they seem victims of violence and sometimes, symbolic of the nation’s move towards modernity. A distinct similarity is seen in the novels on civil war written by women authors across the globe. In some form or the other they critically evaluate the growth of the new nations. Julia O’Faolin’s No Country For Young Men, Bapsi Siddhwa’s Cracking India, Buchi Emecheta’s Destination Biafra and Hanan Al-Shaykh’s Story of Zahra attempt to locate women in the newly budding nation-states. None of these women may “speak” for their country or their country-women at large, but collectively they are able to dislodge gendered notions of “decolonisation” as well as refigure the narrative contours of the nation.

Although almost all theorists can agree that the “nation” and “nationalism” are relatively recent ideologies generated in the West, very few can delineate or define these nebulous concepts. Ernest Renan, one of the finest theorists of this phenomenon, claims that the nation was a group of people, with common heritage, who agreed to live together. (56) Building upon Renan, Benedict Anderson postulated that the nation was and is “an imagined political community” whose cohering ideology — nationalism — was fuelled by print capital. (78) Max Weber tends to focus on the cultural aspect of the nation when he claims that the intellectuals are responsible for its creation. He alludes to more concrete manifestation of the state — thus helping to coin the neologism — nation-state. (89) Clifford Geertz even goes as far to say that “national unity” is only maintained with reference to a civil state. “Primordial” (often ethnic) categories may often make claims to and complicate national status, but they do not have the necessary grounding to create a “nation”. (90) As can be seen by this brief survey, there has been and continues to be a proliferation of definitions of “nations” and their attendant “nationalisms” but despite the terms’ common usage, the multifaceted phenomena are not so easily codified.

Stalin may have laid out a definite criterion, claiming that all aspects needed to be met in order for a nation to form: “a nation is a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make up manifested in a common culture.”(20) Nations and nationalisms do not always

have a common language base or rely solely on particular geographical locations or states. India, most certainly is an example of multi ethnicism, multi language structures and the co-existence of multiple racial identities. Various forms of Black nationalisms have united parts of the African Diaspora around the globe with or without the construction of Africa as “homeland”. The Palestinians continue to assert a national identity even though they have been dispossessed of all their homes and denied a civil state by Israeli occupation.

Yet the debates surrounding the abstract terms are also compounded by a negation or celebratory dismissal of the concepts in question. In many schemas, nationalism is seen only as a phase that endangers independence, as something, which must make way for something “better”, and more “lasting”. According to Edward Said in Culture And Imperialism, “Nationalism was only one of the aspects of resistance and not the most interesting or enduring one” (266). Like Fanon, Said believes that struggles for independence — and once the independence has been gained — must strive towards “national liberation” or the “very rapid transformation into a consciousness of social and political needs” (204). The needs while suiting those of the new nation, were necessarily “transnational” and “transcultural” for they would embody a new “humanism”, one that is not undergird by imperial constructions of voluntaristic subject.

Other theorists may not be so comfortable ascribing to a utopic theory predicated on “humanism”, but may have also seen “transnationalism” as the necessary “end” of liberation movements “of the new order”. In fact nations and nation-

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I * D B * # & $ F F ( * F alisms are often perceived to be “outmoded” in the era of globalisation. As Rina Benmayor and Andor Skotnes note in their introduction to Migration and Identity, “massive migration is a permanent feature of the world system, constantly undermining tendencies towards ethnic homogenisation in a given country, and condemning the nation-state, as an ideal and a reality, to varying degrees of perpetual and endemic crisis.”6 Homi Bhabha seems to agree with Benmayor’s and Skotnes’ assertion, and even fashions this global movement as the new, structural ordering of the world. In The Location Of Culture, he proposes that “where, once, the transmission of national traditions was the major theme of world literature, perhaps we can now suggest that the transnational histories of migrants, the colonised, or the political refugees — these border and frontier conditions — may be the terrains of world literature.”12 Nations and nationalisms, when they manifest themselves in a concrete, geographically defined nation state, are clearly still prerequisites for an “identity” even in the new world order. As Benedict Anderson puts it, “nation-ness is the most universally legitimate value in the political life of our time.”3 Timothy Brennan makes the connection between “nation” and written literature when he notes, “literary myth too has been complicit in the creation of nations — above all, through the genre that accompanied the rise of the European vernaculars (the novel)… and the separation of literature into various “national literatures” “… Nations, then are imaginary constructs that depend for their existence on an apparatus of cultural fictions in which imaginative literature plays a decisive role”. (49) Theories of the ways in which the “nation” has been “narrated”, necessarily filters through a Western paradigm. As Anderson’s and Brennan’s work shows, they can be fruitfully applied to Third World texts and contexts as well. Often, an awareness of the ways in which colonisation and decolonisation figure in postcolonial literatures has necessarily led to an analysis of “nationalism” and “national identity” in those works. Flora Nwapa locates the “national identity” in a “humble” crop like cassava. In her poem “Rice Song” and “Cassava song”, she eulogises the cassava as the national food. Rice eating, is termed as fashionable and Western, whereas homegrown cassava, which has fallen out of favour since colonisation, is, according to Nwapa, the mother of food.

R,/'["9*.'[+-)/+('*.&'[*+'P*++*)-=/( The Nigerian Civil War has been analysed and contextualised from numerous historical perspectives. African as well as Western scholars have attempted to assess the effects of this brutal struggle. Whether it is C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, laying out his plea to the world in Biafra or liberal scholars such as Auberon Waugh and Suzanne Cronjé highlighting the hidden and not so hidden role of Britain in the “internal” conflict, the war has been written and rewritten from sundry ideological perspectives. Yet it is also clear that this phenomenon

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is not the sole prerogative of political scientists, historians or military warfare experts; numerous authors have creatively reenacted the war, often minutely chronicling the various offenses and battles. As Chidi Amuta, perhaps the foremost critic of Nigerian Civil War literature, notes, Although the war ended more than a decade ago, one of its most enduring and significant legacies is the numerous literary works it has generated and inspired. Apart from works based directly on the war situation such as Chukwuemeka Ike’s Sunset at Dawn, Okechukwa Mezu’s Behind the Rising Sun, Wole Soyinka’s Madmen and Specialists and A Shuttle in the Crypt, recent works such as Festus Iyayi’s Violence and Femi Osofisan’s Once Upon Four Robbers testify to a still lingering “war consciousness.” The civil war constitutes the most important theme in Nigerian literature (in English) in the 1970s. (83) Despite the abundance of criticism on the war and the “national” literature it inspired, very rarely has the role of women, or women authors, been discussed in this critical discourse. As Abioseh M. Porter notes in “They Were There, Too: Women and the Civil War(s) in Destination Biafra”, it is ironic “that some of the most celebrated attempts to discuss works dealing with the Nigeria-Biafra civil war — one of the predominant themes of modern African literature — have either ignored or underestimated the literary efforts of female writers” (313). If gender is discussed in a literary context, it tends to be in relationship to the female characters found in Chinua Achebe’s Girls at War and Other Stories or Cyprian Ekwenski’s Survive the Peace, seemingly despite the fact that the most celebrated woman writer in Nigeria, Flora Nwapa, has written extensively on the war in Never Again, One is Enough and Women are Different. Even the popularity of Buchi Emecheta and her impassioned Destination Biafra, has not allowed for the growth of a much critical “gendered” discourse. The two noteworthy overviews on the war and gender are Jane Bryce’s “Conflict and Contradiction in Women’s Writing on the Nigerian Civil War” and Marie Umeh’s “The Poetics of Thwarted Sensitivity”. Save for these two overviews on Destination Biafra, Emecheta’s work on the war seems to be largely ignored even by feminist critics. This “oversight” is an unfortunate lacuna because Destination Biafra, perhaps more than any other Anglophone work, attempts to redress the gendered bias of discourse on the war as well as the “gender” of military warfare itself. Much like Salman Rushdie’s Shame, Emecheta’s Destination Biafra is a thinly fictionalised allegory that closely follows the rise and fall of military regimes.

Emecheta calls her writing “masculine”. She feels she has truly entered the masculine territory where she is writing about a subject, which is masculine in nature. She prefaces Destination Biafra with the statement “I am glad this book is published: it is different from my other books; the subject is as they say, “masculine”. Both Njoku’s and Emecheta’s description of the woman in combat is very different from the male narratives. There is no glorification of war. It’s a grim

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , acceptance of reality and an exploration of new possibilities led by the Hausa intellectual Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. It was formed by the conservative Fulani Hausa communities. for women.

The women joined civil defence militia units and in May Oil prospecting in Nigeria started in 1937 with Shell begin1969, formed a Women’s Front and called on the Biafran ning to prospect for oil. In 1956, the first production wells leadership to allow them to enlist in the infantry. Ifi were drilled. The head quarters for Shell BP was located in Owerri for sometime and later shifted to Port Harcourt.

Amadiume who writes corroborates this: The Nigerian independence was in a sense a series of comWomen fed and sustained the economy of Biafra through ‘attack trade’ which involved market trips through enemy promises made by the political parties, their leaders and the front lines. Women mobilised Biafrans for all public occa- British. The colonial rulers were eager to leave this land of sions. Women formed a strong core of the militia, task forces, strife and political unease but they wanted a stake in the counetc., while mothers cooked for and fed the whole Biafran try’s economy. After Independence NPC and NCNC nation. Women became the cohesive force in shifting, dimin- formed a coalition government headed by Tafawa Balewa in ishing people who were slowly losing what they saw as a war 1960. Azikiwe, doubtless reluctantly accepted the ‘gilded cage’ of Governor General. In 1964, the Mid-West with NCNC of survival. (22) The women did not cause the war but they were the worst backing became a separate region under Dennis Osdebay. As victims — suffering rape and torture and seeing their men and time passed, the optimism wore off and an infighting of a sinchildren killed and maimed before their eyes. Nwapa writes ister kind held sway. Corruption was rampant. The members were bribed to cross the floor. The most disturbing feature, in Never Again: … were the old politicians. I did not like them. To my way of think- however, was the growth of Tribalism. This was seen everying they caused the war. And they were now in the forefront again where- in competing for market stalls and gratification in the directing war. The women especially were very active — more active civil services.

By 1964, there was a strong anti Ibo sentiment in Nigeria than the men in fact. They made the uniforms for the soldiers, they as the Ibos were seen to be holding all cooked for the soldiers…10 Echoing Nwapa’s sentiments in L4/019;86P6;86;36&D9.679=& the top jobs in the government.

Never Again, Emecheta writes in the 76?9:68&90/&V47/0&;9.<0@=76&9;& Commenting on the unfortunate ethnic divide of Nigeria, Chinua Achebe introduction to Destination Biafra: “I hope 0<6&>47@&4>&0<6&39:9?&V=7&V<93< writes: we Nigerians in particular and the Black Modern Nigerian History has been race in general will never again allow <=8&0<6&V<4?6&4>&D9.679=&-P marked by sporadic eruptions of anti ourselves to be so used.” (viii) 9;&=7@/&5-03<679;.&0<697& 4V;&5740<67/&=;8&5-7;9;.& Ibo feelings of more or less serious import, but it was not until1966-67 that R,/'P-2/+-*.'O-=-#'[*+ 0<697&4V;&P74P670OK it swept through Northern Nigeria like “a flood of deadly hate that the Ibo first Post independence Nigeria relived its worst nightmare in the form of the civil war which had the questioned the concept of Nigeria which they had embraced whole of Nigeria up in arms butchering their own brothers with much greater fervor than the Yoruba or the Hausa/ and burning their own property. The British granted inde- Fulani. (76) The first coup or the January Boys’ Coup triggered off the pendence to Nigeria on paper but in order to keep their share in the newfound oil wells, they kept up the politics of creat- first round of the Nigerian civil war. The coup was planned ing minority discord. The Nigerians as they were now called, by army officers comprising mostly of Ibos. It was a coup was in reality an ethnic group of multiple clans mainly the which was planned more to bring down than to build. On the Ibos, Yorubas and the Hausas. It was an agglomeration of trib- night of January 14th, 1966, the army boys carried out assasal nations. To ensure one’s constant presence in Nigeria, the sinations in Lagos, Ibadan and Kaduna. After a brief political British chose to keep the division between North and South confusion, Major General Johnson Agui Ironsi took over.

Nigeria intact. The reason was to keep the North in total The coup in Kaduna was led by Major Chukuma Nzeguri, darkness about the developments in South Nigeria which was an Ibo. In his speech after the coup, he enumerated his goals. rich in economic activities and had a major Christian influ- They were idealistic and hoped to succeed by killing all the ence. The three major tribes also backed the three major corrupt men who were in power. In his speech he says: Our enemies are political profiteers, swindlers, the men in high and political parties that were now dominating the Nigerian politics. The first was NCNC (National Council of Nigerian low places that seek bribes and demand ten percents, those that seek to Citizens) which was founded in 1944. This had a major Ibo keep the country permanently divided so that they can remain in the presence; however it was Pan African in orientation. Its first office as ministers and VIPs of waste, the tribalists, the nepotists. (Isichei President was the veteran Lagos Nationalist Herbert 243) The coup was extremely brutal as the Sardauna of Sokoto Macaulay. The second important party was headed by Chief Awolowo, a Yoruba from Ijebu. Awolowo formed a Yoruba was shot along with his wife. Emecheta records these horricultural Association, the Egbe Omu Odudwa. The 3rd was fying details in Destination Biafra. Interestingly, in this coup

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no Ibo leader was killed. To the rest of Nigeria it appeared as if the Ibos orchestrated this coup for a complete take over. On 29 July 1966, in a counter coup, Ironsi and a number of other senior leaders were killed. Most of the traders killed this time were Ibos. Among the rest of the Nigerians, a strange fear of an Ibo takeover seemed to gain ground. Amidst immense political confusion Colonel Yakubu Gowon, a Christian from a Northern minority group took over. For over a month different forms of governance was applied to the beleaguered and battered territory of the so called new Nation. Though an army man, Ironsi had dreamt of a unified Nigeria devoid of petty tribalism. In one of his radio interviews he said: …It has become apparent to all Nigerians that rigid adherence to “regionalism” was the bane of the last regime and one of the main factors which led to its fall…A solution suitable to our national needs must be found. The existing boundaries of government control will need to be readjusted to make for less cumbersome administration. (Biswas 22) After Ironsi’s brutal killing, Gowon tried very hard to stem the infighting within the army. He realised that tribalism was leading to a sense of separatism that spelt disaster. But by then, the damage was done. The Northerners and Southerners were convinced that each was plotting against the other.

Despite Colonel Gowon’s efforts, the army participated in communal massacre. In an effort to avert the disaster, General Ankrah, head of Ghana’s military government persuaded his colleagues to meet at Aburi in 1967. The Aburi meeting was seen to be a huge success as the warring leaders decided to call truce. It made for great international press as the leaders embraced and spoke of a unified Nigeria. In reality it was hogwash, as each leader chose to retain his territorial domain. The military government put forward the proposal that the leg-

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islative and executive powers should be vested in a supreme military council, which would be subject to unanimity among all military governors. The tragedy of Nigeria was that there was no unified leadership. It was clear to most that secessionism would start any moment.

On May 26 , 1967, the East, under the leadership of Ojukwu decided to secede. It declared its independence and the new state was called Biafra. Officially all ties between Biafra and the federal state of Nigeria was dissolved. This paved the way for one of the worst instances of fratricide recorded by history as brothers killed brothers- people who served in the same army earlier were now thirsty for each other’s blood. In this bloodbath that lasted for over one and a half years, the maximum number of people killed was Ibos.

Biafra was a concept kept alive by some dogged believers who felt they would win. The disparity in resources between the Biafrans and the federal soldiers were immense. The Biafrans fought empty handed and on empty stomachs. Their resilience was immense but it was suicidal. Only once did the Biafrans show some signs of winning when they almost occupied Lagos but they were beaten back the very next day. It was evident that the Biafrans had no chance of winning. Ojukwu hoped to hang on and rally for world opinion on his side. Four African countries recognised Biafra-Tanzania, Zambia, Gabon and the Ivory Coast.

At first the Ibo masses rallied around Ojukwu. They were convinced that theirs was a just war and they would win.

Many of them made huge financial sacrifices to keep the war going. The war, however, was going nowhere. The people were dying, children were starving and women were being brutally raped. It’s almost as if all hell had been let loose on

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , the Nigerian soil. More soldiers died of marsama and kwash- central protagonist Debbie is not an Ibo but belongs to a iorkor (starvation) than bullets. For the Biafrans, it was a marginal tribe called the Istekeris. In her foreword she menshow of strength for sure, but it bordered more on foolhar- tions her debt to Wole Soyinka’s The Man Died, which opened her eyes to the sufferings of the non-Ibos. Debbie diness. A British journalist reports: When half starved, bare footed, ragged soldiers, numb with fear, therefore is constructed in the light of a true Nigerian, who speaking glowingly of their ‘Biafra’, when poor peasant boys march does not believe in Tribalism. Destination Biafra is Debbie’s singing to the front-line with five rounds of ammunition a piece, proud- courageous foray into Biafra to bring Momoh’s message to ly totting rifles they have never fired before; and when an illiterate peas- Abosi to request him to surrender and spare the common ant woman who has just seen her second child die of starvation declares masses from the mass slaughter that they were being subjected its spirit to the success of Biafra it is impossible not to accept that the to. However, Debbie’s journey is much more than that. It is masses — the Ibo masses at least — were behind the war. (Isichei 98) this journey which teaches her to be a true Nigerian. Divided Finally on January 15, 1970, the Biafrans made an uncon- by class and education, there is a huge chasm between her and ditional surrender. Ojukwu fled to the Ivory Coast just before the common masses. The war breaks down the class barriers the end. In the next four years, the Ibos tried hard to forget and Debbie finds herself relearning the lessons of her forethe past trauma and rebuilt their present lives. After 4 years, mothers. The sordid journey teaches her to be one with the it was almost as if the war had not happened. However, the common masses. Therefore Destination Biafra is as much deep scars of the unreasonable ethnic warfare had remained about Debbie’s journey inwards as her fantastic travel to meet Abosi, the secessionist leader of Biafra. these wounds were too deep to be done away with.

Destination Biafra is oft critiqued as a flawed novel. The The women’s involvement in the Biafran war is a historical reality. They were involved in wartime administration. characters are not well fleshed out and seem almost stereoSome of them were recruited into the civil militia and also typical. This is not entirely untrue but to judge the novel promoted to official cadres. The women provided all kinds merely on this would not be fair on the effort Emecheta of services- as nurses, as providers of food for the soldiers and makes to understand the mechanisms of war. The first thing she does is to analyse the causes of the some even opted for active combat.

On the economic front, women gB6/09;=094;&]9=>7=A&76376=06/ war. Debbie becomes her spokespersensed an opportunity and seized it.

0<6&<9/047O&4>&0<6&D9.679=; son on several occasions. Alan Grey Food was required for the army and 39:9?&V=7K&)<74-.<&>9309094-/ represents the quintessential double faced White man who makes love to the women took contracts from the 3<=7=3067/&@486?68&4; the daughter of Africa, Debbie, suparmy to become food contractors. /4@6&76=?&3<=7=3067/Z plies arms for the war and is solely Many women who were erstwhile teachers, farmers and typists, took to *@63<60=&>?6/<6/&4-0&0<6 concerned about the oil deals.

Debbie’s slapping Grey and asserting this profession which provided them 76=/4;&>47&0<9/&<69;4-/& herself in the end of the novel might with great financial security. >7=0793986K&F<6&986;09>96/ seem dramatic especially as she With the end of the war came the /4@6&C6O&76=/4;/&>47&0<6 weaves the “African woman” and the oil boom where Nigeria’s income from petroleum skyrocketed. Many .79@&>=06&4>&<67&34-;07O@6;K& “Englishman” into her discourse, yet the message is clear. A new breed of women, due to their proximity with African woman has been born. An army officers made a lot of money during this time. They were called the proverbial “cash education in Oxford has only strengthened her. She truly madams”. Ibo women are resilient. Emecheta records the believes in a united Nigeria free of tribalism and free of class based exploitation. resilience of the women in the face of war.

Destination Biafra recreates the history of the civil war.

Through fictitious characters modeled on some real charac?/()-.*)-".'!-*;+* ters, Emecheta fleshes out the reason for this heinous fratriDestination Biafra is Emecheta’s magnum opus on the civil cide. She identifies some key reasons for the grim fate of her war of Nigeria. During the war she was among the people countrymen. Even as the British are ready to leave the counprotesting against the war at Trafalgar Square in London. try, their concern for the oil wells makes them want to have However, her family in Nigeria suffered terrible casualties. a permanent stake in Nigeria’s economy. As far as the British Her brother walked barefoot on the Benin-Asaba road and are concerned, the only quality they look for in a Nigerian witnessed several brutal killing. Her eight-year-old niece leader is that he should be a puppet in their hands. Fergus and Buchi Emecheta died of starvation and her four year old sis- Alan Grey, the self proclaimed “friends of Africa” voice their ter died two days later. It is difficult for Emecheta to be neu- main concern on the eve of the Nigerian independence: These vast areas are full of oil, which is untouched and still tral about the war. Her book favours the Ibos and mourns the blatant killing of Ibos that happened during this war. needs thorough prospecting. Now we are to hand it over to However, consciously Emecheta tries not to take sides. Her these people, who’ve had all these minerals since Adam and

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I * D B * # & $ F F ( * F had not known what to do with them. Now they are beginning to be aware of their monetary value. And after independence they may sign it all over to the Soviets for all we know6.

In Destination Biafra Emecheta pieces out the events of the war as they unfold. She points out that the Nigeria which the British left is unable to deal with its borrowed political legacy. Moreover, the British do not wish to let go of the governance entirely. Their desire to keep the oil wells under control leads them to nominate the Hausa leader to power. With their little or no knowledge of the tribes, the British presume that the Hausas are in majority and that they are by far the most peaceful of the three major tribes. As the Governor General Mc Donald debates with Sir Fergus, the former Governor General, they ponder on who should be nominated as the first Nigerian Prime Minister.

‘The first President must be someone popular with all the major tribes…’ Mac Donald began. ‘Not necessarily. These people have no real experience of democracy. We shall have to introduce proportional representation. They won’t know it is not practiced in Britain. Three quarters of the people don’t know what voting means, and even after they have voted they still won’t know. It is good for Mallam Nguru to be popular among the Ibos, though I doubt if the Ibos will nominate anybody other than their own Dr. Ozimba. All the same numerically speaking Mallam won’t need the votes, since the Hausas are greater in number than the rest of the country put together, not even counting their women10.

Emecheta does not merely put the blame on the British colonisers, she realises that the corrupt ministers of Nigeria are as much to blame for the sorry state of the country’s economy. Debbie’s father, the foreign minister signs several contracts with the British distilleries making himself richer with the pay-off deals, the money for which is deposited in his Swiss bank account. In his own country, not only does he boast of his riches, he even makes an obscene show of it by making his wife and daughter wear shoes laced with gold.

These leaders amass huge amounts of wealth. They also encourage and abet tribalism to serve their own needs. It was understood that if someone from the tribe won the election, he would be expected to benefit his tribesmen by favouring them over other Nigerians.

As a responsible person in Nigeria, one did not just go into politics to introduce reforms but to get what one could of the national cake and to use part of it to help one’s extended family, the village of one’s origin and if possible one’s own tribe; at least in this way much of one’s ill gotten money got returned to the society.16 The elections for the first set of leaders is therefore more of a mockery than anything else. Instead of discussing serious issues, the campaigns instigate a sinister kind of tribalism.

Grey sat by the mahogany boxed radio listening to the greatest string of gibberish he had ever heard. One candidate claimed that the mother of his opposition member used to sell cocoyam leaves. Another burst into song in the air and, to the accompaniment of talking drums, told his constituents that if they voted for a constituent from a different tribe, they would be selling their soul to the devil.17 Unfortunately, in spite of some pragmatic leaders like

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Ozimba, Ahaji Malniki and such like, the greater part of the election is fought purely on the tribal basis. The depravity of tribalism is seen in the Bakodaya episodes in Northern Nigeria where the Northern or the Hausa candidates get over 400,000 votes while their non-Northern opponents get Bakodaya or no votes at all. In fact an elected Minister was supposed to serve his community first before he made any contribution to the Government.

If a man became an MP it was his duty to see the well being of all the members of his extended family; he must show his wealth by helping this ageing farmer, that clever boy born of poor parents, made sure that his village had the best amenities, the largest buildings and all the paraphernalia of modern living. Of course no government minister was paid enough to be able to afford this, and so as not to lose face they would go behind the scene for their percentage. Some posts carried greater rewards than others. (40) Emecheta also exposes the childlike and asinine war between two Yoruba leaders which triggers off the first set of killing. The men want the power and position not because they wish to serve their nation but because they wish to make as much money as is possible. The fratricide was initiated by the Nigerians themselves as Chief Odusomu and Chief Durosaro vie for each other’s blood not caring about how many human lives are lost in the process.

The paid thugs outside began to shoot into the air and at the sound of the gunfire all the members ran for their lives. The House could not vote at all, to say nothing of voting against Chief Durasaro. Chief Odumosu fumed with rage as he dashed home through the streets inciting his own thugs. The whole town found itself in a mini civil war. Bullets sang in the streets of Ibadan. The police could do little, faced with groups of armed hooligans. Most of them were normally unemployed but had been given large sums of money if they saw the operation through. (49) According to Emecheta, the causes for the war are multifarious. Britain’s interference is just a part of it. The local politicians were entirely to be blamed. She also shows that the first set of killing could not be controlled as there was a very ineffective Prime Minister at the helm of affairs. In his pretence to appear dignified, he failed to take any decision.

Finally, when things get out of hand, Abosi and his band of men decide on eliminating the corrupt ministers. What follows is a spate of mass killing where Debbie’s father, the revered Sardauna and Prime Minister Nguru Kano are killed mercilessly. The army boy’s coup had created yet another problem. No Ibo politician of any significant repute had been killed. To make matters worse provocative graffiti began to appear on the walls mocking the corrupt leaders’ death.

They had not turned many sandy roads when they were confronted with some of the Ibo’s provocative graffiti: a drawing of Dr. Ozimba treading on the crumpled head of the Late Sardauna. Alhaji Malniki was right to be alarmed. If nothing was done to restrain the Southerners then the Hausas would be aroused to a point where a holy war may result, with human blood running down the streets like tropical rain. (69) Soon after the first coup, the army tried to assure people that there was no tribalism in the army. However, that was

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , hardly reassuring as the hatred and mistrust among the tribes continued to escalate. In the second coup, Brigadier Onyemere and his Yoruba host, Oladapo who chose to stand by him were killed. That sounded the death knell to the friendship between the tribes. With the Brigadier’s death, the whole of Nigeria was thrown into the worst confusion ever where people killed each other mindlessly.

With the death of the Brigadier, Nigeria was plunged into the bloodiest carnage ever seen in the whole of Africa. And the greater part of the blood that flowed was Igbo blood. (74) A final effort for peace is made at Abosi, Ghana where Abosi and Momoh embrace before the foreign cameras. But immediately upon return, Saka Momoh divides Nigeria into twelve states. Abosi sees that as a ploy to divide and rule Nigeria as the British had done before him. This spurs him into action and he decides to secede. On the 30th of May 1967 the State of Biafra is declared.

The Ibo leaders could hardly restrain the joy and celebration of people of Eastern Nigeria when the state of Biafra was declared on May 30, three days after the news from Lagos about the division of the country. This was a major move against the first republic of Nigeria. (69) Emecheta’s portrayal of Debbie Ogedemgbe has come under much criticism. She is said to lack the sensitivity and growth which most of Emecheta’s other women protagonists have. In some cases she may seem almost puppet like being used by the author merely for her political propaganda. However, the portrayal of Debbie may have its own flaws; she comes across as the fascinating young woman who might spell the future of Nigeria. It is true that Emecheta casts her more in the garb of the masculine than the feminine. As Debbie dons the army garb, she tries very hard to forget that she is a woman. But unfortunately her womanhood is thrown time and again on her face as she is subjected to rape. In fact her mission, for which she puts her life at stake, is a mockery of everything she stands for. Saka Momoh sends her to Abosi to convince him to give up this madness and join the federal state of Nigeria. But Momoh, like most men see Debbie’s value only in terms of her body. He asks her to use her “feminine charms” to break Abosi’s “icy resolve”. Her having been to Oxford and their families having been friends is said to add weight on her favour. Not only Momoh but also Alan Grey, her lover, can only see her as a woman and not a person even after Debbie has proved herself stronger for the war.

‘Good. Do your woman bit tonight,’ he said. ‘Abosi used to fancy you. I used to see the desire in his eyes when he talked to you in the Governor’s house in Lagos… well, use that part of you to make him do as you say.’ (242) Initially Debbie is drunk with power. Her first foray into the army is rather shameful. She experiences the thrill of forcing the men to listen to her. In her eagerness to succeed she does not realise that the poor Ibo soldiers whom she rounds up die a very painful death. Later, she realises that she has been used

by Saka Momoh and her heart is full of remorse.

No one told me they were going to be killed, though I must admit I enjoyed making the men obey me, Alan. Now they are all dead and

I was the one who arrested them. I put them in a position where they could not lift a finger to defend themselves. And you stand there talking to me about guilt. (87) Then begins Debbie’s travails as she begins her arduous journey across the blazing Nigeria to meet Abosi and give him Saka Momoh’s message. Debbie is reminded again and again that she is a woman. She is forced to pay with her body for having dared to invade a male bastion. She is subjected to brutal gang rape. Rape features as a trope in several of Emecheta’s novels. Whether it is marital rape, or in this case, a gang rape — it is the ultimate insult and humiliation to a woman’s self when she is subjected to it. And then there is the conspiracy of silence where the victim is victimised and punished by the patriarchal society. She becomes the tainted one.

Debbie defies most of these norms. She watches helplessly as her mother is asked to undress. Debbie’s superior education or standing in the society fails to help her, as she is unable to help her mother. However, Mrs. Ogedemgbe, a woman Debbie had always viewed in a poor light fights rape, keeping her dignity intact. When she is asked to undress she says: “What do you want to see eh? You want to compare my nakedness to your mother’s?” (127) She undresses in a dignified fashion and tells the leader to do whatever he wants with her but to spare her daughter.

Debbie, unable to do or say anything cannot help but admire her mother’s courage. When Debbie is raped she tries to keep her mind blank as if to distance herself from the torture she is being subjected to.

She could make out the figure of the leader referred to as Bale on top of her, then she knew I was somebody else, then another person… She felt herself bleeding, though her head was still clear. Pain shot all over her body like arrows. She felt her legs being pulled this way and that, and at times she could hear her mother’s protesting cries. But eventually, amid all the degradation that was being inflicted on her, Debbie lost consciousness. (128) Stella Ogedemgbe wills Debbie to live. There is a conspiracy of silence between the women as Debbie knows she can never ask her mother if she had been raped as well. However, Debbie refuses to bow down to rape. She puts it behind her and moves on. Though she hides her scars well, Debbie knows she can never be “moist and soft” (166) for any man ever again. Something within her had died. When Salihu Lawal rapes her, he does so thinking that he is sleeping with a white man’s woman. Debbie offers no physical resistance.

She shuts her mind. Unable to rouse Debbie, he accuses her of being as dry as his great grandmother. Instead of giving in to him, Debbie uses her status as a rape victim to taunt him.

She hits at the rapist’s masculine pride of wanting to possess a “tainted woman”. (167) ‘Allah will never forgive you now because you tried to violate a woman who has been raped by so many soldiers, a woman who now may be carrying some disease, a woman who has been raped by black Nigerian soldiers. You thought you were going to use a white man’s plaything, as you called me, only to realize that you held in your arms a woman who slept with soldiers.’ (167)

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I * D B * # & $ F F ( * F Debbie’s words have the desired effect. Lawal is taken aback nuns are raped brutally by the soldiers. When the young and as he realises that he is seeing a new breed of women, the like courageous boy Ngbechi is shot by a gung ho trigger-happy he has never seen before. Debbie also debunks the theory that soldier, Debbie and her hapless band of women react violently: Debbie, Dorothy and Uzoma left the children and ran up to the a rape victim can be reintegrated into the society if she gets married. Her mother and Alan Grey both propose marriage soldiers, screaming: ‘go on shoot us, shoot all of us. ‘Debbie did not as a means to reinstate her in the social scenario. Debbie realise what came over her. She jumped on top of the bewildered offideclines Alan’s offer of marriage. She also protests against her cer and began to wrestle with him. She was badly torn and beaten before country’s rape by the White man. Debbie becomes she became too exhausted to cry any more. (161) Though a foolhardy reaction, it shows the women’s strong Emecheta’s spokesperson as she says: Goodbye Alan, I don’t mind your being my male concubine, but protest against this raging madness. Emecheta shows how in Africa will never again stoop to being your wife; to meet you on an equal the Biafran war; it is the poor and the powerless who are targeted. The rich are able to keep their sons away by smuggling basis, like companions, yes, but never again to be your slave. (180) Through Destination Biafra, Emecheta puts the women’s them out of the country like Mrs. Eze and Mrs. Ozimba. The movement on the forefront. The war is fought because of words of a farm-woman echo the sentiments of the comegotistical, high-headed men but the brunt is borne by the moners. At one point of time the common man/woman may women. Emecheta explores the common woman’s contri- have sympathised with Biafra but now he/she realises that bution to the war, thereby setting the historical records they have been cheated and made fools of by those in power.

One woman stepped forward boldly and said “Biafra, Biafra, what straight. The women were not merely spectators; they were actors who were forced to take the centrestage not because is Biafra?” You killed our man from this part, Nwokolo. The Nigerian they wanted to but because they were left without a choice. soldiers came and killed what your soldiers left. We are Ibuza people, On her perilous journey to meet Abosi, Debbie befriends but now we live in the Bush thanks to your Abosi and your Biafra…. a group of women. Under normal circumstances she would Where was your Abosi when our girls were being raped in the marnever have come across these woman vastly removed from ket places and our grandmothers shot? (211) Debbie’s biggest contribution is her wanting to document her through social strata and education but in this moment of extreme suffering they all come together. The women’s the women’s contribution to war. She wants to record the husbands are shot before their eyes B65596A/&59..6/0&34;0795-094;&9/ immense suffering and the indomitable courage of the women. and they are forced to flee along with <67&V=;09;.&04&843-@6;0&0<6 When a woman’s child is shot on her their children. In this fight and flight for survival, a poor mother has to stay V4@6;A/&34;0795-094;&04&V=7K&F<6 back, instead of mourning the child, behind as she is unable to walk, urgV=;0/&04&763478&0<6&9@@6;/6& Dorothy mourns the rape of the old Mother Superior. Debbie wills hering her young ones ahead. Initially the /->>679;.&=;8&0<6&9;84@90=5?6 self to live to be able to record the women are suspicious of Debbie with her foreign accent but soon they form 34-7=.6&4>&0<6&V4@6;K&E<6;&= women and the children’s struggle a struggle ignored by History. a strong bond of mutual support V4@=;A/&3<9?8&9/&/<40&4;&<67 brought together by their immense 5=3CZ&9;/06=8&4>&@4-7;9;.&0<6 Through Debbie, Emecheta writes back into history the saga of the suffering. Debbie realises she has 3<9?8Z&B4740<O&@4-7;/&0<6&7=P6& woman’s contribution to the war. much to learn from these women who 4>&0<6&4?8&Q40<67&F-P67947K Debbie poses the rhetorical question are less educated but have a wealth of “when the history of civil war was worldly wisdom. Mrs. Makado explains the class and sex dimension of warfare to Debbie written, would the part played by her and women like Babs, while Dorothy, the young nursing and starving mother feeds Uzoma and the nuns in Biafra be mentioned at all? (245) baby Biafra, the orphan whose mother dies after giving birth to him. The death of baby Biafra symbolises the death of the O".7#1(-". new land Biafra. This journey sensitises Debbie to the War and Women are not natural allies. Yet in times of war, strengths and sacrifices made by African women from time immemorial. Her back seems to break with pain when she the woman, has, time and again proved her mettle. She is also the worst sufferer. She pays with her body and soul for a sittries to carry one of the orphaned toddlers.

As she walked down the dry road in the heat, with the weight of the uation she has never bargained for. But her indomitable child almost breaking her back, it struck her that African women of her courage and her resilience in the face of severe oppression age carried babies like this all day and still farmed and cooked; all she makes the contribution of the women significant. However, had to do now was walk, yet she was in such pain. What kind of history chooses to ignore her contribution time and again.

Both Nwapa and Emecheta retell the story from the women’s African woman was she indeed? (181) The nuns who foolishly believe that doing God’s work has point of view. While recounting the indomitable courage of made them immune to the debauchery of men help the slow- the women, the one sentiment that both authors echo is why ly dwindling number of women and children. The saintly should there be war? In recreating the war through the

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , women’s eyes, Emecheta is not oblivious to the fact that some women have actually aided the war propaganda. In Never Again, Flora Nwapa reveals the hypocrisy of one such woman. Madam Agfa is one such leader who claims to have lost her husband in the war. However, it is common knowledge that he has died of diabetes. Her exhortations to the people to stay and not flee the Nigerian soldiers are therefore empty rhetoric, which Nwapa produces to comic effect.

Why am I a woman? God you should have made me a man. I would have said to the young men, to the youths whose blood I know is boiling now in their veins, follow me. I’ll lead you. I’ll fight the vandals. They will not be allowed to pollute our fatherland. They will not be allowed to set their ugly feet on the soil of Ugwuta. Never in history, had my grandmothers and great grandfathers told me that Ugwuta had suffered from any aggressor. This will not happen in my lifetime!12 However, when the war situation arises, she is the first one to crack and run. From the numerous factual and historical accounts written about the civil war, especially by those who were in Biafra during the fighting, one could see that women remained consistent with their age old role of providing support services, food and sustenance to the families. It is rather disappointing that most male writers who recreated the events of the war chose to highlight and exaggerate women’s moral laxity forgetting that it was insignificant in comparison with women’s efforts towards winning the war, towards the sur-

vival of the family and towards rearing of children. What makes Nwapa’s and Emecheta’s war writing stand out is their refusal to delineate women in war situation as prostitutes whose personalities are crippled by malignant moral lapses.

Their women characters are independent, assertive and economically active. Neither do they indulge in sensational details of women’s infidelity as seen in Ekwensi’s Survive the Peace and Aniebo’s Anonymity of Sacrifice.

Emecheta subverts male dominance by making Debbie not only an independent and assertive woman but also a soldier.

Writing about the war is therapeutic for Emecheta. In her Foreword to Destination Biafra, she writes: “I have to thank…Mrs. Nwukor for telling me of the Ibuza incidents and the story of her son Boniface and his kettle; my brother Adolphous Emecheta for narrating his journey on foot on the Benin-Asaba road and all the killing he saw; my brother in law Charles Onwordi for accounts of Ibo massacre in Lagos…Yet it is time to forgive but only a fool will forget.” (viii)The written war narratives are a distinct effort on the woman writer’s part to show that “they were there too.” (Amuta 1) Flora Nwapa says in Wives At War, “You wait until the end of this war. There is going to be another war, the war of the women.”13 It is perhaps in the post war writing of the Nigerian women that the implications of those wartime social upheavals become apparent.

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References 1. Achebe, Chinua. ‘African Writer and the English Language.’

Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader. Eds. Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman. NY: Columbia University Press, 1994. 428-34.

2. Girls at War and Other Stories. 2nd ed. London: Heinemann, 1977.

3. Acholonu, Catherine, Western and Indigenous Traditions in Modern Ibo literature. Dusseldorf: University of Dusseldorf,1985 4. Ahmad, Aijaz. In Theory: Classes, Nations and Literatures.

NY: Verso, 1992.

5. ‘The Politics of Literary Postcoloniality’. Race & Class 36.3 (1995): 1-20.

6. Allan, Tuzyline Jita. ‘Trajectories of Rape in Buchi Emecheta’s Novels.’ Emerging Perspectives on Buchi Emecheta. Ed. Marie Umeh. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1996. 207-25.

7. Amuta, Chidi. ‘Literature and the Nigerian Civil War.’ Perspectives on Nigerian Literature: 1700 to the Present. Ed. Yemi Ogunbiyi. Lagos: Guardian, 1988. 85-92.

8. ‘The Nigerian Civil War and the Evolution of Nigerian Literature.’ Contemporary African Literature. Eds. Hal Wylie, Eileen Julien and Russel J. Linnemann. Washington D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1983. 83-93.

9. Amadiume, Ifi Women’s Political history. West Africa. 1984 10. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. NY:Verso 1983

11. Ashcroft Bill, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin, Eds. The Post Colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1995.

12. Benmayor,Rina and Andor Skotnes Ed. Migration And Identity. NY: Oxford UP,1994 13. Bhabha, Homi. The Location of Culture. NY: Routledge,1994 14. Biswas, Chandrani. Women and War. Delhi:Books Plus,1998 15. Bryce, Jane. ‘Conflict and Contradiction in Women’s Writing on the Nigerian Civil War.’ African Languages and Literatures. 4.1 (1991): 29-42.

16. Brennon, Timothy. ‘The National Longing For Form’.

Nation And Narration. Ed. Homi K. Bhabha. NY: Routledge,1990.

17. Bryce, Jane. ‘Conflict and Contradiction in Women’s writing on the Nigerian Civil war.’ African Languages And Cultures. Vol.4 No.1.1991 18. Chatterjee, Partha. Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse? Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1986.

19. Davidson, Basil. The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State. NY: Times Books, 1992.

20. Davies, Carole Boyce. ‘Motherhood in the Works of Male and Female Igbo Writers: Achebe, Emecheta, Nwapa and Nzekwu.’ Ngambika: Studies of Women in African Literature.

Eds. Carole Boyce Davies and Anne Adams Graves. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1990. 241-56.

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Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series and the Launch of African Literature Edited by Chinua Achebe and Photographs by George Hallett; UK; James Currey Publishers Index, 318pp; Paperback; £19.95 17 JUNE 2008 was the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe’s THINGS FALL APART by Heinemann. This publication provided the impetus for the foundation of the African Writers Series in 1962 with Chinua Achebe as the Editorial Adviser. This book not only the story of a publishing enterprise of great significance; it is also a large part of the story of African literature and its dissemination in the latter half of the twentieth century. Includes a complete listing of all the titles published in the series.

Back From Africa

By Corinne Hofmann; Translated from the German by Peter Millar; UK; Arcadia; 173pp; Paperback; £7.99.

NEW IN paperback. The third and last instalment of her incredible saga, Corinne describes her return to Switzerland and the difficulties that faced her there, detailing how she built a new life for herself and her daughter and overcame all obstacles with the same courage and optimism with which she faced the demands of her life in the Kenyan bush.

■ Pictorial View

AN ALTERNATIVE history of the Cold War from the perspective of impoverished Third-World people includes coverage of such topics as the 1927 Brussels conclave of the League Against Imperialism and the launch of the Third World project during the 1955 conference in Indonesia.

Nabulela: A Nguni Folk Tale

By Fiona Moodie, South Africa; Tafelberg; Paperback; £6.95

Banco: Adobe Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta

By Sebastian Schutyser; ITALY; 187pp; Paperback; £29 NEW EDITION. A book of photography revealing a neglected African architectural heritage: village adobe mosques in Mali. Schutyser’s b/w photographs, reproduced for this volume in duotone highlight the artistic fusion of architecture and sculpture belonging both to a living tradition and to modernity. Includes a photographic appendix documenting all the principle adobe mosques of the inner Niger Delta with the name of the villages and geographical coordinates. Text by Jean Dethier, Ruth Eaton and Dorothee Gruner.

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The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World

By Vijay Prashad; USA; New Press; 364pp; Paperback; £11.99

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NEW EDITION. North Nguni folktale from South Africa.

Young village girls are made to defeat a monster that lives nearby.

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+$H$DI&$D&%!L*&)2ED Gangs, Politics and Dignity in Cape Town

By Steffen Jensen; UK; James Currey Publishers; 212pp; Paperback; £16.95 VIVID STUDY of the day-to-day experience of living in a working class neighbourhood on the Cape Flats. It deals with issues of criminality and the search for dignity in a harsh, economically depressed urban landscape. Gangs are the main focus of the study, but gang members are presented on a broader canvas as family members, neighbourhood friends, members of sports clubs, employees. Within this intensely claustrophobic world devout Christians and Muslims, drug dealers, cops, gangsters and welfare workers all rub shoulders.

In Dependence

By Sarah Ladipo Manyika ; UK; Legend Press; 272pp; Paperback; £7.99 IT IS the early ‘60s when a young Tayo Ajayi sails to England from Nigeria to take up a scholar-ship at Oxford University. In this city of dreaming spires, he finds himself among a generation high on visions of a new and better world. The whole world seems ablaze with change: independence at home, the Civil Rights movement and the first tremors of cultural and sexual revolutions. It is then that Tayo meets Vanessa Richardson, the beautiful daughter of an ex-colonial officer. This is Tayo and Vanessa’s story of a brave but bittersweet love affair. It is the story of two people struggling to find themselves and each other.

■ Naked Truth Tears of the Desert

By Halima Bashir; Hodder Headline, U.K.; 370pp; Hardback; £12.99 HALIMA BASHIR was born into the Zaghawa tribe, whose customs have remained unchanged for centuries, in the remote western deserts of Sudan in the region of South Darfur.

Halima’s father named his daughter after the traditional medicine woman of the village, and she grew up in a happy and close-knit childhood environment. Her father became a wealthy man by his tribe’s standards, so he could afford to send Halima to school and university. Halima went on to study medicine, and at twenty-four she returned to her tribe and began practicing as their first ever qualified doctor. But shortly thereafter Janjaweed Arab militias began savagely assaulting the Zaghawa, often with the backing of the Sudan military. At first, Halima tried not to get involved. But in January 2004 the Janjaweed attacked her area, raping 42 schoolgirls and their teachers. Halima treated the traumatized rape victims, some of whom were as young as eight years old, then spoke up about what she had witnessed in Sudanese newspaper and to the UN charities.

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Hazel Soan’s African Water Colours

By Hazel Soan; UK. North-West University; 230pp; Paperback; £12.99 HANDBOOK WHICH presents a variety of landscapes and views, including the vibrant colours of the Namibian desert, the dark reflections of Lake Kariba, and the powerful movement of the Chobe River. Each is designed to highlight a different aspect of landscape painting. Notes are provided on each work along with hints and tips on how to best capture mood, light, movement, and texture in watercolour, making this both an inspiring collection of paintings and an invaluable source of expert instruction.

HETEROSEXUAL AFRICA?

By Marc Epprecht; USA. Ohio U P; 231pp; Paperback; £14.99 BUILDS FROM his previous book, HUNGOCHANI (which focuses explicitly on same-sex desire in southern Africa), to explore the historical processes by which a singular, heterosexual identity for Africa was constructed by anthropologists, ethnopsychologists, colonial officials, African elites, and most recently, health care workers seeking to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Epprecht argues that Africans, just like people all over the world, have always had a range of sexualities and sexual identities. Over the course of the last two centuries, however, African societies south of the Sahara have come to be viewed as singularly heterosexual. Epprecht carefully traces the many routes by which this singularity, this ‘heteronormativity’, became a dominant culture.

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■ Peace Matters !>793=;/&;4V&9;/9/0&4;&P6=36&>47&86:6?4P@6;0 Peace And Conflict In Africa

By David J. Francis; UK; Zed Books; 242pp; Paperback; £18.99 NOWHERE IN the world is the demand for peace more prominent and challenging than in Africa. From state collapse and anarchy in Somalia to protracted wars and rampant corruption in the Congo; from bloody civil wars and extreme poverty in Sierra Leone to humanitarian crisis and authoritarianism in Sudan, the continent is the focus of growing political and media attention. This book presents the first comprehensive overview of conflict and peace across the continent. Bringing together a range of leading academics from Africa and beyond, this is a concise introduction to key themes of conflict resolution, peace-building, security and development, with an emphasis on the importance of indigenous Africa approaches to creating peace.

The Power Of African Cultures

By Toyin Falola, University Of Rochester Press, USA; 368pp; Paperback; £19.99 NEW IN paperback. Focuses on the modern cultures of Africa, from the consequences of the imposition of Western rule to current struggles to define national identity.

■ Democratic Tradition

NEW IN paperback.

Foreign aid is now a $100 billion business and is expanding more rapidly today than it has for a generation. But does it work? Indeed, is it needed at all? Other attempts to answer this important question have been dominated by a focus on the impact of official aid provided by governments.

But today, possibly as much as 30 percent of aid is provided by nongovernmental organisations, and over 10 percent is provided as emergency assistance. In this first-ever attempt to provide an overall assessment of aid, Roger Riddell presents a rigorous but highly readable account of aid, warts and all.

■ Hour of Transition

Liberia: The Violence of Democracy

By Mary H Moran; Pennsylvania University Press; 190pp; USA; Paperback; £15.99 NEW IN paperback. Argues that democracy is not a foreign import into Africa, but that essential aspects of what we in the West consider democratic values are part of the indigenous African traditions of legitimacy and political process. In the case of Liberia, these democratic traditions include institutionalized checks and balances operating at the local level that allow for the voices of structural subordinates (women and younger men) to be heard and be effective in making claims. the violence and state collapse that have beset Liberia and the surrounding region in the past two decades cannot be attributed to ancient tribal hatred or neopatrimonial leaders who are simply a modern version of traditional chiefs. Rather, democracy and violence are intersecting themes in Liberian history that have manifested themselves in numerous contexts over the years.

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Does Foreign Aid Really Work?

By Roger Riddell;UK. Oxford University Press; 536pp; Paperback; £9.99

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East Africa In Transition: Images, Institutions and Identities;

By Judith M. Bahemuka, (Ed.); Kenya; Nairobi University Press; 313pp; Paperback; £24.95 A VOLUME collecting the papers presented at the Second International Symposium on East Africa in Transition held in July 2001. Topics discussed include the importance of indigenous African languages, making institutions work for the poor in Kenya, the transition to democracy, religion and cultural identity and financing of Kenyan universities.

! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , The Rebels’ Hour

By Lieve Joris, Gloss, chrono; Atlantic Books; 300pp; Paperback; £12.99 WHEN ASSANI, a young cowherd, left his remote village in the Congo to pursue studies in the city, he learned that he was ethnically Tutsi.

Though uninterested in politics or military life, he was soon forced to take sides in the bloody conflict rocking his country in the wake of the genocide in neighbouring Rwanda. Strong, clever, and trusting of no one, he became a fearsome rebel leader. With his expanding cadre of child soldiers he traversed the war-ravaged country, repeatedly dodging death at the hands of competing rebel factions in the bush, angry mobs in the capital city of Kinshasa, and even the rebel-turned-dictator Laurent Kabila himself. This account thrusts us into Assani’s world, forcing us to navigate the chaos of a lawless country alongside him, compelled by his instinct to survive even in a place where human life has been stripped of value. Though pathologically evasive, Assani - in Lieve Joris’ brilliant portrait - stands out as a man who is both monstrous and sympathetic, perpetrator and victim.

Behind Every Successful Man

By Zukiswa Wanner; South Africa; Kwela Books; 188pp; Paperback; £12.95 NOBANTU HAS everything a girl could dream of: a brilliant businessman for a husband, two cheeky but adorable children, and two of the best friends a girl could ask for. And yet, on Nobantu’s thirty-fifth birthday, surrounded by glitz, glamour and fame, she realises something important. What has happened to her ambitions?

Her career? What has happened to Nobantu? A funky, witty tale of a mother turned entrepreneur - to the great exasperation of Andile, her husband and BEE tycoon.

■ Human Rights We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures Amnesty International; Frances Lincoln, UK; 64pp; Hardback; £12.99 THE UNIVERSAL Declaration of Human Rights was signed on December 10, 1948. It was compiled after World War Two to declare and protect the rights of all people from all countries. This beautiful collection, published 60 years on, celebrates each declaration with an illustration by an internationally-renowned artist or illustrator and is the perfect gift for children and adults alike. Published in association with Amnesty International, with a foreword by David Tennant and John Boyne. Includes art work contributions from Axel Scheffler, Peter Sis, Satoshi Kitamura, Alan Lee, Polly Dunbar, Jackie Morris, Debi Gliori, Chris Riddell, Catherine and Laurence Anholt.

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Art And Power In The Central African Savanna

By Constantine Petridis; Belgium; Mercatorfonds; 155pp; Hardback; £30

REVEALING THE powers immanent in works that the West long regarded only as exotic or abstract, Constantine Petridis looks beneath the surface of the arts of the Luba, Songye, Chokwe and Luluwa peoples to find, literally embedded in sculpture, the forces that enable the spirit world to intervene in daily life. Ritual use of these objects is expected to ensure a healthy birth, successful hunt, or triumph over an enemy. Analysis of the scholarly record illuminates the changing visions of leadership and prestige that fostered the development of the majestic, elaborate figure styles long prized in the West.

African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: Ten years on and still no justice Edited by George Mukundi Wachira; 36pp, UK; £5.95 HIS REPORT looks at the context of human rights in Africa and describes what has been achieved in establishing the African Court. It also examines the difficulties that currently prevent the African Court and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights working together in a complementary way. and problems regarding the processes giving access to the Court.

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] 2 2 ^ F & G & $ B * ! F Fathers And Daughters: An Anthology of Exploration

By Ato Quayson; UK; Ayebia; 200pp; Paperback; £16.99 ARGUES THAT where Njabulo Ndebele once called for a rediscovery of the familiar, in African Studies events within civic and public spheres have so dominated the field that it has almost been impossible to define the familiar in any other way outside the public sphere. The African family has thus been assimilated to the discourse of the public and the domain of intimacy and privacy has been rendered non-existent. Given the notorious reputation that African men have of being patriarchal and often not paying serious attention to their female offspring, the subject of African men’s attitudes to their daughters has also not had any attention in the field. It has also been a challenge to discover what women think of their African fathers. By combining essays from women about their African fathers and vice -versa, this anthology aims to provide a significant set of insights into the relationship between fathers and daughters, and also explores the gap in the perception of African fatherhood. Contributors include: Abiola Irele, Simon Gikandi, Anthonia Kalu, Harry Garuba, Leila Aboulela, Paul Zeleza, Helon Habila, Abena Busia, Véronique Tadjo, Obiageli Okigbo, Zina SaroWiwa, Ama de-Graft Johnson and Sarah Manyika.

Living Africa

By Steve Bloom; UK; Thames & Hudson; 336pp; Hardback; £35.00 THIS MAGNIFICENT photographic survey is a personal tour through the length and breadth of Africa by one of the world’s leading nature and wildlife photographers. Steve Bloom achieves here a truly breathtaking intimacy not only with the continent’s extraordinary animal life and natural environment but also with its diverse peoples.

His remit is staggeringly comprehensive: landscapes from desert to jungle, wildlife from insect to great game, and, human life from remote tribal village to teeming metropolis. In a series of essays, Bloom combines vivid personal experience with a passionate articulation of the challenges faced by Africa’s peoples and environments in the 21st century.

Married But Available

By Francis B Nyamnjoh; Cameroon; Langaa Rpcig; 376pp; Paperback; Price: £19.95 EXPLORES INTERSECTIONS intersections between sex, money and power, challenging orthodoxies, revealing complexities and providing insights into the politics and economics of relationships. During six months of fieldwork in Mimboland, Lilly Loveless, a Muzungulander doctoral student in Social Geography, researches how sex shapes and is shaped by power and consumerism in Africa. The bulk of her research takes place on the outskirts of the University of Mimbo, an institution where nothing is what it seems.

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Myth of Iron: Shaka in History

By Dan Wylie; UK; James Currey Publishers; 615pp; Paperback; £19.95.

OVER THE decades we have heard a great deal about Shaka, the most famous (or infamous) of Zulu leaders.

It may come as a surprise, therefore, that we do not know when he was born, nor what he looked like, nor precisely when or why he was assassinated. His public image, sometimes monstrous, sometimes heroic, juggernauts on, a ‘myth of iron’ that is so intriguing, so dramatic, so archetypal, and sometimes so politically useful, that few have subjected it to proper scrutiny. This study sets out, as far as possible, all the available evidence (mainly from hitherto under-utilised Zulu oral testimonies, supported by other documentary sources) and decides, item by item, legend by legend, what exactly we can know about Shaka’s reign. The picture that emerges in this researched and absorbing ‘anti-biography’.

Intwasa Poetry

By Jane Morris; Zimbabwe.

Weaver Press; 72pp; Paperback; £12.95 POEMS FROM Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean diaspora. The 15 poets who are brought together in this collection have all read from their work at the Intwasa Arts Festival in Bulawayo. They range from the intensely personal to reflections of social life at this pivotal time in Zimbabwe’s history.

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Twenty Chickens for a saddle: The Story of an African Childhood By Robyn Scott; 464pp; UK;Bloomsbury; Hardback; £14.99

WHEN ROBYN Scott was six years old her parents abruptly exchanged the tranquil pastures of New Zealand for

Long Time Coming: Short Writings from Zimbabwe

By Jane Morris; 154pp, Zimbabwe; AMA Books; Paperback; £14.95 SHORT STORIES and poems from thirty-three writers that provide snapshots of this turbulent period in Zimbabwe’s history. Snapshots of living in a country where basic services have crumbled, where shops have no

a converted cowshed in the wilds of Botswana. There, they set off in the pioneering and unconventional footsteps of Robyn’s eccentric grandfather, who had served as pilot to Seretse Khama, Botswana’s first president.

Their three small children, mostly left to amuse themselves, grew up collecting snakes, canoeing with crocodiles and breaking in horses in the veld.

This is the story of the family’s fifteen years in Botswana, during which Linda Scott haphazardly and singlehandedly home-schooled Robyn, Damien and Lulu, while Keith ran a flying doctor practice and attempted, with erratic success, to adapt to the unique demands of rural clinics and the growing burden of AIDS. Funny and unsentimental, this is an account of a remarkable childhood in which dissecting a snake was the closest Robyn and her brother and sister came to a biology lesson, and children from the cattle posts were their only classmates. food, taps no water, banks no money, hospitals no drugs, bars no beer.

Snapshots of characters surviving against seemingly insurmountable odds, the abuse of power, violence and oppression.

There are lighter moments too: life’s simple pleasures, the coming of the rains and in the wink and the smile of a stranger.

Contributors: Raisedon Baya, Wim Boswinkel, Diana Charsley, Brian Chikwava, Julius Chingono, Mathew Chokuwenga, Bhekilizwe Dube, John Eppel, Peter Finch, Petina Gappah, David Goodwin, Anne Simone Hutton, Monireh Jassat, Ignatius Mabasa, Fungai Rufaro Machirori, Judy Maposa, Deon Marcus, Christopher Mlalazi, Gothataone Moeng, Wame Molefhe, Linda Msebele, Mzana Mthimkhulu, Peter Ncube, Thabisani Ndlovu, Pathisa Nyathi, Andrew Pocock, John S. Read, Bryony Rheam, Lloyd Robson, Ian Rowlands, Owen Sheers, Chaltone Tshabangu and Sandisile Tshuma.

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The Camel Bookmobile

By Masha Hamilton; 336pp; UK. Phoenix; £6.99 ONCE A fortnight, the nomadic settlement of Madidima, set deep in the dusty Kenyan desert, awaits the arrival of three camels laden down with panniers of books. This is the Camel Bookmobile, a scheme set up to bring books to scattered peoples whose daily life is dominated by drought, famine and disease. Into their world comes an unexpected wealth of literature — from the adventures of Tom Sawyer to strange vegetarian cookbooks and Dr Seuss.

All Things Must Fight To Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo

By Bryan Mealer; 320pp; UK; Bloomsbury; Hardback; £18.99 AMIDST BURNT-OUT battlefields where armies still wrestle for control, into the dark corners of the forests, and along the high savannah, where thousands have been slaughtered and quickly forgotten, Mealer searches for signs that Africa’s most troubled state will soon rise from ruin. At once illuminating and startling, this is a searing portrait of an emerging country facing unimaginable upheaval and almost impossible odds.

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B 2 % ( Q * D ) F Delhi Summit Declaration (Third Summit of the IndiaBrazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum): 15/10/2008

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he Prime Minister of India, H.E. Dr Manmohan Singh, the President of Brazil, H.E. Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the President of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe (thereafter referred as “the leaders”) met in New Delhi, India, on October 15, 2008, for the third Summit of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum.

The leaders of Brazil and South Africa expressed appreciation to H.E Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Government and people of the Republic of India for the warm reception and for hosting this Summit.

The leaders expressed their deep satisfaction with the progress on the consolidation of the IBSA Dialogue Forum in the five years since its inception in 2003 and their gratitude to the sterling contribution of former President T.M. Mbeki of the Republic of South Africa in the formation and consolidation of IBSA and SouthSouth cooperation in general. They reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the trilateral cooperation and reaffirmed that the Forum is an important mechanism for closer coordination on global issues, for promoting the interests of developing countries, enhancing cooperation in sectoral areas and improving their economic ties.

The leaders of Brazil and South Africa noted with regret the recent bomb blasts in India that resulted in the loss of innocent lives, damage to property and offered condolences to the government and the people of India.

They joined the international community in condemning these acts of brutality and committed to strengthen mechanisms aimed at ending terrorism.

The leaders expressed satisfaction with the developing participation of civil society in its activities. They acknowledged with appreciation the involvement and participation by academicians, business leaders, editors and women in their respective forums. They welcomed the holding of IBSA Cultural Festival and the first Food Festival in New Delhi.

I#"M*#'-((1/( Global governance: The leaders reiterated the need to make the structures of global governance more democratic, representative and legitimate by increasing the participation of developing countries in the decision-making bodies of multilateral institutions.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): The United Nations (UN) High level Event on MDGs held on September 25, 2008 has helped focus the world’s

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attention on the urgent need to accelerate work towards achieving the MDGs. The leaders recognised that invigorated global efforts are required for developing countries to achieve the MDGs. The leaders reiterated their support to the efforts towards the achievement of the MDGs and expressed their concern at the fact that the assistance for development is currently insufficient. In this context they called upon the developed countries to fulfill their commitments in the global partnership on increased financial flows to developing countries, including increasing Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.7 percent of their GNI, and on transfer of technology and capacity building.

The leaders recognised the importance of and instructed their officials to explore new models of cooperation for development and the substantive role of innovative finance mechanisms, complementary to the ODA, in order to support the efforts made to the fulfillment of the MDGs, to the fight against hunger and poverty and to sustainable development.

The leaders reaffirmed their determination to work together and coordinate their positions at the “Financing for Development” Monterrey Review conference that will take place in Doha, Qatar, in November 2008.

South-South Cooperation: The leaders underscored the importance and relevance of South-South Cooperation in an uncertain international environment contributed to by factors such as rising food and energy costs, climate change and financial uncertainty, which made it all the more imperative to strengthen the collective voice of the South, in order to assist in its development efforts.

The leaders noted with satisfaction that the dynamism of the South is driving growth today with a substantial part of global GDP growth and trade being on account of countries of the South and intra-South trade. They pledged to promote these mutually beneficial trends through enhanced linkages such as trade, investment and technology transfer including trade agreements of bilateral or multilateral nature such as the Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP).

They reiterated that South-South Cooperation cannot replace commitments by developed countries but is only a complement to North-South Cooperation. In this context, they welcomed the convening of the High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation to be held in 2009.

Sustainable Development: The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable development and the eradication of poverty and hunger. They noted with appreciation that Brazil intends to host a meeting in 2012 to mark twenty years of Rio and in this context called upon the international community to support this initiative and to vigorously enhance the implementation of the

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Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh with President of Brazil Lula da Silva and President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe, at the Third Summit of the India, Brazil & South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum, in New Delhi on October 15.

principles and goals in the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation in an effort to work towards a sustainable agenda.

UN Reforms: The leaders reaffirmed their continued support for the reform of the United Nations to make it more democratic and responsive to the priorities of its Member States, particularly those of developing countries that constitute the vast majority of its membership. They expressed their full support for a genuine reform of the Security Council, with expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, with greater representation for developing countries in both, to ensure that its composition reflects contemporary realities. They also emphasised that inter-governmental negotiations on the issue of Security Council reform should commence expeditiously and welcomed, in this regard, the General Assemblyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Decision of September 15, 2008, which determined that negotiations shall begin no later than February 28, 2009, in an informal Plenary of the General Assembly.

They agreed to further strengthen cooperation amongst their countries and with other member states interested in a genuine reform of the Security Council.

Climate Change: The leaders underscored the importance for urgent action on climate change. The ongoing negotiations needed to move at an invigorated pace

for long-term cooperative action in accordance with the provisions and principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), especially the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and the critical priority of sustainable development for developing countries. They highlighted the imperative of priority action with vastly scaled up resource allocation for adaptation in developing countries given their vulnerabilities and low capacities to cope.

An equitable burden sharing paradigm for equal sustainable development potential for all citizens of the world that takes into account historical responsibilities must guide the negotiations on a shared vision on longterm cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions reductions.

Given their overwhelming contribution to the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere and continuing high levels of GHG emissions, developed countries must take quantified time bound targets and deliver truly ambitious and absolute greenhouse gas emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol after 2012 with comparability of efforts among them. Moreover, developed countries have to put in place policies and measures that promote sustainable consumption patterns and lifestyles.

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B 2 % ( Q * D ) F Developed countries should also make clear commitments under the UNFCCC for significant financing to support both mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. New and innovative financial mechanisms must mobilise additional resources beyond the flexibility mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol and other instruments of the carbon market, without diverting national or multilateral and ODA resources from the imperatives of development and poverty alleviation.

The leaders stressed that as developing countries pursue sustainable development, they are committed to taking nationally appropriate actions to address climate change. Their capacities for such actions need to be greatly enhanced through financing, technology and capacity building support.

Technology and transfer of advance clean technologies to developing countries has the potential to be a critical transformation agent in addressing climate change. The leaders called upon the international community to actively promote technology innovation and development and its transfer and deployment in developing countries.

The intellectual property rights regime must also move in a direction that balances rewards for innovators and the global public good.

Bio-diversity: The leaders stressed the importance of a timely and successful conclusion of the ongoing negotiations of a legally binding international regime on access to genetic resources and sharing of the benefits derived from their use and from associated traditional knowledge (Access Benefit Sharing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ABS). In this regard, the leaders reaffirmed the urgent need for an adequate legal framework at the international level to prevent biopiracy, ensure that national rules and regulations on ABS are fully respected across borders and recognise the value of biological resources and of traditional knowledge as an additional tool to promote sustainable development. They recognised the positive role of the IBSA Forum in enhancing the coordination within the Group of Like Minded Megadiverse Countries, of which the three countries are members, in the context of ABS negotiations.

Human Rights: Noting that 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the leaders reiterated their commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. They expressed satisfaction at the progress in the development of the institutional framework of the Human Rights Council (HRC) including the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism and emphasised that the work of the HRC should be free from politicisation, double standards and selectivity and should promote international cooperation.

The leaders underscored the importance of promoting cooperation on Human Rights with a view to exchanging information on national policies and initiatives, which could translate into dialogue and mutual benefit in the field of Human Rights promotion and protection.

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Intellectual Property: The leaders agreed on the need for establishing trilateral cooperation in the field of intellectual property rights with the aim of promoting a balanced international intellectual property regime and to make a meaningful contribution to the economic and social progress of developing countries, ensuring access to knowledge, health care and culture. Moreover, they agreed that the countries should hold consultations on a regular basis on the evolution of the international agenda.

Gender: The leaders called on the international community to reaffirm its commitment to gender parity and to identify concrete and action-oriented steps to advance the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and the outcomes of the 23rd Special Session of the UN General Assembly of 2005.

Disarmament and Non-Proliferation: The leaders reiterated their commitment to the goal of the complete elimination of nuclear weapons and expressed concern over the lack of progress in the realisation of this goal.

They emphasised that nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation are mutually reinforcing processes requiring continuous, irreversible progress on both fronts, and reaffirmed, in this regard, that the objective of non-proliferation would be best served by the systematic and progressive elimination of nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable manner. They further emphasised the necessity to start negotiations on a phased programme for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons with a specified framework of time to eliminate nuclear weapons, to prohibit their development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer, use or threat of use, and to provide for their destruction. The leaders discussed the threat posed by non-state actors or terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons or their related materials and technologies. They reaffirmed their commitment to contribute to multilateral efforts to counter such threats and promote co-operation in this regard.

Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy: The leaders underlined the importance of ensuring the supply of safe, sustainable and non-polluting sources of energy to meet the rising global demand for energy, particularly in developing countries. The leaders further agreed that international civilian nuclear co-operation, under appropriate IAEA safeguards, amongst countries committed to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation objectives, and could be enhanced through acceptable forward-looking approaches, consistent with their respective national and international obligations. In this context, they welcomed the consensus decision of the IAEA Board of Governors to approve the India Specific Safeguards Agreement and the decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group to adjust its guidelines to enable full civil nuclear cooperation between India and the international community. They also reiterated the importance of ensuring that any mul-

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , tilateral decisions related to the nuclear fuel cycle do not undermine the inalienable right of States to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in conformity with their international legal obligations.

Terrorism: The leaders reaffirmed that terrorism presents a grave threat to international peace and security.

They strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. They stressed that there can be no justification, whatsoever, for terrorist acts. They emphasised the need for a comprehensive and cooperative approach to eradicate terrorism. In this regard, they called for an early conclusion of negotiations leading to expeditious adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).

Doha Development Round & International Trade: The leaders acknowledged that while substantial progress was made during the informal ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in July this year, the final modalities in agriculture and NAMA could not be achieved. They agreed that there must be a concerted effort by all member countries to take the process forward towards a successful conclusion of the Round.

They emphasised the importance of concluding the Round to achieve its development objectives, which had assumed even greater significance in the wake of the global financial and food crises.

The leaders welcomed the resumption of the multilateral process in the WTO and expressed the hope that this would lead to the early finalisation of modalities in agriculture and NAMA. They also expressed the hope that multilateral discussions would resume in other areas of the negotiations as well, particularly issues of concern to developing countries.

The leaders reiterated the importance of the development objectives of the Doha Round and observed that many of the issues, which either remained unresolved or could not be addressed at all during the July informal ministerial engagement, were issues critical to developing countries. They called upon developed country members to demonstrate greater flexibility to address the development concerns, so that members could collectively achieve a positive and development oriented outcome in the Doha Round.

With reference to paragraph 8 of the Somerset West Ministerial CommuniquĂŠ, South Africa, May 11, 2008, the leaders reaffirmed the importance of granting support to the goal of/the envisaged MERCOSUR-SACU-India Trilateral Trade Arrangement (TTA) at the highest political level. In this regard, they welcomed the proposal of a MERCOSUR-SACU-India trilateral ministerial meeting in order to promote high level discussions on the topic. Furthermore, they greeted with satisfaction the significant progress made on the regional preferential agreements between MERCOSUR-SACU, MERCOSUR-India and SACU-India towards a trilateral MER-

COSUR-SACU-India TTA. International Financial Crisis: The leaders took note of the very serious financial crisis that has spread from the United States to the European Union and has begun to impact developing countries. This unprecedented turbulence in financial markets and the resulting instability threatens global prosperity. The explosion of new financial instruments, unaccompanied by credible and systemic regulation, has resulted amongst others in a major crisis of confidence for which those responsible should be held accountable and liable. Developing countries are not immune from this and many would be very seriously affected. The leaders, therefore, stressed the need for a new international initiative to bring about structural reforms in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial system. The new initiative must take into account the fact that ethics must also apply to the economy; that the crisis would not be overcome with palliative measures and that the solutions adopted must be global and ensure the full participation of developing countries. The reform must be undertaken so as to incorporate stronger systems of multinational consultations and surveillance as an integral part. This new system must be designed to be as inclusive as possible and must be transparent.

Energy: The leaders recognised that energy resources are a vital input upon which the socio-economic development of nation states rests. The recent price volatility of crude oil has posed a challenge to the economic growth and stability of emerging and developing economies.

Increasingly, energy markets have become susceptible to political considerations, driving energy security concerns into strategic and foreign policy agendas. They agreed to collaborate in diverse policy and technology areas to strengthen energy security in the three countries. They also look forward to working towards the diversification of energy baskets for a larger share of renewable, alternate and clean energy. Towards these common aims, IBSA will deepen regular exchanges, to further knowledge and know-how in the areas of biofuels, nuclear, hydro, wind and solar energy. They recognised that fossil fuels continue to be a primary source of energy supply and any reduction of emissions would be considered within the framework of the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol. They also encouraged the sharing of best practices in energy conservation and efficiency.

Renewables have come to the centre-stage in the recent times from the perspective of sustainable development, energy security and climate change. While the developing countries are pursuing this mostly to address the needs of sustainable development and energy security, the developed countries have a responsibility in the deployment of renewables for their mandated GHG reduction under their commitments within the Kyoto Protocol. The leaders recognised the need of a concerted effort for jointly developing renewable energy tech-

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B 2 % ( Q * D ) F nologies with the developed countries for the overall ben- expressed their support for the African Union’s Peace efit of the mankind. Taking into account the principle of and Security Council position, which amongst others, common but differentiated responsibilities, they also expressed the AU’s conviction that in view of the delicate called upon the developed countries to consider innova- nature of the processes underway in the Sudan, the prostive modalities in the field of intellectual property so as ecution could undermine the ongoing efforts aimed at to facilitate the access to such technologies by develop- facilitating the early resolution of the conflict in Darfur and the promotion of long-lasting peace and developing countries.

Food Security: Food and nutritional security is criti- ment in the Sudan as a whole.

The leaders expressed concern on the situation in the cal for developing countries. The rise in global food prices has added a new and huge challenge to the fight Sudan and urged all parties involved to work and comagainst poverty and hunger, which can lead to the roll- mit to a speedy resolution of the serious humanitarian sitback of hard-won development gains in several develop- uation in Darfur, the implementation of the ing countries. It is imperative that the international com- Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and stopping attacks munity act resolutely and with urgency to vastly improve on UN personnel, in accordance with the commitment ways and means of producing and distributing food. This made by the government of the Sudan and the resolutions includes stepped up international collaboration to of the UN and the AU. Zimbabwe: The leaders congratulated the people of increase agricultural productivity and sharing the intellectual property of the research with developing countries Zimbabwe for their agreement reached on September 11, in a manner that takes care of the greater good of 2008 in Harare on a government of national unity. They also humankind. There is also need for increased emergency paid tribute to former President T.M. Mbeki for his tireless aid and significant reduction in the very large trade-dis- mediation efforts on behalf of the Southern African torting support in developed countries. While welcom- Development Community and the AU. They also urged the ing the declaration of the High level Conference on parties to the agreement to fully implement it.

Afghanistan: The leaders reaffirmed their long-term World Food Security convened by FAO in Rome in June commitment to a democrat2008, the leaders urged ic, pluralistic and stable countries to deliver on the $0&9/&9@P67=09:6&0<=0&0<6& Afghanistan.

They commitments made to proexpressed concern at the vide funding to address 9;067;=094;=?&34@@-;90O&=30& continuing deterioration of issues of food security.

76/4?-06?O&=;8&V90<&-7.6;3O&04& the military and political sit:=/0?O&9@P74:6&V=O/&=;8&@6=;/& uation in Afghanistan due to 08I<SP:V'<66C86 4>&P748-39;.&=;8&89/0795-09;.&>448K a determined and coordinated resurgence of the Nepad: The leaders reit)<9/&9;3?-86/&/06PP68&-P& Taliban and Al Qaeda, the erated their firm support to 9;067;=094;=?&34??=547=094;&04 growth in cross-border terthe New Partnership for 9;376=/6&=.793-?0-7=?&P748-309:90O rorism, its links with interAfrica’s Development =;8&/<=79;.&0<6&9;06??630-=?& national terrorism, and the (Nepad) as the key African consequential danger these Union (AU) socio-ecoP74P670O&4>&0<6&76/6=73<& developments pose to the nomic programme for V90<&86:6?4P9;.&34-;0796/& gains made in the recent Africa. Recognising the cen9;&=&@=;;67&0<=0&0=C6/&3=76& past. They condemned the tral role of infrastructural terrorist attack on the development in growth and 4>&0<6&.76=067&.448& Indian Embassy in Kabul on development of Africa, they 4>&<-@=;C9;8K& July 7, 2008 and also the re-affirmed their continued continued attacks on aid support of the programme and agreed that further cooperation should continue to workers, civilians, Afghan and international forces by the focus on Nepad’s identified priorities in this regard in Taliban and other insurgent groups. They reiterated, in such sectors as ICT, energy, water and sanitation and this context, that a coherent and a united international commitment, both in its developmental and security/miltransport.

Sudan: The leaders noted that the July 14, 2008 for- itary aspects, remained of paramount importance and mal application for a Warrant of Arrest under Article 58 agreed to continue to cooperate and coordinate their of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court efforts to impart greater strength to this process. They against the President of the Republic of the Sudan is a underlined the centrality of the regional aspect in the cause for concern for Africa. In this regard, IBSA coun- reconstruction and development process in Afghanistan.

Iraq: The leaders took note of the developments in the tries as members of the global South community

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , security environment in Iraq in 2008 and emphasised the the activities under sectoral cooperation and while need for the return of peace and stability in Iraq, which are acknowledging the meetings of the Working Groups and essential for its development and prosperity. A peaceful, concurring with their reports, expressed satisfaction on united and stable Iraq requires a democratic and inclusive the progress made. The leaders welcomed the signing of polity. The UN together with the international communi- (i) Tripartitite Agreement on Tourism, (ii) MoU on ty has an important role to play in this regard. They reiter- Trade Facilitation for Standards, Technical Regulations ated support to Iraq for its efforts at reconstruction and and Conformity Assessment, (iii) MoU on Environment, development and its process of nation building and nation- (iv) MoU on Human Settlements Development, (v) Five Year Action Plan for Maritime Transport, (vi) Five Year al reconciliation.

Lebanon: The leaders welcomed the establishment of Action Plan for Civil Aviation, and (vii) MoU on a Government of National Unity in Lebanon and the Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Development and Gender Equality approval of the new electoral law. They also expressed Programmes, to enhance cooperation in these sectors. confidence that the consolidation of the national dialogue They urged time-bound and concrete deliverables, in all will contribute to the further strengthening of the demo- the sectors.

The leaders noted with satisfaction progress made by cratic institutions in Lebanon in accordance with UNSC the various Working Groups since the last IBSA Summit.

Resolutions 1559 and 1701.

The Middle East Peace Process: The leaders under- They welcomed that Working Groups on Agriculture, lined that the conflict between Israel and Palestine Climate Change and Environment, Culture, Defence, remains essentially political in nature and cannot be Education, Energy, Health, Human Settlement Information Society, Public resolved by force. In this regard, they condemned the Development, use of violence, particularly against innocent civilians and Administration, Revenue Administration, Science & urged further easing of restrictions at check-points and Technology, Social Issues, Tourism, Trade & Investment road-blocks on humanitarian grounds. They reiterated and Transport had met and finalised their reports regardtheir support for a negotiated solution resulting in a ing trilateral cooperation, with many of them agreeing on sovereign, independent, viable and united State of Action Plans. The leaders noted with satisfaction the IBSA diplomatic Palestine living, within secured academies have also met and recognised boundaries at )<6&?6=867/&76:96V68&=;8& peace with Israel, in accor=3C;4V?68.68&0<6&@6609;./&4>&0<6 in New Delhi in September 2008. The dance with UN Resolutions E47C9;.&I74-P/&=;8&34;3-7768 leaders also took note of 242, 338, 1397 and 1515. In this context, the leaders V90<&0<697&76P470/K&)<6O&V6?34@68 and instructed that work recalled the decision to donate 0<6&079P=7090906&P=30&4;&04-79/@Z&0<6 that had begun on the drawing-up of Social $1 million per year, from the Q4(&4;&)7=86&"=39?90=094;&>47 Development Strategy IBSA Fund, over three years.

In this regard, they welcomed F0=;8=78/Z&)63<;93=?&#6.-?=094;/ for IBSA and the future of agricultural cooperathe project for the construction =;8&%4;>47@90O&!//6//@6;0Z& of a sports complex in =;8&0<6&P=30/&4;&6;:974;@6;0&=;8 tion in IBSA should be pursued in a meaningful Ramallah. h-@=;&F600?6@6;0/&B6:6?4P@6;0K manner so that these IBSA Facility Fund for )<6O&=?/4&<=9?68&0<6&=3094;&P?=;/ could be finalised in time Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger: The leaders recom87=V;&-P&>47&@=7909@6&07=;/P470Z for the 4th IBSA Summit. mitted themselves to assist 39:9?&=:9=094;Z&=;8&0<6&Q4(&4; The leaders expressed developing countries in the fight V4@6;A/&86:6?4P@6;0K satisfaction that IBSA against poverty and hunger.

Ministers of Health as They reiterated that the Fund well as Science & constitutes a pioneer and unique initiative to enhance South-South Cooperation for the ben- Technology had met since the 2nd IBSA Summit.

Fourth IBSA Summit: The leaders of India and South efit of the neediest of nations of the South. The leaders reviewed the modalities of the disbursement of IBSA Trust Africa welcomed the offer of Brazil to host the fourth IBSA Fund as well as the criteria for Project proposals and con- Summit in Brazil on October 8, 2009.

Diwali: In the month of October, India marks the celecurred with the new programme guidelines. In this context, the leaders welcomed with satisfaction the projects in bration of various festivities and auspicious days, including Burundi, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Laos and Diwali (the celebration of light). The leaders of Brazil and South Africa wished the Government and the people of Palestine.

IBSA Sectoral Cooperation: The leaders reviewed India well during these celebrations.

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B 2 % ( Q * D ) F External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s remarks at the Inaugural Session of 2nd IBSA Editors’ Forum: 13/10/2008 t is my pleasure to formally inaugurate the Second IBSA Editors Forum this morning in New Delhi, on the eve of the Third IBSA Summit. I warmly welcome the distinguished opinion makers from Brazil, South Africa and India. As fellow democracies, we all understand and commend, the critical role being played by the media in shaping public opinion. That is precisely why this forum is so important. While IBSA since its inception in 2003, has already gained a lot of traction, yet the potential is still to attained and the marked information gap is still to be bridged, which can only be done with the media leading from the front.

I would at the outset like to commend the Centre for Policy Research, under Dr. Mehta’s stewardship for crafting such an imaginative and pertinent agenda for the twoday forum. We IBSA nations, collectively and individually, are grappling with issues like capacity building; New Architecture of Global Governance including UN reforms; Breaking Global Deadlocks on Trade, Climate Change and Energy matters; managing the unfolding global economic crisis — to name just a few.

I am pleased to note that IBSA nations have a similarity of approach on many global issues, including UNSC reforms, the future of multilateralism, South-South Cooperation and multilateral trade negotiations. This has led to fruitful cooperation at various forums such as the UN, IAEA, WTO, G-77, G-20 and G-8 plus five outreach nations. India greatly appreciates the strong proactive support of Brazil and South Africa to the proposal to enable full civil nuclear cooperation with India at the IAEA and the NSG meetings, which enabled India to get the historic waiver from the NSG. IBSA countries have taken rapid strides in building on synergies and forging trilateral linkages, in a number of key areas including health, agriculture, education, transport, energy, science & technology and IT. To cite just one example Brazil agreed to share with India and South Africa, on a preferential basis, its technologies and expertise in ethanol and other bio-fuels. India offered to share expertise in wind resource. South Africa too has world-class technologies in the synthetic fuels industry from which the other two countries can benefit. Our cooperation is a Win Win proposition benefiting our nations, as well as, fellow

developing countries.

Economic and commercial relations among IBSA nations are flourishing. We have established a target of $15 billion in intra-IBSA trade by 2010.

Investments in all three directions are on the upswing. IBSA is now recognised as a grouping with enormous potential for political, economic and peopleto-people cooperation. Not only our people but also the international community looks at IBSA with admiration, which has demonstrated that geographical distance is no hindrance in forging cooperative ties when there is a will, similarity of outlook and common-

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ality of aspirations.

Brazil, South Africa and India have together charted out an ambitious road map for the future and are taking purposeful strides towards attaining the targets, as well as, establishing new benchmarks. I am certain that this forum will yield fruitful ideas. Your recommendations will provide valuable inputs for the deliberations of the IBSA summit, which will be held on the 15th. I wish all success to the Second Editors Forum and hope you have a pleasant experience in India.

Address by Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs Sharma at the High Level Meeting on Africa’s Development Needs, United Nations, New York, September 22, 2008

I

ndia and Africa have a unique and special bond based on shared experiences and civilisational links.

Over centuries, vibrant cultural and economic exchanges have marked the relations between India and Africa which were interrupted by colonisation.

Decolonisation and emergence of free countries in Asia and Africa restored this engagement, bringing India and Africa together to address the challenges of social and economic development and poverty eradication.

We have a long-standing, close and multi-layered relationship with Africa based on our abiding commitment to work with the continent to fulfill its aspirations. Our partnership encompasses priority sectors integral to the developmental goals of Africa in the 21st century. A vibrant India and a resurgent Africa are witnessing an intensification of relations and growing convergence of interests in their common quest for sustainable economic growth and development.

India has always been committed to elevate its special engagement with Africa into an enduring partnership by

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , developing an institutional mechanism for India-Africa eration. Over 15,000 African students are currently studydialogue. The first-ever India Africa Partnership Forum ing in Indian universities and colleges. India will over the Summit held in New Delhi in April 2008 was convened next five to six years, undertake, on a grant basis, projects in partnership with the African Union. It is the African in critical areas focusing on education, science, IT, agriUnion which worked with us in choosing the participants culture and renewable energy.

India has offered a substantially higher number of trainand in defining the roadmap of Africa-India cooperation in accordance with Africa’s priorities. The Delhi ing slots and has also doubled long-term scholarships. We Declaration and the Africa-India Framework for have allocated half a billion dollars for this purpose.

The pan-African e-network project is a shining examCooperation adopted at the Summit highlight our shared political vision and world view and provide a solid foun- ple of India-Africa partnership. India has gifted a dedicatdation for a systematic and stepped-up engagement in the ed satellite for e-connectivity in sub Saharan Africa to help bridge the digital divide. This project is fully financed by years to come.

The vision of the Delhi Declaration is based on equali- the Government of India and was launched from Addis ty and mutual respect. The Framework of Cooperation, Ababa with a satellite hub in Dakar. It is linking major adopted at the Summit, outlines the priority areas of our universities in different regions of Africa with major Indian future engagement. These are in line with the priorities of universities and centres of excellence in India and major the continent and include capacity-building, agriculture, hospitals in Africa with super-specialty hospitals in India. infrastructure development, health and food security and Thirty countries have already joined this Project to provide technology cooperation. Our Prime Minister also quality tele-education and tele-medicine.

We feel that the time has come when our age old politannounced the enhancement of the available concessional Lines of Credit for Africa to $5 billion. India sincerely ical ties will mature into a vibrant economic partnership. aspires for a long-term partnership with Africa and is India’s ‘Focus Africa’ policy, launched in 2002, which tartherefore investing in building economic infrastructure geted seven countries, has yielded visible results. Our bilateral trade with Africa has grown manifold and reached a including railways, IT, telecom and power.

India has made a unilateral announcement of duty free level of $31 billion in 2006-07 up from $3 billion in 2000and quota free market access to goods from 34 Least 01 and is expected to reach a level of $35 billion in the curDeveloped Countries in Africa. This will spur economic rent year. The Indian private sector’s initiative and investactivity in manufacturing, particularly for African SMEs, ments in Africa in core sectors, in particular in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, IT and by allowing them enhanced market access to one of the )<6&:9/94;&4>&0<6&B6?<9&B63?=7=094; health, complement India’s commitment. Through this, it fastest-growing economies in the world. At the India Africa 9/&5=/68&4;&6Y-=?90O&=;8&@-0-=? is enabling and empowering 76/P630K&)<6&"7=@6V47C&4> young local men and women Partnership Forum Summit, in Africa.

India and Africa also decided %44P67=094;Z&=84P068&=0&0<6 a matter of satisfaction to work together on pressing F-@@90Z&4-0?9;6/&0<6&P79479096/&4> thatIt ismany countries in Africa global issues of shared interests and concerns. These 4-7&>-0-76&6;.=.6@6;0K&)<6/6&=76 have been registering robust include climate change, WTO 9;&?9;6&V90<&0<6&P79479096/&4>&0<6 economic growth. There is greater stability and democraissues, reform and democrati34;09;6;0&=;8&9;3?-86& cy has taken firm roots. The sation of international institu3=P=390O15-9?89;.Z&=.793-?0-76Z endeavours of the AU tions, the fight against terror9;>7=/07-30-76&86:6?4P@6;0Z towards the regional economism, combating diseases, eradic integration and for building ication of hunger and poverty <6=?0<&=;8&>448&/63-790O& Pan-African institutions are and promotion of pluralism =;8&063<;4?4.O&344P67=094;K truly commendable. While and democracy. supporting the efforts of For many decades, capacity building in human resource development in Africa has African countries to meet the Millennium Development been an area of priority. In 1964, India launched the Indian Goals, it is an imperative that the industrialised countries Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) honour the commitments already made to transfer better Programme. It was at a time when we ourselves were faced resources and technology.

I would like to conclude, distinguished co-chairs, by with acute scarcity of resources and colossal economic challenges. The ITEC programme has benefited thou- reiterating India’s commitment to continue to work closesands of students from Africa who came to study in pro- ly with the countries in Africa to meet the diverse chalfessional institutions under Indian scholarship schemes. lenges that they face, to achieve the developmental targets This programme is in the true spirit of South-South coop- and fulfill the aspirations of the people of Africa.

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ounded by Tibet in the north, Assam and Nagaland in the east and Bhutan in the west, Arunachal Pradesh, covers an area of 83,743 square kilometres and thus has the largest territory among the seven units of North East India. This hilly land of the sub-Himalayan tracts, made into a Union territory through administrative reorganisation after independence, was given full statehood in 1987.

Arunachal Pradesh, India’s own ‘land of the rising sun’, is predominantly a tribal state of Indo-Mongoloid origin and

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happy home of major scheduled tribes. The different tribes have their own dialects. The local people inhabiting Arunachal Pradesh are Monpas, Mijjis, Akas, Khowas, Sherdukepens and Banins, Adis, Galos, Mishims, Noctes, Wanchos, Tangsas, Aptanis, Nyshis, Tagins and Hills Miris.

Arunachal Pradesh is a land of traditional handicrafts comprising wide range in variety. All the people have a tradition of artistic craftsmanship. A wide variety of crafts such as weaving painting, pottery, smithy work, basketry, woodcarving etc. are found among the people of Arunachal Pradesh.

The sprawling greens and high mountains of Arunachal Pradesh has a rich treasure of ancient monasteries, Pilgrim

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! " # $ % ! & ' ( ! # ) * # + , centres, national sanctuaries and beautiful orchid fields.

Thus, the hilly state is a kaleidoscope of important tourist destinations.

Tawang: Tawang monastery has been, for almost 400 years, a centre of the socio-religious life of the Monpa people and a fortress-like protector of the resident monks.

Dwelling at an altitude of 10,000 ft, the monastery also houses a 28-foot high Golden Buddha, priceless paintings and ancient manuscripts.

Itanagar: The capital of Arunachal Pradesh is an impeccable blend of twin towns â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Naharlagun, the older town and Itanagar, the political capital. Itanagar, nestling on the shores of the tranquil Gekar Sinyi (Ganga Lake) is famous as an archaeological site for its numerous heritage monuments dotting the terrain. The capital city is scattered with light, earthquake-proof, wooden-framed buildings rising up the slopes of green hills.

The Jawaharlal Nehru State Museum in the city has a large collection of ancient wood carvings, traditional musical instruments, gorgeous textiles and many archaeological finds. Tourists can also get an insight view about the cottage cane industry by stepping into the Handicrafts Centre, inside the museum premises.

Bomdila: Bomdila, especially the region between Bomdila and Tawang, is a paradise for trekkers and mountaineers. The region is trimmed with magnificent passes and peaks, gurgling rivers and waterfalls, hot springs and picturesque lakes, that surely refreshes every weary soul.

River rafting on the Siang can also be an uplifting experience.

Namdapha National Park: Namdapha National Park is the only park in the world, which covers a range of altitudes of 200 to 4,500 metres. It is also an ideal base for some trekking. Also close by is the mini zoo at Miao. The park is largely mountainous and is drained by the noa-Dehing, Deban and Namdapha rivers. The park is largely mountainous and is drained by the noa-Dehing, Deban and Namdapha rivers.

Malinithan: Malinithan is a temple site in ruins. It is situated at the foot of the Siang hills under the Likabali SubDivision of West Siang District. The site excavated has beautifully designed and decorated basement of a temple, divine images, icons of deities, animal motifs and floral designs, carved columns and panels. These rich granite sculptures belong to 14-15 century. The temple dedicated to Goddess Durga at Malinithan is built on the classical tradition of Orissa. Akashi Ganga waterfalls, 5 km away from Malinithan where people take a bath to wash away sins.

Tezu: Tezu(Parasuramkunda) is situated in the lower reaches to the river Lohit. It is a religious place visited by people from all over the country during the Makar Sankranti day for a holy dip. Common belief that a dip on the day in the kund washes away oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sins. As recorded in the Kalika Purana that it was here the sage Parasuram washed away his sin of matricide.

Forest rest house, Deban, Namdapha National Park.

Tipi (Bhalukpung): The grandeur of Arunachal not only lies in its colorful tribes but also in its rich flora and fauna. Orchids find a pride of place and more than 500 species are to he found in Arunachal alone. An Orchidarium has been act up to study this botanical paradise at Tipi (seven kilometers from Bhalukpong).

Best Time to Visit: Mid September to mid December and mid March to mid June is considered the best time to visit Arunachal when the sky is clear and the cold weather is bearable.

How to reach Air: Nearest Airport Lilabari (North Lakhimpur) is situated in Assam, 57 km from Naharlagun and 67 km from the capital, Itanagar. Indian Airlines operates direct flights from Kolkata to Tezpur on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. There are helicopter Services from Guwahati in Assam to Tawang.

Rail: The nearest railway station is Harmuty (near Banderdewa check gate) in Assam only 23 km from Naharlagun and 33 km from Itanagar. However the nearest convenient railhead is North Lakhimpur in Assam, 50 km from Naharlagun and 60 km from Itanagar.

Road: Arunachal Pradesh State Transport Corporation operates regular bus-services to various places in Arunachal Pradesh and its neighbouring states. Direct bus-services are there from North Lakhimpur to Itanagar via Naharlagun.

Buses run frequently between Naharlagun & Itanagar between 6 am to 7 pm. Itanagar is also connected by daily buses from Guwahati (429 km). â&#x2013;

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■ %4;0795-047/ ■ OSITA C. EZE is Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, and is a human rights expert.

■ SIDDHARTHA PRAKASH is an economist with extensive international experience advising developing countries

on poverty reduction strategies. During his tenure at the World Bank in Washington DC, he mobilised resources to promote South-South exchanges between South Asia and East Africa. He has also worked with WTO in Geneva and has worked on promoting south-south cooperation among developing countries on common trade and development concerns.

■ OLABIYI BABALOLA JOSEPH YAI is Chairman of the UNESCO Executive Board. He is an eminent scholar of

African languages and literature. He has held many prestigious positions in the past, including Ambassador Permanent Delegate of Benin to UNESCO, Member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and President of the Finance and Administrative Commission of the Executive Board. The Sorbonne-educated Yai has a Post Graduate Diploma in Linguistics from the University of Ibadan (Nigeria). He was a visiting scholar at the Federal University of Bahia (Brazil), at the University of Birmingham (England) and at the Kokugakuin University in Tokyo (Japan). He has also served as a consultant for culture and language policy in Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Togo and Mozambique in the 1970s and 1980s.

He taught as Professor at the Universities of Benin, Ibadan and Ife (Nigeria) and Florida (USA).

■ OSITA AGBU is an Associate Professor at the Research and Studies Department of the Nigerian Institute of

International Affairs, Lagos. Dr. Agbu has held Visiting Research Fellowship positions at the Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden; the Institute of Global Dialogue, Johannesburg, South Africa; and the Institute of Developing Economies, Chiba, Japan amongst others. His areas of specialisation are society, technology and development; governance and democratisation; postconflict studies; and Nigeria’s foreign policy. He has authored many books, including: West Africa’s Trouble Spots and the Imperative for Peace-Building, The Iron and Steel Industry and Nigeria’s Industrialisation: Exploring Cooperation with Japan and Ethnic Militias and the Threat to Democracy in Post-Transition Nigeria.

■ DR. SURESH KUMAR specialises in African politics and political economy at the Department of African Studies, University of Delhi. He is the Principal Investigator of major research projects on Geopolitics Sudan sponsored by the University Grants Commission from 2008-12.

■ MANISH CHAND is Editor of Africa Quarterly. He writes on foreign policy, politics, culture and books. His articles

have been published in leading national and international publications and research journals. He has presented papers at seminars and reported on international issues from different places around the world.

■ NANDINI SEN is a Charles Wallace Scholar and Senior Lecturer in Delhi University. She has participated in a number of Afro Asian Literary conferences and seminars.

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D406&04&%4;0795-047/ Africa Quarterly, published since 1961, is devoted to the study and objective analyses of African affairs and issues related to India-Africa relations. Contributions are invited from outstanding writers, experts and specialists in India, Africa and other countries on various political, economic, social-cultural, literary, philosophical and other themes pertaining to African affairs and India-Africa relations. Preference will be given to those articles which deal succinctly with issues that are both important and clearly defined. Articles which are purely narrative and descriptive and lacking in analytical content are not likely to be accepted.

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Indian Council for Cultural Relations Azad Bhavan Indraprastha Estate New Delhi-110 002 E-mail: africa.quarterly@gmail.com Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India Regd No. 14380/61