AfricaViewpoint

Africa’s Authoritative Political Magazine

WILL IT EVER END SOMALI PIRACY FEATURE: AFRICA’S TOP MEN & WOMEN...........28 THE UPRISING IN NORTH AFRICA, A WINNER..............30 IS IT FINALY THE END TO SOMILIA PIRACY?...............38

March 2012

AFRICA’S THIRST FOR DEMOCRACY, IS IT REAL............14

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CONTENTS 18 South Sudan Joins The World

COLOPHON Founder: Nabeel El-Jaba’l Editor: Nabeel Najib Art Director: Adrian hulf Contributing Editor: Laura Richardson Senior Sub-Editor: Kate Gilchrist Picture Researcher: bilo brown

BRIEFS 10 African Continent DEMOCRACY

SPECIAL REPORT 48 Gadhafi 53 Africa: Obama a let down?

14 Africa Thrist 20 Ivory Coast GALLERY 22 Libya 24 kenya’s New ERA 26 Congo: What Next FEATURE 28 Top African women 30 African Uprising INSIDE STORY 38 Somali Pirates INTERVIEW 44 OneOnOne Ahmed Bashir gives an insight 6

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FOCUS 56 Malawi 60 Ethopia DIASPORA 65 Role and Potential TOURISM 70 Kenya’s Come Back 76 Best Tourism Minister of the year SPORTS 78 Zambia Historic Win in African Cup

Pictures from: Jop de Klein, Lia Brad, lynton Firman,Barbara Motter Circulation Manager: Awadh surur Group Production Manager: Nathan Eaton-Baudains Production Manager: Maria James International Advertising Sales: Naeem Balala, tel:+33 345 657 43; Fax: +33 234 567 E-mail: balalnaeem@balala.com ARTIST SUBMISSIONS: http://www.behance.net/bilobrown EDITORIAL COMMENTS: nabeel@najibbalala.com Printers: Loreto print la Tipografia Digitale Via Andrea Costa, 7 , MM Loreto - 20131 Milano.

Tel. 02 2870026 (r.a.) - Fax 02 2847693 E-mail: info@loretoprint.it

© 2011 balalagraphics, Inc. This work is an independently produced publication of Balala Graphics, Inc. The content within this publication is the property of balala graphics, Inc., And may not be reproduced or excerpted without the express permission of the publisher.

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READER’S VIEW

Readers View Some of the responses our readers had on Dec, 2011 issue.

Christians. Akua did not mention any other religion in her article and I think she needs to be a bit more sensitive to readers’ beliefs. Is she insinuating that adherents of other religions are somewhat “holier” or “better” than Christians?

Dr Janet Edeme.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Smart phones: The latest fashion?

The Black Eagle Your article “Dying for Britain and France for nothing” (NA April), based on David Killingray’s book, Fighting for Britain, was highly informative on the role African soldiers played in the First and Second World Wars. The purpose of writing to you, however, is to urge you to publish an article about the role “The Black Eagle”, an African-American pilot, played in the liberation of Abyssinia from Mussolini’s fascists. This AfricanAmerican trained himself to fly and then went to Abyssinia to train Ethiopians to fly and fight. He was a very colourful personality who continued to play a role in Africa, including Patrice Lumumba’s Congo.

Phillip J. Daka.

Petauke, Zambia

Be sensitive, Akua In as much as

I agree with the sentiments expressed

by Akua Djanie in “Where have all the goats gone?” (NA June), I take serious exception to her comments about

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Richard Seymour’s assessment that smart phones such as Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry will take some time to “dominate the African market” is perhaps open to question. For example, RIM has a number of deals with telecom operators in East Africa offering their BlackBerry models for a fixed purchase price and pay-as-yougo (or on monthly business contracts) and it is not that unusual to see wellheeled school kids in Dar es Salaam, Kampala or Nairobi brandishing these BlackBerry mobile phone “fashion accessories”, checking their e-mail, Facebook or Messenger accounts as soon as they get out of school.

Yvonne Malanda.

Nairobi, Kenya

Power rotation, not Nigerian In your April cover story (“Nigeria at the crossroads”), you stated that there is an agreement in Nigeria that political power should rotate between the North and South, with each side getting two tenures. I would like to correct that statement: There is no such agreement in Nigeria or in the national constitution. That arrangement only exists within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which incidentally has been ruling the country since 1999.

Obiokoye Amala.

Abuja, Nigeria Keep up the good work I have bought New African every month for many, many years, and I don’t understand why some people criticise some of your articles about Africa.

To me, I know very well that you are only trying to educate them about the situation in Africa by giving them the facts. I look forward to the magazine every month. I like your articles on Nkrumah, Lumumba, Sekou Touré and Mugabe. These are the good leaders we miss and need. I always read those pages first.

Yaw Opong.

Malmo, Sweden

Falling in love with Sierra Leone April’s feature story on Liberia and Sierra Leone painted the bleak reality of the problems that prosecutors in Charles Taylor’s trial are facing and it made me think how important it is for the healing of the two countries that he is convicted, and also, “wouldn’t it be nice to read a positive article about Sierra Leone for once?”

Sara Repa.

Cambridge, England

Letters to the Editor: We value your opinions. Letters may be edited for clarity. Please include your name and complete contact details. Please send us an email: letters@africasia.com.

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EDITORIAL

Editorial The power of the viewpoint

A

The love of reading is far more important in freeing the mind, shaping thought, accumulating wisdom and unleashing creative forces of a people than all the technical education in the world.

frica Viewpoint is a magazine that you read with no difficulties and that is like no other in identifying what you want at a glance. The modern touch enhances the perception of those who think political magazines are not interesting and its just lots of unreadable blocks of copy content. Well, this is why “Africa Viewpoint” will surpass those thoughts and invite new readers to this magazine. It stands out from the rest on the shelves. One can pick this magazine, Just by the attractive graphic design without much of a concern in the content. Since there are many unique elements in the “Africa Viewpoint” it will definitely attract the readers eye.

One of the greatest satisfactions of producing African Politics and Business is when we receive a letter from someone in Africa commenting about a story or a feature that may have appeared in

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the magazine several months ago. The writer of the letter usually also outlines the often tortuous route by which the magazine finally reached him or her.

We are aware that our readership is 20 times or more compared to our paid sales and that issues are passed from hand to hand and often across considerable distances. This is a clear indication of the hunger to read in Africa the satisfaction of which is often frustrated by the high cost of magazines and books and the difficulty of access.

But hopefully with the spaces assigned for adverts it will lead to the reduction of the magazine .

Nabeel El-Jabal

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BRIEFS

Summary of the BIG CONTINENT The Open Data for Africa platform is a response from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) aimed at boosting access to quality data necessary for managing and monitoring development results in African countries, including the millennnium development goals. It responds to a number of important global and regional initiatives increase the availability of data on Africa.

The True Size of Africa Spain

France

Portugal

IN AFRICA

MORE PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO MOBILES THAN CLEAN WATER

Germany Switzerland Italy Eastern Europe

United States India China

UK Japan

70% Africa's food is produced by women 12

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Yet they lack the recognition of their property rights, and are the most affected by hunger.

Percentage of people who report paying a bribe at least one of nine services in the past year

11%

Asia Pacific

5%

EU+

23%

Latin America

36%

Middle East & North Africa

32%

New States

5%

North America

56%

Sub Saharan Africa

19%

Western Balkans

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BRIEFS

African New Frontier THE TOP 10 bilateral traders with africa

USA Import’s from bric

The above infographic gives an overview of Africa’s changing trade partnerships. The infographic comes courtesy of The BRICA Group

export’s from bric

china france

russia 5%

brazil 11%

russia 2%

italy

china 64%

india 20%

germany india

india 20%

brazil 20%

uk netherlands

China 58%

japan brazil

Capacity development in africa seat capacity(1000)

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2

mar 2007

mar 2008

mar 2009

southern africa north africa

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mar 2010

mar 2011

Central and western africa eastern africa

The China investment legacy continues to prime the expansion of services into Africa. Political events will presumably impact on North African performance in March, with many services cancelled or suspended until more stable political conditions are delivered.

Low cost airlines have continued their expansion within North Africa, driving frequency growth by 294%, and 202% growth for the year-to-date.

Again, this may be affected by the political situation in key low cost markets such as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.

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DEMOCRACY

Africa

What is striking, rather, is the fierce and ever-growing thirst for democracy that Africans have shown; their indomitable courage in defying oppressive regimes; and their success, in so many countries, in insisting on accountable government. By Kofi A. Annan

Africa’s thirst for

DEMOCRACY T

here is a saying among my duct them fairly, or to settle disputes people in Ghana: one head about the electoral process. alone is not enough to deYes, democracy implies majority cide. I often think of that rule. But that does not mean minorities when I hear people say that democracy should be excluded from any say in deis alien to Africa, or that Africans are cisions. Minority views should never be “not ready” for democracy. In reality, silenced. The minority must always be African communities from the village free to state its case, so that people can upwards have traditionally decided hear both sides before deciding who is their course through free discussion, right. How can people learn about those carefully weighing different points of ideas? At the level of the village, they view until consensus is reached. So Afri- may learn directly, by face to face concans have much to learn from their own tact. But in today’s mass societies they traditions, and something to teach oth- depend above all on mass media . ers, about the true meaning and spirit For an election to be truly fair, differof democracy. We need to understand ent parties and candidates should have that there is much more to democracy equal access to the media. Neither state than simply which candidate, or which power nor the power of money should party, has majority determine that one support. party gets a hearing Thank God we have Of course, even lived long enough to see while another is dethat is not always nied it. democracy spreading easy, as one of the The media must world’s most suc- again through Africa actively seek out the cessful democracies today, and taking root. truth on the public’s has recently shown behalf, and be free to us. But the US’s current difficulties tell it as they see it. Often, especially in should not cast doubt on the value of times of conflict, that requires journaldemocracy itself. On the contrary, they ists to take real risks. Many have lost remind us how important it is that elec- their lives in the quest for truth. We owe tions are held within a broader context them an enormous debt. Even more, we of democratic institutions and culture. owe it to ourselves to give them better Democracy depends on the rule of law, protection. It is our interests, and our because without respect for law it is not freedom, that they are upholding. possible to hold free elections, to conIn mature democracies, parties alter-

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nate between power and opposition, as opinion shifts, and minorities become majorities. But not all societies are like that. Not all minorities are composed simply of people whose views are out of fashion. Many are structural minorities - people who in some sense form a separate group, defined by race, colour, culture or creed. If parties are formed on the basis of such group identities, a winner-take-all election offers minorities no security. A minority in power will not risk losing it, and a minority without power will have no hope of winning it.

Democracy can only work if all groups in a society feel that they belong to it, and that it belongs to them.

Often that means ensuring, one way or other, that minorities are given a permanent share of power. In some places that can be done by decentralisation, so that national minorities can win local power, in regions where they form the local majority. In others it may be done by provisions giving minorities guaranteed representation at national level - in the legislature, or the executive, or both.

What is important is not the particular device used, but the outcome.

It is easy to state such principles, but not always easy to practise them, especially in a country that has just emerged from conflict, or one whose people are desperately poor and hungry. People in

Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security launched The Global Commission will work to convince different stakeholders why elections with integrity matter not just for democracy, but also for security, human rights, and development. At the heart of the Commission’s approach is ensuring that the international community applies political solutions to the political problems surrounding elections, rather than purely technical approaches.

It aims to help: •

•

•

The desire for freedom and democracy has rarely been clearer. In country after country, people have risked their lives to call for free elections, democratic accountability, the rule of law and respect for human rights. such conditions are easily manipulated by those who use force to seize power, arguing that constitutional rights are a luxury which a poor country cannot afford. How often we have heard those arguments! “Democracy begins with breakfast” or “a hungry stomach has no ears”. But over and over again we have learnt, especially in Africa, that poor people?s stomachs are not filled by rulers who refuse to submit themselves to the people’s judgement.

We have learnt that democracy begins at breakfast - that power has to be shared in the home, between women and men, and from there on up to the highest levels of the State, and indeed of

the international system.

Oppression is not an alternative to poverty. Nor is development an alternative to freedom. Poverty and oppression go hand in hand, while true development means freedom from both. My generation of Africans has learnt, the hard way, that no State can truly be called democratic if it offers its people no escape from poverty; and that no country can truly develop, so long as its people are excluded from power.

The building of African nations has been one long struggle against poverty, ignorance, disease and conflict. It is hardly surprising that African democracy has known many setbacks.

• •

Raise the costs for those who seek to rig and steal elections, and to insure that when elections take place, the potential for abuse and violence are reduced.

Strengthen international commitment to the professional conduct of elections, including supporting high-quality, credible electoral monitoring.

Bolster international support for stronger national capacity to run fair elections.

Reduce the potential for abuse and election-related violence.

Build international consensus to stand firm in cases where parties try to steal elections.

“ Building democracy is a complex process. Elections are only a starting point but if their integrity is compromised, so is the legitimacy of democracy. Most countries have agreed to principles that would, if respected, lead to credible electoral processes, but too often these principles are ignored because of lack of political commitment, insufficient technical knowledge or inadequate international support. The Commission will therefore seek to renew political commitment to the integrity of the electoral process. ” said Kofi Annan, Chairman of the Global Commission.

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DEMOCRACY

Africa

Poll of 18 African Countries Finds

All Support Democracy

support for democracy Democracy is preferable to any other kind of government (%) Ghana

75

Kenya

75

senegal

75

Benin

70

cape verde

70

botswana

69

mali

68

zimbabwe

66

nigeria

65

south africa

65

zambia

64

uganda

61

namibia

57

mozambique

56

malawi

56

lesotho tanzania

Democracy and human rights are first of all a conviction and a state of mind. If the people cannot be persuaded to accept democracy and human rights, then the case is lost, even when there is prosperity, when the culture is beneficial to the development of democracy and human rights, and when the necessary laws and institutions are present.

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We are tying to redefine it to show democracy is about people participating, everybody contributing their know-how to make sure the environment is what they want it to be and not otherwise. Tony Okonmah

Democracy needs to be reinvented every day by people who participate enthusiastically, and human rights require continuous effort from everybody because everybody can violate them, even when all the necessary circumstances and preconditions are present, and because everybody can decide to protect them, even if preconditions are absent.

to protect rights on a regular basis, can democracy and rights exist. In other words, democracy and rights need people for whom democracy and rights are part of their everyday lives. The GlobeScan poll got similar results. On average more than half (56%) said the people’s will did not prevail in their countries.

This perception was strongest in Nigeria (85%) and Zimbabwe (73%). Only in Ghana did a clear majority (61%) say their government was representative.

conviction that lawmakers were unresponsive was most prevalent among Kenyans (82%), Zambians (81%) and Zimbabweans, Tanzanians and Madagascans (77%). Locally elected officials got slightly higher marks. Majorities in 13 countries said they were unresponsive, especially in Zambia (76%), Kenya (73%) and Zimbabwe (72%). Only in Mali did a majority (53%) say locally elected councillors often or always paid attention to their concerns.

If nobody is convinced of the desirability of democracy and human rights, then nobody will be prepared to participate in politics, to respect human rights and to defend them wherever they are violated, and then democracy and human rights cannot exist. Only if most people are prepared to participate and

IGNORING THE PEOPLE Most Africans feel that their elected leaders generally failed to pay attention to the people. Majorities in 16 of the countries (overall average=66 percent) surveyed by Afrobarometer said lawmakers “never” or “only sometimes” listened to what “people like you have to say.” The

PERCEPTIONS OF CORRUPTION Large numbers of Africans perceive government officials as crooked, but again the variations between countries were large, with Nigerians seeing the most corruption and Cape Verdeans the least. Afrobarometer found that on average nearly a third of those polled

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believed that “most” or “all” officials across eight categories (presidential, legislative, local councilors, national and local bureaucrats, police, tax collectors, and judicial) were involved in corruption. A majority of Nigerians thought that most officials were corrupt in all categories, except the courts. In contrast, fewer than 10 percent of Cape Verdeans judged officials in any of the categories as mostly dishonest. Police were generally seen as the most venal: 50 percent or more of those polled in eight of the 18 countries said most or all were dishonest. But while large majorities of Nigerians (75%), Zambians (70%) and Ugandans (67%) saw police as corrupt, only a minority of Cape Verdeans (7%), Senegalese (27%), and Malawians (28%) did agree with it.

DOWNWARD TREND IN ENTHUSIASM Trend line analysis reveals some deterioration in the support for democracy in most of the 12 countries surveyed since 2000. On average, the proportion of those saying they preferred democracy over other political systems was 61 percent in 2005, compared to 69 percent in 2000. The percentage of those supporting democracy fell in seven countries, went up in three and remained about the same in two. The drop was especially dramatic in Tanzania, where those who considered democracy preferable fell from 84 percent in 2000 to 38 percent in 2005.

The multiparty elections held in Tanzania since the mid-1990s have been marred by allegations of fraud, especially in the region of Zanzibar, and the formerly socialist ruling party has embarked on painful fiscal and freemarket reforms. Support for democracy also declined by more than ten points in Uganda (from 80% to 61%), Nigeria (81% to 65%), Botswana (85% to 69%) and Zambia (75% to 64%). The three countries where the percentage in favor of democracy went up were Lesotho (40% to 50%), Mali (60% to 68%) and South Africa (60% to 65%).

The trend on satisfaction with demo-

cratic governments among the 12 countries was also negative, declining on average from 58 percent to 45 percent.

Here again, however, there were significant variations among nations. While satisfaction went down in eight coun-

“

Africa have shown extraordinary persistence in wanting to promote the democracies in the countries despite significant risks to their own personal safety and despite enormous challenges. Barak Obama

tries, it went up in three, and stayed about the same in one. Nigeria showed the steepest decline: while 84 percent said they were satisfied with their country’s democracy in 2000, only 26 percent were satisfied in 2005. The 2000 poll took place shortly after Nigerians ended 15 years of military rule with the election of President Olusegan Obasanjo, whose popularity has declined over his two-terms in office with his government beset by corruption scandals and unable to resolve ethnic and regional conflicts. Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Botswana also saw satisfaction with

their own elected governments fall by more than ten points.

In Zimbabwe, only a minority (18%) expressed satisfaction with their country’s democracy in 2000. By 2002 that minority had grown to 37 percent only to drop to 14 percent in 2005. The increased satisfaction in 2002 may reflect hopes that Mugabe’s land redistribution program—which began in 2000 when his supporters began seizing land from white farmers—would improve the lives of black Zimbabweans. But the expropriations instead have contributed to severe food shortages, exacerbated in 2005 by a severe drought. Opposition leaders accused Mugabe of using fraud and intimidation to engineer his re-election in 2002. But in Ghana and South Africa, the trend is reversed.

Ghanaians have grown more satisfied with their elected government since 2000, when Jerry Rawlings stepped down after two decades in power. While fifty four percent said they were fairly or very satisfied with democracy in Ghana in the first Afrobarometer poll, seventy percent say they are in the most recent survey.

More South Africans also say they are pleased with how democracy works, more than a decade after they first voted the African National Congress into office. In 2000, when Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as president, fifty two percent said they were satisfied with democracy. In 2005, a year after Mbeki’s re-election, sixty three percent did. The third country where democracy seems to be getting more popular, though only slightly, is Namibia. Sixtyfour percent of Namibians registered satisfaction with their government in 2000 rising to sixty nine percent five years later. Namibia has enjoyed stability—plus a relatively free press and elections generally regarded as clean—under SWAPO party governments since gaining independence from South Africa in 1989. Party founder Sam Nujoma handed over power after serving three terms in 2005.

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DEMOCRACY

Sudan

45 Million Population Sudan

12Million

Population South Sudan

SOUTH SUDAN Join’s the world The world’s newest country, South Sudan, is in the unique position of being able to learn from and construct its constitution from countries that have already gone through the risky process of declaring freedom.

By Terah Edun & Lynsey Addario

S

udan has been at war with itself for almost its entire post-colonial history, starting in 1956. After decades of fighting for independence from the north, southern Sudan seceded on July 9, 2011 and became the Republic of South Sudan. The southern Sudanese have fought for independence for decades, and in January 2011, nearly 99 percent of the region’s voters approved a split from northern Sudan in an internationally backed referendum.

Less than six months after South Sudan broke away from Sudan, tensions between the neighbors have crystallized into fears of direct confrontation.

While the two nations continue to discuss how to split lucrative oil revenues and the fate of the contested region of Abyei, a spreading rebellion inside Sudan prompted the Sudanese government to accuse the south of providing military support to the rebels. Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, rejected accusations by the Sudanese government that his country was arming Sudanese rebels as “utterly baseless and malicious.” In November 2011, Mr. Kiir denounced the Sudanese government for threatening what he called a “military invasion” of South Sudan. Mr. Kiir has accused the Sudanese government of bombing the South Sudanese area of Guffa, killing at least seven peo-

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ple and potentially moving insurgencies on both sides of the border closer to an international conflict. The United States issued a statement condemning “in the strongest possible terms” what it called “negative developments” between the nations, particularly the airstrike by the Sudanese forces. In early November, the government of Sudan lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council, arguing that South Sudan was trying to start a border war.

Many residents in the Sudanese provinces of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile fought alongside the south during its civil war with the north. But the 2005 peace treaty placed the two provinces in

LEFT TO RIGHT Salva Kiir, the President of the freshly declared Republic of South Sudan, waves to supporters prior to declaring independence.

(AP Photo/Pete Muller) A man waves South Sudan’s national flag as he attends the Independence Day celebrations in the capital Juba.

Sudan’s territory, leaving South Sudan to hold a referendum to decide its own fate. In January, the South Sudanese voted almost unanimously to secede from the rest of the country. Their fel-

green. The streets of the south’s biggest cities are boulevards of mud. Children go to school under trees. In July 2009, an international tribunal redefined the borders of the disputed oil region by splitting the contested zone between the two sides. In its ruling, the tribunal, seated at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, overruled a decision by an international commission that Sudan’s government rejected four years earlier.v

low combatants in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile remained on the other side of the border, and an armed rebellion soon began. In return, the Sudanese military has clamped down hard on the rebellion, filling the skies over Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile with Antonov bombers, some of which have flown over South Sudanese territory, too. A satellite imaging project organized by the Enough Project, an advocacy group, has published what it says is evidence of mass graves in the rebellious regions, and the United Nations has said the military activity could amount to war crimes. The United States, a close partner of South Sudan, had made strong overtures to the government in Sudan, saying that if it cooperated peacefully with South Sudan’s transition to independence, economic sanctions on the country could be lifted. But in early november, President Obama called for the sanctions to be extended over what he called “hostile” actions on the part of the Sudanese government that posed an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to American foreign policy.

A TROUBLED DIVORCE Southern Sudan is different culturally and religiously from the northern part of the country, a contrast between Arab and Muslim influences in the north and animist and Christian beliefs in the south.

Conflicts remain over how the two sides

will share the south’s sizable reserves of crude oil and what to do about the Abyei region, which straddles the north-south border and is claimed by both. As the split approached, Mr. Bashir seemed to be steering his country back toward war.

SUDAN’S EXPLOSIVE HISTORY In 2005, the country’s opposing political parties signed a peace accord that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war, which killed an estimated 2.2 million people — 10 times as many as in Darfur. The perennial question is whether the relatively small group of Arabs who live along the northern reaches of the Nile and have historically ruled Sudan will share power and wealth in one of the most diverse populations on the continent.

The north occupied Abyei in May in overwhelming numbers, forcing nearly It was political exclusion that drove 100,000 southern Sudanese to flee. rebels in the semi-autonomous south to Heavy fighting also broke out soon af- fight, and the same issue inspired the reter in Kadugli, the capital of Southern bellion to the west, in Darfur, which has Kordofan — a northern Sudanese state claimed an estimated 300,000 lives and where many of the people are aligned blown up into one of the world’s worst with the southern Sudanese.Analysts humanitarian crises. The peace treaty believe that the sudden flurry of mili- between the north and the south, which tary activity was part of a calculated, American officials helped broker and hard-knuckled nethe Bush administragotiating strategy to tion considered a forIt has come freedom, eign policy triumph, pressure the south into conceding more millions of people died was supposed to adoil or money as Su- and can not be here dress these centerdan prepared to split today to celebrate, so versu s - p er ipher y, into two. While the we’re celebrating them. problems head-on.

North-south tensouth holds roughly David Kenyi sions go back dec75 percent of Sudan’s ades, to even before oil reserves, the north has the refineries and pipelines; conven- Sudan’s independence in 1956. The tional wisdom argues that the two sides north is mostly Muslim and historineed each other for their economies to cally has identified with the Arab world, while many southerners are Christian survive. and more connected to Kenya, Uganda While Khartoum has its luxury ho- and other sub-Saharan nations. Betels and shopping malls, the south is yond that, there is a huge divide when where the roads stop. Flying over it, all it comes to development, spawned by you see is miles and miles of emerald years of inequality.

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DEMOCRACY

IVORY COAST

Today, the AU stands on the sidelines twiddling its thumbs as thousands of Ivorians are slaughtered and Gbagbo steals the election in broad daylight.

54%

voted for Ouattara

By Alemayehu G. Mariam

Democracy by

CIVIL WAR I

f the Ivory Coast, one of the most prosperous African countries, can be considered a template for political change on the continent, democracy can replace dictatorship only by means of a civil war. For the past 5 months, Laurent Gbagbo, the loser of the November 2010 Ivory Coast presidential race has been holed up in his palace defiantly clinging to power. He claims to have won the election by order of his handpicked “Constitutional Council”, even though the Ivorian Electoral Commission declared his challenger Alassane Ouattara the winner.

Underlying Gbagbo’s electoral shenanigans to cling to power at any cost is a lingering and recurrent problem in African politics: Rigged, stolen and shell-gamed elections. African dictators set up elections just like the streetwise scammer sets up a shell game. African dictators know they will “win” the elections they set up by hook or crook. But they go through elaborate ceremonies to make the phony elections look real.

They set up shills and call them “opposition parties”. They jail the real opposition leaders and intimidate their supporters. They trot out their handpicked “elections commissions” and put them on public display as independent observers to bless and legitimize the rigged elections. To please and hoodwink their Western donor benefactors, they be-

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AFRICAVIEWPOINT

ing in international elections observers, adopt “election codes of conduct” and stage make-believe public debates.

THE OUTCOME NEVER CHANGES The African con artist dictators always win! Well, maybe not always. On the rarest occasions, by some fluke an incumbent African dictator is defeated by a challenger despite massive election rigging and fraud. Even more incredibly, the whole world sides with the challenger winner. Then all hell breaks loose as

46%

voted for Gbagbo

al donors and multilateral banks make it a precondition for handouts and loans.

Truth be told, neither the dictators nor the donors/banks are interested in genuine democratic elections as evidenced in many Wikileaks cablegrams. They want an election show to justify their immoral support for the criminal thugs.

The dictators, donors and multilateral banks agree on one unitary principle so plainly and honestly articulated by former French President Jacques Chirac: “Africa is not ready for democracy”

Once the UN declared Ouattara as the President of Ivory Coast, Gbagbo’s support slowly faded away.

(SIPA)

it is happening today in the Ivory Coast.

Gbagbo lost despite ballot-stuffing, ballot-shredding, ballot-stealing, voter intimidation and voting fraud.

For all African dictators, elections are an intolerable nuisance on their permanent clutch on power. They play the elections game because the internation-

(a government of the people, by the people for the people). That is why so many African countries wallow in thugtatorships (a government of thieves, by thieves for thieves).

PLAYING THE SHELL GAME OF AFRICAN DEMOCRACY

Africa’s incumbent dictators will always win the elections they manufacture. They will win by hook or crook, and by incredibly absurd percentages.

Meles Zenawi, the capricious dictator in Ethiopia, declared that his party won the May 2010 parliamentary election by 99.6. Such a claim may sound laughable and absurd to the reasonable mind, but it has a Gobellian logic to it. The Nazi propaganda minister said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Goebbels’ boss said, “The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed.” To claim 100 percent or 99.6 percent of the people voted for one party is absurd, but repeated many times, the sheer audacity of such a bold-faced lie renders the listener speechless, dumbfounded and numb. Similarly, Gbagbo says he won the presidential election despite unannimous international opinion to the contrary. Elections are window-dressing exercises for thugtatorships.

When African dictators lose by some strange fluke, they will demonize a segment of their citizens and embark on a campaign to denigrate their critics and opponents just to cling to power. History Professor Gbagbo declared Ivorians from the northern part of that country “foreigners”, including Ouattara, and rejected the outcome of the election as invalid. Gbagbo has also targeted the large population of migrant workers in

missively added that the EU report was “just the view of some Western neoliberals who are unhappy about the strength of the ruling party.”

African dictators will exploit ethnic, religious and regional divisions to cling to power. Gbagbo has been promoting a nasty ideology called “Ivoirité” to exclude and marginalize northern Muslims from national political office. The ideology is based on the notion that there are “real” Ivorians (‘indigenous Ivorians’) and foreigners who pretend to be Ivorians by immigration or ancestry (false Ivorians).

By creating such insidious classifications, Ivorians from the north have been denied basic citizenship rights. Africa’s dictators have a love-hate relationship with the West. They are quick to blame the West for their political problems.

Yet, they are always standing at the gate begging for handouts. It is a case of the dog that bites the hand that feeds it. Gbagbo blames France, the U.N. and the U.S. for his country’s civil war. Zenawi blames the EU “neoliberals” for his bogus election victory. Mugabe blames Britain and the U.S. for his country’s political and economic woes.

In all of the political turmoil and election-related violence, African organizations have failed to take any meaningful

African dictators think themselves to be African gods the longer they cling to power.

They demand to be worshipped and adored as living legends. the country with xenophobic and hateful rhetoric. When the European Election Observer Mission declared that the May 2010 election in Ethiopia “fell below international standards”, Zenawi attacked the Mission with a torrent of insult straight from the gutter. He described the EU report as a “pack of lies and innuendoes” and “garbage”. He dis-

action. Prof. George Ayittey, the internationally renowned Ghanaian economist and “one of the top 100 public intellectuals” who is “shaping the tenor of our time” said that the African Union is a “useless continental organization” that “can’t even define ‘democracy’”. The other equally comatose organization is ECOWAS (Economic Community Of

Gbagbo’s History

1971: Jailed for “subversive teaching” 1982: Exile in Paris after union activism 1988: Returns to Ivory Coast 1990: Defeated in elections 1992: Jailed after student protests 2000: Declared winner of disputed elections 2002: Failed coup divides Ivory Coast 2007: Agrees power-sharing government with rebels 2010: Elections held five years later. Refuses to go

after

West African States). For months it has been threatening to remove Gbagbo by force if a peaceful solution could not be found. The Ivory Coast is in a virtual state of civil war and the AU and ECOWAS keep on talking with little action.

DEMOCRACY BY CIVIL WAR The manifest implications of this electoral shell game for the people of Africa are frigtening. There can be no peaceful transfer of power through a democratic election. If a challenger wins an election against an incumbent dictator fair and square, the challenger must be prepared to use force to remove the incumbent in any way possible. Strange as it may sound, it may even be necessary to fight a full blown civil war to replace an African dictatorships with an African democracy.

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GALLERY

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LIBYA:

WHAT NEXT? Moammar Gaddafi is dead and buried and there’ll be no mourners at his grave. Nearly a week after his capture Libyan officials have consigned his remains, along with those of his son and a former defence minister to a secret location somewhere in the Libyan desert.

The handful of family and clerics who were present have sworn never to reveal the graves’ location. Before he was found last week colonel Gaddafi apparently played no role in commanding his government forces as he fled from one hiding place to another.

In his last weeks of life Moammar Gaddafi is shuttled from one hideout to another to avoid capture in his home town Sirte according to a former bodyguard caught last week alongside him. The bodyguard Mansour Dao - who’s now in custody - says Gaddafi and his son Mutassim as well as a band of loyal henchmen - would squat in abandoned homes with no TV, no phones and no electricity using candles for light.

Gaddafi’s mood he said, would swing from rage to despair, as enemy fighters slowly closed in and the last remnants of his 42-year regime crumbled around him. “He wasn’t leading the battle,” said the bodyguard. “His sons did that.

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GALLERY

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KENYA:

NEW ERA!

Kenya has adopted a new constitution, more than three weeks after it was overwhelmingly approved in a national referendum. Tens of thousands of people watched as President Mwai Kibaki signed the document into law at a large ceremony in the capital, Nairobi. The debate over a new constitution has lasted 20 years.

The large crowd gathered in Nairobi’s main Uhuru park to watch their leader promulgate the new document, amid gun salutes and a grand parade. After Mr Kibaki signed his name, he held the document up and there was a huge cheer from the audience. The new constitution will bring a more decentralised political system, which will limit the president’s powers and replace corrupt provincial governments with local counties.

It will also create a second chamber of parliament - the Senate - and set up a land commission to settle ownership disputes and review past abuses. It is hoped that the changes will help bring an end to the tribal differences that have brought violence to the country in the past. While many Kenyans say that this is just a start - and that things could still go very wrong - most believe it is a better document than the previous one.

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GALLERY

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CONGO:

CHAOTIC STATE! The chorus of voices calling into question the results from Congo’s recent election is growing louder, and on Monday the country’s influential clergy as well as the United Nations joined those that are now casting doubt on the victory of President Joseph Kabila.

KINSHASA—Police in Congo’s capital prowled opposition neighborhoods Saturday rounding up young men, who were seen being dragged out of their homes and shoved into waiting cars, a day after the government announced that the country’s opposition leader had lost the disputed presidential election.

Public transport was suspended in this sprawling capital. Tires continued to burn in sections of the city that had voted for opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, and bus owners ordered their fleets off the streets, fearing vandalism. The tense city remained largely free of the violence that had been feared in the days leading up to Friday’s announcement of results.

Government spokesman Lambert Mende denied reports that the police had shot live rounds after angry youths began burning tires soon after results were issued Friday.

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FEATURE

TOP AFRICAN WOMEN

Africa’s TOP 10 Powerful Women The women of Africa are doing big things, to say the least. As politicians, business executives, NGO leaders and policy makers, women are demonstrating that they are passionate about driving Africa’s economic and political growth.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President of Liberia In 2005, Johnson Sirleaf made history when she was elected as the first female president of Liberia and all of Africa.The highlight of her time in office has been reducing Liberia’s national debt, which stood at approximately $4.9 billion in 2006. Her administration successfully negotiated for debt relief from international creditors, and in June 2010, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund waived off Liberia’s $4.9 billion foreign debt.

Wangari Mathaai Founder Greenbelt Movement A Kenyan environmental and political activist, Mathaai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, a non-governmental organization committed to the planting of trees, environmental conservation and women’s rights. In 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions towards sustainable development, democracy and peace.

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Dr. Ngozi Iweala Managing Director, World Bank Before becoming Managing Director for the World Bank, OkonjoIweala was the first woman to hold the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria from June 2006 to August 2006, and Minister of Finance and Economy of Nigeria from July 2003 to June 2006. During her time as finance minister, Okonjo-Iweala played a pivotal role in negotiating a deal with the Paris Club.

Nonkululeko zi-Heita CEO, ArcelorMittal South-Africa Nyembezi-Heita heads the South African operations of the world’s largest steel company, ArcelorMittal. ArcelorMittal South Africa is Africa’s largest producer of steel, with an annual production capacity of 7.8 million tons. She was appointed as CEO in 2008; took up position after managerial stints at Vodacom Group and Alliance Capital Management.

Diezani Allison-Madueke Minister of Petroleum Resources Appointed Nigeria’s first female petroleum resources minister. In this role, Allison-Madueke is pushing for the successful passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, which will provide for increased indigenous participation in Nigeria’s upstream industry. She is also overseeing a government plan to hand over 10 per cent of oil revenues to communities in Niger Delta to appease militant groups.

Siza Mzimela CEO South-African Airways The first woman to head South-Africa’s national carrier, joined South African Airways in January 1996 as a research analyst after stints at Standard Bank and Total S.A. She occupied sensitive positions including regional general manager for Africa & the Middle East, and Executive Vice President of Global Passenger Services. Board member of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.

Isabel Dos Santos Businesswoman As the eldest daughter of Angola’s President, Dos Santos got her start in business by using her father’s influence to corner lucrative state contracts at the age of 24. A millionaire, Dos Santos has interests in oil and diamonds.

Her investment holding vehicle, Kento owns majority stakes in several of Angola’s largest corporations. In 2010, Dos Santos acquired a 10 percent stake in the portuguese media conglomerate, Zon Multimedia.

Mamphele Ramphele CEO, Circle Capital Partners A former anti-apartheid activist, Forbes describes Ramphele as one of Africa’s most prominent venture capitalists and Boardroom gurus. She served as the managing director and the first South African to hold the position. In this role, she was responsible for managing the institution’s human development activities in the areas of education, health, nutrition and population; and social protection.

Bridgette Radebe Chairman Mmakau Mining Radebe is known as the first black South African to become a mining entrepreneur. She started mining in the late 1980s and went on to found Mmakau, a successful mining company with interests in platinum, coal, chrome and gold mines.

She is president of the South African Mining Development Association, and participated in the design of the South African Mining Charter.

Ory Okolloh Founder, Ushahidi A Harvard-trained lawyer, activist and blogger, Kenyan-born, she spearheaded the founding of Ushahidi, a revolutionary crowd sourcing utility that enables citizen journalists and eyewitnesses all over the world to report incidences of violence through the web, mobile E-mail, SMS, and Twitter. She is Google’s policy manager for Africa, and she is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential women in global technology.

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FEATURE

AFRICAN UPRISING

Tunisian and North AFRICAN UPRISINGS P

aopular uprisings in North Africa have given a boost to democratization across the continent, but the world has marginalized Africa in the handling of recent crises in the continent. This was said by former South African President Thabo Mbeki when addressing a recent conference at the Kellogg School of Management at North-western University in Chicago, in the United States. Addressing the meeting, Mbeki said the uprisings “have indeed confirmed that there does exist a generation on our continent whose sense of rage about what has gone wrong guarantees Africa’s advance towards its renaissance. It was now up to Africans, he said, “to ensure that the process of

THIER CRY, FREEDOM Tunisians in their masses shout slogans as they demonstrate against then Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali (AP Photo)

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democratization which began in the 1990s, and has now been given an extraordinary fillip by the… uprisings in North Africa continues, thus to ensure that all Africa becomes a democratic continent.”

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FEATURE

TUNISIA

Tunisian and North AFRICAN UPRISINGS

T

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he first episode of the year 2011 has been witnessing political uprisings in North Africa where the countries are being rolled into a temporary chaos for the name of more democracy and liberal freedom. Whereas the first scintilla was fired in Tunisia by a quasi-revolution forcing Zinel Abidine Bin Ali to leave the country, the same scenario was seen in Egypt with the President Hosni Mobarak’s leaving his office by force. In the last three days, the Libyans have been showing similar reactions against the Muammar Qaddafi administration in addition to Morocco and Algeria where Abdelaziz Bouteflika and King Mohammed the 6th have been opposed.

As pressure grew throughout the day, Mr Ben Ali - who has been in power since 1987 dismissed the government, before later quitting.

For the protesters, the president’s downfall was a victory, although it was not immediately clear what the shift in power would mean.

Before analyzing the to what extent these uprisings would impact Sub-Saharan Africa and Turkey, and how this temporary chaos will shift to a stability, it is essential to elaborate on some basic differences on how North Africa has been experiencing these uprisings. It is to accept that these uprisings were majorly organized to bring more libertarian reforms and more democratic rights to the North African communities. Independent since the 1950s, it could be said that North Africans did not have enough opportunity to enjoy these liberties due to the rapid power capitulars by administrators. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak has been in power for thirty years, as it was the case for Muammar al Qaddafi in Libya and Zeinel Abidin Bin Ali in Tunisia. The power hunger of all these rulers did not lead to a stable democracy in the region, and that is why a civil society did not find enough chance to develop. From these senses, it is not a surprise that these uprisings began in a domino way.

The weak civil society that could not anyhow find an opportunity to challenge this power stubbornness, when the Tunisian uprising started, moved as encouraged of what happened in Tunisia. it is a question to ask, any sort of other uprisings in North Africa could begin were the Tunisians did not move against Bin Ali.

The FIRST difference in the uprisings is that whereas Tunisian and Egyptian communities succeeded to send Bin Ali and Mobarak out of office, Libyan, Algerian and Moroccan ones do not seem to achieve the same objective. In Tunisia and Egypt, although the local militias were used by the government as a tool to calm down the demonstrators at first, their aggressiveness diminished in the way of presidents’ leaving offices. However, both Libyan, Algerian and Moroccan administrations are decisive on going on their aggressiveness in the way to stop acting against them.

Whereas Seyfulislam points out that there would be no mercy for the demonstrations in Libya.

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The SECOND difference is, on the other hand, whereas Bin Ali in Tunisia and Mobarak in Egypt agreed to leave their offices regarding the unrest that emerged in their countries-Mobarak took a longer time to leaveQaddafi and King Mohammed the 6th do not seem to obey such actions. While Qaddafi had explained he was not going to move or go anywhere, King Mohammed the 6th also does not seem wishful to bring down the government in Morocco.

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FEATURE

EGYPT

EGYPT’S 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak was in power for almost 30 years until he was swept from power in a wave of mass protests. Mubarak was ousted on 11th February, 2011.

A THIRD difference about 2011 uprisings stem from the structure of these North African countries. Whereas Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria have been ruled in the form of republic, Morocco’s constitutional monarchy render the Moroccans not against the King but the cabinet the King authorizes. On the other hand, Libya’s Jamahiriyya does not keep Libyans away from challenging Qaddafi. Opposite to Morocco, both Algerians, Tunisians, Libyans and Egyptians were and are directly against the presidents.

The aggressiveness of the Moroccan police could be much more if the Moroccans opposes to the King himself.

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A FOURTH difference which is related to the third one, lays in the credibility of the Algerian president and the Moroccan King. It is estimated that the reactions against the Algerian and the Moroccan administration would be less intense while taking into account the efforts of Bouteflika in ending the long lasted Algerian civil war, and the monarchical respect the Moroccans have had for the King Mohammed the 6th’s dynasty. Unlike Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, the Algerian President and Moroccan King have more credits in the eyes of their people.

It is a complex discussion, on the other hand, how these North African developments will be reflected on Sub Saharan Africa. Recently, many Sub Saharan African countries are passing democracy tests in which even their local elections are highly followed by the Western world that started to contribute African economy according to the democracy level the continent could reach. On the basis of this reality, the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe finds reasonable to imprison people watching the documents and news about North Africa, and the newly elected Ugandan President Yawereni argues that Uganda will not tolerate any similar protesters in Uganda. In addition, the Ivory Coastian ex President Laurent Gbagbo refuses to return his seat to the new President Alassane Draman Ouattara. The best news these days about Sub Saharan Africa considering the North African uprisings is the non-reelection wish of the North Sudanese President Omar al Bashir. In a period where the definition of democracy gained more depth in Africa, Sub Saharan African countries do not seem that they took necessary lessons from the North African uprisings.

The uprisings in 2011 will definitely increase Turkey’s importance in North Africa. Turkey that already constructed an important charisma in the region by high economic endeavors consolidated its strategic partnership with the region through the criticisms it addressed to Israel in the 2009 Davos Economic Forum. In addition to the Justice and Development Party’s intensified relations objectifying zero problem in the Turkey’s neighborhood, what Turkey could offer as a republican, as a democratic and even as a secular state for North Africa has now gained much importance. It is also a very positive step for Turkey to face with these uprisings in a period where the Turkish state is modeled by many African states. From these senses, Turkey is now ready to be an active force that will have a final word on ending these chaoses.

In CONCLUSION, it is for sure that the recent political uprisings will create a temporary chaos in North Africa until new systems will be settled. It is foreseen that Egypt and Tunisia will have more chance to install fresh systems including more liberty and democracy for its individuals unlike Morocco, Algeria and Libya. However, the democracy founders in North Africa should keep in mind that not only regular elections but also rule of law, respect to alternative views, accountability and press freedom are the basic pillars of the

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FEATURE

LIBYA

During a period that spanned six decades, the LIBYAN leader paraded on the world stage with a style so unique and unpredictable that the word “maverick” scarcely did him justice.

democracy that should take place in the future. On the other hand, the Libyan, Algerian and Moroccan states should stop any kind of aggression towards their people in the way not to create a more negative image in addition to their authoritarianist way of governing. Sub Saharan Africa leaders as well, should not squeeze their citizens about the North African developments and they should respect all ideological attempts that would bring more democracy in their countries. The African Union including North African Arab countries except Morocco should also take some initiative about fastening the process of these states to overcome with their recent chaos. And Turkey, as a dominant actor of the developing world and of its region, should try its best to set up a consolidated democracy by using its own historical experiences in the new episode of the uprising in North Africa.

1. What are the implications of this movement for the revolution and political democratization in Libya and North Africa?

2. What are the more general implications for African sovereignty with yet another Western, imperialist invasion in Africa?

Libya borders two countries with some of the most successful recent democratization movements in Africa: Tunisia and Egypt. The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt that began effectively in January and February 2011 respectively should not be seen as a so-called Middle East phenomenon (indeed, terms like “Near East”, “Middle East” and “Far East” are outdated Eurocentric notions that no longer mean anything in the era of globalization) but as part of a wave of democratization that began in SubSaharan Africa with countries like Botswana, Ghana, and South Africa. While there are still a few notorious dictatorships, there are now far more democratic countries in

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Africa south of the Sahara than there were 20 years ago but none in North Africa until recently, so the events are more of an African lesson than a “Middle East” contagion that Africa’s Maghreb is experiencing. Indeed, the fact that the recent political upheavals in the Arab world began, and are more successful, in predominantly Arab-speaking African countries is further testimony that this is more of an African revolution than a “Middle East” revolution. Tunisia and Egypt are the examples of democratization that Africa can take pride in their people.

But soon this African pride may be threatened by the setting up of a puppet regime in Libya by the West. A genuine revolution is a rapid socio-political change of a polity by the people for the people of that polity.

The political changes in Tunisia were accomplished by the people of Tunisia for the people of Tunisia. Is there a genuine revolution in Tunisia? Yes. The political changes that were initiated in Egypt were initiated by the people of Egypt for the people of Egypt. Is there a revolution in Egypt? Yes. The political changes that are taking place in Libya were initiated by the people of Libya but unfortunately they have been hijacked by the Western invaders. The political changes are no longer in the hands of Libyans but are now decided in Washington and other European capitals in the interests of the rapacious invaders and their local collaborators, not those of the Libyan nation as a whole. Is there a revolution in Libya? No, not yet! Not until the Libyan people in a post-Gaddafi era rise up against the puppet government that might be installed by the US and its NATO allies. The revolution in Libya has been deferred. •

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INSIDE STORY

PIRATES

Maritime piracy is costing the global economy between $7bn and $12bn a year, but is enough being done to combat it? Piracy in the Indian Ocean has taken a turn for the worse recently, with the killings of two seized Fillipino crewmen and the hijacking of an oil tanker with a cargo worth $200m. Many of the pirates say they began as fishermen who lost their livelihoods because of foreign trawlers, but no doubt huge profits are being made in piracy. Inside the Hidden World of Somalia’s Pirates. A man who claims to have hijacked more than 25 ships in the Gulf of Aden . Jay Bahadur

I

t had taken five days to arrange this meeting. Somali pirates are hard to track down, constantly moving around and changing phone numbers. Days earlier, frustrated and eager to begin interviewing, I had naively suggested approaching some suspected pirates on the streets of Garowe, a rapidly expanding city at the heart of the pirates’ tribal homeland. Habitually munching on narcotic leaves of khat, they are easy enough to spot, their gleaming Toyota four-wheel-drives slicing paths around beaten-up wheelbarrows and pushcarts. My Somali hosts laughed, explaining that to do so would invite kidnapping, robbery, or, at the very least, unwanted surveillance. In Somalia, everything is done through connections – clan, family or friend – and these networks are expansive and interminable. Warsame, my guide and interpreter, had been on and off the phone for the better part of a week, attempting to coax his personal network into producing Abdullahi “Boyah” Abshir. Eventually it responded, and

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Taipei Times

INSIDE STORY: The world on SOMALI PIRATES

Boyah presented himself. I was being taken to a mutually agreed meeting place in an ageing white station wagon, cruising out of Garowe on the city’s sole paved road.

My two UN-trained bodyguards, Said and Abdirashid, perched attentively in the back seat and in the rear-view mirror was a sleek new Land Cruiser, a shining symbol of the recent money pouring into Garowe. It carried Boyah, Warsame and another fixer. Other than our two vehicles, the road was empty, stretching unencumbered through a stony desert dotted with greenish shrubs. The thought that I was being taken to be executed in a deserted field – the unfortunate product of too many Las Vegas mob movies – rattled around in my head for a few seconds.

We arrived at our destination, a virtually abandoned roadside farm 15 kilometres outside Garowe. Boyah had recently contracted tuberculosis, and Warsame insisted that we meet him in an open space. As we stepped out of

Pirates off the coast of Hobyo, Somali say: “ WE ARE NOT MURDERERS, NOR ARE WE BUSINESSMEN. WE JUST ATTACK SHIPS ” our respective vehicles, I caught my first glimpse of Boyah.

He looked to be in his early 40s, immensely tall and with an air of menace about him; the brief, calculating glance with which he scanned me left the distinct impression that he was capable of chatting amiably or robbing me with the same equanimity. He was wearing a ma’awis, a traditional sarong-like robe of a clan elder, and an imaamad, a decorative shawl, was slung over his left shoulder. Boyah turned immediately and loped down a dirt path. Threading his way through the mishmash of tomato plants and lemon trees that constituted this eclectic farm, he wove back and forth, like a bird looking for a roosting spot. Finally, he

settled on a site in a cool, shady clearing, where an overhead thatching of branches had created an almost cavelike atmosphere. Other than the farm’s owner and his wife, no one was remotely close by, yet the bodyguards took up positions at either end of the clearing with an amusing military officiousness. I greeted him with the standard Salaam álaykum, and was not surprised when he and those around him responded with startled laughter before quickly offering the formulaic response: Álaykum salaam.

Somalis were routinely astonished when I demonstrated the slightest knowledge of their culture or language – even a phrase that they shared with the entire Islamic world.

As I forced out my first question through Warsame, I hesitated to use the word “pirate” to describe Boyah. The closest Somali translation of the word is burcad badeed, which literally means “ocean robber”, a political statement I was anxious to avoid. In much the same way that revoluAFRICAVIEWPOINT

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INSIDE STORY

PIRATES

tionaries straddle the semantic fence separating “freedom fighters” from “terrorists”, Boyah and his brothers-in-arms did not like to call themselves “pirates” in their native tongue. In an alliterative display of defiance, they referred to themselves as badaadinta badah, “saviours of the sea”, a term that is most often translated in the English-speaking media as “coastguard”. Boyah joked that he was the “chief

“

It’s a moral issue. We started to realise that we were doing the wrong thing, and that we didn’t have public support. Boyah

of the coastguard”, a title he invoked with pride. To him, his actions had been in protection of his sea, the native waters he had known his whole life; his hijackings, a legitimate form of taxation levied in absentia on behalf of a defunct government that he represented in spirit, if not in law. His story was typical of many coastal dwellers who had turned to piracy since the onset of the civil war almost 20 years ago. In 1994, he still worked as an artisanal lobster diver in Eyl – “one of the best”, he said. Since then, the lobster population off the coast of Eyl has been devastated by foreign fishing fleets – mostly Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean ships, Boyah said. Using steel-pronged drag fishing nets, these foreign trawlers did not bother with nimble explorations of the reefs: they uprooted them, netting the future livelihood of the nearby coastal people along with the day’s catch. Today, according to Boyah, there

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are no more lobsters to be found in the waters off Eyl. So he began to fish a different species, lashing out at those who could out-compete him on the ocean floor, but who were no match for him on its surface. From 1995 to 1997, Boyah and others captured three foreign fishing vessels, keeping the catch and ransoming the crew. By 1997, the foreign fishing fleets had become more challenging prey, entering into protection contracts with local warlords that made armed guards and anti-aircraft guns regular fixtures on the decks of their ships. So, like all successful hunters, Boyah and his men adapted to their changing environment, and began going after commercial shipping vessels.

They soon attracted others to their cause. “Boyah was a pioneer,” one local journalist told me. “He showed the others the real potential of piracy.”

“There are about 500 pirates operating around Eyl. I am their chairman,” he said, claiming to head up a “central committee” composed of the bosses of 35 other groups.

The position of chairman, however, did not imbue Boyah with the autocratic powers of a traditional gang leader.

Rather, Eyl’s pirate groups functioned as a kind of loose confederation, in which Boyah was a key organiser, re-

cruiter, financier and mission commander. But would-be applicants for the position of pirate (Eyl division) had to come to him, he claimed. Boyah’s sole criteria for a recruit were that he own a gun and be “a hero, and accept death” – qualities that grace the CVs of many desperate local youth. Turnover in Boyah’s core group was low; when I asked if his men ever used their new-found wealth to leave Somalia, he laughed and shook his head. “The only way they leave is when they die.” Boyah, who claimed to have hijacked more than 25 ships, told me that he and his men did not discriminate, but would go after any ship hapless enough to wander into their sights. And despite their ostensible purpose of protecting Somali national waters, during the heat of the chase they paid no regard to international boundaries, pursuing their target until they caught it or it escaped them. Boyah separated his seafaring prey into the broad dichotomy of commercial and tourist ships. The commercial ships, identifiable by the cranes visible on their decks, were much slower and easier to capture. Boyah had gone after too many of these to remember: “a lot” was his most precise estimate.

The basic strategy was crude in its simplicity. In attack groups spread across several small and speedy skiffs, Boyah and his men approached their target on all sides, swarming like a waterborne wolf pack. They brandished their weapons in an attempt to frighten the ship’s crew into stopping, and even fired into the air. If these scare tactics did not work, and if the target ship was capable of outperforming their outboard motors, the chase ended there.

But if they managed to pull even with their target, they tossed hooked rope ladders onto the decks and boarded

THE PROCESS OF THE ATTACK Somali pirates - who have won themselves nearly $200 million in ransom since early 2008 - are being captured more frequently now, and handed over to authorities in Kenya, Yemen and Somalia for trial. (The Big Picture)

LARGEST RANSOM

$ 7MILLION 28 crew members on board, the Maran Centaurus oil tanker was captured in November as it was crossing the Indian Ocean. The tanker was sailing from Kuwait to the United States. In response, the pirates have extended their reach, attacking ships up to 1,800km deep in the Indian Ocean.

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INSIDE STORY

PIRATE ATTACKS

BREAKDOWN OF AFRICA’S PIRATE ATTACKS, 2011

WEST AFRICA

REST OF AFRICA

ATTACKS IN AFRICA

300 247

200

200 152

100 0

119 87 2007

2008

2009

SOMALIA: 130 IVORY COAST, 1 GHANA, 2

2010

2011

RED SEA: 36

GULF OF ADEN: 32

DEM. REP. OF THE CONG0, 4 REP. OF THE CONGO, 3

TOGO, 5

EGYPT, 2

GUINEA, 5

KENYA,1

GUINEA, 6

ANGOLA, 1

BENIN,19

the ship. Instances of the crew fighting back were rare, and rarely effective, and the whole process, from spotting to capturing, took at most 30 minutes. Boyah guessed that only 20% to 30% of attempted hijackings met with success, for which he blamed speedy prey, technical problems and foreign naval or domestic intervention. The captured ship was then steered to a friendly port – in Boyah’s case, Eyl – where guards and interpreters were brought from the shore to look after the hostages during the ransom.

Once the ransom was secured – often routed through banks in London and Dubai and parachuted like a specialdelivery care package directly onto the deck of the ship – it was split among all the concerned parties. Half the money went to the attackers, the men who actually captured the ship. A third went to the operation’s investors: those who fronted the money for the ships, fuel, tracking equipment and weapons. The remaining sixth went

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AFRICAVIEWPOINT

to everyone else: the guards ferried from shore to watch over the hostage crew, the suppliers of food and water, the translators (occasionally high-school students on their summer break), and even the poor and disabled in the local community, who received some as charity. Such largesse, Boyah told me, had made his merry band into Robin Hood figures among the residents of Eyl. Boyah’s moral compass seemed to be divided between sea and shore; he warned me, half-jokingly, not to run into him in a boat, but, despite my earlier misgivings, assured me that he was quite harmless on land. “We’re not murderers,” he said. “We’ve never killed anyone, we just attack ships.”

He insisted that he knew what he was doing was wrong, and, as evidence of his sincerity, relayed how he had just appeared on the local news radio station, Radio Garowe, to call a temporary ceasefire on all pirate activity. Though I was sceptical that he wielded the authority necessary to enforce his decree over a coastline stretching almost

PRESIDENT OF SOMALIA

“Government has set a deadline of May 2012 for this and we are confident of disarming these sea gangs by then.” said Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

(ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty)

1,600km, Boyah stressed that the decision had been made by the central committee – and woe to those who defied its orders. “We will deal with them,” Boyah promised. “We will work with the government forces to capture them and bring them to jail.”

Subsequent events quickly proved that Boyah’s radio statement was just so much background noise. Just days after his announced ceasefire, a pirate gang in the Gulf of Aden committed the first commercial hijacking of 2009, capturing a German liquid petroleum tanker along with her 13 crew members. The Central Committee has wreaked no vengeance on those responsible. Boyah himself had not gone on a mission for over two months, for which he had a two-pronged explanation: “I got sick, and became rich.” His fortune made, Boyah’s call to end hijackings came from a position of luxury that most others did not enjoy. I questioned Boyah on whether his ceasefire had been at least partially motivated by the Nato task force recently deployed to deal with him and his colleagues.

Throughout our conversation, Boyah had been gazing off into space between my questions, looking bored. Soon he grew restless, mumbling discontentedly as he glanced at the two o’clock sun that “the day is already over”. I managed to slip in one final question, asking him for his most exhilarating high-seas chase. He brightened up and launched into the story of the Golden Nori, a Japanese chemical tanker he had captured in October 2007 about 14km off the northern Somali coast. “Almost immediately after we had boarded the ship the US Navy surrounded it, The destroyer USS Porter was the first to respond”.

AFRICAVIEWPOINT

45

INTERVIEW

ONEonONE

SOMALI PRESIDENT Sheik Sharif Ahmed

He described his job as the most difficult in the world, and he may be right. Now in its 19th year of civil war and without a government worthy of the name, Somalia is the world’s most failed state, shattered by war and serving as a safe haven for both al-Qaeda and pirates. Sharif, a strict Islamist who nevertheless believes in dialogue with the West and who came to power in January, rules little more than a few blocks in Mogadishu, and recently even that has been threatened by a ferocious attack by his former allies in Somalia’s Islamist movement.

Q&A

Is your government going to survive? How? How do you achieve peace and stability in the world’s most lawless country?

I am confident the government will survive. Fighting in Mogadishu does not mean the government is feeble enough to be toppled. The Somali people and their government are facing the challenges seriously to stop the fighting. My hope is that wars in Somalia eventually become something for the history books. Of course, when you have to start everything from zero and the nation has to be completely reconstructed, there are incredible obstacles and a rough road ahead.

What kind of assistance do you need? Peacekeeping? Humanitarian? Military? Or is any assistance foreign interference?

There is nothing left in Somalia. It is ruined. Wars continue. The situation in which we find ourselves [as a government] is ... abnormal. We need all kinds of assistance from the world in building up our national security forces, reconstructing destroyed cities and returning displaced people. We need assistance to re-establish sources of income and to create jobs for the people so that they can live without having to break the law. [We also need to] restore collapsed social services, education and health.

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AFRICAVIEWPOINT

We have some troops [a 4,900-strong African Union peacekeeping force] here, and reinforcing this mission may be necessary. It seems those opposing us want Somalia to be in this turmoil indefinitely. They are not interested in talks to end this war.

What does your government offer for the world and Somalia? Peace and development?

Absolutely, we offer peace to the world. My dream is to see peaceful, prosperous Somalia where everyone can get his rights, freedom and livelihood without harming others.

What does radical opposition Islamist leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys offer Somalia and the world?

Sheik Hassan and I once worked together, guided by principle, and I believe I am still on the same road. What he believed to be impossible became possible. Sheik Hassan believed Ethiopia [which invaded in 2006 to topple a previous Islamist government that included Sharif and Aweys] would not withdraw and change was not feasible.

[But] Ethiopia pulled its troops out of Somalia in 2008 and change came. He had a role to play and could have helped us to reinstate our nationhood. He has a duty to make Somalia peaceful.

Is your government going to survive? How? How do you achieve peace and stability in the world’s most lawless country?

I am confident the government will survive. Fighting in Mogadishu does not mean the government is feeble enough to be toppled. The Somali people and their government are facing the challenges seriously to stop the fighting. My hope is that wars in Somalia eventually become something for the history books. Of course, when you have to start everything from zero and the nation has to be completely reconstructed, there are incredible obstacles and a rough road ahead.

What kind of assistance do you need? Peacekeeping? Humanitarian? Military? Or is any assistance foreign interference?

There is nothing left in Somalia. It is ruined. Wars continue. The situation in which we find ourselves [as a government] is ... abnormal. We need all kinds of assistance from the world in building up our national security forces, reconstructing destroyed cities and returning displaced people. We need assistance to re-establish sources of income and to create jobs for the people so that they can live without having to break the law. [We also need to] restore collapsed social services, education and health. We have some troops [a 4,900-strong African Union peacekeeping force] here, and reinforcing this mission may be necessary. It seems those opposing us want Somalia to be in this turmoil indefinitely. They are not interested in talks to end this war.

What does your government offer for the world and Somalia? Peace and development?

Absolutely, we offer peace to the world. My dream is to see peaceful, prosperous Somalia where everyone can get his rights, freedom and livelihood without harming others.

What does radical opposition Islamist leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys offer Somalia and the world?

Sheik Hassan and I once worked together, guided by principle, and I believe I am still on the same road. What he believed to be impossible became possible. Sheik Hassan believed Ethiopia [which invaded in 2006 to topple a previous Islamist government that included Sharif and Aweys] would not withdraw and change was not feasible.

[But] Ethiopia pulled its troops out of Somalia in 2008 and change came. He had a role to play and could have helped us to reinstate our nationhood. He has a duty to make Somalia peaceful.

Born: 25 July 1964, Mahadai, Somalia.

Languages: Somali & Arabic.

Studied University: Libya and Sudan.

Religion: Sunni Muslim.

Entered Politics: 1991.

Political Party: (ARS) Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia.

Sheik Hassan objects strongly to your relations with the U.S., as does al-Qaeda.

It is vital for the government to have a relationship with the U.S. We do not live on an isolated island. We need to be assisted to rebuild the country and recover from civil war. Any assistance to Somalia, any relations that are serving the interest of the people, is not shameful.

It is progress.

Can you end piracy?

The pirates who hunt down ships are based on land.

That’s the reality. We can play our part by organizing locals to reject piracy on land. We have also started restructuring Somalia’s navy. I have appointed an experienced general to be the commander of the navy.

Can your government act as a bridge between Islamists and the West?

Without leaving our Islamic principles, we can have relations with the West. I believe my government can succeed in reducing the gap.

Why is Somalia seemingly so important to Osama bin Laden? Why is it so attractive to foreign Islamist fighters?

The reason foreign fighters pour into our country is that there is lack of governance and there are Somalis who work tirelessly for Somalia to be stuck in chaos forever who welcome these people. Somalis have to understand the consequences that these foreigners have. Everyone can contribute to peace and development. But it is obvious that our friends have been misled by outsiders.

What is the price of failure in Somalia?

A failed state will disrupt the security of the region and the whole world.

AFRICAVIEWPOINT

47

SPECIAL REPORT

GADHAFI

MOAMMAR GADHAFI’S Influence on AFRICA Libya’s leader bought political influence across the continent, paying for peacekeeping missions

BY GEOFFREY YORK

W

hen he pronounced himself the “king of kings” on the African continent, Moammar Gadhafi was widely seen as a buffoon and a megalomaniac. But behind the absurd titles, behind the crown and sceptre that were awarded to him by his hand-picked collection of African tribal monarchs, Col. Gadhafi had a profound impact on Africa.

And for better or worse, he will leave a vacuum behind him on the African landscape if he is toppled from power in Libya.

Col. Gadhafi was the last major global leader who promoted the dream of pan-African unity. He had his own self-interested reasons for this quixotic campaign, of course, since his own ambition was to become the powerful ruler of a new United States of Africa. But his disappearance from the political stage would remove the last remaining enthusiast for a European-style political union in Africa.

“Without Gadhafi, the pan-African movement is dead,” said Laura Seay, a political scientist at Morehouse College in Atlanta who specializes in African politics. “He was the only prominent voice driving that movement. He was keeping those ideas alive. There’s nobody else with the financial resources available.” Under his grandiose ambitions, the United States of Africa would have its own common army, its own passport, and its own currency (to be named, he said solemnly, “the Afro”).

There was little chance that this scheme could succeed in a badly divided continent, and there was little practical support for his ideas at the African Union, even when he served as the AU chairman from 2009 to 2010. But by tirelessly marketing this idea, he kept alive the dream that Africa could overcome its differences and find some form

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As pressure grew throughout the day, Mr Ben Ali - who has been in power since 1987 - dismissed the government, before later quitting. For the protesters, the president’s downfall was a victory, although it was not immediately clear what the shift in power would mean. of unity. After him, the dreams will be smaller. Col. Gadhafi, one of the wealthiest leaders on the continent, did not hesitate to use Libya’s vast oil money to buy political influence across Africa. This money, in turn, helps to pay for peacekeeping missions, humanitarian aid, infrastructure projects, political organizations, and support for fragile states.

In his drive to transform the African Union into a single government under his personal dominance, he became one of the AU’s biggest benefactors. Libya provided 15 per cent of the AU’s membership dues. It also paid for the dues of many smaller and poorer countries. If his 42 years of authoritarian rule are ending, the AU will struggle to keep its financing intact.

“It would change the African Union’s dynamics completely,” Prof. Seay said. “The AU would become less effective. He’s been such a key player in the AU. What will it mean for peacekeeping in Somalia and Darfur? Those peacekeeping missions are already hanging by a thread – they’re already so under-equipped and under-staffed.”

The AU peacekeeping force in Somalia, with its 8,000 troops battling against the Islamic radicals who threaten to seize control of the war-torn country, could be weakened if the AU loses the money that Col. Gadhafi pro-

Why Africa needed Gadhafi?

LIBYA

1.MALI 3.NIGER

4.CHAD

6.SUDAN 7.ETHIOPIA

2.LIBERIA

5.C.A.R 8.SOMALIA

1. MALI Col. Gadhafi’s money and diplomacy have helped to resolve conflicts in northern Mali between rebels and the government. Those conflicts could flare up again since he exits has the stage.

2. LIBERIA Libya has provided $65-million in investment projects, helping to strengthen the rule of President Ellen Johnson 3. NIGER Here, too, Col. Gadhafi has helped to prop up the government, and the authorities would become more fragile without his money.

4. CHAD Col. Gadhafi has been a key supporter of the government, which would weaken if it lost his aid revenue.

5. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Libya has helped to prop up the fragile government, sending paratroopers into the capital in 2001 to defeat a rebel assault. The government could become more fragile now.

6. SUDAN The 20,000-troop peacekeeping mission in Darfur, jointly supported by the African Union and the United Nations, could be hampered if the AU loses funding from Col. Gadhafi. This could weaken the peace effort in Darfur, destabilizing the country.

7. ETHIOPIA The African Union, based in the capital, could find itself in financial trouble if it loses the massive support that Col. Gadhafi gives it. Under his rule, Libya supplied 15 per cent of the AU’s membership dues, and it also paid the dues of many smaller and poorer African nations.

8. SOMALIA The African Union peacekeeping mission, whose 8,000 soldiers are crucial to the battle against Islamic radicals in Mogadishu, could be severely weakened if the AU lost the financial support of Col. Gadhafi.

AFRICAVIEWPOINT

51

SPECIAL REPORT

GADHAFI

FACTS & FIGURES

$150 BILLION

Amount that went to foreign countries, most of it into impoverished African nations.

30,000

people Could be hosted in the Mosque that was built by Gadhafi in Uganda & Mali.

600 troops

Gadhafi sent to support Uganda’s much-hated Idi Amin in the final throes of his dictatorship.

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vided. A similar peacekeeping mission in Darfur, whose 20,000 troops are supported by the AU and the United Nations, could be similarly jeopardized if the AU loses its Libyan money. Beyond the peacekeeping missions, a host of smaller African countries have become dependent on Col. Gadhafi as a source of aid money, infrastructure projects and military support. Fragile states such as Chad and the Central African Republic have needed Libya’s support when they were threatened with coups. Poorer countries such as Liberia, Mali and Niger have relied on Libya for financial support and investment. Libya has won praise for providing humanitarian aid to the Darfuri refugees in Chad, and for helping to forge a ceasefire between Chad and Sudan.

Most of his donations and loans, certainly, were intended to advance his personal ambitions. Earlier in his career, Col. Gadhafi had campaigned for pan-Arab unity, seeing himself as a “man of history.” But when Libya was isolated on the global stage as a result of the sanctions imposed on it for its support of international terrorism in the 1980s and 1990s, he became furious that the Arab nations seemed indifferent to him. He turned, instead, to Africa, where his support seemed greater. “After moving on from his dream of pan-Arab leadership, Gadhafi fun-

nelled billions of dollars into cultivating relationships in sub-Saharan Africa that would facilitate his leadership of the African Union,” the U.S. embassy in Tripoli reported in 2009 in a confidential cable obtained by WikiLeaks.

It described how the Libyan dictator had ordered his personal designers to incorporate African maps and images into his vast collection of clothing, including a large green Africa-shaped brooch, a camouflage-style tunic with Africa-shaped patterns, and a jersey emblazoned with portraits of famous African leaders. Most Libyans still saw themselves as Arabs, but Col. Gadhafi worked ceaselessly to portray his country as African, the cable said. “A domestic propaganda campaign designed to represent Libya as an African state was also undertaken: billboards and larger-than-life murals depict Gadhafi emerging, messiah-like, from a glowing green Libya into an embracing African continent.” Despite the long-standing conflicts between Washington and Tripoli, the U.S. diplomats actually saw Col. Gadhafi as a constructive and useful player on some African issues. “When approached with appropriate deference, Libya can be an effective actor – leveraging support and connections on the continent to secure our foreign-policy interests, as it has done (to an extent) in Chad, Sudan and Somalia,” the embassy

cable said. “Gadhafi was a true revolutionary who focused on improving the lives of the underdeveloped countries,” said Sheik Muthal Bin-Muslim, from the Gadhafi mosque in Sierra Leone’s capital that was built with Libyan funds.

Muslim worshippers were planning an all-night vigil in honor of the slain Libyan leader.

Col. Gadhafi opted to use “dinar diplomacy” a reference to the Libyan currency to create

“A new and larger sphere of influence,”

The embassy said in the cable.

If the Libyan strongman now disappears ignominiously from the stage, one of the biggest winners will be China.

Until now, Libya was one of the few countries that could challenge Beijing’s mounting influence in Africa. Libya was one of the few powers with enough money and ambition to offer an alternative to China as a source of investment and financing for African nations. If the long-ruling dictator is finally toppled, Libya’s ambitions are likely to become much smaller and more modest. In the aftermath, China could emerge as an even stronger power on the African continent.

AFRICAVIEWPOINT

53

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OBAMA

SPECIAL REPORT

OBAMA turning his back on AFRICA ?

Reports Peter Kimani

T

he Kenyan nationalist Tom Mboya and the AfricanAmerican icon Martin Luther King Jnr, whose memorials were inaugurated in October, 40 years after both were assassinated, have one thing in common: Barack Obama.

But the US president failed to make the connection. Two separate but distinctly connected events happened in October in Kenya and the USA. In fact, the historical parallels between them are eerie: two men, whose singular strength lay in the persuasion of their words, were both resurrected four decades after they were felled by assassins’ bullets.

The Kenyan nationalist Tom Mboya was retrieved from history vaults to tower over a Nairobi street that now bears his name, in a life-size bronze monument – only metres away from the spot where he was killed in July 1969.

And in Washington DC, Martin Luther King Jnr’s granite monument hovered in the National Mall, on the fringes of

Obama’s calculated distancing from the continent for political expediency is unwise; it also diminishes his humanity – ubuntu – the solid principle that propelled him to power in the first place. the spot where he delivered the epochal I Have A Dream speech, now a revered signpost in America’s social and political evolution. The import of these two events is not just underlined by their coincidences; Mboya and King’s lives did often intersect, more so in the late 1950s when they successfully launched what’s now immortalised as the student airlift. Under this programme, some 800 Kenyan students were dispatched to American universities to acquire the skills badly needed to develop the newly independent Kenya. It was on the back of this airlift that the father of President Barack Obama, Obama Senior, would arrive on American shores to seek education, and in the process find love that culminated in the birth of the 44th president of the United States. In

that sense, President Barack Obama is the common denominator in the histories of Tom Mboya and Martin Luther King.Obama gave a lofty speech at the inauguration of Dr King’s monument in Washington but made no reference to the Kenyan event, which came only days later, and which officials in Nairobi say Obama had been invited to inaugurate.

Obama’s omission of the Kenya fete is understandable.

Hounded by a hysterical right-wing media that routinely demands evidence of his American birth, Obama appears to cringe at every mention of his fatherland. In any case, he is the US president, and there are pressing matters to attend to on the home front. Yet, this momentary lapse – even in speech – AFRICAVIEWPOINT

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SPECIAL REPORT

OBAMA

rather than providing a dramatic pause, is disrupting a continuous engagement between Africa and Black America, of which Mboya and King were mere purveyors of a long-established tradition.

From the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, which was spurred by the exodus of millions of blacks from the Jim Crow South, they turned to Africa to reaffirm their pride as human beings after centuries of subjugation.

Half a century later, another cycle of interest would start about Africa in the 1950s and 1960s and the Black Power revolution, when civil rights movements in the US found traction with liberation struggles in Africa. This was the time Mboya and King’s lives intersected. Both men had the gifts of rhetoric that they used from different pedestals: King had the pulpit; Mboya had the august House, having won a parliamentary seat in Nairobi, a metropolis then reeling from the colonial order that designated employment, residence and even suffrage rights according to the colour bar. Hailing from Mbita Island, a poor hamlet near Lake Victoria, Mboya had grown up near the small industrial town immortalised in Elspeth Huxley’s book, The Flame Trees of Thika.

While a water inspector with the Nairobi City Council, Mboya is reputed to have riled a white official who went calling at work. Upon enquiring why nobody (implying white officers) was in the office, Mboya memorably responded: “What’s wrong with your sight? Can’t you see me?” The 1990s was yet another time when Black America turned to Africa – educationists of the time thought it would be useful to inspire more confidence in African-American students by having them learn more about the continent from whence their ancestors came. That was the time Obama, the future politician, made his tour of Kenya which was much awaited by his fellow kenyans. It was his second visit, and in his own words, it was on this trip that he reconciled with his past and discovered a greater purpose in life.

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“We’re focusing on too many things right now. Our biggest issue is the economy. People are hungry; people want work. Honest to God, it’s tough times.”

Barack Obama

No doubt, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is the foundational treatise that catapulted Obama onto the US national political stage. He would turn to Africa once again in 2008 when he focused on his Kenyan roots as the unique attribute that made his candidature an affirmation of the American dream that everything was possible. In a recent book by the Syracuse academic, Horace Camp-

liberal Democrats support on Obama’s record on jobs

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bell, Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA, he develops the story further to situate the African humanistic principle of ubuntu, as Obama’s driving force in the 2008 successful election

run. “Obama, as a student of the black liberation school,” Campbell writes, “tapped into the humanist philosophy of ubuntu and the optimism embedded in the message of hope.”

Hence the surprise at Obama’s ambivalence towards his fatherland during his presidency. US diplomats in Nairobi say Kenya is not in Obama’s diary, at least not yet, although he has found the time to tour Ireland and reassert his maternal links with the country, a useful trick in reaching out to nearly 40 million Irish-Americans as he seeks re-election next year. He further distances himself from Africa in his recent literary offering, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters, a children’s book that hails 13 great Americans whose traits he sees in his own children. The storybook features African-American greats like Martin Luther King and singer Billie Holiday, as well as great statesmen like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. That is as it should be, for Obama’s half-lineage is American, and his relatives from Kenya appear to be giving him nothing but trouble, if you were to believe the right-wing press. If Obama’s aunt is not on the brink of deportation due to immigration status issues, then there is an uncle caught drink-driving, his only coherent line: “I think I wanna call the White House.” •

FOCUS

MALAWI

MUTHARIKA ON A SL Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika assumed power in 2004 promising voters in one of the poorest nations on earth a new dawn. After being credited with turning Malawi into the second fastest growing economy in the world, he went on to win a second term with a landslide victory in 2009.

By Joseph Kayira

B

ut barely two years later, commodity prices are spiralling and fuel and forex shortages have become the order of the day amid accusations of economic mismanagement, leading the IMF to suspend its aid to the country.

The former economist has also managed to upset the donor community with what they have called his autocratic behaviour. Whereas once it praised him for his efforts to root out corruption, his zero tolerance stance is being viewed as a tool to silence his political opponents.

One of them is his predecessor Bakili Muluzi, who is being dragged through the courts on corruption charges.

Accusations that the president has become increasingly intolerant appeared to be borne out when he expelled the UK’s envoy to Malawi in April following criticism of the government, and again in July when riots against inflation and unemployment resulted in at least 20 people being shot dead by police and many more injured. The UK, Malawi’s biggest donor, was among the countries that withheld $500m in aid after raising concerns about human rights abuses.

When he was voted to power in 2004, Mutharika was the presidential candidate of the ruling United Democratic Front. But less than a year into his administration, he resigned from the party following internal acrimony and formed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Having demonstrated his single-mindedness, he introduced a President of Malawi Bingu Wa Mutharika, during the Opening Plenary of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.

(World Economic Forum)

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AFRICAVIEWPOINT

IPPERY SLOPE subsidy programme in 2005 to lift the productivity of smallholder farmers after several years of drought brought poor harvests. He did so against the advice of the IMF and World Bank, which said it was too expensive and undermined private sector activity.

Output was dramatically increased and Malawi became a net food exporter.

But in the midst of the crippling economic crisis, exacerbated by falling tobacco prices, the scheme has been cut back. During the 2010/11 farming season 1.6 million farmers received vouchers to buy heavily subsidised fertiliser and maize seed, costing the government and donors $152.3m. But in October it was announced that 200,000 farmers would be taken off the programme and that a reduced amount of subsidised fertiliser would be available. The financial downturn and Malawi’s dependence on aid for 40 per cent of its income seem to have conspired to tighten the noose around Mutharika’s neck. Faced with mounting criticism at home and abroad, he has responded with characteristic stubbornness by increasing the powers of the police and restricting the weak - press freedoms.

In February, a lecturer at Chancellor College, part of the University of Malawi, landed himself in hot water when he likened Malawi’s fuel and forex shortage to the situation in Tunisia and Egypt, where popular uprisings had just managed to oust hated leaders. The government was furious and the inspector general of police was despatched to question the errant academic. Alarmed by this turn of events, his colleagues demanded an apology from the police. It never came. In fact, it was Mutharika chancellor of the University of Malawi

and commander-in-chief of the Malawi police service - who responded, stoutly defending the police’s actions, saying a police chief would never apologise to a ‘mere lecturer’. Academic staff boycotted all classes and the college has been closed indefinitely since April. That month, Mutharika caused an even bigger upset when he expelled the British ambassador, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, after he criticised the southern African country’s leadership as autocratic in a leaked diplomatic cable. ‘Government has decided to expel High Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet because the tone in the leaked cable was not diplomatic ... government has lost confidence in him,’ Vuwa Kaunda, a government spokesman, said at the time. In retaliation, the UK withdrew some of its aid to Malawi. Last year it provided about $30m in budget support to Malawi. ‘The right to peacefully assemble and demonstrate faced a terrible setback this year,’ said Augustine Magolowondo, a political analyst based in the capital Lilongwe, referring to the harsh crackdown of July’s anti-government protests.

‘The heavy-handedness with which the authorities have responded to demonstrations needs no emphasis. There were even some unorthodox [ways of ] repressing basic freedoms when it was suggested by the authorities that those who wanted to demonstrate must pay a deposit of [$12,000], itself a colossal amount of money, which effectively was to curtail such constitutional rights.’

That proposal was dropped and since October ‘provocative movements’ or ‘protest gatherings and demonstrations’ have been banned to preserve ‘peace and harmony in the country’, information and civic education minister Patricia Kaliati told reporters. Magolowondo

Facts & Figures

The Main Political Party (PEOPLES PARTY)

JULY 1964

Won independence from The United Kingdom

15 Million Population

118,484 km2 Total Area

said the DPP’s huge majority in parliament means that its roles of oversight and providing checks and balances have been ‘greatly compromised’. wAn additional blow for those seeking to have their voice heard has been the decision to postpone this year’s local government’s elections until2014. This is not the first time local elections have been put back - none have been held since 2000.

‘During the first five years of the Mutharika administration, Malawi made significant positive strides in socio-economic development,’ acknowledged Magolowondo. ‘This was particularly in the area of infrastructural devel AFRICAVIEWPOINT

59

DISPLACEMENT ISTHE RESULT Villagers fleeing gunfire in a camp for internally displaced persons during the fights in Malawi’s Capital City, Lilongwe. (The Big Picture)

opment and food security. It was only natural for people to hope for a better future under the same administration, hence the overwhelming mandate that the DPP got in 2009 general elections.

Unfortunately, in the last couple of years, the much touted economic miracle has been facing challenges that in effect have shaken the very foundations of Malawi’s success story.’

In February, civil society organisations’ attempt to stage a demonstration against fuel shortages and rising prices ended before it even got off the ground with the arrest and brief detention of its leaders. Billy Mayaya was one of the organisers of the July 20 protests, which attempted to present a petition to the president outlining public concerns over the worsening economic situation and the feeling that democratic space was being sgueezed. ‘The expectation had been that the government would concede that the situation was dire and that there would be an incremental response to the key concerns raised in the petition,’ he recalled. Instead both the

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police and army were deployed to break up the protest, which spread from Lilongwe to the biggest city, Blantyre, and Mzuzu in the north.

President Mutharika vowed to ‘ensure peace using any measure I can think of ’, as protesters gathered for a second day. ‘If you break shops and banks, will you have fuel? You demonstrated yesterday, but is there fuel today? These people are not being led by God, they are being led by Satan,’ he stormed. Mutharika and his political allies believe that there are elements inside and outside bent on sabotaging his administration, punishing it for its independent mind-

were unrealistic. The UN’s IRIN news agency quoted Randall as saying, ‘There are a number of structural constraints that Malawian industry is facing like shortage of fuel, inconsistent electricity supply, water shortages in cities ... All this has affected output.’ Under pressure from the IMF, Mutharika devalued the local kwacha currency by 10 per cent in August. The lending institution had made it clear that it would resume its aid programme if the country devalued its currency, saying that the strong kwacha had been hurting the economy by making Malawi exports more expensive for foreign customers and also creating shortage of forex. In August, British for-

“

There are a number of structural constraints that Malawian industry is facing like shortage of fuel, inconsistent electricity supply, water shortages in cities ... All this has affected output.’

edness over its food subsidy scheme.

Although the president has privatised loss-making state enterprises, the IMP and World Bank want him to free up the economy much more. In June, the IMP’s resident representative Ruby Randall told local media in Lilongwe the government’s growth forecasts of 6.9 per cent for 2011 and 6.6 per cent for 2012

eign secretary, William Hague, said he remained concerned about the situation in Malawi. He urged Mutharika to allow legitimate democratic debate and to open a genuine dialogue with civil society organisations. ‘Malawi’s grave economic crisis can only be tackled if the government works with the international donor community. If this doesn’t

2 DAYS

of protests across malawi

18 Deaths

and 98 seriously injured

275 Arrests becuase of protesting

926 People

displaced because of all this

happen, then the economic and social progress made in the recent years will be lost,’ he warned.

The UK is continuing to give Malawi aid that does not go through the government amounting to $145m over the next year, but Norway, the World Bank and Germany have suspended theirs, as has the US through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Following the violent crackdown of the July protests, Washington announced it was putting on hold a $350.7m five-year energy deal it signed with the Malawi government because of poor governance.

In a statement, the US said at the core of an MCC partnership is the expectation that countries maintain a demonstrated commitment to political pluralism, human rights and the rule of law throughout the life of the programme.

The MCC agreement was expected to benefit over six million Malawians by reducing energy costs to enterprises and households, improve productivity in the agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors, and support the preservation and creation of employment opportunities in the economy. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 75 per cent of the population living on less than $1 a day. A fall

MEDREACH Builds Capabilities.

LILONGWE, Malawi.

Army Col. Marcus De Oliveira, the U.S. Army Africa chief of staff, closed the MEDREACH 11 medical humanitarian assistance exercise here praising the participating U.S. and Malawi Defense Force troops who “accomplished every exercise objective and achieved far more than we asked of them.”

It succeeded in Malawi, “because here we found a professional force that stood side by side with us in planning, and working to help the citizens of Malawi.”

in tobacco exports, which accounts for over half of the country’s forex earnings, has only made the situation worse.

Civil society groups behind the July protests said Malawi was facing a ‘series of catastrophes’. ‘There is cause to believe that the current (acute shortages of fuel, electricity and foreign currency) shortages are the worst in all our 47 years (since independence),’ the statement said. They accused the government of failing to listen to the concerns of people, and they feared Malawi was turning into an ‘autocratic kleptocracy’.

Today, there are still long queues at filling stations and, speaking to people, there is little hope that the situation will improve soon. Traders are making a killing on the black market, selling fuel at double the price to hapless motorists from jerry cans and drums. But Mutharika is resisting donor pressure to liberalise fuel, saying, ‘We have requested for reserves to cater for lean times as we have done with maize. Our fuel companies do not keep any [reserves] as they say it is expensive to do so, and that is why we have always run into shortages.’

In an attempt to share some of the public’s pain, the government has suspended foreign travel of its officials. Kamuzu Chibambo, president of People’s

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FOCUS

ETHOPIA

ETHIOPIA WARNS ER The Ethiopian government issued a strong statement warning Eritrea of severe consequences until it stops interfering in the destabilizing of Ethiopia’s sovereignty and peace. The statement also express its condolence to the families of those killed in this cruel attack and promise that to do everything possible to release the prisoners soon. by: Abraham Fisseha

T

he Ethiopian government’s tolerance towards a regime that openly supports terrorist activity is inevitably wearing thinner by the day. The Government cannot and should not sit idly by while the regime in Asmara continues to sponsor acts of terror within Ethiopia’s territory with impunity.” The Ethiopian foreign ministry stated in a statement following the killing and abducting of tourist by a group supported by Eritrea.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs further noted that, Ethiopia will be obliged to take whatever action is necessary to stop the activities of the Eritrean regime once and for all unless the international community assumes its responsibilities and takes the necessary steps to bring this abominable behaviour to an end.

According to the Foreign Minister’s statement, The Ethiopian Government believes that it is still not too late for international action. At the same time, the Government would like to reiterate that the international community has never been the last line of defence against Eritrea’s destabilizing activities. It should be made clear that Ethiopia has the right to defend itself and it will do so if necessary. “The government of Ethiopia is of the view that, the time is overdue for the international community to become se-

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rious about the destabilizing role of the Eritrean regime in the region. This latest cowardly attack against innocent tourists clearly shows Asamara’s contempt for the notion of international law and customs.” The statement added The government statement is the strongest of its kind in the last few years and it has criticized the International community of not taking serious measures against Eritrea” It is an open secret that the regime in Asmara focuses its ‘diplomatic’ efforts on trying to intimidate and terrorize the international community rather than operate through normal diplomatic norms. It is also becoming obvious that the international Community’s failure to take serious action against the regime is effectively reinforcing Eritrea’s recalcitrant behavior” “The government of Ethiopia believes that this terrorist act is intended to coincide with the upcoming African Union Summit being held in Addis Ababa at the end of the month. It might be recalled that it was almost exactly a year ago that a major bombing plot was foiled in Addis Ababa, intended to disrupt the African Union Summit last January.” The statement further stated According to the statement the government of Ethiopia believes that the attack was carried out with the direct involvement of the Eritrean Government and

DAR ES SALAAM/TANZANIA, H.E. Meles Zenawi (President of Ethiopia) at the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Dar es Salaam. (World Economic Forum)

he Ethiopian government believes that the people who have been kidnapped might have been taken across the border into Eritrea.

“On previous occasions, when tourists have been kidnapped, the Eritrean government had tried to use the prisoners as a bargaining chip in its diplomatic activities.” The statement recall-

ITREA ATTACK Facts & Figures

1964

Largest producer of livestock in the world

June 2000

An agreement on Cessation of Hostilities between the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea

84.7 Million Population

US $390 GNI per capita

“

The government of Ethiopia is of the view that, the time is overdue for the international community to become serious about the destabilizing role of the Eritrean regime in the region.

ing about the fate of tourist who were abducted last years from the area and released in Eritrea. The government of Ethiopia believes that this terrorist act is intended to coincide with the upcoming African Union Summit being held in Addis Ababa at the end of the month.

It might be recalled that it was almost exactly a year ago that the Ethiopian

Government claim to foiled a major bombing plot in Addis Ababa, intended to disrupt the African Union Summit last January. A UN Security Council demand for a voluntary international arms embargo against both sides has met an uncompromising response in both Addis Ababa and Asmara. Salome Tadesse, spokeswoman for the Ethiopian gov-

ernment, said; “Ethiopia does not want this war. Ethiopia has been attacked in its national sovereignity. If you are attacked on your own land, what do you do?”

Meanwhile in Asmara, a foreign ministry official said: “We find it unacceptable that the Security Coucil cannot point our the aggressor.” Ethiopia expressed its regret for the alleged killing of five Eritrean civilians on Tuesday by aerial raids. But in a communique, it added: “Eritrean authorities should never have positioned civilians so close to the hostile border for any length of time.” UN Correspondent Jon Leyne: AFRICAVIEWPOINT

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FOCUS

ETHOPIA

Ethipoa-Eritrea Timeline

Italian Coloony until 1941

Peace

Eritrea federated 1952

Conflict

Annexed

by Ethopia 1962

AGREEMENT ON CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES In the meantime, the proximity talks between Ethiopia and Eritrea, conducted under the chairmanship of the Minister of Justice of Algeria and the Personal Envoy of the Current Chairman of OAU, resumed in Algiers on 30 May. Those talks culminated in the signing, on 18 June 2000, of the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea by the Foreign Ministers of both countries, under the auspices of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, in his capacity as the Current Chairman of OAU. The talks were conducted with the assistance of the Personal Envoy of the Presidency of the European Union, Rino Serri, and the representative of the President of the United States, Anthony Lake.

The Agreement committed the parties to an immediate cessation of hostilities. The parties also reaffirmed their acceptance of the OAU Framework Agreement and its Modalities. Under the Agreement, the parties called upon AFRICAVIEWPOINT

Eritrian Independece 1993

New boundary map 1997

War 1998

PRESENT

Though both were ruled by the Abyssinian Empire, both the Eritrean and Ethiopian territories have varied and distinct histories.

There is confusion and frustration in the United Nations. Diplomats at the UN said the Security Council was likely to apply a mandatory embargo if the fighting in the disputed border area does not stop.

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Mengistu Ethipian Regime ends 1991

the United Nations, in cooperation with OAU, to establish a peacekeeping operation to assist in the implementation of the Agreement.

United nations mission established In a 30 June 2000 report (S/2000/643) to the Security Council, the SecretaryGeneral described the Agreement as the first but extremely vital step towards the restoration of peace between the two countries. He informed the Council about his intention to dispatch an “appropriate” number of liaison officers to each capital, to be followed by the deployment of a military observer group. It was envisaged that up to a to-

European Tourists Slain In Ethiopia, Eritrea Defensive!

tal of 100 United Nations military observers would gradually be deployed to each country over the next two months, pending the establishment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation. On 31 June, the Security Council, by its resolution 1312 (2000), decided to establish the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) consisting of up to 100 military observers and the necessary civilian support staff in anticipation of a peacekeeping operation subject to future authorization.

The Mission’s mandate would be to undertake the following tasks: establish and maintain liaison with the parties;

The killing and kidnapping of European tourists in Ethiopia its a kind of Déjà vu with what happened nearly 4 years ago in March 2007 same place, same kind of people and same suspects! Then, tyrant Isias was on the defensive and now he is on the defensive again! At the time, 5 Brits were kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown assailants.

Ethiopia charged Eritrea tyrant Isias Afareki with involvemnt in the matter for the kidnapped Brits were taken to Eritrea. Then and now, tyrant Isias strongly denies involvement in such matters.

visit the parties’ military headquarters and other units in all areas of operation of the mission deemed necessary by the Secretary-General; establish and put into operation the mechanism for verifying the cessation of hostilities; prepare for the establishment of the Military Coordination Commission provided for in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement; and assist in planning for a future peacekeeping operation.

Reporting to the Security Council on 9 August, the Secretary-General outlined the mandate of the expanded UNMEE and recommended a total of 4,200 military personnel, including 220 military observers, three infantry battalions and the necessary support units, to moni-

MEE would be composed of “political, military, public information, mine action and administrative components, and include a mechanism for coordination of its activities with those of the humanitarian community”. A Special Representative who would have overall authority and maintain close contact with the political and military leadership of the Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as OAU, would head the Mission and the United Nations country teams in both countries. Offices in Addis Ababa and Asmara would be complemented by regional headquarters based in Mendefera, western Eritrea, and Mekele, northern Ethiopia.

“

The Secretary-General was asked to continue planning for a peacekeeping operation and to begin to take the administrative measures for assembling it, subject to future Council authorization.

tor the ceasefire and border delineation between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The report, based on the findings of the United Nations reconnaissance mission to the region, recommended that with the poor infrastructure and difficult terrain, the mission should use planes and helicopters, as well as ground forces and armoured personnel carriers. UN-

The Mission would be deployed in three phases. The first phase, already under way, would involve the despatch of liaison officers to each capital. Under the second phase, up to 100 military observers along with necessary civilian support staff would be deployed. In phase three, the full peacekeeping operation would be deployed once it was

authorized by the Security Council. By resolution 1320 of 15 September 2000, the Security Council welcomed the Secretary-General’s report of 9 August 2000 and authorized the deployment within UNMEE of up to 4,300 troops until 15 March 2001.

COMPREHENSIVE PEACE AGREEMENT SIGNED. In the meantime, the parties continued negotiations aimed at a final and comprehensive peace settlement of the conflict. The talks, facilitated by President Bouteflika of Algeria, resulted in the signing on 12 December 2000 in Algiers of a comprehensive Peace Agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Secretary-General welcomed the Agreement as a “victory for the voice of reason, for the power of diplomacy and for the recognition that neither one of those countries -- nor the continent as a whole -- can afford another decade, another year, another day of conflict”.

“The United Nations and the international community are determined to work closely with the parties to ensure the implementation of both the 18 July Agreement and the one signed today, so that lasting peace can be achieved and that reconstruction can begin,” the Secretary-General said. He emphasized that UNMEE would accomplish its tasks expeditiously.

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ROLE & POTENTIAL

DIASPORA

Defining The DIASPORA’S POTENTIAL Beyond the broad categorizations of the African diaspora and rhetorical questions. An important and timely question about what role the African diaspora plays and should play in supporting Africa’s growth.

REPORTS Tom Nevin

F

atunla correctly lists remittances, tourism and brain drain as areas where diaspora have proven to have a critical impact in Africa, albeit sporadic at times. These are the most recognizable ways in which diaspora relate with Africa. They are not comparable to the experience of day-to-day living in Africa, but as a member of the diaspora that once relocated to my ancestral homeland of Eritrea for two years and currently spends half my time on the continent, I know there are additional ways Africans abroad are making an impact in Africa.

Before we explore those examples, it’s worth noting that Fatunla fails to define who exactly the diaspora is within the context of his analysis. It is overly simplistic and dangerous to suggest they are “a group of people who by and large fled the continent when it was most in need, and returned when it least needs them”. The diaspora must be disaggregated into its many parts and identify what contributions they actually are providin Here panelists (L to R) His Excellency Cyrille Oguin, Benin Ambassador to the United States; Mr. Anthony Archer, of the Diaspora Project at California State University Dominguiz Hills; and Ms. Gina Page, of African Ancestry discuss the important connections between Africa and the African Diaspora in the session “The African Diaspora - Investment, Citizenship, and Relationship”.

To begin, the “African diaspora” is not monolithic. We are a diverse, multifaceted & multigenerational demo-

graphic spanning every continent and socioeconomic status. There are exhaustive studies by the World Bank, Migration Policy Institute, DFID and countless NGOs exploring this definition. Many diaspora left home or were raised abroad for a variety of reasons, including war, conflict, insecurity or the lack of economic opportunity. Yet we remain connected with our homelands. Others grew up abroad and maintained a relationship with the continent by any means, either through regular visits, community language school or establishing transnational business ties. Even more significant however are the emerging diaspora youth leaders raised abroad and seeking to forge deeper relationships with their homelands, as will be revealed later in this piece.

The other shortcoming with What’s Diaspora Got to Do With It is that it falls completely short on recognizing the diaspora’s added value - which is far beyond economic remittances and sporadic tourism. Even though remittances continue to be the largest form of diaspora contributions, amounting to roughly $40 billion a year to support livelihoods and development, it is not the only form of significant deliverables from diaspora.

1. Promoting development: Through innovation, broad based networks, and tried and true outreach, diaspora are taking their love for Africa and applying it with ingenuity for good. Diaspora entrepreneurs and organizations are widening spaces in the continent for Africanled development and growth. Initiatives such as Villages in Action, Shea Yeleen, Sierra Visions, Face Africa, and AFRICAVIEWPOINT

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ROLE & POTENTIAL

Akili Dada are just a few of the successful diaspora efforts launched in Africa with local communities. With each example, these organizations were founded by diaspora who arrived to the States at a young age, or were educated abroad, or were raised entirely abroad. The new face of diaspora and development is continuing to change.

3. Building bridges between Africans & non-Africans: Africa is not bound by its borders. As NigerianAmerican journalist Dayo Olopade calls it, Africa is the “Bright Continent”. Its people are a rich source of energy, life and innovation. They are the bridges between countries and continents. By celebrating our rich cultural heritage, diversity and histories, relationships are forged with foreigners, including those unable to visit the continent themselves. Photos and stories are shared in the halls of the diaspora community center. Myths are dispelled. Messages are conveyed. And stereotypes are broken.

2. Support for humanitarian emergencies: When disaster strikes, Africa’s greatest resource has consistently proven to be its people. Diaspora groups are a crucial lifeline to access those in need, by sending messages and I am because you are. It is clear delivering help. The current drought ravaging East 4. Adding new layers to the that diaspora have quite a lot to Africa spurred Africans on African narrative: Stories of Afdo with Africa because Africa has the continent and abroad quite a lot to do with the diaspora. rica’s development and its needs into action. Within weeks, must be told by those on the conKenyans, South Africans, tinent first, but diaspora do help Nigerians, the broader Horn of Africa diaspora and more facilitate those stories. They add a deeper layer to Africa’s helped to raise millions of dollars for relief. Somalia’s fam- story and are an asset. As diaspora groups grow in presine motivated Somalis abroad to relocate and help people ence and participation, so too will these narratives. In admost in need. Efforts such as the Global Somali Response dition to storytelling, diaspora owned businesses, faith is one of many incredible examples of partnership and based groups, community organizations, youth associasupport. Again, another organization founded by a next tions, and private enterprises are eager to carry Africa’s generation diaspora leader. message to newcomers and supporters alik

“

5. Helping to shape Western & regional foreign policy agendas and offering models of civic participation: New advocacy groups, civic associations and diaspora networks have also flourished in the West, particularly around conflict resolution, networking and economic trade with the continent. Assuming diaspora apply effective advocacy strategies, they can help shape foreign policy priorities and shift analyses for Africa’s betterment.

Governments, organizations and decisionmakers recognize this power and potential of the African diaspora.

They understand that beyond their wallets, diaspora are legitimate stakeholders in Africa’s future. The African Union has already declared the African diaspora as the Sixth Region of the AU. The United States, United Kingdom, and various African countries have also created initiatives and opportunities to engage with diaspora directly.

AFRICA SEEKS TO TAP ITS DIASPORA “It is important to look strategically at the diaspora’s role in African development,” Obiagali Ezekwesili, the World Bank’s vice president for Africa, told African expatriates. (World Bank)

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To understand the potential of Africans living outside Africa to contribute to their continent’s social and economic progress, one only had to attend the opening of an “African diaspora open house” held in the US capital.

The 400-seat auditorium at World Bank headquarters was packed with doctors and lawyers, engineers and architects, scientists, professors and entrepreneurs who had left their home countries in search of better lives overseas.

AFRICAVIEWPOINT

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DIASPORA

MUSIC

MUSIC IN AFRICA Searching For A Sound

A

S the music industry searches for new voices and talent, entrepreneurs are pinning their hopes on emerging African artists both from the continent and the diaspora. Africa Unsigned is an Amsterdam-based start-up music label founded by Pim Betist that promotes African artists.

Under Mr Betist’s watch, Africa Unsigned has invested €525,000 (about $725,000) in helping more than 40 artists and bands tour and release albums that represent what they deem the “new African sound,” such as Kenya’s acoustic vocal group Sauti Sol. “I like to call them the East African Boyz II Men,” Mr Betist says.

“The music industry is broken, and we have to fix it,” Mr Betist said. He is confident that can be done. Africa Unsigned relies heavily on a fan-funding platform similar to the one employed by Mr Betist’s previous effort Sellaband.com, which eventually went bankrupt but has since re-launched.

Mr Betist is not the only taste-maker focusing his efforts on Africa. After promoting successful, Grammy award-winning American hip hop and soul artists like The Roots and Erykah Badu for more than a decade, the Brooklyn-based online hip-hop community OkayPlayer now has a sister site called OkayAfrica that promotes African musicians in similar genres. Unlike Africa Unsigned, OkayAfrica is not a standard record label, but it has committed $500,000 to developing an online platform for such artists as Seun and Femi Kuti, K’naan, Bajah +

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The Dry Eye Crew, and Afrikan Boy. “We’re looking to break the mold of ‘world music’ and highlight those on the continent really pushing the boundaries and innovating with cutting edge music,”.

Sales fluctuate. K’Naan, for example, sold 70,000 albums in 2009 but dropped to 44,000 in 2010. But his digital album sales rocketed from 233,000 in 2009 to 485,000 in 2010. A 2010 UN report claims that demand for music and other “creative industry” products has remained stable during the global recession, and global exports of creative goods and services, e.g. music, more than doubled between 2002 and 2008. The report concluded that for developing countries, creative industries could prove to be “one of the most dynamic sectors of world commerce.” Africa is mentioned throughout the report, as is the Creative Africa initiative, a long-term strategy to help the continent benefit economically from its creative talents and cultural heritage.

Earlier this year Wired Magazine described an “entrepreneurial boom” in Africa full of “vast new tech opportunity.” Aware of this, Africa Unsigned makes their music available through mobile phones, whose availabilty and use have soared throughout Africa since the late 1990s.

Last March, at a “Marketing 21st Century Music in Africa” discussion panel at the annual South By Southwest festival (SXSW) in Texas, Ngozi Odita, who lives in New York and describes herself as a curator of comtemporary African culture, argued that music and culture is Africa’s strongest export. As evidence, she cites Kanye West, the award winning hip-hop artist and producer who earlier this year signed Nigerian musicians D’Banj and Don Jazzy to G.O.O.D music, the record label and artist management firm he founded in 2004. Artists on African record labels such as Storm 360 regularly tour Africa and overseas.

Ms Odita, originally from Nigeria, runs the media site Society HAE, a hub for contemporary African culture and music. This summer she organised “Live From the Continent,” an event at the Lincoln Center at which African artists such as South Africa’s Spoek Mathambo performed. •

AFRICAVIEWPOINT

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TOURISM

KENYA

KENYAN TOURISM proves resilient in times of trouble Kenya’s tourism is bouncing back after falling on hard times last year. Industry players are optimistic, despite the global downturn, that the sector will reclaim its position as a top earner.

Marketers of Kenya’s tourism have their work cut out for them in 2009; last year the sector witnessed its worst performance in four years following the post-election violence that scared off visitors, causing the once-thriving industry to fall on hard times.

BY: NELLY NYAGAH

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AFRICAVIEWPOINT

T

he industry is bouncing back, with the country slowly managing to rehabilitate its image as a travel destination. But now it’s a double whammy with the bearish run expected to continue on the effects of the global financial crisis. The Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) estimates for tourist arrivals between January and October 2008 dropped by 34.7%, from 873,000 to 565,000 due to the unrest that jolted the country in the first quarter, and a weakened global economy.

Current data from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics shows the tourism sector declined 34.7% over most of last year.

But to dismiss this sector’s importance, and indeed its

potential, would be ill-advised. Kenya is now stable and international tourism is turning around, thanks to the fact that the country has always been one of the most popular destinations in Africa, drawing 2 million international arrivals in 2007. Big earner The sector was growing at historical highs prior to the turmoil - in 2007 revenue was US$1 billion. It accounted for 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), making it the third largest contributor to GDP after agriculture and manufacturing, and the third largest foreign exchange earner after tea and horticulture.

This exceptional performance has been attributed to flurried growth in business and conference tourism as the country reclaimed its position as a leading hub in East and Central Africa.

The government’s strategy to market the country as a safe tourist and investment destination has been crucial in reviving the sector. Tourism minister Najib Balala, while marketing Kenya in the US at the sidelines of President Barrack Obama’s inauguration in February, expressed confidence the industry will be firmly on its feet soon. As the country stepped up its campaign to ride on the wave of publicity as the heritage of President Obama, prominent American personalities were endorsing Kenya as the next attraction for American tourists. In June America’s Delta Airlines will make its inaugural direct flight to Kenya from

AFRICAVIEWPOINT

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TOURISM

the US, providing an awesome opportunity for Kenya to the American tourism market. Balala and the team at KTB - a public body charged with marketing Kenya as a destination – prioritized on getting repeat visitors to come back and confirm to the world the country is still a preferred tourist destination. This strategy bore positive results right from the start even at a time when international media was declaring Kenya a no-go war zone.

KENYA

VISITOR ARRIVALS

BY PURPOSE OF VISIT

about implementing planned key projects. Mohammed Hersi, the general manager at Sarova Whitesands hotel says the negative publicity has waned and there is more interest in Kenya.

Charters from the UK, Kenya’s most important source of tourist, have resumed though slowly as finding passengers has been a huge challenge.

In 2007 when the industry was booming there were over 40 tourist Holiday 72% charters destined to hotels including Business 12% the Whitesands. That number reduced to less than 3 per week at the Transit 6% Early in 2008, British couple height of the violence. “We spent a Tina and Craig Washbrook were good part of the second half of 2008 Other 10% planning their wedding in Kenya, working to re-position the destination at a time when many tourists were through various fairs including the cancelling their holidays. After the ceremony held in pic- World Travel Market in London. In March we are heading turesque Ngong Hills, 41 year old Tina, who had previ- to the ITB, the largest fair in Berlin.” says Hersi. The task ously visited the country, told reporters : “I have come to for the government now lies in identifying a sustainable Kenya because it is a country that I really love…the impres- source of funding for tourism development and marketsion we got from the media is that everything has come to ing, to propel the recovery efforts began last year. a standstill…now we know this is not true.” Repeat visitors like Tina make up 40% of tourists to Kenya and formed the “The investment made in marketing is proportionate to bulk of the 710,804 who visited the country throughout the rise in tourist arrivals and earnings so a figure of not 2008. The Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) less than 10% of what the sector earns should be ploughed says these numbers are a reflection of tourists regaining back in to marketing and promotion to make the country their confidence in Kenya as a destination. Members of more competitive.” says Hersi, who is also the chairman KATO – an association which represents the interests of over 250 tour operators - were severely affected by the crisis.

HOLIDAY SEASON BLESSING The operators however had remarkably improved business during the Christmas season, largely due to domestic tourism. Kenya has a large and growing middle income group that is increasingly travelling. TembeaKenya Initiative – a public/private initiative aimed at promoting domestic tourism – is bearing fruits but needs quite some push to get to a level where it can effectively cushion the industry when foreign tourists are scarce.

KATO is agitating for a level playing field with neighbouring competitors as a measure to protect members from global misfortunes. For starters, tax waivers on tourist vans would remove that financial obligation for the operators during global downturns. As the KTB data rolled in, players in the industry were still optimistic

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of the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers, Coast branch. Regional picture From the boom in tourism expected in South Africa due to the 2010 World Cup to the growing popularity of ecotourism, Sub- Saharan Africa has emerged as a popular destination for visitors and investors alike. Travel and tourism capital investment for the region was estimated at US$20.4 billion in 2008, and by 2018 should reach US$42.6 billion, with the UN World Tourism Organization declaring the sector a promising source of development.

RAPID GROWTH Tourism which has grown rapidly over the past couple of years slowed down in 2008 in response to the economic crisis . But the estimates for the future look promising with travel and tourism expected to contribute over 9% to the region’s GDP over the next decade, a very positive outlook according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Efforts to promote tourism in the region have given rise to many investment opportunities in developing new hotels and recreational properties, expanding existing facilities and upgrading infrastructure. Major hotel groups who have been expanding their operations in the region for years each have their own development strategy. Since each country has its own unique challenges, the emphasis is on governments in sub-Saharan Africa to find ways of encouraging international hospitality investment by removing barriers to entry and offering incentives and longterm support to projects.

The 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis refers to

a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that erupted in Kenya after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election held on December 27, 2007.

Supporters of Kibaki’s opponent, Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, alleged electoral manipulation. This was widely confirmed by international observers,perpetrated by both parties in the election. In part due to the ethnic and geographic diversity of the ODM coalition, no one narrative can explain the reaction of opposition supporters to the announcement of Kibaki’s swearing-in.

In addition to staging several nonviolent protests, opposition supporters went on a violent rampage in several parts of the country, most noticeably in Odinga’s homeland of Nyanza Province and the slums of Nairobi, part of his Langata constituency. Police shot a number of demonstrators, including a few in front of TV news cameras, causing more violence directed toward the police. Targeted ethnic violence (as opposed to violent protests) escalated and at first was directed mainly against Kikuyu people; the community of which Kibaki is a member, living outside their traditional settlement areas, especially in the Rift Valley Province.

This violence peaked with the killing of over 30 unarmed civilians in a church near Eldoret on New Years Day. The tensions in the Rift Valley have caused violence in several previous Kenyan elections, most notably in the 1992 Kenyan Elections.

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TOURISM

KENYA

CALL TO INVEST Kenya’s Tourism Strategic Plan includes raising tourism earnings to Ksh.200 billion, increasing international tourist arrivals to three million and hotel bed capacity to 65,000, by 2012. Investment experts, however, say heavy investment in supportive sectors commensurate to these projections must be put in place, otherwise the country will miss the target. Investing in Kenya’s tourism would be a good move for investors wishing to enter the East African Community (EAC). Nairobi is reclaiming its position as the leading hub for business and conference tourism in east and central Africa. Integration of Rwanda and Burundi into the EAC is also making Kenya a prime location as most of the flights pass through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.

KENYA VISION 2030 H.E. Mwai Kibaki lauched the proposed plan to propel the country towards a fast growing and diversified economy, at the KICC Nairobi, Kenya.

(State House Press)

BRIGHT FUTURE? A report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in January contained bleak foreign travel numbers in 2008 due to the global economic slowdown which threatened to reverse historic four-year gains. The tourism body forecasted continued stagnation this year and beyond, though noting that the high degree of economic uncertainty makes predictions of international travel difficult. After a year of struggle with its biggest export earner, Kenya is making a comeback with its tourism and reaffirming its rightful place as one of the finest holiday destinations in the world.

An outbreak of violence early 2008 resulted in a major slump in Kenya’s tourism industry, contributing to a 30 per cent loss in the third quarter tourism earnings.

This badly hurt the east African nation’s economy, where tourism is traditionally the country’s second largest hard currency earner and contributes greatly to east Africa’s biggest economy. The government quickly formed a coalition to contain the outbreak and appease Kenyan citizens. The country has since been restored to its original

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state of peace and stability, and tourism industry operators have been working hard to counteract the devastating effects of the political unrest. So what is it that attracts tens of thousands of people to visit Kenya from the UK every month? Is it the 225,000 square miles of jungle-like forests, arid rocky country, snow-capped mountains, dry deserts, flamingo lakes, acacia-dotted savannahs, and miles of heavenly coastline? Or are the game parks and reserves bursting with wildlife the pulling factor? Or is it the wide-brimming smiles of local Kenyans providing a level of hospitality unmatched in most parts of the world?

Tourists are spoiled for choice when they visit Kenya; seeing the Big Five, witnessing the migration in the Masai Mara reserve, spotting hundreds of exotic bird species, hiking the Rift Valley, playing golf on a mountain-side resort, or relaxing on the palm-lined beaches. They can from choose hotels, lodges, and luxury semipermanent tented camps and even camp themselves in the wild. And for the more adventurous, walking safaris, mountain-biking safaris, and horse and camel safaris are all now available through various tour operators.

Now that President Barack Obama has been officially inaugurated, it is hoped that interest in his homeland would also spark a tourism revival. The Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) also said it would be capitalising on the President’s Kenyan heritage, who was born to a white American mother and a Kenyan father from Kogelo, a small rural village in western Kenya.

“We’ll be looking at our strategy for marketing so that we give greater attention to the U.S. market to respond to the greater attention and interest being shown,” Jake GrievesCook, chair of the KTB said.

“It has very positive implications for tourism. Kenya now is in the spotlight internationally. We are bound to see an increased interest in Kenya,” he added.

The Minister also commented that the “Obama effect” is not the only factor securing the growth of Kenyan tourism next year; the government has ensured a strong marketing strategy is in action, for the WTM in London . •

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TOURISM

KENYA

Balala awarded best Tourism Minister in Africa “My victory and the recognition of seven other tourism entities from Kenya in the award show that Kenya is a major player in tourism development in Africa and the world. The award is an honour for the entire tourism industry in Kenya,” said Balala.

K

enya’s tourism minister Najib Balala is the 2009 Africa Tourism Minister of the Year.

Balala emerged top out of seven tourism ministers who had been short-listed for the award during the Africa Tourism Investors Summit and Award Gala held Saturday at the Joachim Chissano Conference Centre in Maputo, Mozambique.

The event was organized by the International Pan-African investment group, Africa. Investor (Ai) in partnership with the Government of Mozambique, the International.

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) and NEPAD. Its objective is to recognize the achievement of individuals, governments, business and organizations who have made an outstanding contribution to the growth of sustainable tourism investment in Africa.

Balala was picked by a panel of five judges chaired by Professor Geoffrey Lipman, Special Adviser of the World Tourism Organization. The Minister was recognized for his efforts in leading the tourism recovery programme in Kenya in 2008 and raising Kenya’s tourism profile as a global leader in sustainable tourism. He was also rewarded for leading the implementation of government policy on promoting sustainable tourism. Kenya and Gabon were cited as countries that have focused their resources on promoting their countries as eco tourist destinations.

The tourism investor summit and awards are designed to showcase Africa’s opportunities and achievements to the rest of the world, collectively raise awareness about Africa as a tourist destination and reward groups developing the African tourism industry as a vehicle to drive sustainable economic growth. The Africa Tourism Minister of the Year Award is the most competitive among 14 categories CONFERENCE IN HIS OFFICE of awards. This year, it Balala, one of the youngest cabinet had entries from Afriministers serving in Kenya’s Grand can leading ministers Coalition Government, He is the including Najib Balcurrent Minister for Tourism. ala (Kenya), Shamsa Mwangunga (Tanzania), Nandi-Ndaitwah (Namibia), Fernando Sumbana Jr (Mozambique), Mohammed Boussaid (Morocco), Khelil Lajimi (Tunisia), Charles Xavier Luc Duval (Mauritius) and Marthinus Van Schalkwyk of South Africa who was the 2008 winner of the award.

Five other Kenyan organizations were short-listed for various awards but did not win. They included the Kenya Tourism Board in the category of Tourism Promotion Agency of the Year and the Tourism Trust under the Best Initiative in Facilitating SME Tourism Investment.

•

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SPORTS

ZAMBIA

Zambia’s Historic win in African Cup

Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images Kalusha Bwalya holds the African Cup trophy after Zambia beat the Ivory Coast.

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Zambia delighted in winning their first Africa Cup of Nations title by beating tournament favourites Ivory Coast on penalties. Zambia defeated Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in the same city where 18 Zambian international players died in a plane crash in 1993.

BY: Associated Press

C

hipolopolo as the national team is called, descended from the plane to meet ecstatic fans and show off the African Cup of Nations trophy that has eluded the southern African nation for more than 30 years. LUSAKA, Zambia — With an escort of jet fighters screaming above and tens of thousands of screaming fans on the ground, Zambia’s victorious soccer team flew home Monday to a hero’s welcome.

“Go Zambia, go!” the crowd roared.

The players were driven off on the backs of army trucks, on roads packed with cheering Zambians, to the showgrounds where speeches and a concert are planned. Zambia beat favorites Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a nerveracking upset Sunday at the African Cup finals in Libreville, Gabon. Many attributed the victory to an amazing team spirit from a crew that fielded only one international player. Zambia were the underrated underdogs at the African tournament, much like their country, which boasts a thriving democracy, a less-traveled destination for African wildlife and the spectacular Victoria Falls — along with a booming copper industry that recently catapulted the country to the status of lower middle-income. First off the plane Monday was Vice President Guy Scott, believed to be the highest-ranking white man in Africa and a sign that Zambia has put behind its colonial past.

Last off was team captain Christopher Katongo, standing between Zambian football association president Kalusha Bwalya and the team’s French coach Herve Renard.

It was a bittersweet victory. Last week after arriving for the finals, the Zambian players laid wreaths on a stretch of Libreville beach not far from where a Zambian military plane crashed into the ocean soon after takeoff in 1993, killing 25 players and officials on board.

“By winning the cup we have helped ease the pain of the Zambian people,” Katongo declared on his arrival home.

Striker Emmanuel Mayuka said, “I just wanted to finish what they failed to finish,” referring to the team that perished. Bwalya is the only surviving member of that team, escaping the crash because he was flying from Europe.

The players had vowed to win the 2012 championship to appease the souls of a lost generation of football stars.

Back in 1993, state broadcasters interrupted normal programming to announce the crash in the eight languages spoken in Zambia. In Lusaka, the capital, men and women wept in offices and on the streets. Zambians poured out of their houses, clubs and bars to celebrate in the streets early Monday, defying Police Minister Kennedy Sakeni, who said there would be no reason for people to leave their homes to celebrate. “It is a dream come true,” said David Phiri, a plumber. Then he blew hard on his vuvuzela, the piercing trumpet heard around the world during broadcasts from the World Cup in neighboring South Africa in 2010. Jubilant Zambians also honked the horns of cars draped in their flag, shouted from windows and sang football songs.

“It was written in the stars that we will be the champions,” Winfreda Muyunda said breathlessly as she ran out to join a street party that had converged in front of a Lusaka police station. In the lead-up to the final, Zambians at home and abroad rejected predictions that Ivory Coast would be too strong for their Chipolopolo. Traders have done a roaring business in shirts, scarves, caps and traditional cotton wrappers known as chitenge in national colors, as well as national flags. At least two planeloads of football fans took off from Lusaka early Sunday for Libreville. President Michael Sata gave Scott the honor of representing his government at the final.

That’s for you: Zambia coach Herve Renard is held aloft by his players as they celebrate winning the Africa Cup of Nations.

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SPORTS

ZAMBIA

Destiny! Renard dedicates Zambia glory to 1993 squad who perished in plane crash Zambia coach Herve Renard dedicated his side’s African Nations Cup victory to Kalusha Bwalya and the fallen squad of 1993, claiming it was ‘written in the sky’. The Copper Bullets beat the Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties after a goalless final on Sunday night in Libreville - the scene of a plane crash 19 years ago, en route to a World Cup qualifier against Senegal, which defines the country’s modern footballing history.

The Zambia national team’s plane crashed into the sea shortly after a refuelling stop, killing 18 players, but star player Kalusha only survived as he had travelled separately from Holland, where he was playing for PSV Eindhoven.

Now the Zambian FA president, Kalusha joined the current squad as they paid tribute in a ceremony on the Beach Sabliere ahead of the final. Renard said after Sunday’s poignant triumph: ‘Kalusha was one of the best Zambian players of the last century. Then he was coach of the national team, now our president. ‘He survived the crash - he was supposed to have been on that plane which was going to play a World Cup qualifier against Senegal.

He knows how terrible this crash was for the nation. I want to dedicate this title to him.’

He added: ‘We wanted to honour the dead players and that strengthened us. Our first game (in this year’s tournament) was against Senegal and the team was on its way to Senegal for a match when the plane crashed. The plane crashed in Gabon and we won the final in Gabon. ‘It was a sign of destiny, written in the sky. There was a force with us.

I think God has helped us and given us strength.’

It was Zambia’s first Nations Cup title and their third final, including in 1994 when Kalusha led a makeshift squad to within one hurdle of glory.

‘I said to the players that a team of ‘replacements’ took Zambia to the final in 1994, so why not us?’ said Renard.

‘We always believed and said this was our time. ‘Winning on penalties is perhaps not the best way, but we cannot complain. It is cruel for the Ivory Coast, but we deserved it.

We will savour this moment, we have made a permanent mark on Zambian football history.’

Zambia needed two opportunities to seal victory in the shoot-out, with Rainford Kalaba failing to capitalise on Kolo Toure’s miss before Stophira Sunzu punished Gervinho’s wayward spot-kick. ‘(My penalty) was supposed to be the winning goal,’ Kalaba said on the Zambian FA’s website. ‘These things happen in football, but then you have to move on. You just have to forget about the past and concentrate on the future.’

That he did, as he enjoyed his team’s emotional celebrations. ‘We wanted to honour the players that died here, so that the families of the deceased players can feel much better and I am pleased we achieved that,’ he said. ‘I have been dreaming about this wonderful moment.’

The Elephants had the better of the chances in normal time, with Didier Drogba missing from the spot and Yaya Toure and Max Gradel going close.

And coach Francois Zahoui said: ‘We had chances to score and we didn’t take them. We did not know how to kill off the match and Zambia took confidence from that.

‘We knew it would be a difficult final, Zambia wanted the trophy like us and they were not there by chance.’

Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry added: ‘It’s disappointing but it’s not the end of the world. We finished as the best defence and the best attack, so it’s frustrating, but we must learn the lessons of this tournament.’

Christopher Katongo of Zambia poses with the 2012 AFCON trophy Zambia won the African Cup of Nations on Sunday, February 12.

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The silky Zambians made history by becoming the first ever football-playing nation from Southern Africa to win Africa’s biggest showpiece outside their own region. If the Warriors have shared the spoils against the likes of Ivory Coast or the Black Stars of Ghana in our own backyard – the average football fan would be singing praises by now for the team’s great achievement, but alas these are the very same opponents that were put to the sword by Zambia.

Next stop was the Black Mambas of Mozambique and the

Facts & Figures

1993 Almost 19 years ago, 18 Zambian footballers died when their plane crashed off the coast of Libreville.

8-7

was the final score against ivory Coast in the African Cup Final

120

Minutes of play until the final score was seen

14

Penalty kicks

Warriors stepped up a gear as they taught the bulky Mozambicans a decent football lesson – scoring three unanswered goals on a wet Independence Stadium in Windhoek on Wednesday.

Despite the football association’s efforts to attract more people through the turnstiles by deciding against charging no entrance fee for the international friendly, a disappointing crowd turned up for this historic win. Football is part and parcel of entertainment and artistes like to be at their level best when the terraces are jammed with thousands of supporters.

Its now incumbent upon all the stakeholders to ensure that the team is well taken care of and given the necessary financial support to make further progress internationally – the talent is there and we now have a team capable of rubbing shoulders with the best on the African continent.

REGULARS

TRIBALISM: The only curse of African politics

One other point that we must not forget is: you can never be a national leader if you depend on a single province for support.

It is surprising that some of you regional leaders get so much deceived by those of us, and I am afraid, rather dangerous and destructive path. This path can only lead to murder and complete destruction of a country.

A

fter independence, several African countries adopted a one-party state. Leaders of the day reckoned that under such a political system, no time and energy would be expended on competing for state power and, therefore, all efforts would be concentrated on national development. Additionally, it was thought, a one-party state would promote unity and forestall ethnic/ tribal divisions. Even as late as 1992, Kenya's president Daniel Arap Moi, in dismissing calls for multiparty politics, argued that, Each country may have its own experience of the one-party state, but it is debatable, if not entirely question-

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By Reginald Ntomba able, to what extent the one-party state curbed tribalism. However good the idea of a one-party state may have appeared to the independence leaders, it would seem it was more about preserving power than rallying a nation towards development, let alone fighting tribalism. Several literature on Kenya, for instance, points to the fact that tribalism was an issue many years before demands for multiparty politics surfaced.

The latter could not therefore be blamed for tribalism. Thus the assumption that a nation would be more united under a one-party state than in a multiparty democracy was not only too generous but also fallacious. In the

case of Zambia, a one-party state took effect nine years after independence.

But, could the tribal divisions in UNIP, showing up as early as three years after independence, be blamed on the absence of a one-party state? Were the tribal factions in UNIP masked in the liberation struggle as they seemingly were in the case of the ANC? If, as our freedom fighters tell us today, they were 'united and did not look at who came from where', why did tribal alignments show up after independence? In his speech at the 1968 UNIP National Council in Chilenje, Kenneth Kaunda acknowledged the existence of tribal factions in the party. He said: "Until recently, it was clear that we had many factions within UNIP. Of course, we all know that in any party there are factions. It is only when members of these factions put their selfish interest of their factions above that of the party as a whole that some dangerous line is reached, and I have a feeling some of our factions have been bordering very close to this danger point. There is no trace in any part of the Republic where tribal feelings have come up without someone from Lusaka stirring up these troubles." Kapwepwe is quoted as having told Parliament the same year (1968) that, "Grave dangers lie ahead of the Republic if tribalism is not stamped out in its early stages. It has become a fashion in Africa to get independence and then, after six years, become tired and break into small groups.

Experience in other parts of Africa has shown that tribalism could result into bloodshed. If we fail to organise ourselves into a nation, but go back to our small groups, we are bound to be dominated by other people. Africa needs leaders that will guide them.

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