Caribbean nations seeking compensation for slavery

Associated Press

Leaders of more than a dozen Caribbean countries are launching a united effort to seek compensation from three European nations for what they say is the lingering legacy of the Atlantic slave trade.

The Caribbean Community, a regional organization that typically focuses on rather dry issues such as economic integration, has taken up the cause of compensation for slavery and the genocide of native peoples and is preparing for what would likely be a drawn-out battle with the governments of Britain, France and the Netherlands.

Caricom, as the organization is known, has enlisted the help of a prominent British human rights law firm and is creating a Reparations Commission to press the issue, said Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who has been leading the effort.

The legacy of slavery includes widespread poverty and the lack of development that characterizes most of the region, Gonsalves said, adding that any settlement should include a formal apology, but contrition alone would not be sufficient.

“The apology is important but that is wholly insufficient,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. “We have to have appropriate recompense.”

The notion of forcing the countries that benefited from slavery to pay reparations has been a decades-long quest. Individual countries including Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda already had existing national commissions. Earlier this month, leaders from the 14 Caricom nations voted unanimously at a meeting in Trinidad to wage a joint campaign that those involved say would be more ambitious than any previous effort.

Each nation that does not have a national reparations commission agreed to set one up, sending a representative to the regional commission, which would be overseen by prime ministers. They agreed to focus on Britain on behalf of the English-speaking Caribbean as well as France for the slavery in Haiti and the Netherlands for Suriname, a former Dutch colony on the northeastern edge of South America that is a member of Caricom.

In addition, they brought on the British law firm of Leigh Day, which waged a successful fight for compensation for hundreds of Kenyans who were tortured by the British colonial government as they fought for the liberation of their country during the so-called Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s and 1960s.

Attorney Martyn Day said his first step would likely be to seek a negotiated settlement with the governments of France, Britain and Netherlands along the lines of the British agreement in June to issue a statement of regret and award compensation of about $21.5 million to the surviving Kenyans.

“I think they would undoubtedly want to try and see if this can be resolved amicably,” Day said of the Caribbean countries. “But I think the reason they have hired us is that they want to show that they mean business.”

Caribbean officials have not mentioned a specific monetary figure but Gonsalves and Verene Shepherd, chairwoman of the national reparations commission in Jamaica, both mentioned the fact that Britain at the time of emancipation in 1834 paid 20 million pounds to British planters in the Caribbean, the equivalent of 200 billion pounds today.

“Our ancestors got nothing,” Shepherd said. “They got their freedom and they were told ‘Go develop yourselves.’”

British High Commissioner to Jamaica David Fitton was quizzed on the issue Wednesday during a radio interview and said that the Mau Mau case was not meant to be a precedent and that his government opposes reparations for slavery.

“We don’t think the issue of reparations is the right way to address these issues,” Fitton said. “It’s not the right way to address an historical problem.”

In 2007, marking the 200th anniversary of the British prohibition on the transportation of slaves, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed regret for the “unbearable suffering” caused by his country’s role in slavery. After the devastating Haitian earthquake in January 2010, then French President Nicolas Sarkozy was asked about reparations for slavery and the 90 million gold francs demanded by Napoleon to recognize the country’s independence. Sarkozy acknolwedged the “wounds of colonization,” and pointed out that France had canceled a 56 million euro debt to Paris and approved an aid package that included 40 million euros in budget support for the Haitian government.

Gonsalves said far more needs to be done and he hopes to begin an “honest, sober and robust,” discussion with the European governments soon and intends to champion the issue when he becomes the chairman of Caricom in January. “You have to seize the time,” he said.

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Pess release 147/2013
(06 July 2013)
Heads agree on reparations follow-up action

Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), on the final day of their Thirty-Fourth Regular Meeting agreed on follow-up action on the matter of reparations for native genocide and slavery.

The Meeting agreed to the establishment of a National Reparations Committee in each Member State with the Chair of each Committee sitting on a CARICOM Reparations Commission. The Heads of Government of Barbados (Chair), St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago will provide political oversight.

The decisions were taken followed presentations by Member States, led by St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and their unanimous support of the road map.

Chair of the Community, the Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, at an end-of-Meeting Press Conference at the Hilton Hotel, described progress on the subject as a very positive outcome.

Earlier in the day, during his contribution to the discussions, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said he conceptualized the call for reparations as an integral element of the Community’s development strategy. The legacy of slavery and colonialism in the Caribbean severely impaired the Region’s development options.

“We know that our constant search and struggle for development resources is linked directly to the historical inability of our nations to accumulate wealth from the efforts of our peoples during slavery and colonialism. These nations that have been the major producers of wealth for the European slave-owning economies during the enslavement and colonial periods entered Independence with dependency straddling their economic, cultural, social and even political lives”, Prime Minister Spencer said.

Reparations, he added, had to be directed toward repairing the damage inflicted by slavery and racism.

“We, as political leaders, must encourage our various reparation agencies to continue the education of our Caribbean people and our Diaspora, and enhance their awareness of the reparations issue. It is important that there is solid people and multi-party support for our efforts and we must impress on our colleagues in both Government and Opposition that this is not an issue we should use as party-politics fodder. Our various reparation organizations must see the forging of bi-partisan political support and civil society consensus for reparations as one of their main objectives,” the Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister added.

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THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY
In 1972, Commonwealth Caribbean leaders at the Seventh Heads of Government Conference decided to transform the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) into a Common Market and establish the Caribbean Community, of which the Common Market would be an integral part.

The signing of the Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community, Chaguaramas, 4th July 1973, was a defining moment in the history of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Although a free-trade area had been established, CARIFTA did not provide for the free movement of labour and capital, or the coordination of agricultural, industrial and foreign policies.

The objectives of the Community, identified in Article 6 of the Revised Treaty, are: to improve standards of living and work; the full employment of labour and other factors of production; accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development and convergence; expansion of trade and economic relations with third States; enhanced levels of international competitiveness; organisation for increased production and productivity; achievement of a greater measure of economic leverage and effectiveness of Member States in dealing with third States, groups of States and entities of any description and the enhanced co-ordination of Member States’ foreign and foreign economic policies and enhanced functional co-operation.

The Revised Treaty
In 1989, when the Heads of Government made the decision to transform the Common Market into a single market and economy in which factors move freely as a basis for internationally competitive production of goods and provision of services, it was also decided that for the transformation to take place, the Treaty would have to be revised.

In 1992, following the adoption of the report of the West Indian Commission, an Inter-governmental Task Force was established, to work on the revision of the Treaty.

Between 1993 and 2000, the Inter-Governmental Task Force (IGTF) which was composed of representatives of all Member States, produced nine Protocols, for the purpose of amending the Treaty. These nine Protocols were later combined to create a new version of the Treaty, called formally, The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community, including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

Allowances have been made for the subsequent inclusion in the Revised Treaty, by way of additional Protocols, new issues such as e-commerce, government procurement, trade in goods from free zones, free circulation of goods, and the rights contingent on the free movement of persons.
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Video: Fight for slavery reparations splits French government June 2013

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Video: Brown University- Racial Slavery and Its Reverberations 2013

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Video: Brown University- Legacies of Slavery in American Life – Amanda Lewis 2013

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Video: Brown University- Legacies of Slavery in American Life – Linda Williams 2013

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Video: Brown University- Slavery in American Memory- Lois Horto 2013

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Video: Boston College- Should Reparations Be Paid to the Descendants of Slaves? Christopher Hitchens Debate (2001)

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Video: Slavery and Freedom in the Caribbean and Latin America 2008
UCTV
The Legacy of Slavery: Unequal Exchange conference resulted from the passage of Senate Bills 2199 and 1737 in 2000 and was meant to address a number of issues related to the economic and political legacy of slavery, the roles of governments and businesses in this enterprise, and the question of reparations for the descendants of slaves.

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Voters defy threats as polls close in Mali
Thousands of Malians went to the polls in country’s first presidential election since a military coup last year.

Al Jazeera

Mali’s polls have closed amid reports of high voter turnout in the capital, but elsewhere in the country people found themselves unable to cast their ballots.

Sunday’s vote is expected to usher in a new era of peace and stability in the first election since a military coup upended one of the region’s most solid democracies.

Voters had a choice of 27 candidates to lead the troubled nation from a crisis ignited by the mutiny which allowed rebels to take control of its vast north before they were dislodged by a French-led military intervention.

Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Bamako, said the election was being held with the world watching.

“Most polls have closed, some have remained open because they opened late. On the whole it has been a peaceful election, there have been some technical problems,” our correspondent said.

“There is a huge amount of international interest here because security in Mali is crucial for the region, and that is why this vote is so important.”

Mali’s untapped natural resources also make it of interest to the rest of the world, our correspondent said.

Of the 27 candidates, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, a former Prime Minister from the 1990s seems to be a frontrunner.

“He’s seen as a strong opposition figure, an outspoken opponent of the use of drugs money,” our correspondent said.

‘Large voter turn-out’

Soumaila Cisse, a candidate from Timbuktu, appears to be Keita’s closest rival and is seen as a man who could unite the north and south.

Many voters could not find their names on the electoral lists, leading to upset among those who turned out to the polls.

A survey by SOS Democracy suggested that, despite an international focus on security, Malians themselves are more concerned about infrastructure, education, health and the eradication of poverty that blights the country.

No official announcement on the result is expected until Friday, although results will begin to trickle in from counts across the country over the next 24 hours.

Despite earlier threats of violence, the day passed with no official reports of attacks.

The APEM Network, an independent Malian organisation that deployed 2,100 observers across the nation, said in a statement issued halfway through voting that “a large voter turn-out was found” among the country’s electorate of almost seven million.

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Click images below to enlarge. Click your back arrow to return to Dilemma X

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Video: Concerns over legitimacy of Mali election

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Video: Mali prepares for polls

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Video: Mali holds first presidential elections since coup

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Zimbabwe

Video: Preparations are in place for elections in Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe: Polling stations open as citizens cast ballots

By Peta Thornycroft
The Star (Johannesburg)

Harare – With 9,735 polling stations opening for business at 7 am today, Zimbabweans are getting the chance to vote more freely than at any time in the past 13 years.

Electoral reforms since the last disastrous poll in 2008 have theoretically made voter registration easier. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is a little more independent, and has given assurances about releasing the results timeously (versus the highly suspicious five-week delay in 2008).

There have been fewer arrests, less intimidation, less violence, and more freedom of speech and assembly. Zanu-PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties have learnt to get on with each other better in four years of sharing government.

And yet so many doubts remain up to the last minute about what will happen to those precious votes once they have been more freely cast.

The latest doubts arose this week when the ZEC failed to provide either hard copies or electronic versions of the voters roll to each candidate in a “reasonable” time before the polls. On Monday evening, parliamentary candidates of both MDC parties said they have had no hard copies of the roll.

That left huge uncertainties about the possibility of ghost voters participating in the elections. And with no voters roll to check against, it would be impossible for parties to verify the legality of those who do vote.

Late on Tuesday, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) election observer mission was to receive a detailed log of this and other alleged breaches of the electoral law and the new constitution by electoral authorities, drafted by lawyers from both MDC parties citing electoral law and the new constitution.

Many aspects of Wednesday’s election are better than any previous one because of electoral reforms effected during the MDC’s participation in the unity government with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF over the past four years. But transparency of the voters roll is key to any election.

Even in 2008 – an election now widely condemned as a disaster – hard copies of the voters roll were available weeks before voting. And yet, 24 hours before voting today, most candidates outside of Zanu-PF did not have the roll.

The country’s registrar-general, Tobiawa Mudede, who manages the voters roll, is proud of his support for Zanu-PF, and when his office was printing the hard copies of the voters roll over the past week for distribution to the polling stations, he refused to hit the button to produce a few electronic versions on CDs as well.

Yet the electoral law clearly demands that electronic versions of the rolls be made available to all candidates.

Apart from the opportunity for rigging which this provides, more than 700 000 new voters will remain unsure if they have been registered to vote and which polling station they must vote at.

Apart from the voters roll fiasco, these elections should be better than the last ones in 2008, though surely not truly free and fair as that phrase is understood.

There have been and will be more election observers watching (they will be tripping over each other in Harare) and more rallies, posters, T-shirts, peaked caps, scarves and sweatshirts in party political colours, dance routines and jokes than before.

Zimbabwe’s state media have been roundly condemned for their blatantly pro-Zanu-PF bias. Yet a seasoned analyst like Ibbo Mandaza believes most of his countrymen are too smart to have been duped by such “low class” propaganda on radio, TV and in two state-owned daily papers.

City dwellers at least – and last year’s census shows that urbanization is continually swelling their ranks – are increasingly tuning in instead to external radio stations via DStv, a new TV station entering via a European upload, and social media. And rural folk are doing the same.

Baba Jukwa, a wildly popular blogger who claims to be a dissident senior Zanu-PF official (but is no doubt really a supporter of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC) “reveals” embarrassing inside stories about Zanu-PF all the time.

Human rights lawyers have hardly any clients this election as so few have been arrested, and most journalists are relieved to be able to get on with their jobs as the intelligence agents aren’t so obvious. And there are fewer power cuts.

About 800 journalists and 20 000 observers have been accredited for the elections. The ZEC has just added about 40 more polling stations in Harare, which should eliminate the endless queues there during previous elections.

But the confusion about where to vote caused by the late or non-release of the voters roll may counteract the beneficial effect of the extra polling stations.

Harare is MDC territory. In 2008, the party won all but one parliamentary seat.

The ZEC says it will announce results immediately they are known.

The first results to be known will be for local government councillors, maybe even at lunchtime on Thursday. Results of the presidential elections will be made within five days, according to the ZEC.

Though the election campaign has so far been largely peaceful, and peace was expected to prevail on Wednesday, not everyone was reassured.

They recall that the 2008 election was also peaceful – until Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the first round and then all hell broke loose in the campaign for the second round of the presidential election.

So much so that Tsvangirai pulled out of the election to avoid further violence by Zanu-PF against his supporters, leaving Mugabe to win the election uncontested. That was too much even for SADC to swallow, and it stepped in to persuade Zanu-PF and the two MDCs to form the unity government which Wednesday’s election is supposed to end.

SADC, the AU and several other African organisations have hundreds of observers in the country, very aware of what happened last time, and very much on the lookout for a repeat.

Would it only be Zanu-PF violence? Yes, probably.

Although MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti warned about the “rage” that MDC supporters would feel if Tsvangirai is beaten, and officials shake their heads and say they don’t know how they would control the party’s rage if Mugabe wins. But that is more than likely just talk.

Some of Tsvangirai’s supporters are known to fling their fists around from time to time and escape censure, but it’s small-time stuff.

Who will win today – or even who will win regardless of whatever rigging there might be, is hard to tell.

The MDC draws comfort from a belief that most of the people who attended Mugabe’s 10 major rallies were dragooned and transported to the venues. Bused in, maybe. But probably not forced.

There are millions of Zanu-PF supporters who want to hear Mugabe’s persuasive message of land reform and indigenisation. They believe that next week, or perhaps next month, a victorious Mugabe will grab the lion’s share of “foreign” banks and “foreign” mines for them, as he took the white farms. But if Mugabe and Zanu-PF officially win today, we may never know how real their victory is.

At the heart of the problem is the ZEC, the commission which is running the elections, and few outside Zanu-PF trust it.

It has been improved since 2008. But apart from a couple of new commissioners and its chairwoman, the ZEC’s management and staff are the same team which obediently took orders to delay results for five weeks in 2008, almost certainly to give Zanu-PF time to doctor the results.

The ZEC chairwoman, Judge Rita Makarau, is smart, and rational, and far more open than her predecessor. But some lawyers caution that she is still part of Zimbabwe’s judiciary, which doesn’t have a good, independent record.

They believe Makarau could and should have advised Mugabe that it was impossible to efficiently and lawfully run elections on July 31 and that he should have postponed them, as SADC asked him to do.

She chose not to do so.

Economically this election is crucial. The business community inside and outside the country is mostly hoping for a Tsvangirai-MDC victory, even if it is also fearful of the consequences, including, perhaps, a refusal to hand over power by Mugabe’s generals.

But the business people believe that if Mugabe and Zanu-PF win, the stagnation of the economy will continue, as foreign capital, wary of losing its assets to indigenization, stays away. The banks are already near empty and emptying. Biti, the finance minister, has warned that paying public servants’ salaries at the end of August will be difficult.

The recovery since 2008 has been small, mainly because of the switch of the defunct Zimbabwe dollar to the US dollar and because Biti has collected taxes diligently.

Yet most business people seem sure Mugabe will win in the first round of voting anyway. But three SADC observers said Tsvangirai’s huge last rally in Harare on Monday had convinced them he would win. “I have never seen anything like that,” said one.

When it is all over and the counting has been done, a huge responsibility will rest on the observers’ shoulders to call this election the way they have really seen it.
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Video: Zimbabwe votes after bitter presidential campaign

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Video: Zimbabwe gears up for presidential poll

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Video:Zimbabwe- Dawning of a new era?

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PM Morgan Tsvangirai cast his ballot at 10:25am at Mt Pleasant High School. He was accompanied by wife Elizabeth. He said everyone will be allowed to vote today. He commended the high turnout at Mt Pleasant High School.

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Zimbabwe
The United Kingdom annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company in 1923.
A 1961 Rhodesia constitution was formulated that favored whites in power. In 1965 the white Rhodesia government unilaterally declared its independence from the United Kingdom, but the UK did not recognize the act.

UN sanctions and a civil war finally led to free elections in 1979 and the independence of a majority ruled Zimbabwe in 1980.

Land size: Zimbabwe is slightly larger than the U.S. state of Montana.

Population: 13,182,908 (July 2013 est.)

Ethnic groups: African 98% (Ethnic groups: Shona 82%, Ndebele 14%, other 2%), mixed and Asian 1%, white less than 1%

Harare

Mugabe declared winner of presidency in Zimbabwe

The Guardian (UK)

Robert Mugabe was on Saturday declared the winner of Zimbabwe’s presidential election with 2,110,434 votes, giving him 61% of the total and Morgan Tsvangirai 34%. The margin was enough to avoid a repeat of the runoff in 2008.

As Zanu-PF supporters celebrated the national election commission announcement, Tsvangirai and other MDC leaders held a press conference that was attended by the British and other western ambassadors. “The fraudulent and stolen election has plunged Zimbabwe into a constitutional, political and economic crisis,” he said. “Instead of celebration, there is national mourning.”

The MDC will boycott government institutions and “pursue peaceful, legal, political, constitutional and diplomatic remedies”, including in court, he added. It called on African and regional bodies to meet urgently to restore legitimacy in Zimbabwe and demanded a fresh election as soon as possible.

Asked about the lack of popular revolt, Tsvangirai replied: “Why should there be? Our people are disciplined. You don’t solve problems by creating violence. In fact, we are at this stage because of the discipline of our people. If it was any other country, they would burn down the building. They have not chosen to do that because they know at the end of the day we don’t want any violent resolution of this crisis.”

He denied that the result raised questions over his leadership. “We did not lose this election. We won. It is the imagination of Zanu-PF that they’ve won it, yet they know the truth. This is not a personal issue, this is a national issue. If the MDC lost this election, then it is not Tsvangirai who has lost.

“So far I have the full backing of the national council, I have the full backing of the people of Zimbabwe. Until such time that they can express it, then we can talk about it.”

In the short term, there is the question of an appropriate response to an election that caused no reported deaths and is likely to be ratified by African observers. The MDC and independent watchdogs alike claim it was rigged with brilliant subtlety and sophistication.

“They have transformed this election from the margin of violence to the margin of error – from the baton stick and machete to the desktop,” said MDC secretary general Tendai Biti. William Hague, the foreign secretary, expressed “grave concerns” about the conduct of the vote.

Zanu-PF has dared the MDC to challenge the result in court, but it would face judges appointed by Mugabe. An alternative is mass protest. The MDC’s final “crossover rally” drew an estimated 100,000 people. Few in the optimistic crowd guessed that the “crossover” would be into potential oblivion. Yet there is scant sign of those thousands taking to the streets in an Egyptian-style uprising against Mugabe’s 33-year rule.

“It’s not going to happen in an environment like that, because it’s certain death,” said Roy Bennett, the MDC treasurer general, who says he has been driven into exile in neighbouring South Africa. “Anybody who goes out to protest now will get shot. It would be suicide, and who’s going to commit suicide?”

Bennett said the MDC leadership faces similar constraints, but called for a campaign of passive resistance. “Unless the MDC acts, and acts decisively, now,” he warned, “Zanu-PF will rule for ever and the MDC will fade into oblivion. The people need strong leadership. If they don’t get it, new leaders will emerge.”

Asked if Tsvangirai can provide this, Bennett, who wanted the MDC to boycott the elections, hesitated before replying: “The next couple of weeks will prove whether he has the heart.”

Tsvangirai has survived beatings, arrests and assassination attempts, including nearly being thrown from a 10th-floor window. He has tried and failed to dislodge Mugabe three times, although supporters argue that, on a level playing field, he would have won every time.

In 2008, the presidency seemed in his grasp when he beat Mugabe in the first round, only to withdraw from a runoff, citing violence against supporters that left more than 200 people dead.

Tsvangirai became prime minister in a coalition government and believed he could win outright this time. Instead, the party has lost many parliamentary strongholds. Results so far paint the electoral map Zanu-PF green, with only a few pockets of MDC red. Whatever the degree of any rigging, some believe Tsvangirai was a weak leader who let the MDC become tarnished by corruption and made careless choices in his search for a wife.

Tawanda Majoni, a political columnist, said: “It is clear that the MDC has made several fatal mistakes during the tenure of the government of national unity, from Tsvangirai’s love gaffes to the party’s cosy approach to politics during the period in question … The MDC should have used its nearness to power to gain some clout, but it didn’t.”

But Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist, appeared to rediscover his mojo in recent weeks when it came to doing what he does best – mobilising crowds. Jameson Timba, minister of state in Tsvangirai’s office, said: “In my view, Morgan Tsvangirai still has the drive to complete the struggle for democratic change.”

Petina Gappah, a writer and political commentator, admitted being among the sceptics who had written the MDC off at the start of the year. But she added: “A lot of people are pointing fingers at Morgan, but nobody could have prevented this.

“My respect for Morgan has risen and, if he steps down, he will be a hero to many and have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. He and his party gave us opposition politics. Until the late 1990s, we had a one-party state here, and any future opposition party will owe a lot to the MDC.”

Born from the labour movement in 1999, the MDC has never been allowed to forget that white people were conspicuous at its beginnings. Zanu-PF still paints it as a puppet of western imperialism, although the crowd at last Monday’s rally was 99.9% black.

MDC members have been murdered, tortured and jailed during a long struggle and the prize now seems further away than ever. The party is at a crossroads, mindful that for decades opposition movements have made little headway against liberation governments in neighbouring Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa, although Zambia has seen democratic transfers of power.

Bennett even predicted that an MDC “armed wing” could emerge to take on Mugabe’s “military junta”. But as police maintained watch on people shopping and strolling in parks, Zimbabwe seemed to be illustrating the idea that nothing, like something, happens anywhere.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/03/zimbabwe-morgan-tsvangirai

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Video: ZEC announces Mugabe wins election

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Elections results percentages:

President Mugabe 2,110,434 votes 61.09%

Morgan Tsvangirai  1,172,349 votes 33.94%

Welshman Ncube  92,637 votes 2.68%

Dumiso Dabengwa  25,416 votes 0.74%

Kisinoti Mukwazhi  9,931 votes 0.29%

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National Assembly Results

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Zimbabwe Vote Gets Mixed Report
African Union Calls Election Free and Fair, But With Caveats

By Devon Maylie Connect
The Wall Street Journal

HARARE, Zimbabwe—The African Union presented a mixed report Friday following Zimbabwe’s election this week, declaring the election free and fair but with a number of caveats.

“Yes, the election was free,” said Olusegun Obasanjo, the head of the AU’s election observation mission and a former president of Nigeria. “There were incidences but not such to be regarded as putting the elections in jeopardy.”

Mr. Obasanjo said, though, that his 69-member election observation team recorded a large number of voters who weren’t able to cast their vote because they weren’t on the election roll. The former president said if data shows that at least 25% of voters registered weren’t allowed to vote because of this problem, then that would call into question the results “representing the will of the people.”

In a report read of by Mr. Obasanjo’s deputy, Aisha Abdullahi, the AU also cited a number of other issues primarily around voter registration, a high number of voters who needed voting assistance, and lack of transparency around getting access to the voter-registration list ahead of the election day.

The outcome of Wednesday’s election will decide whether 89-year-old President Robert Mugabe extends his 33-year control of the country since he was first elected at Zimbabwe’s independence, or whether Morgan Tsvangirai, a 61-year-old former union leader who is running on a platform promising change and more investment, can wrest control.

Early results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for seats in the House of Assembly show Mr. Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in the lead, with 52 of the 62 seats announced so far going to the party, out of the 210 seats. A number of representatives from the Movement for Democratic Change—Mr. Tsvangirai’s party—lost their seats, including Douglas Mwonzora.

“We don’t accept the results of this election…the results were full of fraud,” Mr. Mwonzora said, adding he saw plainclothes security forces at his own polling station helping voters cast their vote and influencing how they voted.

Mr. Tsvangirai on Thursday lashed out at the election, calling it a “sham” and a “fraud.” Mr. Mwonzora said the party is holding a meeting Friday to determine how they will respond to the outcome.

Spokespeople for Zanu-PF have denied the allegations of fraud and vote rigging and said the elections were carried out freely.

The AU’s Mr. Obasanjo said he couldn’t comment on Mr. Tsvangirai’s allegations, and said the regional organization will continue to monitor the outcome of this week’s vote. He praised the “general” peaceful and intimidation-free environment leading up to Wednesday’s vote. After the 2008 election, around 200 people died in political violence and observers hope to avoid a repeat of that.

“In comparison to 2008, Zimbabwe has made a transition,” Ms. Abdullahi said.

The ZEC said vote counting had been completed at the 9,000 polling stations and that it was compiling all the results.

Rights groups and election observers aren’t the only people keeping a close eye on the outcome. The 2008 violence also accelerated a downward spiral in an economy already crippled by high unemployment and skyrocketing inflation. The economic decline was halted in 2009 only when officials abandoned the country’s currency for the U.S. dollar and formed an awkward coalition government with Mr. Mugabe as president and Mr. Tsvangirai as prime minister.

Investors are waiting to see how the election is resolved and what kind of policies are pushed.

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Video: Update on the presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe

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Video: Zimbabwe elections 

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Video: Were elections free and fair in Zimbabwe?

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Video: AU monitor declares Zimbabwe poll credible

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Video: Zimbabwe prime minister calls vote a ‘sham’

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Zanu-PF heads for landslide, Clean sweeps six provinces, Party on course to two-thirds majority

The Herald (Harare, Zimbabwe)

PRESIDENT Mugabe and Zanu-PF are headed for a landslide on the scale of the 1980 harmonised elections, amid reports the revolutionary party had made clean sweeps in six out of the country’s 10 provinces. In the remaining two provinces outside Harare and Bulawayo, Zanu-PF garnered more than 50 percent of the constituencies on offer.
Official results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and information sent in by our news crews countrywide shows Zanu-PF making a clean sweep of Masvingo, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central and near clean sweeps of Mashonaland West, Manicaland and the Midlands where it is reported to have fallen short of the “upon upon’’ exhorted by its First Secretary and President, Cde Mugabe by single constituencies apiece.

Though full official results were still to be confirmed, results released by ZEC from 62 constituencies showed that Zanu-PF (represented by green on the map) had claimed 52 seats, while MDC-T (red) had managed 10.

More results will be released today.
Information gleaned from candidates and polling centre returns showed Zanu-PF making serious inroads into Harare where it garnered over a third of the vote, bagging six constituencies, up from the solitary Harare South it had consistently defended since the advent of MDC-T at the turn of the millennium.

Several MDC-T heavyweights fell by the wayside, among them Jameson Timba, Theresa Makone, Elton Mangoma, Douglas Mwonzora, and Giles Mutsekwa.
Countless surveys ahead of the elections from organisations as diverse as the US think-tank Council on Foreign Relations, Freedom House, Afrobarometer and pollsters like the Mass Public Opinion institute, MDC-T allies among them the NCA, Concerned ZCTU Affiliates, Sokwanele, and Zimbabwe vigil and media organisations like the New York Times, the Guardian, the Independent and the leftwing magazine Counterpunch had all pointed to a Zanu-PF victory.

On the eve of polling, reports emerged that the US State department had gagged Freedom House from releasing its latest survey results that indicated a crushing victory for President Mugabe and Zanu-PF in harmonised elections.

The Freedom House survey gave President Mugabe a 10 percent lead over Mr Tsvangirai and predicted a two thirds majority for Zanu-PF in the National Assembly where the revolutionary party was tipped to garner at least 140 seats in the 210 seat assembly.

From our indications, the embargoed survey was spot on as far as the two-thirds majority but just fell short on the margin of the presidential vote amid indications President Mugabe is likely to prevail by more than 70 percent of the votes cast, which is throwback to the 1980 plebiscite to which the harmonised elections have been likened that had Zanu-PF garnering 57 out of the 80 black roll seats, while PF-Zapu garnered 20 with Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s UANC which managed three seats.

Zanu-PF’s stunning performance in the key swing provinces of Manicaland and Masvingo drove the numbers. Our crews indicate that Zanu-PF swept all 26 seats in Masvingo up from the 12 the party garnered in 2008, while in Manicaland which was reported to be riven by internecine fighting ahead of the elections, Zanu-PF rose from a paltry six seats in 2008 to 22 out of the 26 on offer.
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Why Robert Mugabe scored a landslide victory in Zimbabwean elections
Triumph for president and his party Zanu-PF cannot be dismissed as rigging and obstruction by the incumbent

Blessing-Miles Tendi
The Guardian UK

HARARE- There is a phenomenon in African politics called the preponderance of incumbency. Simply put, it maintains that it is difficult to defeat an incumbent president in an election because they control the state institutions, which they can use to retain power. Consequently, only in Zambia, where presidents Kenneth Kaunda and Rupiah Banda lost in the 1991 and 2011 respectively, is there an established record of incumbents losing to an opposition challenger.

Many analysts have blamed this for Robert Mugabe’s latest victory in Zimbabwe’s presidential election, and his Zanu-PF party securing a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s main challenger and the outgoing prime minister, has described the result “null and void”. Tsvangirai maintains that his crushing election defeat was the result of rigging by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the registrar general’s office, which manages the voters roll.

Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party went into a power-sharing government in 2009 hoping to reform various institutional reforms so as to nullify this preponderance of incumbency in Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s party certainly obstructed and subverted the implementation of such reforms – anything other than this would have been political suicide.

But to say that the preponderance of incumbency continued in the latest election entirely because of Zanu-PF’s obstruction and subversion of reforms would be incomplete.

Tsvangirai’s party lost sight of the need for rapid and comprehensive institutional reforms in the early years of power-sharing. It expended most of its energies in fighting for appointments to the ministry of agriculture, attorney general, the central and provincial governors. By the time it refocused on institutional reforms, the period to elections had shortened significantly. There was little time, energy and external goodwill left for the MDC-T to pursue what should have been its main pursuits from the beginning.

However, the MDC-T from early on sought to reform one particular institution: the military, which it saw as having blocked its ascent to power in the 2008 election. According to Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe underwent a “de facto coup d’état” in 2008 and was now run by “a military junta”, making security sector reform necessary. But the MDC-T’s pursuit of this reform was based on a misunderstanding of the military’s relationship with Zanu-PF. The military does not and never has ruled Zimbabwe; the MDC-T has never presented evidence to the contrary, despite its passionate claims.

Mugabe wields effective control of the military because of his power as commander in chief. Zimbabwe’s liberation history also shapes the relationships of civilian and military elites in a manner that maintains the former’s control over the latter. The MDC-T’s mistaken focus on the perceived lack of civilian authority over the military resulted in it needlessly haranguing and antagonising military generals with no real political power. The MDC-T’s efforts would have been better spent trying to improve its ideological appeal to the military.

I followed the election contest closely throughout July and had unique access to some of the individuals involved in the campaigns. The Zanu-PF campaign was run by a network of party officials, youth and retired military officers who fought in Zimbabwe’s liberation war. The party’s commissariat department was an important nerve centre in its campaign and had as its principal directors the retired air vice-marshal Henry Muchena and the former director internal of the Zimbabwean intelligence service Sydney Nyanungo. On one of my visits to Nyanungo, I found him and Muchena making plans for a campaign rally by the vice-president, Joice Mujuru, in Binga. She was going to there to campaign on behalf of Mugabe.

Why did you guys retire to work for the party, what is in it for you, I asked. Nyanungo rolled up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal a deep scar and burn marks, and answered: “I operated the anti-aircraft equipment in the 1977 Rhodesian attack on our Chimoio camp during the liberation war. I almost died during that attack. I cannot allow this country to go to people [the MDC] who do not connect to that liberation legacy. That is why I came back to the party. I am not even paid to do this job. It is my duty.”

There was a greater sense of unity, purpose and discipline in the Zanu-PF campaign than in the MDC-T one. For instance, 29 members of the MDC-T who were disgruntled with the manner the party’s primaries were conducted defied the leadership and ran as independents. Only three disaffected Zanu-PF candidates did likewise. MDC-T divisions were particularly stark in Manicaland province, where imposition of parliamentary candidates by Tsvangirai resulted in a serious rift between him and the provincial executive. Manicaland – unlike in 2008 — voted for Zanu-PF this time.

All opinion polls on the likely outcome of the 2013 election demonstrated a rise in Zanu-PF support while that of the MDC-T was shown to be declining.

A largely unstated factor so far in debates about how Zanu-PF won this election is that for the first time in years the MDC-T ran a less effective campaign because of financial constraints. As MDC-T insiders have revealed to me, the party’s traditional western backers were not as forthcoming with financial support as they were in 2008. During the campaigns Tsvangirai publicly criticised the west for giving up on removing Mugabe from power in preference for eventual accommodation with the Zimbabwean president. The west has been unequivocal in its public condemnation of Zanu-PF’s victory but in the coming weeks it must answer hard questions about why it abandoned the MDC-T financially prior the election.

Zimbabwe is largely calm and peaceful in the aftermath of the election. But debate about the result is continuing behind closed doors. I have been part of furious debates among Harare’s middle-class intellectuals. A clear fissure has emerged between those who maintain that Mugabe’s election win is entirely down to the preponderance of incumbency and those who argue that this does not tell the whole story. I’m one of this latter group, who take the view that a multiplicity of factors converged to ensure Mugabe’s election win last week. The challenge in the coming days is for these intellectuals and indeed the MDC-T to produce hard evidence demonstrating that Zanu-PF’s victory is explained by rigging alone.

Even in the MDC-T there is no consensus that rigging was to blame. Some of its senior party officials have quietly sent messages to Zanu-PF conceding defeat and making clear their public pronouncements to the contrary are a means of managing disillusioned supporters. Some of the leadership of the smaller MDC party, which broke away from Tsvangirai’s group in 2005, have even broken ranks. Paul Temba Nyathi, for example, states: “I got a feeling that Gwanda North [my constituency] was unwinnable. People who used to come to our rallies and support us suddenly could not look me in the eye. They started vacillating. We had a free and fair contest, everyone was free to canvass and the vote was peaceful in Gwanda North. Hand on heart, I think Zanu-PF beat us fair and square. There is something that made people to fall in love with Zanu-PF again.”

Blessing-Miles Tendi teaches African politics in the University of Oxford’s Department for International Development and is the author of Making History in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe: Politics, Intellectuals and the Media.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/05/robert-mugabe-zimbabwe-election-zanu-pf

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Video: Zimbabwe Elections Results

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Video: Give Zimbabwe a chance to come up with their own solutions – Former South African President Mbeki

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Video: Morgan Tsvangirai rejects Zimbabwe election result

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Video: Botswana’s statement on the 2013 Zimbabwe election

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Video: Zimbabwe Election Peaceful Says South African President Zuma

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Immigration officials express fears as team set up to probe airport fire

By Moses Michira, Lonah Kibet and Felix Olick
The Standard (Nairobi)

NAIROBI- Senior Immigration officials Wednesday evening expressed unease with hasty plans to reopen the damaged Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to international flights.

The Immigration Department said it would not be pushed to reopen the airport as its systems were completely damaged in Wednesday’s inferno and would be unable to effectively screen passengers.

Instead Immigration officials have proposed that all international flights be rerouted to Moi International Airport in Mombasa for screening of passengers who would then take connecting flights to Nairobi as domestic passengers.

The officials said they had not been consulted in decisions made.

This was in reaction to the announcement by Transport Cabinet Secretary that JKIA “emergency operations team is working round the clock to prepare Units 2 & 3 for arrival and departure of international flights as soon as possible.”

But Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole lenku acknowledged the security concerns.

On Wednesday evening, tents were being erected outside Terminal 3.

Meanwhile, President Uhuru Kenyatta has called on Kenyans to stop speculation into the cause of the inferno.

Speaking when he visited the scene to assess the damage, Mr Kenyatta said that security agencies had launched investigation into the incident.

He reassured the entire aviation industry, investors, local and international travellers that everything was being done to resume normal operations at the airport.

He said Kenya Civil Aviation had granted clearance for the use of Unit 3 for international departures and arrivals and assured safety and security of all passengers.

Kenya Airports Authority Managing Director Stephen Gichuki said a committee had been formed to evaluate the situation and ensure the resumption of operations at the earliest possible opportunity.

“The committee is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport and infrastructure Michael Kamau,” said Mr Gichuki.

A statement from Kenya Airways confirmed that all their flights were cancelled until further.

Meanwhile, departure and arrival of domestic flights at JKIA were scheduled to resume Wednesday evening.

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kamau said the airport emergency operations team was working round the clock to prepare Units 2 and 3 for arrival and departure of international flights as soon as possible.

But in a separate statement, Kenya Airways Managing Director Titus Naikuni said that full operations at JKIA are yet to resume.

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Video: Huge fire destroys Nairobi airport terminal

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Video: Nairobi airport fire: Kenya government admits fire crews were short on water

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Video: Jet fuel shortage at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

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Video: Nairobi – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport expansion

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Nairobi – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, formerly called Embakasi Airport and Nairobi International Airport, is Kenya’s largest aviation facility, and the busiest airport in East Africa. It’s importance as an aviation center makes it the pace setter for other airports in the region.

The airport is named after the first Kenyan prime minister and president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and is located in Embakasi, 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) to the south-east of the Nairobi Business District.

Nairobi – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport -Domesitic Terminal

Nairobi – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport expansion

President Barack Obama invites Nigerian President for talks on terrorists activities in the African continent

By George Agba
Leadership (Abuja)

United States President Barack Obama has invited Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for talks on issues bordering on terrorists activities in the African continent among others .

Disclosing this to State House correspondents in Abuja, United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman who is leading a delegation to the US-Nigeria bi-national commission meeting, said all was set for both leaders to meet soon and discuss issues bordering on security, governance, education and agriculture.

According to her, while she came to the presidential villa to deliver a letter from Obama to the Nigerian president, Jonathan was “gracious enough to accept the letter, adding that we look forward to working further on the basis of the letter”.

She said, “The binational commission is really an invaluable tool for both nations to work together for a strong relationship, especially to support Nigeria as it moves forward to tackle its challenges. Our presidents are likely to meet soon. I will leave that announcement to the President of the United States and the President of Nigeria.

“The issues before the bi-national commission range from security to governance, education and agriculture. Nigeria is a very important country, not only here on the continent, but around the world. Nigeria has served on the Security Council of the UN and it is likely to do so again in future.

“It is the head of the Committee on Democracy and has been leader in so many ways, like in ECOWAS as a peace-keeper all around the world. These are the partnerships that are important to us. Secretary Kerry had a meeting with President Jonathan in Addis at the AU summit, and so, we look for every opportunity to strengthen our relationship.”

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Goodluck Jonathan during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House June 8, 2011.

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Video: Boko Haram accused of recent attacks in Nigeria’s north

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Video: Femi Fani-Kayode on President Goodluck Jonathan’s performance
Femi Fani-Kayode is a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Fani-Kayode was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006. He was appointed the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from 22 June to 7 November 2006 and as the Minister of Aviation from 7 November 2006 to 29 May 2007.

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Video: President Goodluck Jonathan — Keynote Address — Rockefeller Foundation
President Goodluck Jonathan’s Speech At The Rockefeller Foundation Summit On Realising The Potential Of African Agriculture in Abuja July 8-9, 2013

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Brazilian oil firm HRT confident of major Namibia oil find

AFP

WINDHOEK– Finding large quantities of oil in Namibia is only “a matter of time” the head of Brazilian oil firm HRT said on August 15, 2013, playing down lacklustre initial drilling results.

The chief executive of HRT, Milton Franke, told AFP he was confident Namibia would become the latest in a string of major Africa crude producers, despite around a dozen exploratory wells largely coming up dry.

HRT discovered some oil in a Walvis Basin well off Namibia’s Skeleton Coast earlier this year but not in commercial volumes.

“HRT believes that finding oil in Namibia is a matter of time. Both basins, Walvis and Orange, have good source rocks, in the oil generation window,” he said.

Drilling at HRT’s third test well is now underway, with results expected in mid-October, he added.

Franke said they had learned from experience in Brazil that patience is needed.

“We see that in Campos Basin the first commercial oil discovery came with the drilling of the ninth well. Today it is the largest producer of the country.”

Similarly, in Brazil’s Santos Basin around 50 wells were drilled before major energy discoveries, he said.

In Namibia offshore exploration began in the late 1960′s and resulted in major gas finds, but so far no oil.

But there are high hopes that Namibia could replicate crude discoveries in neighbouring Angola to the north, Africa’s second-biggest producer of crude, after Nigeria.

“There is much work to do in Namibian basins exploration. If it is not HRT that will come up with the first oil discovery, it will be another major or independent oil company.”

The company operates 10 offshore blocks in Namibia and its exploratory drilling programme is worth around $200 million.

Franke became CEO in May, after serving as the firm’s production director and working with Brazilian state-backed oil major Petrobras.

Other companies with exploration licenses in Namibia include Spain’s Repsol and Petrobras.

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Video: Oil found in Namibia in May 2013

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Namibia

Population: 2,182,852 (July 2013 est.)

South Africa occupied the German African colony of South-West Africa during World War I and administered it as a mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the South-West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla group launched a war of independence for the area that became Namibia, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region.

Windhoek

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Video: Namibia – Genocide and Germany’s Second Reich
30 years before Nazi Germany

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Thousands attend inauguration of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe has been sworn in for a seventh term in office as Zimbabwe’s leader

Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
The Herald (Harare)

HARARE, Zimbabwe- President Mugabe took his Oath of Office August 22, 2013 before a colorful, jubilant capacity crowd comprising Zimbabweans from all walks of life, current and former African Heads of State and Government and diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe at the 60 000-seater National Sports Stadium in Harare yesterday.

Heads of State and Government who attended the ceremony included presidents Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania), Joseph Kabila (DRC), Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia), Armando Guebuza (Mozambique), Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Equatorial Guinea) and Rajkeswur Purryag (Mauritius).

Zambia was represented by vice president Dr Guy Scott, South Africa by VP Kgalema Montlanthe, Malawi by VP Khumbo Kachale and Swaziland by premier Sibusiso Dlamini.

Former Presidents Dr Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, and Sir Ketumile Masire and Festus Mogae of Botswana were also among the dignitaries.

Of the GPA partners, only Professor Arthur Mutambara turned up.
Wild cheers broke out as soon as President Mugabe’s motorcade appeared on the big screen just before midday, with ululation, whistles and chants of “Gushungo!, Gushungo!’’ reaching a crescendo when the President entered the arena aboard his official army inspection truck with the First Lady by his side.

They slowly did a lap of honour around the race track, saluting the crowds in the grandstands to the reverberating sound of “VaMugabe Vanogona’’ by the late Cde Elliot Manyika; before the President took his place on the saluting dais for the singing of the National Anthem led by the Army Band.

Shortly afterwards, Zanu-PF National Political Commissar Cde Webster Shamu introduced African Heads of State and Government, past and present, as well as emissaries before religious leaders beginning with Reverend Andrew Wutawunashe of the Family of God, Bishop Chad Gandiya of the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa, Bishop Trevor Manhanga, presiding bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe, and Bishop Johannes Ndanga of the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe dedicated proceedings.

At exactly 11:40am, Cde Shamu invited Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and President-elect Cde Mugabe to the podium for the oath which the Chief Justice administered at 11:43hours.

“I, Robert Gabriel Mugabe swear that I will faithfully bear true allegiance to Zimbabwe and observe the laws of Zimbabwe so help me God,” the President’s voice boomed from the public address system to loud cheers from the capacity crowd that broke into song and dance with the “Zora Butter’’ routine popularized by sungura artiste Alick Macheso moving like the Mexican wave around the grandstands.

He added: “I Robert Gabriel Mugabe swear that as President of Zimbabwe I will be faithful to Zimbabwe and will obey, uphold and defend the Constitution and protect and all other laws of Zimbabwe and that I will promote whatever will advance, and oppose whatever may harm, Zimbabwe; that I will protect and promote the rights of the people of Zimbabwe; that I will discharge my duties with all my strength to the best of my knowledge and ability and true to the dictates of my conscience; and that I will devote myself to the well-being of Zimbabwe and its people. So help me God.”

Soon after signing the oath, the President was adorned with the Sash and emblems of Office by Justice Chidyausiku.
Commander of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces General Constantine Chiwenga then read out the Pledge of Allegiance on behalf of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces and congratulated the Commander-in-Chief on his resounding re-election.

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Video: Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe sworn-in as president for 7th term

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Video: SABC News- Entire Robert Mugabe’s inauguration ceremony

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Zimbabwe plans ‘Disneyland in Africa’
Tourism minister outlines scheme to build $300m entertainment complex, with banks and casinos, near Victoria Falls

David Smith
The Guardian UK

The formula has worked in California, Florida and Paris. Now officials in Zimbabwe, eager to rebrand a country notorious for economic collapse and political violence, want to build a “Disneyland in Africa”.

Walter Mzembi, the tourism and hospitality minister, told New Ziana, the official news agency, that the government was planning a $300m (£193m) theme park near Victoria Falls, the country’s top tourist attraction.

Mzembi was quoted as saying the resort would be a “Disneyland in Africa”, although he did not appear to suggest that the statue of explorer David Livingstone, which overlooks the falls, would be supplanted by a jobbing actor in a Mickey Mouse costume.

Instead, he outlined plans for shopping malls, banks and exhibition and entertainment facilities such as casinos. “We have reserved 1,200 hectares of land closer to Victoria Falls international airport to do hotels and convention centres,” Mzembi told New Ziana on the sidelines of the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly , which Victoria Falls is co-hosting with the town of Livingstone in neighbouring Zambia.

Mzembi said the project would cost about $300m.

“We want to create a free zone with a banking centre where even people who do not necessarily live in Zimbabwe can open bank accounts,” he said.

The government has plans to invest $150m in expanding the town’s airport to accommodate bigger aircraft, according to the report from Ziana. Mzembi said the government had found funding partners including multilateral financial institutions.

Visitors travel from across the world to see Victoria Falls where water plummets more than 100 metres into the Zambezi gorge, generating mists of spray so high they can be seen up to 30 miles away. A bridge linking Zimbabwe and Zambia offers bungee jumping but made headlines for the wrong reasons last year when an Australian tourist narrowly survived her cord snapping.

The nearby town offers few reasons to linger or spend money, however, despite the launch last month of an open-top bus tour in an attempt to drum up interest. Mzembi hopes to appeal to a younger market.

Zimbabwe’s considerable tourism potential was devastated by a decade of conflict and hyperinflation but has recovered in recent years. The government says it recorded a 17% increase in tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2013, up 346,299 to 404,282. It has predicted the tourism sector will contribute 15% to GDP by 2015 if the country remains stable.

Following a mostly peaceful, though bitterly disputed, election last month, Zimbabwe’s co-hosting of the UNWTO conference this week is seen as another milestone towards that stability. But the decision to award the conference to Zimbabwe as a co-host was condemned by the independent UN Watch human rights group as a “disgraceful show of support – and a terribly timed award of false legitimacy – for a brutal, corrupt and authoritarian regime.

Hillel Neuer, head of the Geneva-based group, added: “Amid reports of election rigging and continuing human rights abuses, Zimbabwe is the last country that should be legitimised by a UN summit of any kind. The notion that the UN should spin this country as a lovely tourist destination is, frankly, sickening.”

President Robert Mugabe’s associated status as UN “leader for tourism” has also been questioned by critics of his 33-year rule.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/26/zimbabwe-disneyland-africa-tourism

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Video: Devils Pool – Victoria Falls

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BRICS close to consensus on $100b forex reserve fund

Global Times

Major emerging countries, known as the BRICS group of nations, are close to reaching a consensus on creating a $100 billion foreign currency reserve fund to help ease short-term liquidity pressure and safeguard financial stability, a senior Chinese central bank official said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, senior officials Tuesday urged the US to consider the time and pace at which it withdraws its quantitative easing stimulus program to avoid negative impacts on emerging economies.

Speaking at a news briefing ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit in Russia next week, Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said leaders of the BRICS group – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have agreed on the ratio of contributions, operation mechanisms, governance structure and loan-to-value ratio of a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA).

There will be more consensus on the arrangement by BRICS leaders when they meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia on September 5 and 6, Yi said.

“We will see the launch of the fund in the foreseeable future,” Yi said.

“The fund offers a means to prepare for any negative effect from the volatility in the global financial market and is a supplement to the existing international financial systems such as the IMF and the World Bank. The efficiency and capabilities of these organizations are restrained by their complicated decision-making mechanisms,” Zhao Xijun, a deputy director of the Finance and Securities Research Institute at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times Tuesday.

“The new fund will help ensure the financial stability of the major emerging economies and their stability will benefit the global economy and financial markets,” Zhao said.

Yi also revealed at the briefing that China will contribute the “biggest share” to the fund, but not exceeding 50 percent of the total contributions, without giving more details.

In March, BRICS leaders signed an agreement to launch the fund with an initial size of $100 billion at the BRICS summit in South Africa.

“China is in a better position to play a big role in the new fund because China has the biggest economy among the BRICS nations and has the biggest share and most diverse structure in international trade,” Song Guoliang, a finance professor at the Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times Tuesday.

Meanwhile, officials warned at Tuesday’s news briefing of the sudden change of tone in monetary policy by some developed countries.

Signs that the US would soon wind back its monetary easing policy have affected market expectations in some emerging economies, resulting in dramatic outflows of foreign investment from these countries, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong at the same briefing.

Markets are worried that the US Federal Reserve might decide to abandon its monetary easing policy when it meets in mid-September following its June announcement that it may start withdrawing the plan.

The US must consider the spill-over effect of its monetary policy, especially the time and pace at which it will scale back its ultra-loose monetary policy, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said at the same briefing.
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Business leaders from the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group of countries converged in Johannesburg for the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council.

The meeting took place at the Sandton Convention Centre from August 19 to 20, 2013.

Video: BRICS world’s wealthiest bloc in 30 yrs
A new powerful institution, the BRICS joint development bank, is set to emerge on the international financial arena – that’s as the 5th annual summit of the world’s fastest emerging economies has kicked off in South Africa.

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Video: BRICS business leaders want formation of development bank to be accelerated

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Video: President Jacob Zuma addresses BRICS Business Council Meeting

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Sergey Katryrin of Russia, South African businessman Patrice Motsepe and Onkar Kanwar of India at the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. August 20, 2013. (Photo: GCIS)

Sergey Katryrin of Russia, South African businessman Patrice Motsepe and Onkar Kanwar of India at the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. August 20, 2013. (Photo: GCIS)

Jose Rubens De La Rosa of Brazil, Sergey Katryrin of Russia, Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies, President Jacob Zuma, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa, Onkar Kanwar India and MA Zehua of China at the first meeting of the BRICS Business Council held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. -August 20, 2013. (Photo: GCIS)
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China Development Bank invests billions in Africa

Xinhua

BEIJING — China Development Bank (CDB), the country’s largest policy lender, has invested at least 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in African infrastructure and commercial projects, the bank’s president Zheng Zhijie said Tuesday.

The China-Africa Development Fund has financed mineral resources, machinery manufacturing, power generation, agricultural and infrastructure projects in more than 30 African countries, Zheng told a China-Kenya investment forum.

The fund, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CDB and an Africa-dedicated fund, was set up in 2007.

The projects are estimated to bring at least 10 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese investment to Africa.

With stronger bilateral ties, Kenya has become an important partner in east Africa for China, he said.

CDB’s outstanding loans to Africa have totaled 18.9 billion U.S. dollars, of which 250 million U.S. dollars have been for infrastructure projects, the financial sector and small businesses in Kenya.

Zheng said the bank’s fund has helped spread the use of digital television in Kenya. It is possibly looking to fund hydro-power, thermal-power and development park projects, as well as opening a representative office in Kenya in the future.

China issues white paper on economic, trade cooperation with Africa

Xinhua

BEIJING– The Chinese government on Thursday issued a white paper on China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation, underlining latest achievements of the mutually-beneficial cooperation between China and African countries.

The white paper, released by the Information Office of China’s State Council, introduces facts of trade development, investment expansion, agricultural cooperation, infrastructure construction and other fields of cooperation between China and Africa since 2009.

“China-Africa economic and trade development has improved people’s livelihoods and diversified economic development in African countries, and provided strong support for China’s socio-economic development,” the white paper says.

The cooperation between China and Africa also contributed to promoting South-South cooperation and balancing global economic development, according to the white paper.

Through the joint efforts of China and Africa, economic and trade cooperation is enjoying a more consolidated foundation and better mechanisms than before, with new common interests and growth points constantly emerging, it says.

In spite of sluggish global economic recovery in recent years, the trade between China and Africa has maintained the momentum of comparatively rapid growth.

In 2009, China became Africa’s largest trade partner. In the following two years, the scale of bilateral trade expanded rapidly.

In 2012, the total volume of China-Africa trade reached 198.49 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year growth of 19.3 percent, the paper says.

The total bilateral trade volume, China’s exports to Africa and China’s imports from Africa all reached new highs last year.

The white paper says that Sino-African bilateral trade enjoys great potential and is significant for the economic development of both sides.

China will help African countries improve their customs and commodity inspection facilities, provide support for African countries to promote trade facilitation, and push forward trade growth within Africa, the white paper says.

As poor economic foundation and insufficient construction funds have always been factors limiting the development of African countries, Chinese government encourages and supports enterprises and financial institutions to increase investment in Africa.

China’s direct investment in African countries increased from 1.44 billion U.S. dollars in 2009 to 2.52 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, representing an annual growth rate of 20.5 percent.

At present, over 2,000 Chinese enterprises are investing in more than 50 African countries and regions.

Their investment activities have expanded from the fields of agriculture, mining and construction to intensive processing of resource products, manufacturing, financing, logistics and real estate, the white paper says.

African enterprises have also been active in making investment in China. By the end of 2012, investment from African countries in China totaled 14.24 billion U.S. dollars, surging 44 percent from 2009.

China-Africa investment and financing cooperation has solidified the foundation of Africa’s economic development, increased Africa’s capacity of independent development, improved Africa’s competitiveness in the global economic sphere, and advanced Chinese enterprises’ internationalized development, the white paper says.

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Video: Chinese government on Thursday issued a white paper on China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation

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The graphic shows China-Africa trade volume from 2000 to 2012

The graphic shows distribution of China’s direct investment in Africa by the end of 2011

Full Text of Report: China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation 2013

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China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation 2013

Black African Jews immigrate to Israel

Haaretz

The last 450 immigrants from Ethiopia landed in Israel on Wednesday afternoon, ending a 30-year national project. However, hundreds or even thousands of others remain in a camp in Ethiopia, as Israel has refused to let them in.

Wednesday’s landing completed the effort’s final stage, which consisted of 91 flights over the past three years, bringing in the last 7,864 Falashmura whom the government allowed to immigrate.

Hundreds of excited family members and friends, some of whom arrived from Ethiopia only a few months ago, filled Terminal 1 at Ben-Gurion International Airport to greet the newcomers. Pictures of the immigrants coming off the plane and making their first steps on Israeli soil were broadcast onto a large cinema screen in the hall. The crowd applauded and cheered every time a familiar face appeared on the screen.

As the new immigrants entered the terminal gates their relatives rushed toward them, hugging and kissing them.

Half of the immigrants who came to Israel in the last stage of the immigration campaign, dubbed “Wings of a Dove,” are under 15 years old. The oldest is 87 and the youngest a 16-day-old infant. They will be staying in the Jewish Agency’s absorption centers in Mevasseret Zion, Safed, Be’er Sheva, Arad, Haifa, Kiryat Gat, Nahariya, Beit Alfa and Ayelet Hashahar.

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Video: African Falash Mura Ethiopian Jews repatriated to Israel

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Video: BBC News ‘Last airlift’ of Ethiopian Jews to Israel

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Video: Ethiopian immigrants getting off the plane in Israel

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Timeline of Ethiopian Jewish History
Falashas (the alien ones, the invaders)

380 AD/CE(Common Era) Ethiopia/Axum was converted to Christianity through the efforts of St. Frumentius. Frumentius was a Syrophoenician (Syria and Phoenicia) Greek born in Tyre.
Known as the Christian Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox.

1622 — Christians conquer the Ethiopian Jewish Kingdom following 300 years of warfare. The vanquished Jews are enslaved and sold, forced to baptize as Christians, and denied the right to own land.

1769 — Scottish explorer James Bruce awakens the western world to the existence of the Ethiopian Jews in his travels to discover the source of the Nile. He estimates the Jewish population at 100,000.

1864 — Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer, the Rabbi of Eisenstadt, Germany, publishes a manifesto in the Jewish press calling for the spiritual rescue of Ethiopian Jewry.

1867 — Professor Joseph Halevy is the first European Jew to visit the Beta Israel, subsequently becoming an advocate for the community.

1908 — Rabbis of 44 countries proclaim Ethiopian Jews to be authentic Jews.

1976 — Approximately 250 Ethiopians Jews were living in Israel.

1977-1984 — Approximately 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel.

1984 — The massive airlift known as Operation Moses begins on November 18th and ends on January 5th, 1985. Some 6,500 Ethiopian Jews were flown from Sudan to Israel. An estimated 2,000 Jews die en route to Sudan or in Sudanese refugee camps.

1984-1988 — With the abrupt halting of Operation Joshua in 1985, the Ethiopian Jewish community was split in half, with some 15,000 souls in Israel, and more than 15,000 still stranded in Ethiopia.

Source: American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

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Video: Racism Report: Africans in Israel
African Refugee Development Center
On January 30, 2012, the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) submitted a report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

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The African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) is a non-profit organization founded in 2004 by refugees and Israeli citizens to assist, support and empower refugees and asylum seekers in Israel. The ARDC seeks to ensure access to basic social services, and to facilitate refugee and asylum seeker integration, self-sufficiency and ownership in matters affecting their lives. The ARDC advocates for the rights of refugees and asylum seekers and for a humane and fair Israeli asylum policy. It divides its work between individual counseling, humanitarian aid, education, community development, awareness raising and policy initiatives.

http://ardc-israel.org/en/content/who-are-we

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The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by its State parties.

All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the Convention and then every two years. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of “concluding observations”.

In addition to the reporting procedure, the Convention establishes three other mechanisms through which the Committee performs its monitoring functions: the early-warning procedure, the examination of inter-state complaints and the examination of individual complaints.

The Committee meets in Geneva and normally holds two sessions per year consisting of three weeks each.

The Committee also publishes its interpretation of the content of human rights provisions, known as general recommendations (or general comments), on thematic issues and organizes thematic discussions.

Nairobi – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport receives full funding for a new terminal and second runway

Reuters

NAIROBI — Kenya’s airport authority has received full funding offers from three banks to build a new terminal and second runway at its main airport, hit by a massive fire last month, that will cost $653 million, the transport minister said on Wednesday.

The plans to expand the aging airport, a regional gateway for passengers and cargo, are not new but the authorities have come under pressure to speed up the expansion after the blaze destroyed the arrivals terminal.

The new terminal and runway will provide a further capacity of 40 million passengers, Transport Secretary Michael Kamau said, seen by government as necessary to cope with the anticipated boost to the economy the expected exploitation of oil reserves will bring.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on the country’s economy in Nairobi, Kamau declined to say which banks had offered funds to the Kenya Airports Authority, a parastatal.

He did, however, say the lenders would not require a government guarantee, suggesting the lenders are confident they can recoup their money on the project expected to get under way this year.

The old arrival hall remains a charred shell and the airports authority is relying on a makeshift terminal made out of giant tents to handle arriving passengers.

Even before the fire, Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, built in the 1970s to handle 2.5 million passengers annually, was struggling to handle more than 6 million people a year as its regional importance grew.

“The discovery of oil is a game changer in this country. I don’t think people are sufficiently prepared for what is coming,” Kamau said.

National carrier Kenya Airways has been blaming lack of capacity for delays to expand operations. The carrier, which is partly owned by AirFrance KLM, plans to more than double its fleet to more than 80 planes in five years.

Like most other sub-Saharan Africa nations, Kenya suffers a massive infrastructure deficit, holding back its economic growth potential.

There are signs a mega-port project on the north Kenyan coast may be gaining traction based on the commercial oil discoveries in Uganda and Kenya.

Kamau said a feasibility study into an oil pipeline linking South Sudan’s oil fields to the Lamu port scheme had been completed.

“There are three companies that are willing to fund it with guarantees from oil revenues,” he said, without offering details.

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Experts met in Accra to prepare for Abidjan–Lagos Highway project

Ghana News Agency

The 2nd meeting of the Steering Committee for the construction of the proposed Abidjan–Lagos Highway project took place in Accra. The conference was attended by experts, Ministers of Road, Infrastructure, Works and Justice from Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote D’ivoire are to discuss the necessary preparatory activities before the execution of the project.

Mr. Amin Amidu Sulemani, Minister of Roads and Highways, addressing the opening ceremony emphasized the significance of the project to Ghana because more than 50 per cent of the highway lies in the territorial boundaries of the country.

Mr. Sulemani said the President of Ghana attached the highest priority to the project. He stressed the need for the stakeholders to prepare the project very well, give adequate timeline and ensure that the implementation, operation and management achieved the objectives of the ECOWAS Protocols and decisions relating to the harmonization of transport and transit laws and regulations across the sub-region.

Mr. Sulemani said the success of the project would be measured by the effectiveness of the integration of the people of the sub-region. Mr Sulemani also stated the need to integrate the initiatives of the individual states into the planning and implementation of the project. “We must, however, not compromise on technical and operational standards on the various sections. Any initiative must conform to the overall standards for the Highway,” he added.

Mr Mike Oziegbe Onolememen, Minister of Works, Nigeria and Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Abidjan–Lagos Highway project stated that the mandate of the group was to prepare the blueprint for the project as well as oversee its actualization.

He said since the last meeting of the committee on July 17, 2013 in Abuja, a lot of presentations had been made to the Presidents and Heads of Governments in line with their approval towards the realization of the Abidjan–Lagos Highway project.

He said letters had also been forwarded to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to fund the detailed engineering design as well as appointing the African Finance Corporation (AFC) as the financial advisor for the project.

Mr. Onolememen also stated that the recommendations of the experts were now before Steering Committee for consideration which includes the terms of reference for the feasibility studies and the detailed engineering design, the treaty to be signed by the five member states and the highway manual of operation.

He said the documents before the committee were crucial to the success of the project as they form the foundation upon which all aspects of the project would stand. “We must examine the document thoroughly to ensure the smooth sail of the project” he said. Mr Onolememen further noted that if the recommendations arising from the meeting were approved by the Presidents and Heads of Governments during their meeting in October, 2013, it would lead to a binding agreement by all the parties, which would be a landmark achievement in the realization of the Lagos-Abidjan highway project.

He, therefore, enjoined the participant to feel free and make constructive observations in the review of the documents. He said the commitment of the Committee members to the project should not be diluted since their leaders had shown unwavering support for the project as demonstrated in their willingness to provide the necessary support to all activities and processes geared towards the realization of the project.

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Video: Abidjan–Lagos Highway

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September 22, 2013
ECOWAS: Final Communique Third Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Abidjan-Lagos Highway

Ministers of Infrastructure and Justice of the five ECOWAS Member States involved in the implementation of the 1,028-kilometre (638.76 miles) Abidjan-Lagos corridor road project held a meeting in Accra on Friday, 20th September 2013 to finalize and adopt the project’s two key documents.

1. The third meeting of the Steering Committee of the Abidjan-Lagos Highway Corridor Project was held on 20th September2013 at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra – Ghana.

2. The meeting was convened by the Steering Committee through the Chairman, Honorable Minister of Works of Nigeria, His Excellency Arc. Mike O. ONOLEMEMEN.

3. The meeting was convened in compliance with the directives of the Presidents and Heads of States and Governments (HOSG) of member States involved in the Project (Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria) at the margins of the 53rd meeting of ECOWAS Summit in Abuja-Nigeria on 18th July, 2013. In this meeting of the HOSG in Abuja, the Chairman of the Committee was instructed to report the progress of the project to the Presidents in all their Summits, with the next Summit scheduled to be held on 25th October, 2013 in Dakar, Senegal.

4. This Meeting was attended by the following Infrastructure/Works and Justice Ministers or their duly mandated Representatives:

• Republic of Benin;
• Republic Côte d’Ivoire;
• Republic of Ghana;
• Federal Republic of Nigeria;
• Togolese Republic.

5. The Steering Committee’s Meeting subsequently considered the report submitted by Beneficiary States’ Experts on the various issues as follows:
a) Terms of reference of the studies ;
b) Legal and institutional arrangements;
c) Study Time frame;
d) Funding mechanism and resources mobilization;
e) Recommendations