Africans In China

High levels of melamine found in two baby formula products recalled this week might be from animal feed, the KwaZulu-Natal health department says.

This week the department recalled a batch of Nestle’s Nido Growing up Milk for one-year-olds manufactured in June, and a batch of Lactogen Starter Infant Formula with iron manufactured in July.

Provincial health department spokesman Leon Mbangwa said tests done this month on a sample showed that Lactogen contained a level of 1.6 mg/kg of melamine and Nido 3 mg/kg of melamine.

“This is more than the internationally accepted level of 1mg/kg for foodstuffs intended for infants and young children, such as infant formula, applied by the department of health as a cut-off level.”

Mbangwa said information from the manufacturer indicated that the product was made in South Africa and contained only locally produced ingredients like fresh milk.

INVESTIGATION INTO THE SOURCE OF THE CONTAMINATION

“The manufacturer has determined that the source of the contamination derived from animal feed used by some of its suppliers of fresh milk.”

Mbangwa said the health department had informed the agriculture department about the situation.

“The department of agriculture…is responsible for the control of the quality and safety of animal feed.”

He said the department had been requested to investigate whether the contaminated feed was produced locally or was imported — possibly from China.

Nestle spokesman Theo Mxakwe said since the melamine crisis in China in mid September, Nestle had been testing all its dairy products.

“Testing led to the discovery of melamine in a number of samples of cattle feed which is predominantly used in winter, which explains the presence of melamine traces in these batches.

“Consequently, Nestlé has also taken steps to ensure that the cattle feed used by its South African milk producers is melamine free.”

He said all Nestle dairy products sold in South Africa and worldwide were “absolutely safe for consumption”.

PRODUCTS MUST BE TAKEN OFF THE SHELVES - AND RETURN ANY FROM THESE BATCHES THAT YOU HAVE BOUGHT

Mbangwa said a total recall of the two batches on the market was requested immediately after the release of the test results.

The department had requested to be informed of all steps taken to seize and destroy the products by Friday.

Anyone who has the product from the batches in question should stop using it and return it to the store from which it was purchased.

Mbangwa said although the recalled products did not comply with internationally acceptable standards for the presence of melamine: “The level of contamination of the implicated product is considered not to pose a serious public health risk if the product is consumed in normal quantities”.

SYMPTOMS TO LOOK OUT FOR

The health department was not currently aware of any infants or young children affected by consuming the product and the situation would continue to be monitored.

Symptoms to look out for in children affected by melamine-contaminated products included irritability, blood in urine or little to no urine.

Mbangwa said melamine could form crystals that could cause kidney stones.

Signs of kidney infection or failure would include lethargy, weakness, shortness of breath, generalised swelling, loss of appetite, fatigue, decreased mental function and high blood pressure.

“The department would like to advise mothers to feed babies breast milk. It is the best for babies.

“The public is advised to contact their nearest clinic for advice on alternative products,” he said.

SWEETS ALSO RECALLED

Last month, the health department recalled White Rabbit sweets after tests found they contained unacceptable levels of melamine.

The sweets, usually presented as an after-dinner treat at Chinese restaurants and sold in specialist supermarkets, were manufactured in Shangai, China.

They were the only product out of 107 tested in South Africa at the time with unacceptable levels of the industrial chemical.

Earlier this year, melamine in Chinese-manufactured dairy products was blamed for many infant deaths and illnesses.

Because South Africa did not have regulations on melamine levels, it used levels applied in the European Union, the USA and New Zealand.

ON THE WEB

Melamine is described as being “Harmful if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage. Eye, skin and respiratory irritant.” When melamine and cyanuric acid are absorbed into the bloodstream, they can cause the kidneys to malfunction. - Click here for more info from Wikipedia

(sowetan)

Ethiopia is attracting growing amounts of Chinese investment, which could see it play a bigger role in regional and international trade.

A Chinese company has started building Ethiopia’s first industrial trade zone, aiming to bring around 80 companies to the park. They will include electronic goods companies, machinery and building material makers and textile and apparel producers.

The China-Africa Development Fund has also agreed to invest in a cement plant in Ethiopia, the fund’s second project there. The US$60 million plant has a targeted output of 500,000 tons per year, surpassing domestic demand. It is expected to export to the East African region.

Ethiopia is enthusiastically courting Chinese investors. Ethiopia is attractive to Chinese companies because of its low labour costs and perceived stability.

(bdafrica)

China’s Shenzhen Energy Group plans to build a 3,000 megawatts (MW) power plant in a joint venture with Nigeria’s First Bank FBNP.LG at an estimated cost of $2.4 billion, the financial institution said on Friday.

Shenzhen signed a preliminary agreement last month with First Bank as project financiers and advisers for the gas-powered plant, Nigeria’s most profitable bank said.

The Chinese firm had already applied for a licence from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the bank said in a statement, without giving a timeframe for completion.

When finished, the plant should significantly improve Nigeria’s generation capacity and help provide relief to the country’s power crisis, considered one of the main brakes on economic development in Africa’s top oil producer.

Nigeria, the world’s eighth biggest oil exporter, has the capacity for around 3,500 MW, but power generation often plunges below 1,000 MW, largely due to poor maintenance of its aged power stations, corruption and mismanagement.

The problems have become so severe that much of Africa’s most populous nation goes without mains electricity for weeks, throwing those without private generators into darkness and heightening frustration among its 140 million people.

President Umaru Yar’Adua, who took office in May 2007, has promised repeatedly to declare a state of emergency over the crisis. As yet, no such emergency has been declared.

The federal government has said it will spend $5.37 billion of its windfall oil savings to develop the dilapidated power sector over the next few years. Approval to spend was given last month by the 36 state governments, joint owners of the account.

Yar’Adua’s predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, set a series of targets for increased power generation and said his government invested billions of dollars, but there was no tangible improvement.

Efforts to revamp the sector over the years through the promotion of independent power plants have attracted little foreign interest, with potential investors saying the government has not completed its deregulation started in 2005 with the setting up of the NERC.

Prospective investors also said the sector was poorly run and that low tariffs made their investments unviable. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ ) (Editing by Nick Tattersall)

THE Chinese Embassy in Lagos has decried the volume of fake documents usually submitted to it by prospective visa applicants in Nigeria.
Its Consul-General in Lagos, Mr Guo Kun, said yesterday in Lagos that the development was responsible for the delays usually associated with visa processing at the embassy. “The Visa Section personnel expend much time in the verification of documents because of the high spate of fake documents.

“Some applicants, especially businessmen, go the extra mile to forge business letters purportedly inviting them for business in China.

“This delays the process and makes it even tedious for the few hands we have in that section,’’ he explained.

Kun added that the section remained under-staffed because the Foreign Office in Beijing had yet to send more personnel.

Only on Wednesday, the police nabbed some suspects at Murtala Muhammed International Airport for forging Irish visas. Two ladies who purportedly bought the visas were also arrested.

Meanwhile, officials of the Chinese Embassy said they had yet to be briefed on the proposed visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama to Nigeria. The Tibetan leader is expected to present a paper at the annual Anyiam Osigwe Lecture in Lagos later this month.

Kun explained that he would, however, meet with organisers of the lecture before making further comments.

The Chinese authorities do not recognise the authority of the Dalai Lama, who they alleged is encouraging the people of Tibet in South-West China to secede from the Republic. He has lived in exile in India since 1959.

(my-nigeria)

BY INVESTIGATIVE WRITER.

The ministry of immigration is once again on the spotlight over how senior officers at its Nyayo house offices in Nairobi handled a controversial deportation saga involving three Chinese nationals who were found to be in the country illegally and ordered back to their country 3 months ago.

The 3 Chinese ,according to documents availed to us by our sources were ordered to leave the country immediately in August this year by a Kisumu court after they were found to have violated various immigration rules and regulations regarding aliens.

According to our sources the court issued the deportation orders after the immigration officers responsible for handling prosecution matters in the department successfully provided evidence in court against the Chinese prompting the magistrate to pass a verdict.

The trio had faced various charges ranging from being in Kenya illegally to engaging in employment without obtaining a work permit and failure to register as aliens all of which were considered as violations of the Country’s immigration laws .

They are understood to have pleaded guilty to all the charges brought against them in court and the trial magistrate ordered them to be deported immediately back to China.

According to the documents in our possession,the court also ordered them to pay shs. 10,000 each or go to prison for a period of six months for each of the three counts they faced.

However they opted to pay the fines and were handed back to the immigration officers in Kisumu who were to facilitate the deportation arrangements in coordination with their Nairobi office.

But in what appears to be a high level corruption syndicate some unscrupulous immigration officers based in Nyayo house,the ministry’s headquarters allowed the deportees to slip away in their hands.

Three months down the line the court’s directive to the ministry to have the Chinese deported is yet to be effected and nobody is explaining why it was defied.

Revelation that might shock even the magistrate who gave the orders is the fact that the Chinese found their way back to Nakuru where they continue with their daily activities without any hitch or fear of being arrested.

This is the town where only three months ago they had been nabbed by the immigration officers from Kisumu who took them to court but whom they no longer have the need to hide
from any more.

Nakuru town is under the jurisdiction of the western Kenya region immigration office whose principal immigration officer sits in Kisumu.

Kisumu’s immigration office whose officers effected the arrests that saw the chinese arraigned in court are now a dejected and a frustrated lot.

After several weeks of investigations they pounced on some three Chinese nationals whom they had enough grounds to suspect had been flouting the rules of the land being foreigners and they chose to act.

But the manner in which the immigration office in Nairobi handled the deportation case against the Chinese has left a bitter rivalry between its officers who were involved in the case in Kisumu.

While the officers in Kisumu immigration office want the court order obeyed and the Chinese thrown out of the country, those in the Nyayo house office want the issue abandoned and forgotten.

The matter has left a division amongst the officers who now feels they are not being appreciated for implementing the law by colleagues whose sole aim is to make a kill out of
foreigners who brake the law but get away with it after parting with bribes.

In an interview with this journalist an officer who wished not to be named said they want the minister to per-sue the case.He said this was not the first case where they are ignored by their superiors in Nairobi.

He said the Kisumu office risk becoming irrelevant because it was not allowed to perform its mandates effectively as demanded.

”We did our best according to what is required of us and we want the court order obeyed.we have realised that some officers in our Nairobi office are interested in defying the order and we suspect money exchanged hands otherwise why would they fail to act as directed by the court.” posed an officer in a Kisumu office.

Another officer at the office also informed this writer that they did what was required of them but now little can be expected from them because they are not allowed to follow up matters once it is forwarded to headquarters for action.

”We even have been warned by our seniors in Nyayo house to forget about this matter and not talk about it.”he said.

The officer confirmed that he was involved fully in making arrangements to ferry the Chinese from Kisumu to Nairobi so that ministry headquarters could facilitate how the deportees were to eventually exit the country.

”I personally gave out night out to our officers who were detailed to escort these people to Nairobi and did confirm also that they took the Chinese up-to our offices at Nyayo house so it was not the mistake of this office that the Chinese are still around.” he said.

The Chinese whose details including passport numbers we have obtained, first came to Kenya as tourists but soon began working for a Chinese investor whose firm is engaged in sale of motorcycles,fittings, maintenance services and sale of accessories.

The company which has also employed a few Kenyans is situated in Nakuru along the busy Kenyatta avenue.

When we visited the company recently to investigate the authenticity of the facts we had about the presence of the Chinese we found them working without fear of being apprehended.

Our probe reveals that one of the Chinese who were ordered to leave the country by the courts is now heading a branch newly opened by his employer in Eldoret town along the Uganda road.

Our crew posed as clients who wanted to buy a motorcycle and pretended to even know one of the Chinese whose name had been picked from the court documents.

He emerged from his office after the Kenyan staff working as a salesman told him that he had friends who wished to be served personally by him.Little did he realise that the scheme was intended to smoke him out.

The three according to our source at the firm have been working as supervisors and middle level managers even though they don’t possess any special skill to work in the country
since what they do can also be done by locals.

Kenya, just like any other country has its strict rules and regulations governing employment when it comes foreigners.Those who want to work must only be expatriates whose skills may not be sourced locally or where locals who posses the skills are inadequate .

Allowing foreigners to take up jobs which can be done by locals has been condemned by leaders who feel the government is not doing enough to ensure the Kenyan jobless are not
subjected to unfair competition by these people.

When we reached the immigration minister Otieno Kajwan’g said the issue was never brought to his attention by the officers who handled it.

He however promised that action will be taken against officers from the ministry who flouted the law.

” We are definitely going to investigate the matter seriously because we don’t want to encourage corruption in this ministry and any officer who was compromised will answer for his mistakes accordingly” said the minister.

(majimbokenya)

Alfred Ngotezi,

One Netanyahu, the famous Israel officer who led the successful raid at the Entebbe Airport to free captured Jews in 1976 left behind an impressive tale. It is said that he was such a terrifying fighter that to kill him, Idd Amin’s soldiers had to shoot him from behind. That is exactly what Germany’s recent abduction of Rwanda’s Director of Protocol, Rose Kabuye, boils down to.

It is a test of wits not only against Rwanda but also against all Africans, not least because the African Union had earlier on rejected Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere’s November 2006 indictments against Rwanda’s leaders. Kabuye’s arrest came under a controversial French universal jurisdiction clause, the equivalent of the US’s interventionist law that for more than twenty years has held behind the bars Panama’s former President Manuel Noriega.

Of course this is nothing but jungle justice, which must be fought by all civilized humanity. I have argued before that such unwarranted actions against African leaders are a clear testimony of disunity among them. One would have expected that after the AU’s strong statement at Sharm el Sheik, against wild indictments and especially the noise against Rwanda’s leadership, Africa would fiercely fight against attempts to execute Judge Bruguiere’s claims.

After all, Kabuye’s charges cannot be proved in a French court because prosecutors will need to do more investigations in the locus of the 1994 genocide that is Rwanda, as well as bring witnesses. But the country is a no go-area for them now. Surprisingly, the East African Community and the AU, to which Rwanda is affiliated, have not strongly condemned or taken visible measures against Rose’s kidnappers.

On the one hand this could be construed as a muted support for Germany’s bullish act, while on the other it could simply disclose the continent’s total impotence at world politics. How many times must we invoke Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s past deeds to guide our political path? We should learn from Mwalimu’s maximum exploitation of his membership, first to the threesome Mulungushi Club and then to the Frontline States, of how weak Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and later Mozambique clobbered colonialism and racism in southern Africa.

It was a gigantic piece of work that could not have been accomplished by a single country, however powerful. Mwalimu and company’s blitzing diplomatic onslaught pushed forward Africa’s interests by bringing down entrenched colonialists and rabid racists in Portugal, apartheid South Africa, former Rhodesia, Mozambique and elsewhere. That is exactly what this continent needs today, not passive leaders who bask in the molestation of their own colleagues, thinking they are safe.

Unfortunately, the West, as it were, cannot guarantee the safety of our leaders for long. They can only do it as long as we defend their interests, but as soon as they feel we are useless they will come after our neck. Didn’t they do that with former Zaire strongman Mobutu Sese Seko and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein? That should explain Rwanda’s present ordeal apparently because of her unfinished business with France.

In the last few days, for example, the Central African country ditched the French language, putting the last nail in the coffin of their relations with her former colonial masters. Weak Africa should stop behaving like a monkey who saw his burning bush and broke down laughing, forgetting that he had become homeless. Today they indict al Bashir and Rwanda’s leadership; tomorrow it could be our turn.

If some of us think Africa’s interests are secondary, they should see why the US has so far refused to ratify her membership to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Because they know their past war-monger leaders could face the music in The Hague. Yet, as earlier suggested, this is not an effort to exonerate the leadership in Kigali. Far from it, I believe there are problems in Rwanda, like elsewhere, but certainly it is neither for the Bruguieres nor the Fuhrer’s descendants to dictate how to sort them out.

Africans have the capacity to put their house in order. It recently happened in Kenya, Burundi, and the Comoros and seems to be succeeding in Zimbabwe, why not in Rwanda and elsewhere? I know someone will picket me for mentioning Africa’s seemingly failure in Zimbabwe.

Doubtlessly, our leaders owe us a reason for protecting President Robert Mugabe’s intransigence. But again we don’t need the Bruguieres or Adolf Hitler’s offspring to sort it out because the SADC and the AU and even the international community, for that matter, have the diplomatic and military muscle to untangle the situation there.

Clearly though, we are not against the person of Judge Bruguiere or the ICC’s prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. To the contrary, we are opposed to setting a dangerous precedent that could allow foreigners to abduct our leaders at will. In this case, therefore, African leaders should do a stitch in time to save nine.

(habarileo)

The construction of an eight-lane highway on Thika Road begins on Monday. This follows the Government’s signing of a Sh27 billion contract with three Chinese road construction firms.

Acting Roads Minister Chris Obure, yesterday said the construction of the first modern highway in East and Central Africa will take 30 months to complete.

Obure said the 50.4km highway expansion project would open a new chapter in the construction of roads.

Chinese firms, China Wu Yi Company, Synohydro Corporation Ltd and Shengli Engineering Construction, have been contracted for the project.

“Thika highway has been made possible today, with the support of African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Kenya, we envisage the completion of a model road in the region in 30 months,” Obure said.

He said the highway will have all the T-junctions done away with, and extra features such as flyovers, underpasses, interchanges, pedestrian grade separators, cross drainage system and modern street lighting to Thika town, introduced.

It will also have a well-lit underpass and a flyover between Uhuru Highway and Muthaiga, and Kenyatta University.

The highway starts at Globe Cinema roundabout. Highway designers have proposed the construction of four major interchanges between Globe Cinema and Ruiru and three underpasses between Globe Cinema and Kasarani.

The interchanges will replace the roundabouts, blamed for unwinding traffic jams.

Incidents of pedestrians being knocked by speeding vehicles have also been addressed. Pedestrian separators will be built along the highway.

Parking Yards

The minister also said his ministry would work with that of the Nairobi Metropolitan Development to re-plan roads in the city to ensure parking yards are outside the central business district.

Obure also cautioned the three contractors, saying the Government would not tolerate unnecessary delays.

He said plans to expand major roads across the country were underway and warned wananchi against building on the road reserves.

He said the Government was also planning a major expansion of the Outering Road, which connects Mombasa Road and Uhuru Highway to Thika Road.

Kangundo Road, Bomas–Ongata Rongai, Langata, Jogoo, Juja, Kiambu, Limuru, Waiyaki Way and Mbagathi/Valley roads are among those whose expansion programmes the minister said donors have agreed to fund.

Obure said studies are being conducted on a proposal to introduce a Light Rail transport and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) within Nairobi to decongest the city.

“There is a study going on under the Nairobi-Thika highway improvement project to look into how we can make this a reality, I want Kenyans to know we are not just talking, we are going to make it happen,” he said.

He said once the proposed city by-passes covering 110km are built, access to the city centre would be easier and wastages resulting from congestion minimised.

Funds for the construction of the Northern, Eastern and Southern by-passes have been set aside.

He said the European Community and the African Development Bank are among the main donors.

“I hate seeing damages associated with demolitions when we are preparing to start a road project, but I want Kenyans to know roads cannot be built on air, we shall demolish encroaching structures because we want to build roads,” Obure said.

Agencies

The Government has now put more emphasis on road constructions and three state agencies have been created to handle the planning and building of various roads.

Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) will now take charge of various clusters of roads after they were created a few months ago.

On Thursday, the Government appointed Meshack Otieno, Joseph ole Nkadayo and Mwangi Maingi as Director Generals of the road authorities.

(eastandard)

“Do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course.” –on President Bush, “Meet the Pres Interview,” Oct. 27, 2008

“She needed the clothes.” –explaining to reporters why the RNC spent $150,000 on clothes and accessories for Sarah Palin and her family, Florida, Oct. 23, 2008

“I think she’s most qualified of any that has run recently for vice president, tell you the truth.” –on Sarah Palin, interview with Don Imus, Oct. 22, 2008

“I might have to rely on a vice president that I select’ for expertise on economic issues.” –GOP debate, Nov. 28, 2007

“Rates were c*nt in the Bush years.” –committing a freudian slip while campaigning in Manchester, NH, Oct. 22, 2008 (Watch video clip)

“You know, I think you may have noticed that Senator Obama’s supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately. And you know, I couldn’t agree with them more. I couldn’t disagree with you. I couldn’t agree with you more than the fact that Western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic, most god-loving, most, most patriotic part of America, and this is a great part of the country.” –Moon Township, Penn., Oct. 21, 2008 (Watch video clip)

“My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.” –on Barack Obama and the state of the presidential campaign, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Oct. 13, 2008

“Across this country this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners. And the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent.” –Bethlehem, Penn., Oct. 8, 2008 (Watch video clip)

“There was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney. You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one.” –referring to Barack Obama during the second presidential debate, Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 7, 2008 (Watch video)

“Not you, Tom.” –to debate moderator Tom Brokaw, after being asked who he might name as Treasury Secretary in his administration, Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 7, 2008

“I have not had a chance to see it in writing, so I have to examine it.’” –on the Bush administration’s Wall Street bailout plan, which was a three-page document that McCain said he received the day before, interview with WKYC in Cleveland, Sept. 23, 2008

“Sure. Technically, I don’t know.” –asked if the U.S. is in a recession, “60 Minutes” interview, Sept. 21, 2008

“The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president and, in my view, has betrayed the public’s trust. If I were president today, I would fire him.” –apparently unaware of the fact that the SEC chairman, as a commissioner of an independent regulatory commission, cannot be removed by the president, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sept. 18, 2008

“Honestly, I have to analyze our relationships, situations and priorities, but I can assure you that I will establish closer relationships with our friends, and I will stand up to those who want to harm the United States. … I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not. And that’s judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region.” –after being asked if he would invite Spanish President Jose Rodriguez Louis Zapatero to the White House, casting an ally of the U.S. as a potential enemy while simultaneously confusing Spain for a Latin American country, interview with Radio Caracol Miami, Sept. 17, 2008

“I also know, if I might remind you, that she is commander of the Alaska National Guard. In fact, you may know that on Sept. 11 a large contingent of the Alaska Guard deployed to Iraq and her son happened to be one of them. So I think she understands our national security challenges.” –touting Sarah Palin’s foreign policy credentials by confusing the Alaska National Guard with the U.S. Army, where Palin’s son is currently serving, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 17, 2008

“I understand the economy. I was chairman of the Commerce Committee that oversights every part of our economy.” –ignoring the fact that it is actually the Senate Banking Committee which is responsible for credit, financial services, and housing — the very areas currently in crisis, CNBC interview, Sept. 16, 2008

“Our economy, I think, is still — the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” –Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 15, 2008

“Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.” –in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies

“[Sarah Palin] knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America. … And, uh, she also happens to represent, be governor of a state that’s right next to Russia.” –after being asked about Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience, interview with WCSH-6, Portland, OR, Sept. 12, 2008

“It’s easy for me to go to Washington and, frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.” –speaking at the ServiceNation forum in New York, Sept. 11, 2008

(ABOUT)

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said here Saturday that the institution is looking to increase the voice of developing countries in its decision-making process.

Speaking on the sidelines of a G-20 ministerial level gathering in Sao Paulo, Zoellick said that the World Bank is currently seeking to increase the representation of developing countries to 44 percent and enhance developing countries’ participation in decision making process.

The two-day meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors is opened in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nov. 8, 2008.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

Finance ministers and heads of central banks of the G-20, the 20 largest economies in the world, are meeting over the weekend in Sao Paulo to discuss ways of dismantling the current global financial crisis.

The World Bank believes that to better represent the reality of the international economy in the 21st century, it needs to recognize the role and responsibility of the main actors in emerging markets and give a proportionate voice to Africa, Zoellick said.

Many developing countries have had prudent fiscal policies over the last few years, enabling them to fend off the impacts of the crisis so far, but many of them are still facing greater difficulties because exports, industries and credit system have been seriously affected.

No country can escape from the consequences of the global financial crisis, Zoellick said.

“We need to focus on the modernization of global financial institutions and establish flexible networks that will better represent developing countries,” he said.

“I believe that within the next two years we will experience big changes in the world system,” he said.

“In particular, the point I want to emphasize is that we need to be sure that the financial crisis will not evolve into a humanitarian crisis,” he said.

The World Bank is planning to create an additional seat on its Board of Directors, reserved especially for Sub-Saharan Africa, Zoellick said.

Besides increasing the representation of developing countries, the selection process of the president will become “more transparent, open and based on merit,” he said.

(XINHUA)

Govt revokes 4 contracts By Faraja Jube, Dodoma

The Government has revokes contracts of four road constructors.

Deputy Infrastructure Development minister Hezekiah Chibulunje told Parliament in Dodoma yesterday that the contracts were terminated because the contractors failed to deliver.

Mr Chibulunje named the companies as the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, Prismo Universal Italiano S.P.A and Badri East Africa Enterprises Limited JV, Wesons Tanzania Limited and Shabridin and Company Limited.

He said the Tanzania Roads Agency had blacklisted the companies to so that they would not get new contracts in the country.

He said the Government took action against the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited on February 2008 after it failed to construct the 154km Kagoma-Lusahunga road.

Mr Chibulunje said on March 28, the Government scrapped its contracts with Prismo Universal Italiano SPA and Badri East Africa Enterprises Limited JV.

The two firms had been contracted to build sections of the Marangu-Rombo Mkuu road and the Kilacha-Mwika road.

He said the Government was in the process of terminating its contracts with Wesons Tanzania Limited and Shabridin and Company Limited after they failed to complete the construction of a road to connect Babati-Simanjiro and Kiteto on time.

“Shabridin and Company Limited which was tasked to construct the 45km Manganga-Mandawa road had its contract terminated in September,” he noted.

Responding to a question by Babati Urban MP Omar Kwaangw (CCM), Mr Chibulunje said the Government had previously warned, penalised before it terminated the contracts with the contractors for failure to fulfill their contractual obligations.

(thecitizen)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday hailed Barack Obama’s election as the first black U.S. president as an “extraordinary step forward” in efforts to overcome racism.

“As an African-American, I’m especially proud,” Rice, her eyes glistening with emotion, told reporters at the State Department.

Hours after Obama easily defeated Republican John McCain in a triumph that reflected Americans’ weariness with eight years of President Bush’s administration, Bush’s chief diplomat said that America has “been through a long journey, in terms of overcoming wounds and making race not the factor in our lives.

“That work is not done, but yesterday was obviously an extraordinary step forward,” Rice said.

Rice pledged that the State Department would work to make sure the transition to an Obama administration is smooth.

Rice called Obama “inspirational” and said that McCain was “gracious” and a “great patriot.”

America “continues to surprise,” Rice said. “You just know that Americans are not going to be satisfied until they really do form that perfect union. And while the perfect union may never be in sight, we just keep working at it and trying.”

(AP)

African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation’s broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, “It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.”

(theonion)

It just keeps on giving. As recriminations start to fly in the Republican Party about the election loss, new details on Sarah Palin’s knowledge have started to emerge, and there’s some serious humdingers.

According to the following report from Fox News, Palin didn’t know which countries are in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but better still, didn’t know Africa was a continent and thought it was a country!

Even Republicans would have to start to agree now: thank god she’s no where near the red button.

(inquisitr)

“Try to imagine, on the morning of Nov. 5, a brown-skinned African-American might be announced officially to be the next president of the United States. The historic moment would be seen on television all around the world . . . What kind of signal do you think it’s sending?” my British colleague from the Daily Telegraph asked me while Barack Obama was waving to his fans during his final rally in Colorado on Oct. 26.

It’s also the question I’ve been trying to answer for the last two weeks. A taxi driver from Jamaica told me that it would signal an end to white America. A cameraman from Uganda said it would be a blessing to African people. Some sophomore from the University of Denver told me that it would reflect the evolution of societies. McCain supporters would call it a signal of socialism, but the Chinese-American voters I spoke with, who knew socialism well, said that’s out of the question.

That’s interesting. Everyone seems to be getting a different signal from the possibility of an Obama victory today. I think there must be more positive signals than negative ones.

But what if Obama is not elected? Does it mean Americans cannot accept a black president? Is the election stolen? Is that a signal of racism? Will it be a prologue to chaos?

I stepped into a bar in an African-American community when I was in Washington, D.C., 10 days ago. A bartender there from Addis Ababa yelled about burning the street if Obama doesn’t win. I considered it a joke.

African-American voters should be thankful whether Obama wins or not. They have been a part of history. After all, only a little more than 40 years ago black kids in some states were still forbidden to attend the same school with white students. And now blacks are taking part in the first credible presidential campaign mounted by an African-American. It’s a signal of hope.

Finally, I should mention something about my country, China. If Obama wins the election, the most notable signal for Hu Jintao, the president of the People’s Republic of China, may be that China is going to face a brand new challenge from United States for its position in Africa, and the challenge may be more formidable than ever.

Liang Jianfeng is the news director at the News Express Daily in Guangzhou, China, the first privately funded newspaper in China. Liang is visiting the Rocky Mountain News to observe the U.S. election.

(rockymountainnews)

Abdelaziz Ziari (R), Speaker of Algeria’s National Assembly, greets Wu Bangguo (L), chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, at an airport in Algiers, capital of Algeria, on Nov. 3, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

A senior Chinese lawmaker, Wu Bangguo, on Monday began a two-week official visit to Algeria, Gabon, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Seychelles, APA learnt here.

A communiqué of the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) said the chairman of its standing committee Wu will also visit the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa during his visit to Ethiopia.

In recent years, China’s top leaders mainly the president, the prime minister and the top legislator have been paying annual official visits to Africa, because of the huge Chinese interests in the continent.

Bilateral trade between China and Africa will exceed 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, two years earlier than expected, according to expectations of the Chinese Customs Administration released recently.

The first-half figures showed that bilateral trade grew almost 66 percent year-on-year to 53.14 billion U.S. dollars. The growth rate was about 40 percent age points higher than the year-earlier level.

(apanews)

In Vietnam, the skinny and the petite can look forward to getting more exercise after proposed new regulations set a minimum chest size for licensed drivers.
Anyone with a chest under 28 inches will be banned from driving a motorbike - which make up 90 per cent of the traffic on the country’s chaotic roads.

Anyone who is too short, too thin or too sickly will also have to seek alternative transport. Ailments such as enlarged livers or sinusitis will rule out aspirant motorists.

“The new proposals are very funny, but many Vietnamese people could become the victim of this joke,” said Le Quang Minh, 31, a Hanoi stockbroker. “Many Vietnamese women have small chests. I have many friends who won’t meet these criteria.”

The average Vietnamese man is 5 feet, 4 inches (164 centimeters) tall and weighs 121 pounds (55 kilograms). The average Vietnamese woman is 5 feet, 1 inch (155 centimeters) tall and weighs 103 pounds (47 kilograms).

Vietnamese bloggers have been poking fun at the plan, envisioning traffic police with tape measures eagerly pulling over female drivers to measure their chests.

“From now on, padded bras will be best-sellers,” said Bo Cu Hung, a popular Ho Chi Minh City blogger.

“I’m not heavy enough, what am I going to do?” Le Thu Huong asked in a letter to Tuoi Tre newspaper. “And what about people whose chests are small? Most of them are too poor to afford breast implants!”

Vietnamese roads are among the most dangerous in the world but it is not clear why the ruling Communist Party believes banning small drivers will make them safer.
(Telegraph)

Pope Benedict XVI announced Sunday he will make his first papal pilgrimage to Africa — a continent where the Catholic Church is growing — with visits next year to Cameroon and Angola.

The 81-year-old Benedict gave the surprise news at the end of his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica, during a ceremony closing three weeks of discussions by bishops from around the world about the Bible.

Benedict did not give specific dates for the trip, which traditionally are first announced by local Church officials in the host countries. The Vatican usually gives details of papal pilgrimages closer to departure.

“Next March, I intend to go to Cameroon” as part of preparations for an October 2009 bishops’ meeting at the Vatican dealing with Africa, Benedict said at the end of his homily.

“From there, God willing, I will go on to Angola, to celebrate solemnly the 500th anniversary of the evangelization of that country,” Benedict said.

The Catholic Church has been growing in parts of Africa and Asia, with those continents sometimes supplying priests for parishes in parts of Europe and North America where vocations have steadily declined in the last few decades.

While the Vatican has been concerned about the flagging faith of some Catholics in the affluent West, Church officials are heartened by the vibrancy of local churches in parts of Africa and Asia.

When the pope visits Cameroon, representatives of Africa’s bishops conferences will be meeting there to prepare for next year’s Vatican synod on Africa.

Cameroon, formed in 1961 from western African territories governed by the French and British, has an 18 million population that is about 40 percent Christian.

Angola’s history as a former Portuguese colony has given the country Christian roots. The southern African country was lacerated by a civil war that started with its 1975 independence and ended in 2002.

Since being elected pontiff in 2005, Benedict has visited several European countries, including France in September, his latest foreign trip. He has also traveled to Brazil, the United States and Australia earlier this year.

His predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited Africa several times in his 26 1/2 years as pontiff.

On Sunday, Benedict paid tribute to the Church in another distant part of the world — China — where Catholics loyal to him worship in clandestine churches and have sometimes suffered harassment, or in the case of clergy, even imprisonment.

The pontiff noted that bishops from China had been unable to attend this month’s gathering at the Vatican. The Vatican and Beijing do not have formal ties, largely due to China’s insistence that it make appointments of bishops, a right claimed by the Holy See.

Benedict said he was thankful for the Chinese bishops’ “faithfulness” to the pope, and he prayed that they receive the “strength and zeal to guide, with wisdom and far-sightedness, the Catholic community of China that we love so dearly.”

By FRANCES D’EMILIO

(ap.google)

A China-aided agricultural technology center broke ground in Togo on Wednesday, aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in agricultural fields.

Chinese Ambassador to Togo Yang Min, Vice Governor of China’s Jiangxi Province Xiong Shengwen and other officials of both countries attended the ceremony.

Chinese Ambassador to Togo Yang Min (1st R, front), Togolese Agriculture Minister Kossi Messan Ewovor (C, front) and Xiong Shengwen, vice governor of China’s Jiangxi Province, attend the inauguration ceremony of the Chinese-aid agricultural technologies center of Togo, Oct. 22, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

Yang highlighted the boost of the Sino-Togo cooperation since the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006.

Stressing the importance of cooperation in agriculture, the Chinese ambassador said the two sides will fully implement cooperation programs reached within the framework of the forum and take further steps to deepen bilateral relations in all fields.

The fruitful cooperation will contribute to the development of Togo’s agriculture and the strengthening of its food safety, he added.

Togolese Agriculture Minister Kossi Messan Ewovor praised Sino-Togo cooperation in agriculture.

“It is helpful for Togo to tackle challenges posed by food crises,” he said.

The center, consisting of a 10-hectare agricultural technology demonstration land and a 80-hectare rice cultivation base, would be constructed by China’s Jiangxi Huachang infrastructure engineering company.

The project will be completed before the end of 2009.

(Xinhua)

China signed Friday a trade deal with Senegal to offer zero-tariff treatment to more than 400 categories of goods imported from Senegal.

The agreement was inked by Chinese Ambassador to Senegal Lu Shaye and Senegalese Minister for Commerce Mamadou Diop in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.

The trade deal will elevate their bilateral trade and economic ties to a new stage and will also foster people-to-people exchanges between the two sides, said Lu.

The two peoples will benefit from the agreement which raised the number of tariff-free Senegalese export products to China from about 190 in 2005 to more than 600, the Chinese ambassador added.

Diop said that the agreement was of great significance for the two countries to strengthen their economic and trade cooperation.

Friendly bilateral cooperation in various fields, particularly in trade and economy, has been booming since China and Senegal resumed diplomatic ties in October 2005, the minister said.

More Senegalese are now running businesses or have started their own enterprises in China, he said, adding that he welcomed more Chinese businessmen to make investment in Senegal.

At the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in 2006, the Chinese government pledged to further open China’s market to exports from Africa’s least developed countries by raising the number of products enjoying zero-tariff treatment from190 to 440.

(XINHUA)

Soaring food prices, supply fears among import-dependent countries and rising demand for biofuels have driven up investment in agricultural land, notably in Africa. The meltdown in financial markets has slowed some of these flows, but some analysts say there are still good opportunities in African land, where investment in infrastructure, fertiliser and equipment has traditionally been lacking.

Here are some facts about farming and foreign investment on the continent:

*The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says only 14 percent of Africa’s 184 million hectares of arable land is under cultivation, with some 21 million hectares in a state of accelerated degradation.

* It said agriculture accounted for 17 percent of gross domestic product in Africa, 57 percent of employment and 11 percent of export earnings.

* Agricultural imports have increased more rapidly than exports in the last 30 years with Africa becoming a net importer of agricultural commodities, 87 percent of which were food products in 2005.

* In 2003, African governments agreed to allocate at least 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture and rural development. The African Union said only one country in five has reached or exceeded that level.

* It is estimated that if the current plateau in agricultural productivity continues, the amount of additional land required just to meet projected food demand in 2050 would be about 3 billion hectares, nearly all from developing countries.

* The China Development Bank has granted loans worth several hundred million dollars to agricultural processing firms, mostly in East Africa. Governor Chen Yuan told African finance ministers in August the bank plans further investments and urged Africans to grow cereals as well as cash crops.

* In 2006, China agreed with some African countries to help raise grain production by using Chinese rice seeds and technology. It has also agreed to set up demonstration farms.

* Cash-rich, water-poor Middle Eastern and Gulf nations are also looking to secure food supplies. Import dependency in food will reach 60 percent in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries by 2010, according to the FAO. Oil producer Abu Dhabi announced plans in July to develop over 70,000 acres of farmland in Sudan to grow alfalfa, used as animal feed, and probably corn, beans and potatoes. The United Arab Emirates has farms in several Sudanese provinces, including a 40,000-feddan (1 feddan is 4,200 square metres) farm where wheat and corn are grown. Saudi Arabia said last June it was in talks with Sudan to allow Saudi companies to establish projects for wheat, barley, soya beans, rice and animal fodder.

* U.S.-based Dole Food Co. and Chiquita Brands International are talking with Angolan authorities to help rebuild the once prosperous banana industry in Vale do Cavaco. Brazilian building giant Odebrecht also recently announced plans to invest in Angola’s sugar and ethanol sector.

* The pressure to develop biofuels and non-food oils has resulted in an explosion of foreign-owned plantations in developing countries. Land in emerging markets can cost one-tenth the price of land in industrialised countries. But the global financial crisis means some players believe funding for new biofuel projects may be hard to come by, at least in the near-term.

* Germany’s Flora EcoPower is investing $77 million in Ethiopia’s Oromia state as part of a purchase of over 13,000 hectares of land for biofuel production. Sweden’s Sekab Group, one of Europe’s leading ethanol producers, plans to produce 100 million litres of ethanol a year in Tanzania by 2012 at a cost of $200 - $300 million. British-based energy firm CAMS Group said in September it planned to produce 240 million litres of ethanol a year from sweet sorghum in Tanzania at a cost of up to $600 million. Britain’s Sun Biofuels plans to grow about 5,500 hectares of jatropha in Tanzania. The company also grows jatropha in Ethiopia and has similar projects in Mozambique.

* Grain yields in sub-Saharan Africa are 40 percent below those in other developing countries, with a hectare of Zambian farmland providing roughly a third of the maize that a comparable Chinese plot would yield.

It may be hard for Africans or outsiders to accept the idea of food being grown for export when local people go hungry. This has been cited as a concern by China, among others. The potential for conflict or upheaval is real. In countries where there are sensitivities to foreigners owning land, some investors fear they may be vulnerable to nationalisation or labour disputes.

INVESTMENT FUNDS: A FEW EXAMPLES — UK-based Emergent Asset Management said in May it was planning to launch a fund to buy farmland in sub-Saharan Africa. The African Land Fund would initially invest in 12 countries. UK-based investment company, cru Investment Management, has already piloted a farming scheme in Malawi and launched a fund called Africa Invest on the back of that success. Agri-Vie, a new private equity fund, plans to invest in agricultural processing, with backing from a foundation linked to cereal maker, Kellogg Co. It will focus initially on South Africa and neighbouring states; on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in East Africa and Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa.

CASE STUDIES: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — The International Food Policy Research Institute says DRC, could become a breadbasket for the developing world. It has 80 million hectares of arable land, ranking it seventh in the world, and 80 percent of the land that could be farmed is either unused or underutilised. ZAMBIA — Zambia has demarcated thousands of hectares of land into farm blocs for sale to foreign and local investors. Zambia uses only 10 percent of its more than 40 million hectares of arable farmland. Huge tracts of land remain uninhabited.

(africanagriculture blog)