GHANA GIVING AFRICA A NEW FACE: BONO

When Barack Obama arrives in Ghana on Friday for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president, it will be the new face of America meeting “the new face of Africa,” says Irish rocker and anti-poverty activist Bono. In a New York Times column on Friday hours before Obama arrives in Ghana, Bono wrote that if America’s first black president were making a sentimental journey to Africa, “he’d have gone to Kenya,” the birthplace of his father.

“He’s made a different choice, and he’s been quite straight about the reason,” Bono added. “Despite Kenya’s unspeakable beauty and its recent victories against the anopheles mosquito, the country’s still-stinging corruption and political unrest confirm too many of the headlines we in the West read about Africa. “Ghana confounds them,” wrote Bono, the U2 frontman who has long campaigned against poverty and AIDS in Africa.

“Quietly, modestly — but also heroically — Ghana’s going about the business of rebranding a continent. New face of America, meet the new face of Africa.” Bono said the West African nation was a well-governed state where power changed hands peacefully after the last election and which was also weathering the global economic storm.

“No one’s leaked me a copy of the president’s speech in Ghana, but it’s pretty clear he’s going to focus not on the problems that afflict the continent but on the opportunities of an Africa on the rise,” wrote Bono. “If that’s what he does, the biggest cheers will come from members of the growing African middle class, who are fed up with being patronized and hearing the song of their majestic continent in a minor key.”

Bono noted that he himself had often talked of the crises and tragedies besetting Africa, “but as the example of Ghana makes clear, that’s only one chord.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

AFRICAN LEADERS ASK G8 TO FULFIL PROMISES

Africa took centre stage at the Group of Eight summit on Friday, with wealthy nations eager to reassure critics they will honour past aid pledges and approve a new $15 billion agriculture programme. After two days of talks focused on the economic crisis, trade and global warming, the final day of the G8 gathering in Italy will concentrate on the problems facing the world’s poorest nations.

Development of Africa has become an important item on G8 agendas following promises by world leaders at Gleneagles in 2005 to increase annual aid levels by $50 billion by 2010, half of which was meant to go to African countries. However, aid organisations say some capitals have gone back on their word, especially this year’s G8 host Italy, and African heads of state said they would voice their concerns.

“The key message for us is to ask the G8 to live up to their commitments,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Reuters this week before flying to Italy for the half-day meeting. The l’Aquila summit has produced chequered results, making only limited progress in crucial climate talks following the refusal by major developing nations to sign up to the goal of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“There is a bit of frustration because one would like to convince everyone about everything and obtain all the results straight way, but things are progressing,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters late on Thursday.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

AFRICAN LEADERS SURE OF OBAMA’S SUPPORT FOR FOOD SUPPLIES

U.S. President Barack Obama will bring a welcome new focus on strengthening African food production in his policy towards the continent, Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade said on Friday. Wade has championed efforts to increase agriculture in his West African country, heavily dependent on food imports.

Both he and Obama were in Italy for the G8 summit, expected to bring promises of $15 billion over three years for agriculture in poor countries. From there, Obama will make his first visit to Africa as president. “I had a long discussion with President Obama. It seems to me that he really has the will to focus on food in Africa,” Wade told Reuters by telephone from Italy.

“The United States produces maize and some crops and sends it to people in famine, but the new conception is to produce these crops in Africa and not in the United States,” Wade said. Wade said African states needed technical help and not just money, complaining that G8 countries fail to live up to their promises on aid. African states also want to ensure they are not put at a disadvantage by foreign tariffs and subsidies.

“I have been coming to the G8 since 2000 and until now I have never seen any execution or application of what was promised,” he said, repeating a long-standing gripe. Private investors and food-importing states are also eyeing African agricultural opportunities after food price spikes last year, prompting fears of a “land grab”. Wade said he supported G8 efforts to prevent deals in which poor states sell land.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

G8 SLOW TO FULFIL ITS PROMISES TO AFRICA

The Group of Eight industrial nations are collectively off course in delivering on a 2005 pact to more than double aid to Africa through 2010, with France and Italy falling far short of their commitments, according to a new report released on Thursday.

The annual report by the ONE anti-poverty campaign charts progress by the G8 in meeting their aid promises made at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005 to more than double aid to Africa to reach $25 billion a year by 2010. By the end of 2008 the G8 nations had made good on one-third of their aid commitments and by the end of this year, they are expected to meet just half of their Gleneagles targets, the report said.

The majority of the shortfall — about 80 percent — will be because of declines in aid to Africa by Italy and France, it added. “Certain members of the G8 are meeting and even beating the targets they set for themselves. Others, most notably Italy and France, have made exceptionally poor progress and are damaging the G8’s collective credibility,” the report said.

“Given how far some G8 countries have drifted from their promises, it will be challenging for the group to get back on track to keep their commitments,” it added. Many countries in the G8 have spent billions of dollars of their budgets on fiscal stimulus to spur global recovery, affecting their ability to increase foreign assistance.

SOURCED  FROM REUTERS

AFRICAN DAY

Africa day which is celebrated on the 25^th of May yearly was marked at Tshwane South Africa with a symposium

The 46 year old year event is designed to consolidate Africans, look into her challenges and her contribution to globalization.

Dignitaries from all around the continent graced the occasion and music which is said to be the food of the soul was not left out.

The mayor of the city of Tshwane ; which incidentally is the most industrialized city in South Africa said this year’s celebration is on heritage, culture and education. The city has a population of 2.2 million people.

She added that the city has benefited from the contributions made by several academic institutions.

The mayor said the role of cities in Africa should include focusing on education and culture as this will help provide more jobs for the people of Africa and gradually put an end to Africans in Diaspora and also improve the lives of ordinary people.

This was also the point Sipho Sepee a Political Analyst made some days ago. He said that Africans have not promoted education and hence the cause of the many ailments in Africa.

Finally, she congratulated South Africans on its 15 years of democracy and the just concluded Presidential elections. She thanked the people for coming out in their millions to vote.

Professor Francis of the Nwonwu African Institute said 70 % of Africans live below the poverty line and yet Africans prefer to import foreign products. He advised Africans to look inward and exploit the resources they have.

He made mention of the Oil in Nigeria and Angola, Timber in Central Africa, DRC and Congo etc. “We have failed to add value to these resources in Africa rather we allow them to be imported. If he had done this, more job opportunities would have been created’’ the professor said

Furthermore he said we should think African but act globally. “We need a new type of colonization not as in the past where the  focus was on building mansions and other physical structure rather the de-colonization of the mind where we see things differently and act accordingly especially in the area of development”.

The minister of arts and culture H.E Lulu Xingwara said The New Partnership for African’s Development (NEPAD) should come up with a key role in which we can develop and maintain a sustainable education.

He said it’s time for our scientists and researchers to look into the challenging areas of health issues like HIV/AIDS and malaria which is growing at an increasing rate in Africa and also develop those areas that can create jobs for the people in our continent.

Edem Abudra, the acting director of UNESCO, originally from Togo said Africans contribution to the World and mankind should not be taken for granted. A book should be written on it and this book should be made available not only to African youths, but to youths the world over.

Benny, CONNECTAFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA TO ISSUE DALAI LAMA VISA

South Africa’s government has made a U-turn over its decision in March to deny the Dalai Lama a visa. New International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said Tibet’s spiritual leader could now visit whenever he wanted. The government caused an international outcry when it said it would not allow him to attend a peace conference, linked to the 2010 Football World Cup.

Critics accused South Africa of caving in to Chinese pressure. The visa ban prompted Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former South African President FW de Klerk to pull out of the conference for Nobel laureates, forcing organisers to postpone it indefinitely. Despite the furore at the time, government spokesman Thabo Masebe said no visa would be issued “between now and the World Cup”, which South Africa is hosting. The government said his presence would distract attention from the World Cup – the first to be held in Africa.

But Ms Nkoana-Mashabane, appointed this week to newly elected President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet, said she wanted to clarify the position. “The Dalai Lama is more than free, like any other citizen of the globe, who would want to visit our country,” she told journalists. Beijing says the Dalai Lama is pushing for Tibetan independence, and has stirred up unrest in the region. But the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 during an uprising against Chinese rule, has said he only wants limited autonomy for his homeland.

SOURCED FROM BBC

SCIENTIST REVEAL AFRICAN GENE STUDY

A group of scientists have unveiled what they say is the most comprehensive study ever of African genes. Published following a decade of study, the researchers say their findings give new insight into the origins of humans.

The first humans probably evolved near the South Africa-Namibia border before migrating north, the study says. Published in the US journal Science, it aims to teach Africans on population history and aid research into why diseases hit particular groups.

The scientists examined genetic material from 121 African populations, as well as four African-American populations and 60 non-African populations. The results provided “novel insights about levels and patterns of genetic diversity in Africa, a region that has been under-represented in human genetic studies”, said Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist from the University of Pennsylvania.

The first humans most likely evolved near the South Africa-Namibia border, the team said, and migrated north out of the continent via the Red Sea. Researchers had identified 14 ancestral population clusters “that correlated with ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties”, they said.

SOURCED FROM BBC

OBAMA’S MANY CHALLENGES ECLIPSE AFRICA

Despite the joy and high expectations inspired across Africa by Barack Obama’s election, issues on the world’s poorest continent have hardly featured at all on the new U.S. president’s agenda in his first 100 days. Many Africans hoped Obama’s inauguration in January as Washington’s first African-American leader would mark the start of a new U.S. drive to end the poverty, disease, corruption and conflicts that plague many of their countries.

But a tidal wave of domestic priorities ranging from the worst financial crisis for decades to floods and now a public health emergency triggered by swine flu, plus a series of foreign policy challenges, have left little time for Africa. The commander-in-chief’s father may have hailed from Kenya, but most on the continent are realistic about where they rank.

“We in Senegal do not expect much from Obama because America has a lot of problems that he has to take care of,” said Hadi Diouf N’diaye, the 32-year-old manager of a Dakar internet cafe. Top of the list for the new president has been the global economic slowdown. It has dominated major summits overseas and driven him to push Congress for a budget at home that would see him spend and borrow more than any U.S. leader in history.

With early forecasts that Africa would escape the worst of the financial meltdown now looking hopeful at best, many on the continent have been watching the response in Washington keenly. Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Ghana’s former foreign minister, said the first 100 days suggested Obama could do a lot to help the world.

SOURCED FROM REUTERS

MICHEAL JACKSON’S LAST STAND: “THIS IS IT”

A lot has been said and written about him in the past; ‘he can’t sing anymore’ his sceptics floored him. His incredibly transformed face was a metaphor for more cynical remarks. Pictures before his ½ a century birthday showed a crumbling face in band aids-a rumoured going-blind-in-the-right-eye to a famed falling snout drew parallels with an eroded business and professional empire-his 50^th birthday appearance in a pyjamas encasing his frail fame-once a colossus who bestrode the world’s music horizon now a pathetic looking sight. Eyes watered not from ‘he waved to me’ but in frustration and agony at ‘look at him dying away’

But last week’s appearance in London by the King of pop was super duper, after several years in the treadmill; Michael is ready to ready for the big come back. THIS IS IT; and the special one isn’t joking, perhaps an attempt at rubbishing Mickey Rourke’s feat. He’ll need a lot of strength perhaps more than the 5 hours physical that confirmed he was in excellent concert for the last stand concert.

For the thousands of die-hard Jacksonians who had waited patiently outside the conference centre, there were ooo’s, aaah’s and flaying   hands when he announced that he will be performing 10 concerts in the U.K. The first show will take place on July 8, 2009, with subsequent dates to be confirmed. Tickets will go on sale in the U.K in a month. Wacko Jacko looked impressively better than his 50^th birthday photograph taken last year. The picture led many to believe that the Thriller star’s career was gone-the entire enchilada gone with the wind

To prove to all that he was ready to set the stage rolling again, Wacko, who was dressed in a sparkling black and silver jacket, told the crowd made up of about 1000 fans: “The moonwalk is coming back while adding that “I have still got what it takes. I will prove everyone wrong.” But he also made it clear that the concert will be his last. “That is it. I just want to say this will be my final shows. This will be it. When I say it, I really mean it”

The show which will be coming up in July may be his last curtain call but already, the eagerness towards the show is already setting records again as his concert website MichealJacksonLive.com is struggling to cope after being flooded with hundreds of thousands of requests. The site is said to be receiving a record breaking 16,000 requests per second that a spokesperson for the firm promoting the concert said that calling the development a phenomenon is an understatement.

Beyond the moonwalks and break dancing Money is an important aspect for MJ; 20 million dollars in the kitty would mean more than staying alive it will keep the loan sharks away for a season. THIS IS IT indeed for MJ, he either ships in or ships out; something tells me he’s already docking the world’s music harbour

Emmaefe, CONNECTAFRICA

100 AFRICAN MIGRANTS FEARED DROWNED OFF THE GULF OF ADEN

About 100 migrants are feared to have drowned after being thrown overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden, the UN refugee agency says. The migrants were attempting to flee to Yemen from war-torn Somalia but were forced off the boat about 5km (3 miles) from the coast, a UN official said.

About 47 migrants managed to swim to shore and alert the authorities. The UN says about 32,000 people have made the perilous crossing to Yemen this year, and 365 have gone missing.

The boat had left Marera in Somalia, close to the port of Bossasso, on Monday with 150 people on board, according to Ron Redmond, a spokesman for UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Survivors said they counted a total of 47 people reaching the beach and later saw Yemeni authorities burying five bodies,” Mr Redmond said at a press conference.

UNHCR estimates that in addition to those missing, at least 230 people have died attempting the crossing this year.

SOURCED FROM BBC