News from Africa:

[the_future_modernes]

Burundi opens up rights to use River Nile

Burundi finally appended its signature to water usage from Nile River, providing the Nile Basin Countries with the sixth endorsement which was mandatory to exploit waters from the mystic river. The agreement signed in Kampala, Uganda effectively paves way for the ratification of the long standing Nile Accord, a move likely to strip Egypt of its veto power over rights to the flow from the world's longest river.

A 1929 treaty brokered by former colonial power, Britain, granted Egypt a veto over projects that may alter the flow of the Nile. Another 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan claimed 90 percent of the Nile’s flow for the two countries.
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After a decade of talks, five Nile nations Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya in May 2010 signed a deal that allowed upstream countries to implement irrigation and hydropower projects without first seeking Egypt's approval. A sixth signatory was needed for the CFA to come into force and once it has been ratified by the six national legislatures, a Nile Basin Commission will be created. MORE

Africa: Women's writing power coming into their own

New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS) Women writers are coming into their own in African contemporary literature, dominating the shortlist - with nine out of 12 - for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2011 for best book and best first book from Africa.

The shortlisted writers for the best book include Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone) for 'The Memory of Love,' Sukiswa Wanner (South Africa) for 'Men of the South', Bridget Pitt (Nigeria) for 'The Unseen Leopard', Sue Rabie (South Africa) for 'Blood at Bay' and Patricia Schonstein (South Africa) for 'Banquet at Brabazan'.


Those shortlisted for the best first book in Africa include Cynthia Jele (South Africa) for 'Happiness is a Four Letter Word', Chioma Okereke (Nigeria) for 'Bitter Leaf', Graeme Friedman (South Africa) for 'The Fossil Artist', Uzoma Uponi (Nigeria) for 'Colour Blind', E.C. Osundu (Nigeria) for 'Voice of America' and Alastair Bruce (South Africa) for 'Walls of Days'. MORE

Ivory Coast: Power, water cut for millions in the north
Power and water were cut to millions in northern Ivory Coast who allegedly do not support incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo.

Electricity and water supplies have been cut for millions of people in Ivory Coast's north who traditionally have not supported the incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, reports the UN and rebel groups.
Gbagbo has refused to cede power to his rival, Alassane Ouattara, whom the international community recognizes as the winner of presidential elections last November. Gbagbo nationalized the electric company after the election.

The national power company said the electricity was cut for political reasons, according to a UN official. A statement from the company said armed men entered the building and ordered the electricity for the entire northern half of the country be cut, "even though no operational need existed and the network was healthy," reports the BBC.
The north has traditionally been opposed to Gbagbo and overwhelmingly supported Ouattara in the elections.
Rural Ivory Coast depends on electricity to obtain well water.
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BENIN: Empowering Women to Protect the Coastal Lagoon

Benin — Until three years ago, Kindozandji Adovè, a mother of three daughters, had to decide which of her girls she would send to school, as her income from selling oysters was not enough to pay school fees for all of them.

Now, thanks to UNDP's Small Grants Programme, she makes enough money to send all her girls to school, and have some left over.

Adovè received a microcredit loan of about USD$63 which helped her acquire the two rafts she now uses to harvest oysters in the coastal lagoon by where she lives. In addition, by using the rafts, she can engage in an oyster-harvesting method that also protects the environment.

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Recognizing the need for change, the Beninese Association of Professionals in Environmental Assessment, along with the Benin Project for Tourism Development, the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme and UNDP, devised an environmentally sustainable method to harvest oysters that protects the mangrove trees and recycles old oyster shells.

Instead of chopping healthy mangrove branches on which the oysters typically grow, the new method entails hanging old oyster shells on a bamboo structure which is then placed into the lagoon water.MORE

Ghana: Teaching the techniques of fish farming
Farm in Ghana specializes in aquaculture training.

ANWOMASO, Ghana — Nana Kwaku Siaw once rose from auto mechanic to head transport officer of a major Ghanaian university. Then he took a farming hobby even further — in 2004, Nana Siaw captured Ghanaian agriculture’s second-highest honor at the National Best Farmer Awards.

Now, Nana Siaw is spreading his expertise at Kumah Farms Complex outside Kumasi in the heart of Ghana's Ashanti Region. His classroom is an aluminum-roofed shelter overlooking acres of earthen ponds containing tilapia and catfish at varying stages of growth.

Aquaculture — or fish farming — is one of his specialties. It’s also frequently touted as a promising economic activity in light of limits to sustainable sea catch, and Ghana’s nutrition needs.

“Aquaculture is like hotcakes now,” said Nana Siaw, who has also picked up a Best National Aquaculture Farmer award.MORe

KENYA: Education boost for girls in Muhuru Bay

MUHURU BAY, 18 February 2011 (IRIN) - Carol Gor, 36, thought her chances of obtaining a secondary education ended 11 years ago when her parents, who rely on fishing along Lake Victoria, failed to raise the fees. She stayed at home for a few years, got pregnant and was soon married.

"When I completed primary school at the age of 15, I hoped my parents would somehow find the money to take me to secondary school; but they did not," Gor told IRIN. "With peer pressure, I soon found myself pregnant; I then got married and before too long I had had five children, but I didn't give up, I persuaded my husband to allow me to return to primary school and try again."

In 2009, Gor sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) alongside her second-eldest son. Her oldest son was completing secondary school then. She has since joined an NGO-sponsored, girls-only secondary school in Muhuru Bay, where students are on full scholarship. MORE

Gay rights activism advances in Botsawana

The most important: Members of Botswana's small gay community are suing the government over its anti-sodomy laws, reports the Botswana Gazette.

[Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/ AIDS (BONELA)] Director Uyapo Ndadi confirmed they would challenge Section 164 of the Penal Code that criminalizes same sex relationships. It is understood that gays want the provision to be declared unconstitutional. "Yes I can confirm that plans are underway and drafting is almost complete. We are ready to file the papers before Court," said Ndadi.

In 2005 gays attempted to register their association, the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO), with the Registrar of Societies, but their application was turned down in 2007 on the grounds that the republican Constitution does not recognize homosexuals.

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Tri-Partite Agreement Presages Wider Zambezi Agreement

LIVINGSTONE, Mar 2, 2011 (IPS) - Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe are poised to sign a memorandum of understanding to improve power generation along the length of the Zambezi River.

At Victoria Falls, where the mighty river crashes into a spectactular gorge, Abraham Sashi, manager of the North Bank Power Station hopes this agreement - and the eventual formal establishment of a basin-wide commission - will lead to improved information systems to prevent damage from flooding or drought.

Technical teams representing the eight countries in the Zambezi river basin, from its origin in Zambia to its mouth 2,650 kilometres away in the Indian Ocean in Mozambique, met at the falls in Febuary to consider recommendations on how they can work together to streamline their management and information-sharing on water levels and rainfall along the vast waterway.

"I need that information so I can prepare for eventual floods and protect my station. That info Zambia can't do on its own," says Sashi.

"Regional management would help. Right now I'm uncertain how much the water will rise at the Victoria Falls."

As climate change increasingly affects the region, Zambia could lose up to seven percent of its national power output should drought shut down the 108 megawatt-power station or floods inundate the untested watertight doors at the foot of the falls. At the moment, monitoring of the river is insufficient, especially when it comes to regional early flood warning.MORE

UGANDA: Better Coffee brings better living conditions

BUKALASI, Uganda, Feb 24 (IPS) – Producing quality Arabica coffee beans on the slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda is only viable once farmers are assured ready access to the global market. Fair trade has made this possible.


Rural communities in eastern Uganda have gained much-vaunted access to the global market by supplying coffee to Cafédirect, a British company in which founders, growers and employees alike own shares. And coffee consumers thousands of miles away benefit by enjoying organically cultivated coffee.

Taking a bumpy road, IPS visited farmers in Bukalasi sub-county in Bududa district, about 275 km east of the capital Kampala.

Stanley Nasasa, 63, has worked almost his entire life as a coffee farmer but feels he is only now enjoying real benefits. The reason: fair trade.MORE

Call For Tolerance For Gays An Open Letter To All Namibians

AS a Namibian child I grew up being taught by my parents to respect all people from different tribes (races) and all walks of life (irrespective of their colour, age, race, sex, social class).
I was also taught to respect their views, opinions and ways of life even though I did not necessarily agree with or share those views.

I was lucky enough to have been given this valuable lesson over 21 years in a loving home, but my parents were not as lucky. They learned this valuable lesson through suffering at the hands of the then South African Apartheid Government. They were discriminated against, punished with brutality and regarded as less than human in their own homeland.

Today, I’m proud to be a young Namibian man with a bright future. But this future is overshadowed by the same if not worse discrimination and injustice that my parents had faced under apartheid.

I revealed my homosexuality to my family and friends at the age of 20 last year.

My parents accept and tolerate me for who I am and this even though they do not understand me.

I’m a highly educated young Namibian gay man. I completed my school career with excellent grades and received numerous school awards. I was also elected to the student council as Head Boy and excelled in sports as well. Now I’m pursing a Bachelors degree in Europe on a scholarship. MORE

Malawi:Business keen on power from Mozambique

Blantyre — The feasibility study looking at connecting Malawi's electricity grid to Mozambique's Cahora-Bassa hydropower station was completed 15 years ago; a price for power was long ago agreed by the respective governments: but somehow the project is yet to go ahead.

In recognition of serious energy shortfalls in Malawi, the World Bank has committed 200 million dollars to a project to connect Malawi to Mozambique and thus to the Southern Africa Power Pool which enables power to be shared across the subregion.

Ninety-five percent of Malawi's power supply presently comes from a series of hydroelectric power plants located on the Shire River. The installed hydro generation capacity, according to the state-owned Electricity Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), is 282.5 megawatts, but this output can be limited by several factors.MORE

WOMEN’S PLACE NO LONGER IN KITCHEN — MISS TOGO

She is fair complexioned and stands at 5’10” tall. A third-year student in Management Studies, Akumah Armande Gertrude is the reigning Miss Togo. She was crowned Miss Togo 2010 on August 21, last year at the finals held in Lome, Togo where she defeated 20 other contestants to emerge winner. After being crowned, the 19-year old college student joined the league of women who believe that women can contribute to national development. As a result, she pledged to devote her term to the promotion of education of young girls in the country and encourage them to go to school. “It is high time we encouraged our girls to go to school. Women can be Presidents just like we have in Brazil today. Their place is no longer in the kitchen, but can contribute to the national development”.

To accomplish her goal, Miss Akumah has embarked on several educational projects in the country. She offers scholarships to high school students through a sourced fund. So far, 50 of the girls have received 50,000 Frances for their education. She also helps the girls with education materials and even pay their school fees. She is not stopping at that. She is also planning to give computers to their girls to get educated. “I am committed to promoting the image of women and empowering them”, she stated.MORE

Kenyan Pastoralists Look Back to Secure Their Future

NAIROBI, Feb 15 (IPS) – David Lenamira, watching as usual from a seat outside his compound, has no trouble picking out his sheep as the herd boys drive them home every evening. The red-brown animals are smaller than those in his neighbours’ herds, but he’s proud of them just the same.


“The dream of any livestock farmer is to make profits, which in most cases comes through keeping animals that can mature faster, and have high productivity. But experience has taught me that this may not always be true,” said the farmer from Sirata-oribi, in the northern Kenyan district of Samburu Central.

Unlike most of his neighbours, Lenamira’s herd are Red Maasai sheep. Most of Lenamira’s fellow pastoralists in this semi-arid part of the country keep Dorpers, an exotic breed of sheep originally from South Africa. The breed has been promoted by the government since 1952 due to both their size and their high productivityMORE

SWAZILAND
Heavy Rains Welcome in the Mountain Kingdom

SIPHOFANENI, Swaziland, Jan 31, 2011 (IPS) - There's nothing quite like the enthusiasm that rises from the earth when rains come at last to a drought-stricken region. While heavy rains have caused extensive flooding across Southern Africa, with fears of worse to come, in at least one corner of the region the community is gazing with joy at an overflowing dam.

For 20 years, residents of Siphofaneni and surrounding areas in the eastern Lowveld area of Swaziland have survived on food rations for want of rain to grow their own crops.

Four months after planting his fields this year, farmer Elias Mamba is excited about the coming harvest from his five-hectare plot. MORE

Tanzania: Protecting the world's most expensive tree

Moshi, TANZANIA, Nov 22, 2010 (IPS/IFEJ) - With the snow-capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro providing a backdrop under simmering tropical sunshine, a group of women in Mijongweni village break into song.

The song, in Swahili, praises the benefits of protecting the environment and living in harmony with nature for the survival of generations; values vital to the survival of one of the rarest hardwood trees in the world, the African blackwood.

Known to locals as mpingo, the African blackwood (dalbergia melanoxylon) is a tree that has been exploited to extinction in southern Ethiopia and Kenya and is currently only found in Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Tanzania boasts large tracts of natural forest and woodlands

While few people would recognise the tree, many across the world have heard its melodious tunes: the tree is a prized commodity for makers of musical instruments like flutes, clarinets and oboes, so much so that it is today the most expensive hardwood tree in the world, currently fetching up to 25,000 dollars per cubic metre. MORE

Africa prepares for carnival season

Africa's many carnivals are not the most internationally known, but Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique carnivals have long traditions. Newcomer Seychelles this year offers a tourism-adapted carnival.

Mindelo on Cape Verde's lush São Vicente island so far has been the most known and maybe most spectacular carnival in Africa. Preparations on the island are on the highest gear: On 8 March, the 2011 Mindelo carnival kicks off.

The Mindelo carnival offers a Brazil-like atmosphere, in a relaxed African setting. Outfits and stages follow the Brazilian model, while the music is truly indigenous. Low criminality rates, perfect weather and temperature conditions and unlimited hospitality further contribute to the Mindelo carnival's top ratings and reputation.MORE

Seychellois IOT workers to get employment benefits - 02.03.2011

More than 1,000 Seychellois workers at the Indian Ocean Tuna Factory (IOT) will now get employment benefits they were not being paid before.

These include long-service gratuities enjoyed by Seychellois in the public sector.

This was announced by President James Michel when giving his state-of-the-nation address last Friday.

Mr Michel said the money to pay such benefits will come from a special fund that the government will finance with part of the dividends it earns from the tuna canning company.

These benefits will encourage more Seychellois to work at the IOT factory and help to localise posts, he added.MORE

Congo: New Law to protect rights of indigenous people

Brazzaville — The Republic of Congo is set to become the first country in Africa to provide specific legal protection for its indigenous peoples.

"We are looking forward to the adoption of this law because we know it will change many things, especially with regard to our emancipation," Jean Ganga, chairman of the Association for the Protection and Promotion of Indigenous Peoples.

Almost seven years in gestation, the government-backed bill was passed by both the senate and national assembly in late December and will take effect once signed into law by the president.

Indigenous people, some of whom are known as Pygmies, make up about 10 percent of Congo's population and live in almost all regions of the country.MORE