Sub-Saharan Africa growing faster than the world economy, says top UN dev't official (Walta)

Addis Ababa, October 18, 2007 (WIC) - Addis Ababa, October 18 (WIC) - The head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported that for the first time in years countries in sub-Saharan Africa are actually growing faster than the global economy, according to UN News Center.

''When one looks at the numbers, one can actually feel somewhat encouraged in terms of overall economic progress," UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis said at a press briefing in New York, having just returned from a two-week trip to Eastern and Southern Africa.

He noted that average GDP growth in 2000-2003 was 3.7 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, and 5.6 per cent in 2004-2006, which is '' perhaps the most rapid growth overall in sub-Saharan Africa that we've seen in decades.''

Although the final numbers for this year are not yet ready, growth in the region will probably be around 6 percent – more than 1 percent higher than the global average. ''For the first time in a very long time sub-Saharan Africa is actually growing faster than the world economy,'' he said. '' I think that is quite significant.''

He also noted that over the last six years, oil-exporting countries have grown at about one and a half percentage points faster than oil-importing countries. This means that some of the oil-importing countries are growing quite fast, despite the heavy burden placed on them by high oil prices.

Another significant trend is the fact that during the same time frame, the ratio of investment to GDP has grown from 15 to 20 percent. While that is ''very significant '' in a region that has ''huge'' investment needs, Dervis said it is not sufficient as Africa should probably invest some 25 to 28 per cent of its GDP. '' But still, moving from 15 to 20 is quite considerable,'' he added.

Responding to concerns that sub-Saharan Africa is currently off track for meeting any of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the ambitious targets the world has set itself for slashing poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy by 2015 – Dervis admitted that it will be difficult for most African countries to meet all the Goals by the target date.

However, he stressed that progress has accelerated towards the MDGs, including in relation to primary school enrolment and access to clean water. '' Some countries are making quite rapid progress and that progress is now accelerating,'' he noted.

Dervis praised the leadership in many African government ministries, which he said is characterized by a '' new 'can do,' results-oriented and pragmatic attitude.'' At the same time, he stressed the need to build local and national capacities.

One area in which capacity building is vital is foreign investment, which plays a critical role in Africa in such areas as infrastructure, mining and oil. He stressed that the capacity to negotiate contracts with foreign investors that are truly beneficial to the country and that share the benefits between the foreign investors and the local economy deserves greater attention.

'' In some countries, a good contract can make the difference between a project that will just be an enclave paying very little taxes, bringing very little benefits to the local economy [and] a project that is truly benefiting the local economy,'' he stated.

''Sometimes two or three well-negotiated contracts are financially equivalent to maybe the whole of the foreign aid that goes into an African country.''

Source: Walta Information Center

US company to invest USD 50mln in coffee farm, roasting facility (Ethiopian Reporter)

B&D Food Corporation, an American-based company, is set to invest USD 50 million in coffee farm and erection of a roasting facility in Ethiopia under its recently established subsidiary, BDFC Ethiopia Industry PLC.

The company has already secured 5,000 hectares of coffee farm in Jimma, Oromia region, on which it will be producing "high quality" Ethiopian coffee, company representative  Benjamin Petel told The Reporter in a statement on Sunday. BDFC Ethiopia will also erect a coffee roasting facility around the coffee farm site, which had last week been handed over to it by the Oromia Investment Commission. Presently, the company is finalizing preparation to embark upon the project.

"BDFC Ethiopia intends to begin planting in the coming months and, in parallel, is working on building a processing factory on the plantation grounds," Petel said. "B&D hopes to process the high quality Ethiopian beans in order to produce both roasted and instant coffee blends that are intended to be sold worldwide."

The company will invest over USD 50 million in both the acquisition and plantation of the farm and erection of the roasting facility, Oromia Investment Commission Commissioner Alemu Sime told The Reporter. The company also plans to build resorts in the farm area, according to the commissioner. "Although the company's representatives initially came to Ethiopia only to erect a roasting facility, they had, after visiting the site, also proposed to build recreation centers and launch a coffee plantation farm."

B&D is currently examining several offers of companies bidding to assemble the roasting factory, according to Petel. "B&D's current capabilities and expertise are both in the roasted and instant coffee fields. The company wishes to continue this line, by using the high quality Ethiopia coffee beans and therefore requires a state-of-the-art factory capable of producing the full range of coffees, like the one the company currently owns in Brazil," Petel said.

Three years from plantation on the farm, the company's projected export of roasted and instant coffee is 12,500 tonnes (on an annual basis), according to Petel. The vast majority of B&D Ethiopia's produce is intended to be processed and sold as instant and roasted coffee.

"B&D Ethiopia will hopefully create job opportunities for several hundred people. It is currently examining these figures and hopes to determine its employee capacity soon." Petel said.

B&D Ethiopia is destined to become a major exporter of roasted and instant coffee beans in Ethiopia, as there are barely companies engaged in that line of business, albeit the country being the birth place of coffee.

B&D Food Corp.'s management has 30 years of experience in the coffee business. Based in the US, the company operates in the food and beverage industry, specifically in coffee and related products. It has a coffee production facility in Brazil. 

By Hayal Alemayehu

 

Source: Ethiopian Reporter

Somalia to send delegation to Beijing Olympics (china.org.cn)

Somalia, though not totally free from the plague of civil conflicts, will send a delegation to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.

 

Duran Farah, head of international relations of Somalia National Olympic Committee (NOC), told Xinhua News Agency on Thursday in an exclusive interview that the Somalia NOC has maintained taking the responsibility to organize a delegation to take part in the Olympic Games over the past years, despite many difficulties.

 

The Horn of Africa country has been without authorities since 1991.

 

The Beijing Olympic Games will not be an exception and Somalia will send a delegation which is not large, said Farah.

 

The official noted that the Somali delegates will not only come from those living within Somalia but include some people residing abroad to escape domestic strife to present opportunities for both the groups.

 

For the preparation work done by the Chinese side, Farah revealed that some Somali official has been to Beijing to see the situation. "There are lots of hot preparation going on at the moment (in China), and we are confident about the Beijing Olympic Games and eager to be there."

 

In addition, Farah said China has played a role in promoting the sports development in Somalia. The largest stadium in East Africa thirty years ago was built by Chinese in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

 

Farah was in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to participate in the Olympic Solidarity Forum preparing a delegation for participation in the Olympic Games, which was organized and funded by the International Olympic Committee.

 

The two-day forum started on Thursday during which the Chinese side will report their preparation work for the Beijing Olympic Games.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2007)

Restraint urged after Sudan split (BBC)

The US has called on the ruling parties of north and south Sudan to exercise restraint after the ex southern rebels withdrew from the unity government.

Diplomats fear the move could jeopardise the 2005 deal that ended the 21-year north-south civil war. [Read more..]

Mafia accused over nuclear waste

A Mafia clan linked to six blood feud murders is being investigated for the alleging trafficking of nuclear waste and plutonium production, reports claim.

Two members of the 'Ndrangheta mafia, a Calabrian clan, are accused of shipping radioactive waste to Somalia, along with eight former employees of state energy research agency Enea, the Guardian reports.

Francesco Basentini, a magistrate from the southern town of Potenza, is investigating claims that the mob men were paid off by the Enea staff, taking shipments of waste from the agency's centre in Rotondella, Basilicata, in the 1980s and 1990s.

The allegations were made by a 'Ndrangheta turncoat, who claims an Enea manager paid the two clan members to dispose of some 600 drums of nuclear waste, with 500 shipped to Somalia and 100 buried in Basilicata (the 'Ndrangheta being unwilling to bury the waste in Calabria due to "love of their home region").

An anonymous Enea manager denied the turncoat's allegations, saying: "Enea has always worked within the rules and under strict national and international supervision."

The 'Ndrangheta clan are accused of exploiting links with Colombia to become Europe's biggest cocaine importer, while the August shooting of six Italians in Germany has been linked to a blood feud with a rival clan from San Luca, Calabria.

Nicola Gratteri, the magistrate investigating the murders, argued that nuclear waste disposal and even the production of plutonium would not be an unlikely activity for the 'Ndrangheta, the Guardian quoted him as saying.

"The 'Ndrangheta has no morals and, if there is money in an activity, it will have no problem getting involved, even nuclear waste," he said.

However, he complained the European police forces had a lax attitude to clans like the 'Ndrangheta or the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.

"The mafias were the first to take advantage of Europe's disappearing frontiers," he said, "but when I go to Germany I see they have not introduced the crime of mafia association and do not allow wire taps in public places.

"I'm tired of round tables and conventions; what we need is more courage," he added.

 

Source: inthenews.co.uk

Somali car bomb kills Ethiopians (BBC)

Two Ethiopian soldiers have been killed by a car bomb in the Somali town of Baidoa on Wednesday evening.

The bomber's target was an Ethiopian military post close to the hotel where the prime minister, Ali Mohamed Ghedi, was staying.

After the attack, Mogadishu-based Simba Radio aired an Islamist insurgent commander's claim of responsibility for the attempted assassination.

Somali forces have raided the radio and arrested its chief Abdullahi Ali Farak.

A reporter at the station said a journalist was also arrested in the raid, and the radio ordered to shut down.

A reporter at the scene says the area has been sealed off since the blast, but eyewitnesses say a suicide bomber driving a car also died.

"The explosion was so deafening and strong it rocked our entire hotel compound," an aide of the prime minister, Mohamed Abdi Haji, told AP news agency.

Mr Ghedi is in Baidoa for what correspondents expect to be a showdown between him and the president, Abdullahi Yusuf, later this week.

Source: BBC

US policy on horn of Africa aimed at dismantling Al Qaeda network, says Frazer

Addis Ababa : United States policy towards the Horn of Africa is aimed at dismantling the Al Qaeda terrorist network and ensuring stability, good governance, democracy and sustainable development, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazer says.

Frazer told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Senate last week that the policy the US government was pursuing in the Horn was not beyond ensuring peace and helping advance development in Ethiopia and neighbouring countries.

She said that the over 100-year Ethiopia-US relationship was based on mutual understanding and friendship while the activities being carried out jointly by the US and Ethiopia as well as civil society had won appreciation.

The pardons granted by the Ethiopian government to the leaderships of the CUD based on their request and in accordance with the law of the country had opened a door for political tolerance, she said.

Frzaer said the improvement of the code of ethics governing the members of the House of Peoples Representatives was a good measure taken to give attention to opposition parties.
She called on opposition party leaders to get ready for negotiation and contribute their share in building democracy in the country.

Frazer said when she visited Gode in September this year, she had observed the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) was becoming provocative. She said the killing of nine innocent Chinese and 77 Ethiopians was a manifestation of its provocative act in the region.
She urged the Ethiopian government and international community to exert efforts aimed at minimizing the danger posed by ONLF.

She also expressed the US government's commitment to provide emergency support and other aids to the people in the regtion.

Frazer said the Eritrean government was fuelling the situation in Ogaden by providing support to the ONLF and other extremists in Somalia.

The deployment of Ugandan troops as part of an African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia and the recent national reconciliation conference held in Somalia were glimmers of hope for ensuring peace in that country, Frazer added. She said the US would extend the necessary support to re-build war-devastated Somalia.

Frazer expressed eashington's concern over the human rights violations in Eritrea, where no election had been held since the country's independence 14 years ago.

She said Eritrea, which has no constitution at all, is a country where there are thousands of prisoners of conscience languishing in prison.

Source: Indian Muslim News and Information

Clashes between allies in Darfur (BBC)

Fighting has erupted in the Darfuri town of Muhajiriya, controlled by the one rebel faction to sign a peace deal with the government in May last year.

The Sudan Liberation Army faction run by Minni Minnawi came under attack from government troops.

The SLA say dozens have died, and others are being treated for wounds by the African Union peacekeeping force.

Amnesty International says Sudan's Armed Forces are gathering in large numbers in at least six Darfuri towns. [Read more..]

Somali Prime Minister, Hawiye clan leaders reach truce (Walta)

Addis Ababa, October 09, 2007 (WIC) - Somalia's Prime Minister has reached a truce with Mogadishu's dominant clan, some of whose fighters had supported Islamist-led insurgents in battles with government troops and Ethiopian forces earlier this year, Reuters reported.

Hawiye clan elders met Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on Monday in the capital.
Speaking after the talks, Gedi said the clan leaders would now work with his administration to take on the insurgents.

"We agreed a truce and we agreed that we do something about their complaints...
We agreed we work together against anyone carrying out violence," Gedi told reporters late on Monday.
Responding to accusations that government troops have been heavy-handed in their hunt for rebels, Gedi called on his army officers to control their men, whom he said should perform their duties with respect and discipline.

Mogadishu has been relatively calm in recent days and the outcome of Gedi's meeting with the clan leaders was eagerly anticipated by many war-weary residents, according to the news agency.

Hawiye spokesman Ahmed Diriye told Reuters the government and insurgents both had a responsibility to end the clashes.

"If the truce gets enforced, I do hope that all people who have political agendas on their mind, opposing the government, will compromise with it," he said.
Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Dheere praised the new accord.

Source: Walta Information Center

AU to send 8 000 troops to Somalia (Mail & Guardian)

The African Union announced on Monday it would send an extra 8 000 peacekeepers to Somalia but said dialogue remained the only solution to the bloody conflict in that country. [Read more..]