Hope and reconciliation in liberia

Since the end of Liberia’s 14-year civil war, some 100,000 ex-fighters have been demobilised. Here, Emmanuel Toe (r) and Srafa Dugba (l), both 26, explain how they have ended up working together as apprentice car mechanics.
Emmanuel was forced to fight with the pro-government Wild Geese militia, while Srafa was captured by and fought for the Lurd rebels.

Emmanuel: Even though we fought on opposite sides, I took him to be my brother when I met him. Now we joke and eat together.

Srafa: After the war in 2003, I wanted to learn a trade. Twenty-four of us were sent to this Monrovia garage by the YMCA a year ago, as part of the disarmament programme.
We used to get $30 a month but that has stopped. We were also supposed to get tools but they never arrived. Most of the others have left but I really want to learn something useful.

Sometimes my boss or one of our customers gives me a few dollars but I don’t get a salary. One day I’d like my own business.

Emmanuel: Some of my former comrades lost their arms or legs in the war.
Others are deaf or blind from using heavy weapons.


They are the ones who beg for money on the streets of Monrovia.

Others did not want to go back to school or learn a trade but quite a few are like me. Some are learning to be tailors or electricians or they are selling goods in the market. Some are even in school, doing exams.

Emmanuel: This is our last chance for peace from the UN.
If I saw my ex-commander now I would speak to him. He is living in exile, but this is no longer the time for grudges.

Srafa: I have seen my former commander. After the initial beatings, I was not treated badly, so I’m not angry. He was very pleased to see that I was making something of my life.

In the end, our future is in our own hands – and that of all Liberians.


Photos and interviews by Joseph Winter

Reversal of fortunes

Tata Chairman Ratan Tata
Wed 31 Jan 2007

Indian steel giant wins battle for Corus
THE battle for steel firm Corus has been won by Indian company Tata Steel.

Tata, one of India's oldest companies, has bought out the Anglo-Dutch firm in a deal worth £6.7 billion following a bitter bidding war with Brazilian rival CSN.

The deal will create the world's fifth largest steel group, capable of producing about 24 million tonnes of steel a year.

Mumbai-based Tata offered 608 pence a share for Corus, valuing the company at around £5.57bn, although a spokesman for Tata said the total deal was worth £6.7bn.

The two-way battle for what was once British Steel began in October when Tata tabled a £4.1bn bid. In December, the Corus board recommended Tata's revised £4.7bn offer. But, just hours later the board confirmed it had approved a 515p a share, or £4.9bn, offer from CSN.

Both firms have had their takeover offers approved by the European Commission on the grounds that a tie-up between Corus and either company would not hamper competition in the European Economic Area.

JJ Irani, a director on the board of Tata Steel, said the acquisition of Corus will help improve Tata's negotiating power in the global steel market. He added: "From a small player, we will now become a big player."

Corus employs 47,300 people worldwide, including 24,000 in the UK at plants at Port Talbot, Scunthorpe and Rotherham.



Profile of Tata Steel
Established in 1907, Tata Steel is Asia's first and India's largest private sector steel company. Tata Steel is among the lowest cost producers of steel in the world and one of the few select steel companies in the world that is EVA+ (Economic Value Added).

Its captive raw material resources and the state-of-the-art 5 MTPA (million tonne per annum) plant at Jamshedpur, in Jharkhand State, India give it a competitive edge. Determined to be a major global steel player, Tata Steel has recently included in its fold NatSteel, Asia (2 MTPA) and Millennium Steel (1.7 MTPA) creating a manufacturing network in eight markets in South East Asia and Pacific rim countries. Soon the Jamshedpur plant will expand its capacity from 5 MTPA to 7 MTPA by 2008. The Company plans to enhance its capacity, manifold through organic growth and investments. The Company's wire manufacturing unit in Sri Lanka is known as Lanka Special Steel, while the joint venture in Thailand for limestone mining is known as Sila Eastern.

Tata Steel's products are targeted at the quality conscious auto sector and the burgeoning construction industry. With wire manufacturing facilities in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, the Company plans to emerge as a major global player in the wire business.

My Note: I guess it is true. The sun has set on the British Empire. While there have been many signs, the purchase of Corus (formerly British Steel), must be the final nail. The West has long pushed for India to open up and success has now resulted in some interesting developments. It also signifies the rise of the indutrial power of countries long cast as primitive. India and Brazil (the sleeping giant) and leading the way for other democratic countires (China is not a democracy). There are others including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Venezuala, Argentina and Mexico that have the potential to follow. I am hopeful that the visionary leadership necessary for true development will continue to develop.

Africa's Inland Deltas

Inner Niger Delta

For four months each year during the rainy season, floodwaters spill over the banks of the Niger and Bani Rivers and the Inner Niger Delta swells to an area of about 20,000 km2. The swamps, lakes, and channels of the delta provide vital habitat for migratory Palearctic birds and West African manatees. The delta is also an essential resource for Malians, supporting livelihoods in fishing, farming, and pastoralism in an otherwise arid country. These floodplains support the highest livestock density in Africa, and are increasingly threatened by a variety of anthropogenic pressures and unsustainable uses.



The Inner Niger Delta is located in central Mali in the semi-arid Sahelian zone, just south of the Sahara Desert. The huge dunes of the Erg Ouagadou funnel the waters of the inner delta north and east through Mali. A diverse mix of channels, swamps, and lakes, the delta expands to cover 20,000 km2 during the rainy season and contracts to 3,900 km2 during the dry season (Welcomme 1986). The delta extends for 425 km with an average width of 87 km, tapering into a braided river near Timbouctou where the Niger River curves to the east. The floodplain is remarkably level, dropping only 8 m over its course (Hughes and Hughes 1992). Delta topography is a complex mix of submerged lower areas and higher, unflooded areas known as tougérés. The floodplain consists of a vast network of river channels with leveés separated by low, clay-based floodplains. As waters flow through the delta, they pass over Pleistocene and recent alluvium overlying Paleozoic sandstone (Hughes and Hughes 1992).

The floodwaters of the delta come primarily from the Niger River, its main tributary the Bani River, and smaller streams that flow down from the Dogonland Plateau. The Niger River is the longest river in West Africa and the third longest in Africa. Originating in the Fouta Djalon highlands of Guinea, the river extends for 4,100 km before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean on the Nigerian Coast. The Bani River is 1,100 km in length with sources in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Dogonland streams provide an insignificant contribution to the delta but do fill the southwestern lakes (Hughes and Hughes 1992). Dry, landlocked Mali is completely dependent on these rivers for its water resources (FAO 1997).


The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is the world's largest inland delta.

“ "Where all this water goes is a mystery", Aurel Schultz, 1897 ”

The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up some 10,000 years ago. Today, the Okavango River has no outlet to the sea. Instead, it empties onto the sands of the Kalahari Desert, irrigating 15,000 km² of the desert. Each year some 11 cubic kilometres of water reach the delta. Some of this water reaches further south to create Lake Ngami.

The water entering the delta is unusually pure, due to the lack of agriculture and industry along the Okavango River. It passes through the sand aquifers of the numerous delta islands and evaporates/transpirates by leaving enormous quantities of salt behind. This precipitation processes are so strong that the vegetation disappears in the center of the islands and thick salt crusts are formed.

The waters of the Okavango Delta are subject to seasonal flooding, which begins about mid-summer in the north and six months later in the south (May/June). The water from the delta is evaporated relatively rapidly by the high temperatures, resulting in a cycle of cresting and dropping water in the south. Islands can disappear completely during the peak flood, then reappear at the end of the season.


Elephants in the Okavango Delta seen from the dubious safety of a makoro (small boat).

The Okavango Delta has been under the political control of the Batawana (a Tswana sub-tribe) for several hundred years. Most Batawana, however, have traditionally lived on the edges of the Delta. Small numbers of people from other ethnic groups such as Ovaherero and Ovambanderu now live in parts of the Okavango Delta, but since the majority of the members of those groups live elsewhere and the habitation is recent they are not considered as part of the Okavango Delta peoples. There are also several Bushmen groups represented by a handful of people. These groups were decimated by diseases of contact in the middle part of the 20th century, and most of the remaining members have intermarried with the ||anikwhe.



My Note: I am totally amazed by the reality of an inland delta. In school, I was taught that all rivers flowed to the sea. I only recently learned about rivers that flow into desert areas with life giving waters. Please take the time to find Mali and Botwswana on the map of Africa.

Thailand allows copycat AIDS, heart disease drugs

An HIV positive mother with her uninfected daughter

Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:26 AM ET
By Pongpiphat Banchanont (Reuters)

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's army-appointed government confirmed on Monday it approved a cheap, copycat version of a blockbuster heart disease drug, the first time a developing country has torn up the international patent for such a treatment.
In addition to the "compulsory license" of Plavix, made by U.S. and European pharmaceutical giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis, Bangkok approved a generic version of Abbott Laboratories' Kaletra, an HIV/AIDS treatment. The move, which Thai health officials said would save the country as much as 800 million baht ($24 million) a year, drew flak from the drug industry but praise from AIDS activists.

"We have to do this because we don't have enough money to buy safe and necessary drugs for the people under the government's universal health scheme," Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla told reporters on Monday, confirming newspaper reports that circulated last week.

"The laws have been signed and became effective on Friday," said Mongkol, who incensed drugs companies in November by introducing Thailand's first such license for Merck's Efavirenz anti-retroviral AIDS treatment. Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, a government is allowed to declare a "national emergency" and license the production or sale of a patented drug without the permission of the foreign patent owner.

Paul Cawthorne, local head of Doctors Without Borders, backed Mongkol's stance, saying the government was spending 11,580 baht ($347) per patient per month for Kaletra and could cut that bill by two thirds if it switched to a generic make. "That's a perfectly legal method for them to ensure access to essential drugs for Thai people," he said.

My Note: Copyright laws play an important role in protecting intellectual property rights and drive private industry to innovate and produce important products for the market. The challenges for most poorer countires is that the price for the item is controlled by external interests and put the interests of there countries at risk. If the issue is weapons technology I could not care in the least but when it come to health and survival issues, I can truly sympathize with the actions of the Thai govenment. HIV/AIDS is a world crisis and it is in the national interest of these countries to provide for their people. I want the drug companies to make a profit for the investestment of time and capitol to produce the drugs but they hold life at ransom creating outrageous profits. Brazil has also been bold in dealing with the drug companies and has been successful in getting reduced prices. I'm optimistic that bold actions such as taken by countires including Thailand, Brazil, and India will bring much needed medications for many ills with in the reach of the poorest and improve world health.

Ghana United

By Kwaku Sakyi-Addo
Free online content from BBC Focus on Africa magazine

As Ghana celebrates 50 years of independence, its secondary boarding schools are the single most cited reason for the country's escape from the ethnic tensions which have brought many African countries to bloody ruin. The system puts children from the country's 70-odd ethnic groups into one pot and stirs them up to melt.

This system became particularly entrenched when Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president, introduced a policy of mass education and established dozens more secondary boarding schools throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Nana Oye Lithur, a human rights lawyer, points out that one of the reasons there has not been a major ethnic-based conflict is because of "deliberate constitutional engineering". For example, a political party will not be registered unless all 230 constituencies are represented among its founders, and it must maintain offices in at least two-thirds of all constituencies at all times. It is also illegal to establish a party on ethnic or religious grounds, which, Mr Lithur says, ensures that "every political party is national in character in order to safeguard national integration".

Additionally, all public appointments are required by law to have ethnic and regional balance. That makes it difficult for a president to load public institutions with cousins and nephews from his village. These requirements for nationwide legitimacy have generally been part of Ghana's constitutions ever since the mid-1950s.

In the post-jubilee years, Ghanaians must find creative ways to assuage Mahama's fears, build on their exemplary multi-ethnic harmony, and ensure that children leaving their villages on their maiden long journey do not carry ethno-centric garbage in their baggage.

My Note: The above is edited from the full article found in BBC Focus on Africa. You are encouraged to read entire article.

Burka anyone?

By Harry Young

Recently, an article written by Dinesh D’Souza was published on line in the Christian Science Monitor (Commentary > Opinion from the January 25, 2007 edition). The title of the article, “War on terror's other front: cleaning up US pop culture”, claimed that the problem the US is having with the Muslim world is based on “distorted projections of US policy and culture across the globe”.

His solution to counteracting the “distorted projections” is as follows:

“In the United Nations, for example, America should work with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others to block the efforts of leftist groups around the world who promote radical feminism, homosexuality, prostitution, and pornography as "rights" under international law. Instead, the US should align itself with social decency and traditional family values.”

This approach, he suggested, would assure the Muslim world that we on their side and not a threat to them in any way. With respect, his position is froth with “distorted projections’ itself and in no way represents reality.

First, the US foreign policy does not promote a “liberal agenda” by any means. On the contrary, the policy is decisively conservative on any number of issues including drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, abortion, condom use, and pornography. For example, in the fight against HIV/AIDS, funding for prevention efforts is tied an abstinence only messages and rejection of condom use. This lead to Brazil (an overwhelmingly Catholic nation) stating publicly that if funding was constricted it would not accept any.

On those social issues raised, domestically the US is far more conservative then Europe generally. In Holland, marijuana use is legal. In ultra Catholic Spain, same sex unions are recognized. Prostitution is legal in Germany (among others). One issue we are more “liberal” with is the availability of fire arms with the irony being that crimes involving fire arms are pervasive in US, but rare in Europe. If these were truly the issues causing the friction, then Europe would be the “Great Satan”. The difference between Europe and the US is that they do not lead invasions of other nations (sure Prime Minister Tony Blair joined President Bush in this Iraq quagmire and look what that has done for his career, reputation and legacy) under false pretencies. Mr. D’Souza stated,

“A major reason why some Muslims focus their anger on the United States is because it is American culture – not Swedish culture or French culture – that is finding its way into every nook and cranny of Islamic society”.

Maybe that is true because they refrain from disrespecting the leadership, people, culture of others and not invading countries under false pretenses. When was the last time you heard a Sweedish or French leader call another leader "evil"?

Mr. D’Souza referred to “traditional family’ values as if this is a constant or unchanging concept. I challenge him to provide a clear and relevant definition of what this means. Old Testament family values included men having multiple wives. Up until the 1950’s, teen girls (and I mean 13, 14, 15 year olds) routinely married in the US. Today, more than half of US households are lead by women ALONE. Should we marginalize them because they are not married?



The strength of the US is that we are constantly evaluating and redefining our rights and responsibilities. This internal dialogue has many economic, social and cultural benefits and keeps the nation dynamic. This what is admired and should be exported. It lead, for example, to the expansion of voting rights to all white men (not just the landed white male gentry as it was in 1776), then all white women (universal adult suffrage, though restricted to whites only), and then to all people of color (part of the civil rights movement). It has promoted workers rights, minority rights, women rights, animal rights, and redefined the responsibilities of government (at all levels), individuals, cooperation, centers of education, the military, civic organizations, to name a few. Mr. D’Sousa reference to what is “traditional” is a mirage wrapped in a façade. His position (and it had its advocates then) applied in 1776 would have stifled all the advances outlined herein. Just imagine, no Oprah!

I suggest Mr. D’Souza try life in a burka.

Relaxed future

Belize
Belize boasts many attractions for adventurous Americans. It's less than two hours from Miami, has wonderful archeological sites, marvelous forests with spectacular biological diversity and white coral sand beaches. It's also the only primarily English speaking country in Central America.

Belize is culturally diverse, with a native population of Mayan Indians, Creole (African and European), Mestizo (native American and European), Garifuna (African and Caribbean Indian), as well as a substantial population of Mennonite farmers from the Netherlands and Germany. There are also Middle Easterners and South and East Asians.




The biggest draw here is the diving; Belize has the second largest coral reef in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. There are numerous islands with well equipped dive resorts such as Ambergris Cay with access to the reef and three coral atolls - Glover's Reef, Turneffe Island, and Lighthouse Reef - that also offer gin-clear water, healthy coral formations and a riot of colorful fish to ogle.