Yearly Archives: 2008
The US and African Oil
Guest Post by Dave Donelson
Americans spend so much time fixated on oil in the Middle East that they generally pay little or not attention to sub-Saharan Africa, which supplies almost as much black gold to the U.S. as the Persian Gulf States. It’s also a region with just as much (if not more) danger of unexpected supply disruption. That’s largely what drove the establishment of AFRICOM, the new U.S. military administrative headquarters (one of six regional HQs worldwide) devoted solely to military relations with 53 African countries.
To put the region in perspective, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for nearly 16% of U.S. daily oil imports in 2007, versus just under 18% for the Persian Gulf States and just over 18% for Canada according to the U.S. Department of Energy. On an individual country basis, here are our top five foreign suppliers and our daily purchases in thousands of barrels:
Canada 2243
Saudi Arabia 1487
Venezuela 1336
Mexico 1258
Nigeria 1131
Angola, with 507,000 barrels daily, ranks seventh, just behind Algeria. Chad, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), and Equatorial Guinea are petroleum suppliers to the U.S. as well, along with minor players including South Africa, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa).
Nigeria is particularly vulnerable to disruption. Rebel groups opposed to President Umaru Yar’Adua have repeatedly destroyed oil pumping stations, pipelines, and other distribution facilities. The bold Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has sent militants in boats through heavy seas to attack the Bonga oil field more than 65 miles from land, temporarily shutting production of more than 200,000 barrels per day.
It is not just rebel groups that threaten the Nigerian supply, either. White-collar oil workers threatened to strike after talks between U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp. and the country’s white-collar oil industry workers broke down recently. A walkout was averted, but the issues remain.
The other major situation the U.S. faces with its African oil supply is competition, especially from China. The Angolans supplied almost as much oil (465,000 barrels daily) to China as they did to the U.S. in 2007. That number will almost certainly go up. The Council on Foreign Relations points out
Beijing secured a major stake in future oil production in 2004 with a $2 billion package of loans and aid that includes funds for Chinese companies to build railroads, schools, roads, hospitals, bridges, and offices; lay a fiber-optic network; and train Angolan telecommunications workers.
Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos received his degree from the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute in the old USSR and served as his party’s (MPLA) representative to China shortly before becoming President. The U.S. has been able to deal with him, but he’s no particular friend. After his 29 years in office during which Angola has sunk to one of the world’s poorest and least-developed countries despite almost limitless oil, diamonds, and other resources, there’s no guarantee that the situation in the country will remain stable enough to assure the U.S. of continued supply.
With two of the top seven U.S. oil suppliers vulnerable to supply disruptions at any moment, is it any wonder that the American military presence in Africa is slated for the major expansion?
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds, a novel of the Congo
Africa : The scramble for the ocean floor
Global colonialism
A couple of years ago I wrote a post based on a story in a Kenyan newspaper which is no longer available, and which hardly appeared in the western press. The gist of the article was that the newest act of global colonialism since the big carve up of Africa in 1884 (Berlin Conference) was the scramble for the ocean floor through the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. From May 13 2009 the ‘International Sea-Bed Authority’ will administer what space the African countries are unable to claim as the ‘common heritage of mankind’. Out of 39 coastal countries in Africa only 33 countries ratified the convention and only Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria prepared to make claims. Here are some links:
South Africa claims vast tracts of sea floor
Kenya to acquire 150 nautical miles of Indian Ocean in new ‘scramble’
 Scramble for the seabed
At the time I felt that this was an enormous unreported story. Perhaps the greatest act of neo-colonialism that we have seen in recent years. Most African countries did not have the resources or expertise needed to survey the ocean floor. But by not taking part in the ‘scramble’ and staking their claim to ocean resources on their coastline they missed out on huge benefits from mineral, oil, gas and conservation rights. It really is important that African coastal states are able to ‘sustainably control, conserve, manage and utilise their ocean space and resources’.
Following the convention they are now confined to just the 12 miles of territorial waters and a 200 nautical mile ‘exclusive economic zone’ allowed by the law. Countries which did not make a claim have lost rights to the continental shelf beyond that exclusive economic zone.
Africa Malawi : A hospital horror story
Chiradzulu district hospital shame
I guess I have been around long enough that I am rarely really shocked. However, a story on IPS News from Malawi caught my eye, and yes – I admit it – I am shocked. Read the following:
LILONGWE, Jun 27 (IPS) – Gladys Mawera’s face is contorted with pain -– both she and her newborn baby survived a complicated birth three days ago — but she has not been able to take the painkillers and antibiotics prescribed to her by the medical personnel at the Chiradzulu District Hospital in southern Malawi. The hospital has been without water for five days.
“I am disgusted with my own smell and that of my baby,” says Mawera, who is still wrapped in bloodstained linens as she cradles her child. “There is literally not a drop of water around here,” worries Mawera.
That last line in the highlighted paragraph does it for me. As you read on in the article your mouth drops further and further.
This is not some rustic hospital in the back of beyond. This is a state of the art modern hospital built in 2005 at a cost of 25 million dollars European Union funding which is trying to exist with highly erratic water supplies. In this state of the art hospital, x-rays services are suspended, operations are suspended, patients do not even have water to drink, nurses and doctors do not have water to wash in, linen cannot be washed. How can the hospital function? Relatives of patients are sent out under cover of darkness to ‘pinch’ water from community boreholes. A dangerous practice because of snakes, dogs and community disquiet over the practice.
“The real beneficiaries pay for the maintenance of the boreholes and they’re not happy to see strangers drawing water from their facilities. The people from the hospital therefore have to wait until the owners of the boreholes are sleeping to collect water for the patients,”
Why?
The problem appears to be a local planning one. The hospital was built without its own reservoir and it is higher than the local reservoir.
“Ideally, we should have constructed a new reservoir to cater for the hospital,” says Bulukutu.
He said there is need to upgrade the whole water system in the district to improve the pumping of water from the reservoir. Bulukutu says there is a proposal to construct a new dam on a higher ground which will be used as the hospital’s new reservoir to satisfy the water demand. But as funds have not yet been set aside for this project, this is far from an immediate solution.
Meanwhile the EU has promised the construction of a borehole within the hospital premises as a short term solution to the water problems.
My question is, why on earth was that not done when the hospital was constructed? Or at least when the problem was recognised.
Mali : National Education Plans
Mali documents
I’m sorry that these plans are only available in French, but I hope they will be helpful to you. You’ll need Adobe Reader to read the pdf files.
Source: Planipolis UNESCO IIEP
Cadre de dépenses à moyen terme du secteur de l’éducation 2006-2008
Ministère de l’éducation nationale, 2006, 73 p.
Authors / Organisations : Mali. Ministère de l’éducation nationale
Type of document : National Education Plans
Mali. Proposition de plan d’action pour la mise en oeuvre accelerée du PISE 2 pour la scolarisation primaire universelle
Bamako, Ministère de l’Education nationale, 2006, 64 p.
Authors / Organisations : Mali. Ministère de l’éducation nationale, Secrétariat Général
Type of document : National Education Plans
Programme décennal de développement de l’éducation: les grandes orientations de la politique éducative
Bamako, MEN, 2000, 73 p.
Authors / Organisations : Mali. Ministère de l’éducation nationale, MEN
Type of document : National Education Plans
Academic paper: China in Africa policy briefing
China’s environmental footprint in Africa
China in Africa policy briefing – China’s environmental footprint in Africa by Bosshard,P.
Produced by: South African Institute of International Affairs, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) (2008)
Along with its economic presence, China has rapidly expanded its environmental footprint in Africa. This policy brief discusses and analyses the concerns about the impacts of China’s economic expansion on Africa’s environment.
Concerns over China’s environmental footprint in Africa have arisen for at least five reasons:
- China’s investments in Africa are concentrated in sectors that are environmentally sensitive (such as oil and gas exploration, mining, hydropower and timber extraction), and in infrastructure projects that help to facilitate environmentally sensitive investments
- China’s strategy of making previously inaccessible resources accessible compounds the risks associated with these sectors
- China’s domestic policies have prioritised economic growth over the protection of the environment, often with harrowing results. The Chinese government has set in place laws, regulations and institutions to protect the environment, but with limited success
- major Chinese investors, financiers and equipment suppliers have so far not adopted standards set by international financial institutions, or have developed policies that are not necessarily in line with international standards.
- China’s economic expansion in Africa has added to Western concerns that the country’s rapid economic growth will put a heavy strain on the world’s resources and the global environment.
The author argue that Africa will benefit from a continued strengthening of its co-operation with China, but not at the cost of environmental destruction.
The policy brief concludes that:
- although China has begun the process of establishing guidelines for overseas investments, given the speed of its global expansion, these guidelines will need to become more comprehensive and deepened through binding regulations
- African governments can learn from China’s experience by being selective in the types of investments that they invite and by making sure that they do not undermine the long-term environmental foundations of growth and prosperity
- Western governments will become more credible in expressing concerns regarding the environment and good governance if they uphold and strengthen the standards ruling their own overseas investments.
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=37375&em=ddmmyy&sub=enviro
Source:Â ELDIS
Academic paper: Senegal – role of women in a model of community management of fish resources and marine environments
Barriers to women’s participation
Senegal – role of women in a model of community management of fish resources and marine environments by Soumare,A.
Produced by: Gender and Water Alliance (2008)
During the last twenty years pressure on marine resources in Senegal has increased so significantly that fish have become scarce. Despite their involvement in the use of coastal and marine resources around the world, many women face barriers to participating fully in the planning and management of those resources. This short case study highlights the attempt to fully involve women in fisheries and coastal resource management in Cayar, Senegal.
The author highlights that barriers to women’s participation can be institutional, educational, or cultural in nature, and can profoundly influence decision making that affects the welfare of marine resources and coastal communities. Fortunately, the process of establishing a marine protected area (MPA) in Cayar recognises gender and the participation of women in development processes as central for sustainable development. Recommendations include:
- use the knowledge of women about biodiversity, as they interact differently with the marine environment than men (e.g. their role in post-harvest activities such as gutting fish, may give them greater knowledge about fish reproductive seasons)
- ensure equitable participation in all activities, including training, of both stakeholders and staff (recognising that participation should never be mandatory). This may mean scheduling meetings that suit women (e.g. not at traditional male meeting places)
- use participatory methods, such as single sex focus groups and separate meetings with men and women
- monitor how women and men participate in and benefit from coastal resource management.
Available online at: http://w ww. eldis. org/cf/rdr/?doc=37428&em=180608&sub=partic
Source:Â ELDIS
Free resource: Handbook on community-led total sanitation
Handbook on community-led total sanitation
How to facilitate community-led total sanitation
Authors: K. Kar; R. Chambers
Publisher: Plan International, 2008
Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a participatory process focused on promoting change in sanitation behaviour through social action - stimulated by facilitators from within or outside the community. Aimed at empowering local communities this handbook is a source of ideas and experiences to be used for CLTS orientation workshops, advocacy to stakeholders as well as for implementing CLTS activities. It is intended as a tool for field staff, facilitators and trainers to plan, implement and follow up on CLTS activities.
A sequence of possible steps and tools, including do’s and don’t, are provided to help trigger CLTS in a community. They include:
- Pre-triggering
- Selecting a community
- Introduction and building rapport
- Triggering
- Participatory sanitation profile analysis
- Ignition moment
- Post-triggering
- Action planning by the community
- Follow up
- Scaling up and going beyond CLTS
Users are encouraged to use and modify the processes outlined in this handbook as they see fit to compliment their given context.
Source:Â ELDIS
Africa Kenya: Rubbish dump scavengers photo essay
Dandora rubbish dump scavengers
There’s a photo essay on BBC NEWS about Kenya’s rubbish dump scavengers. It gives an insight into the lives of people whose livelihood relies on the vast 30 acre Dandora rubbish dump on the outskirts of Nairobi which receives 2,000 tonnes of rubbish a day. This is a scene which is played out all over Africa and the personal tales in this essay seem typical. There is no primary sorting of waste and waste of every kind, even toxic waste, is dumped on huge sites usually on the outskirts of towns.
In the essay prominence is given to the washing and recycling of plastic bags and sacks. These bags are washed in the river, dried in the sun and then re-used. One problem is that the river itself is highly polluted, so potential food bags are washed in polluted river water and then re-sold. What’s to be done? In Kenya the government has proposed re-siting the rubbish dump. This is opposed by the scavengers who want the government to give them grants to start small businesses to replace their income from scavenging. As always solutions are complex not simple.
Suggested Books
- Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage
- Slums and Shelter Policies in Kenya: the case of Kibera, Soweto East slum upgrading project
- Kenya – Culture Smart!: the essential guide to customs & culture
African environment: Keyhole gardens in Lesotho
Keyhole gardens
There’s an interesting post on BBC NEWS about ‘keyhole gardens’ in Lesotho. Â The two metre diameter gardens are built of rocks, layered with tins, mulch and ash and are producing food all year round.
(Mahaha’s family) has three keyhole gardens and that’s more than enough to supply all 10 of them with all the vegetables they need, and with some left over to sell – it’s changed their livesNtsie Tlali, Care
Mahaha Mphou does not know much about global economics, but she does know how to grow vegetables. She and the rest of her family of 10 have become some of the most enthusiastic evangelists for a home-grown idea that has almost certainly saved them from starvation. Ntsie Tlali from Care, the non-governmental organisation behind the gardens, believes they are revolutionary.
See: BBC country profile for Lesotho
Here’s the gist on how to construct one: (via wvfoodresources workshop)
In order to create a keyhole garden, groups of beneficiaries first clear and level the ground, then mark an area approximately 6.5 feet (2 meters) in diameter, with an entrance to the basket measuring 1.6 feet (50 centimeters) wide. The perimeter of the basket, which measures approximately 16 inches (40 centimeters) square and 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall, is marked using four tall sticks. Thatching grass is used to tie the sticks together. Soil is placed on top of the basket and made to slope gently to the edge of the wall, allowing water to run smoothly down to the sides of the garden. When finished with the central basket, the group builds around the circumference of the garden, placing rocks at different levels. Each level of the rock wall is interspersed with alternating layers of organic material. The bottom consists of waste leaves, followed by layers of yard sweepings, manure, ash, and kitchen waste. The completed rock wall stands approximately 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) tall.
The garden is usually divided into four sections as follows: leafy crops (for example, cabbage), root crops (for example, beetroot), legumes (for example, peas or beans), and onions and/or garlic. The four sections may be divided by planting a strip of onions, which acts as an insect repellent due to the strong smell. A single rotation is advised every time new plants are planted. Mulching with dried grass and leaves should be done regularly.
If anyone tries this please could you let me know? You can email me at sociolingo(at)gmail(dot)com
Suggested Books
Lesotho: Southbound Pocket Guide (Southbound Pocket Guides) (Southbound Travel Guides)
AFRICA: Mind your language – a short guide to HIV/AIDS slang
There’s an interesting article on IRIN NEWS about a glossary of the language used in several African countries to refer to HIV/AIDS. (Click the link to access the article)
Many agencies are concerned about how the negative connotations in the language used on the street undermines the efforts to reduce the stigma of the disease. One researcher cited in the article says “Language can neither be separated from our thoughts and feelings, nor from the social context in which it is used,” she said. “Words and images create different conceptual realities of the phenomenon.”
PlusNews is interested to hear from you if you can improve this glossary. Please send your examples, with a brief description of meaning and where the slang is used, to: mail@plusnews.org
Here is the glossary to date:
Angola (Portuguese)
Pisar pisar na min – Contracting HIV is like having “stepped on a landmine”
Bichinho – “Little bug” (the virus)
Kenya (Kikuyu, spoken mainly in central Kenya)
kagunyo – “The worm” (euphemism for HIV)
Nigeria (Hausa, spoken mainly in the north)
Kabari Salama aalaiku – Literally translates as “Excuse me, grave” (reference to AIDS)
Tewo Zamani - Translates as the “sickness of this generation†(another reference to AIDS)
Nigeria (Igbo, spoken mainly in the east)
Ato nai ise - “Five and three” (5 + 3 = 8, and “eight” sounds like “AIDS”)
Oria Obiri na aja ocha - “Sickness that ends in death” (euphemism for AIDS)
Nigeria (Yoruba, spoken mainly in the west)
Eedi – “Curse”
Arun ti ogbogun – “Sickness without cure”
Nigeria (Pidgin, the unofficial lingua franca)
He don carry – “He carries the virus”
Nigeria (English)
HIV - He Intends Victory (acronym of HIV and a phrase popular among born-again Christians)
South Africa (IsiXhosa and IsiZulu)
Udlala ilotto - “Playing the lotto” /ubambe ilotto – “won the lotto” (said of someone suspected of being HIV positive; Lotto is the national lottery)
Unyathele icable – Contracting HIV is like “stepping on a live wire”
South Africa (English)
House in Vereeniging - (Acronym of HIV; “bought a house in Vereeniging”, a town about 50km south of Johannesburg, refers to someone suspected of being HIV positive)
Driving a “Z3″/ “having three kids”/ the “three letters” - All refer to the three letters in the HIV acronym
Tracker - If you are suspected of being HIV positive people say God is tracking you, like the popular southern African service that tracks and recovers stolen vehicles
Tanzania (KiSwahili)
amesimamia msumari – “Standing on a nail”; euphemism for being skinny, or being small enough to fit on a nail’s head, referring to AIDS-related weight loss
kukanyaga miwaya – Contracting HIV is like “stepping on a live wire”
mdudu – “The bug” (refers to HIV)
Uganda (English)
Slim - Euphemism for HIV/AIDS as a result of the associated weight loss; less popular since the advent of ARVs
Uganda (Luganda, spoken mainly in the central region)
Okugwa mubatemu - You have been waylaid by thugs (contracted HIV)
Zambia (Nyanja, spoken mainly in the east and the capital, Lusaka)
Kanayaka – “It has lit up” (refers to a positive reaction from an HIV test)
Ka-onde-onde - “Thing that makes you thinner and thinner” (HIV)
Zambia (Bemba, spoken mainly in the north and Lusaka)
Bamalwele ya akashishi - “Those that suffer from the germ” (HIV-positive people)
Kaleza - “Razor blade” (Refers to a person being thin as a result of AIDS-related weight loss)
Zimbabwe (Shona)
Ari pachirongwa - “He/she is on a (treatment) programme”
Akarohwa nematsoti – “He/she has been beaten by thieves”
Mukondas – Abbreviation of “mukondombera” (epidemic)
Ari kumwa mangai - “He/she is drinking mangai” (mangai is boiled corn seedlings, which represent antiretroviral (ARV) drugs)
Akabatwa – “He/she was caught” (received a positive diagnosis)
Zvirwere zvemazuvano – “The current diseases” (the HIV epidemic)
Akatsika banana – “He/she has stepped on a banana and slipped” (someone who has tested positive and therefore will “fall” or die as a result)
Shuramatongo – “A bad omen for relatives”
Zimbabwe (English)
Red card – Like a football player being sent off, life is over
Go slow - Taken to mean that he/she is now progressing slowly towards death
TB2 – Refers to high rates of HIV and TB co-infection (used to denote AIDS)
RVR – Slang for ARVs, adapted from Mitsubishi’s RVR sports utility vehicle
John the Baptist - When someone has TB, he/she is said to have been baptised by “John the Baptist”, who has come to announce the coming of HIV
FTT – “Failure to thrive” (adapted from the medical phrase, now used to describe HIV-positive children)
Boarding pass - Implies that HIV is a boarding pass to death
Departure lounge – An HIV-infected person is in the departure lounge awaiting death
Ghana: Plants and flowers
Flora of Ghana
A reader asked about the flowers in Ghana recently. Here are some links you may be interested to follow:
Here’s a few references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Flora_of_Ghana
This has a clickable list of flora by botanical names. I clicked through a few and there are some nice pix as well as information.
http://www.bgci.org/garden.php?id=1246
Aburi Botanical Gardens
Facility in Ghana aiming to promote plant diversity through research, horticultural training, cultivation and introduction of endangered plants, and management of natural resources. Summary information, map, and history.
Suggested Books
The Useful Plants of Ghana
Forest Protection In Ghana: With Particular Reference To Vegetation And Plant Species
Sub-Saharan languages and peoples : a bibliographical survey of pre-1920 works
Pre-1920 papers on sub-Saharan languages and peoples
More from Jouni Maho’s papers. This time it is a bibliographical survey of pre-1920 works about sub-Saharan languages and peoples. It’s a pdf file, so you’ll need Adobe Reader.
The present bibliographical survey aims to list works dealing with African languages and/or peoples and which were written, compiled and/or published prior to 1920. This particular version contains a total of 10 189 unique entries.