Angola: Growth Slips Over Oil Price

Johannesburg — Despite a huge drop being anticipated in oil revenue, the Angolan government should have enough in the bank to push though its promised poverty reduction and health provision plans – provided it is willing to spend.”The economic perspectives for Angola in 2009 are deeply uncertain,” Ricardo Gazel, senior economist at the World Bank in Angola, told Reuters news service on 27 January.According to the World Bank’s new estimate, Angola’s GDP growth would decline to 8 percent for 2009 – a considerable difference compared to the government’s 15.6 percent growth estimate for 2008.

Liberia: Rampaging Caterpillars Threaten Disaster Across Region, Warns UN

A United Nations official has warned today that a UN-led team of experts is in a race against time in its attempt to halt a vast plague of caterpillars, known as armyworms, which has already swarmed across northern Liberia and threatens to march into neighbouring West African countries, destroying all crops and water supplies in its path.The enormous infestation of tens of millions of armyworms, one of the most destructive of insect pests, has forced the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, to call a national emergency in a country where access to food is already precarious.

Zimbabwe: Local Dollar Redundant As Budget Allows Multiple Currency Trading

The government has for the first time acknowledged that the Zimbabwe dollar has no value, after acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, on Thursday detailed the country’s budget proposal in the US greenback.The proposal, which will officially pave the way for the disappearance of the local currency in trading, will make dealing in multiple currencies legal for all Zimbabweans, in theory to curb hyperinflation. The inflation rate is the highest in the world and has seen the local dollar crumble to its current worthless position. The economy has for weeks been informally ‘dollarised’ with almost all sectors trading in US dollars, and the new budget proposal has made the move official.

Africa: ILO Says 51-Million Jobs May Go

Johannesburg — UP TO 51-million jobs worldwide could vanish because of the global financial crisis, and many of those who kept their jobs could expect an erosion of their conditions of employment, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) warned yesterday.The ILO says in its global employment trends report that, based on developments in the labour market and depending on the timeliness and effectiveness of recovery efforts, global unemployment this year could increase by between 18-million and 30-million workers, and more than 50-million if the situation continued to deteriorate.

Zimbabwe: Barack Obama Plans Increased Pressure on Mugabe

Newly elected US President Barack Obama is in discussion with his top African advisers on adopting a fresh and robust approach towards restoring democracy in Zimbabwe.According to a Times Newspaper report Obama, and his newly appointed UN Ambassador Susan Rice, want the crisis in Zimbabwe to be taken to the UN Security Council, to get tough targeted sanctions approved. The new administration is advocating a series of measures, that will include a ban on arms sales and foreign investment to Zimbabwe and to increase the number of Zanu PF officials, businesspersons and companies blacklisted for being aligned to the regime.

Nigeria: Govt, Pfizer Opt for Out-of-Court Settlement

Abuja — Federal Government and Pfizer, which had sustained a legal battle over the death of some children in Kano State following alleged administration of vaccines on them, have agreed to settle the case instituted by the government against the company out-of-court.Pfizer is seeking to quash the report by a committee set up by the Federal Government to look into the activities of Pfizer in the controversial clinical test trial in Kano.

Zimbabwe: SADC Sets 5 Feb Deadline for Zim Constitutional Amendment

Pretoria — Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders have given Zimbabwe political leaders until 5 February 2009 to pass Constitutional Amendment 19.Constitutional Amendment 19 makes provision for the creation of the post of prime minister and deputy prime minister for Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, respectively.Addressing local and international media early Tuesday morning after over 12 hours around the negotiation table, SADC Executive Secretary Dr Tomaz Salomao said the people of Zimbabwe are faced with very difficult challenges that require an inclusive government.

Central Africa: Rwanda Arrests DRC Rebel Nkunda

Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda was arrested in Rwanda late Thursday night, Rwandan and Congolese authorities announced on Friday.Radio Okapi, the Congolese radio station operated by the United Nations and the Fondation Hirondelle, reported that Rwandan and Congolese military leaders had disclosed the news. In the same announcement, they called on Nkunda’s followers to join the process under way to integrate former rebels into the Congolese army, FARDC.

Somalia: New Navy Task Force Takes Aim At Pirates

Washington DC — A new multinational naval task force is patrolling the waters off the coast of Africa to scare off pirates who have been regularly attacking commercial shipping vessels laden with oil, fertilizer and iron ore.For now, Combined Task Force 151 comprises three U.S. ships, but other nations, including the United Kingdom, are expected to join the effort that is focused on the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. In the meantime, naval forces from nearly two dozen nations are patrolling in the same waters — in some cases bilaterally — and are often providing escort to merchant vessels bearing their national flags.

Africa: Hillary Clinton Outlines Obama?s Africa Policy

Washington DC — The foreign policy objectives of the Obama administration in Africa are rooted in security, political, economic and humanitarian interests, Secretary of State–designate Hillary Clinton told a U.S. Senate committee January 13.In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Clinton said the Obama administration’s foreign policy objectives for Africa also include “combating al-Qaida’s efforts to seek safe havens in failed states in the Horn of Africa; helping African nations to conserve their natural resources and reap fair benefits from them; stopping war in Congo; [and] ending autocracy in Zimbabwe and human devastation in Darfur.”