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.

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: Obama And U.S. Policy Towards Africa

As Obama takes over the presidency of the United States, Horace Campbell contextualizes an Obama presidency in the realities of Africa and the ongoing global finance crisis. He argues that “capitalism should not be reconstituted and rebuilt on the backs and bodies of Africans.” For Campbell, the crisis is not simply a cyclical crisis of capitalism; it is a fundamental shift in the global political and economic order. In light of this fast changing world, Campbell is also interested in the possibilities and our responsibilities in bringing about change in and for Africa.

Africa: Freedom Declined in 2008, Says Rights Group

Washington, DC — Freedom House, the washington-based independent non-governmental watchdog, has described 2008 as a year of “regression” for sub-Saharan Africa in its annual report on political rights and civil liberties.Twelve countries – almost one-quarter of the countries on the continent – experienced a decline in 2008, said the report, Freedom of the World.Only four – Zambia, Comoros, Angola and Cote d’Ivoire – made positive gains. Freedom House singled out the gains in political rights in Angola and Cote d’Ivoire, two post-conflict countries, for praise.

West Africa: The Return of the Military Coup

Cape Town — The African Union (AU) has condemned the return of coups d’état to the continent, describing the phenomenon as “a very serious setback in the ongoing democratization process in Africa.”Government ministers attending a meeting of the AU’s Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa this week issued three separate communiqués dealing with attempted or actual military takeovers during 2008.

Malaria Vaccine Could Be Licenced in 2011

The most clinically advanced malaria vaccine that is capable of reducing the incidence of malaria by more than 50 per cent in African infants and young children, may be licenced for use by 2011 if results of the final efficacy study commence early next year are anything to go by.Known as RTS,S/AS01, the new malaria vaccine candidate, studies show, can be safely incorporated into existing national immunisation programmes, without interference with commonly used childhood vaccines such as polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenza type b.

Malaria vaccine for Africa

A malaria vaccine trial on children in Africa starts next month researchers have said. The medical trial will take place on about 16,000 children and has come about as the researchers try to create the world’s first malaria vaccine. Malaria kills more than one million children yearly in Africa.The vaccine trials are expected to take place in such countries as Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania.Malaria is one of the diseases which is killing more people especially children in Africa and is caused by parasites and spread by mosquitoes.The British drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC is teaming with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, which is an anti-malaria charity funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, clinics and research centres in Africa to develop a malaria vaccine, according to the NewsDay report.

64 African immigrants arrested in Cameroon

Sixty-four immigrants allegedly on transit to several African countries have been intercepted and detained by immigration officials in the town of Kumba in Cameroon. The immigrants include forty-three Malians, fifteen Guineans, four Benin nationals, two Togolese and two from Burkina Faso.Sources say the immigrants were targeting a number of African countries in search of greener pastures and chose Cameroon as their route. Some were allegedly bound for Namibia, Congo, Angola, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.The immigrants arrived at the Cameroon border town of Mamfe, they hired a car to Kumba where they were to take another car for Douala and undertake another journey to their respective destinations. Unfortunately for them, they were arrested in Kumba. Most of the immigrants, whose ages range from 20 to 45 years, are reported to have their passports and visas for their respective destinations.

Shortlist for Africa’s best player out

The Confederation of Africa Football has unveiled the shortlists for the Glo-CAF Awards 2008. CAF Director of Communications, Sulemana Habuba also announced innovations in the event with the aim of making it prestigious. The Media and Technical Committees nominated the shortlists for the two awards.The innovation Habuba said had led to the creation of the Glo-CAF Best Player on the Continent and the Glo-CAF Best Player across the World, according to cafonline.

Museveni: Africa can solve food crisis

Africa has sufficient agricultural potential to become a food basket for the whole world, President Museveni of Uganda said. He said the continent could solve the current food crisis if the relevant production interventions are undertaken during the launch of the P4P at the United Nations.Purchase 4 Progress (P4P) is an initiative of the World Food Programme (WFP) which aims at transforming the way WFP purchases food in developing countries by giving priority to small scale farmers to sell their surplus produce to WFP at competitive prices while giving the food to those who have little or no food at all.According to a press release from the state house in Uganda, the programme which will initially target 21 countries, Uganda inclusive, aims at helping farmers to earn reasonable income and predictable market for their produce. It will initially target 350,000 households over a period of 5 years.The WFP is supported by the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffet Foundation.President Museveni launched the programme jointly with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Rwandese President Paul Kagame and the WFP Executive Director Mrs. Josette Sheeran.President Museveni said that 67% of the farmers in Sub-Sahara Africa have been practicing subsistence agriculture and not fully utilizing the region’s agricultural potential. He said that with the current food shortage in the world, it was time for African farmers to engage in commercialized agriculture and produce food beyond their subsistence needs. He, however, noted that interventions in terms of irrigation, the use of fertilizers and other forms of modern agricultural practices need to be emphasized to enable the region produce optimally.Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete welcomed the programme saying that it would help unlock the potential of farmers in rural Africa since they will be assured of the market for their produce. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda lauded WFP for its support to his country. He said that the organization has responded to the feeding needs of over 54,000 people in Rwanda. He also hailed their support through the School Feeding Programme and welcomed the Purchase 4 Progress Programme saying it was an appropriate intervention.Ms. Josette Sheeran, the Executive Director of WFP, said that in addition to purchasing their produce, WFP would facilitate farmers with modern farm inputs, equip them with modern agricultural skills to boost the quality and quantity of their output.Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Howard Buffet said they were committed to helping farmers in the developing world to better their incomes because they constitute a large part of the poorest of the poor in the world. They said that they committed their organizations to supporting Purchase 4 Progress Programme because its objectives are in line with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.