Good People, Rubber bullets supplied to Kisumu, Nairobi and Mombasa???? To do what after peoples peaceful electioneering? Actually if this is true, it is provoking peaceful people too far, giving way to selfish and greediness to steal away the democratic values and virtures of the Reform Accord we all lookforward to which is expected to bring unity and peace to all Kenyans. Let there be peace and allow unity of purpose for common good of all, loaded with the Truth to shine in Kenya.........anything counter to Peace is unacceptable and anything meant to provoke peaceful Kenyans pushing the people to vulnarability must be condemed by all people of the world. Copy to President Obama: The United States of America is formed by immigrants Nationalities from Nations of the world Africa included. Obama although a President of America must not ignore Kenya or Africa. His father being an African, he has an obligation to Kenya and Africa. He cannot sit and see Kenya and Africa goind in shambles in total collapse failing to realize true Democracy in the Reform Accord change all people of Kenya hoped and looked forward to. People did what they ought to have done, but what is in surprise is out of their control, will be too big for them to confront, the people need Presient Obama's intervention. Problems in Kenya and Africa is naturally a problem affecting America's Economic stability risking its position as the most powerful super power Nation in the world. I love President Obama very much, and people like to step on his toes because he is a very peaceful person in nature, but I have to confront him with this, that keeping quite is not the solution. Get up and begin to engage in matters of Africa now and right now because he cannot afford to loose Africa and continue to fear bad mouth of those selfish and greedy Corporate Special Interest who do not value human rights value or virtue but will will continue to talk negative about him anyway anyhow. President Obama as top President of super power countries must wake up to face reality of Chinese invasion to Africa and commit to do something to save Africa and America. If Africa is crashed, America stand a risk to loose its super power to China even more. As things stand, Kenya with the rest of Africa is not peaceful and Africa in totallity is headed to Crash. People, Let us all mutually care and be fair to each other sharing in the Gifts of God from worlds Naturual resources without killing and destroying livelihood and survival of the most vulnerable weak and poor Africans who became victims from faults not of their own. For how long will Africa struggle for freedom and from being sent to slaughter houses?
Commision questions transfer of 200 police officersSHARE THIS STORYUpdated 3 mins ago By Cyrus Ombati Close to 200 police officers, most of them in the traffic department have been moved in changes made by the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo. Most of those moved have been posted to various weighbridges across the country to replace others who had been removed. This followed a request by the Kenya National Highways Authority Weighbridge Management, which complained of corruption and malpractice among the officers stationed there. The affected weighbridges are Mariakani, Athi River, Gilgil, Webuye and Busia. But the National Police Service Commission and some of the affected officers have opposed the changes terming them illegal. The officers have moved to court to challenge the changes while the commission has summoned a meeting to discuss the directives. Kimaiyo has moved 191 officers to various stations and posted 122 of them to the weighbridges. The officers include 31 who are above the rank of the Sergeant. He made the changes without involving the commission in accordance with the law. And after some of the affected juniors opposed the changes and moved to court, the police boss wrote to the commission on March 11 seeking for its approval. Documents obtained from the office of the Inspector General show the commission wrote back to him seeking that they hold a meeting to discuss the matter. The commission wrote to Kimaiyo seeking to know the criteria he used to select the officers for deployment to the weighbridge clusters. "The assignment of officers to this specific sector would need to take into account gender parity, regional and ethnic balance. A close scrutiny of the list does not reveal observance if this cardinal consideration," reads part of a letter to Kimaiyo from the commission. The letter noted that Kenha made its request on January 16 before Kimaiyo took action without the involvement of the commission. "It is therefore not clear why an approval from the commission would be required for action already taken. It is useful to bring to your attention that the commission of which you are a member, needs to deliberate on this matter and take a well-informed decision." The law requires that for the IGP to make transfers, he has to get a gohead in writing from the commission for offices of the rank of Sergeant and above. Kenha had explained that the management of the Weighbridges had been contracted to SGS Kenya Limited through five clusters. "In the past, there has been a lot of corruption allegations involving both Kenha staff and police. In the new management through SGS Kenya Limited, we have taken a complete break with the past ensuring no Kenha staff is involved directly in the operations," said M. Kidenda of Kenha. He suggested that officers attached to the Axle Load Enforcement Unit report to Kimaiyo operationally and to Kenha on administrative matters. Traffic and on particular the Axle Load Enforcement Unit is taken to be among the most lucrative area in the police. The issue of the transfers is the latest pitting the commission and IG. Some members of the commission have accused Kimaiyo of defying their orders, which he denies. The power brokers behind Uhuru-RutoSHARE THIS STORYUpdated 4 hrs 12 mins ago By Mwenda Njoka KENYA: While President Kibaki goes through the final stages of handing over instruments of power to his successor and the outgoing president's kitchen cabinet is busy packing to leave town, a new crop of powerbrokers has coalesced around President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President-elect William Ruto. And as happens in any new administration, the powerful players behind the scenes are often men and women essentially unknown to the larger public. These are political players who have, over the years, worked closely with the principals earning their trust, confidence and in the process gaining unlimited access to the centre of power. Power, they say, does not flow along the lines of an organisation's organograms; power is fluid and often asymmetrical. Access is power, those who have unlimited access to leaders often tend to have more power and influence on decision-making processes than elected leaders holding seemingly powerful positions. As political historian Hedrick Smith writes in his book, The Power Game – How Washington Works' access to a president means involvement in major decisions and actions of the State. Smith writes the most vital ingredients of power are often intangible. Information is power. Visibility around the president or his deputy is power and so is access to the inner sanctums of government. In this special report, The Standard On Sunday gives you a guide on the people who will wield enormous influence in the Uhuru-Ruto administration should the Supreme Court rule the petition in favour of the Jubilee Coalition team. So, move over old order, the new kids are in the block. Muhoho Kenyatta: Besides being younger brother to President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta, Muhoho and Uhuru enjoy a close friendship. Muhoho is media-shy and studiously avoids the limelight. He is more comfortable in corporate boardrooms where he holds directorship in many blue chip companies. Nevertheless, those close to Uhuru say that the President-elect frequently consults Muhoho before making major decisions. By virtue of being brother to President-elect's mother, naturally Muhoho will have unlimited access to Uhuru, and thus be in a vantage position to wield massive influence in Uhuru-Ruto administration. Having shown absolutely no interest in a political position, Muhoho will be in a good place to be an independent and reliable voice to Uhuru without any perception of appearing like a future competitor. There are members of the Uhuru family who are also likely to wield significant influence should Uhuru-Ruto team prevail in the petition against their election. These include cousin Beth Mugo, uncle George Muhoho, and mother Mama Ngina Kenyatta among a couple of others. David W G Murathe: He is a former MP for Gatanga, who has worked closely with Uhuru since the president-elect's entry into politics in mid-1990s. Over the years, Murathe's relationship with Uhuru has grown from that of two political allies to a firm friendship. Alfred Getonga: He is a former Personal Assistant to President Kibaki and also a former schoolmate of Uhuru both at St Marys School and Amherst College, USA. His experience in operations of the State having worked in the inner sanctums of State House in the early years of Kibaki presidency will come in handy in an Uhuru-Ruto administration. He played a significant role during the Uhuru-Ruto campaigns often serving as liaison between the campaign and the outside world. Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi: Or JB, as he is popularly known, is a lawyer, a former magistrate, and a former Member of Parliament for Siakago. During his years in Parliament, Muturi established good rapport with Uhuru and ever since they have been close allies. After losing his parliamentary in 2002, Muturi retreated from active politics but remained in the limelight by virtue of being chairman of Centre for Multiparty Democracy, a pro-democracy NGO. Jimi Wanjigi: This suave son of former Cabinet minister Maina Wanjigi is one of the best-networked businessmen in town today. He is a former schoolmate of Uhuru's at St Marys School. Jimi is media-shy and prefers operating from behind the scenes. He was a staunch supporter of Prof George Saitoti and would have done everything in his power to help propel Saitoti to the presidency had fate not come in between. When Saitoti died last year, Jimi was left without a presidential candidate to support. He briefly toyed with the idea of backing Raila Odinga, but for some reason, this did not go far. Although not an original supporter of Uhuru Kenyatta, Jimi started working closely with William Ruto and soon enough he, Jimi, was a most integral part of Uhuru-Ruto presidential bid. Jimi is credited with having single-handedly crafted the deal that saw Ruto opt to support Uhuru instead of going back to Raila camp, as had appeared at some point months before the March 4 elections. The very act of delivering Ruto to Uhuru was worth its weight in gold, in political terms. Having Ruto stick with Uhuru rather than go back to Raila was the game-changer in the last elections. Being the man responsible for this, Jimi will definitely have a lot of clout and influence in a Uhuru-Ruto administration. Charles Cheruiyot Keter: He is a former MP for Belgut who won the Kericho senatorial seat in the just-ended General Election. He is one of the closest allies to Deputy President-elect William Ruto who consults him on almost all political issues. Keter not only enjoys Ruto's undivided confidence, but he also happens to be closely allied to another most significant player around Ruto, city businessman Jimi Wanjigi. Keter is destined to be one of the most influential players in a Uhuru-Ruto administration. Indeed, there has been talk that Keter, who is also a former assistant minister for Energy, may at some point resign his senatorial position for appointment to the cabinet as Energy Secretary. Jomo Gecaga: He is Uhuru's nephew and has also been his long-serving personal assistant. Jomo is son to Uhuru's sister Jeni and Udi Gecaga. By virtue of being family member and a PA, Jomo will enjoy more proximity to the centre of power than possibly most other people in a Uhuru-Ruto administration. Being at the centre provides one with the ability to be in the loop on major decisions and also influence decisions one way or the other. Njee Muturi: He is a lawyer and one of the people who have stuck by Uhuru's side for the longest time through thick and thin. He is a strong defender of Uhuru and is also fiercely loyal to the president-elect. He has been mentioned as a likely Comptroller of State House in a, Uhuru administration. Such an appointment and his personal rapport with Uhuru would make Njee Muturi another very vital player in State House controlling access to the inner sanctums of power. Bare Duale: He is a former MP for Dujis who got re-elected to the National Assembly in the just-ended General Election. He has been at Ruto's side in recent years always ready to defend Ruto whenever the deputy-president elect was under political attack. It was perhaps because of the relationship they've built over the years that Ruto had Duale take a key post his party, URP. Davis Chirchir: He is a former commissioner of the defunct Interim Independent Electoral Commission, and also secretary general of Ruto's party, URP. From this vantage position, Chirchir has been established himself as a key player around Ruto. During the campaigns, Ruto relied on Chirchir a great deal on logistical issues. In a Uhuru-Ruto administration, Chirchir is likely to continue being a man of influence around the centre of power. Onesmus Kipchumba Murkomen: He is the newly elected senator who beat Nicholas Biwott in the game. Although a political newcomer, Murkomen, a former law lecturer at Moi University, has within a short time got close to Ruto and is today one of the people deputy president-elect turns to when he wants legal advice on political matters. How The West Went Wrong on Kenyan Elections - Guardian NewspaperThursday, March 14, 2013  A three paragraph article in Reuters offered the choice terms "tribal blood-letting" to reference the 2007 post-electoral violence, and "loyalists from rival tribes" to talk about the hard-earned right to cast a vote. Virtually all the longer pieces from Reuters on the elections used the concept of tribal blood-letting. CNN also ran a story in February of this year that showed five or so men somewhere in a Kenyan jungle playing war games with homemade guns, a handful of bullets and rusty machetes – war paint and all. But very few people watching that video of the five men playing warriors, practicing in slow motion how to shoot without firing their weapons and slitting throats with the unwieldy machetes took it seriously. Rather, it was slap your knee funny. Last week Elkim Namlo, in the Kenyan paper The Daily Nation, wrote a piece satirising that kind of reportage. The first sentence in the aptly titled, "Foreign reporters armed and ready to attack Kenya," reads in part that the country is "braced at the crossroads…amidst growing concern that the demand for clichés is outstripping supply" and that "Analysts and observers [have] joined diplomats in dismissing fears that coverage of the forthcoming poll will be threatened by a shortage of clichés." That particular CNN footage certainly supplied the high demand of clichés and stereotypes. This is not to say that the threat of violence is not real. On election day, a separatist organisation raided a police station in Mombassa, resulting in 15 deaths. The president-elect and his running mate will be appearing before the ICC to answer charges of crimes against humanity relating to the post-election violence of 2008. And with the runner-up, Raila Odinga, going to the courts (as opposed to the streets) to dispute the electoral results, we are not out of the woods yet. So there is a place for the kind of journalism that is in touch with the hopes and fears embedded in Kenya's democracy. For western journalism to be taken seriously by Africans and westerners alike, it needs Africans to vouch for stories rather than satirising them. I am not saying that journalism needs the subject to agree with the content, but the search for journalistic truth takes place within a broad societal consensus. That is, while one may disagree with particular reportage and the facts, the spirit of the essay should not be in question. But Africans are saying that the journalists are not representing the complex truth of the continent; that western journalists are not only misrepresenting the truth, but are in spirit working against the continent. The good news is there have been enough people questioning the coverage of Africa over the years that western journalists have had no choice but to do some soul searching. The bad news is that the answers are variations of the problem. Michela Wrong, in a New York Times piece shortly before the Kenyan elections, debated the use of the word "tribe". She acknowledged that the word tribe "carries too many colonial echoes. It conjures up MGM visions of masked dances and pagan rites. 'Tribal violence' and 'tribal voting' suggest something illogical and instinctive, motivated by impulses westerners distanced themselves from long ago." But she concluded the piece by reserving her right to use the term. She stated that "When it comes to the T-word, Kenyan politics are neither atavistic nor illogical. But yes, they are tribal." The term tribe should have died in the 2007 elections when Africanist scholars took NYT's Jeffrey Gettleman's usage of the term to task. To his credit, Gettleman stopped using it. If you have Wrong insisting on using a discredited analytical framework, you have others who position themselves as missionaries and explorers out to save the image of Africa. But their egos end up outsizing the story. Martin Robbins last year introduced his five-part essay on Kenya/Africa with the promise to tell misrepresented or rarely revealed truths about Africa. He was, he announced, "exploring the ways we were manipulated and misled by a procession of public officials, NGOs, activists and spokespeople; examining the reasons why a disturbingly high proportion of what we hear about Africa is just plain wrong." His mission was however foiled by an ego that pushed out the search for the promised truths to create room for himself at the center of the story. In "Grandma Obama's support for domestic violence", the second of his five pieces, he writes, "President Obama's angry granny stared impassively into the distance, as her rabbits relentlessly fucked each other around us. One ventured near her ankle, as if wondering whether to hump it." Why destroy the subject of your reportage? Why impose the anti-establishment "I can use fuck whenever I want"-young-writer-cigarette-drooping-from-lower-lip-angst over an old woman whose views most activist Kenyans disagree with? The wildlife has been replaced by the horny rabbits circling Grandma Obama's feet – a joke that succeeds only in turning Obama's grandmother into a subject of scorn for holding views held by millions of men and women worldwide. Rather than read about the fucking rabbits, I would rather read about why she holds the opinions she does and what those in support or opposed to her views are doing. I want to see her opinions in relation to the larger society. In other words, I would rather read something useful rather than something that establishes its authority by destroying the subject of the reportage. There is no difference between the well-intentioned Martin Robbins imposing his ego over his African subject and the terrible reporter who yells Africa is a hopeless, violent, tribal, and bloody continent The irony though, or perhaps the point, is that when Robbins is writing on issues outside of Africa his Livingstone alter ego is in check. For example, read his essay on "The new, old war on abortion" – yes, it's an opinion piece, but his ego does not choke the hell out of the subject. You have still others who see the question of how the western media reports Africa as fundamental and in need of intellectual discussion. Jina Moore's essay in the Boston Review, The White Correspondent's Burden: We Need to Tell the Africa Story Differently, is vastly different from Robbins's essay in content, style and goal. Whereas Robbins's Kenyan write-ups are ultimately about his heroic ego, armed with irony and sarcasm, Moore's essay is seriously, and I think honestly, trying to understand why white journalists make the choices they make. Her essay can be divided into three parts. The first part describes the problem – the Africa is one, Africa is violent, hopeless reportage. The second part, where her essay really begins, tackles the historical and philosophical reasons for what is essentially a racist trope that will simply not go away. First she says, it is not widely accepted that the west is responsible for the most of the suffering, "centuries of slave trade, followed by a near-century of colonialism and its attendant physical and structural violence, from the rubber fields of the Belgian Congo to the internment camps of British Kenya." In spite of the obvious direct correlation between slavery or colonialism and destitution, the idea of a good moral agent emerged. But more than that, she argues, this moral imperative became more about the giver than the recipient. So now it is not about helping Africa per say, it is about having a moral and ethical western civilisation; we are civilised because we help those that we abuse. Call it a fast track to getting to heaven or remaining relevant in Hollywood. When this moralisation is transposed into reporting, Africans becomes the "subject of compassion" and not "the subject of a story". There is not much to disagree with there. All this provides a reminder to journalists that history matters and that they should also look beyond the effects of poverty and violence and talk about the causes – African leaders, corporations that mine wealth without giving back, arms companies etc. In other words, let's look at all the actors instead of seeing Africa outside present-day global economic political processes. The third part of Moore's essay mainly deals with the choices that the reporters make, why they think they have to make them, and the consequences. She talks about Howard French, formerly with the New York Times, who writes about tragic stories because he would otherwise feel guilty if he told a happy story and leave the atrocities unexposed. This is a sentiment with which human rights activists in the Congo, Kenya and elsewhere would agree. It is the lesson that Moore takes from this that I disagree with. She argues that "We can write about suffering and we can write about the many other things there are to say about Congo. With a little faith in our readers, we can even write about both things – extraordinary violence and ordinary life – in the same story." On the face of it, it does read like a sound choice, to show the tragedies and at the same time show day-to-day living. That is, until you think about how western reporters write about extraordinary violence in their very own backyards. In the west, tragedy after tragedy, the journalist does not forget the agency of the victims, and their humanity. The 2010 London riots, or rebellion, depending on your take: In equal measure the rioters and the fed-up shop owners who started cleaning up after the rebellion; the heroic street sweepers. The August 2012 Sikh temple massacre: yes, the violence but also how a rainbow community came together to stand against extremism. The 2012 Colorado movie shootings: the brave boyfriends who shielded their girlfriends and died protecting them. The 2011 Tucson shooting: Gabrielle Giffords and her recovery. September 11: yes, the terrorists, but also the firemen who died saving others. School shootings in the US: the brave teachers and students who at the risk of life and limb rose in defense of others. The War on Terror: the individual soldiers losing souls, limbs and life in a war that is bigger than them. And Hurricane Katrina: yes, the black people looking for food were portrayed as looters and the whites as survival experts, but most stories also contained something about how the people were trying to keep a sense of community and rebuild their lives. But when it comes to writing about Africa, journalists suddenly have to make a choice between the extraordinary violence and ordinary life. It should not be a question of either the extreme violence or quiet happy times, but rather a question of telling the whole story within an event, even when tragedy is folded within tragedy. There are activist organisations in the Congo standing against rampant war and against rape as a weapon. The tide of the post-electoral violence in Kenya in 2007 turned because there were ordinary people in the slums and villages organising against it – that is, people who stood on the right side of history as opposed to ethnicity – in the same way Americans across the racial spectrum stood last year with the American Sikh community. In any situation, there are those who perpetrate and those who, defenseless and weak, still stand up at great cost for what is right or just. It is the nature of humanity – that is why we are still here, as a species. We struggle often against forces stronger than ourselves. Sometimes we triumph and just as often we fail. The question for western journalists is this – when it comes to Africa, why do you not tell the whole story of the humanity at work even in times of extreme violence? Mukoma Wa Ngugi is an assistant professor of English at Cornell University, the author of Nairobi Heat (Melville, 2011) and the forthcoming Black Star Nairobi (Melville, 2013) C.African Republic capital falls to rebels, Bozize fleesSunday, March 24th 2013 By Paul-Marin Ngoupana | Reuters – 28 mins ago
By Paul-Marin Ngoupana BANGUI (Reuters) - Rebels in Central African Republic seized control of the country's riverside capital Bangui on Sunday, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, government officials said. At least six South African soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebels, a Reuters witness said. A United Nations source said the force, in the country to train the army along with hundreds of regional peacekeepers, was preparing to leave. The Seleka rebel coalition resumed hostilities this week in the mineral-rich former French colony, vowing to oust Bozize, whom it accused of breaking a January peace agreement to integrate its fighters into the army. The landlocked country, racked by rural rebellions for more than a decade, has extensive and unprotected borders and the rebel advance added to instability in the heart of Africa. As the loose coalition of rebels - some of them former rivals - tightened their grip on Bangui, it was unclear who would replace Bozize or whether the power-sharing government of Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye would remain in place. "The rebels control the town," said presidency spokesman Gaston Mackouzangba. "I hope there will not be any reprisals." Government spokesman Crepin Mboli-Goumba said the Seleka rebels controlled all the strategic locations in the city. A presidential advisor, who asked not to be named, said Bozize had crossed the Oubangi river into Congo on Sunday morning as rebel forces headed for the presidential palace. Bozize had seized power in a 2003 military coup. A United Nations official in Congo said Kinshasa's government asked the U.N. refugee agency to help move 25 members of Bozize's family out of the border town of Zongo on Sunday. Congo's Information Minister Lambert Mende told Reuters President Bozize was not among the family members who arrived in Zongo and said his arrival in the country had not been announced to Congolese authorities. "The palace has just fallen. We have the palace," Eric Massi, a Seleka spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from Paris. SOUTH AFRICANS ATTACKED The rebels fought their way to the northern suburbs of the riverside capital late on Saturday before an overnight lull in the fighting. But residents said heavy weapons fire erupted across Bangui around 8 AM (0700 GMT). Massi said the rebels had broken through a line of South African soldiers during their push into the city. Around 400 South African troops are currently in the country. "I saw the bodies of six South African soldiers. They had all been shot. Their vehicles were also destroyed. Other South African soldiers came to recover the bodies," a Reuters witness said. Regional peacekeeping sources said the South Africans had fought alongside the Central African Republic's army on Saturday. "I cannot confirm that we were fighting alongside (the CAR army) but we fell under attack and we defended ourselves and we repulsed the attackers," South African army spokesman Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga told private South African news channel eENCA. Reached by Reuters, he said he could give no further details of the incident, saying it was an "operational matter." A source with the United Nations in Bangui said South African troops were preparing to leave the country. "They took substantial losses and have asked for French support to load their troops and take off," said the source, adding she had heard anywhere between two and 12 South African soldiers had been killed. France, which already has some 250 soldiers stationed in the Central African Republic, sent in another company of 150 troops to secure Bangui's international airport, a diplomatic source said on Saturday. Seleka, a loose umbrella group of insurgents, fought its way to the gates of the capital late last year after accusing Bozize of failing to honour an earlier peace deal to give its fighters cash and jobs in exchange for laying down their arms. The Seleka rebels received several key ministerial portfolios under a power-sharing agreement specified by January's peace deal, and one of their leaders was named deputy prime minister in charge of national defence. However, rebels and opposition figures accused Bozize at the time of tampering with the agreed deal to secure important ministerial posts for his loyalists. The violence is the latest in a series of rebel incursions, clashes and coups that have plagued the nation since its independence from France in 1960. Congo says foils plot to assassinate presidentReuters – Fri, Mar 22, 2013
KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's government said on Friday it had thwarted a plot involving a Belgian member of parliament that aimed to assassinate President Joseph Kabila and overthrow his government. Two suspects - a Belgian doctor of Congolese origin named Jean-Pierre Kanku Mukendi and Isidore Madimba Mongombe, a former policeman - were arrested last month in the capital Kinshasa, Interior Minister Richard Muyej told journalists. Muyej said the two men, who were in possession of a small quantity of weapons at the time of their arrest, confessed to the plot. "(Mukendi) admitted that this plan to attack the city of Kinshasa and physically eliminate the head of state was adopted at a large meeting presided by himself on January 20 in Kinshasa," he said. Muyej claimed Mukendi had, while living in Belgium, founded a group called "Mouvement Debout Congolais", or the Arise Congolese Movement, with the assistance of a member of Belgium's Chamber of Representatives. "With the help of the Belgian member of parliament Laurent Louis, he increased his meetings with Congolese compatriots ... in the aim of preparing and finalizing their project to overthrow (Congo's) institutions," he said. Louis, an independent MP, told Reuters that while he opposed Kabila's rule, he was not involved in any plot to overthrow the Congolese government by force. "I am opposed to violence ... What's more, these meetings were totally public. There weren't any secret meetings to plot this or that," he said by telephone. Joseph Kabila became president of the vast mineral-rich but chronically unstable Congo in 2001 following the assassination of his father, President Laurent Kabila. While he won the country's first democratic poll in nearly five decades in 2006 in a vote endorsed by observers as free and fair, Kabila's reelection five years later was tarnished by widespread irregularities. Twenty men suspected of belonging to another insurgent group were arrested in South Africa last month and charged with plotting to overthrow Kabila after they traveled to the country to seek military training and buy arms. (This story corrects month of arrest in second paragraph) Democratic Republic of Congo profile26 February 2013 Last updated at 07:26 ET Share this page A vast country with immense economic resources, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has been at the centre of what could be termed Africa's world war. This has left it in the grip of a humanitarian crisis. The five-year conflict pitted government forces, supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda. Despite a peace deal and the formation of a transitional government in 2003, people in the east of the country remain in terror of marauding militias and the army. The war claimed an estimated three million lives, either as a direct result of fighting or because of disease and malnutrition. It has been called possibly the worst emergency to unfold in Africa in recent decades. The war had an economic as well as a political side. Fighting was fuelled by the country's vast mineral wealth, with all sides taking advantage of the anarchy to plunder natural resources. Continue reading the main story At a glance
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring The history of DR Congo has been one of civil war and corruption. After independence in 1960, the country immediately faced an army mutiny and an attempt at secession by its mineral-rich province of Katanga. A year later, its prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, was seized and killed by troops loyal to army chief Joseph Mobutu. In 1965 Mobutu seized power, later renaming the country Zaire and himself Mobutu Sese Seko. He turned Zaire into a springboard for operations against Soviet-backed Angola and thereby ensured US backing. But he also made Zaire synonymous with corruption. After the Cold War, Zaire ceased to be of interest to the US. Thus, when in 1997 neighbouring Rwanda invaded it to flush out extremist Hutu militias, it gave a boost to the anti-Mobutu rebels, who quickly captured the capital, Kinshasa, installed Laurent Kabila as president and renamed the country DR Congo. Nonetheless, DR Congo's troubles continued. A rift between Mr Kabila and his former allies sparked a new rebellion, backed by Rwanda and Uganda. Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe took Kabila's side, turning the country into a vast battleground. Continue reading the main story DR Congo's conflicts
Coup attempts and sporadic violence heralded renewed fighting in the eastern part of the country in 2008. Rwandan Hutu militias clashed with government forces in April, displacing thousands of civilians. Another militia under rebel General Laurent Nkunda had signed a peace deal with the government in January, but clashes broke out again in August. Gen Nkunda's forces advanced on government bases and the provincial capital Goma in the autumn, causing civilians and troops to flee while UN peacekeepers tried to hold the line alongside the remaining government forces. In an attempt to bring the situation under control, the government in January 2009 invited in troops from Rwanda to help mount a joint operation against the Rwandan rebel Hutu militias active in eastern DR Congo. Rwanda arrested the Hutu militias' main rival, Gen Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi hitherto seen as its main ally in the area. In early 2013 the UN secured a regional agreement to end the M23 rebellion in eastern areas. Rwanda and Uganda denied UN accusations that they had supported the M23 group, but the region remains volatile. Darfur refugees refuse to attend conference amid security fearsMarch 22, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese refugees in Chad have refused to participate in a conference in Darfur next week intended to address concerns of displaced persons and refugees, including voluntary return, saying the security situation on the ground is still too dangerous. The event is scheduled to take place in South Darfur state's capital Nyala from 25-26 March, with outcomes to be discussed at the upcoming Darfur donors' conference in Doha to drum up support for development projects in the region. UNAMID and the Voluntary Return and Resettlement Commission of the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA) expect that over 1,000 participants will attend the summit, including displaced persons and refugees, civil society groups, government officials, NGOs, UN agencies and the diplomatic community. However, Sudanese refugees in the eastern Chad camps of Treguine, Bredjing and Kounongou told Radio Dabanga that ongoing conflict in Darfur, lack of security and suppression of freedoms prevent their return to their homelands. Head of the Bredjing camp, Jamal Daoud, questioned how refugees could be invited to attend a conference on voluntary return at a time when pro-government militias continue to terrorise, murder and rape civilians with apparent impunity and with the full knowledge of the DRA. Indeed the conference was rejected outright by the chiefs at all three camps, who said refugees would return if the DRA addressed problems in the region, without the need for a conference. TIMING QUESTIONED Leaders for refugee and displaced persons inside Darfur have also expressed doubts about the conference, questioning its timing given the realities of the situation on the ground. The coordinator of the Zalingei camps in Central Darfur said displaced persons there have declined an invitation to attend the Nyala conference. He fears the summit may give the green light for further violence, murders and displacement in Darfur and called upon authorities and UNAMID to seize arms, stop violations and promote justice. Despite initially refusing to attend the event, North Darfur camp coordinator Ahmed Ateem told Radio Dabanga he'd since head a change of heart, saying the absence of displaced persons would not serve "any purpose". Ateen, who plans to attend with several camp residents, said if displaced persons stayed away from the conference than their voice and concerns would remain unheard. The administrator had earlier criticised the holding of the conference, saying its agenda was largely being driven by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), which he says is seeking to dismantle refugee and displacement camps. Meanwhile, representatives for refugees and the displaced in South and West Darfur states have also confirmed their attendance at the summit to Radio Dabanga. Omda Salahuddin Abdullah Hassan, head of the coordination office of displaced persons in South Darfur, said the conference was an opportunity for the displaced to unify their demands, as well as reflect upon their issues during the 10-year conflict. Sheikh Daoud Arbab Yunis, head of the Higher Committee for Displaced of West Darfur, has also underlined the need for all participants to be able to freely express their opinions in the summit, saying he had been "interrogated" by security services following a similar conference in El Fasher last year after speaking "frankly" about problems faced by the displaced. Despite attending the talks, the sheikh expressed pessimism about the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), describing the agreement as "ink on a paper" that "does not exist on the ground". He said his organisation would be representing the demands of displaced people at the conference, which included calls for increased security, disarmament of militias, the expulsion of settlers and the enforcement of the rule of law. VIOLENCE, INSECURITY ON THE RISE The conference comes amid renewed bloodshed in the troubled western region, sparking a new wave of displacement – the worst since violence peaked in 2003, after marginalised non-Arab rebel groups took up arms against the Sudanese government. With killings, looting, blackmail, tribal violence and kidnappings remaining a constant of daily life, representatives for refugees and the displaced said large-scale voluntary return was unrealistic. The spokesman for the association of displaced persons and refugees of Darfur, Hussein Abu Sharati , told Radio Dabanga he had intended to gather representatives from all the camps prior to the conference to discuss their demands. However, the meeting failed to take place after security and economic conditions prevented many displaced from travelling and taking part in the talks. Sharati admitted he would not take part in the summit, saying now is not the time for a conference. He stressed that solving the conflict should not happen through conferences, but by addressing the root cause of the problems in Darfur. First stop the crimes, then we [can] talk about voluntary return", he was quoted by Radio Dabanga. In an interview with the station announcing the conference, Azhari Shatta, voluntary return and resettlement commissioner of the DRA, defended the current timing, adding that tribal clashes and ongoing battles in Darfur should not influence the talks or the voluntary return of displaced to their home villages. "How long must we wait until guns stop and we begin the process of voluntary return, compensation and co-existence?" Shatta asked. "War and battles are not a justification for postponing the conference, even the contrary, we believe that the conference will reflect positively on the security situation in Darfur", he added. The DRA says there are currently more than 1.5 million displaced people in Darfur, with the majority of them in refugee camps. ST.... South accuses Sudan of failing to withdraw troops from borderMarch 22, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan on Friday accused the government of neighbouring Sudan of failing to pull its troops back from their contested border in line with an agreement to create a buffer zone to defuse tensions between the two nations.
The Safe Demilitarised Border Zone (SDBZ) was initially agreed in September 2012 but implementation stalled until a new deal and was signed in Addis Ababa on 12 March, which provides a clear timeline and framework. As part of the deal, South Sudan is also scheduled to resume exporting its oil through Sudan for the first time in over a year. South Sudan's defence minister, John Kong Nyuon, said his country had completed its withdrawal from all border areas in order to allow for the creation of the buffer zone. Nyuon was speaking to journalists shortly after briefing president Salva Kiir Mayardit about the outcomes and recommendations made in the recent Joint Political Security Mechanism (JPSM) meeting, which he attended in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The minister said that the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), which has been given the responsibility of monitoring the buffer zone as well as the Abyei area, has airlifted South Sudanese monitors to the South Kordofan capital Kadugli, which has been designated as the interim headquarters of the joint monitoring operation. "The SPLA (South Sudanese army) forces have so far completed withdrawal from the areas. We have withdrawn our forces from Northern Upper Nile. We have withdrawn our forces from Jau and all the areas, including 14 Mile area which was given special security arrangement in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. The same thing in Western Bahr el Ghazal state but the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), until on March 19, when we were in the meeting, did not move. They did not start withdrawing", Nyuon told journalists on Friday. The senior official was accompanied by the army's chief of general staff, James Hoth Mai, and the newly-appointed chief of Military Intelligence (MI), Major General Mac Paul, both of whom did not make any statement to the media. "I am told that Sudan Armed Forces have started preparations to withdrawn from Teshkuin in Unity state", he said, adding that troop withdrawal from the area had not yet commenced. In Khartoum, General Emad Al-Deen Addawim, who co-chairs the technical JPSM team, confirmed to Sudanese radio the full withdrawal of Mile 14, saying it showed South Sudan was serious about implementing the 8 and 12 March agreements. The two sides had a week to pull their troops out of the disputed border areas, while the SPLA was given two weeks to withdraw from the Mile 14 area. SPLA spokesperson Colonel Philip Aguer told Sudan Tribune that it was the responsibility of UNISFA to verify whether SAF had withdrawn. "On our side, we have completed the withdrawal within the timeframe. It was done in a transparent way. The media were all invited [and] they can prove full withdrawal on our side. The failure by Sudan is the responsibility of the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei which has a mandate to verify and ask for failure", said Aguer on Friday. Meanwhile, the senior military officer downplayed reports and complaints from local authorities, expressing fears that civilian populations along the border areas would be vulnerable to attacks by militia groups north of the border who are allied to the Sudanese army. "The civil populations along the border areas are not vulnerable. The SPLA force will always be there at [the] moment they feel that their lives are in danger. They will [be there] in the very second of feeling the danger. It is the mandate of the SPLA to protect civilians and their properties from foreign aggression", said Aguer. When a Nation Splits--Sudan's Story of Recession, Race, Oil and Resilient WomenStory toolsPhoto by Hana Baba of relatives managing to prepare a hearty lunch at her family home in Khartoum, despite limits imposed by Sudan's economic stress. SAN FRANCISCO--I visit Sudan about every two or three years. It's my ancestral home; my parents and extended family are there. My most recent visit last December, however—my first since South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011--was revealing. I could see, hear and feel the difference in the capital Khartoum--both socially and economically. Just driving down a main street like Nile Avenue, I noticed there are many less southern Sudanese than before walking the streets. Around Christmastime, in the past, they would be dressed in their best, filling the green parks on either side of the thoroughfare; girls in bright red and green dresses playing on swings and boys in ironed black trousers kicking balls around. This past Christmas, though, there were some, but not nearly as many as before. After the South Seceded After South Sudan's secession, southerners packed up and filled buses and trucks that transported them to the south. For many, it was a celebration of return to their homeland. For others, it was heartbreaking to leave the only city they'd known all their lives. The partition of Sudan into separate nations, a culmination of decades of southern struggle against the ruling north, coupled with the pressures of the global recession, further exposed the deep divisions between the more developed, largely Arabized, lighter skinned north, and the underdeveloped, Nilotic south. Thousands of southerners had lived in Khartoum's impoverished outskirts for decades. Some were born there; some had been there for generations. Reports from the move were heartbreaking--with accounts of tear-filled farewell parties for long-time workers, who were sacked and told to "go home". The Sudanese people are world-renowned for their hospitality, but many I talked to felt "hurt" by the south's decision to split by a nearly 99 percent vote. Some in Khartoum were truly perplexed, as if absolutely ignorant to the harsh realities of southerners: living as marginalized citizens of their own country. Other people in the north didn't seem to care either way. Yet others had the "good riddance" knee-jerk reaction of a hurt spouse in a nasty divorce. What everyone agrees on is that the racial diversity of Khartoum has diminished strikingly with the loss of South Sudan. But life went on. Then, last year, after a border dispute over the oil-rich town of Abyei, South Sudan reacted by shutting the oil operation down. It closed up the oil wells, effectively halting all oil production, which Sudan depended on as well. A Downward Economic Spiral An almost immediate result was inflation in the north, followed by an increasingly dire economic climate, which is continuing. As Sudan and South Sudan worked out an agreement by which the south frees its oil once more and pumps it through the north's pipelines, the economic downturn continued to pinch Sudanese pockets. During my previous visit home in 2009, the U.S. dollar traded for 22 Sudanese pounds. But by my return last December it had shot up to 70 pounds--good news for visitors from abroad like myself, bad news for the country and its economy. Even earlier, in 2006, Sudanese expats were sending their college-graduated children to Sudan because it was bustling with job opportunities in the new oil sector. Whole families who had left for better opportunities were returning to Sudan from such places as the United States, Canada, and England to fulfill their dreams of raising their children in the place they were raised. Only seven years ago, Sudan had jobs, and inflation was low. The World Bank reported the country's gross domestic product grew by 11 percent--a peak not seen there in decades. The country was on an upward trend and there was optimism. But, the global economic crisis of 2009 hit Sudan hard, and the 2011 split further sent Sudan in a downward economic spiral. By 2011, the GDP growth had dwindled to five percent—with inflation at a hefty 46.5 percent. You feel the inflation while shopping for groceries around Khartoum. Whether in the more posh supermarkets like Al Anfal--stocked with imports, from Corn Flakes to ketchup (which many people have cut out of their budgets), or earthier neighborhood shops that mostly sell locally grown vegetables, fruits and dairy products, meat or and baked goods. Everything is much more expensive. Some commodities have doubled or tripled in cost. Prices rose 83.8 percent for meat and 40.2 percent for vegetables. In 2009, a bag of sugar cost 2 Sudanese pounds; today it is 6 pounds. Sugar is one of the most important household needs: As my aunt says, "Our cup of sweet tea is our dessert." In a country that boasts Africa's largest sugar company, Kenana, [http://www.kenana.com/] many are bewildered about why sugar is so expensive. Tea and coffee drinking are a predominant part of Sudanese hospitality, and if there is one thing they won't abandon no matter how high prices get, it is that hospitality. Sudanese Hospitality Says, 'Allah Kareem' As for the economics of Sudanese hospitality in difficult times, if you visit any family at lunchtime, you would still be able to enjoy a home-cooked lunch of freshly made stew, vegetables and meat, however little. When you ask how people can afford it, one phrase pops up--"Allah Kareem"--meaning, "God is all-giving." It's truly a mystery how the Sudanese make ends meet and survive, even hosting guests who are often unannounced. But "Allah Kareem," they believe, is a big part of it: Being thankful and optimistic may also bring monetary blessings. It doesn't make mathematical sense, but you tend to stop arguing and leave it at that. Of course, the "non-divine" factors that play a role can be summed up in the incredible resourcefulness of Sudanese woman, who can whip up a tray of culinary delights from minimal ingredients. I once witnessed a pound of meat, an onion, some eggplants and potatoes magically turn into a feast of 5 dishes. Women are the CFOs of the household. If the country could balance its budget like a Sudanese woman, it would be in very different circumstances. They pool their money, form neighborhood co-ops, contribute to each other's special occasions, and, in terms of stretching a buck, as one told me, "I stretch that pound 'til it bleeds." Yet, no matter how resourceful they are, these women--like the majority of people I've met--seemed to be glued to the television and newspapers in hopes of hearing about an oil agreement between Sudan and South Sudan. Such an agreement would mean a return of lost oil-sector jobs, a stronger Sudanese pound, peace of mind—and cheaper sugar. On March 12, the wait was over as Sudan and South Sudan reached a deal whereby South Sudan will resume its oil production, and Sudan will allow use of its pipelines and port for export. The question now is- how soon this will translate into jobs, lower inflation, and a stronger Sudanese pound? Hana Baba is a Sudanese-American reporter and co-host of Crosscurrents, on KALW Public Radio 91.7FM in San Francisco.
On June 5, 1873, in a letter to The Times, Sir Francis Galton, the cousin of Charles Darwin and a distinguished African explorer in his own right, outlined a daring (if by today's standards utterly offensive) new method to 'tame' and colonise what was then known as the Dark Continent. 'My proposal is to make the encouragement of Chinese settlements of Africa a part of our national policy, in the belief that the Chinese immigrants would not only maintain their position, but that they would multiply and their descendants supplant the inferior Negro race,' wrote Galton. 'I should expect that the African seaboard, now sparsely occupied by lazy, palavering savages, might in a few years be tenanted by industrious, order-loving Chinese, living either as a semidetached dependency of China, or else in perfect freedom under their own law.' Enlarge  Close relations: Chinese President Hu Jintao accompanies Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Despite an outcry in Parliament and heated debate in the august salons of the Royal Geographic Society, Galton insisted that 'the history of the world tells the tale of the continual displacement of populations, each by a worthier successor, and humanity gains thereby'. A controversial figure, Galton was also the pioneer of eugenics, the theory that was used by Hitler to try to fulfil his mad dreams of a German Master Race. Eventually, Galton's grand resettlement plans fizzled out because there were much more exciting things going on in Africa. But that was more than 100 years ago, and with legendary explorers such as Livingstone, Speke and Burton still battling to find the source of the Nile - and new discoveries of exotic species of birds and animals featuring regularly on newspaper front pages - vast swathes of the continent had not even been 'discovered'. Yet Sir Francis Galton, it now appears, was ahead of his time. His vision is coming true - if not in the way he imagined. An astonishing invasion of Africa is now under way. In the greatest movement of people the world has ever seen, China is secretly working to turn the entire continent into a new colony. Reminiscent of the West's imperial push in the 18th and 19th centuries - but on a much more dramatic, determined scale - China's rulers believe Africa can become a 'satellite' state, solving its own problems of over-population and shortage of natural resources at a stroke. With little fanfare, a staggering 750,000 Chinese have settled in Africa over the past decade. More are on the way. The strategy has been carefully devised by officials in Beijing, where one expert has estimated that China will eventually need to send 300 million people to Africa to solve the problems of over-population and pollution. The plans appear on track. Across Africa, the red flag of China is flying. Lucrative deals are being struck to buy its commodities - oil, platinum, gold and minerals. New embassies and air routes are opening up. The continent's new Chinese elite can be seen everywhere, shopping at their own expensive boutiques, driving Mercedes and BMW limousines, sending their children to exclusive private schools. The pot-holed roads are cluttered with Chinese buses, taking people to markets filled with cheap Chinese goods. More than a thousand miles of new Chinese railroads are crisscrossing the continent, carrying billions of tons of illegally-logged timber, diamonds and gold.  New horizons? Mugabe has said: 'We must turn from the West and face the East' The trains are linked to ports dotted around the coast, waiting to carry the goods back to Beijing after unloading cargoes of cheap toys made in China. Confucius Institutes (state-funded Chinese 'cultural centres') have sprung up throughout Africa, as far afield as the tiny land-locked countries of Burundi and Rwanda, teaching baffled local people how to do business in Mandarin and Cantonese. Massive dams are being built, flooding nature reserves. The land is scarred with giant Chinese mines, with 'slave' labourers paid less than £1 a day to extract ore and minerals. Pristine forests are being destroyed, with China taking up to 70 per cent of all timber from Africa. All over this great continent, the Chinese presence is swelling into a flood. Angola has its own 'Chinatown', as do great African cities such as Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Exclusive, gated compounds, serving only Chinese food, and where no blacks are allowed, are being built all over the continent. 'African cloths' sold in markets on the continent are now almost always imported, bearing the legend: 'Made in China'. From Nigeria in the north, to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola in the west, across Chad and Sudan in the east, and south through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, China has seized a vice-like grip on a continent which officials have decided is crucial to the superpower's long-term survival. 'The Chinese are all over the place,' says Trevor Ncube, a prominent African businessman with publishing interests around the continent. 'If the British were our masters yesterday, the Chinese have taken their place.' Likened to one race deciding to adopt a new home on another planet, Beijing has launched its so-called 'One China In Africa' policy because of crippling pressure on its own natural resources in a country where the population has almost trebled from 500 million to 1.3 billion in 50 years. China is hungry - for land, food and energy. While accounting for a fifth of the world's population, its oil consumption has risen 35-fold in the past decade and Africa is now providing a third of it; imports of steel, copper and aluminium have also shot up, with Beijing devouring 80 per cent of world supplies. Enlarge  President Robert Mugabe leaving the eleventh ordinary session of the assembly of the African Union heads of State and government in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt Fuelling its own boom at home, China is also desperate for new markets to sell goods. And Africa, with non-existent health and safety rules to protect against shoddy and dangerous goods, is the perfect destination. The result of China's demand for raw materials and its sales of products to Africa is that turnover in trade between Africa and China has risen from £5million annually a decade ago to £6billion today. However, there is a lethal price to pay. There is a sinister aspect to this invasion. Chinese-made war planes roar through the African sky, bombing opponents. Chinese-made assault rifles and grenades are being used to fuel countless murderous civil wars, often over the materials the Chinese are desperate to buy. Take, for example, Zimbabwe. Recently, a giant container ship from China was due to deliver its cargo of three million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 3,000 rocket-propelled grenades and 1,500 mortars to President Robert Mugabe's regime. After an international outcry, the vessel, the An Yue Jiang, was forced to return to China, despite Beijing's insistence that the arms consignment was a 'normal commercial deal'. Indeed, the 77-ton arms shipment would have been small beer - a fraction of China's help to Mugabe. He already has high-tech, Chinese-built helicopter gunships and fighter jets to use against his people. Ever since the U.S. and Britain imposed sanctions in 2003, Mugabe has courted the Chinese, offering mining concessions for arms and currency. While flying regularly to Beijing as a high-ranking guest, the 84-year-old dictator rants at 'small dots' such as Britain and America. He can afford to. Mugabe is orchestrating his campaign of terror from a 25-bedroom, pagoda-style mansion built by the Chinese. Much of his estimated £1billion fortune is believed to have been siphoned off from Chinese 'loans'. The imposing grey building of ZANU-PF, his ruling party, was paid for and built by the Chinese. Mugabe received £200 million last year alone from China, enabling him to buy loyalty from the army. In another disturbing illustration of the warm relations between China and the ageing dictator, a platoon of the China People's Liberation Army has been out on the streets of Mutare, a city near the border with Mozambique, which voted against the president in the recent, disputed election. Almost 30 years ago, Britain pulled out of Zimbabwe - as it had done already out of the rest of Africa, in the wake of Harold Macmillan's 'wind of change' speech. Today, Mugabe says: 'We have turned East, where the sun rises, and given our backs to the West, where the sun sets.' Despite Britain's commendable colonial legacy of a network of roads, railways and schools, the British are now being shunned. According to one veteran diplomat: 'China is easier to do business with because it doesn't care about human rights in Africa - just as it doesn't care about them in its own country. All the Chinese care about is money.' Nowhere is that more true than Sudan. Branded 'Africa's Killing Fields', the massive oil-rich East African state is in the throes of the genocide and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of black, non-Arab peasants in southern Sudan. In effect, through its supplies of arms and support, China has been accused of underwriting a humanitarian scandal. The atrocities in Sudan have been described by the U.S. as 'the worst human rights crisis in the world today'.  Mugabe has received hundreds of millions of pounds from Chinese sources The government in Khartoum has helped the feared Janjaweed militia to rape, murder and burn to death more than 350,000 people. The Chinese - who now buy half of all Sudan's oil - have happily provided armoured vehicles, aircraft and millions of bullets and grenades in return for lucrative deals. Indeed, an estimated £1billion of Chinese cash has been spent on weapons. According to Human Rights First, a leading human rights advocacy organisation, Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles, grenade launchers and ammunition for rifles and heavy machine guns are continuing to flow into Darfur, which is dotted with giant refugee camps, each containing hundreds of thousands of people. Between 2003 and 2006, China sold Sudan $55 million worth of small arms, flouting a United Nations weapons embargo. With new warnings that the cycle of killing is intensifying, an estimated two thirds of the non-Arab population has lost at least one member of their families in Darfur. Although two million people have been uprooted from their homes in the conflict, China has repeatedly thwarted United Nations denunciations of the Sudanese regime. While the Sudanese slaughter has attracted worldwide condemnation, prompting Hollywood film-maker Steven Spielberg to quit as artistic director of the Beijing Olympics, few parts of Africa are now untouched by China. In Congo, more than £2billion has been 'loaned' to the government. In Angola, £3 billion has been paid in exchange for oil. In Nigeria, more than £5billion has been handed over. In Equatorial Guinea, where the president publicly hung his predecessor from a cage suspended in a theatre before having him shot, Chinese firms are helping the dictator build an entirely new capital, full of gleaming skyscrapers and, of course, Chinese restaurants. After battling for years against the white colonial powers of Britain, France, Belgium and Germany, post-independence African leaders are happy to do business with China for a straightforward reason: cash. With western loans linked to an insistence on democratic reforms and the need for 'transparency' in using the money (diplomatic language for rules to ensure dictators do not pocket millions), the Chinese have proved much more relaxed about what their billions are used for. Certainly, little of it reaches the continent's impoverished 800 million people. Much of it goes straight into the pockets of dictators. In Africa, corruption is a multi-billion pound industry and many experts believe that China is fuelling the cancer. The Chinese are contemptuous of such criticism. To them, Africa is about pragmatism, not human rights. 'Business is business,' says Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong, adding that Beijing should not interfere in 'internal' affairs. 'We try to separate politics from business.' While the bounty has, not surprisingly, been welcomed by African dictators, the people of Africa are less impressed. At a market in Zimbabwe recently, where Chinese goods were on sale at nearly every stall, one woman told me she would not waste her money on 'Zing-Zong' products. 'They go Zing when they work, and then they quickly go Zong and break,' she said. 'They are a waste of money. But there's nothing else. China is the only country that will do business with us.' There have also been riots in Zambia, Angola and Congo over the flood of Chinese immigrant workers. The Chinese do not use African labour where possible, saying black Africans are lazy and unskilled. In Angola, the government has agreed that 70 per cent of tendered public works must go to Chinese firms, most of which do not employ Angolans. As well as enticing hundreds of thousands to settle in Africa, they have even shipped Chinese prisoners to produce the goods cheaply. In Kenya, for example, only ten textile factories are still producing, compared with 200 factories five years ago, as China undercuts locals in the production of 'African' souvenirs. Where will it all end? As far as Beijing is concerned, it will stop only when Africa no longer has any minerals or oil to be extracted from the continent. A century after Sir Francis Galton outlined his vision for Africa, the Chinese are here to stay. More will come. The people of this bewitching, beautiful continent, where humankind first emerged from the Great Rift Valley, desperately need progress. The Chinese are not here for that. They are here for plunder. After centuries of pain and war, Africa deserves better. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1036105/How-Chinas-taking-Africa-West-VERY-worried.html#ixzz2OSlUilqW Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook China's economic invasion of AfricaA million Chinese people, from engineers to chefs, have moved to work in Africa in the past decade. How has the trade boom changed their lives?
 Chinese civil engineer Liu Hui, who is overseeing the construction of a highway between Nairobi and Thika. Photograph: Sven Torfinn/Panos Pictures In December 1999, a 24-year-old Chinese man called Zhang Hao left behind the freezing winter of his native Shenyang city to fly to Uganda. Zhang was nervous. He spoke no English. The journey was not even his idea, but that of his father, who had worked in Uganda a few years before on a fishing project involving the Chinese government. "If you want to start something – and be the boss – Africa is the place to do it," Zhang's father had told him when he asked for business advice. Zhang had quit university to travel to east Africa, but he did not need a degree to spot easy money-making opportunities as soon as he set foot in Kampala: goods that were available cheaply in every city in China were either expensive here, or unavailable. He started by importing shoes. Then schoolbags. Then fishing nets, nails and bicycles. "I imported everything. At that time they needed everything!" recalls Zhang, an affable man with rimless glasses. His business grew quickly; he made money and local friends. But after a few years he grew weary of the long buying trips to China. So he and his wife bought a large plot of land in Kampala. On it they constructed a spectacular Chinese-Korean restaurant, with private dining areas, karaoke rooms and a giant 500-seat dining hall. To the side of the restaurant they built a bedroom, which became their home. The business prospered, and soon he started additional enterprises including a bakery, a firm selling flat-screen televisions and a security company. "Chinese don't think, they just try without studying the market too much. Otherwise, the chance is gone," he says. At the site of each new enterprise, Zhang built a room for his family – he had a son in 2007 – to sleep in. They literally live at work. It has paid off. Zhang says he is now the biggest Chinese employer in the country, with 1,200 local staff. He has even been offered a Ugandan passport, but has refused, just as he has declined to take an English first name. "I am Chinese, and we need to build a Chinese name here – to let people know that our country is not like before. We are richer, catching up the world." Few Ugandans need reminding of that. When Zhang arrived in 1999 there were only a few hundred Chinese in the country, including embassy staff. Today, the most conservative estimate is 7,000, from the petty traders who have taken over whole blocks of the central business district to the construction engineers changing Kampala's skyline and the sharp-suited oil executives who frequent Zhang's restaurant. It is a similar story across the continent. Figures are hard to come by, but a decade ago there were probably no more than 100,000 Chinese people working in Africa. Today, there are around a million. The first Chinese reached Africa nearly 600 years ago during the Ming dynasty, when the armada of admiral Zheng He landed on the Kenyan coast. The next significant arrival was in the early 1900s, when 60,000 Chinese miners worked on the South African goldfields. Half a century on, Chairman Mao Zedong sent tens of thousands of agricultural and construction workers to Africa to enhance ties with countries emerging from colonialism. But post-cold war migration concerns economics rather than politics. China-Africa trade grew from $6bn in 1999 to more than $90bn (£56bn) in 2009, roughly split equally between imports and exports: Africa's natural resources – oil, iron, platinum, copper, and timber – flowing east to feed China's factories, and finished goods, from flip-flops to trucks, travelling the other way. Last year, the trade is estimated to have topped $100bn. Chinese state involvement in the trade is crucial. Each year Beijing provides billions of pounds in grants and loans to African governments as a sweetener to secure raw material deals or to finance infrastructure projects that could benefit its companies. That is what brought Liu Hui to Kenya. A slight, 41-year-old civil engineer, he was working for China Wuyi, a state-owned construction firm, in Fujian province in 2006 when he was called into his "leader's" office, and told he was needed on a project to upgrade Nairobi's main airport. Liu had never set foot outside China. He was reluctant to leave his wife and seven-year-old son. He knew as little about Kenya as Zheng He's sailors. "My image was: very poor, dry and hot," says Liu. "But if my company wanted to send me somewhere, what could I have done? You have to show your capacity for work." On arrival, Liu found that Nairobi was neither dry nor too hot. When the airport contract finished, he was assigned to oversee the construction of a highway between Nairobi and Thika, a pineapple-growing district to the north-east. Liu lives at China Wuyi's main site office, a four-storey building alongside the highway. Though the commute to work consists of a flight of stairs, the day is long – from 7.15am to 6pm. The pace of work is often frustrating, and can be complicated by language difficulties; Liu speaks in halting English, and knows a few phrases of Swahili. "Chinese work very hard, very quickly," he says. "But here we are training local people to do the work, and if someone does not understand, he works slowly. You have to watch." Most evenings Liu and his Chinese colleagues – there are about 100 on the road project – watch DVDs on their laptops or chat to family and friends over the internet. But they do get out occasionally, for coffee or dinner in nearby malls. Liu says he intends to return to China for good – his bosses permitting – when the road project finishes, in order to spend more time with his family. But for Wang Lina, seated in her shop in downtown Nairobi, a few miles away, family is the reason she is here. The child of "normal worker" parents, Wang grew up with few thoughts of leaving Benxi, an industrial town nearly 600 miles north-east of Beijing. But in 2003, when she was 21 and newly married, her husband's uncle approached them with a proposition. A few years before he had travelled to Kenya to set up a home furnishings company. Now his business was expanding fast, and he was looking for family members to help run it. Wang and her husband agreed to join him. But she missed her friends. In Kenya she could not find any clothes to fit her. She was too shy to talk to local people. So, after a year, she and her husband quit and returned to Benxi. But soon his uncle came calling again, begging them to give it another try. This time Wang found herself appreciating the upside of living in Nairobi. In Benxi, she had lived in a flat, but was now sharing a large house and garden with two other couples from the extended family. Instead of simply being a cashier in the store, Wang moved into design and sales. She works hard, often seven days a week, but has also found time to enjoy some of east Africa's best tourist attractions – a safari near Mount Kenya, a beach holiday in Zanzibar. She and her husband have saved enough to buy an apartment back home, which is the goal of many young Chinese who take jobs abroad, even though she has no intention of returning soon. "My friends who now work in Beijing and Shanghai are so tired," she says. "There's no time to relax, it's always faster, faster! Things are slower here, and I like that. No hurry in Africa, that's what they say." China's move into Africa has not all been driven from the east. Countries such as Uganda have actively courted Chinese companies, to good effect: in 2010 China replaced the UK as the biggest source of foreign direct investment. One of the largest firms to have set up in Uganda is ZTE, China's second-biggest telecommunications equipment company. Zhu Zhenxing, 32, is its MD in Uganda. Growing up in Jiangsu, along China's east coast, Zhu was certain about two things: he wanted to learn English, and wanted to be an international businessman. He was recruited by ZTE at a job fair, with the promise of a job abroad. "I did not want to stay in my home area, or even in China," he says, puffing on a Dunhill cigarette. "I wanted to experience things, to grow. The further away the better." So when he was asked to go to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, Zhu did not hesitate. "Other people said: Africa is like this and like that. But I thought if other humans lived there, I could too." He learned a lot. The corruption dismayed him. But Zhu liked Nigerians' optimism, "always talking and smiling, not worrying about tomorrow". He was so desperate to prove himself that he nearly burned out. He developed vitiligo, a disorder that causes loss of pigmentation. His face turned white "like Michael Jackson" and he was forced to return to China to recover. He returned to Africa via Vietnam. In Uganda, he has grown ZTE's business exponentially – the company sold more than 500,000 handsets this year. Zhu looks the modern high-flyer – smart shoes, trousers with a Mont Blanc belt, a dress shirt and trendy black glasses. At weekends he plays golf with clients and Chinese embassy staff. But beyond that his lifestyle is far more modest than that of most expats. He and his staff all live in the same apartment block. A company vehicle takes them to and from work each day. His salary is good by Chinese standards but not comparable with those of his western competitors. Still, he has no complaints. "We are still working towards being a world-class company," he says. "Our core competency is our low costs, so we must keep expenses down." If there is one home comfort Chinese migrants in Africa can't do without it is their food. Most companies, including ZTE, bring over their own chefs. Xu Jianwen, 34, is one of them. Raised and trained in Sanhe, in northern China, he was working in a restaurant in Beijing when he heard that the China Road and Bridge Corporation, a state-owned construction giant, was hiring cooks. When he was offered a job in Uganda, his wife, with whom he has a young daughter, protested vehemently. But he won her over when he told her the salary – two and half times what he was earning in China. "Salaries in China are not enough," he says. "I had to come for the money." His first job was to cook for 20 Chinese workers in Soroti, a small town in eastern Uganda. He had two local assistants but, lacking English, no way to communicate with them. At least the cooking was uncomplicated. Only five vegetables were available locally – aubergine, cabbage, potatoes, green peppers and tomatoes. "And there was no spicy sauce," he says. "I work every day, because people need to eat every day. I wake up at six in the morning and finish at seven. Every day is like that. I rest on Chinese public holidays." Currently based at head office in Kampala, Xu plans to spend another two or three years overseas, saving all the while for "housing, education and food" for his family. He won't miss the mosquitoes, he says, but he will miss the people. "They are very nice. Friendly to Chinese." That is not always the case. In parts of southern Africa there has been strong resentment towards Chinese traders, many of whom arrive on tourist visas and stay on illegally. In Zambia, the Chinese managers of a coal mine recently shot two Zambian employees who were protesting over pay, causing anger across the country. And in Sudan and Ethiopia, rebel groups have killed Chinese workers because they view them as proxies of the local government. In Kenya, home to up to 15,000 Chinese, the main problem for some of the early migrants was a mistrust of their goods. Xu Hui gave up an editing position at the state news agency Xinhua to start a toy-import business in the mid-90s. But when he moved into computers, people did not trust the quality. He resorted to showing potential clients the labels on the computers they already owned that said: "Made in China". Today Xu runs a successful business importing Great Wall-brand televisions and giant rolls of toilet paper that are repackaged locally. He regards Kenya as his home – he enjoys the "simple, healthy lifestyle", playing badminton at a sports club every week – and only reluctantly sent his family back to China for educational reasons. But though the attitude to Xu's products may have changed, he is aware that western attitudes to China's push into Africa remain largely negative – something he struggles to understand. "Western countries also buy oil, and have mines around the world. People don't talk about 'grabbing', or 'new colonialism' there. So why is it different for Chinese? We are not sending our armies to places and saying: 'Now sell us this!'" Xu says. "If you can't compete with us, you find an excuse. It's like two children fighting, and the losing one crying to his parent about funny tricks." In fact, there is competition now on lots of levels. Every month thousands of African merchants travel to cities such as Guangzhou and Yiwu to buy wholesale goods. And other Chinese firms, including state-owned companies, battle for local tenders. This can be stressful for company managers. Just ask Dong Junxia, an earnest, smartly dressed woman. Since 2008 she has been in charge of the small Ugandan office of the China Railway Seventh Group Corporation, a subsidiary of CREC, one of the world's largest construction companies. She worked on road-building projects in difficult environments in Tanzania and Liberia, with some success. But in Uganda her company had yet to win a large tender. Dong seemed ashamed, and insisted that her name and that of her company stay out of this story. "I have progressed professionally [in Africa], but suffered loss in being away from my family. In western culture it's different. Being with the family is the priority. Chinese sacrifice themselves for the family. It is hard to decide which is more important." But a week later she called to say that her name could be used. She sounded exuberant: her company has been awarded a large contract to build a road. "After two years of hard work! You must understand how good that feels." • This article was amended on 7 February 2011. The original said Shenyang was a province. It is a city. This has been corrected. |
Jobs in Africa - www.wejobs.blogspot.com
International Jobs - www.jobsunited.blogspot.com
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