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Ex-minister says South
Africa's ANC close to
split.
By Barry (South Africa's former president Dr. Nelson Mandela with former VP and ANC stalwart Jacob Zuma in this USAfricaonline.com file photo). The former minister repeatedly denied that he and other loyalists of ousted president Thabo Mbeki would form a new party, but said: "This is probably the parting of the ways, it probably is." "We hope that sense may still prevail in us... If not there's no going back," he said. Flanked by another ANC dissident, former Deputy Defense Minister Mluleki George, he added: "Logically it seems that this is the end of it." It was not clear how much support Lekota had although he said hundreds of local supporters had resigned and regional and provincial ANC branches were contemplating leaving. He called for a special congress of all those opposed to the ANC's current direction within four weeks to discuss the way forward and how to restore democracy both inside the dominant party and in South Africa. He said he had not spoken to opposition parties. Most analysts played down the impact of any breakaway party unless it was joined by ANC heavyweights including Mbeki. They said the party leadership might welcome the departure of dissidents like Lekota to restore unity. "I think the kind of breakaway possible under these circumstances will not make a significant difference," said Steven Friedman, a political analyst at Johannesburg and Rhodes universities. FULL report here. Also, see additional report on the conflicts, background to crises over President Mbeki's resignation U.S., world financial crisis to curb Africa growth says ECOWAS head. Africa's economic growth will suffer because foreign investment will dry up as a result of the spreading financial crisis that began in the United States, the head of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS said. 
The 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has recorded cumulative GDP growth of almost 80 percent since the start of the decade, according to its own figures. But it now sees that growth threatened by the global credit squeeze. 'We are very much concerned ... this is obviously going to slow down the process of growth of our economies because FDI (foreign direct investment) flows to Africa will be curtailed,' ECOWAS Commission President Mohamed Ibn Chambas said in an interview...FULL report click here ANC will not split; continuity in government certain says South Africa's Finance Minister Trevor Manuel Special to USAfricaonline.com, CLASS magazine, USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston and The Black Business Journal "I can't for a moment believe that there's anybody in their right minds who would want us to abandon the source of our sustainable growth over more than a decade, to abandon that on the altar of some populism." He said on September 30 there will be continuity in the government despite the controversial recall of President Thabo Mbeki.Manuel, who has been credited as the architect of South Africa's economic expansion, says there is no split within the African National Congress party, which last week forced the resignation of former president Mbeki, the BBC reported Tuesday. Interim President Kgalema Motlanthe is working to ensure a smooth transition and Manuel told the BBC he has received "unequivocal assurance" from Motlanthe that South Africa's economic strategies and policies would not change. "There's likely to be some steadying of the ship over the next period," he told the broadcaster. "And as that happens, individuals would choose to depart. South Africa's parliament affirms Motlanthe as new president; deputy president, 11 ministers resign, aftermath of Zuma-wing of the ANC forced Mbeki's resignation as President  Obama, McCain spar on economy, foreign policy in 2008 presidential debate. John McCain accused Barack Obama of compiling "the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate" Friday night as the two rivals clashed over taxes, spending, the war in Iraq and more in an intense first debate of the White House campaign. "Mostly that's just me opposing George Bush's wrong-headed policies," shot back the Democrat.Obama said his Republican rival has been a loyal supporter of the unpopular president, adding that the current economic crisis is "a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain." The two men were polite but pointed as they debated at close quarters for 90 minutes on the University of Mississippi campus. AP Early polls call Obama winner of debate. Sept. 27, 2008 (UPI) -- Early polls pegged Democrat Barrack Obama as the winner over Republican John McCain in Friday's U.S. presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi. A CBS poll of uncommitted voters found 40 percent saying Obama came out on top in the debate, compared to 25 percent for McCain. Thirty-six percent called it a draw. McCain was considered the better candidate in terms of running the war in Iraq, but Obama was selected as the best manager of the economy. The poll had a margin for error of 4 percent. CNN ran an unscientific online poll that drew more than 80,500 votes, 67 percent of which went to Obama compared to 28 percent for McCain. A similar NBC survey drew more than 291,000 clicks and gave Obama the win with 51 percent compared to 35 percent for McCain, while 7.8 percent said they weren't sure and 6.3 percent called it a draw. USAfricaonline.com INSIGHT: Adopting a more pragmatic approach to U.S economic, foreign policy. By Rev. Augustine I. Ogbunugwu Influential Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is among 11 Cabinet ministers and three deputy ministers who have resigned. The Cabinet members who have resigned include Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who earlier in the day announced her decision to leave her position, to which she was appointed after African National Congress president Jacob Zuma was released from his  responsibilities
as deputy president in 2005. (Dr.
Nelson Mandela with Jacob Zuma in this USAfricaonline.com
file photo). Additional report on the conflicts,
background to crises over
President Mbeki's resignation
South African President Thabo Mbeki has agreed to resign after the ANC announced that it would remove him from office before the end of his term. The move could collapse the government and prompt early elections. Mbeki has been mired in accusations that he conspired to undermine ANC leader Jacob Zuma. "Our movement has been through a trying period and we are
determined to heal the rift that might exist. In light of
this and after a long and difficult discussion, the ANC has
decided to recall the president of the republic before his
term of office expires," ANC secretary general Gwede
Mantashe told reporters in Kempton Park on the East Rand.
"Our decision has been communicated to him," said Mantashe.
Mantashe said the decision was a political way to deal with
the implications of Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris
Nicholson's ruling that Mbeki may have been involved in a
political conspiracy against Zuma. FULL
report
The group described the attacks on a police academy, a military barracks and a Canadian engineering firm as retaliation against security forces for their crackdown on militants, described as "Mujahedeen," or holy warriors. The attacks "follow the perfidious operation, where a number of young Mujahedeen have been killed," said a man identified as Salah Abu Mohammed, an al-Qaida spokesman, in a tape delivered to the Al-Jazeera news channel. There was no way to authenticate Friday's message but in the past militant groups have often delivered responsibility claims via Al-Jazeera.( AP)  Nigeria
cedes oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon; indigenes
protest. Nigeria on Thursday August 14, 2008
handed over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon to end a
15-year dispute over the territory believed to be rich in
oil and gas. The legal paperwork, in line with a ruling of
an international tribunal, was signed by Nigeria's Justice
Minister Michael Aondoakaa and by his Cameroonian
counterpart Maurice Kanto.
"(Cameroonian) President Paul Biya ... looks forward to new, reliable and mutually beneficial relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria," Kanto said just before the handover, which took place in the Nigerian border town of Calabar. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a message read out at the ceremony said: "It is a day of triumph for the rule of law, which lies at the very core of the values of the UN". The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for
West Africa, Said Djinnit, said the handover should serve as
a model for the resolution of other border disputes in
Africa. "As painful as it is, we have a responsibility to
keep our commitment to the international community to
advance international peace and cooperation ... and advance
the cause of African brotherhood and good neighbourliness,"
Nigeria's Aondoakaa declared.
Reported by Joel Olatunde Agoi in Calabar (AFP).
For more discussions of this issue by Nigerians, log on
to USAfricaonline.com powered blog, Nigeria360
SOCCER 2010:  South
Africa's preparations for hosting the 2010 World Cup will
cost more than 2 billion rand (136 million pounds) more than
budgeted because of global economic trends, the deputy
finance minister has said. "We are talking about something
that is north of 2 billion rand as we speak. That is the
figure," Jabu Moleketi told reporters. The South African
government originally budgeted about 17.5 billion rand for
the construction and refurbishment of 10 stadiums and other
infrastructure for the 2010 championship, the first to be
hosted in Africa.
Kenya buys 150,000 tonnes of maize from US, S.Africa. NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya has started importing 150,000 tonnes (1.6 million bags) of maize, more than half the amount it plans to buy to plug a shortfall, from South Africa and the United States, the government said on Monday. The east African country plans to buy a total 3 million bags of the grain to cover a shortage created during a devastating post-election crisis in January that destroyed harvests or blocked farmers from planting. "We have authorised 150,000 metric tonnes for importation,"Agriculture Minister William Ruto told Reuters. "It is in various stages and consignments between now and mid-October." Burkina mine collapse kills more than 30. OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - More than 30 illegal gold miners were killed and more were missing after a mine collapsed in Burkina Faso after heavy rain, authorities in the West African country said on Sunday. The miners were working at a site near the village of Boussoukoula, when the mine walls collapsed on Saturday, Maximin Savadogo, state environmental director for Noumbiel province, told Reuters from the provincial capital Batie. Witnesses had reported at least 50 people had been working in the mine, roughly 500 km (300 miles) southwest of the capital Ouagadougou near the border with Ivory Coast, just before the collapse, he said. So far 34 bodies had been recovered. Shell to reduce production after latest attacks, sabotage in Nigeria by militants. Militants in Nigeria's Niger Delta said on Monday they had blown up two major oil pipelines belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, forcing the firm to halt some production and helping push world oil prices higher. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose campaign of violence has cut Nigeria's oil output by around a fifth since early 2006, said its members conducted the attacks early on Monday. "Detonation engineers backed by heavily armed fighters ... sabotaged two major pipelines in Rivers state of Nigeria," it said in an e-mailed statement. The group said the two pipelines were attacked at Kula -- through which the Nembe Creek trunkline passes -- and at Rumuekpe, located around 50 km (30 miles) west of the main oil city of Port Harcourt. Shell, which operates onshore in Nigeria in a joint venture with state oil firm NNPC, said it had halted some output from the Nembe Creek trunkline but gave no details on the volume. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has warned business people that he will impose a state of emergency if they profiteer. Mugabe made the threat after the reserve bank governor announced he is knocking 10 zeros off the hyper-inflated currency. On Aug. 1, 10 billion dollars becomes one dollar. Mugabe warned profiteers in a televised address Wednesday not to "drive us further" but said if they did the government would impose emergency measures. The new currency was forced because computers, electronic calculators and automated teller machines at banks cannot handle basic transactions in billions and trillions of dollars. A 100 billion-dollar note issued last week is not enough to buy a loaf of bread. UN raises security alert in Darfur. The United Nations has raised the security level for staff operating in Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur, stopping short of evacuating non-essential staff, a spokeswoman has said. "The security level has gone to phase four. That means all internationally recruited staff who are not directly concerned with emergency or humanitarian relief operations or security matters are relocated," said Shereen Zorba. "However, the majority of our staff are concerned with security and emergency relief. So far no one has been evacuated," said the deputy spokeswoman in Darfur for the joint African Union-United Nations mission. "If it becomes necessary, the mission may take the decision to relocate non-essential staff temporarily," she added. The International Criminal Court prosecutors reportedly seek the prosecution of Sudan President Omar al-Beshir for genocide in Darfur, prompting Khartoum to warn of a threat to peace efforts. The development has raised fears that naming Beshir could trigger a military response by Sudanese forces or their proxies against UN and African Union peacekeepers. USAfricaonline.com with (AFP) report USAfrica NEWSnotes: African Leaders Will Resolve But Not Solve Crisis in Zimbabwe. By Prof. Chigbo Ofong, Washington DC-based Executive Editor of USAfricaonline.com OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? Nigeria losing $14 billion a year in oil. Nigeria loses $14 billion a year to oil theft, according to Stephen Hayes, the president of the Corporate Council on Africa. The supposed monetary losses incurred by the oil-rich West African country were calculated based on the estimated number of barrels of lost production due to corruption and crime, said Hayes. "If you are losing 600,000 barrels a day on oil at $70 a barrel, you are losing $12 million a day on oil theft," Hayes told Nigerian newspaper This Day. Before stepped-up hostilities by militant and other armed groups in the Niger Delta beginning in late 2005, Nigeria claimed to be producing about 2.5 million bpd. Since then, production has reportedly decreased by at least 20 percent, perhaps even by one-third, warn some analysts. In and around the delta's de
facto capital, Port Harcourt, a recent spike in violence has
raised concerns about the long-term viability of doing
business in the region, where foreign oil and gas operations
and regularly targeted. "The situation in Port Harcourt will
remain unstable in the short term until Nigerian authorities
can regain some level of control," read a recent report by
the Stratfor consulting group. By Carmen Gentile, UPI Energy
Correspondent.
He did it by creating the most cross-ethnic and trans-generational coalition in the history of American politics; indeed of any modern society. He did it by resolutely and clearly defeating his hard-charging, relentless opponent, former American First Lady New York Senator Hillary Clinton and the entire bare-knuckle Clinton machine for the Democratic nomination to become the first African American with a credible, viable and realistic chance of winning the presidency of the United States. On June 3, 2008, Obama won convincingly past the "magic number" of 2,118 delegates. With only 3 years in the U.S Senate, Obama's thunderbolt rise seems almost metaphysical and a remarkably unique political moment in America. The 46-year old former assistant professor of law soared in speech, again, after the superdelegates and June 3 votes shuttered Clinton's incredible week of the collapse of her efforts. "You chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears, but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations," Obama told teeming supporters at a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. In ways and means almost
reflecting the harmonization of the political, financial and
strategic elements of presidential quests, Obama has already
started writing and turning the pages of America's history.
After all, did he not enthrall millions with the political
theology and chant of making the seemingly impossible
altogether possible: yes,
we can! Only in America!! FULL
commentary CLICK here. It added that it is
"critically important that all candidates are able to
campaign freely and have free access to the media."
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change has
been barred from staging a series of rallies in Harare after
police said they can't guarantee their leaders' safety, the
party said. According to a letter signed by a superintendent
of police, a copy of which was read by the MDC to AFP,
authorities have based their decision on statements by the
party concerning assassination threats. Police detained
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is hoping to topple
President Robert Mugabe in the June 27 vote, for the second
time this week on Friday and released him without charge
some two hours later. The ANC said it was "deeply concerned"
at Tsvangirai's detention. South African President Thabo
Mbeki is chief mediator between Zimbabwe's ruling party and
Tsvangirai's MDC, and has faced criticism over what many
have seen as an unwillingness to pressure Mugabe. Tsvangirai
has called for Mbeki to be axed as a mediator.Meanwhile, the
South African government Friday called "on all parties to
desist from any action that may serve to detract from the
objective of having free and fair run-off presidential
elections."
U.N. Security Council to tour, study Africa crises areas in June. The U.N. Security Council will tour Africa in June to try to better understand and address some of the continent's crises, including Darfur and Somalia, British Ambassador John Sawers has announced.
Sawers,
the current council president, and South African Ambassador
Dumisani Kumalo will lead the mission, which will leave New
York on May 31 and spend the first 10 days of June in
Africa. The party, grouping representatives of the 15
nations on the council, will visit Kenya, where it will
consider the Somali problem, Sudan -- including the
semi-independent south and the violence-torn western region
of Darfur -- Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Ivory Coast, Sawers
said.
Cameroon's president Biya extends his 25-year rule, amidst protests. Cameroon's parliament  adopted
a constitutional bill on Thursday April 17, 2008 removing a
two-term limit to allow President Paul Biya to extend his
25-year rule over central Africa's biggest economy past
2011.
Opposition lawmakers, who criticise the bill as a setback for democracy, stormed out of the chamber before the vote. The proposed change was a major cause of riots in February that killed dozens of people, many shot dead by security forces. "It is common knowledge
that incumbent presidents in Africa use the government
machinery and all the powers at their disposal to manouevre
the electoral process," SDF parliamentary chief whip Joseph
Barnadzem told reporters outside the chamber. "To try now to
amend this article only through the National Assembly, for
us is tantamount to a hold-up," he said. FULL
report, click here More than 1,200 people died and 300,000 were uprooted in violence that followed Mr Kibaki's disputed win in elections in December 2007. The crisis exposed decades-old disputes, which degenerated into ethnic killings and riots that shattered Kenya's image as a stable tourism and trade hub with one of sub-Saharan Africa's most promising economies. Kenya's currency and stock market have both been on the rebound since former UN chief Kofi Annan brokered a deal in February to create the coalition cabinet and launch a constitutional review. Finance Minister Amos Kimunya
has said the crisis forced the government to trim its growth
forecast to 4.5 from a previous estimate of 6.9%
percent. Odinga, 63, had rejected Mr
Kibaki's election "victory" after votes were counted in the
Dec 27 poll. The opposition, international observers and
some sections of Kenya's electoral commission have alleged
that widespread fraud was committed in the
elections
Once completed in six to eight
weeks, the merger will pave the way for the creation of what
Stanbic Bank Kenya says will be Kenya's fourth largest bank,
with a 12 branch-network. "This was the last regulatory
condition that had to be met. It came through last Thursday
night," Mike du Toit, managing director of Stanbic Bank
Kenya told Reuters without giving more details on the bank's
size.
"Mugabe has started a
crackdown," opposition secretary-general Tendai Biti said.
"It is quite clear he has unleashed a war." While the
election commission has issued results for the parliamentary
races held Saturday alongside the presidential race, it has
yet to release any presidential count. The opposition says
leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential race, but says
it would take part in a runoff.
Zuma defeated Mbeki at a party election in December and is likely to become state president when Mbeki must step down in 2009 if he defeats corruption charges in court. In an unusually strong and direct attack on Mbeki, Zuma said power was firmly concentrated in the hands of the African National Congress (ANC), suggesting the president's authority had slipped away. "... if he's not part of the ANC leadership, he doesn't have authority. You can't even take serious decisions in terms of governance," he said in an interview with London's Financial Times published on the newspaper's Web site. Zuma is a populist with backing from left-leaning unions who has promised investors he would not stray from pro-business policies that Mbeki has pursued to keep an economic boom going. The ANC leader says those are party policies. Zuma still faces trial in August on money-laundering and racketeering charges. Oil hits $103 all-time high as U.S. dollar weakness continues. Light, sweet crude for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped to a new trading price of $103.05 a barrel in electronic trading, on Friday Feb 29, 2008: . This affects, typically, all other aspects of consumer, business, energy and transportation anchors of any economy. The high price is set against the continuing weakness of the U.S dollar. On Feb 28, 2008, at a White House press conference, President Bush said with astonishing indifference that he did not know that there exists a popular projection by industry experts of a $4 a gallon price for gasoline here in the U.S. Many were surprised by the statement which reflected a sense of disconnection with the fundamental dynamics of the economy. By Chido Nwangwu  Nigeria
Elections
tribunal backs Yar'Adua's disputed presidential
election. A Nigerian tribunal on Tuesday
(February 26, 2008) rejected opposition demands for a re-run
of last year's presidential election, averting a political
crisis in Africa's most populous nation.
Umaru Yar'Adua won a (disputed) landslide victory, but local and international observers said vote-rigging was so rampant that the results were "not credible". A special five-judge tribunal rejected legal challenges filed by the two main opposition candidates, former army ruler Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. "Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan remain the president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," said Judge John Fabiyi at the conclusion of a ruling that took more than three hours to deliver.Full report on the ruling and reaction, click here on Nigeria's election USAfricaonline.com FLASHBACK 
Alhaji
Yar'Adua pushed to victory as Nigeria's president by
Obasanjo's ruling party; local and international monitors,
opposition reject Nigeria's 2007 presidential elections
vote as marred by rigging,
fraud.... Special to
USAfricaonline.com,
CLASS
magazine, USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston and
The
Black Business Journal. Nigeria's electoral
commision has announced the ruling PDP party candidate Umaru
Yar'Adua, the 56-year-old Muslim governor of northern
Katsina state, as winner of Nigeria's presidential
elections. The "landslide victory" was announced by
electoral commission chairman Maurice Iwu, as a prelude to
the May 29, 2007 handover of power to President Olusegun
Obasanjo's hand-picked successor Yar'Adua. Meanwhile,
international and local monitors rejected Nigeria's election
as a failure on Sunday in scathing verdicts on the first
handover from one civilian president to another. Reuters
reports that the opposition and foreign observers called the
vote, marred by rigging, a shortage of millions of voting
papers and violence in which 16 people were killed, the
worst in Nigeria, plagued by years of military rule since
independence from Britain in 1960.
Tribunal voids election of Nigeria's senate president David Mark. A Nigerian electoral tribunal on Saturday Feb 23, 2008 voided the election of federal senate president David Mark, government spokesman Cletus Akwaya said. "For now he remains the senate president until all the legal channels are exhausted," Akwaya added after the tribunal in the central state of Benue found there was no clear winner of the election last year and that the national electoral commission was wrong to have declared Mark the winner, he said... On February 26 the tribunal hearing petitions challenging the validity of the 2007 presidential vote ruled positively on the validity of Umaru Yar'Adua's election. For full and related David Mark's and other Nigeria election issues click here FLASHBACK Why
Bush should focus on dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slippery slide.
FLASHPOINT! In 15 years: Nigeria could collapse, destabilize entire West Africa - U.S. intelligence analysts claim OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? Bush offers some help to troubled Liberia. U.S President Bush offered encouragement and help Thursday February 21, 2008 to lift this shattered country 
from years of ruinous fighting as he concluded a tour of
Africa and turned toward other global problems. In Liberia,
the final stop on Bush's five-country trip, almost nothing
works and people are nervous about their future in the
aftermath of a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003.
The country is overrun with weapons, malnutrition is pervasive, half of children are not in school, and many buildings are uninhabitable. There is little running water or electricity and no sewage or landline phone system. "It's easier to tear a country down than it is to rebuild a country," Bush said. "And the people of this good country must understand the United States will stand with you as you rebuild your country." Though Bush's entourage was a bit jittery about his seven-hour stopover, Liberia's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, declared at one point, "You're safe." Bush used his five-country (visit to Africa) to showcase how billions in aid and diplomatic engagement are improving the everyday lives of people across the continent. Jennifer Loven/AP Related insight: Liberia's president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf calls for "partnership" rather than "patronage" relationship with U.S. Liberia's bloody mess and hopes of a battered nation. Liberia: Death by installment. By Chido Nwangwu, June 21, 1996. Obasanjo and Bush 'monitored' while Liberia was murdered. U.S. First Lady Bush, Sec of State Rice in Liberia for inauguration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected President in Africa. Obama scores 10th straight victory; overpowers Clintons in Wisconsin, wins landslide 76% in Hawaii. Obama's Wisconsin and Hawaii wins compel the Clintons to chase a difficult must-win overwhelmingly scenario in Democratic primaries on March 4, 2008 in Texas and Ohio. Ohio's demographics mirror Wisconsin's where Obama beat and cut into Clinton's previous, strong segments.  INSIGHT:
Why America should halt the
genocide in the Sudan.
By Chido Nwangwu, Founder and Publisher of
USAfricaonline.com. Certain facts and the continuing,
bigoted impudence of Islamic Sudan offer clarity to why the
U.S should aggressively halt the genocide and gory events in
Africa's largest country. The Sudan has almost 918,000
square miles in size and a war-weary population of
30million. Even as I call for a red line to be drawn against
the rag-tag army of Arab-taliban-fascists in Africa and the
assorted troops of religio-criminal rapists who have since
four decades set upon the southern Christian, indigenous
African Sudanese, I agree with Gen. Powell that "America
will be a friend to all Africans who seek peace; but we
cannot make peace among Africans." He is right. Africans
must respect and love each other. Continued
here....U.S President Bush, Tanzania's Kikwete Sign $698 million grant; and Bush wants AIDS plan renewed. Bush's three-night stay in this vast East Africa nation takes him to a part of the continent that is important in the U.S. fight against terrorism. The bombed-out former U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam still stands as a stark reminder of deadly attacks in Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, in 1998. The visit to Tanzania is the longest of Bush's six-day African trip and longer than usual for the president anywhere. The stay and the celebration of a new five-year $698 million U.S. aid pact were intended as goodwill messages to Tanzania's large Muslim population. FULL report here Exclusive Interview: Achebe says highlife legend"Osadebe was a priest with words and sounds". Prof. Chinua Achebe, novelist, poet, essayist and critic the author of the most widely- 
read book in modern African literature, Things Fall Apart, has described the departed highlife music legend Chief Osita Osadebe as "an artiste who played music with a message and mission." Osadebe (in picture, right) lived as one of Africa's longest and durable great talents. He played, sang and released melodious songs since 1956 until 2005. Osadebe who hailed from Umuekeke in Atani, Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State was born in 1936. His family announced that he passed on Friday May 11, 2007 and burial is set for this week. Achebe, author of several landmark works told
Houston-based USAfrica and CLASSmagazine Publisher Chido
Nwangwu in an exclusive interview on Wednesday February 6,
2008 that "Osadebe was a priest who used words and
sounds. He lived like any of the greatest musicians
who are prominent in any culture; he lived as a great
musician who used music to reach people in order to improve
their lives and make them happy. He had message for people
to reflect upon. He
had deep message in his music as much as he provided
music for celebration and [to] be merry." 
"We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change
that we seek" says the poetic presidential candidate Obama
after impressive wins on Super
Tuesday.
USAfricaonline.com reports that Barack Obama has taken the
momentum, won more states., more delegates and trumps
Hillary Clinton on money raised for campaign. Amidst
operational pressures, Hillary loans $5m to her own
campaign....
Obama raised almost $6 million after the Feb. 5 voting
contests, all of which came from online
donations.
He has consistently
set a record in imaginative and technologically compelling
was of fundraising with his team. Obama's campaign manager
David Plouffe noted in a letter to supporters that $3
million was raised the evening after Tuesday's primaries and
caucuses. "The Clinton campaign just announced that Hillary
and Bill Clinton injected $5 million of their personal
fortune into her campaign a few days ago,'' Plouffe stated.
"Thanks to you, we have raised more than $3 million since
the polls closed on February 5th. But we have no choice --
we must match their $5 million right now.'' A live ticker
embedded to his e-mail showed donations, recorded $5.8
million as of 11:30 p.m. eastern on Wednesday, February 6,
2008. (In the AP photo, Sen. Barack Obama and wife Michelle
greet supporters in Chicago)
...talks to end crisis resume. Kenyan police killed four people in looting mobs who set scores of houses and businesses ablaze in a western Kenyan town, an official said Friday, in clashes sparked by a policeman's killing of an opposition lawmaker. The shooting of David Kimutai Too on Thursday interrupted the start of talks to help resolve the monthlong postelection crisis that has killed more than 800 people and forced 300,000 from their homes. Talks, being mediated by former U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, resumed Friday with an address
by Annan's successor, Ban Ki-Moon, who appealed to
negotiators to "Look beyond the individual interest. Look
beyond the party lines. ... Now the future is on you."
AP
INTERVIEW:
Colin Powell:
it's nonsense to say Obama is not Black
enough....Retired
Gen. Powell, a former Secretary of State, also urged
Americans to "enjoy this moment where a person like Barack
Obama can knock down all of these old barriers that people
thought existed with respect to the opportunities that are
available to African-Americans."INSIGHT:
"Who
speaks for Nigerian President?" Special
report
Hillary Clinton, McCain win NHampshire votes. (AP) &emdash; In the land of comebacks, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain revived their sagging campaigns Tuesday night and catapulted the Democratic and Republican presidential races into a surprise state of chaos. Neither could afford to lose New Hampshire. Suddenly, the fallen front-runners look like winners again. Clinton defied campaign-closing polls and the expectations of her own advisers to pull out a narrow victory over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the self-styled agent of change bidding to be the nation's first black president. She won with a last-minute show of emotion and pointed criticism of Obama, the harshest attacks coming from her husband, Bill. By Ron Fournier PRIMARIES 2008: Does Obama's win in Iowa indicate Americans are colorblind? Special report by Sharon Cohen. Obama's convincing win in Thursday's caucuses in Iowa - a state with just a smattering of minority voters - demonstrated the Illinois senator's support crosses racial lines and bolstered the notion that America is receptive to electing its first black president. Whether Obama's appeal stretches beyond the farm fields of Iowa will become clear over the next month as the freshman senator faces a series of tests on different political terrain - beginning with Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire, another overwhelmingly white state. Click here for FULL report First Win: Obama defeats Clinton machine to make historic win of Democratic caucus in Iowa; evangelical pastor- former Governor Huckabee win Republican vote
in Iowa. Sen. Barack
Obama swept to victory in the Iowa caucuses Thursday night,
January 3, 2008, pushing Hillary Rodham Clinton to third
place and taking a major stride in a historic bid to become
the nation's first black president. "You've got to have hope
if you are a black man named Obama running for the
presidency of the United States of America,'' Obama said
during a late-night campaign stop two days before the
caucus. It was one of his rare mentions of what he had to
overcome. "I'm probably the only candidate who, having won
the nomination, can actually redraw the political map,''
Obama said at the time. ``I guarantee you African-American
turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the
country, minimum. Young people's percentage of the vote goes
up 25-30 percent. So we're in a position to put states in
play that haven't been in play since LBJ.''
Mike Huckabee rode a wave of support from evangelical Christians to win the opening round among Republicans in the 2008 campaign for the White House. Obama, 46 and a first-term senator from Illinois, scored his victory on a message of change in Washington. Nearly complete returns showed him gaining 37 percent support from Iowans. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina appeared headed for second place, relegating Clinton, the former first lady, to a close third. USAfricaonline.com with additional reports from the AP and wire reports. Riots escalate: 132 dead into the first week of January 2008 after Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki is declared winner in hotly disputed elections....opposition leader Odinga reject official results as rigged, again demands Kibaki to step down, stating: "I am the elected president of the Republic of Kenya.... For the last 48 hours the people of Kenya have seen their nascent democracy shackled, strangled and finally killed." Odinga has called for a mass rally on Thursday January3, 2008 in Nairobi's main Uhuru Park, named for the word freedom in Swahili. USAfricaonline.com with CNN/wire reports/ click here Riots follow Kenya's controversial, disputed elections BUSINESS: Free trade for SADC by 2008? The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is on course to establish a free trade area by 2008, Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili has said. He was opening an extraordinary heads of state and government summit in Midrand, between Johannesburg and Pretoria. Mosisili, current chairperson of SADC, said the process
to achieve the free trade area would be "a give and take
affair." Several heads of government and state, including
President Thabo Mbeki and Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe, are attending the conference on regional
integration. They will review recommendations by a
ministerial task team &emdash; comprising trade and industry
and finance ministers in the region &emdash; about the best
way to achieve the free trade area. Sapa
Zuma ousted President Thabo Mbeki as party leader after their intense rivalry divided the party, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. Before the election, Mandela who decided not to endorse one candidate or to attend the conference, said divisions within the party race were saddening. He said it was inevitable the results of the elections would be interpreted by some "as an overwhelming victory for one camp or faction over another". Mandela's spokeswoman on Friday dismissed rumours that former president's health has taken a turn for the worse. Zelda la Grange said her office had been flooded with inquiries. "Rumours have again surfaced about Mr Mandela's well-being. Mr Mandela is in the former Transkei (his hometown in the Eastern Cape Province) where he is enjoying the festive season with his family," SAPA quoted her as saying. "He is due back in Johannesburg only towards the end of January." (Reuters) Presidents Museveni, Kabila meet over fighting, crises in region. The special summit between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) opened officially on September 7, 2007 with Congolese foreign minister Mbusa Nyamwisi announcing that Kinshasa would start fighting Ugandan rebels on Congolese territory. "The DRC will start an operation against the negative forces of Uganda this month", Nyamwisi said in his opening speech in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, without specifying which rebel groups. The negative forces operating from eastern Congo include the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the People's Redemption Army (PRA) and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Nyamwisi also called upon Uganda to withdraw its forces from Congolese territory. He accused UPDF of having troops in the eastern town of Mahagi. He also alleged that Congolese militia were recruiting
fighters in refugee camps in Uganda. He further stated that
Kinshasa was in favour of joint oil exploration on Lake
Albert. Earlier, foreign minister Sam Kutesa, who leads the
Ugandan delegation, said he hoped the summit would address
the conflict between the two countries. "The presence of
negative forces in the DRC is a matter of serious concern to
Uganda", he stressed in his opening address. By Felix Osike
and Alfred Wasike, New Vision in Kampala.
In and around the delta's de facto capital, Port Harcourt, a recent spike in violence has raised concerns about the long-term viability of doing business in the region, where foreign oil and gas operations and regularly targeted. "The situation in Port Harcourt will remain unstable in the short term until Nigerian authorities can regain some level of control," read a recent report by the Stratfor consulting group. By Carmen Gentile, UPI Energy Correspondent. OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? Nelson Mandela celebrates his 89th birthday, launching a humanitarian campaign along with former President Jimmy Carter, ex-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other "elders" of the global village. The initiative stems from an idea by British entrepreneur Richard Branson and musician Peter Gabriel to create a world council of elders to tackle issues such as conflict, AIDS and global warming. "This group of international leaders will share how they intend to work together to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity in addressing some of the world's toughest problems," organizers said in a statement. Branson and Gabriel, who founded an international human rights organization and championed the anti-apartheid cause, attended part of a week of festivities for Mandela's birthday. A children's party that has become an annual fixture wraps things up July 24. Before that, events will feature Bill Clinton and soccer legend Pele, who will play in a special star-studded match to honor Mandela. 2007 Mothers Day event: honorees, community leaders network in Houston at USAfrica and CLASS annual banquet. OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? Special report by Chido Nwangwu Alhaji Yar'Adua pushed to victory as Nigeria's president by Obasanjo's ruling party; local and international monitors, opposition reject Nigeria's 2007 presidential elections vote as marred by rigging, fraud.... How Obasanjo rewarded Nigerians with a farce called elections. By Muhammad Al-Ghazali Meanwhile, Nigeria's Senate leader Ken Nnamani, the third most senior state official and a member of the PDP, said Nigeria had abdicated its role as an example to the rest of Africa. "There will be a legacy of hatred. People will hate the new administration and they will have a crisis of legitimacy," he told Reuters by telephone. In another chat with Nigerian media/reporters , he said "Some people may like to deceive themselves that it is free and fair, but I don't think so." MONITORS SAY NO CREDIBILITY: "The system failed the Nigerian people and suffers from a lack of credibility...the Nigerian people were failed by their leaders," said Pierre Richard Prosper of the International Republican Institute ( IRI, a U.S.-based pro-democracy group), which monitored the vote. The biggest local monitoring group, which had 10,000 observers across Africa's most populous nation, said voting was either delayed for hours or did not occur at all in many areas. "We are going to call for a rerun of elections. You cannot use the result from half of the country to announce a new president," said Innocent Chukwuma, chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group. Click here for Full report FLASHBACK Why
Bush should focus on dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slippery slide.
North Africa Qaeda wing vows more suicide bombings in the region: Al Qaeda's North Africa wing has, since April 2007, warned it would carry out more suicide bombings and urged Muslims to join its ranks as suicide bombers. Attacks in the past few weeks have deepened fears of a broad upsurge in violence in North Africa after the group set a goal of linking up with similar Islamist groups in the region and using it as a base for bombings against European targets. "We have decided to adopt the style of martyrdom operations in the confrontation with our enemies from now on," Abu Musab Abdul-Wadud, a leader of al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, said in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera television. He said the group had issued instructions for the selection of targets "that achieves the goals of jihad (holy war)." "We bring good tidings to our nation and youth and tell
them that the list of martyrdom-seekers has become long and
is growing every day," he said. "This is a crusader war on
Islam and a battle of The struggle will be aimed largely at keeping the man-in-the-street, middle class professional people, and the youth ever committed to the quest in advance of the Common Good for change. The pain of seeing so many middle class people come out to vote on April 14 and witnessing their retreat on April 21 after it became clear their votes were not allowed to count increases the essence of the struggle. It is time to say thank you and to roll up our sleeves, like Nehemiah, to rebuild the falling walls of Nigeria. Full text here. REGIONAL CRISES: Somalia faces crisis as 350,000 flee homes, away from fighting. The United Nations (UN) is calling the attention of the world, again, to the fact that Somalia is facing a major humanitarian crisis with more than 250,000 people fleeing the country. According to the UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker at least 350,000 people have fled Mogadishu since February 2007. "If you look at the situation from February until now, in that one time frame, more people have been displaced inside Somalia then any place else in the world," she said. "That includes Iraq, that includes Darfur (in Sudan) - where 107,000 people have been displaced this year - and that includes Sri Lanka, where there has been also very significant displacement this year." The UN notes more people have been displaced in Somalia over the last two months than anywhere else in the world. Fighting between government forces and Islamic rebels has forced thousands of people to flee the capital Mogadishu. Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi says most of the fighting is over in the capital and it is is safe for residents to return. But residents do not seem too reassured. The latest reports say gunfire and mortar explosions are continuing to echo through the streets. USAfricaonline.com/ABC/BBC Alhaji Yar'Adua pushed to victory as Nigeria's president by Obasanjo's ruling party; local and international monitors, opposition reject Nigeria's 2007 presidential elections vote as marred by rigging, fraud.... Special to USAfricaonline.com, CLASS magazine, USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston and The Black Business Journal . Monday, April 23, 2007. Nigeria's electoral commision has announced the ruling PDP party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua, the 56-year-old Muslim governor of northern Katsina state, as winner of Nigeria's presidential elections (in pix). The "landslide victory" was announced by electoral commission chairman Maurice Iwu, as a prelude to the May 29, 2007 handover of power to President Olusegun Obasanjo's hand-picked successor Yar'Adua. Meanwhile, international and local monitors rejected Nigeria's election as a failure on Sunday in scathing verdicts on the first handover from one civilian president to another. Reuters reports that the opposition and foreign observers called the vote, marred by rigging, a shortage of millions of voting papers and violence in which 16 people were killed, the worst in Nigeria, plagued by years of military rule since independence from Britain in 1960. How Obasanjo rewarded Nigerians with a farce called elections. By Muhammad Al-Ghazali Meanwhile, Nigeria's Senate leader Ken Nnamani, the third most senior state official and a member of the PDP, said Nigeria had abdicated its role as an example to the rest of Africa. "There will be a legacy of hatred. People will hate the new administration and they will have a crisis of legitimacy," he told Reuters by telephone. In another chat with Nigerian media/reporters , he said "Some people may like to deceive themselves that it is free and fair, but I don't think so." MO  NITORS
SAY NO CREDIBILITY: "The
system failed the Nigerian people and suffers from a lack of
credibility...the Nigerian people were failed by their
leaders," said Pierre Richard Prosper of the
International Republican Institute ( IRI, a U.S.-based
pro-democracy group), which monitored the vote. The biggest
local monitoring group, which had 10,000 observers across
Africa's most populous nation, said voting was either
delayed for hours or did not occur at all in many areas. "We
are going to call for a rerun of elections. You cannot use
the result from half of the country to announce a new
president," said Innocent Chukwuma, chairman of the
Transition Monitoring Group.Click here for Full report FLASHBACK Why
Bush should focus on dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slippery slide.
INEC headquarters in Abuja targetted by petrol tanker.... Again, violence and delays threaten Nigeria 2nd poll for President, Senators. Nigerians voted April 21, the second of two elections amidst violence, logistical problems and allegations of "allocated votes". At the time of this report, voting was closing in many polling centers. A major havoc failed to occur some hours before polling stations opened, when unknown attackers with with a fully loaded petrol tanker was used to try blow up the national electoral commission's headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja. The truck hit a telephone pole outside INEC but failed to the building and did not exlpode. During voting, some armed thugs abducted an elections officer in Ondo state, carted away voting materials and scared many away from voting. Earlier in the evening of Friday (April 20) militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta attacked stormed the office of Gov. Goodluck Jonathan, Obasanjo's pick as the ruling PDP party's vice-presidential ticket; two persons were killed. For report, click here SPECIAL REPORT: Nigeria's do or die election flawed by rigging. By Koert Lindijer , Africa correspondent of Radio Netherlands (April 19, 2007). It looks very much as if Africa's most populous nation has once again failed to organise free and fair elections. Foreign and domestic observers and journalists say the state elections on 14 April were marked by blatant fraud and violence. They were even worse than the 2003 elections.... These are the biggest elections ever held in Africa and arguably the most important. For the first time since Nigeria gained its independence in 1960, a civilian government is handing over to another civilian government. There is a great deal at stake and President Olusegun Obasanjo is out to control his succession. "It's a do or die affair" as he has said. Ballot theft: In the southwestern state of Ikiti I saw supporters of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) unashamedly stealing ballot boxes and filling them with completed ballot papers. The police - and sometimes the army - looked on and did nothing. Reports have been coming in from nearly all 36 states of ballot box theft and of large groups of voters who say they were prevented from voting, while at the end of the day the official turnout has been announced as 90 percent.... USAfricaonline.com VIEWPOINT. By Prof. Niyi Osundare: "Obasanjo has ruined this country...." An open letter to Nigeria's President Obasanjo. Nigeria's President Obasanjo fingered by his VP Atiku in loss of $500m Oil Money. Vice President Atiku Abubakar has alleged that over $500 million of the money realised during the 2002/2003 oil licensing bids cannot be accounted for by the current authorities of Nigeria's government led by retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo. He raised the question: "About $700m was realised during the 2002/2003 bidding rounds but only the sum of about $145m was released to the PTDF. At this point, the pertinent question to ask is: where is the balance and who used it and under what law or which appropriation sub-head." ANNIVERSARY
 SPECIAL:
Why
Martin
Luther King's
legacy
and
vision are relevant into 21st century. By Chido Nwangwu.
As an African
in America, as a recent immigrant who has been blessed by
the graciousness, business opportunities, global breadth and
hospitality of Americans, I have cause to be thankful for
benefiting from the vision, personal sacrifice and peaceful
soldiering of the late Martin Luther King, who sought to
create an atmosphere which fosters harmony and acceptance of
all our unique talents and racial origins.
On this day/week of
the post-humous celebration of birthday, I believe that the
existing global alliance of all humankind, representing the
full tapestry of our ethnic/racial origins as Indians,
Caucasians, Blacks, Jews, Asians, and a multitude of other
backgrounds should, markedly, advance Dr. King's vision and
efforts should do more by utilizing technological tools,
networking personal discipline, boosting religious and
communal re-orientation to fight all forms of discrimination
and intolerance into the 21st century. Why? We must
all remember the fact that although King and his colleagues
fought and died to achieve the cause of racial harmony and
peaceful resolution of conflicts, there
are more sophisticated forms of discrimination which
besmirch our collective dignity as God's
children. INTERVIEW: USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu on the U.S National Public radio affiliate KPFT to analyze the oil-related events in Nigeria, Dec 27, 2006.POPE'S MESSAGE ON MORALITY and SOCIETY: Pope Benedict XVI delivers a blistering attack on the decadence of today's  society:
"Lord,
we have lost our sense of sin...spreading an
inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan, a
mindless desire for transgression, a dishonest and frivolous
freedom, exalting impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness
as if they were new heights of sophistication."
"Lord Jesus, our affluence is making us less human, our entertainment has become a drug, a source of alienation, and our society's incessant, tedious message is an invitation to die of selfishness." During the Good Friday April 14, 2006 message, he delivers one of the strongest meditations and warns against the attack on the family. "Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family." The Pope will also confront the question of evil in the
world in a meditation that asks: "Where is Jesus in the
agony of our own time, in the division of our world into
belts of prosperity and belts of poverty . . . in one room
they are concerned about obesity, in the other, they are
begging for charity?" Click
here for full report by Ruth Gledhill, Religion
correspondent of The Times of London.
INSIGHT: Genocide and why Nigeria does not deserve UN Security Council seat. By Professor Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, contributing editor of USAfricaonline.com. The weekend of  March
26, 2006, it appears very likely that Nigeria will, after
all, hand over Liberian fugitive leader Charles Taylor
(currently on exile in Nigeria) to the Freetown-based UN
court investigating war crimes in conflicts in and around
Sierra Leone. But we must note that in the
past 40 years, Nigeria has been run by a succession of
genocidist generals and other operatives (military and
civilian alike) who planned, executed and sustained the Igbo
genocide. The current head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo,
commanded a notorious division in southern Igboland which
committed indescribable atrocities as it overran cities,
towns and villages. Neither he (who has been head of state
for a total of nine years during the period) nor any of his
colleagues (most of whom are still alive) has apologised or
shown remorse for their crimes against humanity. On the
contrary. In fact Yakubu Gowon, who was head of state and
grand overseer of the genocide, only recently told the press
in Enugu (political and cultural capital of Igboland) that
he had "nothing to apologise" to the Igbo. Before he shot
himself in a Berlin bunker in 1945, few would have expected
Adolf Hitler to apologise or show remorse for his organised
genocide of six million Jews across Europe during the Second
World War. Hardly anyone, though, would wish to contemplate
a Hitler travelling to Jerusalem today to address a press
conference in which he would insist categorically: "I have
nothing to apologise for the six
million Jews my forces annihilated between 1939 and
1945. What I did was right." That would be unimaginable
monstrosity. But this was precisely what Gowon did at Enugu
a fortnight ago.
Nigeria's "bid" to join the Security Council could not have provided the world with a better opportunity to deal with the crux of contemporary Africa's malaise: the non-accountability of African leaderships who employ genocide and the pillage of the economy as a twin-track instrument of power. No country in Africa is more appropriate for the world to enforce this accountability than where the disease emerged in the first place on the continent &endash; Nigeria, the quintessentially failed and genocide-state. Special to USAfricaonline.com, USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston; IgboEvents blog and CLASS magazine DEMOCRACY WATCH: Senator Udoma: Why I opposed 3rd term for Obasanjo or anyone. VIEWPOINT: Obasanjo, Go! Just go! Prof. Wole Soyinka Why Bush should focus on dangers facing Nigeria's return to democracy and Obasanjo's slipperyslide. By Chido Nwangwu USAfricaonline.com Insight: Islam and Christianity clashes in Nigeria. Is Obasanjo really up to Nigeria's crises and challenge? By Ken Okorie, editorial board member of USAfrica Also see Transcript CNN International Interview Sept 17, 2002 with Nigeria's President Obasanjo and USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu on Democracy and Security Issues HEALTHWATCH: South Africa labour boss slams Mbeki on AIDS. INSIGHT: OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? by Chido Nwangwu (written and published in October 1998, updated in 2003) USAfricaonline.com archived background insight: The coup in Cote d'Ivoire and its implications for democracy in Africa. (Related commentary) Coup in Cote d'Ivoire has been in the waiting. By Tom Kamara. U.S. First Lady Bush, Sec of State Rice in Liberia for inauguration of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected President in Africa. Related insight: Liberia's bloody mess and hopes of a battered nation. By Chido Nwangwu Liberia: Death by installment. By Chido Nwangwu, June 21, 1996. Obasanjo and Bush 'monitored' while Liberia was murdered. Exclusive: OJUKWU says "  Until
my last dying breath, I shall continue to think of
my
Jerusalem, Biafra!" Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu speaks
also on his secret August 2004 meeting with Nigeria's
president Obasanjo.... "before I
left, he (Obasanjo) then said to me, "You know, we have no
problem; but there's one thing you must do for me." I said
to him, "What is it?" And he said, "Renounce Biafra so that
we can work together!" My response was, "No, never! How can
I? You see, Omo-Oba, I came to you thinking I was coming to
a friend, and all you can ask of me is to commit suicide. I
don't know what type of friendship this is. No, you're
groping...." Interview by Prof. Kalu
Ogbaa appears in full on USAfricaonline.com.
It is being serialized across the multimedia platforms of
USAfrica, CLASS
magazine and IgboEvents
Related Interview: Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu: "It was simply a choice between Biafra and enslavement."By Chido Nwangwu  Johnson-Sirleaf Africa's first female president from Liberia's 2005 presidential race. Harvard-trained Iron Lady Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been elected the first female president in Africa following a commanding advantage over football great George Weah in Liberia's post-war presidential runoff in November 2005. The 66-year-old grandmother and former finance minister had 59.2 percent of the votes while the 39-year-old former FIFA player ofthe year had 40.8 percent, Frances Johnson-Morris, chairwoman of the National Elections Commission, told a news conference. The results, she said, are from 2,719 of the 3,070 polling stations across the war-torn west African country. Analysts fear the worst that angry supporters of Weah, mostly youth, might turn to violence over the fraud allegations if he lost to Liberia's foremost female politician. Weah and Johnson-Sirleaf obtained 28.3 percent and 19.8 percent respectively in thefirst round. Liberia, founded in 1847 by freed American slaves, experienced a bloody civil war from 1989 to 2003 in which an estimated 250,000people, about eight percent of its population, died and about one million made refugees. Meanwhile, the first woman to be nominated and aspired as a candidate for vice president of Nigeria, Mrs. Oyibo Odinamadu has ain an e-mail to USAfricaonline.com described the strides of Dr. Sirleaf as "a very wonderful and exhilarating news... Liberia is now in the line of liberated nations." USAfricaFORUM: What Africans need is Economic Democracy and Not Aid. I subscribe to the group which argues that Africans do not need more aid from the rich nations; that what Africans need is economic democracy. Africans need freedom to chart their own future. Africans need the freedom to decide how the vast mineral resources in the continent can be marketed. The second largest continent in the world is rich with abundance of natural and human resources. If these resources are put in proper use, Africa will be self sufficient, and should not need any aid from any country or group of nations......By Ezekiel Nwakwue. South Africa labour boss slams Mbeki on AIDS. South Africa's top trade unionist has attacked President Thabo Mbeki for failing to stem a raging AIDS pandemic in the latest sign of discord between the ruling African National Congress and its labour allies. "This lack of government leadership on HIV is a betrayal of our people and our struggle," USAfricaNEWSBANK: Why the American FBI officers raided home of Nigeria's VP Atiku in Potomac, reportedly regarding iGate telecomm deal and payments to Nigerian and Ghana officials. On the same 
day that federal agents executed search warrants on the New
Orleans and Washington, D.C., homes of U.S. Rep. William
Jefferson, the FBI also raided the Maryland residence of
Nigeria's vice president, seeking evidence of possible
payments to officials in that African nation.
A State Department official confirmed the Aug. 3 search of the Potomac, Md., home of Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his wife, Jennifer. The agency referred all quest ions about the raid to the Justice Department, which declined to comment. A source familiar with the investigation said subpoenas show agents were looking for records showing whether Jefferson, D-New Orleans, paid, offered to pay or authorized payments to officials in the government of Nigeria or Ghana. The subpoenas, described to The Times-Picayune, seek documents related to Jefferson's dealings with Abubakar and the vice president of Ghana, Alhaji Aliu Mahama. Jefferson returned from a five-day visit to Ghana in mid-July, about three weeks before the FBI raided his homes. CLICK here for Full report by The Times Picayune newspaper of New Orleans. Mandela's 87th birthday focus on his legacy, message beyond the man.... Nelson Mandela's 87th birthday and festivities kicked off at one minute past midnight on Monday morning July 18, 2005, with a fireworks extravaganza on Robbenma 
Island and the lighting of a torch in Mandela's former
prison cell. The torch-lighting was the first step in the
Six Day 46664 Torch Run Relay, in which the torch is to be
carried on a route winding through the nine provinces as an
inclusive celebration of Mandela's birthday.
The relay is to use the network of
the South African Rugby's 14 unions around the country and
runners are to carry the torch for distances ranging from
200 metres to a kilometre. "We hope to collect more than a
million messages by July 23, and we ask people to monitor
the vehicle's progress," said John Samuel, head of the
Nelson Mandela Foundation. Parties, lectures, a rugby match
and the launch of a comic series were some of the
festivities celebrating Madiba's 87th birthday.
|
Libya Begins Payments for US Terror Victims. (AP) Libya has started making payments into a fund to compensate the families of American victims of Libyan-linked terror attacks in the 1980s, another step in the full normalization of long-strained ties between Washington and Tripoli, a senior U.S. official said Thursday. The ''substantial amount'' deposited into a U.S. bank account is not the full amount needed to fulfill a compensation agreement reached earlier this year, but the official said it demonstrated Libya's willingness to resolve outstanding claims, particularly over the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland and the 1986 bombing of a German disco. ''We believe that direct deposit of these funds ... is evidence of Libya's commitment to fully implementing the claims settlement agreement,'' the official told reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement. ''This initial deposit to implement the claims agreement demonstrates Libya's commitment to fully resolving outstanding claims,'' the official said. ''We will continue to work with Libya to ensure the expeditious receipt of the remaining agreed funds to compensate the victims and families.'' Investor Warren Buffett calls U.S. crisis an 'Economic Pearl Harbor.' By Linda Shen and Andrew Frye. (Bloomberg). Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, calling the market turmoil "an economic Pearl Harbor,'' said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion proposal to prop up the U.S. financial system is "absolutely necessary.'' "The market could not have taken another week'' like last week, Buffett told CNBC (on Sept. 24, 2008), a day after saying his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will buy a $5 billion stake in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. "I think it was the last thing Hank Paulson wanted to do, but there's no Plan B for this.'' USAfricaonline.com FORUM: Africa should break World Bank's hold on the continent's economy. By Ejike Okpa II Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change failed again to break a deadlock over forming a Cabinet after reaching a power-sharing deal, an MDC spokesman has said. "After the meeting of the negotiators last night, there has been no shift and the deadlock has not been broken. What we want is genuine power-sharing, not a false marriage," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. "The issue is about ZANU-PF not appreciating that this is not an exclusive ZANU-PF government. They want all the ministries and we obviously can't countenance that." USAfricaonline.com NEWS INSIGHT: Utomi calls on Nigerians to learn from Mbeki's resignation, South Africa's democracy. Professor Pat Utomi, public policy analyst and former Presidentia  l
candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has said
on September 22, 2008 that his fellow Nigerians should see
Mbeki's moves as an example of a leader bowing to the wishes
of a majority of his constituents. "An important point for
us Nigerians to note is that resigning from public office is
not the end of the world but show of respect for the
supremacy of a democratic system" He stated that Mbeki's
response is "sending strong signals to all people in
undemocratic settings; and this is what matters most in a
democracy. Once, as a leader, Thabo Mbeki is seen as being
out of line by the people who rose with one voice through
the ANC machinery, civil society, and other opposition
platforms; it is significant that he responded appropriately
to the peoples' wishes. In so doing, Mbeki makes a fact of
the point that he is a true democrat because people very
often mistake bowing out of public service as a defeat or
failure."
Utomi argued that "In a democracy however, bowing out simply means taking responsibility for a shortcoming of one's administration until the time of his/her vindication and so, return to the arena. In this, a leader displays accountability and responsiveness to the electorate by owning up to the failure of an administrative action. Regrettably, this is something we have not learnt in Nigeria and which we must strive to institute such as it becomes the culture in our leadership activities", he concluded. Click here for the Utomi insight/report FLASHBACK,
September 25:CHUBA OKADIGBO: A big tree has fallen (1941-2003). On September 25, 2003, Philosopher, scholar, strategist, wordsmith, publisher, activist, orator, traditionalist (Oyi of Oyi) and former 
President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
died at the age of 61 following tear-gassing by Nigeria's
police/security at his own political party's rally. Chuba
told me in an interview during the 2002 World Igbo Congress
in Houston that "Nigeria's President Obasanjo is sorely
lacking in the mannerisms of running a democratic
government. We fell out because I insisted and worked
constitutionally on the principle of separation powers. He
believe he owns the government. He's a soldier and acts like
one. But this is a democracy." He fell out with Obasanjo and
the party, PDP, and said the following in Nigeria "Now, the
Nigerian polity is sick of second term syndrome, a
threatening political cancer. Sadly, I must say that the
PDP, which had been a big party of the people, is fast
becoming a problem party for Obasanjo and his associates,
which is run by his sycophantic cronies. They now lie
prostrate in the trauma wing of a political hospital. Some
good persons have been trying to nurse the PDP back to good
health. But Obasanjo and his cronies are unwilling to let
go, due to their 'second term' mania. So, what next? We all
know that nothing succeeds like failure...." Excerpts
from the exclusive tribute-profile written a few days
after his death in September 25, 2003 by USAfricaonline.com
Founder Chido
Nwangwu
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Moody/Reuters. Former South African Defense Minister Mosiuoa
Lekota said on Wednesday the ruling ANC was close to a split
but stopped short of announcing a breakaway party. "It seems
that we are serving today divorce papers," Lekota said at a
news conference after complaining at length about
organizations, and news reports least 1052 killed
into the first week of February 2008
By Prof. Pat Utomi,