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NEWS from AEFJN - April 2008 Print E-mail
Written by AEFJN   
Thursday, 17 April 2008
SMALL ARMS AND LIGHT WEAPONS

All state-owned firearms in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region are to be marked with serial numbers and country codes, according to a renewed agreement made by states last week at a meeting organised by RECSA (Regional Centre for Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes Region, the Horn of Africa and Bordering States). The markings will be added at the point of manufacture, import or transfer. This information will then be entered into a national database. National Focal Point Coordinators from each of the 12 states were instructed in the marking process, stockpile management and database creation during the meeting.
www.iansa.org
The UN arms embargo on the DR Congo has been significantly weakened by a resolution adopted by the Security Council on 31 March. The embargo will remain for armed groups, but it has been weakened for troops associated with the government. Previously, the embargo had exemptions for all Congolese military units except those in the Eastern conflict zones composed of combatants that had not yet been fully integrated within the army. According to UN reports, there are thousands of these combatants who will now be able to import weapons legally. Amnesty International has reported that these units are still committing human rights abuses, confirming that the weakening of the embargo was premature.

http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=17008

Liberia has initiated the ratification process of the Economic Community of West African States Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons, their ammunition and related materials. The ratification process was marked with a ceremony in Monrovia on 4 April.

http://www.analystliberia.com/ecowas_small_arms_convention_zooms_in_liberia_apr07_08.html



AFRICA: CLIMATE CHANGE LINKED TO SPREAD OF DISEASE

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77675
Climate change is emerging as a major threat to health and adding pressure on public health systems, especially in Africa, a senior UN official has said. "It causes a rise in sea levels, accelerates erosion of coastal zones, increases the intensity and frequency of natural disasters and accelerates the extinction of species," Luis Gomes Sambo, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa, said. "The impact on human health is even greater."
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/46990


INDIA’S GROWING ROLE IN AFRICA
The world's two most populous countries, China and India, are now seriously competing with each other to engage resource-rich Africa, theeby imparting a new dimension to South-South relations. From Apr. 7-9 New Delhi hosted heads of government of 12 African nation-states and a similar number of regional economic groupings. Many see this as a modest answer by India to the grand Africa summit that Beijing hosted in 2006. Among heads of government expected were Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Joseph Kabila Kabange of Democratic Republic of Congo, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, John Kufuor of Ghana, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, Maitre Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Tertius Zongo of Burkina Faso, and Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania.
The New Delhi meeting will be attended by leading functionaries of the African Union, various regional economic communities and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Notable absentees were Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
While this is the first time India is organising such a large summit of African leaders, this country has had long links with the continent. "Indian traders once sold glass beads to an eager African market (and) now its expertise centres on science and technology," observes a media release of the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). The release added: "China's inroads into Africa are well known; India's approach has been much quieter. The India-Africa Forum meets for the first time offering a fresh insight into this modern-day scramble for Africa."
A government of India official told IPS, who may not be named according to briefing rules, that unlike "China's greed for Africa's oil, copper and other minerals quota, India is more interested in longer-term economic partnerships that are mutually beneficial and do not replicate colonial systems of exploitation of African wealth. » This official pointed out that India had for long supported South Africa's anti-apartheid movement because of the personal involvement of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the 'father' of the Indian nation, who had cut his political teeth in that country. More recently, India was the first country to send United Nations sponsored troops to Congo.
The Indian government has, in addition, supported technical exchange and training programmes in most African countries. For more than four decades now, 1,000 individuals from sub-Saharan countries have been provided technical training in India each year. Besides, there are an estimated 15,000 students of African origin currently studying in Indian universities and educational institutions, many of them on government scholarships. Pointing out that the "waters of the Indian Ocean united us" and that India and Africa had a lot of common civilisational heritage and shared experience of colonialism", India's Minister for External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee, recently said "our commitment to solutions based on common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability remains steadfast".
Ethiopia's Minister of State for Trade and Industry Tadesse Haile, on a visit to India, last year, said this country should be a ''shareholder and not just a stakeholder in Africa's development process''. India has participated in projects relating to rural electrification in Mozambique and Ethiopia, railways in Senegal and Mali, cement in Congo and computer training in Lesotho. Indian companies are involved in building Ghana's National Assembly and military barracks in Sierra Leone.
Private corporate groups in India have had long-standing ties with African countries. For instance, the Tata group has a presence in 14 countries in areas such as hotels, telecommunications, hydro power and transportation. The word 'Tata' is synonymous with 'bus' in a country like Uganda, writes Seema Sirohi, Indian journalist for the 'Outlook' magazine who was recently in Johannesburg. http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/



The food situation in the Sahel and West Africa: Risks linked to the increase in prices of food products.

Food Crises Prevention Network (FCPN)
1. The trend towards rising prices of food products: an international phenomenon
The rise in prices of food products is not only a West African phenomenon, but a global trend. In spite of strong world production of cereals in 2007, estimated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at 2.1 billion tonnes, that is 4.6% more than in 2006, the price of cereals continues to increase. This rise in prices comes at a time when world stocks are falling and demand is increasing.
This is a matter of concern particularly for
(1) industries producing cattle feed because of the growing demand for meat products;
(2) industries producing biofuel.
In January, 2008, the average price for export trade in wheat on the world market was 81 percent higher than in 2007, while the price of corn was at its highest level for the last ten years. There are several explanations for this trend towards higher prices:
(i) the price of petroleum and its effects on the cost of agricultural resources and transportation;
(ii) the exchange rate in the context of the steep fall of the American dollar against other currencies.
The rise in the world price of rice and wheat and the switching of an important part of the demand for them to millet and sorghum may lead to producers keeping back stocks to avoid difficulties of supply, as was the case in 2005. Some countries, such as Mauritania, Cape Verde, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau, which have a major dependence on commercial imports of rice and corn for their food security are particularly vulnerable to this flare-up of international prices for cereals. In these countries, the effect of the rise in prices on urban populations and rural households will be a food deficit.
2. But the local West African situation could also promote this rise in prices
In additional to outside factors linked to the international environment, there are also local conditions which could reinforce this rise in prices, as a result aggravating the problems of poor people getting enough food.
Among these local factors are particularly:
a. The weak levels of production in certain regions of the Sahel, but particularly in some areas with a strong demand for cereals for local brewing or chickenfeed production, in Northern Nigeria, for example. These low levels of production were caused by the drought which came at the end of the rainy season, but also by floods in several regions. According to provisional estimates, the total production of corn in Nigeria was rated at 6.5 million tonnes, that is 1.3 millions less than in 2006. The analysis done by the US Agency for International Development’s Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET) clearly shows that compared to December 2006, prices for local cereals and vegetables in the Dawanu market in Nigeria increased by the following amounts in December 2007: 29% for millet, 54% for corn, 47% for sorghum and 30% for cowpeas. These increases are also seen when present levels are compared to the average of the last five years. In addition, this analysis reveals the same trend towards higher prices for corn in Northern Ghana, in Benin,Togo, Southern Mali, and Burkina Faso.
b. Merchants keeping back cereal stocks in reaction to the floods and droughts, thus also creating a perceptible rise in prices in some regions of the Sahel. In Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, for example, statistics provided by Green Africa show that the prices of cereals did not give way during harvest time up to December 2007. It was only in January 2008 that an insignificant drop in prices was seen in Burkina Faso and Mali. This situation was largely due to the arrival of new crops on the market during the holiday period at the end of December 2007, but also to the operations of the “sale of cereals at social prices” conducted locally by the public authorities in some regions.
c. To summarize, the current indexes, taking into account the rise in prices of cereals and foodstuffs at the international level, added to the local situation marked by low production of cereals localized in areas of high demand like Northern Nigeria and the premature rise in prices of local cereals, indicate that in 2008 there will need to be a very careful monitoring of the likely large increases in the prices of certain foodstuffs.
3. What can be done?
a. Developing measures aimed to protect the people at risk in vulnerable areas, particularly by means of :
Setting up and use of food stocks to lessen possible flare-ups of prices in the vulnerable areas.
Support for the buying power of populations at risk of food and nutrition insecurity by setting up a projects and programs aimed at improving income, so improving their access to foodstuffs.
The promotion of tools to manage crises: to ensure additional provisions through imports, keeping markets liquid, etc.
b. Insisting that the information and warning systems keep vigilantly monitor the dynamics of the markets (prices, flux, and availability) both at the national and regional level, but also at the international level, so that decisions can be taken in good time. This monitoring of the markets should be accompanied by a continuous diffusion of information to support decision making but also to dissuade certain operators from speculating on food prices. The monitoring should also pay particular attention to the effects on the already fragile nutrition situation in the areas structurally at risk and vulnerable, so more likely to have food shortages.
c. Supporting the fluidity of local markets in the region promoting the free circulation of people and goods – thus encouraging intra-regional exchange of agricultural products and foodstuffs.
d. Taking advantage of the opportunity offered by this trend towards rising prices to boost local production of foodstuffs in the region, by
(i) sustained investment in the professionalization of those involved;
(ii) concrete measures in terms of facilitating access to agricultural resources and other factors of production.
Sources of information.
This analytical note from RPCA was based on information or analyses provided by different specialized institutions both members and non-members of the Network. More information can be obtained from their respective websites.
AfriqueVerte :www.afriqueverte.org;Reliefweb:www.reliefweb.int/OCHA:www.humanitarianinfo.org&http://ochaonline.un.org/ ;SISA/CNSA: www.sisabf.net
For better access to information on the food and nutrition situation in the Sahel and West Africa
With the aim of improving access to information on the food and nutrition situation in the region because of the decision to take actions, FCPN has set up a website. Go to: www.food-security.net with your questions on the food and nutrition situation, and particularly if you need analytical documents on the issue.


Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 April 2008 )