South Sudan rebel Gatluak Gai killed after peace deal

 

23 July 2011 Last updated at 08:23 ET

By James Copnall BBC News, Khartoum

 

 

A key South Sudanese rebel leader, Col Gatluak Gai, who this week signed a peace deal with the government, has been killed.

The exact circumstances of his death are disputed.
Col Gai was shot in the early hours of Saturday morning despite having apparently been reconciled with the South Sudanese army.
South Sudan became independent earlier this month, but is facing at least half a dozen armed rebellions.
The incident happened at or near the district of Pakur in Unity State.
Colonel Gai began his rebellion following elections last year, after the candidate he supported for state governor was controversially declared to be the loser.
This week Col Gai signed a peace agreement with the South Sudan army and was due to be reintegrated into it.

Heineken CEO: Nigeria Is A Safer Place For Our Company Than Greece

Mamta Badkar  

At breakfast in Davos, Heineken CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer, told executives at the conference that he thought Nigeria is safer for his company than Greece, according to DealBook.

He is reported to have said: “Nigeria is more predictable than Greece. I’m speaking of our business."

Boxmeer said he gauged a country by three primary criteria:

Jean-François van Boxmeer,

Chief Executive, Heineken

1. Population

2. GDP growth

3. Stability.

Though his advice may be a good rule of thumb he pointed out that perhaps this made sense because his company was in the business of making beer. In keeping with his statement though, Heineken acquired two business in Nigeria on January 12, a move that will boost its capacity to 3.7 million hectoliters. 

In their third quarter earnings report, the company released a statement attributing a 1% drop in volume in Central and Eastern Europe and a drop in consumption due to austerity measures in places like Greece. In comparison there was 12% volume growth in Africa with Nigeria accounting for the most growth in the region.

 http://www.businessinsider.com/heineken-nigeria-greece-2011-1#ixzz1SxsX2TBO

Sudan musicians fear return to the 'Stone Age'

 

Khartoum hip-hop group Rezoulution say
 they free to rap about politics - up to a point

  

Sudan's musicians have gone from persecuted outcasts to high-profile stars. Now, as a referendum on the south's possible independence approaches, there are fears that the same combination of ideology and politics might send them packing again, writes the BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum.

When hardline Islamists took control of Sudan in 1989, they made it clear that a lot of music was not acceptable.
"Women and the arts are the two great casualties of the Islamists," says Sudanese human rights activist Albaqir Alafif Mukhtar.
Songs about that old musical staple - romantic love - were particularly frowned upon.
Some musicians were banned from staging concerts and many musicians, artists and intellectuals fled the country.
At the time the Muslim north, which implemented Sharia law, was engaged in a devastating civil war with the south, where most people follow Christianity and traditional religions.

Africa loses $1.4bn yearly to spectrum colonisation

LAGOS – Chief Executive Officer of Asia Broadcast Satellite, ABS, Limited, Mr Thomas Choi, has said Africa and the Middle-East lose at least $1.4 billion annually in local market share due to spectrum colonisation.
This loss, however, goes to Europe and American markets.
Choi said this, weekend, in a paper, entitled: Spearheading Connectivity and Diversifying Revenue Streams, at the ongoing SATCOM Africa event in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He revealed that currently, the global revenue around the world, for all satellite services including the Direct to Home, DTH TV operations, was about $65 billion with the over 200 satellites in the orbit.
The revenue stream, however, favours Europe which has about 90 per cent market share, North and South America which have 90 per cent market share and Asia which has 70 per cent market share. It leaves Africa and the Middle-East which have 17 per cent market share in the lurch.
He, however, noted that in North and South America and Europe, Asia, there are local satellite operators who have their own spectrum licences that are providing services to their own local customers in their markets.
For him, all the money generated in this activity, remain in their markets. He said even worse for Africa was that about 90 per cent of available satellite spectrum belong to countries other than Africa and Middle-East, allowing such countries to put satellite over and above Africa.
He said: “Because the available spectrum right have been taken up by Europe, America and Asia, these countries serve over 80 per cent of the total satellite demand and even those coming from the African and the Middle- East regions.”

Islamic banking stirs up controversy in religiously-divided Nigeria

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is fielding criticism for exacerbating the country's sectarian problems by allowing Islamic banking to make its debut in Nigeria.

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By Alex Thurston, Guest blogger / June 27, 2011

Since last week, English and Hausa media in Nigeria have been closely following a controversy over Islamic banking in the country. At the center of the controversy is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the dynamic and outspoken governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Since his tenure began in July 2009, Governor Sanusi’s bold moves to fire bankers and restructure banks have attracted worldwide attention. This year he is one of Time‘s 100 most influential people. Sanusi is no stranger to controversy: he has already locked horns with Nigerian lawmakers and the International Monetary Fund. Neither is he a stranger to the intricacies of Islamic thought: he is the grandson of an emir of Kano, he holds a degree in shari’a from Sudan, and he has debated religious topics with some of Nigeria’s most famous Muslim leaders.

A comprehensive look at the history of attacks by Nigeria's Boko Haram

Boko Haram has been receiving more attention from the international community and media since its June 16 attack in Abuja. The scrutiny warrants a look at its history.

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  Alex Thurston, Guest blogger / July 1, 2011

 

Fire fighters, put out a fire following an

 explosion, at the police headquarters,

in Abuja, Nigeria on June 16, 2011.

Boko Haram, a Muslim rebel movement based in northeastern Nigeria, is a frequent topic on this blog and has been a subject of increasing scrutiny by journalists and policymakers following the June 16 bombing at the police headquarters in Abuja. What follows is a list of Boko Haram’s attacks from July 2009 to the present. Given the vast number of incidents linked to Boko Haram, it is nearly impossible to compile a comprehensive list, but I’ve done the best I can. Please forgive the occasional inaccuracy or omission, and let me know if I’ve left out any incident.
There are a number of background pieces that give insights into Boko Haram. The BBC has a special report from Maiduguri, the stronghold of the movement. Reuters has a helpful Q&A on the movement, and al Jazeera has a backgrounder from 2010.

Why Nigeria's tactics with the militant Boko Haram may not work

 

The Nigerian government's strategy for dealing with Boko Haram is based on its experience with militants in the Niger Delta, but Boko Haram's different grievances means those tactics may not work.

 

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 Alex Thurston, Guest blogger / July 20, 2011

“If our dear late President Umaru Yar’Adua can restore peace to a more volatile area like the Niger Delta by extending Amnesty to the militants of the region and dialogue with them by resolving most of their grievances amicably, I don’t see why we can’t do the same to the Boko Haram.”
- Governor-elect (now Governor) Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Nigeria, May 2011

Shattered remnants are seen at the site of a bomb blast at a bar near a police barracks in the Nigerian northeastern city of Maiduguri on July 3. The explosion killed at least five people and injured 10 more, the latest apparent attack by radical Islamist sect Boko Haram.

Reuters

In 2009, President Umaru Yar’Adua launched an amnesty program that aimed to disarm, reintegrate, and employ militants in the Niger Delta. Prior to this, local anger over the failure of oil revenues to substantially benefit communities gave rise to armed movements that disrupted oil production. The government had deployed soldiers (the Joint Task Force or JTF) and militants, but only the amnesty seemed to offer a chance of lasting peace. The government’s two-pronged approach to the Delta – crackdown, then amnesty – helped tamp down the conflict there, though rumblings of discontent in the Delta, along with new threats from militants, indicate that it could resume.