wiilqurbo

Massacre

2009-01-06T21:22:00.000-08:00

An Israeli attack has killed more than 30 people mostly children inside a UN school in the Gaza Strip, and nobody condemns this barbaric act. What if these children were European? Do the Palestinian people have the right to live and protect themselves? The truth is the crimes against humanity only exist when the victims are white or non Muslims. Many people questioning the deadly silence of Arab leaders, and I believe that no one can help these innocence Palestinian people. I am totally against violence against but the Palestinian people must do whatever it takes to protect and to free themselves from this oppression government.

Ezra

2008-04-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ezra is the first film to present an African perspective on the disturbing phenomenon of abducting child soldiers into the continent's recent civil wars. I watched this film at Cascade Festival of African Films.

Sierra Leone, a 6 year old boy named Ezra (Mamodou) is kidnapped, drugged, and brainwashed by rebels who seek to overthrow the Sierra Leone government, and he become a killer machine for the civil war. Seven years later, Ezra's sister (Mariame N’Diaye) comes before a truth and reconciliation tribunal with stories of her teenage brother's bloodbath, as Ezra denies any knowledge of these crimes, he claims that he was a political soldier and killing people is what soldiers do, flashbacks explain his ordeal. Ten years ago, a group of rebels invade Ezra’s schoolyard and start firing machine guns. Six-year-old Ezra, together with other children, is caught and abducted. Taken away to a distant rebel camp, they are injected with methamphetamines, brainwashed into fighting machines. They sent on a four-day killing rampage. Ezra ends up assisting the murder of his own parents, as his sister testified.

Director: Newton I. Aduaka

Producer: Gorune Aprikian and Michel Loro

Cast: Mamoudu Turay Kamara, Mariame N'Diaye, Mamusu Kallon and Richard Gant

the end of civilization

2008-01-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

A failed state that functions

2008-01-24T15:25:00.000-08:00

I came across this article
Source: African Business magazine
Author: Nevin, Tom

Somalia has no government to speak of or functioning official institutions and it is battle scarred and chaotic but, and here is the surprise, it works remarkably well. Tom Nevin explains
Superficially and by reputation, Somalia is the quintessential failed state. Closer inspection of this African horn country's born-again economy however, reveals a unique determination to survive and the universal resilience of the entrepreneur.
More recently it has had to face the added challenge of an armed insurgency in the south, invasion by rampaging Ethiopian troops, air attacks by US fighter jets and street battles in the capital Mogadishu. But, as a nation, it still works better than many of its peers in Africa and the world is wondering why. Businesspeople there say the lack of bureaucracy helps to get things going faster and more efficiently
"After the autocratic regime of Siad Barre fell in 1991, the country collapsed into civil war. Peace has been established in some regions, but Somalia has only limited government in the northwest and no recognised government in the south. In these circumstances the private sector has been surprisingly innovative," say Tatiana Nenova and Tim Harford, both economists at the World Bank, in a report.
Competition thrives in markets where transactions are simple, such as retail and construction. In more complex sectors, such as electricity supply and telecommunications, the private solutions are flawed but impressive.
Prices are attractive compared with those in other countries. In extremely difficult circumstances the private sector has demonstrated its much-vaunted capacity to make do. To cope with the absence of the rule of law, private enterprises used foreign jurisdictions or institutions to help with some tasks, operating within networks of trust to strengthen property rights, and simplifying transactions until they need neither. This is where the Islamic courts, later to become the focus of attacks by the US, came into their own.
Somalia's private sector experience suggests that it might be easier than is commonly thought for basic systems of finance and some infrastructure services to function where government is extremely weak or absent.
Peter Davis of the US-based Ethical Corporation agrees. "Despite the chaos and the lack of any central government," he says, "Somalia has one of the most efficient telephone systems in the region. It takes just three days for a landline to be installed, compared with the waiting time of many years in neighboring Kenya where a stable, democratic system has been in place for half a century."
Businesspeople in Somalia and intrigued observers from other parts of Africa and the world have come to the consensus that it is the lack of bureaucracy and other government interventions that lets things happen quickly and efficiently.
According to the World Bank, Somalia now has 112,000 fixed lines and 50,000 mobile subscribers, up from a total of 17,000 lines in 1991. Competition between rival suppliers has resulted in some of Africa's lowest call costs. In addition, problems such as allowing calls between different networks are resolved through the Somali Telecoms Association. This body, based in Dubai, represents all the telecoms companies, as well as the International Telecommunication Union.
Creative approaches
"Only when it comes to public goods or to private goods with strong spillover effects - roads, monetary stability, a legal system, primary education, a cross-border financial system - does the state seem to be sorely missed," say Nenova and Harford. "But even here the private sector has developed creative approaches that partially substitute for effective government. As a result, Somalia boasts lower rates of extreme poverty and, in some cases, better infrastructure than richer countries in Africa.
Despite the chaos and the absence of a state structure, other sectors are also operating successfully. In supplying electricity, enterprising companies are bridging the governance gap.
"There is no functioning national grid so entrepreneurs have divided cities into manageable sectors and provide electricity on a local basis using generators bought overseas," reports Davis. "These providers offer households a menu of choices, including daytime, evening or 24-hour supply, and charge per light bulb."
He says local businesspeople find it easier to do business in a country where there is no government. "There is no need to obtain licences and, in contrast with many other parts of Africa, there is no state-run monopoly that prevents new competitors setting up. Keeping prices low is helped by the absence of any need to pay taxes."
Competition keeps prices low
Somali entrepreneurs have used three methods to compensate for the lack of effective government regulation. "First," say Nenova and Harford, "importing governance by relying on foreign institutions - for example, for airline safety, currency stability and company law. Second, using clans and other local networks of trust to help with contract enforcement, payment and transmission of funds; and third, simplifying transactions until they can be carried out without help from either the clan or the international economy."
Many local companies have teamed up with such international giants as Sprint of the US and Norway's Telenor providing mobile phones and building new landlines. Keen competition has forced prices down to well below typical levels in Africa. Public water supply is limited to urban areas, but a private system extends to all parts of the country as entrepreneurs build concrete catchments, drill private boreholes or ship water in from the cities.
In 1989 the national air carrier operated just one airplane and one international route. Today the sector comprises 15 firms, more than 60 aircraft, six international destinations, more domestic routes and many more flights. "But safety is a concern," report Nenova and Harford. "Airports lack trained air traffic controllers, fire services, runway lights and a sealed perimeter against stray animals; and checks on aircraft are inadequate." Carriers operate out of Djibouti, Dubai and Nairobi using the facilities there to check aircraft safety.
Generally speaking, commercial enterprises are able to satisfy consumer demands unencumbered by government interference.
"The government post and telecoms company used to have a monopoly," says a spokesman for one telephone company, Telcom Somalia, "but after the regime was toppled, we were free to set up our own businesses. We saw a huge gap in the market, as all previous services had been destroyed. There was a massive demand."
While Somalia exists in a law-and-order vacuum in the western sense, there is a functional court system that ensures that bills are paid and contracts are enforced through the thread of justice that binds the country's traditional clan system. Disputes are commonly settled at the clan level, by traditional systems run by elders and with the clan collecting damages. Such legal measures are free and fast, and sometimes the justice can be rough and unfair. Security is a neighbourhood-to-neighbourhood watch that keeps order in the patchwork of hundreds of fiefdoms run by rival warlords.
The hawala system, a trust-based money transfer structure used in many Muslim countries, moves around $1bn into Somalia each year, and it works surprisingly well allowing Somalis working abroad to send money to family members in even small and remote towns.
Social welfare today, as it has been for generations, is a clan matter. Clan members look after each other and the saying goes that an injury to one clan member is an injury to all. The strength of the clan system can also become the cause of conflict as various clans fight for scare resources, or to carve out territories for themselves.

cheap and empty promise

2007-06-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Two years after pledging to double aid to Africa and opening new opportunities for African exports, donor nations are falling behind in fulfilling their promises. Africa can develop with the resources in its possession, so long as there is no external interference and there is fair trade and democracy. African leaders should realize that poverty in their countries needs to be addressed from within the country; no single country has ever developed by depending on aid from its former masters. Any aid that is provided should be done so with fewer strings attached. One of the reasons why Africa is not getting enough foreign direct investment, which they needs for its development, is the persistent negative reporting. When it comes to underdevelopment and poverty, western media exaggerate the issue. Poverty is portrayed in the western media and they make poverty an exclusive African problem. The popular images of Africa in the West include the Dark Continent characterized by primeval irrationality, tribal anarchy, civil war, political instability, flagrant corruption, incompetent leadership and managerial ineptitude, hunger, famine and starvation as well as rampant diseases, especially HIV/ AIDS. Undoubtedly, Africa needs to rise and take its pride of place in global affairs by putting its house in order.
The rich nations only know how to set beautiful goals such as making poverty history and eliminate child diseases but they do not know how to reach these wonderful goals. They also promised to forgive most of the debt which the poor African countries are suffering. In this year (2007) they announced their decision on a commitment of $60 billion for AIDS, TB and malaria money, this is cheap and empty promise. What Africa needs is trade and they should learn to trade with each other first. They should not be rushed to compete with the West. It’s still a newly independent continent and still developing. Africa does not need Angelina Jolie or Bono or western hand outs. What Africa needs is good policies, fair trade, and good governance.

UK Then and Now

2007-04-14T01:37:00.000-07:00

Different culture

2007-04-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

Diabetes, hypertension and other obesity-related diseases have become more common in youngsters. The percentage of children and adolescents who are overweight and obese is now higher than ever before. Poor dietary habits, inactivity, and of course culture (as you see in this cartoon) are to contribute to the increase of obesity in Children

Hope & Dream

2007-04-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

On March 6, 1957, Ghana became the first country in Africa south of the Sahara to gain independence from colonial rule. Fifty years later on 6 March, Ghana celebrated their first 50 years of independence, and I was proud to celebrate with them.
A week before the celebration friend of mine invited me and asked me to be one of the keynote speakers I humbly accepted his invitation. The next day I research my topic which was Nkrumah’s vision of United States of Africa. Before I started my research, I asked my self is it possible to see United Sates of Africa, can Africa emerge from the chaos and the poverty, and why Africa is underdeveloped; unfortunately I couldn’t answer the first question but I know that The United States of Africa was dream cherished from the earliest days of pan-Africanism. I believe the failure of the post-colonial state is the root cause of the poverty and the violence that is plunging whole swathes of Africa into chaos. Western imperialism interrupted the process of state building. Nkrumah once said that “Ghana’s independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent” He became international symbol of freedom as the leader of the first black African country to shake off the chains of colonial rule. The night of the celebration I went to the Hotel which is held the ceremony everyone was happy; there was sense of unity, joy, and national sense of pride. One of my professors who is from Ghana asked me couple of questions. He said why are you (Somali) still fighting The Somali people share a common language, culture, and religion; unlike Ghana we have many different languages, and religions. I told him we the Somali people are not hopeless, we still have a dream, and we will rise above. After the celebration I left the party with hope, dreams, and heart-broken. I hoped that all the Ghanaian people bright future, unity, and anther 50 year of happiness and prosperity. I dreamed about our first 50 years of independence which will be July 1 of 2010, but when I remembered the situation of our land I really disappointed, and I couldn’t sleep that night