Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About

[Yehuda]

As Chad’s Former Dictator Heads to Trial, Impunity for African Despots May Be Coming to an End

Translation posted 12 August 2015 11:59 GMT

Screen Capture of a video of Hissen Habré at trial / YouTube.

The trial of former Chad dictator Hissène Habré is a historical milestone in African history that many hope signals an end to the days of impunity for authoritarian strongmen. Though the trial was postponed until September, two days after it opened on July 20, it's still a groundbreaking event in Africa. Habre is accused of war crimes, torture, and crimes against humanity.

From 1982 to 1990, Habré's regime was infamous for human rights abuses and atrocities. Known in the international press as “Africa's Pinochet,” Habré's government periodically engaged in ethnic cleansing against various groups andkilled thousands of opponents who were deemed to be threats to the regime.

The international nonprofit group TRIAL (Track Impunity Always) is a Geneva-based human rights organization that thorough investigated the crimes perpetuated by Habré's administration. Here is its account of the type of abuses committed during Habré's eight years in power:

During the eight years of the Habré's regime, there were many reports of mass arrests, mass killings, and the persecution of ethnic groups whose leaders he perceived as threats to his regime, including Sara and other southern groups (in year 1984), Arabs and Hadjaraï (in 1987) and the Zaghawa in 1989. In 1992, an investigative commission conducted by the Chadian Ministry of Justice and mandated by President Idriss Deby charged the government Habré with 40,000 political murders and systematic torture. Most of the abuses were allegedly committed by Habré's political police, the notorious Directorate of Documentation and Security (DDS), whose leaders reported directly to Hissène Habré and all belonged to his own ethnic group, the Goranes. On December 1, 1990, after a year of rebellion, the Patriotic Front Hi, a rebel force led by President Idriss Deby, removed Hissène Habré from power. Hundreds of political prisoners who were detained in various secret detention centers in the capital of Chad were then released.

The following video from Human Rights Watch shows a few testimonies from the victims of the regime:



The current president of Chad, Idriss Déby Itno, is credited with removing Habré from power. Yet Déby himself might not be completely innocent of the war crimes committed by Habré, as he was commander-in-chief of the army between in 1983 and 1984.

Still, Déby requested the independent investigation against Habré that brought forth most of the evidence of war crimes in its 1999 report. The report also included some damning evidence of the role of foreign powers in keeping Habré in office.

The report denounces the reinstatement of many DDS members in current key positions in the administration, as well as within the security apparatus of the Chadian state. This Investigative Commission was one of the only such commissions to have looked actively into the support from foreign powers to African dictators. The report revealed that the US, through the CIA, provided major financial, military, material, and technical support to DDS. The same report found that some American advisers were hosted regularly by the Director of the DDS for information exchange and consulting. The report also accused France, Egypt, Iraq, and Zaire of helping to finance, train, and provide equipment to the DDS. The Investigative Commission included in the report the names of the principal DDS agents, but also their photo IDs.

Despite the mounting evidence of abuse, the process to get Habré to trial was long and challenging. The International Federation of Human Rights provides a detailed timeline of the events that lead to the trial.

Screen capture of video of Clément Abaifouta, president of Habre's victims association / YouTube.

There were many hurdles to overcome: the lack of political will from other African despots, raising funds to support the legal fees, and finding a venue to host the trial.Relwendé Auguste Sawadogo, a jurist from Burkina Faso, unpacks the legal and political challenges that delayed the chance to prosecute Habré:

It seems that the more we approach an agreement on a trial date,the morethere are maneuvers tonot get there. Under these conditions, we cannot help but question the real will of Senegal, and therefore of African Heads of State to hold the trial. A detailed analysis of the current situation that makes a trial seem almost impossible leads us to the conclude that the problem lies more in the lack of political will than in a lack of financial or legal means. We are dealing with a [sense of] justice that is desperately seeking to break out and the struggle to do so lies, among other factors, in the fact that many African leaders see their own fate in the former head of Chad.

In addition to the resilience of the association of Habré's victims, the push for a trial was possible thanks to the relentless drive of Reed Brody, a legal counselor at Human Rights Watch. Brody had extensive experience dealing with prosecuting former tyrants, as he helped get Chile's Pinochet and Haiti's Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalierto trial.

Brody describes why the trial means so much for the African continent:

Habré's trial is unprecedented, as it's the first where the courts of one country (Senegal) will prosecute the former ruler of another country (Chad). In addition, Habré's prosecution is the first in Africa to be under universal jurisdiction. Universal jurisdiction ensures that suspects of human rights abuses are not granted impunity by a third state, as national courts can prosecute serious crimes committed by a foreigner or against foreign victims.

Brody also explains the critical role played by the Extraordinary African Chambers EAC in getting the trial on its way:

The Extraordinary African Chambers, inaugurated in February 2013 by the Senegal court and the African Union, is set to prosecute crimes committed during Habré's rule, from June 7, 1982, to December 1, 1990. Created within the Senegalese court system, the chambers follows the Senegalese Code of Criminal Procedure and have four levels: an Investigation Chambers, an Indicting Chambers, a Trial Chambers, and an Appeals Chambers. The president of the Trial Chambers is Gberdao Gustave Kam of Burkina Faso, and he will sit with two senior Senegalese judges, Amady Diouf and Moustapha Ba.

The EAC says it has received 181 accreditation requests from 79 Senegalese reporters, and another 97 from foreign journalists, as well as requests from five film makers and documentary producers. So for, the legal procedures have cost about 7 billions CFAfrancs (1.2 millions USD) to come this far.

An extraordinary event for Africa, this trial demonstrates what could be the beginning of a new era for the continent, where young politicians stubborn enough to go after war criminals are changing the way the law works.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

As Chad’s Former Dictator Heads to Trial, Impunity for African Despots May Be Coming to an End

Translation posted 12 August 2015 11:59 GMT

Screen Capture of a video of Hissen Habré at trial / YouTube.

The trial of former Chad dictator Hissène Habré is a historical milestone in African history that many hope signals an end to the days of impunity for authoritarian strongmen. Though the trial was postponed until September, two days after it opened on July 20, it's still a groundbreaking event in Africa. Habre is accused of war crimes, torture, and crimes against humanity.

From 1982 to 1990, Habré's regime was infamous for human rights abuses and atrocities. Known in the international press as “Africa's Pinochet,” Habré's government periodically engaged in ethnic cleansing against various groups andkilled thousands of opponents who were deemed to be threats to the regime.

The international nonprofit group TRIAL (Track Impunity Always) is a Geneva-based human rights organization that thorough investigated the crimes perpetuated by Habré's administration. Here is its account of the type of abuses committed during Habré's eight years in power:



The following video from Human Rights Watch shows a few testimonies from the victims of the regime:



The current president of Chad, Idriss Déby Itno, is credited with removing Habré from power. Yet Déby himself might not be completely innocent of the war crimes committed by Habré, as he was commander-in-chief of the army between in 1983 and 1984.

Still, Déby requested the independent investigation against Habré that brought forth most of the evidence of war crimes in its 1999 report. The report also included some damning evidence of the role of foreign powers in keeping Habré in office.



Despite the mounting evidence of abuse, the process to get Habré to trial was long and challenging. The International Federation of Human Rights provides a detailed timeline of the events that lead to the trial.

Screen capture of video of Clément Abaifouta, president of Habre's victims association / YouTube.

There were many hurdles to overcome: the lack of political will from other African despots, raising funds to support the legal fees, and finding a venue to host the trial.Relwendé Auguste Sawadogo, a jurist from Burkina Faso, unpacks the legal and political challenges that delayed the chance to prosecute Habré:



In addition to the resilience of the association of Habré's victims, the push for a trial was possible thanks to the relentless drive of Reed Brody, a legal counselor at Human Rights Watch. Brody had extensive experience dealing with prosecuting former tyrants, as he helped get Chile's Pinochet and Haiti's Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalierto trial.

Brody describes why the trial means so much for the African continent:



Brody also explains the critical role played by the Extraordinary African Chambers EAC in getting the trial on its way:



The EAC says it has received 181 accreditation requests from 79 Senegalese reporters, and another 97 from foreign journalists, as well as requests from five film makers and documentary producers. So for, the legal procedures have cost about 7 billions CFAfrancs (1.2 millions USD) to come this far.

An extraordinary event for Africa, this trial demonstrates what could be the beginning of a new era for the continent, where young politicians stubborn enough to go after war criminals are changing the way the law works.

Victor's justice. The moral of the story is, don't cede power.

 

[Sonni]

Senegal launches Dakar airport rail link tender
Written by Keith Barrow

Monday, August 03, 2015


THE government of Senegal issued an invitation to prequalify on August 1 for contracts to build a 55km rail link between the centre of the capital Dakar and the new Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD) near Ndiass, which is expected to open next year.

The project involves upgrading and electrifying the western section of the Dakar - Diourbel metre-gauge line and constructing a branch to the airport. The link will be built in two phases: Dakar - Diamniado (36km) and Diamniado - AIBD (19km).

The open tender will be conducted in two stages and is divided into three lots, covering design and construction of infrastructure, railway systems (electrical), and renewal of metre-gauge track.

The Senegalese government says it is shifting the focus of infrastructure investment towards modernising the country's rail network following the completion of a programme of road improvements.

Senegal launches Dakar airport rail link tender

 

[Scientific Playa]

Lauryn Hill at African Shrine last night (photos)



The singer/rapper who came into the country (Nigeria) over the weekend for a show on Sunday night, visited African Shrine with her crew. Seun Kuti shared the photos. Another photo after the cut...




Posted by EZEJI EMMANUEL at 14:10

Lauryn Hill at African Shrine last night (photos) - Report Naija

 

[Scientific Playa]

L. Boogie filmed a vid in Lagos....hard to see but she's in the pics,

The singer who is in Nigeria, was spotted at White House in EMAB Plaza in Lagos Island with her crew to shoot a music video. They were there for about 3 to 4 hours and and shot inside a Keke and with a seamstress in one of the shops. Nigerians were happy to see her and waved at her. More photos after the cut..

PHOTOS: Lauryn Hill at Lagos Island to shoot music video - Welcome To Metro Parrot

 

[Scientific Playa]

Dangote meets Mugabe on investment approval
on September 01, 2015 / in Business 4:18 pm



By Favour Nnabugwu with Agency report

Nigeria’s billionaire, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has met with the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on the need to speed up the necessary approval for his investment in power, mining and cement industries in the southern African country.
Dangote who paid a courtesy call on President Mugabe reminded the President at his tate House yesterday that he was awaiting the relevant approvals to set up the group’s investments.

He said, “We have already decided on multimillion investments in Zimbabwe in three sectors which are power, cement and coal mining. As soon as we get permits, we will hit the ground running.”


Dangote meets Mugabe

The business mogul, who earlier Tuesday met with several government ministers, was confident that Zimbabwe would accelerate the licence and registration processes for the group to start operations in the ‘as soon as possible’.

Dangote is expected to start setting up the 1,5 million tonne per annum plant by the end of the first half of 2016.

Dangote Industries is also expected to invest in Zimbabwean power generation through Black Rhino Group, a $5 billion African infrastructure fund in which US private-equity group Blackstone Group LP is a co-investor.

The chunk of Dangote’s investments outside the shores of Nigeria has mostly been in the cement manufacturing sector. He recently commissioned a $420 million cement-manufacturing plant and a 30-megawatt coal-fired plant in Zambia early this month.

As he was in Zimbabwe same yesterday, Dangote Cement commissioned its $250 million 1,5 million metric tonnes per annum cement grinding plant in Douala, Cameroon, barely three weeks after the Zambia plant was commissioned.

According to Dangote, “The cement manufacturing unit has expanded capacity five-fold in the last four years while it plans to double potential output to 80 million tonnes by year end, with the Zimbabwean approvals in sight.”

“We want to set up an integrated cement plant here that will be bigger than all the plants that we have,” he said.
Alhaji Aliko Dangote who also met with Zimbabwean’s Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa urged government to open up the country and scrap rigid visa requirements.

“We look at setting up something that can translate into a million-and-a-half tonnes so that even when we continue to use cement, there won’t be a shortage
of cement here. We will make cement available, he assured”

The billionaire’s maiden Zimbabwean visit comes after Dangote Cement last week signed contracts with Chinese construction company Sinoma International Engineering to add 25 million metric tonnes across 11 countries.

- See more at: Dangote meets Mugabe on investment approval - Vanguard News

 

[Poitier]

He's all we've ever known! A new ranking for long-serving African leaders, relative to age of country population | Mail & Guardian Africa (Mobile edition)

 

[newworldafro]

Metros, wind farms and skyscrapers: the biggest urban projects to hit Africa in 2015

Metros, wind farms and skyscrapers: the biggest urban projects to hit Africa in 2015
By Rashiq Fataar

Dar es Salaam: Africa's fastest-growing city. Image: Getty.


Cities in Africa are growing fast. Over the past 50 years, the continent's urban population has doubled, from 19 per cent to 39 per cent; and by 2030 that population is expected to almost double again.

As a result, projects across the continent are springing up to meet the new wave of urban dwellers. Here are a few developments to watch out for in 2015.

A brand-new metro system

Testing has started on the US$475m light rail project in Addis Ababa, expected to be running by May 2015. Stretching for a combined 32km, two lines dividing Addis Ababa north-south and east-west will serve 39 stations in underground and overground sections.



Africa’s tallest skyscraper

Image: Middle East Development LLC.

The Al Noor Tower is a 114-floor skyscraper planned for the Moroccan city of Casablanca. At 540m, it's set to be the tallest in Africa and will cost over $1bn to construct.

The final height is meant to act as a tribute to the 54 countries that make up the African continent, and the mixed-use building would house a seven-star luxury hotel, art gallery, spa, fine-dining restaurants and luxury boutiques, alongside an exhibition centre and offices.

Africa's biggest wind farm
Kenya has officially given the go-ahead for a giant wind farm in the Lake Turkana region. The farm will play host to almost 400 turbines, is expected to produce around 300 MW of electricity, and according to a media statement will save Kenya approximately $78m in fuel imports every year. The project aims to produce 20 per cent of the country’s current installed electricity generating capacity when it comes online in 2016.

This will be a wind farm soon, we promise. Image: Lake Turkana Wind Power.

The fastest-growing city

Work begins on a Dar es Salaam highrise in April 2014. Image: Getty.

In a recent report, the African Development Bank predicted that Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, will be Africa’s fastest growing city between 2010 and 2025, growing from 3.3 million to 6.2 million people – an 85 per cent increase. Nairobi, Kenya, and Kinshasa, DRC, are expected to be the second and third fastest growing cities by 2025, at 77.3 per cent and 71.8 per cent respectively.

A city built from scratch
Work has started on a "new city" in Modderfontein, Johannesburg, which is expected to cost around 84bn South African rand ($7bn). Improbably, it's expected to look like this:

A city of giant pimples.Image: Shanghai Zendai Property.

According to The Business Report, so far they've started small with construction on 300 residential units and a few roads.

Rashiq Fataar is the founder, Editor in Chief and Managing Director of Future Cape Town, where this article was first posted.

 

[Scientific Playa]

South Africa: A Letter to White People

The Daily Vox | Citizen. Speak. Amplify.
opinion

This was originally received as a comment on our previous article "Black students don't matter at NWU-Pukke". It has been edited for length.

Photo: Azania Kuali/Twitter
AfriForum Youth national chairperson Henk Maree has branded the Open Stellenbosch student movement to be an "extremist group".

White people be like: "I don't have any problem with black people, however I do have a problem when people think the world owes them something, and when they don't get it, everyone who refused them is immediately labelled a racist."

How dare you?

Nothing in white people's experience comes close to the suffering of black people. Nothing. And you inflicted this suffering upon us. You white people owe us black people a tremendous debt - still unpaid.

Let me be clear. Yes, white people suffer, and some at the hands of black people. I've also known some black people who have enjoyed relative ease and economic privilege.

But I'm not talking about the real and pervasive individual pains we all experience. I'm not talking about the fair number of outliers and exceptions to the minority's reality. I'm talking about our overall collective experience as real and distinct racial groups.

The experience of black people in what is today the "democratic" Republic of South Africa spans hundreds of years of being bought and stolen from their homelands, ripped from their cultures, parted from their families and their language, and being sold and treated as inanimate objects. It's an experience of systematic, frequent, and legal rape, beating, murder, torture, kidnapping, incarceration, cruel working conditions and constant verbal and physical dehumanisation. For hundreds of years.

Even after slavery ended officially in 1865, and apartheid in 1992, much of this continued for another 100 years, well into our lifetimes. The black experience has included beatings, murder, vandalism, intimidation and humiliation at lunch counters, public streets, private homes, workplaces and the voting booth.

It has included de jure and de facto exclusion from decent neighbourhoods, home loans, schools, adequate jobs, political representation, and legal justice in courtrooms. While increasingly less legal, much of this continues today, as does the fallout and trauma of coming from 12 or more generations of abuse.

And all this because WE are black. Whites as a group have experienced nothing even close.

Let me be clear again, Afrikaaners. Maybe you had no slave-owners in your lineage as far as you know. Maybe you came from various strains of farmers and working class folks arriving from Europe at various points in history. Maybe your lineage is full of suffering: crops failed, plagues came, war with the British, women had more children than they could handle and no socially acceptable channel for their genius, money was short, wars broke out.

And still, the life you enjoy today is in large part due to what people of African descent contributed to this country.

Black people's bodies - literally and figuratively - tilled the soil, built the foundation, and grew the backbone of this country. They planted and harvested crops that fed you and grew your white wealth. They built the roads and railroads. They nursed and cared for white children so that wealthy white women could spend time doing other things like studying and developing their artistic talents. And on and on.

And you have yet to truly acknowledge that white people are rich because black people did so much to build this nation, and built it for cheap or less than nothing.

The life you enjoy today is also made easier by the fact that you were born with a white skin in a country where having white skin has brought meaningful, unearned advantages for hundreds of years.

And yet so many white people think racism is gone, over, a moot point, or a tiresome topic. Especially Good White People. They point to all the progress they've made and how much better things are. Yes, they've made progress and things are better - but this was just as much (or more) due to black people's efforts as theirs. Yes, you still owe us a tremendous balance.

White people! YOU are the problem. YOU stand in the way of progress, of ending racism.

It's almost funny when white people say they're sick and tired of hearing about race and racism. Guess what? So are black people. The difference is that most people of colour think or talk about race almost every day... because we have to in order to survive; whether in universities, city streets or the corporate workplace.

No, not "everything is about race". If you're white and feeling that way, it's probably because black people and other groups of colour are feeling more and more safe enough to speak up, and you're getting a glimpse - a tiny glimpse - of what it's been like to be them for hundreds of years in a way they can't ever escape.

Maybe you're afraid that black people are telling the truth. That their experience is real, that maybe you aren't who you say you are.

Why isn't black people's experience enough evidence in itself that you have a problem? Do you not believe black South Africans because their experience isn't yours? Because you think they're making it up? Because it's unflattering? Inconvenient? Maybe you're not hearing us because we're black?

How terrified you must be. This fear is further evidence that you know you owe us a debt.

When people test their unconscious biases, they usually carry negative, unconscious biases against black people. We know that black people aren't given a fair shake or treated equally. And yet you're unwilling to give anything to balance it out, crying unfairness. How dare YOU!

Black people as a group aren't any more saintly than white people. Yes, there are blacks who "play the race card", maybe even "race bait". They are a minority. Their actions and voices tarnish, but do not diminish the truth that nothing in white people's experience comes close to the suffering of black people, and you white people owe black people a tremendous debt - still unpaid.

Our actions are in response to racism, not the cause. They are ways individuals are making tiny moves to right the wrongs you have inflicted.

And since when does someone need to be blameless to receive justice? If that were true, none of us ever would.

Being the beneficiaries of racism doesn't make things all hunky-dory. I have yet to meet a white person who felt their life was all peachy. This is why so many of you resist the notion that you have race privilege.

But imagine just how much less peachy your lives would feel if you didn't have white skin. Imagine your presence, competence, and intelligence being constantly questioned - before you even open your mouth to speak, or even before you show up in person. Imagine being constantly watched by store owners and stopped by police and security guards. Imagine carrying the visible mark of your slave heritage everywhere you go.

Only blacks (and other people of colour) experience racism: the systematic distribution of resources, power and opportunity in our society to the benefit of people who are white and the exclusion of people of colour.

The chickens have come home to roost, Good White People. Now is the reckoning. You've been paying the debt down, but you still owe us.

The fact you didn't incur this debt and you aren't personally guilty is irrelevant. Your system isn't built on that principle. If my grandfather dies and leaves behind an outstanding debt, it doesn't just go away - my father gets it. If he doesn't pay it off, I inherit the debt. Someone always pays for debts and being beneficiaries of slavery and racism makes you co-signers. Bummer.

You've inherited this debt. Here's how you pay it down:

You must apologise. Because of Mandela, you got forgiven without ever apologising.

You must ensure legislation designed to even the playing field stays in place and is improved. You can talk about everyone being treated fairly regardless of colour once you've made that a reality by correcting the tilt in the playing field.

You must hold your own accountable. It's not really your job as a white person to call out a black person's self-hatred, internalised oppression, "playing the race card" or "race baiting". Black people can self-regulate and help their own come correct. Not holding your own accountable damages your integrity and your cause. And so it's your job to hold white people, especially elected officials and public servants accountable for what they say and don't say, what they do and don't do, and what policies and programmes they get behind.

You must look slavery and racism squarely in the eye. Use your unearned privilege, built on the bedrock of millions of slaves you have yet to acknowledge, much less thank, to insist on true and complete equity for those who need it most, and the descendants of those your ancestors abused. You don't need Afriforum, you don't need to dismantle programs or policies that give Africans a leg up - you got a 500+ -year head start on us!

You must address the triple threat that Martin Luther King identified - racism, poverty and militarisation. You are part of the problem.

That's your debt, your bill due and payable. Sounds difficult? Scary? Unfair?

How dare you! Nothing in white people's experience comes close to the suffering of black people. Nothing. And you inflicted this suffering upon us. These actions are the very least you can do.

Tired of hearing about race and racism? Then make it stop damn it.

Mogomotsi Sebaetse. Street Psychologist. Pan-Africanist, Humanist. Blogger. www.ofcourseisaidit.wordpress.com

 

[Poitier]

Kenya signs nuclear power deal with China, looks to have power station up by 2025

10 SEP 2015 21:42AFP


Construction under way on the Taishan Nuclear Power Station outside Taishan City in Guandong province. Kenya looks to join the club by 2025. (Photo/AFP).

KENYA has signed a deal with China as part of the east leading African economy’s plans to have a nuclear power station by 2025, the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board (KNEB) said Thursday.

Kenya plans to set up its a first nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1000 MW by 2025, the board said, with ambitions to boost that to 4000 MW by 2033, and to make nuclear electricity “a key component of the country’s energy” production.

The memorandum of understanding, signed in China, will enable Kenya to “obtain expertise from China by way of training and skills development, technical support in areas such as site selection for Kenya’s nuclear power plants and feasibility studies,” the KNEB statement said.

Kenya has already signed nuclear power cooperation agreements with Slovakia and South Korea, it added.

As part of those deals, over 10 Kenyan students are studying nuclear power engineering in South Korea.

As well as oil-fired stations, Kenya has in recent years focused power efforts on boosting sources from renewables such as geothermal, hydro and wind power.

With a fast-growing population, demand is climbing rapidly, and the country’s hydro-electric capacity is strained by droughts and the impact of deforestation on rivers.

Geothermal power stations are sited on the Rift Valley, the divide of tectonic plates through East Africa.

Around three in 10 Kenyans have access to electricity, according to the World Bank, but that drops to only two in 10 in the poorest rural areas.

At present, South Africa is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa with active nuclear power plants.

Kenya signs nuclear power deal with China, looks to have power station up by 2025

 

[Poitier]

Brain drain in Africa: Burundi least able to retain its top talent, Rwanda, Kenya top and Jammeh’s Gambia surprises

 

[Poitier]

Somalis teaching South Africans how to do business in townships
2015-09-11 13:30
Yumna Mohamed, GroundUp

Johannesburg - A 2014 report from the Migrating for Work Research Consortium (MiWORC), an organisation that examines migration and its impact on the South African labour market, found "People born outside the country were far less likely than those born in South Africa to be employees, and far more likely to be their own account workers (self-employed without employers) or employers".

This is apparent in Johannesburg’s 'Little Mogadishu' where the city’s Somali entrepreneurs thrive in streets full of busy shops selling everything from underwear to internet services at very low prices.

A busy day at the Salahadin Cash & Carry in Crown Mines, Johannesburg. (Yumna Mohamed, GroundUp)

Saeed Furaa arrived in South Africa in 1998 after fleeing Somalia where he had worked as a shepherd.


Furaa has teamed up with other Somali businesspeople in South Africa to start programmes that pass on entrepreneurial skills to unemployed South African youth, especially in the informal sector,GroundUp reported on Friday.

“My plan has always been to get successful entrepreneurs, starting within the Somali community, to mentor and train local youth. I hope this will contribute towards creating sustained employment and entrepreneurial spin-offs. It also promotes integration between our community and our host society,” Furaa said.

Cash-and-carries

Furaa is particularly interested in the informal sector because this is where most of the country’s Somali business owners got their start.

The first trickle of Somalis came to South Africa as refugees in the mid-1990s. Most made their start by hawking clothing, shoes and non-perishable groceries until the early 2000s when they formed business networks to share the cost of establishing 'cash-and-carries', wholesale warehouses selling a variety of products at lower mark-ups with profit coming from the fast turnover of stock.

This is the key to what sets Somali businesses apart from local competitors.

Abdul-Wahid Bundidsalah came to South Africa in 2005 and pooled resources with 30 fellow immigrants from different countries to open his first Cash & Carry store in Rustenburg. He and his partners now own a Cash & Carry in every major South African city, which employ a total of 300 South Africans across the country.

“South African wholesalers and retailers sell at a higher price but they keep the stock for too long,” he said.

“I’m selling for a very low price, but I am selling huge amounts. The stock doesn’t stay in my warehouse for long.

“For example,” he added, “my competitor might be buying a product for R10 and reselling it for R13, while I will sell it for R10.50. Those 50 cents in large quantities, if you sell a lot, can add up to a good profit.”

The Somali model

Bundidsalah does not seem concerned about a possible surplus of Cash & Carry stores. “We are happy to have more warehouses, because we trade with each other. In fact, this is part of the Somali model.

"When a Somali person comes here from back home, they work with one of us for a couple of years and then move on to start their own business, and I want our South African brothers to do the same, because I am thankful for the opportunities this country gave me.”

In fact, his employees also have the option to buy shares in the new Cash & Carry stores that he opens.

“We are working together with some ex-employees now to open another one in Soweto,” he said.
“So now they are our partners and have contributed to opening a new Cash & Carry soon.”

Furaa, who is currently completing an MBA from Johannesburg’s Gordon Institute of Business, has previously completed a social entrepreneurship programme at the institute with a research focus on the transfer of entrepreneurial skills between the Somali community and locals in an attempt to foster mutual learning and business partnerships.

Training young people in townships

He also founded the Sama Business Academy in South Africa in 2011, aiming to share the Somali experience with local youth.

“I could see young people in the townships without jobs and losing hope in any sort of future. I think that’s what motivates them to try anything, and these are the people we are targeting,” he said.

The academy selects young people primarily in Gauteng and employs them in Cash & Carry stores where they are being trained and gaining work experience while earning a salary.

“There are small and medium businesses that come and buy their retail stock from the Cash & Carry stores and so the people who are working in our warehouses in whatever capacity also have an opportunity to interact with these business owners,” Furaa said.

Classes on starting a small business

The academy also holds informal classes after work on the theoretical side of starting and running a small business.

Since its inception, the academy has seen 70 trainees go on to start their own businesses. Though most started spaza shops, others are using their training in a variety of businesses ideas, like 30-year-old Rashida Hassan who is planning to open a crèche.

Hassan worked at Salama Cash & Carry between 2011 and 2013 after moving to Johannesburg from Port Elizabeth to escape a bad marriage. She worked in a management position at the warehouse and is now studying human resources (HR) while she prepares to open up her own business.

“I fell in love with HR when I was working there,” she said. “I learned about problem management both with customers and employees.

“I also learned about sacrifice,” she added.

“When you start a business, it’s not going to be a success right off. You’ve got to know how to budget and build from small. With every rand you make, you need to put some away to reinvest in your business. We South Africans are too used to eating from our businesses and not keeping records.”

Furaa first put himself in the shoes of South Africans after visiting Robben Island in 1999, where he decided he did not want to be a burden on South African society. People like Hassan are the reason he believes in his efforts.

“It is only fair to give back to a society that has given sanctuary and opportunity to so many Africans who have come to fix their fractured lives,” he said.

“As immigrants we must remember we are also part of this country and we should not be insular. But South Africans just need to recognise that immigrants also come with skills and opportunities that can benefit our hosts while we also learn from them.”

Somalis teaching South Africans how to do business in townships

 

[Poitier]

Why don’t we think of north Africa as part of Africa?

Iman Amrani


I’m Algerian but sometimes it seems that ‘black African’ is the only category that exists. In truth, through our shared history there’s a strong glue that connects us

A Tuareg man working in his oasis garden in Djanet, Algeria. Photograph: Frans Lemmens/Alamy
Wednesday 9 September 2015 09.20 EDTLast modified on Friday 11 September 201506.59 EDT

When a Guardian article stated that Chigozie Obioma was the “sole African writer” to be longlisted for the 2015 Booker prize, the journalist in question had clearly forgotten there was life north of the Sahara. Thankfully, the Moroccan-born writer Laila Lalami, who was also longlisted, was quick to remind him, tweeting: “I am African. It’s an identity I’m often denied but that I will always insist upon”.

I know Lalami’s frustration well. Every time I have to declare my ethnicity I am reminded that “black African” is seemingly the only category that exists. Being both Algerian and British, I am constantly explaining why I identify as European and African – as though I’m “choosing” to be African, rather than it simply being a fact.

In politics and academia, north African countries are commonly grouped with the Middle East under the umbrella of MENA. In conferences I have been to on “African” issues, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt have often had tokenistic representation, if any at all.

But the identity equation isn’t as simple as Arabic speakers equal Arab people. There are still communities across the Maghreb that speakBerber or Amazigh and a dialect called darija that heavily features French and Spanish phrases. Besides, being Arab isn’t an alternative to being African, or even black. Mauritanians and Sudanese can identify as all three at once.

The religion argument isn’t watertight either. Islam is the dominant religion in parts of east Africa and the Sahel, with notably large communities in Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Perhaps then, it simply boils down to colour. Could it be that to be African is to be black? And if so, what shade will do? Are the South Sudanese, with a pigment that is dark, rich and beautiful, more African than their neighbours to the north, of lighter skin? Surely a categorisation based on race is too reductive and ignores the continent’s great diversity in nations, cultures and ethnicities.

coupé-décalé legends Magic System have joined forces with rai heavyweights Cheb Khaled and 113 as well as a number of lesser-known Maghrebi artists. During the African Cup of Nations, crowds cluster around televisions across the continent to see their national teams play, in an event that brings every corner of Africa together.

The migrant experience also unifies the continent. In France’s banlieues, immigrants from the former African colonies – north and south of the Sahara – share cramped conditions, as well as a sense of isolation and discrimination. The Arabs driving sports cars or shopping on the Champs Elysées are more likely to be from the Gulf states than from the Maghreb.


The town square of Beni Isguen, Algeria. Photograph: Robert Hardin/Rex Shutterstock
Certainly there is something to be said about north Africans trying to distance themselves from “black Africa”. This is as much about sources of influence and power (after independence, countries like Egypt and Algeria looked to the Middle East for a model of an Islamic nation, or north to Europe for economic partnerships) as it is about the racism that exists here as it does everywhere else in the world.

Perhaps the glue that most strongly connects north Africa to the rest of the continent is colonial history. France’s colonial troops included soldiers from Algeria, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Niger and the Republic of Congo. These Africans fought side by side in the second world war and the traces of this are still present in the collective memory of these countries. The British used soldiers from Egypt, as well as many from the other former colonies including Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya.

In 1962 north Africa and South Africa were both struggling against colonialism and apartheid when Nelson Mandela went to receive military training with the Algerian FLN in Morocco. In 1969, Algiers hosted the Pan-African culture festival. Historically, African nations have had shared struggles.

Of course, north Africa benefits from being linked to the Middle East, both for business and development. Saudi is in the top five trading partners both for imports and exports with Egypt, but this relationship shouldn’t be exclusive. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt share not only a colonial past with the rest of Africa, but also a physical continent. Although identity is largely subjective, some things are irrefutable and north Africa being in Africa is part of that.

Why don’t we think of north Africa as part of Africa? | Iman Amrani

 

[Scientific Playa]

Africa: High-Speed Fibre Cable to Connect Kenya, S.Sudan in 2 Years

Capital FM Kenya

Photo: Daily Monitor

The approach of implementing fibre and road construction at the same time is a new government initiative of integrated infrastructure development that is expected to save costs and speed up development (file photo).


By Margaret Wahito

Nairobi — Kenya and South Sudan will be connected to a high-speed fibre optic cable within the next two years enhancing communication and inter-border trade.

The two governments are implementing the optic fibre cable system as part of the Eastern Africa Regional Transport, Trade and Development Facilitation Project.

The project will also build a road linking the two countries from Eldoret to Lodwar and Juba and a common border post built at the interconnection of the two countries.

"As you are all aware, roads and information superhighways are two of the most effective means of realising accelerated development of any modern economy. Today we are witnessing the implementation of both at the same time in this region," Shared Services Director at the ICT Authority Robert Mugo said during the project commissioning in Lodwar town, Turkana to inaugurate the project on the ground.

South Sudan will similarly extend the cable from the Kenya-South Sudan border to Juba.

The ICT Authority is implementing the Kenyan-side of the project through a World Bank fund estimated at a cost of Sh2.6billion, while the Sudan side is estimated to cost Sh1.5bilion.

The road construction between Lokichar and Nedapal is worth Sh52.5billion and will be funded by the World Bank.

The full cost of the road construction from Eldoret to Sudan border is an estimated $1.2 million dollars. The real construction work will start in May 2016 and will be completed in February 2019.

Once completed, the two countries are set to benefit from fast movement of goods and people and enhanced internet connectivity.

The connectivity will be used by towns and facilities along the corridor including schools, hospitals, government offices and telecommunications operators.

"This development will increase inter-border trade between Kenya and South Sudan as well as link Turkana County to the rest of Kenya. We see the prices of commodities coming down," said Turkana County Governor Josphat Nanok.

Kenya through the Ministry of ICT has already entered into an MoU with South Sudan through the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services on January 23, 2015 in relation to the construction of the fibre optic cable that will interconnect both countries.

 

[BigMan]

Good read. ever since i took an African history course i've always tried to stray away from the term "Sub-Saharan Africa" because as the author says, North Africa is also Africa