Media News

African development institute list:

Angola
The IMF board approved a USD 1.4 billion standby loan arrangement for Angola to help it cope with the effects of the global recession. While the program’s immediate goal is to mitigate trade-related shocks, it also includes a reform agenda aimed at medium-term structural issues to foster growth outside of the country’s oil sector, the IMF said in a statement. Another condition of the IMF-supported program is an orderly exchange-rate adjustment backed by tight monetary policy to normalize conditions in the foreign-exchange market as well as measures to safeguard the financial sector, according to the statement. IMF Deputy Managing Director Takatoshi Kato commended Angolan authorities for their strong commitment to a comprehensive reform program that addresses the macroeconomic imbalances which emerged in the face of the global economic crisis. (Bloomberg, AFP)

Central African Republic
Dozens of people were killed in a remote corner of Central African Republic when Ugandan rebels attacked villagers but were then ambushed by Ugandan soldiers, a witness and local media said. The killings took place last week around Djemah, 850 km east of Bangui, and are the latest in a wave of attacks by the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, a militia that roams around CAR, Sudan and Congo (DRC) killing and kidnapping civilians. “There were more than 40 rebels armed with guns, machetes and clubs,” said Leon Hetanga, a Djemah resident who escaped the attack and traveled to Bangui to speak about the November 18 incident. “What followed was carnage.” Bangui has allowed Kampala to dispatch Ugandan special forces to hunt down rebels in CAR, one of the weakest and most isolated nations in central Africa. (Reuters)

Cote dIvoire
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on all parties in Cote dIvoire to fix a new date as soon as possible for their much-delayed elections, now postponed yet again from their latest deadline of this month. Welcoming the Nov. 23 publication of the provisional voter list in the country, split by civil war in 2002 into a Government-ruled south and a rebel-controlled north, he assured all parties that the UN would continue to provide the necessary financial, technical and logistical aid to help them organize and conduct open, free, fair and transparent elections. The elections, originally scheduled for as far back as 2005, were planned for Nov. 29 after repeated postponements. A UN peacekeeping mission, known as UNOCI, has been stationed in Cote dIvoire since 2004 to help ensure a ceasefire and pave the way for permanent peace and democratic elections. (UN News Service)

Ethiopia
Ethiopias main opposition party criticized a US aid program for helping a textile plant with ties to the countrys ruling party win a multimillion dollar contract from an American company. The program, known as the AGOA Plus project, is designed to help link African manufacturers to American buyers in order to take advantage of preferential tariff treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). On Nov. 19, the USAID-funded AGOA Plus said it brokered a contract worth as much as USD 30 million annually between Mississippi-based Atlas Manufacturing Group and Almeda Textile. Almeda was founded and is controlled by members of Ethiopias ruling party. The American government is using public money to support a dictatorial government, Beyene Petros, an opposition lawmaker from the Forum for Democratic Dialogue, said in a phone interview on Nov. 23. (Bloomberg)

Nigeria
Nigeria will revive next year the USD 500 million Eurobond sale it suspended this year because of the global economic crisis, Finance Minister Mansur Muhtar said. The bond sale is part of the way well finance the budget deficit, which will reach 1.56 trillion naira (USD 10.4 billion), or 4.8 percent of GDP, in 2010, Muhtar said in an interview. He didnt provide details on the bonds coupon, which banks are arranging it, and when it will be sold. The bond sale comes as the West African nation yesterday announced a 4.1 trillion-naira budget for next year, about a quarter bigger than the 2009 budget. Nigeria, which rivals Angola as Africas biggest oil producer, suspended the planned sale of bonds in March, seven months after it was first announced. (Bloomberg)

Rwanda
Rwanda is set to succeed in its bid to join the Commonwealth this week despite serious concerns over its human rights record, according to a senior source close to the negotiations. A summit of Commonwealth heads of government in Trinidad and Tobago will add the central African nation to its 53 current members, despite its failure to meet entry requirements. “There is consensus on Rwanda” a senior African negotiator told The Independent. The decision, expected before the week’s end, has been greeted with dismay by NGOs, while the author of a major report on Rwanda’s candidacy said it was clear evidence that the Commonwealth “could not care less about human rights.” (The Independent, UK)

Somalia
The Somali insurgent group al-Shabaab has ordered the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to stop importing food aid, claiming it is damaging Somali agriculture. Half the Somali population - almost four million people - is dependent on food aid due to combination drought, conflict and rising food prices. “We have decided that WFP must stop deploying food into Somali territory and purchase food crops from Somali farmers, which will be distributed to the needy,” al-Shabaab, which controls much of south and central Somalia, said in a statement. Al-Shabaab said that external food aid had damaged the agricultural sector by discouraging Somalis from growing their own crops and warned all local contractors to stop working with the WFP. (DPA)

Sudan
Sudan has blocked peacekeeping patrols in Darfur on 42 separate occasions this year, the UN says, amid fears of a new conflict in the region. The UN says Khartoum is violating agreements by blocking the patrols. And a diplomat told the BBC that the government and rebel groups are getting ready to renew hostilities. There has been an uneasy peace in Darfur for some time. In August, the outgoing head of the peacekeeping force said the war was over. Rights groups estimate 300,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2003, although Khartoum has put the death toll at about 10,000. Peace talks have stalled as the rebel groups have split into numerous different factions. (BBC)

Uganda
The Commonwealth convenes for a summit this week amid growing furore over a proposed law that would impose life imprisonment on homosexuals in Uganda, whose President is chairing the gathering. The law, proceeding through Uganda’s Parliament and supported by some of its top leaders, would imprison anyone who knows of the existence of a gay or lesbian and fails to inform the police within 24 hours. It requires the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality defined as any sexual act between gays or lesbians in which one person has the HIV virus. The controversy is growing because Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is the chairman of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, which opens on Nov. 27. (The Globe and Mail)

Zimbabwe
RapNet Diamond Trading Network, the worlds biggest, banned its members from dealing in gems from Zimbabwes Marange fields because of reports of severe human rights violations in the area. Rapaport believes that blood diamonds from the Marange fields have been legally exported to the diamond cutting centers with Kimberley Process Certificates and may now be reaching retailers as polished diamonds, the New York-based company said. The Kimberley Process, created to curb trade in gems mined to fund conflict and war, decided against suspending Zimbabwe this month following allegations of abuse. New York-based Human Rights Watch says more than 200 were killed last year as the army and police cleared as many as 20,000 illegal miners from Marange. Zimbabwe police say they had no reports of atrocities. (Bloomberg)

Compiled by developmentex.com