Africa | Peter "Just Loves Flying"

A good man in Rwanda

April 17, 2014

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Genocide, Peace & Security, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

A good man in Rwanda.

Capt Diagne, the subject of the BBC documentary A Good Man in Rwanda, was “the greatest hero the UN has ever had” and the medal must be named after him, Prince Zeid told the UN Security Council.

The BBC’s international development correspondent Mark Doyle says the story of Capt Diagne is still not very well known.

But after extensive research a BBC team was able to conclude that he had personally saved hundreds of lives during the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in 100 days.

Tragic reality exposed: Rhinos ‘will be extinct by year 2020’ | Nature | News | Daily Express

April 15, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, Gambia, peter singhateh, Rhinos Leave a comment

Tragic reality exposed: Rhinos ‘will be extinct by year 2020’ | Nature | News | Daily Express.

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The slaughter of both white and black rhinos has soared in six years. In 2007, 13 rhinos were poached, but last year that number rose to 1,004.

Criminal gangs, and even terror groups like Al Qaeda, are making millions of pounds a year by hacking the animals to death for their horns.

Many of the horns are ground into powder and used as traditional medicine in the Far East to treat ailments such as hangovers.

Will Travers, chief executive of the Born Free Foundation, warned last night: “There are now just 20,000 white rhino and 5,000 black rhino left in the wild. If poaching carries on at the rate it is now for six more years it will devastate the numbers.

“There will probably be no free-living rhinos as the remaining numbers will be fenced off in military-style compounds which are alarmed and heavily guarded by armed patrols.”]

How Nigeria Became Africa’s Largest Economy Overnight – Uri Friedman – The Atlantic

April 8, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, Economy, Nigeria, peter singhateh Leave a comment

How Nigeria Became Africa’s Largest Economy Overnight – Uri Friedman – The Atlantic.

“Something strange happened in Nigeria on Sunday: The economy nearly doubled, racking up hundreds of billions of dollars, ballooning to the size of the Polish and Belgian economies, and breezing by the South African economy to become Africa’s largest. As days go, it was a good one.

It was, in fact, a miracle borne of statistics: It had been 24 years since Nigerian authorities last updated their approach to calculating gross domestic product (GDP), a process known as “rebasing” that wealthy countries typically carry out every five years. When the Nigerian government finally did it this week, the country’s GDP—the market value of all finished goods and services produced in a country—soared to $510 billion.

To celebrate the occasion, Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics released a pretty entertaining PowerPoint presentation—an admixture of sober economic pronouncements and clip art. It includes this depiction of the long road to $510 billion:…”

It’s Time for Africa’s Stolen Artefacts to Come Home | Think Africa Press

April 7, 2014

Peter Singhatey Politics Africa, Africa's Stolen Artefacts, Gambia, peter singhateh, The Monuments Men Leave a comment

It’s Time for Africa’s Stolen Artefacts to Come Home | Think Africa Press.

“In a recently-released film, The Monuments Men, in which a group of Second World War soldiers embark upon a mission to save pieces of art before they are destroyed by the Nazis, Lieutenant Frank Stokes, played by George Clooney, notes: “You can wipe out an entire generation, you can burn their homes to the ground and somehow they will still find their way back. But if you destroy their history, if you destroy their achievements, then it is as if they never existed.”

While in London to publicise the film, this basic premise was given contemporary significance as the all-star cast touched a sensitive nerve by suggesting it was time for Britain to return the so-called Elgin Marbles to Greece. Some British commentators hit out at the actors’ suggestions of repatriating the huge marble sculptures and pieces of architecture ‘acquired’ by Lord Elgin from Athens in the 19th century, while the Greek government expressed their “heartfelt thanks” for the show of solidarity…”

Illicit Financial Flows: The Elephant in the Room at the EU-Africa Summit | Think Africa Press

April 7, 2014

Peter Singhatey Politics Africa, Conflict, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Illicit Financial Flows: The Elephant in the Room at the EU-Africa Summit | Think Africa Press.

“A $35 million mansion in California, artwork totaling €18 million ($25 million), and a $33 million dollar private jet.

These sound like items purchased by the world’s wealthiest oligarchs, Hollywood actors or investment bank CEOs, right?

Well, they were actually acquired by Teodorin Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang. When Teodoro convenes with other leaders for this week’s EU-Africa summit, a wide range of topics will be covered, but there’s one issue in particular that should be given a loudspeaker during the talks in Brussels: illicit financial flows.

Africa and Europe have a unique financial relationship. It is one marked by illicit capital flowing out of African countries and into bank accounts in financial centres across the EU. While the younger Obiang’s official salary is less than $7,000 per month, he managed to spend more than $315 million between 2004 and 2011 on sports cars, beachfront mansions, lavish apartments, and even some Michael Jackson memorabilia. And Teodorin is just the tip of the iceberg….”

Why corruption remains a way of life in the public service in Africa – Opinion – nation.co.ke

March 17, 2014

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, corruption, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh 2 Comments

Why corruption remains a way of life in the public service in Africa – Opinion – nation.co.ke.

When colonialism ended, Africans made no attempt to establish a link between the people and the government.

Government remained a hostile entity that has no real attachment to the mwananchi.

Growing up in the village, the other boys and I would run away when we spotted policemen at a distance for absolutely no reason.

That’s because to society, the government, i.e. the public service, is a threat to be feared, not a legitimate entity concerned with the public interest.

This is the mind-set of public servants and elected officials who see ‘public money’ as nobody’s money that is therefore fair game.

It belongs to the ‘government’ not to the people. In Sweden or Japan, on the other hand, every single coin in the hands of a public official is seen as belonging to the society at large and something to be treasured and put to the right use.

To eliminate corruption in Africa, we must rethink the African state. We must ask ourselves how to re-establish its legitimacy and get everyone to understand the link between taxation and delivery of public goods and why stealing public funds is the same as robbing a grandmother in Kangemi who pays a huge amount of tax on her jerrycan of paraffin…”

ISS Africa | The post-2015 Development Agenda: new goals, no goals – or own goals?

February 24, 2014

Peter Singhatey Reports Africa, Development, Gambia, MDGs, People & Society Leave a comment

ISS Africa | The post-2015 Development Agenda: new goals, no goals – or own goals?.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for all their doubtless faults, had this one great virtue: they encapsulated the whole, sprawling and often rather arcane development issue into eight universal, simple, concrete, comprehensible and measurable development targets, to be reached mainly by 2015.

From halving absolute poverty and hunger to reducing infant mortality by two-thirds, the goals were clear and tangible, which made them relatively easy to brand and market. Being measurable, they would, of course, quite clearly show success or failure. And as the deadline looms, it is apparent that in sub-Saharan Africa especially, failure will be far more common than success…

Calculating Coups: Can Data Stop Disasters? | Think Africa Press

February 22, 2014

Peter Singhatey International Security Africa, Conflict, Coups, Gambia, Peace & Security, peter singhateh, West Africa Leave a comment

Calculating Coups: Can Data Stop Disasters? | Think Africa Press.

In March 2012, junior officers stage a coup in Mali, throwing the country into disarray. A year later, rebels oust the government of the Central African Republic (CAR), paving the way for widespread violence that has made refugees out of a quarter of the country’s population. And at the end of the year in December, an internal political conflict in South Sudan’s governing party and army escalates into a full-scale civil war, killing ten thousand or more.

These conflicts differ widely in almost every aspect, apart from the sense of surprise and helplessness that they instilled in the international community. Mali was lauded as a democratic role model before some soldiers took power almost by accident. The French government, for decades the kingmaker of the Central African Republic, confessed to being taken blindsided by the speed and viciousness with which the conflict escalated. And in South Sudan, the regional organisation IGAD struggled to respond to the conflict, finding themselves unprepared and at odds over how exactly to proceed.

In all three cases the surprise greatly limited the influence of the international community, which if better prepared could not only have intervened earlier and more effectively but could perhaps even have taken pre-emptive measures. This unpreparedness was even more of a shame because in all three cases, the outbreak of conflict had been predicted by statistical models…