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Latest newsMALARIA KILLS MORE PEOPLE THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT New figures from the respected Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle, re-analysing data going back over 30 years, suggest that almost twice as many people (1,200,000) died from malaria in 2010 as formerly believed. The 2011 World Malaria report from the World Health Organisation had put the figure for fatalities from malaria in 2010 at 655,000. The good news though is that the number of deaths is still falling having reached 1,800,000 in 2004. But the bad news is that malaria is now unlikely to be eliminated worldwide by the UN target date of 2015. This, too, at a time when UN Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria which has had great success in the fight against malaria by providing insecticide-impregnated bed nets, new drugs etc. has just announced that Round 11 of its funding has had to be cancelled due to the unwillingness of donors to invest more money. NEW HQ FOR AFRICAN UNION The newly completed US$200m headquarters of the African Union in Addis Adaba which was completely built and funded by China as a gift to the people of Africa, opens this weekend. Trade between China and Africa has increased more than 6 fold in the last decade to reach US$120bn in 2011. EGYPTIAN ELECTIONS Final results have just been announced for elections to the 508-seat People's Assembly which took place between November, 2011 and January, 2012. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party (FJP) won the largest number of seats in an electoral system whereby two-thirds of members are voted in in a system of proportional representation. In second place came the hardline Salafist Nour party followed by the Liberal New Wafd party. The overall result means that Islamist parties control around two-thirds of the seats in the assembly with the FJP winning 45% of the seats with Salafist Nour around 25%. In the coming weeks, January - March, a second election to the 270 seat Shura Council (Upper House) will be held followed by a presidential election in June/July. The Muslim Brotherhood led the underground resistance to President Mubarak during his 30 years in power and now would appear to be on the verge of taking the presidency. just1world's TABLE OF TRUTH 2011 The most recent updates to the 'Table of Truth' in RECOMMENDATIONS shows little has changed in the course of the year in most African countries. Again, only 9 nations score 20 or better in the table which means that 39 governments in sub-Saharan Africa are just not doing the business in laying the foundations for helping their people to advance. Mauritius again tops the table followed by another island nation Cape Verde with the best governed country on the mainland of Africa, Botswana, in third place. In fourth place comes Ghana followed by South Africa, Namibia, Benin, Mali, and Sao Tome/Principe. Most improved nations over the last 12 months were Niger with +2.5, Rwanda and Guinea with scores of +1.6, followed by Liberia +0.9, with Seychelles, Tanzania, Comoros and Chad all showing +0.6. Countries regressing during the last year were Gambia losing -0.8 followed by South Africa, Djibouti and Swaziland which all lost -0.6. The usual candidates again occupy the bottom of the 2011 Table of Truth. At rock bottom is Somalia with 2.7/40 followed by Eritrea with 3.2 and Equatorial Guinea with 3.6. Next comes Sudan with 4.5 followed by Democratic Republic of Congo with 5.9 followed by Zimbabwe with 6. Other nations failing to reach even a score of 10 were Chad 6.7, Ethiopia 8.7, Burundi 9.0, Cote d'Ivoire 9.1 and Angola 9.8. The average score for all 48 countries comprising sub-Saharan Africa was 14.5/40 which can only be described as abysmal and is still below the average of 2002 when the African Union was set up with the avowed aims of tackling poor governance and corruption and along with the lack of civil liberties. EIU INDEX OF DEMOCRACY 2011 The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy 2011 provides a view of the state of democracy across 165 independent nations and 2 territories. It is based on 5 categories: electoral process/pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture. From the resulting scores countries are the placed into four different categories of regimes: Full Democracies, Flawed Democracies, Hybrid Regimes and Authoritarian Regimes. EIU states that 2011 was an exceptionally turbulent year politically with sovereign debt crises, weak political leadership in the OECD countries and dramatic change in the Arab world. From its calculations, EIU has concluded that in the world today, there are 25 Full Democracies, 53 Flawed Democracies, 37 Hybrid Regimes and 52 Authoritarian Regimes. These 2 groupings - Democracies v Regimes - add up to almost a 50:50 split in countries covered and world population. Top of the table, not surprisingly, comes Scandinavia, with Norway, with a score of 9.8/10 at No 1, followed by Denmark at No 3, and Sweden at No 4. Iceland is 2nd. Next come New Zealand and Australia followed by Switzerland in 7th, Canada 8th and Finland 9th. These are the only countries with a score greater than 9 out 10. In 10th place is Netherlands with Germany at No 14, Malta 15, Uruguay 17, UK 18 and US 19. Japan and South Korea at 21 and 22 are the only Asian countries considered to be Full Democracies. As is Mauritius at No 24 which is the only African representative. Amongst the nations classed as Flawed Democracies are Cape Verde, South Africa, France, Italy, Greece, Botswana, Israel, India, Timor-Leste, Brazil, Mali, Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia, Benin and Ghana. Hybrid Regimes include Hong Kong, Singapore, Malawi, Tanzania, Senegal, Uganda, Liberia, Mozambique, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Niger and Burundi. The ten most Authoritarian Regimes are (from the bottom up) North Korea, Chad, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Central African Republic, Iran, Syria and Guinea-Bissau. The democracy score declined in 48 countries 2011/2010 whilst it increased in 41. In a total of 44 countries covered in sub-Saharan Africa in 2011, one is a Full Democracy, 9 are Flawed Democracies, 11 are Hybrid Regimes and 23 are still Authoritarian. Tunisia experienced the biggest increase in any country in its democracy score with a move from Authoritarian to Hybrid whilst Russia moved in the other direction from Hybrid to Authoritarian. PRESIDENT OF GUINEA-BISSAU DIES IN PARIS President Malam Bacai Sanha has died in a Paris hospital after a long illness. Sanha was elected president of Guinea-Bissau, one of the world's poorest countries, in July 2009 after a military coup which resulted in the death of his predecessor, Joao Bernardo Vieira in March 2009. Sanha headed up the ruling African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) and won the election in a run-off securing 63% of the vote. The speaker in parliament, Raimundo Pereira, will stand in as interim president until elections can be held. In the last 18 years no president has completed a full five year term. Since independence from Portugal in 1974, this tiny country has suffered from repeated coups and unrest. Here the gulf between people and power is enormous with the military taking over 40% of the national budget and both military and political leaders are reckoned to be heavily involved in the transit of drugs in and out of the country. 2011 - YEAR OF ELECTIONS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA - BUT DID ANYTHING MUCH CHANGE In January the people of South Sudan voted for separation from Sudan in a referendum and this historic event duly took place in July. Also in January, in Central African Republic, Francois Bozize was duly re-elected with 66% of the vote. February saw Yoweri Museveni secure another 5 years with 68% of electors voting for him. In March, in a run-off Mahamadou Issoufou won in Niger after a military coup in 2009 had toppled the former president. In April, in Djibouti, Ismael Omar Guelleh won with 80% of the vote whilst Goodluck Jonathan retained power in Nigeria with 59% of the ballot. Meanwhile Idris Deby again swept all before him securing 89% of the vote in Chad. There was a minor shock in Zambia in September when Michael Sata beat Rupiah Banda by 43% to 36% to take over as president - a rare feat on the mainland of sub-Saharan Africa. But in October normal service was resumed when Paul Biya coasted to victory in Cameroon with 78% of the vote. Tradition was further nailed down when in the three elections in November Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won in Liberia, Yahya Jammeh was first again in Gambia and Joseph Kabila secured the highest number of votes in Democratic Republic of Congo. So in leadership elections in 2011 the candle of democracy was just about burning in sub-Saharan Africa. In the 10 elections where the leader was seeking re-election, all but one electorate gave him/her another mandate. However, perhaps Zambia, the exception, is the ray of light on the dark continent for democrats. But, at the end of the day, democracy can only ever take hold when there is a large middle class and that is still awaited in much of Africa for it is estimated that only 13% of Africans can call themselves middle class. In the meantime the Western World should accept paying for elections in Africa is a waste of time and much more could and should be achieved by rewarding progressive governments on the sub-continent. CORRUPTION IN 2011 Transparency International has just released the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which ranks countries according to how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be . The table ranks countries from a 10 very clean to 0 highly corrupt. Top country is New Zealand with a score of 9.5/10.0, followed by Denmark and Finland with 9.4, Sweden with 9.3, Singapore with 9.2 and Norway with 9.0 In 7th place is Netherlands with 8.9 followed by Australia and Switzerland with 8.8 and Canada with 8.7. In 12th place is Hong Kong, still a separate part of China. Only 14 nations score 8 or better out of 10. The UK is 16th with a score of 7.8, Ireland 19th with 7.5 and US 24th with 7.1 followed by France 25th with 7. Only 25 nations score 7 or better out of 10. Botswana is the top nation in sub-Saharan Africa in 32nd place with 6.1, (5.8 in 2010). Staying in sub-Saharan Africa Cape Verde is 41st with 5.5 (5.1) ahead of Mauritius at No 46 with 5.1(5.4). One of the most improved performances anywhere this year comes from *Rwanda in 49th place with a score of 5.0 (4.0). In 50th place is Seychelles 4.8 (4.8) making 5 countries on the sub-continent in the top 50. *South Africa slipped to 64th with 4.1 (4.5) and Ghana to 69th with 3.9 (4.1), the same score as Italy. At the very bottom with a score of 1.0 are North Korea and Somalia just below Burma, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Iraq and Haiti. (*Rwanda, under Paul Kagame, has made a great effort to stem corruption since 2007 with the conviction and imprisonment of several government ministers, MP's and civil servants. In 2007 Rwanda was ranked 111th in the CPI with a score of 2.8; in 2011 it has nearly doubled to 5.0. Conversely, since 2007, with some high profile sackings in the police force and an ongoing investigation into a US$5bn arms deal, South Africa's score has fallen from 5.1 to 4.1.) UK AID STATS FOR 2010/11 In the year 2010/11 the UK overseas aid spending amounted to £9.0bn, up from £7.8bn in 2009/10. This represents an increase of 16% year on year and makes the UK's DfID the 2nd largest donor of overseas aid. In 2010/11 £4.3bn was given as bilateral aid (55%) and £3.2bn (42%) as multilateral assistance. The remaining £0.2bn (3%) represented administration costs. In 2010/11, DfID provided assistance to 78 countries, of which 37 countries received direct financial aid. DfID's bilateral assistance, excluding humanitarian assistance, was £3.9bn in 2010/11. India (£279m), Ethiopia (£245m) and Bangladesh (£171m) received the largest amounts of bilateral aid excluding humanitarian assistance. Completing the top ten countries here were Tanzania (£144m), Nigeria (£142m), Pakistan (£120m), Afghanistan (£97m), Uganda (£94m), Mozambique (£94m) and Rwanda (£90m). UK bilateral humanitarian assistance totalled £350m and the top ten recipients here were Sudan (£84m), Pakistan (£83m), Democratic Republic of Congo (£47m), Somalia (£30m), Yemen (£7m), Haiti (£7m), Ethiopia (£6m), Kenya (£6m), Burma (£5m) and Eritrea (£4m). UK bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa rose to £1.76bn in 2010/11 from £1.54bn in 2009/10. In 2010/11, it is estimated that £1.05bn of DfID's contributions to multilateral organisations were spent in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2010/11 £329m of bilateral assistance was channelled through UK Civil Society Organisations such as the British Red Cross, VSO and Oxfam The European Commission's development programme received the largest amount of UK multilateral assistance (£1.3bn), followed by the World Bank (£927m) and the United Nations (£355m). The sectors receiving the highest share of DfID bilateral aid in 2010/11 were the health sector with £830m followed by the government/civil society sector with £787m and the economic sector with £750m. AFRICA GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE The Africa Governance Initiative (AGI) set up by former UK prime minister Tony Blair has added Guinea to the list of countries it will now support alongside Rwanda, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Guinea, after 50 years of dictatorship, elected Alpha Conde, leader of the Rally of the People of Guinea, as president in November, 2010 who promised to make the country's vast natural resources work for the people. AGI embeds teams of highly trained and motivated people from the UK public and private sectors within the heart of progressive governments in poor countries who will then work alongside ministers and civil servants there to build the capacity and systems necessary to effect social progress. Tony Blair does not take on new governments lightly and it would appear that he is convinced that Conde is serious in trying to build a better life for the people of Guinea. The addition of Guinea, added to Liberia and Sierra Leone, now gives AGI access to governments in three countries with common borders on the West Atlantic coast of Africa which could lead to joint projects in improving infrastructure and communications in the region. 2011 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX The latest Human Development Index published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), based on national achievement in health, education and income, places Norway at the top of the world followed by Australia, Netherlands, US, New Zealand, Canada and Ireland. Liechtenstein, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Japan complete the top 12 and all these countries score more than 0.9 out of 1. In 13th place is Hong Kong with South Korea 15th and France 20th. Spain and Italy occupy 23rd and 24th spots with Singapore at 26th, UK 28th, Greece 29th and UAE at 30th. In total there are 47 nations considered to have Very High Human Development. Top African country is Seychelles at 52 followed by Libya at 64 with Mauritius at 77 and Tunisia at 94. All these countries are considered to have High Human Development. Algeria completes the African contingent in the top 100. The first country in the Human Development Index from the sub-Saharan Africa mainland is Gabon at 106 followed by Botswana at 118, Namibia at 120, South Africa at 123, Ghana at 135, Equatorial Guinea at 136, Republic of Congo at 137 followed by Swaziland at 140. All these nations are considered to have Medium Human Development. Of the 46 countries at the bottom with Low Human Development, 36 are African and indeed the lowest 15 nations are all from sub-Saharan Africa. At the very bottom is the Democratic Republic of Congo followed by Niger, Burundi, Mozambique, Chad, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic and Guinea. This year the report covers 187 nations. IBRAHIM PRIZE/ INDEX The nervous wait is over and Mo Ibrahim can breathe a sigh of relief. The panel set up by him to choose a worthy former African leader who has retired in the last three years and who has demonstrated excellence in office, this year managed to find their man - former president Pedro Pires of Cape Verde. He joins a select group of three after Joaquim Chissano from Mozambique in 2007 and Festus Mogae from Botswana in 2008. No one was deemed deserving enough in 2009 and 2010. The Ibrahim Prize consists of US$5 million paid over 10 years and thereafter US$200,000 paid annually for life. The 2011 Ibrahim Index has also been released. This index is compiled from 86 indicators based on various international and African sources in order to measure the effective delivery of public goods and services to African citizens. No data on African poverty was included but the Foundation is keen to remedy this in future. Top countries again are Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana, Seychelles, South Africa and Namibia - very similar to the just1world Table of Truth which uses just 4 surveys (see RECOMMENDATIONS). The scores overall in the Ibrahim Index, however, show African governments in a much better light than either our Table of Truth or the World Bank Governance Indicators which may be because domestic African government sources are used. But where there can be no dispute is that the same countries are at the top and bottom in all three tables. THE WEST CAN NO LONGER LEAVE THE SOMALIAN PEOPLE TO HELL ON EARTH With 12 million people across the Horn of Africa in need of food aid, the United Nations (UN) estimates that as many as 750,000 people in Somalia alone are in danger of dying in what is described as the Horn of Africa's worst drought in 60 years. It is no surprise that Somalia is the worst affected country as civil war has been raging there for 20 years and the current government, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), backed by the West, can only lay claim to control the area around the capital, Mogadishu. The Islamist insurgents, known as al-Shabaab, control the rest of the country and they are reportedly interfering in the delivery of food supplies, and preventing farmers from planting their fields. In the middle of all this are soldiers from Uganda and Burundi sent by the African Union to support the TFG. However, lacking the manpower and firepower, these troops have been unable to take on and defeat al-Shabaab. Somalia is a difficult country to govern at the best of times with tribal affiliations also needing to be taken into account, but the time has surely come for the West to start to play a much wider role in the country. Initially contact should be made with al-Shabaab with a view to hammering out a future free from conflict where the Somali people can start to put their lives back together again. If al-Shabaab refuse this offer then Nato should seriously consider intervening to secure peace. Then the various leaders of the local tribes will need to be brought on board and a government of national unity formed where all factions are represented. Initially this will be difficult to operate as there will be so many old scores settle so it might be advisable if Western representatives, initially, also had seats in government to help concentrate minds. With peace brokered, and a government of national unity in place, the West should then concentrate in addressing the problem of food security. Firstly food supplies will need to be brought into the country. At the same time drought-resistant seeds and fertilisers would be made available to farmers in an effort to avert future famine. The merging of small plots into co-operatives would also help in what might be termed sharing the benefits and shrinking the burdens. With negligible rainfall, water would also be a priority as currently only 1% of the land is irrigated so it would be essential to bring in engineers and hydrologists to source and secure water supplies. In time this kind of practical help from the West could be rolled out to neighbouring countries in the Horn of Africa which also suffer from drought. Somalia has been likened to a vision of hell where the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Pestilence, Death, War, Famine - visit on a regular basis. And this intolerable situation should no longer be allowed to continue. No matter how difficult the task may seem, now is the time for the international community to come together to broker a future for the Somali people. For that is the very least they deserve. |
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just1world@just1world.org |
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