"Sayings"
"BETTER TO BE IGNORANT OF A MATTER
THAN HALF KNOW IT" !
_____
BOTSWANA IN A FROTH OVER BEER !
Letlhogile Lucas - BBC News, Gabarone.
Botswana's cabinet is expected to approve a drastic increase in the price of beer - a staggering 70% - when it meets later. Drinkers would be hit hard by the new proposals.It is part of a crackdown on alcohol driven by Botswana's new President Seretse Khama Ian Khama. As a committed Christian, he has a zealous dislike for the "evils of drink".
His father, Botswana's founding president Seretse Khama, died at the relatively young age of 59 of cancer and liver problems. He was known to be a heavy smoker and drinker. Now his son is particularly concerned about alcoholism, which he says can result in ruined lives and misery for many. It is a position that he set out at his inauguration speech on 1 April. "Abuse of alcohol is one of the ills that we have to address as a nation," he told the thousands who had gathered for the event.
At a recent Kgotla - a traditional meeting place where national issues are debated - President Khama announced that a new alcohol tax would be introduced, which would raise prices by 70%. He added that if the manner in which people drink and use alcohol does not improve in three months, there would be a further increase of 70%. The government has recently appointed a task force to find ways of regulating shabeens - informal drinking bars - as well as traditional home brews.
In Botswana, alcohol abuse is blamed for various socials problems such as domestic violence, road accidents, juvenile delinquency and the spread of HIV/Aids. The government has the backing of the Botswana Council of Churches, which has been sitting on a national committee looking at social values and morals. "We have been worried by drinking patterns in Botswana," the organisation said in a statement, "which have resulted in families falling apart and domestic violence."
But the president's announcement that alcohol prices would go up did not go down well with beer-sellers and consumers alike who were feeling decidedly flat. "Seventy percent is too much, " said Ludo, a young drinker at a bar in Gabarone. "The president should accept that there are no recreational facilities and he should come up with alternatives." "I am young and when I am done with university classes what will I do?" he asked
"This is going to ruin our business," said Irene, who manages Linga Longa, a popular bar at the Riverwalk mall in the city. "We have to buy from suppliers who will also increase their selling prices and we will have to do the same if we have to make profit. I do not see people coming to buy alcohol," she said.
While understanding the reasons for the price increase, the main brewery company in Botswana said this was not the right way to go about tackling alcoholism. "We are talking to the government to make them understand the implication of the price hikes," Kgalagadi Breweries Limited said. "We share the government's concern about the harmful effects of irresponsible consumption and abuse. But while the increase in prices may limit access by some people, it does not address the pertinent matter of alcohol abuse and associated effects."
The company believes people with drinking problems will just find a way around the barrier of higher prices, for example by resorting to dangerous home brews. Many people in Botswana share their concern that the problem may be driven underground. The increase in tax on alcohol is just one of the battles that sellers of liquor are having to fight with the government.
Recently it introduced a limit in trading hours - a measure some retailers and bar-owners challenged in court. But they were not successful. The court ruled that new hours, limiting sales from 1900 to midnight (instead of all day) would come into effect, when existing licences expired. It also banned bars and bottle stores from opening on Sundays and public holidays.
Botswana and beer have a long history together.
Drinking is an intrinsic part of social rituals such as weddings and funerals, as well as the traditional Letsema - where farm workers gather together to share a drink after toiling on the land. Undoing such a bond may take more than simply increasing the cost of drinking.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
OUTCRY OVER CHINA-NIGER OIL DEAL !
By Will Ross - BBC News.
A multi-billion dollar oil deal between China and the west African state of Niger has been denounced by unions and transparency campaigners. Civil rights groups in Niger are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the $5bn (£2.5bn) contract and for scrutiny of how funds will be spent.
China's state oil company was given oil exploration rights in Niger in June. There is widespread concern that the people of Niger will not benefit from the country's oil wealth. For centuries Africa has failed to gain much benefit from its enormous mineral deposits; they were plundered by colonisers and during wars.
But even when the governments of independent African countries have signed deals with mining companies, the people in those countries have rarely benefited. Now as resource hungry China expands its business in Africa there are claims that a lack of transparency will once again prevent the people from gaining.
China recently said it would invest $5bn in Niger over the next three years to develop oil production. But a coalition of organisations in Niger has called for a parliamentary investigation into the deal and an examination of how the funds resulting from the agreement are spent. A mining union in Niger said the deal with China took place in the greatest of secrecy and with contempt for regulation.
It is not easy changing the way such deals are struck - political and business elites often have a vested interest in avoiding transparency. Even when a company or investor wants to disclose the details of a deal, it risks losing its license to a less scrupulous competitor. There are plenty of examples where governments have failed to do business in the interests of the people they serve.
It has been alleged that for several years Angolans were losing out on more than $1bn every year as oil revenues were misappropriated. Unless the deals are transparent and accounts published, it is almost impossible to spot any corruption. That is why campaigners are now making noise in Niger as they hope China's vast investment will break the mould and actually benefit the population.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
KENYA'S EXPENSIVE FREE EDUCATION !
By Anne Mawathe - BBC News, Nairobi.
When the Kenyan government promised to provide free secondary education last year, many parents were elated. The government says an extra 300,000 pupils have enrolled Rolling out the programme in January, President Mwai Kibaki said free education would ensure that children from poor homes acquired quality education.
His government introduced universal free primary education after he was first elected in 2002. Under the programme, the government would pay tuition fees while parents covered boarding costs and bought uniforms. But seven months after the programme was supposed to take off, the government has provided only a quarter of the funding schools need to make it work.
Some school administrators have been forced to run the institutions on a credit line while others have opted to reinstate tuition fees to avoid closing down.
Sylvester Wambua, the head teacher at Kyanguli Memorial School, says the delay is threatening operations at the institution. "The government is supposed to give us $95,861 - they have only giving us $19,354. "The free secondary education is really a challenge. We have creditors, we cannot pay them," Mr Wambua says.
Buckling under the weight of a $77,000 deficit this year, the school has been incurring debts to bridge the gap. Mr Wambua is not the only school administrator grappling with a myriad of problems resulting from the lapse of support by the government.
Chacha Ngalando, the school administrator at Kithangaini Secondary School in Eastern Province is also struggling to make ends meet. "There has been an increase in the student population, which means increasing the infrastructure. So where do you get the beds, the books with the peanuts that the government sends?" Mr Ngalando asks.
But the government has blamed the delay on school administrators, who it says have not provided proper bank accounts for the funds to be deposited. And it promises that things will get better. Education Assistant Minister Calist Mwatela says the programme needs time to succeed. "It should be understood that our system is a transformation... It has its own challenges," Mr Mwatela says.
But the government has also admitted that it is facing a cash crunch. Kenya's economy took a hit from the post-election violence witnessed early this year. The government is also facing increased expenditure to meet the costs of a 42-member cabinet formed as part of a power-sharing agreement. The cabinet will cost the government an extra $300m, and the ministry of finance warns it may be forced to shift funding from vital programmes.
Key ministries - among them medical services, roads, education and finance - have already had their budgets slashed to accommodate the increased government expenditure. The free secondary school education programme may just be one of the casualties.
To cope with the funding crisis, administrators at schools serving the middle class have defied the government's directive not to charge fees. Some schools are now asking parents to pay as much as $1,300 per year instead of the recommended $300. If the government continues to delay the funding, the quality of high school education in public schools could be seriously compromised.
If this happens, it is the students from poor families who will pay a heavy price, as their parents cannot afford to take them to the costly private schools.
But the government insists that the programme has been a success. President Kibaki says enrolment in secondary schools has shot up by 300,000 since January. After a rocky start and with mounting challenges, the government faces an uphill task in providing high quality free secondary education.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ANC TO BACK LZUMA OVER CORRUPTION !
The allegations have been hanging over Mr Zuma for several years.
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said it will back its leader Jacob Zuma in his attempts to get corruption charges dropped.
An ANC spokesperson said the way the case had been handled reinforced ideas that it was a "political trial" and fuelled doubts of a free hearing.
Mr Zuma is favourite to become South Africa's president when Thabo Mbeki stands down next year. He denies the charges ranging from money-laundering to racketeering. Mr Zuma is expected to request that the charges against him be thrown out when his trial begins at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg next week.
ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte said the ANC would back this move but said the party did not want special treatment for its leader.
"We simply seek that he be treated fairly and justly," she told reporters after a meeting of the party's national working committee. But she said that the fact the charges had been widened to include tax matters gave weight to the view that Mr Zuma was being persecuted rather than prosecuted, the South African Press Association reports. "He has been subjected to a vicious and unrelenting trial by media, having been tried and found guilty before his case has even come before court," Ms Duarte is quoted by the Citizen newspaper as saying.
Earlier this week Judge Chris Nicholson was appointed to preside over the trial. He is a human rights lawyer, who has been a judge for some 10 years.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court to yet to rule on whether prosecutors can use some evidence against Mr Zuma. His team have argued that his constitutional rights to privacy were violated when investigators raided his home three years ago.
Mr Zuma was the country's deputy president before being fired in 2005 when his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik was found guilty of soliciting bribes and jailed for 15 years in connection with an arms deal.
Mr Zuma was then put on trial, but the case collapsed in 2006 when the prosecution said it was not ready to proceed - a court had ruled that documents obtained during the raids could not be used by prosecutors because the search warrants used by police were illegal.
Last year, the Supreme Court upheld appeals against this ruling, saying that the tens of thousands of pages of seized documents could be used in evidence. Mr Zuma has vehemently denied the corruption charges, and argues that the case is politically motivated.
He won a bitter campaign against President Mbeki to become ANC leader last December.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
TSVANGIRAI CALLS FOR MUGABE EXIT !
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he hopes President Robert Mugabe will make an "honourable exit" after power-sharing talks.
In an interview with Britain's Channel 4, Mr Tsvangirai said Mr Mugabe was in denial about violence in Zimbabwe.
Government and opposition officials have been holding negotiations at a secret location in South Africa. The talks, aimed at resolving Zimbabwe's post-election crisis, are expected to resume on Sunday.
Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) accuses Mr Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party of stealing Zimbabwe's presidential election.
Talks, which started a week ago after Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai met for the first time in a decade, were halted earlier this week.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has led negotiations over Zimbabwe's crisis, has said the parties are determined to find a solution within a two-week timeframe.
Mr Tsvangirai said he was not in a position to define what his role or that of Mr Mugabe would be after the end of the talks. But he added: "What I would hope is that it will allow [Mr Mugabe] a process of an honourable exit." "There have been sticking points," he added. "Some issues have been ironed out, some issues are still outstanding. We hope that as the negotiations proceed they will find a common compromise."
Mr Tsvangirai also spoke about his rare meeting with Mr Mugabe. "I am sure that there was a common understanding that there is a need to soft land the crisis through a transitional process," he said. "He is just as human as every one of us, that he has similar concerns, although, of course, I think he is ignorant, and/or chooses to be in a denial stage as far as violence is concerned."
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has led negotiations over Zimbabwe's crisis, has said the parties are determined to find a solution within a two-week timeframe.
The MDC said on Wednesday that two of its supporters had been killed in Harare last week by Zanu-PF supporters, even after an agreement to start talks had been signed.
The party has previously said that more than 120 of its supporters have been killed, some 5,000 abducted and 200,000 forced to flee their homes after being attacked by Zanu-PF militias and security agents - accusations the Zanu-PF denies.
Mr Tsvangirai pushed Mr Mugabe into second place in the first round of voting on 29 March, but he pulled out of a 27 June run-off election after a wave of deadly attacks against his supporters.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SOUTH AFRICA'S HIDDEN WHITE POVERTY !
Peter Biles - BBC News, Bethlehem, South Africa.
Karel and Annetjie du Randt moved to the Bethlehem settlement in Pretoria West five years ago after falling on hard times. Previously, Mr du Randt had been employed, making tombstones in the town of Rustenburg. Karel du Randt and his wife live in a hut without sanitation or electricity. The du Randts' home today is a tiny wooden hut on a private plot of land where about 30 whites make up the small community. The huts have no electricity or individual toilets, but there is a spacious garden where the residents can grow and sell vegetables.
"We try to help each other", says Mr du Randt. "We're not just sitting around and crying. Most of the guys here don't have any income, but we're just starting a new project, making small folding tables. You have to be part of the set-up here, in order to survive."
Bethlehem is not nearly as crowded or as impoverished as South Africa's teeming black townships such as Khayelitsha in Cape Town, or Diepsloot in Johannesburg. However, Bethlehem reflects the face of South African society that is rarely seen - white poverty.
"It's a huge problem, and I don't think people realise how bad it is," says Elsabe Blignaut of the Danville Help Project which assists poor white Afrikaners. "People are homeless. They have no jobs. They don't earn anything. We try to get them off the streets, feed and clothe them, and make life better for them".
In the days of apartheid, impoverished white Afrikaners were amply protected by the state. The National Party which came to power in 1948 on a wave of Afrikaner nationalism, guaranteed Afrikaans-speaking South Africans employment, subsidised housing and state benefits. Today, the ANC government provides a safety net of social grants and basic services for all South Africans who need them, but Afrikaners have lost the privileges they once enjoyed.
The mainly white Solidarity trade union says South Africa must accept that poverty is not only a "black" problem. "Although poverty is less prevalent in the white communities, there is an alarming increase amongst white South Africans," concludes a Solidarity report that has been handed to ANC President Jacob Zuma. Mr Zuma went to the Bethlehem settlement earlier this year, and promised to return. His second visit last week, brought South Africa's presidential hopeful face-to-face with the daily problems of poor whites.
Accompanying him was Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya, who told the residents that in return for government assistance, they must make available whatever skills they can offer. South Africa has a major shortage of skilled workers. The leader of the Solidarity trade union, Flip Buys, is upbeat about Mr Zuma's involvement.
Mr Buys says it used to be very difficult to get the government to address the issue of white poverty. "We had knocked on the door, and there was no answer," he says. "But with the help of Jacob Zuma, the door is now open. People will be able to access government services".
Mr Zuma is an unlikely ally of poor white Afrikaners. Admitting that his command of the Afrikaans language is weak, the ANC president chose to address his audience in English when he spoke at Bethlehem. His natural charm may have disarmed some members of the local community, but the Afrikaners remain cautious.
"We're encouraged by what Jacob Zuma has promised to do for us," says Mr du Randt, "but we're not putting our faith in him completely. "If the people here don't want to get up and work together, then we're not going to make things any better for them."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
GANGS CLASH IN NIGERIA OIL REGION !
A turf war between two militant gangs in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta region has killed at least one soldier and two militants, the army says. Fighting flared on Tuesday night between gangs in Abonnema, 14km from the Rivers State capital Port Harcourt.
Soldiers sent to quell the violence were ambushed on the way, a military spokesman told Reuters news agency.
Gang fights are common in the Delta, where youths are funded and armed by oil-stealing cartels. "Unfortunately, our men were ambushed by the militants and there was heavy exchange of gunfire. We lost one soldier and killed two militants in the ensuing battle," military spokesman Lt Col Sagir Musa told Reuters.
It is believed one of the gangs involved is led by Soboma George. His gang was implicated in the violence that surrounded last year's elections. In August last year, his gang clashed with another over a two-week period in Port Harcourt. Dozens were killed and wounded and a curfew was announced.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ANC TO BACK ZUMA OVER CORRUPTION !
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has said it will back its leader Jacob Zuma in his attempts to get corruption charges dropped. An ANC spokesperson said the way the case had been handled reinforced ideas that it was a "political trial" and fuelled doubts of a free hearing.
Mr Zuma is favourite to become South Africa's president when Thabo Mbeki stands down next year. He denies the charges ranging from money-laundering to racketeering. Mr Zuma is expected to request that the charges against him be thrown out when his trial begins at the High Court in Pietermaritzburg next week.
ANC spokeswoman Jessie Duarte said the ANC would back this move but said the party did not want special treatment for its leader. "We simply seek that he be treated fairly and justly," she told reporters after a meeting of the party's national working committee. But she said that the fact the charges had been widened to include tax matters gave weight to the view that Mr Zuma was being persecuted rather than prosecuted, the South African Press Association reports.
"He has been subjected to a vicious and unrelenting trial by media, having been tried and found guilty before his case has even come before court," Ms Duarte is quoted by the Citizen newspaper as saying.
Earlier this week Judge Chris Nicholson was appointed to preside over the trial. He is a human rights lawyer, who has been a judge for some 10 years. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court to yet to rule on whether prosecutors can use some evidence against Mr Zuma. His team have argued that his constitutional rights to privacy were violated when investigators raided his home three years ago.
Mr Zuma was the country's deputy president before being fired in 2005 when his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik was found guilty of soliciting bribes and jailed for 15 years in connection with an arms deal.
Mr Zuma was then put on trial, but the case collapsed in 2006 when the prosecution said it was not ready to proceed - a court had ruled that documents obtained during the raids could not be used by prosecutors because the search warrants used by police were illegal.
Last year, the Supreme Court upheld appeals against this ruling, saying that the tens of thousands of pages of seized documents could be used in evidence. Mr Zuma has vehemently denied the corruption charges, and argues that the case is politically motivated. He won a bitter campaign against President Mbeki to become ANC leader last December.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
U.N. ENDS AFRICAN HORN PEACE FORCE !
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to end its peacekeeping border mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea. The UN withdrew most of its 1,700 peacekeepers in February after Eritrea withdrew its support for the mission.
Eritrea wanted the international community to make Ethiopia comply with an international border ruling.
Meanwhile, in discussions to extend the UN mandate in Darfur, some members are pushing for war crimes charges against Sudan's leader not to be pursued.
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan at the UN says the vote ending the Eritrea-Ethiopia mission is formally recognising the reality on the ground. But there is concern within the UN that a precedent has been set whereby a government has shown it can drive out peacekeepers, she says.
In April, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned of a possible return to war if the peacekeepers pulled out of Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Before the vote, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he thought that unlikely to happen. "The peacekeepers played an important role, but one cannot say that their role was irreplaceable in the sense of maintaining the relative peace along the borders that we now have," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. "So the risks will naturally be increased. But I don't think the fact that the peacekeeping operation is finally terminated will mean that war will start again."
BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says the war between the two neighbours that erupted in 1998 was the largest conventional conflict to have been fought on the African continent since the end of the Second World War. Tanks, heavy artillery and modern aircraft were thrown into the fray and tens of thousands of people died in two-and-a-half years of bitter trench warfare.
The forces of the two nations are now separated by a few hundred metres. The UN withdrew most of its peacekeepers after Eritrea cut off fuel and food to the UN mission last year. It was angered by Ethiopia's refusal to comply with a binding ruling from international arbitrators that awarded disputed territory to Eritrea.
Ethiopian troops are stationed deep within the territory given to Eritrea, and Eritrea had demanded that the UN compel Ethiopia to withdraw. However, our correspondent says there was no appetite at the UN for such direct intervention.
With regard to peacekeeping efforts in Sudan, South Africa's ambassador to the UN, Dumisani Kumalo, says an increasing number of countries want the International Criminal Court to delay its moves to indict Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.
South Africa and Libya, backed by Russia and China, want the UN Security Council to suspend the ICC case against Mr Bashir but this is being resisted by other countries, led by the US and the UK. On Monday, a group of mainly African relief and advocacy groups said the joint AU-UN force in Darfur - Unamid - was failing to protect civilians because it was too small and inadequately funded. Only about a third of the intended 26,000 peacekeepers have been deployed. "We are saying give peace a chance. Can you just give it a year, let's see Unamid deploying," Mr Kumalo said.
The UN estimates that five years of conflict in Darfur have left 300,000 people dead and more than 2 million people homeless.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
ZIMBABWE CRISIS TALKS 'ADJOURNED' !
Talks to solve Zimbabwe's political crisis will be briefly adjourned but will resume in a few days, South African President Thabo Mbeki said.
Mr Mbeki, who is lead mediator in the talks in Pretoria, said they had made good progress. He said the adjournment was to allow negotiators to return to Zimbabwe to consult with their party leaders.
Negotiations between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC began last week.
"The negotiators are negotiating. As you know they have been meeting here now for a number of days and they are continuing to do that. They (the talks) are doing very well," President Mbeki said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
NIGERIA OIL CUT BY REBEL ATTACK !
An attack on two oil pipelines in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region has cut production and raised the price of oil.
Oil giant Shell confirmed it had stopped pumping crude oil through a major pipeline but did not say how much was being held back.
The pipeline attacked by militants carries 130,000 barrels per day, according to Reuters news agency.
Nigeria's oil production had been creeping back up to its Opec quota of 2.1m barrels a day.
A series of violent attacks in recent years had led to a 20% cut in Nigeria's output.
Production, which dropped early this year to 1.7m barrels, rose above 1.9m last week.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) claimed responsibility for the attacks.
They attacked a major trunk pipeline in Nembe Creek, Shell confirmed.
The location of the second attack is yet to be confirmed.
Mend told journalists last week they would attack two major pipelines in order to prove they were not being paid protection money to stay away from oil infrastructure.
The head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation last week admitted to paying militants to allow repairs to a pipeline.
The NNPC later said he had been quoted out of context and the money had gone to communities, not to militants.
Earlier, five foreign oil workers seized in Nigeria by militants were freed, security officials told the BBC.
The group, thought to be Russians, were kidnapped on Thursday on the way to a deep offshore oil field.
The boat was hijacked just after leaving its navy escort and taken to a creek in the swampy Niger Delta.
It was the second group of foreigners to be kidnapped and then released in the past four days in the Delta, which has seen a recent surge in violence.
Two people were shot and wounded and eight foreign oil workers kidnapped on Saturday.
The eight, also believed to be Russians, were released hours after they were taken from a tanker on the Bonny River.
In both cases, security officials said no ransom had been paid.
More than 200 foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta over the past two years, but they are often released after payment of ransom.
The group of five released on Monday worked for the oil services company Saipem.
It is believed the tanker which came under attack belongs to Global Gas and Refining Ltd, a Nigerian subsidiary of US-based Global Energy Inc, which has been stationed along the Bonny river for more than two years.
It is not known who carried out the kidnappings.
Mend ended a unilaterally announced ceasefire after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the UK would help train the Nigerian military amid efforts to tackle violence in the Delta.
The militants say they are fighting to ensure that Niger Delta residents see more benefits of the oil wealth.
But some are criminal gangs, making money from ransom payments and stealing oil.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
BIAFRANS DENY TREASON IN NIGERIA !
Thirty members of a separatist movement in south-east Nigeria have pleaded not guilty to charges they were planning to "wage a war" against the government.
They are among the 84 members of the Movement for the Acualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob)arrested in Enugu in May.
They are accused of treason after allegedly celebrating the anniversary of the start of the Nigerian civil war.
Their lawyer insists that Massob is a non-violent organisation.
Uju Joy Ogwefi said the 73 men and one woman were on their way to a friend's house when the police stopped their convoy and arrested them.
"This is a non-violent organisation, they have stated that time without end, and under the constitution they have freedom of association," he told the court.
But prosecutors said Massob was an "illegal organisation", and that alone was evidence they planned "treason".
The remaining 54 are expected to enter a plea on Thursday.
Over a million people died in the 29-month Nigerian civil war which began after the south-east of the country declared itself independent.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
COULD INFLATION FELL MUGABE ?
By Andrew Harding - BBC News, Harare.
How do you make sense of money in a country with an unofficial inflation rate soaring past 15m%?
Many Zimbabweans seem to have given up trying. "I just come here to keep my job," said the cashier at a TM supermarket in Harare, where a tin of baked beans cost - at least for the next few hours - a mere 256bn Zimbabwe dollars (worth about US$1 at the current exchange rate). "It's just ridiculous. We put the prices up several times a day. The salary I was paid at the start of this month cannot even pay for my bus fare here this morning. I am struggling."
The cashier shrugged and then - like many other people I have spoken to while working undercover here over the last two weeks - he smiled awkwardly at the absurdity of it all.
Harare is fast becoming a city of unemployed, impoverished zillionaires - struggling to spend thick wads of banknotes in empty supermarkets before the cash becomes worthless, and increasingly dependent on funds sent home by the millions of Zimbabweans who have already fled abroad.
In the subdued, seemingly half-empty capital, people wait in long queues outside banks to withdraw a maximum of a 100bn dollars a day. Residents have been queuing at banks to withdraw their daily limit. In bars, the price of beer goes up between rounds. Many people are reduced to eating one meal a day. Adults leave hungry children at home and walk for hours to work because they cannot afford the bus fare, while the newspapers advertise lotto prizes of a quadrillion dollars.
As the country sinks deeper into a surreal economic twilight zone, many analysts believe it is hyperinflation that is now driving those in power towards the negotiating table. "Something has to give before very much longer," said Tony Hawkins, a Harare-based economist. "Which is why some people, myself included, think that the economy will bring down the government sooner than sanctions or anything like that... I would have thought months at the most."
Others believe the ruling elite - backed by hard currency revenues from a few surviving export industries - could hold out for another year or more. But worryingly for President Robert Mugabe, the police and armed forces are not immune to the economic chaos. Zimbabwe's central bank introduced a Z$100bn note earlier this month
I watched soldiers push angrily to the front of a queue when a rare delivery of sugar arrived at a Harare shopping arcade last week. "It's becoming harder and harder to keep the army, police and civil service happy by paying them in Zimbabwe dollars, because the money becomes worthless very quickly," said Mr Hawkins.
Many observers remain optimistic about the country's long-term economic prospects. "This situation can be healed," said a Western diplomatic source in Zimbabwe. "But not by this regime. Zanu-PF couldn't run a sweet-shop." A prominent local businessman with links to Zanu-PF agreed with that assessment. "This thing has just spiralled totally out of control," he said.
But he also noted that "the ruling elite talk about the need for change more than we do". "Mugabe is not stupid," he added. "However they acquired their wealth, these people now have a stake in the economy and they see what's happening and know it can't go on... If change comes, it won't take long before this [economy] is fixed - five years at most."
But in the meantime, malnutrition rates continue to rise alarmingly. Hyperinflation, combined with another disastrous harvest, are driving thousands more Zimbabweans to flee the country.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
CALL TO HALT KENYA MILITARY AID !
Rival ethnic militias have clashed over land and politics this year.
An international lobby group has called for military aid to Kenya to be halted until an inquiry is held into a crackdown in the west of the country.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says dozens of people have "disappeared" in Mount Elgon after local men were rounded up.
The operation was intended to tackle an ethnic militia, known as the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), accused of running an 18-month terror campaign.
HRW accuses both sides of committing war crimes in the area.
The security forces have denied repeated complaints of wrongdoing in the area and have blamed any human rights violations on the militia.
HRW says 37 people remain "disappeared", while local human rights groups say more than 70 people have been killed.
Witnesses told researchers that much of the male population had been rounded up.
"The 'successful' operation to tackle the rebellion in Mt Elgon has come at a terrible cost," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
"The government should urgently produce those who have disappeared and ensure that those responsible for torture and other crimes, including the commanders, are held accountable."
In May, the state-funded Kenya National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) said the defence minister and army chiefs should face prosecution over the alleged torture of civilians in Mt Elgon.
HRW accuses the SLDF of killing more than 600 people in the past two years.
The SLDF says it is fighting for ancestral land belonging to the Sabaot community.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
BANANA ROW LOOMS OVER TRADE TALKS
The "Banana wars" began in the 1990s.
Former European colonies have threatened to block a trade deal to reduce the EU's controversial tariffs on Latin American banana imports.
The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) trade grouping said the 35% cut agreed by EU and Latin American officials on Sunday was unacceptable.
An ACP spokesman said the group would present a counter-proposal on Monday.
The negotiations took place during World Trade Organization talks in Geneva about a new global trade deal.
On Sunday, a spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said there had been "very substantial progress" on the dispute over banana imports to the EU.
The bloc has been accused of giving preferential treatment to its members' former colonies. EU officials have been trying to review the special trade deals with about 80 ACP countries, which have been in place since the 1950s.
These deals have allowed a range of products, including banana crops from ACP states, to enter the EU with no duty to pay, while Latin American exports were charged.
On Sunday, the EU and Latin American exporters agreed to further reduce the EU's import duty to 114 euros ($179; £90) a tonne by 2016 - a 35% cut.
But Cameroon's Trade Minister, Luc Mbarga Atangana, - speaking on behalf of banana exporters in the ACP group - said the deal was unacceptable in its current form.
Lowering EU import tariffs further could devastate ACP banana output, some countries warn.
Meanwhile, some senior politicians in Italy, France and Ireland have said they are worried about moves which would force them to cut subsidies to their farmers.
The WTO's Doha talks for a global trade deal were launched in 2001.
Correspondents say they risk further years of delay unless there is a breakthrough in the coming days.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Z|imbabwe !
TOUGH LUCK !
Dear Family and Friends,
Watching MDC and Zanu PF leaders signing an agreement to talk, and then
actually shaking hands on Monday the 21st of July, was something of a
miracle. It would be naive to say that this signals the end of the
crisis but it is a single step forward and it cannot have come soon
enough.
That's the good news, the bad news is that everything else seems to have
been put on hold while talks begin. It's a paralysis having a devastating
effect and most people simply don't know how to cope from one day to the
next.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank continues to limit daily withdrawals
from banks to 100 billion dollars - this is currently worth less than 20
UK pence or 40 US cents or 2 South African Rand. It is a criminally cruel
policy which is causing extreme suffering. The daily maximum withdrawal
is not enough to buy even a single scone which this week cost 140 billion
dollars. A single scone, made with imported flour is the height of luxury
for the vast majority of people and entails standing in a bank queue for
two days to buy just one and by the time you have the money in your hand
the price has gone up.
When I got sick a few days ago I stood open mouthed in the pharmacy when
I was told the common penicillin based antibiotic would cost 2 trillion
dollars. They would not accept a cheque and were not interested in
discussing the matter -it was just tough luck! The 2 trillion dollar
price tag represented 20 working days in a bank queue. I phoned another
pharmacy and was told that their price was 1.6 trillion dollars. When I
arrived there an hour later they said the price had gone up and was now 3
trillion dollars.
My own experience is being encountered by people from all walks of life
across the country - and I cannot believe that people are not dying
because they simply cannot access even basic medicines.
Everywhere there are stories of such suffering from
people who can't get enough of their own money out of the bank to buy
food, medicines, life preserving drugs and the means of everyday
survival.
The inevitable result is that people that can are pouring out of the
country in their thousands in order to survive. A South African
Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said the number of people
arriving at a Refugee reception area in Johannesburg had gone from 800 a
day to more than 5 000 a day in the past month alone.
Those left at home have this week suddenly found themselves in a strange
place where everything is being charged in US dollars or South African
Rand. A woman outside a medical office in Harare selling bread at 10 Rand
a loaf. Rooms in high density suburbs being rented out for 100 rand a
month. Adverts for cottages to lease at 200 US a month. Meat in a local
butchery where only US dollars are accepted.
The agreement between Zanu PF and the MDC to talk is all very well but
while they do we have no food, no medicines and aren't allowed to draw
our own money out. It feels like slow genocide without bullets and bombs.
I am taking a short break so until next time, thanks for reading, love
cathy
Copyright cathy buckle 26 July 2008, www.cathybuckle.com
IS PREMIERSHIP KILLING NIGERIAN FOOTBALL ?
By Andrew Walker - BBC News, Abuja
This weekend Nigerian football fans are in for a treat as Manchester United and Portsmouth play a one-off friendly in the capital Abuja. Nigerians are mad for the Premiership, not so crazy about their own leagues.
But while the popularity of the Premiership grows, it seems to be at the expense of the Nigerian domestic league. Observers say the future is bleak for Nigerian football, with all its brightest stars being drawn to Europe, while its own clubs wither and die, watched by fewer and fewer people.
The coach of FC Abuja says the league officials need to change the time of their matches to avoid Premiership fixtures. "Whenever we play at the same time as an Arsenal game, nobody shows up," says Abdu Maikaba.
Attendances are already very low. In a country of 140 million people, where crowds will stop and watch amateurs playing in the park, professional league games struggle to get more than 20,000 paying fans to come on match days.
Tony Collins, a Manchester United Fan from Anambra State in South Eastern Nigeria said he was really excited about Sunday's game. "I like Man U because they're winners. Actually I like any club that wins in Europe. Nigerians like winners, we're simple people. Nigerian clubs? Can you really compare? They're rubbish, I don't waste my time with that."
Only one or two teams have the following to sell out their home grounds, says Ismaila Lere, sports editor at the Daily Trust newspaper. "When you look at the stadiums you'll find that the stands are virtually empty, while the bars and the joints that have satellite TV are full. People will pay to watch the Premiership on TV but not to watch Nigerian football live," he says.
The trouble started back in the early 1990s, he says. Economic reforms meant many teams went bust and were not able to pay their players. Those players started looking towards Europe for employment. Initially, they went to Italy and Germany.
Most Nigerians first got wind of the Premiership when Celestine Babayaro joined Chelsea in 1997. "In the 1980s, I was the only person in my area who was watching English football," Mr Lere says. Now Nigerians are, like most of the world, obsessed with the English Premiership. But in Nigeria the obsession is now going too far - after the Champions League final in May, seven people in Nigeria died in clashes between Manchester United and Chelsea fans.
It is the only thing most people will watch. The only thing young players want to do is get to Europe. "When a player won't even be paid £1,000 ($2,000) per month in Nigeria, but can get £1,000 a week in Europe, what do you expect?" says Tukur Babangida, Chairman of Kano Pillars, this year's champions in Nigeria's top league.
He says that players moving to Europe is a good thing. "Young people are inspired by the Premiership, it spurs them on to play, and the money the teams get when they move to Europe is good for the clubs."
But Mr Lere disagrees. He says the corruption rife in the Nigerian league means that money never gets to clubs' coffers. "There is no accountability in the sport here. Players won't see the balance of their salaries and transfer fees go straight into people's pockets."
The coach of Kano Pillars resigned at the end of this winning season, sick of the corruption. Clubs are run by state governments and are viewed as the personal possession of the state governor. Match-fixing is rife, Mr Lere says. In one instance, the governor of one state asked another to throw a key match.
"The second governor told his team to lose by four goals," says Mr Lere. It is little wonder that people do not bother watching Nigerian league football. If current trends continue, everyone will support a Premiership team and forget about their local sides, Mr Lere says. "Its part of globalisation. Football is not immune to that."
Supporters do not seem to care that the sides they support are not Nigerian."You can see I'm an Arsenal fan by the hat on my head," says Godwin Sunday, a 27-year-old labourer in Abuja. He and his friends play football in their lunch break with a soft deflated ball and bare feet or broken shoes. "I won't be going to the match on Sunday but I never miss a Premiership match," he says. "Would I go to a Nigerian game? No. The Arsenal are too much better."
Abu Maikaba says the Nigerian Footbal League need to change their schedule urgently. "If they can make it so we play on a day before or after Arsenal, that will be a start."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
SUDAN ICC CHARGES CONCERN MBEKI !
South Africa's president has called on the International Criminal Court not to prosecute Sudan's leader for war crimes in case it upsets Darfur's peace talks.
Thabo Mbeki told South African TV that Omar al-Bashir's continued presence as head of state was also needed to assist the country's post-civil war security.
The ICC's chief prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Mr Bashir last week for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
On Wednesday, the Sudanese leader said he was not worried by the accusations.
"We're here to send a message to the world, we're people of peace, we want peace, we're the ones who make peace," said Mr Bashir.
Sudan's government has said it does not recognise the ICC or its decisions, and warned that any indictment could cause mayhem.
A three-judge panel at the ICC is currently considering whether there are reasonable grounds for any charges to be laid.
In an interview with SABC-TV on Friday, President Mbeki said it was important that both the peace process in Darfur and the rebuilding of post-civil war Sudan were not disrupted by the ICC decision.
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST BASHIR
Genocide:
Killing members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups
Causing these groups serious bodily or mental harm
Inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about these groups' physical destruction
Crimes against humanity:
Murder
Extermination
Forcible transfer
Rape
Torture
War crimes:
Attacks on civilians in Darfur
Pillaging towns and villages
"Both of them require the very active participation of President Bashir," he said. "I don't know how they would do that if an International Criminal Court says here's a person who has been indicted, because they then must stop interacting with him because this is a wanted criminal, and I don't know how you then implement all of those things," he added.
Mr Mbeki, who has been criticised for being soft on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, said he was ready to meet Mr Bashir to discuss the implications.
The African Union has called for the UN Security Council to suspend the accusations, while the Arab League has warned they set a dangerous precedent.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told judges at The Hague on 14 July that there were "reasonable grounds" for believing Mr Bashir bore criminal responsibility on 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
Some 300,000 people have died as a result of the conflict since 2003 while more than two million have fled their homes, the UN estimates.
Sudan's government denies mobilising Arab Janjaweed militias to attack black African civilians in Darfur after rebels took up arms.
BBC NEW NEWS !
POMPEY'S AFRICA LANDING ABORTED !
A plane carrying Portsmouth's footballers to Nigeria for a pre-season trip had to abort its landing in Abuja. The pilot of the Airbus 319 abandoned the descent after failing to gain clearance from the control tower.
The team were instead flown around for half an hour in stormy conditions before a successful landing was made.
Pompey defender Linvoy Primus said: "We were just above the runway when the pilot suddenly pulled the plane out of the landing and back up in the sky."
He told the club's official website: "We were all shocked. No-one knew what was happening. There had been no warning that there was a problem.
"But credit to the pilot who soon told us that he had been unable to establish contact with the tower and had decided not to land.
"After circling for half an hour in lightning he then managed to get us down safely."
Portsmouth were set to play Kano Pillars on Saturday before taking on Community Shield opponents Manchester United in a warm-up game on Sunday.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
