China firm suspends Niger uranium activities - source / Niger rebels say to release Chinese uranium hostage

Via POTP - dated July 10, 2007:

Five largely related stories from today that update, most recently, yesterday's (updated originally to add the latest bulletin from Reuters.

From Reuters...

A Chinese mining company exploring for uranium in northern Niger has suspended its activities in the country after one of its executives was kidnapped last week, a military source said on Tuesday.

Zhang Guohua, an executive at China Nuclear International Uranium Corp. (Sino-U), was kidnapped on Friday close to Ingall, more than 1,000 km (600 miles) north of the capital, Niamey.

"At the company's request, all of its workers have been evacuated under military escort to Ingall, from where they will be taken to the regional capital, Agadez," the military source told Reuters, asking not to be named.

From Thomson Financial...

A Chinese company has shut down its uranium-prospecting operation in northern Niger, after an ultimatum from the Tuareg rebel movement there, Toureg sources said.

The China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation (CNEC) pulled out after receiving threats from the rebel Movement of Niger People for Justice (MNJ), said the source in Agaez, in the north of the country.

"All the Chinese have left the site and arrived at Ingall (100 km south of Agadez), with their prospecting equipment and a major military escort," said the source.

The CNEC pull-out comes after Tuaregs of the MNJ abducted a Chinese national last Friday in the Ingall region.

An MNJ spokesman said at the time that the action had been intended as a warning to Chinese companies operating with the Niger army.

"No foreigner will be safe so long as the army continues its repression," said an MNJ statement. It has called for an immediate end to mining in the north of the country.

In April, MNJ rebels attacked the biggest uranium project of French nuclear group Areva in Imoumaren, demanding better application of the economic aspects of the 1995 peace agreements that ended a Tuareg rebellion.

The MNJ says [that] peace will not return to the north of Niger without better integration of Tuaregs into the army, paramilitary corps and the local mining sector. Since February, it has carried out attacks on military targets in the area.

Also from Reuters...

Tuareg-led rebels in northern Niger on Tuesday released a Chinese uranium executive [that] they kidnapped four days ago, a military source in the West African country said.

The source, who asked not to be named, said [that] Zhang Guohua, an executive at China Nuclear International Uranium Corp. (Sino-U), was being handed over to the Red Cross, and could be back in the capital Niamey by Wednesday.

By Reuters' Abdoulaye Massalatchi (primary story)...

(An earlier version is also still available on AlertNet.)

Tuareg-led rebels in northern Niger on Tuesday released a Chinese uranium executive [whom] they kidnapped four days ago, while his company suspended its activities in the desert region.

The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) said [that] Zhang Guohua, an executive at China Nuclear International Uranium Corp. (Sino-U), was free and waiting to be collected by the Red Cross.

He was taken close to the desert oasis of Ingall on Friday, more than 1,000 km (600 miles) from the capital, Niamey.

"There's no problem, he's free," MNJ leader Aghaly ag Alambo told Reuters by satellite phone from northern Niger. "He's been talking to his family. We're just waiting for the Red Cross."

Government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar confirmed [that] Zhang had been liberated, and said [that] he could be back in Niamey by Wednesday.

The MNJ kidnapped Zhang because it believed [that] his firm was helping to fund government arms purchases to suppress its uprising. It said at the time of the kidnapping [that] its action was meant as a warning, and that the hostage would not be harmed.

A military source said [that] Sino-U had suspended uranium-exploration work in the region, following the kidnap and rebel calls for foreign mining companies to withdraw expatriate staff.

"At the company's request, all of its workers have been evacuated under military escort to Ingall, from where they will be taken to the regional capital, Agadez," the source said.

Niger's government has granted around 70 mining exploration permits for its desert north, home to the world's fourth-biggest uranium-mining industry, and 100 more are under consideration. Sino-U is one of dozens of foreign firms operating in the area.

MORAL SUPPORT

The MNJ, made up largely of Tuareg and other nomadic tribes, has launched a series of attacks since February against military and mining interests in and around Agadez, scene of a full-scale rebellion in the early 1990s.

It says [that] the central government is neglecting the region, and wants local people to have greater control over its mineral resources, which also include iron ore, silver and platinum.

In its first public statement since the beginning of the MNJ campaign, Niger's army called on the population to remain calm, and said [that] it was committed to protecting the nation.

"We call on the people of Niger to lend moral support to the armed forces engaged on the ground in a conflict which threatens a hard-won peace and security," army spokesman Abdoulkarim Goukoye said in an address on national radio.

The MNJ accuses the government of using the proceeds from mining permits to buy two Russian-made Mi-24 attack helicopters to strike its positions, and says [that] the army has Chinese weapons which it is using in a brutal crackdown on civilians.

"The weapons that we seized in the recent attacks (on military outposts) showed that most of the arms [that] the government forces are using are Chinese-made," ag Alambo said.

Defence Ministry officials have declined to comment.

Pressure has been building on the president to hold talks with the leaders of the uprising. But the government refuses to recognise the MNJ, and has dismissed its attacks, in which at least 33 soldiers have been killed, as acts of common banditry.

From VOA...

A Chinese company has shut down its uranium-prospecting operation in northern Niger after threats from the Tuareg rebel group.

Military officials and sources close to the company say [that] the China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation halted operations after receiving threats from the rebel Niger Movement for Justice. The sources say [that] all of the company's workers have been evacuated with their prospecting equipment to Ingall, about 100 kilometers northeast of the capital, Niamey.

The rebel group kidnapped an executive of the company four days ago, but [on] Tuesday, it promised to release him to the Red Cross.

Niger is one of the world's leading producers of uranium.

The Niger Movement for Justice is made up of members of the Tuareg ethnic group and other tribes. It has carried out a series of attacks against government and foreign interests in the region, in recent months.

The group contends that Niger's government has failed to live up to a 1995 peace deal promising local residents greater control over the region's rich natural resources.

5000 soccer balls for Project Play Niger 2007

Great idea. Would love to see it extended to Sudan, DRC and N Uganda. Project Play was conceived by Mike Mitchell, based on his experiences while serving in the Peace Corps in Niger from 1983 to 1985.

Mike arrived in the town of Zinder with a love for the game of soccer and a duffel bag containing 8 balls. Accordingly, the balls were his ticket into the lives of the local children. Within a short time Mike became an integral part of the provincial club team L'Equipe Espoir (Team Hope), which eventually won the 1984 Nigerian Championship.

Project Play's goal of returning to Niger with an estimated five thousand soccer balls, will be the first fruit borne of Mike's dream to reconnect with the children of Africa and enhance global understanding through sport.

[Source: banner advert at http://www.niger1.com/index.html]

Farmer power the key to green advance

It is simply unacceptable to allow over 850 million people go to bed hungry in a world that produces more than enough food for all. Eco-farming helps poor.

Full story by Michel Pimbert via BBC online 23 Feb 2007.

Huge spend urged on African water

Arica's water systems need annual investments of about $20bn over the next two decades, a United Nations report has concluded.

The African Development Bank (ADB) says that only 3.8% of the continent's water resources are developed.

About 300 million Africans lack access to safe drinking water, and the ADB says money also needs to be spent on irrigation and hydropower.

Full story BBC 20 March 2006.

Dirty water 'kills 1.5m children'

More than 1.5m children under five die each year because they lack access to safe water and proper sanitation, says the United Nations children's agency.

In a report, Unicef says that despite some successes, a billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water from protected sources.

More than 1.2 billion people have gained access to safe water since 1990.

But sub-Saharan Africa remains a major area of concern, especially countries affected by conflict.

A Unicef deputy-director, Vanessa Tobin, gave the example of Niger, where only 13% of the population has access to toilets of an acceptable standard, or better.

She said it "certainly is a contributing factor in the cholera outbreaks" in Niger.

Full story BBC 28 Sep 2006.

DARFUR/CHAD/MDJT rebels: Armed assailants attack convoy in northern Niger

NIAMEY, Aug 11 (Reuters) - hat tip Coalition for Darfur:

One soldier was killed and another abducted in northern Niger when armed men attacked and robbed a goods convoy being escorted by the army near the desert town of Agadez, military sources said on Friday.

The region around the ancient trading town, some 1,700 km (1,000 miles) north of the capital Niamey, was the centre of an uprising by Tuareg nomads in the 1990s and remains notorious for banditry and smuggling.

Local radio, however, reported the assailants were rebels from neighbouring Chad. Military sources declined to speculate.

"We have begun a pursuit and we prefer to remain cautious about the nationality of the attackers," said one army source, who asked not to be identified.

The attackers seized five vehicles containing cigarettes bound for Libya, the main market for tobacco in the region.

The lawless expanse of northern Niger -- which borders Chad, Libya and Algeria -- has also become a haven in recent years for Algerian rebels.

N'Djamena signed a peace deal last year with the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) rebel movement to end its uprising in northern Chad, which had spilled over the border into Niger.

Other rebel groups dedicated to toppling Chadian President Idriss Deby continue to operate in the country's east, using the Sudanese region of Darfur as an operating base.

These rebel groups launched a foiled assault on N'Djamena in April, which killed hundreds of people just weeks before polls which handed Deby a new five-year term.

Oxfam: Africa famine response 'too little, too late'

Reuters report by Andrew Cawthorne via Mail & Guardian 24 July 2006:

Food emergencies in Africa are occurring three times more often now than in the mid-1980s, but the global response to famine continues to be "too little, too late", the international aid agency Oxfam said on Monday.

Conflict, HIV/Aids and climate change are all exacerbating food shortages for sub-Saharan Africa's 750-million people, with innovative solutions and massive long-term support needed to break the cycle, the British-based group added in a new report.

"It will cost the world far less to make a major investment now in tackling root causes of hunger than continuing the current cycle of too little, too late that has been the reality of famine relief in Africa for nearly half a century," Oxfam Britain's director Barbara Stocking said.

Billions of dollars of aid have been pumped into sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades, and its problems have received unprecedented international attention of late from grassroots campaigners and world leaders like Britain's Tony Blair.

But despite that, a "myopic, short-term" focus has prevailed, with emergency food aid still dominating international action on Africa, rather than long-term support of agriculture, infrastructure and social safety nets, Oxfam said.

It cited this year's drought in East Africa, where up to 11-million people still require urgent assistance, and renewed food insecurity in Niger, where at least one-million people are vulnerable in coming months, as evidence of ongoing crisis.

A third of Africans are under-nourished, Oxfam said, while the number of food emergencies has nearly tripled in 20 years. Nearly half of Africans live on less than a dollar a day.

"MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE"

Conflicts cause more than half of food crises, Oxfam said, citing violence in north Uganda and Sudan's Darfur region.

"Darfur, where 3,4-million people are dependent on food aid, is a classic example of the devastating humanitarian emergency that conflict creates," it said.

The HIV/Aids epidemic is taking "a terrifying toll" on one of the continent's key resources for food production -- its people. Oxfam said a fifth of the agricultural workforce in Southern African countries will have died from HIV/Aids by 2020.

And climate change is "wreaking havoc on the livelihoods of small landholders and nomadic pastoralist", the agency added, citing research that 55-65 million more Africans could be at risk of hunger by the 2080s because of temperature rises.

"The story of nearly half a century of attempts at sophisticated and sustainable solutions to hunger in Africa is not a happy one," added the Oxfam report, "Causing Hunger".

As well as supporting long-term projects, Oxfam said real solutions to Africa's food crisis should include:
Buying aid from developing countries. "Most food aid is still imported, meaning it can take up to 5 months to deliver and cost up to 50% more than food purchased locally."
Money-based schemes such as food vouchers, cash-for-work programmes or direct cash transfers.
Increased foreign aid for agriculture, which in fact dropped 43% in the decade to 2002.
More local funds for agriculture, with governments honouring a 2003 African Union pledge to increase spending on the sector to 10% of budgets.

"For people to be hungry in Africa in the 21st century is neither inevitable nor morally acceptable," Oxfam said.

"The world's emergency response requires an overhaul ... the stop-start approach must give way to longer-term support."

Pictures of the $100 laptop: 1st working model of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

From May 23, 2006 blog entry by Pablo Halkyard at PSD blog - The World Bank Group:

Pictures from the unveiling of the first working prototype of the $100 Laptop at the Seven Countries Task Force today. Green became orange, and the hand-crank is gone. Compare with Intel's sub-$400 entry and AMD's $185 version.

Note, at the entry a techie commented: "Awesome. I want one. What is there to stop gringos from buying them all to have their recipes on the kitchen or to use as poolside or beach laptop?"

Click here to learn about One Laptop per Child and view pictures of original green prototype with hand crank.



Photo: 1st working model (OLPC) - taken at 11:45 AM on May 23, 2006; cameraphone upload by ShoZu - Uploaded to flickr by Pete Barr-Watson

Bird flu now found in Burkina Faso

On April 4, 2006 Keith noted Bird flu now found in Burkina Faso - the 5th African country to confirm the presence of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Niger begins cull weeks after finding bird flu

Niger began culling poultry on Sunday, more than a month after it first discovered an outbreak of deadly avian flu near its southern border with Nigeria.

Full story Reuters 9 Apr 2006.