A military tribunal in Niger has convicted six soldiers for their role in a 2002 mutiny, but has acquitted 57 co-defendants, say legal sources.
Soldiers mutinied in Niamey on the night of August 4-5th 2002, in support of a 10-day mutiny by comrades demanding better pay and conditions hundreds of kilometres away in Diffa, near the border with Nigeria.
A military tribunal in Kollo, just outside Niamey, tried 63 soldiers for acts harmful to state security, insurrection and rebellion.
Full report (News 24 SA) 10 March 2006.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Sunday, March 05, 2006
The 21st century's most explosive commodity will be . . . WATER
There's plenty of it to meet the world's needs but too much of our supply is in the wrong places says a report at thebusinessonline.com by Allister Heath 5 March 2006, copied here in full for future reference:
WHISKY is for drinking, water is for fighting over - or so Mark Twain once remarked. He was right. Water has played a central, albeit usually overlooked, role in conflicts throughout human history, far more so even than oil; and many of the wars of the 21st century will be fought over the clear, cool stuff.
During the past 50 years alone, there have been 507 conflicts pitting country against country, and 21 instances of actual hostilities, as a result of disagreements over water. All of which puts in perspective the row in the UK over last week's decision to allow water companies to impose metering to force water consumers to face the true costs of their water consumption - it even makes the looming drought and hosepipe bans in the South of England almost bearable in comparison.
Water historian Peter Gleick, director of worldwater.org and the author of a unique chronology of water wars, has discovered a huge history of conflicts and tensions over water resources, the use of water systems as weapons during war, and the targeting of water systems during conflicts. The earliest known example dates back to 3,000 BC. Well before the remarkably similar accounts of the Great Flood to be found in the Bible, ancient Sumerian legend tells the tale of the deity Ea, who punished humanity for its sins with a devastating six-day storm.
There have been hundreds more instances of water wars across the ages, involving just about everybody from Nebuchadnezzar to Louis XIV and famous military operations such as the Dam Busters during the second world war. In 1503, Leonardo da Vinci and Machievelli planned to divert the Arno River away from Pisa during hostilities between Pisa and Florence. Astonishingly, Arizona and California almost went to war in 1935 over the construction of the Parker Dam and diversions from the Colorado River.
In the late 1970s, Ethiopia's wish to build dams on the headwaters of the Blue Nile led to a furious reaction from Egypt. "The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water," said Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, the Egyptian president later assassinated. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptian diplomat who became UN secretary-general, said in 1988: "The next war in our region will be over the waters of the Nile, not politics."
During the past 15 years, there have been armed conflicts over water in Bangladesh, Tadjikistan, Malaysia, Yugoslavia, Angloal, East Timor, Namibia, Bostwana, Zambia, Ecuador and Peru. Several terrorist groups have threatened to poison water systems and water distribution has been regularly targeted in Iraq.
The fundamental problem is that access rights to water are often badly defined. Unlike with other commodities, the institutions of modern capitalism property rights, private companies, free market prices - have rarely been applied to water, and especially not to water flows that cross different countries. The result is that countries all too often use non-commercial methods to arrange their water supplies - such as finders-keepers, war or diplomatic deals.
Individual water molecules cannot be owned or subjected to property rights. But rules and agreements about who can use water and in what way, or who can have access to or the right to divert rivers, lakes or underground reserves, need to be found. And the best rules for all goods and services, including the most precious of commodities, are the rules of the market. Water and river rights could easily be traded.
At the moment, however, rational ways of allocating water are sorely missing. "Few agreements have been reached about how the water should be shared; most of those agreements are seen as un-just: upstream countries believe they should control the flow of the rivers, taking what they like, if they can get away with it. Downstream, where the states are often more advanced and militarily stronger ,they have always challenged this assumption, like Egypt and Israel. It is a recipe for confrontation," according to Adel Darwish, co-author of Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East with John Bulloch.
Countries such as Egypt, Hungary, Botswana, Cambodia and Syria all derive more than 75% of their water from rivers that flow though other countries first. In the same way that oil and gas pipelines that go through hostile countries can be siphoned off or blown up to cut supplies to rival countries, water flows can be diverted with devastating effect.
"Particularly tricky are cases where one river, or river system, provides water to many nations, some of which may be steadfast political or ideological opponents. But there can be conflicts even between countries with otherwise excellent relations if they have the same watercourse as their principal source of water supply. If one country starts emptying the river, less will be left over for the countries downstream," says Frederik Segerfeldt, senior adviser to the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
At last count, there were 263 river basins shared by two or more countries and these were home to roughly 40% of the global population, according to Unesco. In most cases, the institutions needed to regulate how water resources should be used are either weak or missing altogether.
One particular area of contention is the Jordan River basin, which is divided between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Its supply of water is critical to Palestine, Israel and Jordan, and very important to Lebanon and Syria. The problem, each time, is who owns the water, how the water should be shared out between different countries and under what conditions.
Partly as a result, water has also played a critical but much under-reported role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other wars in the region. The six-day war, which pitted Syria, Jordan and Egypt against Israel, had partly to do with a disagreement over water. One of the reasons why Israel has been reluctant to pull out of the Golan Heights and the West Bank is because it feared losing control of water flows and handing over control of them to hostile forces.
The absence of proper property rights in water also fuels tensions within countries, pitting town against town or region against region. There is a growing number of disagreements about who can or cannot use water from a particular source in the US. "From Montana to Michigan, from septic systems to centre-pivots, we wage war over water - its cleanliness, its availability, its highest use, its commodification, its spiritual essence. And as history proceeds from the settling of the prairies to the sprawling of suburbs, the struggles are becoming increasingly intense," says Douglas Clement of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
The answer, many economists believe, is to move towards a system of international tradeable water rights, recognised by the courts. Companies could buy and sell rights to water use, both within countries and internationally; all subsidised water for farmers and industry would be halted and all consumers would pay competitive prices, with the poor looked after. Water companies would be broken up and privatised; government-imposed barriers to competition would be lifted. Polluters would be faced with strict liability rules and would have to pay for cleaning up rivers, lakes or underground reserves.
The introduction of market forces would be especially positive for poor countries. Even in areas of the world without water wars, a horrendously large number of people are short of good quality, clean, drinking water and sanitation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that more than 2bn people are affected by water shortages in more than 40 countries: 1.1bn do not have enough drinking water and 2.4bn have no provision for sanitation. This has led to disease, lack of food security and much conflict. An estimated 25,000 people are still dying every day from malnutrition and 6,000 people, mostly children under the age of five, are dying from water-related diseases, according to the UN. This is a tragedy in urgent need of attention from the world, especially rich countries. But despite repeated statements of intent from international bodies such as the UN, little has been done.
So why so many conflicts and so much misery? Taking a global perspective, the problem is not that there this is too little water; in fact water is extraordinarily plentiful, a perfectly renewable resource that can be used over and over again. Instead, the challenge is getting the water to the right places and the right people; the issue is one of the misallocation of a scarce resource and is thus economic and political in nature, not physical or scientific.
A physical water shortage is mainly confined to countries of the Arab world, a few countries or regions in south and south-east Asia and parts of Australia. But there is economic water scarcity in much of the developing world. "The problem is not the amount of water available but the inability to produce and distribute safe water," says Segerfeldt, author of Water for Sale, published by the Cato Institute in Washington.
About two-thirds of the earth's surface is made up of water; if one strips out sea water, which of course can quite easily be turned into drinking water with the help of desalination plants, one is still left with 2.3m litres per person.
There is also plenty of rain: each year, 113,000 cubic kilometres showers down on the earth. Much of it evaporates but we are left with 19,000 litres a day per person. The global economy consumes only about 1,300 litres per person a day, 6.8% of the daily rainfall. The United Nations does the sums differently and finds that we use about 8% of the available water every year - but of course, unlike oil, which can only be used once, this water can endlessly be recycled.
Moving control of water distribution and sanitation services in developing countries out of the public sector and into the hands of private companies and a competitive market is the only realistic way to ensure that more people have access to clean and safe water, many economists believe.
"Water crises need not occur if individuals are allowed to respond to scarcity through market processes," says the Political Economy Research Center, an environmental think-tank in Montana. Forecasts of imminent natural resource shortages are often wrong because they ignore the impact of market forces on supply and demand, say Terry Anderson and Pamela Snyder, economists at the centre.
Higher prices induce suppliers to find new sources of supply and users to conserve and search for substitutes - and it would be the same for water were it subject to market forces globally. If governments send the wrong signals to suppliers and users by subsidising water storage and delivery, exponential growth in consumption will inevitably run into environmental and fiscal constraints. But if progress towards greater reliance on markets continues, water supplies and efficiency will increase as users trade with one another, and consumption will be tamed by higher prices. But numerous charities and lobby groups disagree.
They fear that the poor will not be able to afford water in a free market and claim that because it is essential to human life it should be free. But food, which is also a crucial requirement, is not free, and those countries that have tried going down that road have suffered catastrophe. Worst of all, the public sector is already failing to supply poor people with water: 22 people around the world are dying every minute because they are unable to get enough clean water from state-owned distributors.
By contrast, the overwhelming evidence from those countries or cities that have experimented with privatisation is that it has been a great success. The cost of obtaining water actually falls when the poor are connected to a water network: in Laos, water from street salesmen costs 136 times more than water from the official network; in Indonesia, the difference is as much as 489 times.
Access to clean water has increased following privatisation in every poor country that has tried it properly. In Tunja, Colombia, access rose by 10% following privatisation; in Gabon the figure was almost 15%. Cartagena, Colombia, posted access increases of 26%, Conakry, Guinea, of 24% and in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia, of 10%. In Chile, 99% of urban residents, as well as 94% of rural residents, are now supplied with water all day round, which contrasts favourably with pre-privatisation figures of 63% and 27% respectively. Corrientes, Argentina, and Cote d'Ivoire saw increases of almost 15%.
Mischa Balen, a former researcher for UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, is the author of a pro-privatisation book to be published on World Water Day on 22 March by the Globalisation Institute. "Government provision in water has overseen millions of deaths through lack of sanitation and unsafe water. Bringing in private sector expertise and investment is needed, both to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals, but to actively contribute towards social justice the world over. In the vast majority of cases, where the private sector has been called upon, it has delivered the goods - even in cases decried by critics as 'failures'," Balen argues.
While the UK water industry is no poster child for privatisation, it has nevertheless shown the potential of harnessing market forces. The 1990 privatisation of the industry was in fact limited and the market remains highly regulated. The industry is not free to set the prices it wants and competition is restricted. Anyone who lives in the UK will have plenty of anecdotes about the incompetence or poor service of their local water company.
But the industry has successfully invested about £50bn since privatisation and water prices have gone up by less than inflation. Leaks, which still remain high, are down 30% and will fall further over the next four years. Instead of being able to concentrate on the leaks, the industry was forced by European Union directives to improve water purity first, to levels that some analysts believe were unnecessarily high.
The move to allow companies to impose metering on their customers and hence to enable them to charge for water usages, rather than merely a flat fee, is expected to cut water consumption by 5% to 15% – and for many households in the South of England, bills have fallen after meters were introduced. But meters alone are not enough. "The issue is not a lack of water meters per se, but a lack of true market prices for water. We should treat water the same as any other good or service traded in our economy. When water becomes more scarce, a rising price acts as a signal to both consumers and companies that they need to modify their behaviour," says Kendra Okonski, of the International Policy Network.
As economist Terry Anderson once put it, when water is cheaper than dirt, it will be treated that way - and that is the great problem with water in the world today. Unless it is priced rationally and managed by markets, countries will continue to go to war over it and the poor continue to die from a lack of it.
WHISKY is for drinking, water is for fighting over - or so Mark Twain once remarked. He was right. Water has played a central, albeit usually overlooked, role in conflicts throughout human history, far more so even than oil; and many of the wars of the 21st century will be fought over the clear, cool stuff.
During the past 50 years alone, there have been 507 conflicts pitting country against country, and 21 instances of actual hostilities, as a result of disagreements over water. All of which puts in perspective the row in the UK over last week's decision to allow water companies to impose metering to force water consumers to face the true costs of their water consumption - it even makes the looming drought and hosepipe bans in the South of England almost bearable in comparison.
Water historian Peter Gleick, director of worldwater.org and the author of a unique chronology of water wars, has discovered a huge history of conflicts and tensions over water resources, the use of water systems as weapons during war, and the targeting of water systems during conflicts. The earliest known example dates back to 3,000 BC. Well before the remarkably similar accounts of the Great Flood to be found in the Bible, ancient Sumerian legend tells the tale of the deity Ea, who punished humanity for its sins with a devastating six-day storm.
There have been hundreds more instances of water wars across the ages, involving just about everybody from Nebuchadnezzar to Louis XIV and famous military operations such as the Dam Busters during the second world war. In 1503, Leonardo da Vinci and Machievelli planned to divert the Arno River away from Pisa during hostilities between Pisa and Florence. Astonishingly, Arizona and California almost went to war in 1935 over the construction of the Parker Dam and diversions from the Colorado River.
In the late 1970s, Ethiopia's wish to build dams on the headwaters of the Blue Nile led to a furious reaction from Egypt. "The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water," said Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, the Egyptian president later assassinated. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptian diplomat who became UN secretary-general, said in 1988: "The next war in our region will be over the waters of the Nile, not politics."
During the past 15 years, there have been armed conflicts over water in Bangladesh, Tadjikistan, Malaysia, Yugoslavia, Angloal, East Timor, Namibia, Bostwana, Zambia, Ecuador and Peru. Several terrorist groups have threatened to poison water systems and water distribution has been regularly targeted in Iraq.
The fundamental problem is that access rights to water are often badly defined. Unlike with other commodities, the institutions of modern capitalism property rights, private companies, free market prices - have rarely been applied to water, and especially not to water flows that cross different countries. The result is that countries all too often use non-commercial methods to arrange their water supplies - such as finders-keepers, war or diplomatic deals.
Individual water molecules cannot be owned or subjected to property rights. But rules and agreements about who can use water and in what way, or who can have access to or the right to divert rivers, lakes or underground reserves, need to be found. And the best rules for all goods and services, including the most precious of commodities, are the rules of the market. Water and river rights could easily be traded.
At the moment, however, rational ways of allocating water are sorely missing. "Few agreements have been reached about how the water should be shared; most of those agreements are seen as un-just: upstream countries believe they should control the flow of the rivers, taking what they like, if they can get away with it. Downstream, where the states are often more advanced and militarily stronger ,they have always challenged this assumption, like Egypt and Israel. It is a recipe for confrontation," according to Adel Darwish, co-author of Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East with John Bulloch.
Countries such as Egypt, Hungary, Botswana, Cambodia and Syria all derive more than 75% of their water from rivers that flow though other countries first. In the same way that oil and gas pipelines that go through hostile countries can be siphoned off or blown up to cut supplies to rival countries, water flows can be diverted with devastating effect.
"Particularly tricky are cases where one river, or river system, provides water to many nations, some of which may be steadfast political or ideological opponents. But there can be conflicts even between countries with otherwise excellent relations if they have the same watercourse as their principal source of water supply. If one country starts emptying the river, less will be left over for the countries downstream," says Frederik Segerfeldt, senior adviser to the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
At last count, there were 263 river basins shared by two or more countries and these were home to roughly 40% of the global population, according to Unesco. In most cases, the institutions needed to regulate how water resources should be used are either weak or missing altogether.
One particular area of contention is the Jordan River basin, which is divided between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Its supply of water is critical to Palestine, Israel and Jordan, and very important to Lebanon and Syria. The problem, each time, is who owns the water, how the water should be shared out between different countries and under what conditions.
Partly as a result, water has also played a critical but much under-reported role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other wars in the region. The six-day war, which pitted Syria, Jordan and Egypt against Israel, had partly to do with a disagreement over water. One of the reasons why Israel has been reluctant to pull out of the Golan Heights and the West Bank is because it feared losing control of water flows and handing over control of them to hostile forces.
The absence of proper property rights in water also fuels tensions within countries, pitting town against town or region against region. There is a growing number of disagreements about who can or cannot use water from a particular source in the US. "From Montana to Michigan, from septic systems to centre-pivots, we wage war over water - its cleanliness, its availability, its highest use, its commodification, its spiritual essence. And as history proceeds from the settling of the prairies to the sprawling of suburbs, the struggles are becoming increasingly intense," says Douglas Clement of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
The answer, many economists believe, is to move towards a system of international tradeable water rights, recognised by the courts. Companies could buy and sell rights to water use, both within countries and internationally; all subsidised water for farmers and industry would be halted and all consumers would pay competitive prices, with the poor looked after. Water companies would be broken up and privatised; government-imposed barriers to competition would be lifted. Polluters would be faced with strict liability rules and would have to pay for cleaning up rivers, lakes or underground reserves.
The introduction of market forces would be especially positive for poor countries. Even in areas of the world without water wars, a horrendously large number of people are short of good quality, clean, drinking water and sanitation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that more than 2bn people are affected by water shortages in more than 40 countries: 1.1bn do not have enough drinking water and 2.4bn have no provision for sanitation. This has led to disease, lack of food security and much conflict. An estimated 25,000 people are still dying every day from malnutrition and 6,000 people, mostly children under the age of five, are dying from water-related diseases, according to the UN. This is a tragedy in urgent need of attention from the world, especially rich countries. But despite repeated statements of intent from international bodies such as the UN, little has been done.
So why so many conflicts and so much misery? Taking a global perspective, the problem is not that there this is too little water; in fact water is extraordinarily plentiful, a perfectly renewable resource that can be used over and over again. Instead, the challenge is getting the water to the right places and the right people; the issue is one of the misallocation of a scarce resource and is thus economic and political in nature, not physical or scientific.
A physical water shortage is mainly confined to countries of the Arab world, a few countries or regions in south and south-east Asia and parts of Australia. But there is economic water scarcity in much of the developing world. "The problem is not the amount of water available but the inability to produce and distribute safe water," says Segerfeldt, author of Water for Sale, published by the Cato Institute in Washington.
About two-thirds of the earth's surface is made up of water; if one strips out sea water, which of course can quite easily be turned into drinking water with the help of desalination plants, one is still left with 2.3m litres per person.
There is also plenty of rain: each year, 113,000 cubic kilometres showers down on the earth. Much of it evaporates but we are left with 19,000 litres a day per person. The global economy consumes only about 1,300 litres per person a day, 6.8% of the daily rainfall. The United Nations does the sums differently and finds that we use about 8% of the available water every year - but of course, unlike oil, which can only be used once, this water can endlessly be recycled.
Moving control of water distribution and sanitation services in developing countries out of the public sector and into the hands of private companies and a competitive market is the only realistic way to ensure that more people have access to clean and safe water, many economists believe.
"Water crises need not occur if individuals are allowed to respond to scarcity through market processes," says the Political Economy Research Center, an environmental think-tank in Montana. Forecasts of imminent natural resource shortages are often wrong because they ignore the impact of market forces on supply and demand, say Terry Anderson and Pamela Snyder, economists at the centre.
Higher prices induce suppliers to find new sources of supply and users to conserve and search for substitutes - and it would be the same for water were it subject to market forces globally. If governments send the wrong signals to suppliers and users by subsidising water storage and delivery, exponential growth in consumption will inevitably run into environmental and fiscal constraints. But if progress towards greater reliance on markets continues, water supplies and efficiency will increase as users trade with one another, and consumption will be tamed by higher prices. But numerous charities and lobby groups disagree.
They fear that the poor will not be able to afford water in a free market and claim that because it is essential to human life it should be free. But food, which is also a crucial requirement, is not free, and those countries that have tried going down that road have suffered catastrophe. Worst of all, the public sector is already failing to supply poor people with water: 22 people around the world are dying every minute because they are unable to get enough clean water from state-owned distributors.
By contrast, the overwhelming evidence from those countries or cities that have experimented with privatisation is that it has been a great success. The cost of obtaining water actually falls when the poor are connected to a water network: in Laos, water from street salesmen costs 136 times more than water from the official network; in Indonesia, the difference is as much as 489 times.
Access to clean water has increased following privatisation in every poor country that has tried it properly. In Tunja, Colombia, access rose by 10% following privatisation; in Gabon the figure was almost 15%. Cartagena, Colombia, posted access increases of 26%, Conakry, Guinea, of 24% and in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia, of 10%. In Chile, 99% of urban residents, as well as 94% of rural residents, are now supplied with water all day round, which contrasts favourably with pre-privatisation figures of 63% and 27% respectively. Corrientes, Argentina, and Cote d'Ivoire saw increases of almost 15%.
Mischa Balen, a former researcher for UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, is the author of a pro-privatisation book to be published on World Water Day on 22 March by the Globalisation Institute. "Government provision in water has overseen millions of deaths through lack of sanitation and unsafe water. Bringing in private sector expertise and investment is needed, both to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals, but to actively contribute towards social justice the world over. In the vast majority of cases, where the private sector has been called upon, it has delivered the goods - even in cases decried by critics as 'failures'," Balen argues.
While the UK water industry is no poster child for privatisation, it has nevertheless shown the potential of harnessing market forces. The 1990 privatisation of the industry was in fact limited and the market remains highly regulated. The industry is not free to set the prices it wants and competition is restricted. Anyone who lives in the UK will have plenty of anecdotes about the incompetence or poor service of their local water company.
But the industry has successfully invested about £50bn since privatisation and water prices have gone up by less than inflation. Leaks, which still remain high, are down 30% and will fall further over the next four years. Instead of being able to concentrate on the leaks, the industry was forced by European Union directives to improve water purity first, to levels that some analysts believe were unnecessarily high.
The move to allow companies to impose metering on their customers and hence to enable them to charge for water usages, rather than merely a flat fee, is expected to cut water consumption by 5% to 15% – and for many households in the South of England, bills have fallen after meters were introduced. But meters alone are not enough. "The issue is not a lack of water meters per se, but a lack of true market prices for water. We should treat water the same as any other good or service traded in our economy. When water becomes more scarce, a rising price acts as a signal to both consumers and companies that they need to modify their behaviour," says Kendra Okonski, of the International Policy Network.
As economist Terry Anderson once put it, when water is cheaper than dirt, it will be treated that way - and that is the great problem with water in the world today. Unless it is priced rationally and managed by markets, countries will continue to go to war over it and the poor continue to die from a lack of it.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Niger: New Cases of Bird Flu Suspected, Government Calls for Help to Fight H5N1
IRIN report March 3, 2006 via allAfrica.com:
New suspected cases of bird flu have emerged in three locations in Niger, days after the country became the third in Africa to be confirmed to be infected by the deadly H5N1 virus.
Dead birds have been found in the towns of Goure and Dogo - in the centre-south of the country near the border with infected states in Nigeria, and in N'Guigmi farther east, which also shares a border with Chad. Tissue samples from the three areas are on their way to the capital Niamey to be sent to a laboratory in Italy for testing.
The same lab on Tuesday announced that the bird flu virus was found in domestic ducks from Magaria, Niger, near the border with Nigeria, the first African country to be struck.
Government spokesperson Mohamed Ben Oumar told Radio France Internationale on Thursday that authorities plan to destroy poultry within a three-mile radius of infected areas, and put all birds in a 10-mile radius under "high medical surveillance."
Niger - among the world's poorest countries - has a plan to fight bird flu, but not the means. The government called on the international community this week to help, saying it needs essential equipment such as protective clothing including masks and boots, vaccines, disinfectant and diagnostic kits. The government says even the vehicles and refrigeration units it has available are not sufficient to handle the bird flu threat.
"Niger cannot cope alone, given the scale [of the problem] and the danger at hand - we are obliged to ask for help from the international community," Ben Oumar said.
The government statement said that in its budget for bird flu eradication it is planning to assist those who lose their livestock.
Niger had banned poultry products from countries infected with H5N1 late last year then ordered a total ban on poultry imports after the virus hit neighbouring Nigeria 8 February.
New suspected cases of bird flu have emerged in three locations in Niger, days after the country became the third in Africa to be confirmed to be infected by the deadly H5N1 virus.
Dead birds have been found in the towns of Goure and Dogo - in the centre-south of the country near the border with infected states in Nigeria, and in N'Guigmi farther east, which also shares a border with Chad. Tissue samples from the three areas are on their way to the capital Niamey to be sent to a laboratory in Italy for testing.
The same lab on Tuesday announced that the bird flu virus was found in domestic ducks from Magaria, Niger, near the border with Nigeria, the first African country to be struck.
Government spokesperson Mohamed Ben Oumar told Radio France Internationale on Thursday that authorities plan to destroy poultry within a three-mile radius of infected areas, and put all birds in a 10-mile radius under "high medical surveillance."
Niger - among the world's poorest countries - has a plan to fight bird flu, but not the means. The government called on the international community this week to help, saying it needs essential equipment such as protective clothing including masks and boots, vaccines, disinfectant and diagnostic kits. The government says even the vehicles and refrigeration units it has available are not sufficient to handle the bird flu threat.
"Niger cannot cope alone, given the scale [of the problem] and the danger at hand - we are obliged to ask for help from the international community," Ben Oumar said.
The government statement said that in its budget for bird flu eradication it is planning to assist those who lose their livestock.
Niger had banned poultry products from countries infected with H5N1 late last year then ordered a total ban on poultry imports after the virus hit neighbouring Nigeria 8 February.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Poor compensation plans impeding bird flu fight in west Africa - Yahoo! News
Niger had pledged to pay 1,000 CFA francs (1.5 euros) per chicken in case of mass slaughter but poultry farmers say the sum is peanuts.
"It's largely inadequate and unfair. Any poultry expert will tell you that it costs at least 4,000 CFA francs (more than six euros) to raise a chicken until it starts bringing in profits," said Harouna Labo, one of Niger's largest poultry farmers.
A chicken seller in the Niger town of Maradi was more explicit.
"Whoever wants to kill my chickens has to do so over my dead body," said Almou Abdou.
Full story AFP at Yahoo News 23 Feb 2006.
"It's largely inadequate and unfair. Any poultry expert will tell you that it costs at least 4,000 CFA francs (more than six euros) to raise a chicken until it starts bringing in profits," said Harouna Labo, one of Niger's largest poultry farmers.
A chicken seller in the Niger town of Maradi was more explicit.
"Whoever wants to kill my chickens has to do so over my dead body," said Almou Abdou.
Full story AFP at Yahoo News 23 Feb 2006.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Niger: Journalist freed after 18 days detention in libel case
CPJ News 21 Feb 2006:
The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of newspaper director Ibrahim Manzo, who spent 18 days in preventive detention awaiting the outcome of a defamation case. A court in Niamey, capital of Niger, handed Manzo a suspended one-month prison sentence on Monday and ordered his release, local journalists told CPJ.
The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of newspaper director Ibrahim Manzo, who spent 18 days in preventive detention awaiting the outcome of a defamation case. A court in Niamey, capital of Niger, handed Manzo a suspended one-month prison sentence on Monday and ordered his release, local journalists told CPJ.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Niger 'coup' trial of 70 soldiers
From the BBC 21 Feb 2006:
Seventy soldiers have gone on trial in Niger's capital, Niamey, for their alleged role in an attempted coup three years ago.
The soldiers are accused of being part of a group of mutinous troops who violently protested against their living conditions and unpaid wages
It escalated into a mutiny both in the capital and in the region of Diffa.
At one point a state governor and several senior army officers were kidnapped.
At least two civilians were reported to have been killed in the unrest that was finally quelled by troops loyal to the government.
The BBC's Idy Barou in Niger says if the military tribunal convicts the men they could face the death penalty.
Seventy soldiers have gone on trial in Niger's capital, Niamey, for their alleged role in an attempted coup three years ago.
The soldiers are accused of being part of a group of mutinous troops who violently protested against their living conditions and unpaid wages
It escalated into a mutiny both in the capital and in the region of Diffa.
At one point a state governor and several senior army officers were kidnapped.
At least two civilians were reported to have been killed in the unrest that was finally quelled by troops loyal to the government.
The BBC's Idy Barou in Niger says if the military tribunal convicts the men they could face the death penalty.
Monday, February 20, 2006
France helps Niger test for bird flu
Niger's government launched its first ministerial missions into rural areas this weekend to educate people on how to minimise the threat from bird flu.
A team of French and German experts will visit the country from February 24 to March 4 to assist Niger's response to bird flu, the French embassy said.
Full story Reuters 20 Feb 2006.
A team of French and German experts will visit the country from February 24 to March 4 to assist Niger's response to bird flu, the French embassy said.
Full story Reuters 20 Feb 2006.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Armed men storm firm in Nigeria's delta
Around 20 armed men stormed the headquarters of a South Korean oil services company in Nigeria's lawless delta and stole more than $30,000 (17,000 pounds), police said on Sunday, in the latest attack on foreign firms. Full report Reuters 29 Jan 2006.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Nigeria rebels claim more attacks
Nigerian militants who say they have kidnapped four foreign oil workers and attacked on a Shell oil platform say they have carried out more attacks.
The group says it attacked platforms run by the Total and Agip oil firms. Both companies have denied the claims.
The increased tension in the Niger Delta region has pushed up oil prices to more than $67 (£38) a barrel.
The four foreign workers, who are said to be in good health, have been held hostage for close to a week.
In a statement, the previously unknown rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, said its ultimate aim was "to prevent Nigeria from exporting oil".
"We will attack all oil companies, including Chevron facilities," it said. "Pipelines, loading points, export tankers, tank farms, refined petroleum depots, landing strips and residences of employees of these companies can expect to be attacked."
"We know where they live, shop and where the children go to school," it added.
The group want local Ijaw people to benefit more from the region's oil wealth and are demanding the release of separatist leader Mujahid Dokubu Asari, being held on treason charges, by Friday.
Full report (BBC) 18 January, 2006.
The group says it attacked platforms run by the Total and Agip oil firms. Both companies have denied the claims.
The increased tension in the Niger Delta region has pushed up oil prices to more than $67 (£38) a barrel.
The four foreign workers, who are said to be in good health, have been held hostage for close to a week.
In a statement, the previously unknown rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, said its ultimate aim was "to prevent Nigeria from exporting oil".
"We will attack all oil companies, including Chevron facilities," it said. "Pipelines, loading points, export tankers, tank farms, refined petroleum depots, landing strips and residences of employees of these companies can expect to be attacked."
"We know where they live, shop and where the children go to school," it added.
The group want local Ijaw people to benefit more from the region's oil wealth and are demanding the release of separatist leader Mujahid Dokubu Asari, being held on treason charges, by Friday.
Full report (BBC) 18 January, 2006.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Armed men attack Shell oil platform in Nigeria, military says
Associated Press reports that armed men opened fire Sunday on soldiers guarding an oil platform run by Royal Dutch Shell in the swamps of Nigeria's southern oil-rich delta, the third assault in less than a week on Shell facilities in the troubled region, a senior military official said:
Soldiers guarding the Benisede facility in the west of the Niger Delta returned automatic weapons fire, but it was unclear if they had lost control of the oil platform, said Brig. Gen. Elias Zamani, commander of a special task force charged with security in the volatile oil region.Zamani had no other details and said the military was investigating.
On Wednesday, gunmen attacked Shell's EA platform in shallow waters near the delta coast, seizing a Bulgarian, an American, a British and a Honduran. A major Shell pipeline leading to its Forcados export terminal was blown up the following day.
Though Shell resumed some production cut last week, the first two attacks initially forced a 10 percent drop in Nigeria's oil exports.
A previously unknown militant group, Movement for Niger Delta Emancipation, claimed responsibility for first two attacks, warning all Western oil companies to leave the Niger Delta for their safety and calling on the government to release militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.Dokubo-Asari campaigned for secession and greater local control of oil wealth before he was jailed in September and charged with treason.
Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. The country produces about 2.5 million barrels a day."
See AP report in full 15 January, 2006:
Soldiers guarding the Benisede facility in the west of the Niger Delta returned automatic weapons fire, but it was unclear if they had lost control of the oil platform, said Brig. Gen. Elias Zamani, commander of a special task force charged with security in the volatile oil region.Zamani had no other details and said the military was investigating.
On Wednesday, gunmen attacked Shell's EA platform in shallow waters near the delta coast, seizing a Bulgarian, an American, a British and a Honduran. A major Shell pipeline leading to its Forcados export terminal was blown up the following day.
Though Shell resumed some production cut last week, the first two attacks initially forced a 10 percent drop in Nigeria's oil exports.
A previously unknown militant group, Movement for Niger Delta Emancipation, claimed responsibility for first two attacks, warning all Western oil companies to leave the Niger Delta for their safety and calling on the government to release militia leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.Dokubo-Asari campaigned for secession and greater local control of oil wealth before he was jailed in September and charged with treason.
Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. The country produces about 2.5 million barrels a day."
See AP report in full 15 January, 2006:
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Digimotion Digital Album - Powerful stuff, check it out.
See my latest entry at Sudan Watch: Digimotion Digital Album - Powerful stuff, check it out.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Ingrid Patetta films Niger's nomads of the Azawak valley
Ingrid Patetta is a french documentary filmmaker and video editor.
Funny we should share the same first name. Ingrid stumbled upon my blog Niger Watch blog during a search on blogger and emailed me.
Note Ingrid's blog featuring a video she shot in Niger about the nomads of the Azawak valley, and website showing video 'Agadez, Gateway to the Sahara'.
Funny we should share the same first name. Ingrid stumbled upon my blog Niger Watch blog during a search on blogger and emailed me.
Note Ingrid's blog featuring a video she shot in Niger about the nomads of the Azawak valley, and website showing video 'Agadez, Gateway to the Sahara'.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Malawian President declares food shortage national disaster: No money for Malawi?
The news wires are circulating various reports on alarming news from Malawi. Contango's post entitled "No money for Malawi" says while the world's attention is drawn to northern Pakistan and India, there is not enough money to get food for the people of Malawi. Excerpt:
Just wanted to post this news on Malawi incase any readers here can throw light on what is going on. I am posting it here in Niger Watch to keep some examples of how news of food shortages/famine emerge, especially after Niger turned out not to be a famine at all [see earlier posts here below how world was accused of turning its back on the starving children of Niger].
"These are real people, and it's time to listen when an African President speak like this:Apologies to Contango for cribbing whole post but I am supposed to be on a break from blogging over next 5-6 weeks and can't keep up with everything on the Sudan and Uganda without going into full swing.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has declared a national disaster over the food shortages which are threatening almost half the population. In a radio and TV broadcast, the president said the crisis had worsened and the country needed more help.
UN estimates suggest about five million people will need aid after Malawi's worst harvest for more than a decade. Mr Mutharika had been criticised for denying reports of deaths from hunger-related illnesses in Malawi.
And, as the BBC points out; It is not just Malawi which is threatened - across southern Africa, the UN estimates that 12 million people will need help in the coming year."
Just wanted to post this news on Malawi incase any readers here can throw light on what is going on. I am posting it here in Niger Watch to keep some examples of how news of food shortages/famine emerge, especially after Niger turned out not to be a famine at all [see earlier posts here below how world was accused of turning its back on the starving children of Niger].
Saturday, October 08, 2005
The Economics of Famine in Niger
Excerpt from a post on the economics of famine in Niger at DropoutPostgrad:
A U.N. report found that prices in markets in Niger have shot up sharply because of profiteering, said James Morris, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, speaking from San Francisco. Some traders, he said, have raised prices in anticipation of the arrival of aid groups, which often buy food locally to save on transport costs.
Visit www.niger1.com for daily updates about the famine in Niger.
Paul Stoller artwork courtesy Gallery Bundu
http://www.niger1.com/hausa.htm
Touareg son
Courtesy http://www.niger1.com/touaregculture.htm
Learn more about Touareg culture
A U.N. report found that prices in markets in Niger have shot up sharply because of profiteering, said James Morris, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, speaking from San Francisco. Some traders, he said, have raised prices in anticipation of the arrival of aid groups, which often buy food locally to save on transport costs.
Visit www.niger1.com for daily updates about the famine in Niger.
Paul Stoller artwork courtesy Gallery Bundu
http://www.niger1.com/hausa.htm
Touareg son
Courtesy http://www.niger1.com/touaregculture.htm
Learn more about Touareg culture
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Submissions Welcomed For Spotlight On Darfur 2
If you wish to contribute a blog entry for Spotlight on Darfur 2, please contact Eddie Beaver at Live From The FDNF in time for 16 October 2005 deadline.
Jim Moore, co-founder of Sudan: Passion of the Present, recently posted a note from Eddie on this initiative with an important PINR report from Michael Weinstein.
Note, Catez Stevens in New Zealand initiated and hosted Spotlight on Darfur 1 round up of posts authored by 14 different bloggers from around the world. Jim Moore, in praise of this, writes:
"In my view this work is so fine as to be almost historic. It combines the literary quality of a small, carefully edited book, with the global accessibility of works on the web."
Last May, Catez also produced The Darfur Collection.
Image courtesy Tim Sweetman's post Let Us Weep.
Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all aid bloggers Live 8 Live From The FDNF Darfur Collection Spotlight on Darfur
Jim Moore, co-founder of Sudan: Passion of the Present, recently posted a note from Eddie on this initiative with an important PINR report from Michael Weinstein.
Note, Catez Stevens in New Zealand initiated and hosted Spotlight on Darfur 1 round up of posts authored by 14 different bloggers from around the world. Jim Moore, in praise of this, writes:
"In my view this work is so fine as to be almost historic. It combines the literary quality of a small, carefully edited book, with the global accessibility of works on the web."
Last May, Catez also produced The Darfur Collection.
Image courtesy Tim Sweetman's post Let Us Weep.
Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all aid bloggers Live 8 Live From The FDNF Darfur Collection Spotlight on Darfur
Saturday, September 17, 2005
UN plans to end large-scale food aid to Niger
BBC news Sep 16 says Niger's prime minister lashed out at donors, saying it was necessary to stop the aid so that Niger does not become reliant on aid:
Niger's PM agrees with UN plans to end large-scale food aid, which he described as an affront to the country's dignity.See full story by BBC September 16, 2005.
"Our dignity suffered. And we've seen how people exploit images to pledge aid that never arrives to those who really need it."
The UN's World Food Programme maintains that cutting aid now will allow food prices in Niger to normalise after escalating during months of severe shortages.
MSF has warned that with almost a million people not yet fed, it is too soon to stop aid.
BBC's Hilary Andersson in Niger says that almost a million people who need it have still received no food aid at all and it is now six weeks since the aid began flowing into Niger in large quantities. She says that large numbers of young children are still dying in feeding centres.
An assessment by MSF this week indicates that more than 40 people a day are dying in just one area that they surveyed.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Sudan: Spotlight on Darfur 1 and The Darfur Collection
Huge thanks to Catez Stevens in New Zealand for initiating and hosting Spotlight on Darfur 1, a great round up of posts authored by 14 different bloggers from around the world.
Catez also produced The Darfur Collection last May.
Please email Catez at Allthings2all if you have a post for the next Spotlight on Darfur 2 or 3.
Picture courtesy Tim Sweetman's post Let Us Weep.
Thanks to Global Voices for their third post and links to my blog Congo Watch featuring this initiative.
Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all aid bloggers blogburst
Catez also produced The Darfur Collection last May.
Please email Catez at Allthings2all if you have a post for the next Spotlight on Darfur 2 or 3.
Picture courtesy Tim Sweetman's post Let Us Weep.
Thanks to Global Voices for their third post and links to my blog Congo Watch featuring this initiative.
Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all aid bloggers blogburst
Friday, September 02, 2005
Katrina aid - Blogbursts - Spotlight on Darfur 1 and Darfur Collection
Further to an earlier post here below, I have just received word from Catez saying Spotlight on Darfur has been put forward to 5 September as the blogosphere has had planned blogbursts on Hurricane Katrina aid. This means bloggers can email Catez with posts until Sunday 4 September.
Thanks to Global Voices for picking up on my post at Congo Watch publicising the initiative.
Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all Hurricane Katrina aid bloggers blogburst Global Voices
Thanks to Global Voices for picking up on my post at Congo Watch publicising the initiative.
Tags: Darfur Sudan Africa allthings2all Hurricane Katrina aid bloggers blogburst Global Voices
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Can aid do more harm than good? Who is spinning lies?
As noted here in previous posts, Niger's President Mamadou Tandja recently said his country was experiencing food shortages but not a famine. He accused aid agencies of exaggerating the food crisis for their own gain, raising serious issues about the way aid emergencies are handled.
American blogger Ethan Zuckerman points out that Henri Astier, a BBC correspondent, after talking to aid workers and experts on African aid, concluded, on balance, that President Tanja was probably right and quoted Professor William Easterly of NYU, as saying:
Unless I have missed something, there still seems to be no proper explanation of who was behind the surge in alarming media reports falsely accusing the world of turning its back on the starving people of Niger.
Who is doing the spin? And why are they getting away with such misleading news? My guess is we are left to believe aid agencies are the culprits. Propaganda is everywhere in the media. It's hard to believe much of what is published. There is so little investigative reporting, the media treats us like simpletons, feeding us by the minute with nuggets of junk.
- - -
Irish Famine Memorial in Boston
Lest We Forget - Irish Famine Memorial in Boston
Photo courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/79586895@N00/35958094/
- - -
EU starving the developing world
Captain Marlow writes an insightful post on the EU starving the developing world. The post ends by saying:
American blogger Ethan Zuckerman points out that Henri Astier, a BBC correspondent, after talking to aid workers and experts on African aid, concluded, on balance, that President Tanja was probably right and quoted Professor William Easterly of NYU, as saying:
"There were localised food shortages this year - but they were not particularly acute, and are now easing.Note, the report also quotes Professor Easterly as saying
What Niger is experiencing is not a sudden catastrophe, but chronic malnutrition that makes people vulnerable to rises in food prices."
"I think NGOs and rich country media do have an incentive to paint too simplistic and bleak a picture, as was the case in Niger's food crisis."So, going by the above [which does not appear to touch on issues of African politics, land ownership rights, corruption, looting, violence and arms dealing] they seem to be saying:
food aid can distort 'functioning' markets, causing increased food insecurity in the long term;Note, Ethan praises the BBC saying it provides a terrific space where people from outside Africa can discover, if they listen, that their proposed solutions are often - strongly and validly - opposed by the people they're trying to help.
regional solutions are needed to solve shortages that are not regional famine - so long as participating governments allow that trade to happen and international donors are able to help subsidise food to poorer areas when neccesary.
Unless I have missed something, there still seems to be no proper explanation of who was behind the surge in alarming media reports falsely accusing the world of turning its back on the starving people of Niger.
Who is doing the spin? And why are they getting away with such misleading news? My guess is we are left to believe aid agencies are the culprits. Propaganda is everywhere in the media. It's hard to believe much of what is published. There is so little investigative reporting, the media treats us like simpletons, feeding us by the minute with nuggets of junk.
- - -
Irish Famine Memorial in Boston
Lest We Forget - Irish Famine Memorial in Boston
Photo courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/79586895@N00/35958094/
- - -
EU starving the developing world
Captain Marlow writes an insightful post on the EU starving the developing world. The post ends by saying:
"Sadly, everything has become a political issue and it is now impossible to trust reports on biotech, ecology, global warming. Numbers are manipulated to score political points, not to describe facts. The various activists seem to have played a self-defeating game here, since no one believes their alarmism anymore. The problem is that we all lose if we play this game instead of seriously looking for solutions."Tags: Niger media aid famine crisis BBC Ethan Zuckerman Africa corruption lies donors spin propaganda Irish famine Boston
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)