Grace Lamb-Atkinson

The Guardian (UK): Gordon Brown Backs Free Healthcare for World’s Poor
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has offered to help some of the world’s poorest countries to make healthcare free – starting with pregnant women and children – in a push to widen access to doctors across Africa and Asia. The UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) has pledged to spend £6bn on health by 2015. Britain plans to make free healthcare in developing countries one of its key campaigning issues in the run-up to the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

Reuters: Economy Hurts South Africa’s Anti-Poverty Fight – Minister
South Africa is committed to fighting poverty but is constrained by recession, and more effective leadership is needed to tackle the problem, its housing minister said in remarks broadcast on Tuesday. He said part of the problem was local government officials, some of whom he described as “unscrupulous.” President Jacob Zuma is under pressure to help the living conditions of the poor, but is constrained by recession and the fear of worrying investors by changing economic policies.

AP: U.S. to Pledge More Aid for Somalia
Officials say that on her tour of Africa this week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will pledge more U.S. assistance, including military aid, to Somalia’s shaky government as it fights against Islamist extremists. The Obama administration plans to give the country additional weapons supplies to double an initial provision of 40 tons of arms. The United States also has begun a low-profile mission to help train Somali security forces. Clinton is meeting with Somalia’s interim president in Kenya on Thursday.

Financial Times: Governors Resist Nigeria Oil Reform
Nigeria’s attempt to overhaul its struggling oil industry faces broadening resistance as leaders join oil groups in opposing the biggest reform in the country’s history. A draft bill before parliament would secure greater revenues for the state while making Nigeria’s resource industry more transparent. The bill’s architects argue that, while oil companies will be expected to hand over more of their proceeds, the costs associated with corruption will fall. But Western oil groups and influential Nigerian governors are halting the progress of the bill.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

New York Times: Just When Africa’s Luck was Changing
The New York Times writes that when the credit crisis erupted in September, many experts thought that Africa would be spared the financial turmoil, because African banks had almost none of their assets tied up in the global subprime market. But it has recently become clear that Africa is being hit hard. The Times notes that private investors were just starting to take notice of the economically poor but resource-rich continent when the global financial crisis hit, but now much of that interest has dried up.

Agence France-Presse: Clinton Seeks New US Commitment to Africa
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads this week on a tour of Africa aiming to prove US commitment to the continent after the administration’s early focus elsewhere. The trip will highlight issues close to Clinton’s heart, particularly women’s rights, as she plans to visit rape survivors and women entrepreneurs. On Wednesday she will kick off her visit in Nairobi, where she will emphasize the G8 20 billion-dollar fund to boost agriculture.

The East African: ARV Shortage Sets in as AIDS Funding Falls
In Africa, unanticipated shortfalls in funding for AIDS treatment have forced some health-service providers to stop enrolling new patients on life-prolonging ARV drugs, while others are signing up only those “critically ill” rather than all who qualify for the therapy. While patients are now sharing the available drugs to a certain degree of sustainability, there is an increased risk of people dying from the disease because they cannot access drugs at all, or do so too late.

Washington Post: Little Keeps Nigeria from a Crisis of Hunger
The Washington Post reports that Nigeria cannot feed its 140 million people, and relatively minor reductions in rainfall could set off a regional food catastrophe. About 38 percent of Nigerians younger than 5 suffer from moderate or severe malnutrition, according to UNICEF, and 65 percent are “food insecure.” Aid organizations say that they are now better prepared for food shortages in other area countries, but that Nigeria itself remains problematic because its economy is so large and complex. The government is currently not prepared to help its citizens in the event of a food crisis.

AP: Nigerian Death Toll Rises to 700
The fighting in northern Nigeria last week between the sect Boko Haram and the police killed more than 700 people, the AP reports. Sources inside the country now say that more than 50 Muslim leaders were ignored when they repeatedly called local authorities and state security to urge them to take action against the violent sect in the weeks preceding attacks. International concern is growing over the ability of Al Qaeda affiliates to cross the porous desert borders of countries like Niger into Nigeria.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Reuters: Clinton Must Strike the Right Tone in Africa
Reuters writes that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faces a delicate job striking the right tone on her seven-nation trip to Africa next week if she wants to compete against China’s growing influence. Pressing for good governance is seen as important in Africa, but experts said Clinton must calibrate that message with investment opportunities and follow through on promises. Clinton’s first stop will be Kenya for a trade meeting between the US and sub-Saharan African countries where she will discuss new approaches to investment and broad-based economic growth.

Reuters: Clinton Will Push South Africa to Pressure Zimbabwe
In another story previewing the trip, Reuters reports that Sec. Clinton will press South Africa to use its influence with Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe when she is in Pretoria next week, according to a senior American official. She will urge the regional diplomatic heavyweight to get Mugabe to fully implement a power-sharing deal with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai so that Zimbabwe can return to democratic rule. South African President Jacob Zuma has taken a harder line on Zimbabwe than his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, but the United States would like Zuma to do more to quicken the country’s pace of reform.

All Africa: South Africa: Country to Participate in 2010 Doha Round of Negotiations
South Africa will participate in the next Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations to ensure developing nations have a voice, the government confirmed yesterday. A South African minister said that the country would work to see that a proper balance between the demand for industrial tariff reduction and agricultural negotiations is reached at the talks. Leaders of the G8 and the five major developing nations have agreed to meet to discuss trade before the G20 in Pittsburgh.

New York Times: Nigeria Confirms Death of Islamic Sect’s Leader
Nigerian security forces on Thursday confirmed the death of the leader of a fundamentalist Islamic sect, apparently ending a fierce five-day campaign that may have left hundreds dead. News agencies report that the leader was killed while in police custody. Nigeria is frequently troubled with conflict, but this latest violence has been surprising because of the intensity of the military response. Human rights groups have expressed concern over civilian casualties from the armed operation in a densely populated area.

Reuters: Striking South Africa Union Workers Reach Wage Deal
South Africa’s council workers’ union said today that it has agreed with the government on a pay increase almost twice the rate of inflation, ending a five-day strike that challenged President Jacob Zuma’s economic policies. The settlement could put added strain on the economy, which has fallen into South Africa’s first recession since 1992. And though the raise is a gain for unions, investors are keen for the government to stick to what they see as the sound economic policies that have helped shield South Africa from the worst of the global downturn.

Houston Chronicle: Bill Frist: Improve World Health Care by Increasing Prosperity
Bill Frist writes that “as the health care reform debate unfolds domestically, we face an opportune moment to recalculate for the better how we maximize the success of our efforts abroad to strengthen global health.” He says good health support for developing countries is as much about putting health infrastructure in place as it is improving their physical state (in terms of roads and water) and institutional capacity. He cites the Millenium Challenge Corporation as an example of such an approach to global health.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Reuters: IMF to Boost Funds, Revamps Lending to Poor Nations
The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it was mobilizing up to $17 billion in new resources to lend to the world’s poorest countries seen most at risk from the global economic crisis. The Fund also said it will temporarily freeze interest rate payments on outstanding credit for 60 low-income countries over the next two and a half years. The announcement represented a major overhaul of the fund’s previous lending practices as it tries to limit the damage to developing countries from the global crisis.

New York Times: Trials Strengthen Mugabe’s Hand
A deputy minister from Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party is set to appear in court today, accused of stealing a cellphone from a Robert Mugabe loyalist. The case highlights accusations that Mr. Mugabe is still seeking to reassert his absolute grasp on power and unseat MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. 16 other Tsvangirai supporters currently face charges and may have to go to court. None of Mr. Mugabe’s supporters, accused by human rights groups of waging a campaign of terror during last year’s election season, have been prosecuted.

The Monitor (Uganda): East Africa: Region May Delay Trade Pact with EU
The East African Community (EAC) bloc is likely to delay signing a new trade deal with the European Union because fresh issues have been introduced in the negotiations, Tanzania’s trade minister said. The five bloc members Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi are among nearly 80 countries of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group in talks on a new pact with the EU. The agreement is meant to replace current preferential arrangements that have been struck down by the World Trade Organization.

Reuters: Kenyan Ministers Meet over Election Violence Court
Kenya’s divided cabinet met today in an attempt to reach a consensus on dealing with the masterminds of last year’s post-election violence. While some see justice for the 2008 chaos as crucial to future stability in east Africa’s largest economy — which faces its next election in 2012 — others warn a judicial process could destabilize Kenya by stirring up old hatreds. Foreign donors, disillusioned Kenyans and local markets, which bombed during last year’s crisis and have been jittery over coalition divisions, are following the debate closely.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Reuters: Clinton to Meet Somali President in Africa Trip
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to meet the president of Somalia’s transitional government during a seven-nation trip to Africa next week. She will be the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, signaling the Obama administration’s strong wish to bolster Somalia’s fragile government. Clinton will travel to Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Liberia and Cape Verde, where she is expected to reinforce President Barack Obama’s message that aid must be matched by good governance.

The Guardian (UK): The Race for Influence in Zimbabwe
Op-ed contributor Francois Grignon writes that Chinese investment is growing in influence in Zimbabwe, due to a recent deal negotiated by Robert Mugabe. The deal followed Prime Minister Morgan Zvangirai’s failure to bring back aid promises from his recent visit to Western governments. Grignon says that while China’s interest could give the struggling transitional coalition government “breathing room,” it does not equally benefit Tsvangirai and Mugabe. the ability to engineer financial aid for the inclusive government puts Mugabe in a very strong position to manipulate the pace of reform to his advantage and could strengthen his quest to perpetuate his dictatorial reign.

Bloomberg: South African Jobless Give up Hope as Economy Shrinks
Bloomberg reports that South Africa’s unemployment rate has reached 23.6% (about 13 million unemployed), with many people giving up looking for work as the country’s economy sinks deeper into recession. President Jacob Zuma is facing mounting pressure to deliver on his election promises to boost jobs and reduce poverty as protests fueled by the economic situation continue. Yesterday thousands of council workers on strike marched through Johannesburg, dumping trash in the street and disrupting local businesses.

New York Times: Scores Die as Sect Fights Nigeria Police
Security forces erected roadblocks and enforced curfews in towns across in northern Nigeria Tuesday after scores were killed in two days of clashes between the police and members of a fundamentalist Islamic sect. The violence has roiled a predominantly Muslim region of Nigeria that has had regular and often bloody outbreaks of sectarian unrest.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

AP: EU Seeks Billions Immediately for Poor
A draft European Union report says that rich countries should immediately mobilize billions of dollars in development aid to the world’s poorest nations in the run-up to global climate talks in Copenhagen. The EU is worried that an agreement might not be reached because of a gap in trust between poor countries and the rich industrialized states they blame for causing climate change. The report said clarifying and increasing the global contribution to “adaptation funding’’ between now and 2012 could contribute to trust-building.

The Guardian: Jeffrey Sachs: A Big Chance for Smallholders
Jeffrey Sachs writes that the G8′s $20bn initiative on smallholder agriculture is a potentially historic breakthrough in the fight against hunger and extreme poverty. But he says that obstacles remain: the main risk is that the aid bureaucracies now trip over each other to try to get their hands on the $20bn. Sachs advises that donors take the money out of the hands of 30 or more separate aid bureaucracies and pool it in one or two places, specifically the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Ag Week: Senate May Modify Foreign Aid Policy
As part of a move to increase the U.S. role in agricultural development in poor countries, the Senate is considering a modification of the Bumpers Amendment, the measure that forbids the U.S. government from using taxpayer dollars to help develop crops in other countries that could compete with U.S. production. The Senate Agriculture and Foreign Relations committee staffs are writing a modification of the amendment that would allow USAID to help develop crops in the poorest countries as identified by the World Bank, but would require that the aid stop if the country becomes a commercially competitive exporter in that crop.

Washington Post: In Niger Delta, Uneasy Peace as Rebel Disarmament Date Nears
Signs of harmony seem to be budding in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region due to a government offer of amnesty to rebels and a leading militant group’s halt to its attacks and kidnappings. But, two weeks before it is set to begin disarming militants, the government has revealed little about how it will reintegrate them into society or address the demands for increased development and oil revenue that the militants say drive their campaign of attacking oil installations and holding foreigners hostage. The offer’s vagueness is fueling fears that it will trigger a full-scale military offensive that could harm civilians.

Financial Times Editorial: Engaging Zuma
The Financial Times editorial board writes that the honeymoon for Jacob Zuma, sworn in as South African president in May, has ended almost before it had begun. South African urban unrest has been ongoing for five years, but there has been an upsurge in the tempo in recent weeks. The president has been slow to intervene, leaving the job to his ministers and local officials. But in some cases they are the very people to blame for the protests. The FT says Zuma must instead engage in the problem himself. As well as providing services promised from his campaign, he should focus on better government: clamping down on waste and corruption in the bureaucracy and the ANC party hierarchy.

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson