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07/16/2004:

"The Strange Fruits of a Ghastly History"

BBC: Intra-Africa Trade is 'too low'
Trade among African countries accounts for only about 10% of their total exports and imports, according to a report.

The study by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) blames the continuing low level of trade on poor transport links among African countries.

Instead it suggests that colonial-era patterns remain, with most trade still to and from the former colonial powers.

It says Africa has a long way to go before reaching EU-style integration.full article

CBS: Africa Lags in UN Wealth Ranking
CBS/AP) The U.N.'s annual ranking of the global rich and poor showed stark differences Thursday as AIDS pushes African nations further into misery while the most of the rest of the world creeps toward higher development.

"The picture that emerges is increasingly one of two very different groups of countries: those that have benefited from development and those that have been left behind," the report said.

The report also finds problems extending beyond Africa: 1.1 billion people living on less than a dollar a day, and 2.7 billion without access to proper sanitation. full article

Medical News Today: Life Expectanacy in Some Countries in Africa Has Fallen Below 33 Years
Life expectancy in some parts of Africa has dropped to below 33 years as the AIDS epidemic takes its toll in the region, says the Human Development Report, 2004 (United Nations).

The report looks at 177 countries and ranks them according to quality of life. Such factors as health, health care services, education, life expectancy and standard of living are taken into account.

For the fourth year running Norway is number 1. Sierra Leone is number 177. full article

Environmental Network News:U.S. military talks to Nigeria over Gulf of Guinea
ABUJA, Nigeria — A top U.S. general has held talks with Nigerian military chiefs on security in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, set to become one of the world's top oil supply hubs within a decade, officials said Tuesday.

The world's largest energy consumer is keen to protect a series of huge oil discoveries in the gulf, controlled by several politically unstable states including Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome, and Angola.

"We talked over lunch about having a way we could cooperate together in monitoring the waters of the Gulf of Guinea," said Gen. Charles Wald, deputy commander of U.S. European Command, which also covers Africa.

"Terrorism is an international problem and a threat to all peace-loving and democratic countries, so we share a common interest to tackle the problem," he was quoted as saying by a U.S. embassy official. "They have been to the U.S., Russia, Europe, and the Middle East. They could certainly come here." full article

This last article provides the context for all the others. 'Terrorism' my eye. What Africa is about for the West is only her resources to be expolited, and her 'underdevelopment' is hypocritically portrayed as a baffling mystery. As Ayinde says in the article below, the answer lies in reparations, and not 'charity'.