Review of the African Blogosphere – October 14, 2008
Dibussi Tande reviews the following from the African blogoshphere.
Nigerian Curiosity
Hii Dunia
Vultures Dreaming
My African Father
Scribbles from the Den
Ojeladun Taiwo Abayom comments on Nigeria’s poor showing on the recent Global Competitive Index and the World Bank’s Doing Business Index:
“When perceived poor banking services are added to low ranking on the Doing Business Index, it is easy to see why Nigeria is still not the preferred destination for Foreign Direct Investment except in oil and gas and telecommunications. Even the investment in hydrocarbons is being redirected elsewhere gradually, as Nigeria fails to tackle issues related to stable supplies to the international market.
These call for a sober re-assessment of our real position. Clearly, the self-congratulation must stop because it is wearing thin and becoming less credible given the reports from more credible sources.
We certainly will not make the top 20 global economy not only in 2020 but for a long time after. South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Morocco all beat us repeatedly on all the important indices. Our claim to being the giant of Africa is the result of self-deceit; it insults others.
It is true we have come a long way, but there is a longer way still ahead of us - we must forge ahead more decidedly, to attain global relevant.”
In the same vein, Nigerian Curiosity argues that the Nigerian psyche is an obstacle to development:
“I have been thinking a lot about the psyche of the Nigerian nation. I believe that for any country to achieve development and truly become the envy of others, the mentality of its people must be one that accepts, without question, that the nation is great. For all the talk in Nigeria of creating a top 20 economy by 2020, there is hardly any discussion about the psychological preparation that is necessary to get the average citizen ready, psychologically, to be a part of the oft-mentioned Vision 2020. There is the 'Heart of Africa' project, but from all accounts it is simply a branding technique targeted to outsiders…
Psychologically, many of us do not truly feel that we are capable of grand success either as individuals or as a nation. That mentality must undoubtedly change if Nigeria is ever to truly achieve development and also enjoy the lasting benefits of such development.”
Hii Dunia sheds light on Somalia’s politically fractured landscape by reviewing the causes of the ongoing chaos in that country and looking at the modus operandi of Somali warlords:
“… the main actors within the Somali conflict centre upon the control of property that enables them to generate authority and profit through illicit infrastructure. Control of illegitimate airports, markets and bridges that carry a toll allows warlords to make a profit within the power vacuum left by the collapsed state. This makes fighting and power struggle within Somalia dependent upon material investment rather than notions of state building or political power struggle. The profits generated from illicit taxation allows Somali Warlords or businessmen that back the Warlords to buy arms from an endless list of willing sellers through illicit means. UN experts according to the Somaliland Times reported to the security council in 2003 that ‘Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, the Sudan, Yemen, Egypt , Libya, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait have given arms, money or training to Somali factions” at some point since 1991’.”
Vultures Dreaming looks at the Somali crisis from another angle by questioning the role of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM):
“The decision to establish AMISOM was made by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union on 19 January 2007, three weeks after the Ethiopian Army had invaded Somalia and routed the Union of Islamic Courts (ICU) from Mogadishu.
Referring to the Ethiopian action, the communiqué of the council reiterates “its conviction that, following the recent developments that have enabled the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to take over Mogadishu and take control of the country, there exists today a unique and unprecedented opportunity to restore structures of governance in Somalia ...” and decides “to provide, as appropriate, protection to the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) and their key infrastructure, to enable them to carry out their functions”.
If AMISOM had been established and deployed in 2005 things might have been different, but by the beginning of 2007 the TFG had already lost most of the little credibility it ever had, and it was wishful thinking that the ICU would simply disappear. AMISOM is now stuck with protecting what increasingly appears to be the losing side in a civil war. The sooner it can withdraw the better.”
In a two-part posting, My African Father reacts to Google's announcement that users may now build and edit maps in Map Maker for 45 new African countries:
“When Google maps the entire planet and chops it up with diamond-saw detail, some of us will still not travel any faster, and some of us will still not go very far. Some of us will not be happy, and some of us will be happy just to be where we are. Never going very far. Never seeing very far. But seeing everything. Here. And some of us will live and die near each other, in each other's arms, and not know the rivers and streams that cut through our hearts. Because there are no roads that go there. No images beam up from the eyes of a map, a map with colors we do not know.
There is no road. I am sorry. And because there is no road here, you cannot come here. You cannot build a project here. You cannot be ‘embroiled’ in anything here. There is no road here. There is no “mess” here. There is no ‘village’ here to develop. There is no ‘politics’ here. This is my Little Africa. And it doesn't exist on any map. And it never has or will. And this is a ‘good thing.’ I tell you. It means the knowledge of it is mine... My point is, a Google map is one kind of map. It is not necessarily the right kind. Or the best kind.”
Scribbles from the Den revisits the recent commando-style attack on four banks in the Cameroonian port city of Limbe by pirates:
“Initial reports suggested that the attacks may have been carried out by rebels from Bakassi or even from the Delta region in Nigeria, or by SCNC militants. Others surmised that this was an ‘internal job’ carried out by members of the Cameroonian military, which would not only explain the surgical precision of the attacks but also the failure of military and security forces in the area to put up robust riposte...
Conspiracy or not, internal military plot or not, what happened in Limbe was a manifestation of a complete breakdown or the absence of communication and coordination between the different military and security branches in and around Limbe. The slow, clumsy and uncoordinated response demonstrated, if need be, the absence of a viable defense strategy for Limbe and other key port cities on the Cameroonian coast…”
* Dibussi Tande, a writer and activist from Cameroon, produces the blog Scribbles from the Den
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org/