A Review of African Blogs – September 18, 2008

Nigerian Curiosity
http://www.nigeriancuriosity.com/2008/09/channels-tv-shut-down-by-yaradua.html

Nigerian Curiosity comments on the shutting down of Nigerian television station, Channels TV for incorrectly reporting that President Yar'Adua would step down because of illhealth:

“…it could be understandable that the administration is doing damage control to lessen rumors and fears of Yar'Adua's ability to run the country effectively. However, this reaction - sending State Security Service (SSS) forces to shut down a television station and arrest its staff - is unconscionable and absolutely unacceptable!... To clamp down on the press is to return Nigeria to oppressive times and to renege on Yar'Adua's constantly repeated pledge of 'rule of law' and his proclaimed commitment to Nigeian democracy…

The proper reaction from Yar'Adua's seemingly defensive administration should have been to simply correct Channels TV and any other station that might refer to that incorrect news… Draconian measures of shutting down the press simply harken back to the military regimes of people like Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha whose actions struck fear in the hearts of the people. Yar'Adua has never been one to suggest that sort of dangerous attitude which is highly jeapardous to Nigeria's struggling democracy. Why should he start now?”

Moses Paul Sserwanga
http://msserwanga.blogspot.com/2008/09/mps-should-not-allow-govt-to-destroy.html

Moses Sserwanga condemns the decision of the National Forestry Authority (NFA) of Uganda to
to grant a licence to Uganda Electricity Transmission Ltd to cut 69 hectatres of Mabira Forest for the construction of a new high voltage power line.

“… it’s imperative for us to remind NFA that there can be no doubt about the dangers posed by their reckless disregard of the conservation of critical resources like Mabira Forest.

NFA’s latest machinations point to one thing though - the well known government plot to illegally parcel out more than 7,100 hectares of the natural forest to private investors like Mehta and now Uganda Electricity Transmission Ltd.

This is what they call human culpability - when people work to destroy their environment - thus threatening their own very existence. With the on-going campaign against global warming resulting from poor management of the world’s environment, everyone including NFA bosses should be deeply concerned about the threat that climate change poses to human security and their economic wellbeing.”

Thinking Aloud
http://pitsotsibs.blogspot.com/2008/09/no-great-excitement-about-zimbwabwe.html

Thinking Aloud is not thrilled by the recent agreement between the Zimbabwean opposition and president Mugabe:

“… the agreement has not given Zimbwabwe a real fresh start, they have to fix a broken car, but they have been told that they will have to keep the same engine. This for me is a serious problem, with Mugabe as president, still wielding some power, how can a fresh start be possible?

It is a shame that Mugabe had to be begged to give away ill-gotten power, it is a shame that his old cronies are still allowed to hang on to power, MDC will have to struggle again, struggle for power which they have won in March 29. It is sad that today Mugabe is president of a country that has rejected him.

…these types of arrangements should never ever be entered into again, they are a disgrace, and they only serve to fuel dictators to seek deals instead of walking away from power. Today we have distorted justice, our kids should never be taught this model of compromise, because it defies a sense of justice, it teaches that the bullies can hang on to power and there is nothing that the citizens can do about it. It says clearly, the Gun is Mightier that the Vote, this is a shame!”

Blackman Time
http://www.blackmantime.com/why-robert-mugabe-is-a-hero.htm

Not everyone is against or skeptical of the agreement between the political rivals in Zimbabwe or critical of President handling of events that led to the agrrement. One of the bloggers with a favorable opinion of Mugabe after the peace deal is Blackman Time:

“If your view or vision of Mugabe is the one defined by Western media then, no doubt, you will hate the man who has just reluctantly agreed to share power with the opposition Zimbabwe... So when the Western media starts running up its mouth about how terrible Mugabe is, ask yourself whose interest are they really serving? The people of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe’s or the colonialists?

And, it is good that in agreeing to share power with Morgan Tsvangirai who has promised to focus on hope, Mugabe has offered coded warnings to Tsvangirai’s party with whom he will share government that they’d better not be colonial stooges. This is the Mugabe I know: a man who has lived, fought, killed for and ruled his African country; a man who cares for its cultural and political autonomy to be free from colonial puppeteering.

If it wasn’t for a man like Mugabe, Zimbabwe would not exist: it would still be called Rhodesia being treated as a playground or resource for colonial types, while locals are treated as third class citizens in their own backyard.”

Abesha Bunna Bet
http://abesha.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/ethiopias-bloody-hand-in-somalia/

Abesha escoriates the Ethiopian government for what it considers its ill-advised, poorly planned and bungled invasion of Somalia:

“With the support of the U.S. [the world's police], the Ethiopian government had cooked up a threat that was non-existent, to make the case for invading Somalia. And now, after creating Africa’s biggest Humanitarian crisis, the Meles regime had indicated its strong urge to pull its troops out of Somalia, completely...

Our leadership had dropped the ball in every aspect of Somalia’s invasion. The rebellion by which the Ethiopian troops were met, was in no way unforeseen. If anything, the leaders of the ICU had forewarned of this danger.

Invasion must be planned and one must prepare for the overwhelming burden of peacekeeping and securing the nation it chooses to invade. That also had been lacking in Somalia. The Meles regime clearly choosing to leave kids and their parents in the hands of fate.”

Scribbles from the Den
http://www.dibussi.com/2008/09/the-political-l.html

Scribbles from the Den revisits the legacy of Ruben Um Nyobe, founder of the Cameroonian nationalist party, UPC, who killed by French colonial forces 50 years ago on September 13, 1958:

“... the modern political state of Cameroon has arisen not so much as the realization of a national consciousness uniting diverse peoples into one movement against the colonial power - as was the case in most African countries - but out of the suppression of such a movement. In short, it was on the basis of struggling against the most politicized sections of its own population that the independent Cameroun state established its authority... The abnormality of having not only to derive its legitimacy from the armed force of the colonial power, but also of having to destroy both radical and moderate exponents of the profound nationalist sentiments which took root in post-war Cameroun, resulted inexorably in the establishment of a police state...

* 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/