India-Africa News and Discussion

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Viv S
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Viv S »

sanjaykumar wrote:http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/featur ... 35164.html

India has a long distance to go yet.
No exaggeration in there at all. If anything, the individuals quoted were being rather gracious.

And this BTW is precisely why BRFites whining about 'Anglo-Saxon racism' and 'racist' international clubs (NSG, Five Eyes) makes me roll my eyes and wonder which delusional utopia they live in.

Unfortunately, the treatment according to our own citizens from the NE is only marginally better.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by IndraD »

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau 'killed in air strike by Nigerian fighter jets along with other senior militants'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z4IAan9Fu7
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

T Bhaskar we are waiting for your monthly reports.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

Yesterday (20 Sept 2016), I heard on BBC Radio about a Nigerian Police squad called Special Anti Robbery Squad(SARS) which is corrupt and extorts money from accused robbers. The charge was by a Human Rights/Amnesty International activist and BBC gave five minutes for the person.

Most likely the new Nigerian President is doing good work and now this extortion charge is being made to slow him down.

T Bhaskar any updates?
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by g.sarkar »

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/2Dc9Z1 ... -by-I.html
Ghana professors seek removal of Gandhi statue unveiled by Indian President
The online petition says the campus should instead feature statues of ‘African heroes’
Accra, Ghana: Professors at a university in Ghana’s capital are campaigning for the removal of a new statue of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi.
An online petition launched this month takes issue with what it calls Gandhi’s “racist identity” and controversial references to Africans in his writings. The petition had more than 1,100 signatures by Thursday morning.
India’s President Pranab Mukherjee unveiled the statue during a visit to Ghana in June......
Gautam
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Hiten »

4 Indians, working with the Dangote group, reportedly kidnapped today from its Itori project site in Ogun state, Nigeria.

This is a disturbing new development, since the Christian dominated Ogun state is considered to be a relatively safe place, as opposed to the central state of Kogi & Benue, from where the earlier kidnappings had taken place.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

X-Posting...
IndraD wrote:Nigerian army claims to have crushed last strong hold of Boko Haram (BH).
But BH also has presence in Mali , Chad & Cameroon.
Besides North & South divide in Nigeria keeps supply of militants to this group uninterrupted, where most of the members are from North Nigeria which is sunni dominated. South is a mix of Christianity & Islam.
One post that explains the Boko Haram in West Africa.

Its a legacy of colonial conquest from Islam and Christianity.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Vasu »

What RwandAir’s direct flights to Mumbai mean for trade, tourism
The move by RwandAir to start direct commercial flights to Mumbai, India in quarter two of the year will ease market access and help reduce transport costs, the business community and experts have said. It could also boost tourism arrivals, they added.

The development follows the signing of bilateral air services agreements between Rwanda and India during the 8th Vibrant Gujarat Summit, a global business forum in India, early this week, paving way for the commencement of the flights.

Experts believe the move by RwandAir to start direct flights to Mumbai will be pivotal in deepening trade between the two countries, as well as helping boost tourism arrivals from India and Asia generally.

Patrick Gakuru, a Kigali-based importer, said direct flights to Mumbai (India’s financial and commercial capital) will also enhance competitiveness of the country’s exports besides reducing the cost of doing business. “It is a welcome move that will reduce the cost of doing business between Rwanda and India and also grow our exports to India,” he said.

Geoffrey Kamanzi, the Private Sector Federation director for trade facilitation and negotiations, said the move could fuel foreign direct investment from East Asia and create new markets for Rwanda’s exports in Asia. Bilateral trade between Rwanda and India is currently estimated at $526 million. According to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), Rwanda registered 66 investment projects from India between 2011 and 2016 valued at $317.5 million, creating over 3,800 jobs in various fields, including telecoms, hospitality, health and education.

Rwanda imported goods worth $33.02 million from India during the third quarter of 2016, according to available figures.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

^
Nice. The trade, as far as pure import-export goes, seems to be heavily in Rwanda's favour( investment is obviously in India's). Is that because of some raw materials India is importing from Rwanda? No slur on Rwanda, but unless they have recently developed some specialty machinery or components, it can't be manufactured products.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by IndraD »

Ivory Coast update

There has been mutiny in army and govt is paying £15000 to each soldier to keep him on govt side.
IC has long history of violence. Country was a French colony and got independence in 1960. Since then it became an example of properous economy in Africa thanks to cocoa exports and palm oils. But soon demand for cocoa ran out and country's fault line got exposed.
South IC was well developed by France but North remained deprived. As a result there is always simmering tension between North & South, then there is ethnic divide to the whole issue.
French converted many tribes into Christianity hence South is full of Christians, where as North has Sunni Muslim predominance.
Current ongoing conflict is between two religion exactly. African association is naturally backing Islamic North rebels and arming them as well. ~This is also in interest of West who want sunni radicals to take over country.
IS is trying to get a foothold as well.
Rebels are mostly based in North, supported & backed by African association & West .
Varoon Shekhar
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Varoon Shekhar »

What is the motive for the Western countries to support the Moslems of the North, and even desire a radical Sunni takeover? Let me guess: with an Islamic government in power, religion rather than economics will be the motive and ideology; an Islamic government will keep Russia out for the most part; emerging and more developed countries like India will be limited in their political and economic influence...

It's actually hard to see a motive, because Western countries, particularly France, already must have substantial interests in Ivory Coast whether it is cocoa or timber or anything else. A Christian dominated current government hasn't significantly restricted the scope of Western economic influence
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by IndraD »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-38699119
In significant development Gambia's dictator Jammeh has agreed to step down and leave after Afrcian association threatened military action. Jammeh has been dictator since 1994 in Gambia. He has full military backing hence his stepping down may not go down well.
Opponent who had a shock win in elections (Adama Barrow) was sworn in as President out of Gambia (!)
West African nations have deployed troops in The Gambia threatening to drive him out of office by force.
Mr Barrow has been in neighbouring Senegal for days. He was sworn in in the Gambian embassy there on Thursday.
His legitimacy as president has been recognised internationally, after he won last month's elections.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
things seem to have changed. As military has agreed to back internationally accepted newly elected president.
Gambian army chief joins in President Barrow celebrations

The Gambia's army chief Ousman Badjie joined in dancing on the streets with supporters of internationally backed President Adama Barrow on Thursday evening.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

X-posted...
Austin wrote:China is funding many projects in Africa

All aboard! The Chinese-funded railways linking East Africa

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/21/afric ... index.html
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by A_Gupta »

http://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/ ... lth/984472
"Cabinet approves signing of MoU India, Senegal in health
The agreement will enable pursuing the potential interest areas of cooperation such as space science, technology and applications including remote sensing of the earth; satellite communication and satellite-based navigation; space science and planetary exploration; use of spacecraft and space systems and ground system; and application of space technology"
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Muns »

Folks, as part of our diaspora series, thought to write a piece to let more understand the situation of Indians in Botswana. Similar situation to many African countries although Botswana thankfully has never had a real civil war plaguing a lot of other African countries.
As always, you're welcome to contribute articles if you would like. Use the contact button, and if no response send a duplicate via the email.

Let us know!

Indian Blood Rain in Botswana

Image

http://www.india-aware.com/indian-blood ... -botswana/
Not a week goes by where several stories emerge of Indians are held at gunpoint in their homes while the house is ransacked. While previously you may have escaped with your life, more recently several stories have emerged of victims being shot first, and then their houses robbed at leisure.

The police force is quite incapable to take up any leads or investigations and is quite rare to see any suspects being apprehended. This is led to Indian families installing multiple layers of security around their homes. Electric fences, camera’s, guard dogs are now a common site for most homes. Unfortunately as many of them are trying to enter their house, they are quickly shot in the back or in the car and dragged in through the gate.

A lot of this news however never really makes it to the mainstream. Indians have taken up to neighborhood watch groups and trying to fund their own private security personnel to patrol their neighborhoods. Unfortunately, those that can’t afford to join the neighborhood watch group or stay on their own isolated houses are usually watched and targeted.
http://www.india-aware.com
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

Meanwhile India and Japan work together in Africa.

https://twitter.com/Parikramah/status/8 ... 8598523905

India is fifth largest investor in Africa after China with $54B vs $75B.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

I was watching a BBC report on Angola.

Its the 2nd largest oil producer and recovering from the freedom struggle and civil war.

The oll price collapse has hurt the economy and many projects are stuck.
The country is diversifying its economy by growing commercial agricultural crops like bananas, coffee etc.
An building beach resorts near fishing villages

I think its a ripe environment to setup petrochemical mfg industries there based on low price oil.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

BBC reports that Tourism is ~9% of the total GDP of Africa.
Of this 2/3 is intra Africa tourism.
Big barriers to this are tourist visa regulations among the African countries and moderate priced tourism infrastructure :Hotels, tour operators.

All these are geared to towards Western tourists who can pay more due to exchange rate.

One advantage is African tourists are not into exotic game hunting, ivory smuggling and other borderline criminal activities.

Tourism provides millions of jobs already.

In other news Zambia declared Emergency rule after a week of big arson fires.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Rampy »

I am reading the book " The Looting Machine" by Tom Burgis. The amount of corruption and nepotism in African counties and Chinese's involvement thru its shady companies like Queens Way Group - Sam Pha. I am not sure how India will get any inroads in Africa
I would recommend folks to read or hear it from Audible.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

There is non-coup coup underway in Zimbabwe today 15 November 2017. The military has taken over the government but is doing so in the name of the President Mugabe.

Link: Zimbabwe Military takeover

Background: President Mugabe dismissed his First Vice President Emerson Mnanangawa last week. The expectation is he would appoint his wife Grace Mugabe to be the new VP and the eventual successor. The Second VP was dismissed earlier and Grace Mugabe made Vp instead. So the conjecture is right..

Internal Factors: Grace Mugabe has a bad reputation of being autocrat and a spendthrift. her nick name is Gucci Grace. There is resentment for dynastic succession in Zimbabwe. Hence the military which included previous officers who took part in the freedom struggle in Northern Rhodesia.
External factors: Coups are so 1950-1970s mechanism. And OAU, US and UK would condemn coups and impose sanctions. However this time all three gave muted statements. The least effective is from Boris Johnson of UK. US has issued shelter in place for its citizens there and travel advisory.
However Jacob Zuma, the current President of African Development Council has made forceful statements to support peaceful reconciliation of the issues and no violence.

Prognosis: Most likely the military will force Mugabe to resign and leave the country after appointing Emerson M as the new President. Zimbabwe has major economic problems and needs a firm hand to navigate the recession.
Zimbabwe was once a wealthy breadbasket for the whole region, but its economy and especially the prosperous agriculture sector have suffered in recent years. The currency has collapsed, and at one point the country was experiencing devastating hyperinflation with denominations of the Zimbabwe dollar counted in the trillions.
Some thing to think about is when democratic process is rigged how can people get rid of bad rulers?
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by UlanBatori »

But Mugabe is "under house arrest" hain? Which means dead?
The fate of Mugabe and his wife, 52-year-old Grace Mugabe, who increasingly looked set to succeed him, was unclear. But they appeared to be in military custody.
As for "Zimbabwe being the breadbasket of the region". WRONG. Let's not twist history.
It was Rhodesia that was a basket of whatever. It was a slave-powered economy run by a few white goons.

Since Mugabe came to power, they have been under embargoes and sanctions designed to starve them, since they were "terrorists" who fought the racist slave-drivers to win liberation. Yes, gradually as he survived one coup attempt after another and things got more dire because of the external strangulation, he became more "repressive". This is a classic case of self-fulfilling prophecy. They were never given a chance. Mugabe was a leader of a violent faction, sure, but he had to survive fighting the illegal Rhodesian regime who were the real criminals.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

No Mugabe and his wife Grace are alive. Jacob Zuma talked to Mugabe on the phone.

The Army general is very clear on the process to restore civil rule. On Thursday or Friday (I didn't catch) they plane to swear in the new President and move on.
Meanwhile calls to give Mugabe asylum in South Africa. However his wife is wanted for assault there.


Right now Zimbabwe has large mineral exports.
However 90% unemployment.

No one wants coup there. They don't want Grace Mugabe thrust on them.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Kashi »

UlanBatori wrote:Since Mugabe came to power, they have been under embargoes and sanctions designed to starve them, since they were "terrorists" who fought the racist slave-drivers to win liberation.
Actually Rhodesia was under heavy sanctions for nearly 10 years leading to their collapse before Mugabe took over in 1979-80. Zimbabwe was not sanctioned again till 2002, when Mugabe started seizing farms and redistributing them to his supporters.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by UlanBatori »

Expect the jarnail to be declared Presidente-4-Life. Question is which foreign bright idea this is.
I think the aspect about Mugabe's initial years is that the whites never relinquished monopolies (some fled to UK) until Mugabe started cracking down. After all the years of repression there were no institutions, and unlike South Africa there was waaaaay too much hate and resentment for any coalition. Kashiji, I think some deeper examination of the US-Zimbabwe relationship might reveal a different story. May be true that official UN sanctions weren't until 2002 but there was obstruction all the way. US never accepted independent Zimbabwe, citing Mugabe's record of violence. The thing is that the illegal Rhodesian regime had a lot of supporters in the COTUS and SeeAyyeh etc. Through at least 1990 Zimbabwe was viewed as a Soviet proxy, on par with Angola. From 1990 to 2002 they had no Big Power help.
Last edited by UlanBatori on 16 Nov 2017 07:07, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by periaswamy »

Not totally related, but Northern Rhodesia, a.k.a., Zambia, because it had less resources and less farm land that the white settlers cared for, did not get a fraction of the attention and the money that Zimbabwe got when the white settlers left. Strangely enough, that has allowed Zambia to create its own systems the hard way, like India did, and it seems to be doing better than Zimbabwe has done so far.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by UlanBatori »

One cannot just take over a farm or plantation and expect to make money. I know the experience in Sri Lanka. Circa 1968 or so, they had the bright idea of taking over the tea and rubber plantations in the central highlands, driving out the Indian and other owners, mostly without any compensation. They drove out the poor "stateless" laborers who did the actual tea/rubber picking and tried bringing in Real Native Sinhala workers.

Result? They started losing money as the experienced businesspeople and supervisors exited, and the Sinhala workers had nothing like the work ethic of the desi "stateless" ppl they pushed out, while they had much greater expectations because at least they had a vote. Same thing must have happened in Zimbabwe except in a far worse manner, because there the whites held all the responsible positions.
Last edited by UlanBatori on 16 Nov 2017 07:15, edited 1 time in total.
periaswamy
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by periaswamy »

UB: They started losing money as the experienced businesspeople and supervisors exited. Same thing must have happened in Zimbabwe except in a far worse manner, because there the whites held all the responsible positions.
That seems to have exactly what happened in Zimbabwe, which lead to hyperinflation within a few years, and the downward spiral. It took Mugabe 15 years to figure it out, but don't think most of the settlers wanted to return by then

Mugabe is asking white farmers to come back
Today, fewer than 300 white farmers remain on portions of their original land holdings in Zimbabwe and many of the seized farms lie fallow prompting the slow changes in attitude and policy.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by UlanBatori »

Well... I think Mugabe's ppl induced the flight in the first place by the simple strategy of going in and killing the farmers and gang-raping their wimmens and looting everything.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by periaswamy »

From the above article: Mugabe "took the land without paying for it" by his own admission, exactly like the Sri Lanka case.
Mugabe’s hard stance was more a reaction to growing political opposition and waning voter support. He blamed the white farmers for betraying his benevolence and threatening his power base. He declared, “If white settlers just took the land from us without paying for it we can, in a similar way, just take it from them without paying for it, or entertaining any ideas of legality or constitutionality.”
Sort of like what Idi Amin did to the Indian-origin Ugandans.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

Mischief,thou art afoot...orchestrated by Beijing!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11 ... ting-coup/
Zimbabwe crisis: Did China give nod to army takeover?
The Chinese military holds a welcoming ceremony for Gen. Constantine Chiwenga CREDIT: MOD.GOV.CN/LI XIAOWEI


Adrian Blomfield
15 NOVEMBER 2017 • 8:25PM
The general behind Zimbabwe’s coup may have sought Chinese approval days before the army launched its takeover of Robert Mugabe’s government, it emerged on Wednesday.

Mr Mugabe remained under house arrest, still president of Zimbabwe if in name alone, a prisoner of once slavishly loyal generals who now hold the country’s fate in their hands.

As the former British colony faced a deeply uncertain future under military tutelage, a trip to Beijing by Gen Constantine Chiwenga, the head of the armed forces, last week has reignited concerns about rising Chinese influence in Africa.

The general held high-level meetings with officials from the Defence Ministry, and visited a school to observe a Shaolin Kung Fu class.

Although the Chinese foreign ministry insisted Gen Chiwenga’s visit was a “routine visit”, analysts have suggested that Beijing may have given the rebellious army chief its tacit blessing in advance.

Chang Wanquan, the Chinese minister of defence, with Gen Chiwenga CREDIT: MOD.GOV.CN
Mr Mnangagwa and his allies have made conscious efforts to court Beijing as both an investor and a military partner.

China, which has displaced Western rivals to become Africa’s largest trading partner and is a major investor in Zimbabwe, notably declined to call for Mr Mugabe’s restoration yesterday, despite his long ties to Beijing dating back to the Cold War.

Last year, China pledged to invest $4bn in Zimbabwe for investment, loans and aid over the next three years.


Responding to the coup, the Chinese foreign ministry merely stated that Beijing was “paying close attention to developments”, prompting suggestions that China had agreed to sacrifice “Comrade Mugabe” in the interests of an orderly succession.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by UlanBatori »

Wow. I didn't count them. Move over, SeeAiyyeh, MI6, KGB, Mossad and ISI. The New Masters are at work.
China which has displaced Western...
RAA agints need to up their game in Africa or at least SOMEwhere, hain? :((
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by JE Menon »

>>Same thing must have happened in Zimbabwe except in a far worse manner, because there the whites held all the responsible positions.

That's pretty much exactly what happened. The white farmers moved over the border where possible into South Africa, and some have gone as far as Kenya (Nanyuki area) and Tanzania. They were welcomed, and are doing quite well there. They have the expertise basically for the large scale farming that generates large monies. The poor Zimbabweans who basically grabbed the land, sat in one corner of one acre of a 300 acre plot and started doing his subsistence farming...What can one expect in situations such as this but collapse.

Mugabe is just not capable of understanding all this, and it is debatable whether the ones who will replace him are either... Let's see. It's definitely not looking good.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

https://twitter.com/MEAIndia/status/935559098707337216

India attends Kenya President swearing in ceremony.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by periaswamy »

China was the backer for Zimbabwe coup

This is the second instance of the chinese backing the military to topple the government of the day -- the first one being Maldives. Maybe there are other examples.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Lisa »

In Rhodesia, white settlers simply identified what land they wanted and any locals who were resident were simply dispossessed of what was had been theirs for generations. This happened not only in Rhodesia, but also in Kenya and South Africa but to name a few. In the case of Kenya, these farms were taken back by the government after independence and the settlers were compensated by the British Crown. In the case of South Africa seizures are still ongoing and to say the least miniscule compensation is being paid for by the South African government.

Surprisingly in the case of South Africa not a single main stream newspaper will carry that news as it is not possible to pressurise the South African government. In the case of Zimbabwe, the guarantors of the the agreement to reacquire these lands were informally the German and American governments. When push came to shove they declined to assist. Mugabe's hand was forced and he simply did what the government of Kenya (and South Africa are now doing) did and seized the land for redistribution and refused to compensate the farmers as he rightly pointed out that these farms were in fact stolen property.

Sanctions followed and lots of press of how bad Mugabe was until about 7 years ago. Mugabe stuck gold. Not really but diamonds. He found the largest single deposit of diamonds in the world and made all the western sanctions irrelevant overnight. At this point the Australian government decided to pressurise the Kimberley Process to prevent the sale of these diamonds in the international market as they were conflict diamonds. African nations asked as to who the parties in this conflict were and in the absence of a reasonable answer reminded the Australian government of access to their own individual powers of Veto that had been enshrined into the Kimberly process (the Veto clause had been inserted at the insistence of the Australian government to prevent decisions being made by a majority vote that might have an unfavourable impact upon their interest). They had never counted upon the possibility of this matter coming back to bite them in their behind and abandoned their effort!

Mugabe now had money, was running site auctions in Harare (thus by passing the diamond cartel in London) that were being attended by all and sundry from India to Lebanon. So the press died a natural death with regards to Mugabe for 7 long years as western sanctions could not punish a man who now controlled some 20% of all global diamond sales.

Comparisons with Indians from a variety of countries who have been dispossessed of their properties is unfair as these indians did not STEAL their property but build it up from scratch. Virtually none of these Zimbabwean farmers BOUGHT their land they stole it.

White settlers that have moved did so to lands that they then had to BUY not compulsorily seize. Just because a thief is making more money than you with your stolen property does not entitle him to its ownership. Black farmers living on subsistence farming is nothing new. Farms seized from white farmers from Kerico to Machakos to Nanuki hardly became combine harvester land. They all were and remain small shambas providing subsistence income.

Mugabe was and will remain untouchable as he made substantial sacrifices for the ANC amongst others to assist in the overthrow of the white regime in South Africa at a time when the west actively supported the apartheid regime. Nobody can change that fact.

Zimbabwe has officially declared 21 February to be Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-42136262
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

Lisa, Thanks. Good summary of post colonial land settlement in sub-Saharan Africa.

What is the position in Francophone Africa?
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by Vips »



India's big diplomatic push; India to set up 18 new missions in Africa by 2021
Out of 54 Countries in Africa, right now India has missions in 29 countries, the 18 additional ones will take the total to 47 countries.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by ricky_v »

https://allafrica.com/stories/201810180178.html
An online campaign in Malawi has collected nearly 4,000 signatures against erecting a statue of India’s independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Pathetic effort so far, but they started somewhere.
In the letters, Gandhi referred to African “savages” and “kaffirs,” an insulting term for black Africans, when comparing them with the Indian population.
All in all, not news-worthy now but is rather a wind-vane.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

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India’s plans on archipelago in Mauritius cause unease.

India will extend a runway and build port facilities on the Mauritian archipelago of Agaléga in what security experts say is a significant boost for New Delhi in its tussle with China for military influence in the Indian Ocean.

Agaléga consists of two sparsely populated islands about 600 miles north of Mauritius, a beach holiday destination that also boasts a huge exclusive economic zone of 2.3m sq km, roughly the size of India’s.

The exact nature of construction is shrouded in secrecy. However, Abhijit Singh, a former Indian naval officer and head of the Maritime Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, said the plan was to double the length of the runway to 3,000m and build a jetty as well as a transponder system to identify ships as friend or foe.

The runway extension would allow both Mauritius and India to land bigger aircraft, which would give Delhi “better maritime awareness” in that part of the Indian Ocean, said Mr Singh.

In written answers to questions from the Financial Times, Pravind Jugnauth, Mauritian prime minister, confirmed that “India would be allowed to utilise the facilities in Agaléga subject to prior notification from the competent authorities of Mauritius”.

Afcons, an Indian company, has won the MRs3bn ($87m) contract for the works that would be “fully funded by the government of India on a grant basis” and include “a jetty and an airstrip with associated facilities”, said Mr Jugnauth.

“This project is meant to improve the connectivity with mainland Mauritius and also support economic development of Agaléga to the benefit of the people,” he added.

The planned construction has however provoked opposition among many of the roughly 300 Agalégans, some of whom fear the islands could be ceded to India.

In 1965, before Mauritian independence from the UK, London split another archipelago, the Chagos islands, from Mauritius, forcibly relocating the inhabitants and allowing the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia.

Many Agalégans fear they could suffer a similar fate. “I and all the people of Agaléga are worried about this project because the Mauritian government is hiding many things,” said Arnaud Poulay, an Agaléga resident contacted by phone.

“We are against a military base on Agaléga,” he said. “I am very frightened to be from Agaléga right now.”

José Moirt, a lawyer and rights activist, said Agaléga residents could be expelled to make way for a base. “There is clearly a policy in place for them to leave the island,” he said.

Mr Jugnauth denied any such threat, saying: “Not only will the people of Agaléga be able to continue living on the island, Mauritian sovereignty will not be affected.”

Brahma Chellaney, an Indian expert on security issues, said using Agaléga as a “logistics hub” could help Delhi “sustain naval operations in the south-west Indian Ocean”.

He described China as “an outside power” seeking a naval presence in “India’s maritime backyard” in what he said was a provocation to India and others. The US, France and Britain, he said, were also “getting anxious about what China is up to”, including its recent construction of a military base in Djibouti on the Red Sea as well as ports in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

When Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, visited Mauritius in 2015, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to “improve sea and air transport facilities” on Agaléga, including the provision of state of the art telecommunications equipment.

This May, Fazila Jeewa-Daureeawoo, Mauritian deputy prime minister, gave a written response to the country’s national assembly in which she said the agreement between India and Mauritius was “subject to confidentiality and cannot be disclosed in part or in full”.

Mauritius, which Mr Modi has referred to as “little India”, has long had close security ties with Delhi. In the 1980s, India helped it establish a coast guard, supplying both ships and personnel. Two-thirds of Mauritius’ 1.4m people are of Indian descent, the majority brought in by Britain as indentured labourers in the 19th century to work on sugar plantations.

India and China are involved in a tussle over the Maldives, a chain of 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean where voters last month ousted President Abdulla Yameen, who had drifted away from Delhi’s influence and decisively closer to Beijing.
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Re: India-Africa News and Discussion

Post by MeshaVishwas »


Brilliant report.
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