THIS WEEK IN THE STRUGGLE ( A look at topics, issues and personalities in The Struggle) JULY 31ST TO AUGUST 7TH 2014. VOL.#2: Africa is in the headlines again for two significant reasons. Firstly, the contagious and deadly disease Ebola is gripping the headlines as the dead toll from it increases in West Africa. So far the countries worst affected are Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Nigeria has also revealed statistics on casualties recently. A Gambia registered plane belonging to Birds Airlines was also recently grounded in the UK for Ebola related issues. The flight is said to have originated from Sierra Leone. The World Bank this week put aside $US200 to fight the outbreak while The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently in session in Geneva to assess the situation and come out with a strategy to combat the outbreak. More than one thousand cases have so far been reported and of that number more than nine hundred have died. The outbreak has sent shock waves throughout the world and Sub Saharan Africa in particular. All the cases so far have been linked with the three main West African countries worse affected. The two US medical personnel affected have been working to combat the outbreak in the area and the one Saudi national who died of the disease was recently on a visit to Sierra Leone. West Africas main problem to combat the outbreak is said to be in the area of efficient facilities for isolation. There is also said to be a vaccine that can immunize individuals but its not available in pharmacies. The spin off on this is the usual argument that the big money pharmaceuticals are not attracted to tropical African medicines because of their low financial turnouts. The economic ramifications of the outbreak on the countries worse affected and the sub region in general is yet to be understood. However, if the WHO declares a world emergency from its current session in Geneva, some whole countries may be put in quarantine, through mandatory boarder closures and travel bans. The situation is already serious, but there is heightened hope the outbreak can be contained, since the knowhow is available. THE AFRICA-US SUMMIT: Secondly, President Barack Obama of the United States is currently hosting a summit with fifty African heads of state and government in Washington DC. The summit looks into mutually beneficial areas of partnership between the US and the countries of the summit attendees. It is a summit of tremendous historic significance in light of the fact that the history of the relationship between African peoples and Europeans and persons of European descent in The Americas has been characterized by subjugation and exploitation which have sometimes been punctuated by brutal and dehumanizing measures. After The Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, and colonization, there is every justification for caution on the African side just to make sure that this does not serve as recipe to a repetition of the dark chapters in our relations history. The cold war period US- Africa policy was very beneficial to her friends in Africa in competition with the Russians who were equally generous to their friends. But the end of the Cold War was followed by a remarkable shift of interests from the continent to East European countries and former countries of The Soviet Socialist Republics. The new reality is that Africa is also being placated by The Europeans, Japan and China as well. Obviously there is some amount of competition going on. This can be turned into a windfall of economic benefits for African countries on one hand. on the other hand, it is hoped that the gains registered in pursuits of democracy and good governance will not be obliterated when the US and European countries start to give them less attention in order to effectively compete the Chinese in particular who dont seem to care about those issues. There is need for cautious optimism. The political leaderships on the continent need to put their acts together to promote the principles of good governance through democracy, accountability, transparency, probity and the rule of law. The politics of same old, same old is not sustainable any more! THE ANTI DICTATOR JAMMEH DEMONSTRATIONS: While Gambian president dictator Yaya Jammeh attends the current summit of The US and African heads of state and government, anti dictatorship activists converged on his hotel in down town Washington DC. Reports indicate that activists where so successful in holing up the infamous dictator in his hotel that at first it was thought he was unable to attend the first day of the summit conference. There was a counter demonstration of his supporters at the same scene, but they were easily overwhelmed and frustrated by the bigger demonstration of his opponents. These demonstrations have become a regular occurrence whenever the unpopular Gambian dictator visits US and European capitals. Due to political intolerance at home the size of the diaspora Gambian community has been increasing rapidly with most of them political dissidents fleeing from prosecution by the dictators kangaroo courts. The US is one of their popular destinations and this demonstration is said to be one of the biggest if not the biggest since the commencement of such manifestations. The strength of this demonstration is seen in the light of growing disenchantment against dictator Jammeh at home, particularly in the aftermath of his refusal to allow the body of late politician Hon. Buba Baldeh entry into the country for internment. Recently, he has also made unpopular interference in the Muslim Eid ul fitr prayers to the extend of ordering the arrests of certain Imams. Elections are also due in The Gambia in 2016, and the diaspora Gambian community is at the forefront of finding a winning formula to get rid of the unpopular dictator. It is therefore hoped that this massive show of solidarity by the opposition forces in the diaspora, will boost the courage of those on the home front for 2016.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 11:52:36 +0000
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