US House could pass immigration bill by August P13

May 15 - June 15, 2013 (347) 509-0778 / (678) 914-6701 New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, DC; Columbus OH... FREE

Business:4Is Africa’s economic

boom a myth? P8

African Diaspora:4Obama Uses Morehouse College

Address to Recall Jim Crow, Racism P10

AFRICAN 

UNION

CelebratesBut citizens say the body’s record not worth celebrating...P2

'Britons of Nigerian Origin' Kill Soldier in London P6

HEALTHSugary drinks tied to kidney stone risk P7 Pres. Obama tours

Africa in June P4

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The African Union turn 50.

t was established as an organization tofight for African unity and initiallyfought against colonialism. Today itseeks African solutions for Africanproblems.

An African continental union which is eco-nomically strong and politically autonomous -that was the vision Kwame Nkrumah had backin 1958, just one year after he had led theBritish colony of the "Gold Coast" - today'sGhana - to independence. Now, as the coun-try's president, Nkrumah invited other Africanheads of state to a summit. Only eight coun-tries were able to respond. The rest were stillstruggling to free themselve from colonialrule.

Africa shakes off its colonial chains

Five years later, on May 25th, 1963, Nkrumahhad found people from all over Africa who be-lieved in his vision.

Representatives from 30 states gathered in

Ethiopia's capital AddisAbaba for the foundingsummit of the Organiza-tion of African Unity(OAU). The charismaticGhanaian and "Father ofPan-Africanism" told thedelegates that their posi-tive response was "anopen testimony to the un-damagable and irresistiblesurge of the people for in-dependence." He said thatAfrica was about to free it-self from the yoke of colo-nialism. Nkrumah waswell aware of the expecta-tions of the African peoplefrom Cairo to the Cape. "A whole continenthas given us the mandate to set the foundationfor our unity at this conference," he said. At

that time South Africa was still ruled by aracist white minority regime.The doctrine of non-interference

The main doctrine of the OAU was its policy ofnon-interference in the affairs of sovereignstates.

But it was this which became the organiza-tion's biggest burden. That became evidentwhen the euphoric spirit of optimism of thelate 1960s was replaced by military coups andcivil wars - and Africa's leaders could onlystand by and watch. Soon critics named theiryearly summit in Addis Ababa the "Dictators'Club."

Former Ethiopian diplomat and author Men-gitse Desta does not agree with the accusationthat the OAU failed on every level. He insiststhat the OAU "had strong teeth," consideringits main goal. "The primary objective at thetime it was established was to liberate the en-tire African continent from colonial, racist andapartheid systems," says the AU expert.

The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 and a few yearslater South Africa celebrated the end ofapartheid. Dr Mehari Maru from the Institutefor Security Studies in Addis Ababa says thatsoon after that the old ways of thinking wereno longer sufficient. "The end of apartheidand colonialism in Africa gave rise to discus-

he sell-off of Government-ownedcompanies – disinvestment or pri-vatisation – has generated enoughheat the world over.

India has had its fair share of controversiesever since it adopted this policy in the early1990s. In fact, some argue that the defeat ofthe NDA Government in the 2004 electionswas largely due to its aggressive pursuit of dis-investment. Though this may seem a rathersimplistic reading of the election result, theUPA Government took this charge seriouslyenough to dismantle the Disinvestment Min-istry as soon as it came to power and sloweddown the process, at least in its first term.

But it soon got embroiled in the 2G scam andthe coalgate issues which showed the dangersof Government resources being sold or leasedout to private entities at prices far below themarket rates -- hitting Government of muchneeded revenues and hugely favouring privatecompanies.

The sell-off of state-owned assets, especially inthe oil and gas sector, at rock- bottom pricesin Russia in the 1990s during the Yeltsin era iswell documented. The Russian experience inprivatisation created that curious class of Oli-garchs -- the Berezovskys, the Abramovichesand the Khodorkovskys -- who became billion-

aires overnight at the expense of the commonRussian citizen.

Now it seems to be the turn of Africa. KofiAnnan, former UN Secretary General, hascome down hard on African Governments forundervaluing State assets in the recent AfricaProgress Report.Africa is often seen as the next growth areaand a lot of optimism has been generated in

the recent past over its growth potential. SomeSub-Saharan African countries have postedimpressive growth rates -- Angola and Equito-rial Guinea (both resource-rich nations) areamong the prominent performers. But thebenefits of this growth are highly uneven oftenleaving out the common man as is evident bythe poor human development indices.

Annan, Chair of the Africa Progress Panel,states in the report that, “Disparities in basiclife-chances – for health, education and par-ticipation in society – are preventing millionsof Africans from realising their potential,holding back social and economic progress inthe process.”

Annan's panel report is highly critical of thelack of transparency in mining deals thatAfrican nations enter into with western com-panies. The report states that international taxavoidance and evasion, corruption, and weakgovernance represent major challenges.

The report is highly critical of certain westerncompanies which use unethical tax avoidance,transfer pricing and opaque ownership pat-terns to siphon off billions, depriving theAfricans of the benefits of their resources.The report gives the interesting example of the

The African conundrumT

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B. Basker

thehindubusinessline.com

The AU Conference Center in Addis Ababa, May 25, 2013

Ghanaian politician Dr Kwame Nkrumah

Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah was an early

advocate of a union of African state.

With Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the AU

has a strong woman at the helm

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Africa Dreams of Unity

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WORLD NEWSObama to take first majorAfrica trip in late JuneWASHINGTON: President BarackObama will leave on a first Africantour, visiting Senegal, Tanzania andSouth Africa, but his itinerary re-leased on Monday bypasses Kenya,an ancestral homeland.

Obama disappointed many Africansby spending only a few hours in sub-Saharan Africa — in Ghana — duringhis first term, but is keen to imple-ment a sweeping new regional strat-egy, prioritizing democracy andeconomic reform.

Speculation will center on whetherAmerica’s first black president willsee ailing 94-year-old South Africananti-Apartheid icon Nelson Mandela,on a trip on which he will be accom-panied by First Lady MichelleObama.

The White House said the long-awaited visit was intended to under-score Obama’s “commitment tobroadening and deepening coopera-tion between the United States andthe people of sub-Saharan Africa” toadvance peace and prosperity.

Obama will meet officials, business-men, and civil society leaders, includ-ing young people, on the trip betweenJune 26 and July 3 — an unusuallylong journey for a president who nor-mally dashes across timezones ontrips abroad.But early scrutiny will concentrate as

much on where he will not go inAfrica, as his planned stops, withKenya, the land of Obama’s late fa-ther, where he still has living rela-tives, a glaring omission.

Obama frequently uses his past andbackground to connect with foreign-ers, remembering his childhood stayswhile in Indonesia, his Irish heritagein Ireland, and as a Hawaii native,posing as America’s “first Pacificpresident.”

But politics appears to have scup-pered hopes for Obama to reconnectwith his roots in Kenya.It would likely be seen as unseemly

for Obama to appear withUhuru Kenyatta, electedpresident in March, whowill go on trial in July atthe International CriminalCourt (ICC) for crimesagainst humanity in post-election violence in 2007-08.

An administration officialsaid on condition ofanonymity that Kenyatta’selection had been a com-plicating factor in settingObama’s schedule inAfrica.

Obama did visit Kenya in2006, shortly after he waselected to the Senate, but be-

fore he announced his 2008 run forthe White House.

His visit to Africa will follow a similartour made by his wife Michelle inJune 2011, during which she metMandela.

While the president is yet to mount afull tour of the continent, he did hosta meeting at the end of March withrecently elected Senegalese counter-part, Macky Sall, along with the lead-ers of Sierra Leone, Malawi and CapeVerde, lauding them as examples of“the progress that we are seeing inAfrica.”

BBRRIIEEFF NNEEWWSSAMMAN/LONDON - Theworld's diplomats will make amajor new push in the comingdays for negotiations to endSyria's civil war, but theirchances of achieving a peacedeal look as remote as ever.- - - -SEOUL - North Korea fired itsfifth short-range missile inthree days and condemned SouthKorea for criticising what it saidwere its legitimate military drills.- - - -BAGHDAD - At least 20 people were killed by a series of carbombs in mainly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad,and 11 others were killed by attacks in the southerncity of Basra, police and medics said.- - - -EL-ARISH, Egypt - Egypt's army sent reinforcements into theSinai Peninsula after President Mohamed Mursi saidthere would be no talks with militant Islamists who haveabducted seven members of the security forces.- - - -NEW DELHI - India's Congress party is debating holding ageneral election in November, six months ahead of schedule,senior party leaders said, reflecting an internal discussionover whether to pull the plug on the shaky ruling coalition orhave it serve a full term.- - - -ISLAMABAD - Cricket hero Imran Khan's PakistanTehrik-i-Insaf party won a revote in an upmarket constituency ofKarachi, unofficial results showed, a day after gunmenkilled a party leader, setting the stage for protests andcounter-protests.- - - -GAZIPUR, Bangladesh - A Bangladesh factory where Wal-MartStores Inc and Inditex SA inspectors spotted cracks in the wallthis month is still making Wrangler shirts for the world'slargest apparel maker, U.S.-based VF Corp.- - - -ALGIERS - Three weeks after beingrushed to hospital inParis, Algerian President AbdelazizBouteflika has disappearedfrom sight, leaving behind a countrypreparing for a successorwho for the first time will come froma generation too young tohave fought in Algeria's war of in-dependence against France.- - - -NEW DELHI - China and India have agreed on a roadmap toreach a "dynamic balance" in bilateral trade between the twonations, China's Premier Li Keqiang, followingIndian complaints about the size of the trade deficit with itsneighbour.- - - -WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will walk a fine linebetween fostering a U.S. ally in China's backyard and trying todefend human rights when the president of Myanmar becomes thefirst head of his country to visit the White House in 47 yearson Monday.- - - -MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Nigeria offered an amnesty toIslamist militants who surrender and said 17 people had beenkilled on the fifth day of a military operation to try to crushthe Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.- - - -BAMAKO - After winning adulation across Mali for a fivemonth military offensive that crushed al Qaeda fighters, Franceis now frustrating some of its allies by pushing for a politicalsettlement with a separate group of Tuareg rebels.- - - -JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's National Union of Minework-ers said it would seek pay rises of up to 60 percent from gold andcoal producers, raising the prospect of fresh strikes as firmsbattle higher costs and falling prices in an already heatedlabour climate.

--Reuters

Presidents Puting and Obama

File photo: President waves at

Israel warns Syria of ‘conse-quences’ if Golan fire continues

he head of Israel’s armedforces warned Syrian Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad onTuesday of “consequences”if fire continues from Syr-

ian territory against Israeli troops inthe occupied Golan Heights.

“If he disturbs the Golan Heights, hewill have to bear the consequences,”Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz saidin an address at Haifa Universitybroadcast on Israeli television.

“We cannot and shall not allow theGolan Heights to become a comfortzone for Assad,” he said.

He spoke hours after Israeli troopsand Syrian forces exchanged fireacross the sensitive ceasefire line onthe Golan Heights, but the Jewishstate denied Syrian claims one of itsvehicles had been destroyed.

The Syrian army “fired on an Israeli

patrol, which we confirmed six hoursago, but did not destroy a vehicle orkill anyone,” Israeli militaryspokesman Avichai Adraee wrote onTwitter.

“In response, Israel Defence Forces re-turned precise fire at the source of thegunfire. They reported a direct hit,” an

army statement added.Syria claimed to have de-stroyed an Israeli militaryvehicle it said had crossedthe ceasefire line during theincident.

“The vehicle passed theceasefire line and was mov-ing toward the village ofBir-Ajam situated in the lib-erated Syrian zone” of theGolan, it said, adding thatthe operation was aimed at“lifting the morale” of rebelforces in the region.

Gen. Gantz said that the vehicle neverentered Syrian-controlled territoryand suggested that Syria was fabricat-ing a story with an obsolete Israeli ve-hicle left behind in Lebanon duringIsrael’s 2006 war there against Syrianally Hezbollah.

--The GlobeMail

Pres. Abdelaziz Bouteflika

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AFRICA NEWS

The AUhas helped throw off colo-

nialism and resolve conflicts since its birthin 1963. But can it answer the desire fordemocracy among many Africans?

The African Union (AU) is now 50 years old.Amid the celebrations this week, the AU –which was established as the Organisation ofAfrican Unity (OAU) in 1963 (pdf) – needsto take stock of its strengths and weaknessesas an intergovernmental organisation de-signed to promote the pan-African agendapolitically and economically. As articulatedby the leading figures of pan-Africanism,that agenda consists of a three-dimensionalproject of political self-determination, eco-nomic self-reliance, and solidarity in thepromotion and defence of African interestsnationally and internationally.

The OAU came into existence as a compro-mise between the radical pan-Africanism ofleaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, who advo-cated a union government and a continentalmilitary high command, and the more con-servative outlook of the pro-western leadersof Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Liberia, who in-sisted on a gradual approach to African eco-nomic and political integration.

Despite the antagonistic positions separatingthem, the groups were both favourable tosetting up a pan-African institution based onthe principles of state sovereignty, non-in-terference in the internal affairs of memberstates and the inviolability of nationalboundaries.

Within the global context of the cold war, themore limited goals of the OAU were (1) thetotal independence of Africa from colonial-ism and white settler rule; (2) the peacefulresolution of interstate conflicts through ne-gotiation, mediation and conciliation; and(3) greater solidarity and economic co-oper-ation.

Decolonisation and majority rule, particu-larly in the colonial-settler states of Algeria,Kenya and South Africa where racism wasinstitutionalised, were a major achievementof the project. The culminating event was theliberation of South Africa from apartheid in1994, ending 82 years of struggle led by theAfrican National Congress and 31 years ofsupport by the continent through the OAU.

This unswerving opposition to white minor-ity rule and colonialism is undoubtedly theOAU's greatest achievement. It succeeded inmobilising African and world opinionagainst colonialists in the Portuguesecolonies and settler states of Namibia, SouthAfrica and Zimbabwe. The worldwide isola-tion of the apartheid state of South Africa,including its exclusion from international or-ganisations and sporting events, was spear-headed by the OAU. And the OAU AfricanLiberation Committee deserves praise for itsoutstanding work in supporting armedstruggle in Guinea-Bissau and southernAfrica. Guinea, Tanzania, Zambia, Angola,Mozambique and Zimbabwe also made greatsacrifices in supporting total liberation fromcolonial oppression.

The OAU also had some achievements inconflict resolution, particularly mediating in

border disputes, the major area of interstateconflict in Africa. However, most of thearmed conflicts since independence havebeen internal rather than interstate. As apan-African organisation, the OAU had anobligation to address such conflicts, inas-much as they involved gross violations ofhuman rights, including cases of genocide,

and had a humanitarian dimension in thelarge number of refugees and internally dis-placed people they generated.

Unfortunately, the OAU failed to exercise itsright of intervention in cases of state-spon-

Is the African UnionEquipped to Serve for

Another 50 Years?

writer, Kinna Likimani has de-scended heavily on the conti-nent’s elite whom she accuses ofundermining the progress ofAfrica, and by extension making

nonsense of the continental body - the AfricanUnion (AU).

“African class of Africa has underminedAfrica, and so I bear responsibility for that aswell. We have left ourselves here. Our leadersare to blame but our educated Africans havefailed Africa. We have undermined ourselvesand we should think about how we really getourselves out of the mess we are in.”

The African Union turns 50 years today (Sat-urday). Already heads of state representingthe over one billion Africans have gathered inthe Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa for thecommemoration of the day. Ghana’s PresidentJohn Mahama is expected to deliver thekeynote address for which he is expected tosell to the African continent the progress ofGhana as a model for the continent.

Nothing to celebrate

But Kinna Likimani, who is also the programscoordinator for youth and women rights NGO,Mbaasem Foundation, is questioning the basisfor the Union’s existence, arguing that theUnion has little or nothing to show.

She that “there is nothing to celebrate” after50 years of the AU. She reiterated that Africanleaders in particular and Africans in generalhave failed the continent, observing how theunity underpinning the formation of theAfrican Union has been left wobbling.

She remarked that after 50 years of existence,the Union cannot even boast of total emanci-pation; indicating that many so-called sover-eign countries are indirectly being controlled

by colonial masters through imports anddonor supports.

She is therefore urging the Union to use thisyear’s gathering to take stock of what theyhave been able to achieve over the years andtake a firm decision whether they want tomove the AU forward.

According to her, many people in the conti-nent, especially the youth and women whoform majority of the population have been dis-enfranchised in decision making.

Irrelevant

Kinna Likimani further chided the Union fornot working hard to project pan Africanism toeliminate certain barriers dividing the conti-nent such as language and movement of peo-ple across borders.

“The young people have been disenfranchised

Kinna Likimani

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African elite have failed us;AU made irrelevant – author

File photo: President Kwame Nkrumah with Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia

at the formation of the OAU in 1963

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Africa Plundered by Secret Mining Deals,

Corporate Tax Evasionax avoidance, secret mining dealsand financial transfers are depriv-ing Africa of the benefits of its re-sources boom, ex-UN chief KofiAnnan has said.

Firms that shift profits to lower tax jurisdictions

cost Africa $38bn (£25bn) a year, says a reportproduced by a panel he heads.

"Africa loses twice as much money throughthese loopholes as it gets from donors," MrAnnan told the BBC.

It was like taking food off the tables of the poor,he said.

The Africa Progress Report is released everyMay - produced by a panel of 10 prominent fig-ures, including former Nigerian PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo and Graca Machel, the wifeof South African ex-President Nelson Mandela.'Highly opaque'

African countries needed to improve gover-nance and the world's richest nations shouldhelp introduce global rules on transparency andtaxation, Mr Annan said.

The report gave the Democratic Republic ofCongo as an example, where between 2010 and2012 five under-priced mining concessionswere sold in "highly opaque and secretivedeals".

This cost the country, which the charity Savethe Children said earlier this week was theworld's worst place to be a mother, $1.3bn inrevenues.

This figure was equivalent to double DR

Kofi Annan: "Transparency is a powerful tool"

Nigeria bombs Islamists,U.S. sounds alarm

igerian warplanes struck mili-tant camps in the northeast onFriday in a major push againstan Islamist insurgency, drawing

a sharp warning from the United States torespect human rights and not harm civil-ians.

Troops used jets and helicopters to bom-bard targets in their biggest offensive sincethe Boko Haram grouplaunched a revolt almostfour years ago to establisha breakaway Islamic stateand one military sourcesaid at least 30 militantshad been killed.

But three days after Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathandeclared a state of emer-gency in the northeast, U.S.Secretary of State JohnKerry issued a stronglyworded statement saying:"We are ... deeply con-cerned by credible allega-tions that Nigerian securityforces are committing gross human rightsviolations, which, in turn, only escalate theviolence and fuel extremism."

The United States is the biggest foreign in-vestor in Africa's most populous nation, no-tably in its energy sector, and buys a thirdof Nigeria's oil. Washington "condemnsBoko Haram's campaign of terror in thestrongest terms", Kerry said, but urgedNigeria's armed forces to show restraintand discipline.

Nigerian defense spokesman Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade said in a statementthat troops destroyed several Boko Haram

camps and weapons stockpiles in forestsaround Borno state, epicenter of the upris-ing and relic of a medieval Islamic empire:"Heavy weapons including anti-aircraft andanti-tank guns were also destroyed in theprocess," he said.

"The special operations ... resulted in thedestruction of much of the insurgents'weapons and logistics such as vehicles, con-

tainers, fuel dumps and power generators."He said the death toll amongst the insur-gents would be verified during mopping upexercises in the camps, including in theSambisa game reserve in Borno state. Amilitary source said at least 30 insurgentshad been killed in one operation.

Nigerian forces are trying to regain territorycontrolled by well-armed militants in re-mote northeastern stronghold states ofBorno, Yobe and Adamawa, put under astate of emergency by President GoodluckJonathan. 'Britons of Nigerian Origin'

Kill Soldier in London LONDON — British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron has described thekilling of a British soldier in broaddaylight on a London street as an 'at-tack on Britain' and a 'betrayal ofIslam'. The attackers - who said theywere taking revenge for the killing ofMuslims - are thought to be Britishcitizens of African origin.

Witnesses say a British soldier hadjust left an army barracks in east Lon-don when he was hit by a car. The oc-cupants got out and attacked thevictim with meat cleavers and knives.

One attacker spoke to a witness filming with hisphone, saying 'The only reason we have donethis is because Muslims are dying every day byBritish soldiers."

"[They were] walking around with the weaponsand just saying the most random things thatanyone could ever say, saying that men are notgoing near the body, only women, saying 'This iswhat God would have wanted', and then theywas telling people to video record them doingit," recalled witness Joe Tallant as he describedwhat he saw.

Suspects in custody

Police shot both suspects after they charged atofficers. Both are in custody in hospital.

Prime Minister David Cameron returned early

from a trip to France to chair an emergencymeeting. He said many details were still beinginvestigated - but said Britain would respondresolutely.

"This was not just an attack on Britain and onthe British way of life, it was also a betrayal ofIslam and of the Muslim communities who giveso much to our country. There is nothing inIslam that justifies this truly dreadful act,"Cameron said.

Both attackers are reported to be British citizensof African origin who had converted to Islamand were known to security services.

One has been named as 28-year-old MichaelAdebolajo - who was reportedly raised in a de-vout Christian family.

Under-pricing deprives Africa of

much-needed money, the report says

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HEALTH/NUTRITIONSugary drinks tied to kidney stone risk

dults who drink at least onesugar-sweetened drink a day areslightly more likely to developkidney stones than people whorarely imbibe them, according to

a new study.

While the recommendation for kidneystone prevention has been to drink a lot offluids, the study suggests that it's not justthe amount of fluid but the type of drinkthat also matters.

Dr. Gary Curhan, the senior author of thestudy, said patients often ask for dietary ad-vice to help prevent kidney stones.

While the recommendation has been todrink plenty of fluids, Curhan said, patientsoften ask, "what should I drink? There's alot of lore out there."

Frequent punch drinkers also had an 18

percent higher chance ofdeveloping kidneystones.

For every 100,000 peo-ple who drank punch atleast every day, 226 de-veloped kidney stones,compared to 158 out ofevery 100,000 partici-pants who had punchless than once a week.

"Sodas are so commonlyused that even thoughthe absolute rate doesn'tlook that different, ifthere's a huge number ofpeople consuming it,then the magnitude on the public healthcan be quite substantial," Curhan toldReuters Health.

Other drinks, such as coffee, tea, wine, beerand orange juice were tied to a lower risk ofdeveloping kidney stones.

For instance, 205 out of every 100,000 peo-ple who rarely drank coffee developed kid-ney stones, compared to 137 out of every100,000 people who drank it daily.

Just 96 out of every 100,000 people whodrank red wine daily developed kidneystones, while 174 out of every 100,000 peo-

ple who drank red wine less than once aweek developed kidney stones.

Curhan's study, published in the ClinicalJournal of the American Society ofNephrology, follows others showing a linkbetween stones and fructose, non-dairy cal-cium, vitamin C supplements and other fac-tors.

The new study doesn't prove cause-and-ef-fect between certain drinks and kidneystones, but it's possible that sugar could beinvolved, Curhan said, because it mightplay a role in how the body handles cal-cium.

Another possibility is that sugary drinksmight be contributing to obesity, and obe-sity is also tied to a higher kidney stonerisk, said Dr. Elaine Worcester, a professorat the University of Chicago, who was notpart of the study.

Despite the lack of proof of a cause-effectrelationship, Worcester said "these kinds ofstudies are the best we have to give adviceto our patients."

--By Kerry Grens

A

hey’re everywhere: beverages thatpromise to keep you energized,revved, and alert. But labels don’thave to reveal how much caffeinethe products pack. We will. We

measured the amount in 27 top-selling energydrinks and shots (see table below).

We bought the drinks online or at stores inConnecticut, New Jersey, and New York, and

tested three lots of each product, choosingone flavor, usually fruit. We also sent shop-pers to stores all across the U.S. to see whereenergy drinks are displayed. (Our shoppersusually found energy drinks near soda andjuice, sometimes at checkout, and less oftennear alcoholic beverages. That’s good, sincethe potential for intoxication in people whomix energy drinks and alcohol is a concern.)

What we found. Caffeine levels per servingranged from about 6 milligrams to 242 mil-ligrams per serving—and some containershave more than one serving. The highest levelwas in 5-hour Energy Extra Strength; the low-est in the seemingly oxymoronic 5-hour En-ergy Decaf. (The company says it’s for people

who want to limit caffeine but still get a blendof nutrients that provides “an energy boostand a sustained feeling of alertness.”) Bycomparison, an 8-ounce cup of coffee hasabout 100 milligrams; a 16-ounce StarbucksGrande, 330 milligrams.

Five of the 16 products that list a specificamount of caffeine—Arizona Energy, Clif ShotTurbo Energy Gel, Nestlé Jamba, Sambazon

Organic Amazon En-ergy, and Venom En-ergy—had more than 20percent above their la-beled amount on aver-age in the samples wetested. On the otherhand, one of our threesamples of ArcherFarms Energy DrinkJuice Infused had caf-feine about 70 percentbelow the labeledamount. For the otherdrinks that list caffeinelevels, the actual num-bers were within 20 per-cent of claimed, whichwe think is an accept-

able range for meeting caffeine claims.

Eleven of the 27 drinks don’t specify theamount of caffeine. Why the secrecy? Theirblends may be proprietary. (Common blendsinclude amino acids, carbohydrates, orguarana, a botanical caffeine source.) A repre-sentative of the Monster Beverage Corpora-tion provided another reason: The companydoesn’t list levels “because there is no legal orcommercial business requirement to do so,and also because our products are completelysafe, and the actual numbers are not mean-ingful to most consumers.” Yet labels on bothtested Monster drinks—like those of 16 other

(continued on page 15)

Energy DrinksCaffeine levels per serving for the 27 products we checked

ranged from 6 milligrams to 242 milligrams per serving

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BUSINESSBUSINESS

frica is celebrating 50 years of politi-cal unity and the economy is alsobooming. It's now widely seen as aregion of great opportunities, but

experts are skeptical about how long this willlast.

Two out of three Africans have a mobile phoneor smartphone. Purchasing power on the con-tinent is increasing, markets are growing andmore and more Africans are becoming billion-aires. This is a success story which politicians,economists and the media are happy to talkabout.

Anver Versi is a Kenyan economic journalistand editor of the London-based Africa Busi-ness magazine. He says Africa is catching up."[One could argue] that Africa is going to be amajor market over the next 50 years, becauseit has resources in addition to its manpower,"Versi told DW.

"You will have to say that Africa is the most at-tractive investment area and the Chinese rec-ognized that 10 or 15 years ago. And perhapsGerman companies as well as the rest of Eu-rope should wake up to the possibility," Versisaid.

No reason for euphoria

The World Bank says, between 2013 and 2015,Sub-Saharan Africa's economy will grow at anaverage of five percent while the global econ-

omy will only grow by about three percentover the same period.

However, high growth rates are no reason foreuphoria, says Robert Kappel, a GermanAfrica researcher from the GIGA Institute inHamburg. He has been researching the devel-

opment prospects of 42 sub-Saharan coun-tries. He says international comparisons showthat most of them are performing poorly.

"The growth is mainly coming from outsidefactors such as the demand for raw materialsand agricultural products that has increasedgreatly in recent years and has pushed upprices. That means export has greatly con-tributed to this high economic growth, andthat is also a great weakness," Kappel toldDW.

Dependency on foreign trade

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) andthe World Bank recently warned that Africa isbecoming dependent on trade with foreigncountries.

At this year's World Economic Forum in CapeTown, former UN Secretary General KofiAnnan urged the industrialized nations toapply stricter rules for trading in natural re-sources with Africa. He said corruption andtax evasion are bleeding wealth from the con-tinent.

Industrialization inAfrica remains slowand agriculturecannot even meetthe needs ofAfrica's own popu-lations. Job mar-kets show zerogrowth. In SouthAfrica, more than25 percent of thepopulation, mainlyyoung people,areunemployed.

The boom is mostvisible in affluentcities such as Luanda, Johannesburg andNairobi. These cities are home to Africa's newmiddle class and the boom comes from con-struction, telecommunications, retail andbanking sectors.

Strive Masiyiwa, a native Zimbabwean, is thefounder of the Econet Wireless telecommuni-

cations company. The company now operatesin 17 African states, in Europe, South America

and Asia. Masiyiwa is one of the wealthiestpeople in Zimbabwe. He warns against toomuch optimism.

"Africa is doing well.We are makingtremendousprogress, particu-larly in the past twodecades. But if weare to sustain thisand to ensuregrowth that allowsfor employment cre-ation for the youthand greater equi-table distribution ofprosperity, then weneed to speed up thereforms, deepentransparency, re-duce bureaucracy in

getting projects approved."

Winners and losers

Researcher Robert Kappel said some modelAfrican countries such as Mauritius, the Sey-chelles, Cape Verde, Botswana, Ghana and

Is Africa’s economic boom a myth?

www.deangraziosi.com

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A

More than 60 percent of people living in

Africa own a mobile phone or smartphone

For sustainable economic growth for future

generations, Africa needs to speed up reforms

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Many African Americans say financialfirms don't reach out to them,

according to a new Prudential survey.

hile the average African Ameri-can is feeling more financiallysecure, many still feel neglectedby the financial industry, new

research shows.

Half of African Americans say their financialsituations have improved from a year ago,compared to 33% of the general population,according to a Prudential report released Tues-day. The survey polled 1,153 people who iden-tified as African American or black and ageneral sampling of 471 Americans.

African Americans are also significantly moreconfident about making financial decisions.Nevertheless, they get 13% less contact from fi-nancial advisers, and only 26% of respondentsfeel that a financial firm has "effectively en-gaged and shown support for the AfricanAmerican community." As a result, only 19%have financial advisers, compared to 30% ofthe overall population.

Yet on average, African Americans find the fi-nancial industry to be more trustworthy thanthe general population does, and more thanhalf say a financial adviser could help them --making this underserved population an un-

tapped opportunity for financial firms, Pru-dential found.

And the need for help is there.

Debt is the number one concern among theAfrican American population, according to thesurvey. The median household had $18,000 innon-mortgage debt -- including student loans,credit cards and personal loans. That's 50%more than the general population. And thosewith college degrees were twice as likely tohave student loan debt than the average col-lege-educated American.

With higher debt, it's often harder to buildsavings. Median household savings is only$40,000 for African American households,compared to $97,000 nationally. When a col-lege education is added to the equation, house-hold savings rises to $66,000 for AfricanAmerican households but jumps to $207,000for the average American household.

African American respondents were half aslikely to have long-term investments likestocks, bonds and mutual funds. Yet they weresignificantly more likely to be financially sup-porting someone who is unemployed, as wellas grandparents, parents, children and grand-children.

--By Blake Ellis @blakeellis3NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

African Americans morefinancially confident, but

underserved

Cape Town — The announcement by theRockefeller Foundation of an initiative tocreate jobs in Africa focusing on the digitalfield has been lauded as an important strat-egy by Jack Leslie, chairperson of WeberShandiwick, a leading public relations firm."Digital holds tremendous opportunity forAfrica," Leslie said, particularly for Africawhich "holds great promise".

Leslie believes that the economies of the re-gion are going to have to be broad-based tomeet the demands of young people goinginto the job market, saying that the digitalfield - despite it being the fastest growingarena - "will not absorb them all".

Digital Jobs Africa (DJA), which will be ledout of the foundation's Nairobi office, willfocus on South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nige-ria, Egypt and Morocco where Rodin be-lieves DJA will have the "greatest impact"because of growth in its urban population."For the first time, a majority of people livein cities. Some of the biggest increases inurban population have been seen right herein Africa, with 85% of the population ex-pected to live in cities by 2025, " Dr JudithRodin, president of the Rockefeller Founda-tion, said at the launch of the project at theWorld Economic Forum in Cape Town.

In an era where the current pace of job cre-ation doesn't meet the increased demand forjobs among young people, economic growth

initiatives like this will do much to improvethe wellbeing of the continent's youth."Africa's youth population is expected todouble to 400 million by 2045 and the work-ing age population is set to exceed China andIndia by 2050. This combined with thegrowth in globalisation, urbanisation, digiti-zation on the continent presents both chal-lenges and opportunities on the continent,"

Rodin said.

The goal of the DJAproject is to change onemillion lives in sevenyears. The foundation,which celebrates 100years of working to im-prove the wellbeing ofhumanity in 2013, willpump U.S.$97 millioninto the initiative. "Thisinvestment seeks tochange the lives of high-potential youth by recog-nising the enormoustalent of young peoplewho lack access to qual-ity sustainable employ-ment opportunities,"Rodin said.

In a move to support the creation of digitaljobs, the foundation is partnering with gov-ernments, development organisations andthe private sector to reach their goal.

"The DJA will have three components,namely jobs, training and co-ordination.

"We'll work to create jobs in three ways. Bycatalysing the social responsibility arm of thebusiness process to motivate industry to em-ploy individuals who would otherwise nothave an opportunity for sustainable employ-ment. We are also leveraging the rising de-mand from African-based companies to trainand identify young people of promise and itis an opportunity for governments who arethinking about using e-government plat-forms to employ these young people.

"This is a win-win for all - cutting costs inmany cases by 40%, while increasing in-comes for workers by 40% to 200%," Rodinsaid. --By Mantsadi Sepheka and Juanita Williams

allAfrica.com

Rockefeller FoundationProgram to Boost DigitalJobs for Youth in Africa

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to bring a

high quality education to students everywhere (file photo). W

Obama to take first majorAfrica trip in late June

In 2011, Obama received four other Africanleaders at the White House, the presidents ofBenin, Guinea, Niger and Ivory Coast. Hehad promised them the US would remain a“stalwart partner” to democracies in Africa.

In June 2012, Obama unveiled a sweepingnew Africa strategy, with the goal of reinforc-ing security and democracy on a continentfacing the threat of Al-Qaeda and a Chineseeconomic offensive.

The new US blueprint seeks to boost trade,strengthen peace, security and good gover-

nance and bolster democratic institutions,declaring that a continent torn by poverty,corruption and discord could be the world’snext big economic success story.

The administration touted “successes” fromhelping to restore democracy in Ivory Coast,nurturing the new state of South Sudan,backing stability efforts in Somalia and en-gaging young African leaders.

In his speech before Ghana’s parliament in2009, Obama proclaimed that even thoughthe continent now needs international aid,“Africa’s future is up to Africans.” afp

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n a commencement address at More-house College in Atlanta, Georgia, Presi-dent Barack Obama recalls Jim Crowlaws and racism of the 40s and 50s.Morehouse College is a historically black

college.

"Dr. King was just 15 years old when he enrolled

here at Morehouse. He was an unknown, un-dersized, unassuming young freshman wholived at home with his parents. I think it’s fair tosay he wasn’t the coolest kid on campus; for thesuits he wore, his classmates called him 'Tweed.'

But his education at Morehouse helped to forgethe intellect, the soul force, the disciple andcompassion that would transform America. Itwas here that he was introduced to the writingsof Gandhi, and Thoreau, and the theory of civildisobedience. It was here that professors en-couraged him to look past the world as it wasand fight for the world as it should be," Obama

will say, according to text provided by the WhiteHouse.

And it was here, at Morehouse, as Dr. King laterwrote, where “I realized that nobody…was

afraid.”

Think about that. For black men in the fortiesand fifties, the threat of violence, the constanthumiliations, large and small, the gnawingdoubts born of a Jim Crow culture that told youevery day you were somehow inferior, the temp-tation to shrink from the world, to accept yourplace, to avoid risks, to be afraid, was necessarilystrong. And yet, here, under the tutelage of menlike Dr. Mays, young Martin learned to be un-afraid. He, in turn, taught others to be unafraid.And over the last 50 years, thanks to the moralforce of Dr. King and a Moses generation thatovercame their fear, and cynicism, and despair,

barriers have come tumbling down,new doors of opportunity have swungopen; laws, hearts, and minds havebeen changed to the point wheresomeone who looks like you can serveas President of the United States.

So your experiences give you specialinsight that today’s leaders need. Ifyou tap into that experience, it shouldendow you with empathy – the under-standing of what it’s like to walk insomebody else’s shoes. It should giveyou an ability to connect. It shouldgive you a sense of what it means toovercome barriers.

Whatever success I achieved, what-ever positions of leadership I’ve held,have depended less on Ivy League de-grees or SAT scores or GPAs, and

have instead been due to that sense of empathyand connection – the special obligation I felt, asa black man like you, to help those who neededit most; people who didn’t have the opportuni-ties that I had, because but for the grace of God,I might be in their shoes. So it’s up to you towiden your circle of your concern – to creategreater justice both in your own community, butalso across our country. To make sure everyonehas a voice; everyone gets a seat at the table; tomake sure that everyone – no matter what theylook like or where they come from, or who theylove – gets a chance to walk through those doorsof opportunity if they want it bad enough.

Obama Uses Commencement Addressto Recall Jim Crow, Racism

President Obama

US First Lady laments culture of AfricanAmericans aspiring to be 'baller or rapper'

ichelle Obama at Bowie State: Toomany fantasize about being ‘aballer or a rapper’

Michelle Obama encouraged the graduates ofBowie State University on Friday to live up tothe legacy of their university’s founders andthe leaders of the civil rights movement bypromoting the importance of education in theblack community.

“Just think about this for a moment — for gen-erations, in many parts of this country, it wasillegal for black people to get an education,”Obama told the predominantly black crowd,referring to the period in which Bowie Statewas founded. “Slaves caught reading or writ-ing could be beaten within an inch of theirlives.”

The creation in 1865 of the small school thateventually became Bowie State University wasan “eloquent act of defiance,” she told the 600graduates and several thousand of their sup-porters at the Comcast Center in College Park.

Obama challenged the students to keep ahunger to learn; she quoted abolitionist Fred-erick Douglass, who said education “meansthe uplifting of the soul of man into the glori-

ous light of truth, the light by whichmen can only be made free.”She received thunderous applause fromthe intensely friendly and excitedcrowd, which issued shouts of congrat-ulations to individual graduates alongwith calls of “Go ’head, ’Chelle! We loveyou!” and a standing ovation that beganbefore the first lady spoke a word.

In the second of three commencementaddresses Obama will give this month,she also called on the graduates to pushother African Americans to pursuehigher education.

Unlike their ancestors, she said, youngAfrican Americans too often “can’t bebothered.”

“Instead of walking miles every day toschool, they’re sitting on couches forhours playing video games, watchingTV. Instead of dreaming of being ateacher or a lawyer or a business leader,they’re fantasizing about being a balleror a rapper,” she said.

“Please reject the slander that says ablack child with a book is trying to act

white,” Obama said. “In short, be an exampleof excellence for the next generation.”

Obama’s 21-minute address did not mentionthe political or policy issues that are at theforefront of her husband’s administration. Shestuck to the historical arc of African Ameri-cans in the nation and the need to increase thenumber who graduate from high school andcollege. She included a clear challenge to blackAmericans on issues of personal responsibil-ity, carrying through on a theme that the Oba-mas have often returned to before blackaudiences — identifying with the challenges ofthe community while calling on families andcommunities to step up and hearkening backto the gains of the civil rights era.

She layered that tough-love cultural commen-tary — which has sometimes proved contro-versial for her husband — with statistics,saying that one in three African American stu-dents drop out of high school and that onlyone in five African Americans between theages of 25 and 29 have a college degree. Mostminorities are lagging, according to a study re-leased Friday by the American Council on Ed-ucation, which found that three out of fourstudents who completed a bachelor’s degree in2007-08 were white.

M

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First Lady Michelle Obama

A section of the Morehouse College students

Caribbean News in BriefsU.S. TAX INSPECTOR FOCUSES ON CARIBBEAN BANK

A Caribbean bank, formerly owned by Barclays, is the focus of taxauthorities in the United States, which have requested informationabout alleged American tax evaders since 2004. The Internal Rev-enue Service (IRS) filed its request on an unknown number of U.S.taxpayers who have offshore accounts at the FirstCaribbean Interna-tional Bank. The agency suspects they use these accounts to illegallyevade taxes.

BIDEN SIGNS TRADE AGREEMENT, SPEAKS WITH LEADERS IN CARIBBEAN

United States Vice President Joe Biden met with political leaders of15 Caribbean nations in Trinidad and Tobago to sign a trade agree-ment and talk about issues including security, investments, and en-ergy. The trade agreement provides a framework for trade andinvestment between the U.S. and the Caribbean Community. Bidensaid he knew that the Caribbean countries faced unique challengesand noted that the U.S. wants to ensure that its economic growth

SENATOR IN GRENADA WANTS REVIEW OF ANTI-SODOMY LAWS

Lawrence Joseph, the president of Grenada’s Senate, believes thatthe island should reconsider the laws in has enacted to prohibitsodomy. Joseph said that “the day is fast approaching” whenGrenada and other nations in the English-speaking Caribbean mustamend their anti-sodomy laws to be part of the mainstream culture.He also said that there is a trend toward acceptance of homosexualsaround the world, and wealthier countries could decide to imposesanctions or withhold aid from the Caribbean region in protest oflocal anti-sodomy laws.

CARIBBEAN VOLLEYBALL ATHLETES COMPETE FOR LARGE PRIZES

Many of the best volleyball players in the Caribbean will compete forhuge prize money at the second Caribbean Volleyball League tourna-ment at the Sports and Physical Education Center (SPEC) at theUniversity of the West Indies’ St. Augustine campus. Four men’s’teams and four women’s’ teams will battle for the championship intheir section, with the winners to be awarded US$5,000 each.

FAST FERRY SERVICE IN CARIBBEAN NEEDS PRIVATE INVESTORS

St. Vincent Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves believes that thecreation of a fast ferry service in the southern part of the Caribbeanrequires investment from the private sector. He also recommendedgovernment assistance for the endeavor. Gonsalves says that it takesa significant amount of money to implement a fast ferry service, andit is the private sector that needs to take some risk. Gonsalves hasthe responsibility for transportation in CARICOM and noted thatgovernments should help private investors through a variety of con-cessions.

HEAD OF INVESTIGATION CENTER TOUGH ON POLICE

Superintendent Gladys Brown, who is the head of the Center for theInvestigation of Sexual Offenses and Child Abuse (CISOCA), saysthat more police officers are facing accusations of rape than initiallythought, and she has warned the members of the Jamaica Constabu-lary Force (JCF) that they will not receive special treatment in re-gard to such charges. Brown says she will “name and shame them.”Her position results from reports that a sergeant with the JCF isunder investigation for the alleged rape of his female companion onthe grounds of a police station in the Corporate Area.

POPULATION OF JAMAICA RAPIDLY AGING

According to a report from Mona Ageing and Wellness Center, Ja-maica’s population is growing older very rapidly, as is the entireCaribbean region. Over 71 percent of the senior citizens in Jamaicaown their homes, however, and most are financially independent.The “older population” is defined as comprising people aged 60 andover. In this group, more than 65 percent suffer from diabetes or hy-pertension, while 22 percent have both chronic conditions. The re-port’s findings were made public by Professor Denise EldermireShearer, director of the Center.

--Caribbean NewsJAMAICA WORKS TO REDUCE NUMBER OF DEATHS AT SEA—

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Prosecution of Caribbean migrantshurting families, says rights groupWASHINGTON, DC, United States(CMC) — A major internationalhuman rights group says the skyrock-eting criminal prosecutions ofCaribbean and other migrants for ille-gally entering or reentering the UnitedStates carry huge human and finan-cial costs.

In a report released here onWednesday, Human Rights Watchsaid imprisoning migrants withminor or no criminal records beforedeporting them often affects peopleseeking to reunite with their fami-lies in the US or fleeing persecu-tion.

The 82-page report — 'Turning Mi-grants into Criminals: The HarmfulImpact of US Border Prosecutions'— documents the negative impactof illegal entry and reentry prosecu-tions, which have increased 1,400 and300 per cent, respectively, over thepast 10 years and now outnumberprosecutions for all other federalcrimes

The report said that more than 80,000people were convicted of these crimesin 2012, "many in rapid-fire massprosecutions that violate due processrights. "Many are separated from their

US families, and a large number endup in costly and overcrowded federalprisons, some for months or years," itsaid.Grace Meng, US researcher at HumanRights Watch and author of the report,

said the US Government is "turningmigrants into criminals by prosecutingmany who could just be deported."Many of these migrants aren't threatsto public safety, but people trying to bewith their families," she said.

Meng noted that the US Senate immi-gration reform bill, proposed by thebipartisan "Gang of Eight," calls for anadditional US$250 million for in-

creased prosecutions of these cases,and increasing the maximum penaltiesfor many categories of people chargedwith illegal entry and reentry.

The report said the rapid growth in USfederal prosecutions of im-migration offenses was"part of a larger trend inwhich criminal law en-forcement resources havebeen brought to bear onimmigration enforcement,traditionally considered acivil matter".Human Rights Watch hasurged the US Governmentto include in the compre-hensive immigration re-form "clear avenues forpeople who have been de-ported to apply to returnto the US legally.

"If the Obama administration andCongress are serious about reformingimmigration to protect families, theyshould give all people who have beendeported and separated from theirfamilies a chance to prove they cancontribute to society," Meng said.

--JamaicaObserver

Is the African Union Equipped toServe for Another 50 Years?

sored terrorism and heinous crimes,including ethnic cleansing and geno-cide. The organisation expressed lit-tle or no solidarity with Africansfacing mortal danger from their owngovernments and never recognisedthe legitimacy of African strugglesagainst African tyrants. In 1979,when President Julius Nyerere ofTanzania took the courageous deci-sion to pursue invading Ugandantroops all the way to Kampala andassist Ugandan patriots in over-throwing the regime of Idi AminDada, he found very little supportamong his African peers.

Things changed for the better in the1990s, particularly with the adoptionin 1993 in Cairo of the OAU mecha-nism for conflict prevention, man-agement and resolution, which gavethe organisation a role in internalconflicts. Since replacing the OAU in2002, the AU has increased its inter-vention in domestic affairs. Both theAU commission and the regionaleconomic communities (RECs) haveplayed a useful role, sending peace-keeping forces to countries in tur-moil. The RECs seem to be playing agreater role in resolving internalconflicts than in promoting eco-nomic co-operation and integration.

A major problem confronting the AUis resources. With so much depend-ence on the EU and other externalfunding, questions arise about

African ownership and initiative insome of the theatres of intervention.In addition to governments' lack ofpolitical will, the lack of resources forpeace and security, as well as eco-nomic co-operation, is partly be-cause countries are also members ofmultiple regional institutions. It isnot uncommon for a country to be-long to three or more regional eco-nomic groups. By spreadingthemselves thin, countries depriveinstitutions of the skills and moneythey need. This raises the question ofhow strongly committed Africa'sleaders are to economic and politicalintegration.

This is at the heart of the AU's fu-ture. Its neoliberal development pro-gramme, Nepad, is less suited to theneeds of workers and peasants thanthe more comprehensive develop-ment strategy of the Lagos plan ofaction, adopted in 1980. As an or-ganisation that reflects the socialcharacter of the states composing it,most of which are under authoritar-ian rulers who cling to powerthrough force and electoral fraud,the AU is ill-equipped to meet peo-ple's aspirations for democracy andsocial progress.

(continued from page 5)

African elite have failed us; AU made irrelevant – author

from what the AU is doing... but theway in which we implemented [PanAfricanism, which is essential to ourexistence as Africans to be PanAfricanists] has disenfranchised us…It is about unity and we are not uni-fied; couple with that, we are also notfree, we are really not free. Any insti-tution like the EU that embodies thisour not being free, and actually exac-erbate our disunity makes the AU ir-relevant.”

Meanwhile, international relations ex-pert, Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso doesnot share the idea that the African

Union is charting a lost cause just be-cause certain objectives have not beenachieved.

He however remarked that withoutintegration, the continent should for-get about any development of any in-dividual country.

He implored all to eschew sentimen-talism and sloganism, and alsocharged the leadership of the conti-nent to mobilize their people to movethe continent forward.

Dr Antwi Danso also wants a commonmarket for Africa and increase intrade by breaking barriers to it.

(continued from page 5)

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Police say they were overwhelmed by thelarge crowd when a stampede killed fourpeople at a church in Ghana's capital,Accra, on Sunday.

Thousands of people flocked to theevangelical church for "holy water",which they believed had healing powers,leading to the crush.

"All of us were caught by surprise. No-one knew the crowd will be so huge,"said police spokesman Freeman Tetteh.

The church is run by prominent Niger-ian preacher TB Joshua.

He is one of the wealthiest and mostpopular evangelical clerics in Africa andhis Synagogue Church of All Nationsclaims it can perform miracles, such ascuring blindness.'Devastated'Continue reading the main story“Start Quote

People from the back, they pushed... andthey fell on us”

Gertrude Sumbamala Survivor

Mr Tetteh told the BBC's Newsday programmethere was a larger than expected crowd at theservice after church officials announced that"holy water" would be given to worshippers.

"The church was also caught by surprise... No-body can apportion blame [at this stage]," hesaid.

"We need to investigate and establish respon-sibility."

Some of the wounded were in a critical condi-

tion in hospital, Mr Tetteh said.

The stampede took place when people at theback of the church began to push to get to thealtar, AFP news agency reports.

"The crowd surged forward and became un-controllable," Mr Tetteh told the BBC.

One worshipper, Gertrude Sumbamala saidshe had suffered a broken leg after beingcaught up in the stampede, AFP reports.

"People from the back, they pushed... and theyfell on us. So we were battered by a lot offorces," Ms Sumbamala is quoted as saying.

The church's Rev Sam McCaanan told localradio station Citi News that the stampede wasregrettable.

"We are devastated, it's very unfortunate andwe are very sorry," he is quoted as saying.

Ghana stampede kills fourat TB Joshua's church

Is Africa’s economic boom a myth?

"Raw materials are not always a good resourcefor economic development. Most developed

countries do not have oil or large deposits ofnatural resources. They focus on other thingssuch as the service sector or agriculture," Kap-pel told DW.

Need to improve infrastructure

For Anver Versi, if Africa is to enjoy sustain-able growth, it must invest more in infrastruc-

ture. Doing business in Africa is more expen-sive than anywhere else in the world."The problem there is that you have majormanufacturing centers, like in Kenya and

South Africa, and you haveother countries which arelandlocked and these coun-tries depend for their goodson the manufacturing cen-ters," said Versi. "But theroads are bad and railwaysdon't work and gettinggoods to them is an expen-sive exercise."

Whether Africa's economicboom will last depends on along list of factors, saysRobert Kappel.

"Further economic reforms,the opening up of markets,better investment legislation

so that both local and inter-national companies really doinvest. And if the education

sector and infrastructure are improved, thenAfrica can continue to grow and become a con-tinent of hope."

And there would be a happy end to the tale ofAfrica's economic boom.

--DW/DE

(continued from page 8)

Several African countries are still suffering from political

turmoil that hinders positive growth dynamics

Africa Plundered by Secret MiningDeals, Corporate Tax EvasionCongo's health and education budgets com-bined, the report said.

DR Congo's mining minister disputed thefindings, saying the country had "lost noth-ing".

"These assets were ceded in total trans-parency," Martin Kabwelulu told Reutersnews agency.

The report added that many mineral-richcountries needed "urgently to review the de-sign of their tax regimes", which were de-signed to attract foreign investment whencommodity prices were low.

It quotes a review in Zambia which foundthat between 2005 and 2009, 500,000 cop-per mine workers were paying a higher rateof tax than major multinational miningfirms.

Africa loses more through what it calls "illicitoutflows" than it gets in aid and foreign di-rect investment, it explains.

"We are not getting the revenues we deserve

often because of either corrupt practices,transfer pricing, tax evasion and all sorts ofactivities that deprive us of our due," MrAnnan told the BBC's Newsday programme.

"Transparency is a powerful tool," he said,adding that the report was urging Africanleaders to put "accountability centre stage".

Mr Annan said African governments neededto insist that local companies became in-volved in mining deals and manage them in"such a way that it also creates employment".

"This Africa cannot do alone. The tax eva-sion, avoidance, secret bank accounts areproblems for the world… so we all need towork together particularly the G8, as theymeet next month, to work to ensure we havea multilateral solution to this crisis," he said.

For richer nations "if a company avoids taxor transfers the money to offshore accountwhat they lose is revenues", Mr Annan said.

"Here on our continent, it affects the life ofwomen and children - in effect in some situa-tions it is like taking food off the table for thepoor."

(continued from page 6)

Pastor TB Joshua

Africa Dreams of Unitysions of what should be holding Pan-African-ism and what the new causes of Pan-African-ism are." Maru says a new institution wasneeded for the discussion on a new form ofPan-Africanism and that is why the AfricanUnion was born.

From OAU to AU - to the United States ofAfrica?

In 2002, right after the end of the Cold War,the AU officially took over from the OAU in aformal ceremony held in Durban, SouthAfrica.

From then on, the organization begansearching for a new reason to exist - andfound it in economic integration and democ-ratization, which was only proceeding slowly.It was Libya's revolutionary leader and self-proclaimed African "king of kings" Muam-mar Gadhafi, who came up with a new idea -namely to implement Kwame Nkrumah's vi-sion of a "United States of Africa". His mo-tives had, however, more to do with powerpolitics than with philosophy.

Gadhafi's plan was to create a union with asingle army, a common currency and tradeand travel freedom, similar to the EuropeanUnion. But this plan brought more divisionthan unity. It split the states into two fac-tions, with political heavyweight South Africa

on the opposite side to Gadhafi.

Woman power from South Africa

The controversial election last year ofNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's in-terior minister, as the new head of the AUCommission revived past differences be-tween member states.

However, she is the first woman to head theCommission and a reformer who immedi-ately announced her aim of making theAfrican Union more effective.

The crises in Mali and the Central AfricanRepublic, plus the setbacks faced by the AUmission in Somalia, AMISOM, are puttingthe Union's resolve to the test.

For Dr Mehari Maru from the Institute forSecurity Studies, Africa is today "more demo-cratic than ten years ago when we had lessdemocratically elected leadership." Whatneeds to be achieved now is governancedemocracy, he says, adding that there's a lackof "accomodation of diversity which is themain cause of most of the political problemswe see in Africa."

"African solutions for African problems" isthe slogan today - with what success, the next50 years will show.

--DW.DE

(continued from page 2)

Democratic Republic of Congo. Between 2010and 2012 it lost $1.3 billion in revenues due toundervaluation of resources and State assets.And this is in country which has one of theworst child mortality rates in the world andhas seven million pupils out of school.

Annan makes an earnest plea to the AfricanGovernments to improve governance and in-crease transparency in their natural resourcespolicies. To make the natural extractive in-dustries a part of the broader developmentagenda is also one of the important sugges-

tions of the report. This will ensure the peoplegetting a fair share of the revenues generatedfrom natural resource extraction.

It’s easy to criticise African Governments ofcorruption but there was at least one analyst,who appeared on BBC recently, who was will-ing to put the blame largely on western com-panies for this sorry situation.

The call for inclusive growth is being made inanother part of the world, but are the AfricanGovernments listening?

The African conundrum

LAW / IMMIGRATIONUS House could pass immigration billby August: Committee chairmanWASHINGTON: A top Republican lawmakerpredicted that the House of Representativescould pass an immigration bill by August, asthe Senate gets ready to debate legislation togive millions of undocumented residents a wayto earn citizenship.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman BobGoodlatte, whose panel oversees immigration,defended the House's progress on immigrationlegislation and said lawmakers were focusedon getting the reforms right.

Unlike the Senate, which is set to work on asweeping immigration bill that boosts bordersecurity, overhauls the visa system and gives apath to citizenship to immigrants, the Househas yet to introduce a comprehensive immigra-tion bill. In an interview with MSNBC televi-sion, Goodlatte said he thought the Housecould pass an immigration bill by August.

The scope of Goodlatte's bill is unclear, be-cause in the past he has left open the option ofconsidering a series of individual bills, unlikethe Senate's comprehensive approach. Good-latte's committee is considering bills to in-crease high-skilled work visas, make it easier

for farmers to hire foreigners and require em-ployers to electronically verify the immigrationstatus of potential employees. The House billsbeing considered do not offer illegal immi-grants a path to citizenship.

Representative Steny Hoyer, the second-rank-ing House Democrat, said he did not knowwhat kind of measure Goodlatte was consider-ing. But he did not welcome the possibility of anarrow solution to immigration reform. "Mr.Goodlatte has been talking about doing indi-vidual bills. We do not believe that's a viable orappropriate way forward," Hoyer told re-porters.

Hoyer added that while narrowly crafted meas-ures could gain strong support in the Republi-can-controlled House, that approach would"leave behind the overwhelming majority ofpeople who are confronting a broken systemthat needs to be fixed."

He was referring to the estimated 11 millionundocumented residents who want to becomelegalized and eventually earn US citizenship. "Idon't think Democrats in the final analysis aregoing to support fixing one part of the immi-

gration process" and leaving other parts unad-dressed, Hoyer said.

With a small group of Republican and Demo-cratic lawmakers in the House so far unable toproduce comprehensive legislation, Good-

latte's piecemeal approach may be the cham-ber's only way of passing an immigration bill.The Senate and House must pass identical billsbefore President Barack Obama can sign oneinto law.

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WASHINGTON — The popular Green CardLottery program could be eliminated if theU.S. Congress passes the current version ofthe bipartisan immigration reform plan. Thelottery was set up as a way to give anyone achance at the "American dream." But the newplan will focus instead on adding morehighly-educated workers in science, technol-ogy, engineering and math.

Two years ago Rafiq-ul-Islam won a U.S. per-manent resident visa through the Green CardLottery and came to the United States fromBangladesh -- with little more than the cloth-ing he owned and a dream of a better life inAmerica.

“I apply for [and] came [to] America. I wantto change my luck. If I can change my luck Ican support my family, everything, all will bechanged, everything like, that’s why I ap-plied,” he said.

The late Senator Edward Kennedy came upwith the idea for a visa lottery system in the1990s -- as a way to give opportunity to Euro-pean and other countries with low immigra-tion quotas. The lottery program -- officiallyknown as the diversity visa -- is relativelysmall, granting about 50,000 visas comparedto the more than one million new green cardsissued each year.

The lucky winners like ul-Islam must pass abackground check, but need only a highschool degree or work experience to qualify.Immigration attorney Rajiv Khanna says thediversity visa has come to symbolize coreAmerican values.

“But United States is blessed and perhapscursed with that unique vision we have, that

we are as a nation, a citizen of the world com-munity. And we have to accommodate certainthings in good conscience and good faithrather than as a matter of self-interest,”Khanna said.

But under the proposed immigration reformplan being considered by the U.S. Congress,the diversity visa faces elimination. Instead,the plan would expand opportunities for pro-fessionals like Bhushan Parekh who hold ad-vanced degrees in science, technology,engineering and math. Parekh’s H-1B profes-sional visa was sponsored by a major U.S.company.

“Because I had done the engineering in India,the 4-year degree, and I’d also worked inIndia for a year after. During the interviewprocess it was very apparent to them that Ihad the management skills they were lookingfor,” Parekh said.

Some members of Congress oppose eliminat-ing the diversity visa -- saying the U.S. shouldgive some opportunity to the world's poor anddisadvantaged. But, in these hard economictimes, Khanna says fairness is no longer thepriority.

US Green Card LotteryUnder Threat

All foreigners departing from the nation's 10busiest airports will have to have their finger-prints scanned within two years, according toa plan adopted by a Senate panel.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has been de-bating a sweeping immigration bill to overhaulthe nation's immigration laws for three weeksnow, and properly securing the nation's bor-ders has been a time-consuming, rigorous de-bate throughout.

Republicans on the committee, led by Sen.Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., spent much time lastweek pushing for a nationwide program to col-lect the "biometric" data of people leaving theU.S., such as fingerprints and iris scans. Theywant that system to better track so-called "visaoverstays" -- people who enter the countrylegally but remain in the county after theirvisas expire. That group makes up about 40%of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants liv-ing in the country."If you're a sovereign nation, you've got tocontrol your borders. That's what other coun-tries do," said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa,

during debate.

That plan was voted down last week when De-mocrats, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said it was too expensive and toocomplicated. She and others worried that fail-

ure to develop the system, whichthe government has been unableto implement despite congres-sional mandates dating back to2001, would prevent the na-tion's 11 million unauthorizedimmigrants from being able toapply for green cards and U.S.citizenship.Feinstein said she fully supportsa "biometric" program but ar-gued that the current system ofcollecting "biographic" informa-tion, such as names and dates ofbirth, when people leave thecountry has been successfulenough.

But, Feinstein and others on the committeeagreed to a scaled-down proposal from Sen.Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Under the plan, whichwas adopted on a 13-5 vote, the Department ofHomeland Security would be required to:

Implement a biometric exit system at the 10U.S. airports with the highest volume of inter-national travelers within two years. Those willbe international airports in Atlanta, Chicago,Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles,Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco andWashington, D.C.

Senate panel OKs plan to fingerprint people leaving U.S.

All foreigners departing 10

busiest U.S. airports will have

fingerprints collected.

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Media Focus On Ailing Nelson Mandela is Not ‘African Way’

t's almost impossible these days toswitch on South African radio or tel-evision, or read a local newspaper,website or tweet, and not hear Nel-son Mandela's name mentioned.

Frida marked the 19th anniversary of Man-dela's inauguration as South Africa's first dem-ocratically elected — and first black —president, four years after he was releasedfrom prison.

For many South Africans, the coverage of hisrecent hospitalization and poor health seemslike media overkill. Older South Africansstress that the African way of coping with thetwilight years is culturally nuanced. It shouldbe viewed as a final journey, and journalistsshould be more sensitive to these customs.

And when the subject is raised in the contextof his possible death, "we get people who willcall ... to say 'we don't speak about it, certainlynot in our culture, not in black culture, not inAfrican culture,' " radio host Ashraf Garda saidrecently on the national broadcaster'sMedia@SAfm show.

A Global Figure

Mandela was back in the hospital at the end ofMarch for 10 days with a recurring lung infec-tion and pneumonia. The latest health scareattracted journalists from around the world.And some South Africans say they are feelingbombarded by reporters hungry for informa-tion and commentary about the 94-year-oldformer president.

That includes veteran journalist and authorAllister Sparks. Enough is enough, he toldMedia@SAfm.

"It does become a bit wearisome, and I sup-pose some people have become upset about it... the sheer volume of coverage and the degreeof personal detail that goes with it," he said.

However, Sparks added that South Africansmust accept that Mandela is a global figurewho continues to attract global attention forhis leading role in ending apartheid nearly twodecades ago.

"We have to recognize that the world is inter-ested in him. And we've got to understand thatthere are many cultures in our society, and noparticular culture can expect to prevail,"Sparks said. "It's part of recognition of a greatman."

Balancing Reporting And Cultural Sensitivities

Ma Fikile Mlotshwa was among the churchgo-ers at a recent service who were singing — andpraying — for Mandela, or as most SouthAfricans affectionately call him, Madiba, hisclan name.

"Madiba is to us a leader, he is a father first ofall. And we pray and hope for him for all thebest," she said. "But at the same time, for anelderly person — according to African culture— this business of you people [journalists]coming to interview us all about this, and thatis not African. It's not African, because it is in-terfering with the African spirit. The Africanway is to respect. At his age, to pray for himpeacefully, so that when God does call him, he

will rest in peace."

Other South Africans are repeating this senti-ment: that Mandela is, indeed, a global sym-bol, but his time will come and we must allaccept that and let him go — gently.

South African President Jacob Zuma con-tributed to the controversy when he visitedMandela at home after he was discharged fromthe hospital. Video footage of the meeting lastweek aired on national television, showing afrail Mandela with a blank and at times bewil-dered look. Zuma was widely criticized, andwhile he has defended the visit, he has alsospoken about the need to show respect forMandela.

"Let us slow down the anxiety. The country

must not panic. In Zulu, there is a time whensomebody passes away, who's old, people sayhe or she has 'gone home.' Those are some ofthe things we should be thinking about," Zumasaid.

Zuma's statement was very "African," saysbroadcaster and cultural commentator AudreyBrown.

But, she adds, reporting on Mandela's health,or even death, requires balance.

"We have to get it right. At the same time, wehave to make sure we do not trample on sensi-tivities, whether they be cultural or whetherthey just be common human decency," Brownsays. "And I think we really can draw the linebetween those two things."

Iby Ofeibea Quist-Arcton NPR

File photo: Former President Bill Clinton visits the aging leader

SPORTS

Qualifying for the 2015 African Cup of Na-tions will take place over only three monthsnext year, the Confederation of AfricanFootball has announced.

It means 144 fixtures, involving total of 48teams in 12 groups of four, will have to besqueezed in between September and No-vember.

The schedule has been designed to fit inwith world governing body Fifa's interna-tional match calendar.

There are no dates in 2014 before the WorldCup finals take place in Brazil. It is the firsttime that qualifying has had to be arrangedaround the World Cup since the NationsCup was switched from even to odd years.And with difficult transport links betweensome African nations, the tight fixtureschedule could cause some problems - par-ticularly on routes between the east andwest of the continent.

A weekend match will be followed by a mid-week game in three periods set aside byFifa, with clubs obligated to release theirplayers for international duty for the dura-tion.

The dates are 1-9 September, 6-14 Octoberand 10-18 November. Namibia Football As-sociation president John Muinjo believesthe schedule is too demanding. He told BBCSport: "Playing six international games inthree months is hard on the health of theplayers.

"Also, some federations do not have the fi-nancial resources to afford for their teamsto travel in speed and comfort over longdistances in such a short space of time."The smaller countries are going to be af-fected."

At the end of the group phase, the winnersof each group and the best three runners upwill advance to the final phase of qualifica-tion for the tournament, which will be

hosted by Morocco from 17 January to 7February 2015.

Caf also announced that the Nations Cup

qualification preliminary round, featuringup to 12 of the lowest ranked African sidesin a two-legged play-offs, will take place inJuly and August.

Nations Cup 2015: Qualifiers played over three months

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Burundi's Lydia Nsekera becomesfirst woman elected to FIFA ExCoConfederation of African Football: June 1,2013 - Burundi's Lydia Nsekera made historyon Friday when she became the first woman tobe elected to the Executive Committee of foot-ball's world governing body FIFA for a fullterm.

Nsekera was voted on for a full four-year termat the FIFA Congress in Mauritius, while twoother women, Moya Dodd of Australia andSonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Is-lands, were coopted on for one year.

Nsekera was the first woman to be coopted onfor one year at last year's Congress in Bu-dapest.Now there will be three women on the ExCo,compared to none two years ago.It is anotherstep towards gender equality within FIFA, al-though there is still work to be done, with theExCo comprising a total of 24 members.

"One woman was coopted on to the Executive

Committee last year for one year, and now awoman has been officially elected on to the ex-ecutive committee, with two others coopted. Ithas taken us 109 years to get this far," saidFIFA president Sepp Blatter.

--CAF.

2013 African Nations Cup Winner, Nigeria celebrates (file)

Nigeria bombs Islamists

products—warn against use bychildren, pregnant or nursingwomen, and people sensitiveto caffeine. The Monsterdrinks and eight others alsorecommend a daily limit.

Consumer and scientificgroups have for years urgedthe Food and Drug Adminis-tration to make companiesdisclose caffeine levels, but theagency says it lacks the au-thority.

Bottom line. Caffeine canmake you feel more alert,boost your mental and physi-cal performance, and even ele-vate your mood. But it can alsomake you jittery, keep youfrom sleeping, cause rapidpulse or abnormal heartrhythms, and raise blood pres-sure.

Safe limits of caffeine con-sumption are still being stud-ied, but data suggest that mosthealthy adults can safely con-sume up to 400 milligrams perday; pregnant women, up to200 milligrams; and children,up to 45 to 85 milligrams de-pending on weight. An occa-sional energy drink is probablyfine for most adults. Check theRatings for caffeine levels andprice. And note that someproducts cost less than half asmuch as others per serving.

--by Consumer Report

The buzz on energy-drink caffeine

The Islamists, seen as the main security threatto Africa's top oil producer, have been stagingbolder attacks since last month, including oneon the town of Bama that left 55 dead.

Nigerian authorities fear they are creating anenclave in remote border areas, as al Qaedalinked militants did in the deserts of Mali be-fore the French forced them out in January.

But previous efforts to crush Boko Haram havealways proved temporary, forcing them to dis-sipate into hiding places or across borders,where they wait, regroup and then come back.

The military is already overstretched in thenorth, by operations against oil theft in thesouth and foreign missions.

--By Lanre OlaMAIDUGURI, Nigeria

(continued from page 6)

Lydia Nsekera

(continued from page 7)

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