Linked with Is Africa A Cold War Battleground;
Sam Akaki is Executive Director, Democratic Institutions for Poverty Reduction in Africa DIPRA (no own website found).
… Mr Sam Akaki, the FDC International envoy to the United Kingdom and the European Union said, « I have heard with deep sorrow the tragic death of Dr Kiggundu who passed away this morning. He was a towering monument of national unity who proved wrong those who have claimed that politics has divided Ugandans on tribal and religious lines. He was a Muslim while I am a Christian, and he was a Muganda while I am from Lango. But in Dr Kigundu, I and millions of Ugandans from religious and tribal backgrounds found a kind and loving brother, unlce, father and a friend. It was Dr kigunddu who introduced me to Abu Mayanja who was another unifying Ugandan. Inalilahi Wa Inalilahi » … (full text of ‘FDC’s Sulaiman Kiggundu is Dead‘, June 20, 2008).
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Sam Akaki – Uganda
He writes: … I congratulate Sunday Vision for the interview with ANC leader Jacob Zuma titled, “No racism in South Africa.” The interview will send a clear message to the British and other Western countries that they are not going to use the crisis in Zimbabwe, which they created, to divide either the African National Congress (ANC) or the African Union so to control Africa again. The West, especially the British, had been trying to push Zuma to swallow their bait by publicly criticising Robert Mugabe thus driving a dangerous wedge between him and President Thabo Mbeki who has been pursuing quiet but fruitful diplomacy to defuse the problems in Zimbabwe … (full text, 27th July, 2008).
Sam Akaki says the tragedy in Zimbabwe blinds us to worse calamities afflicting other African nations, July 15, 2008.
For Mr Akati, the solution to all this unfair and nasty bullying of the Mugabe regime is the return of a Conservative government: … « Only with the Conservative Party in power in the UK can that country hope to salvage its rapidly deteriorating relationship with Zimbabwe and Africa. Isn’t it now plainly clear that the British relationship with Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general will not improve until the Conservative Party takes over in the United Kingdom » … (full text, 03 June 2008).
He has said (he is cited by Fred Khumalo): … « “The first step is to recognise that liberal democracy, which they are enjoying in the UK today, did not happen overnight, but it took centuries, during which King Charles was beheaded. Therefore, it is totally unrealistic to expect Africa, which is only 50 years old, and Zimbabwe, which is just 28 years old, to practise perfect Western liberal democracy” … (full text, July 15, 2008).
We’re not making poverty history, April 26, 2007.
He comments: … Recently, Africa Progress Panel (APP), headed by the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, issued a report, “Africa Progress Panel responds to the G8 Summit in Hokkaido” which said: “G8 countries have done little to show how they will fund the shortfall of US$ 40 billion in programmable aid and debt relief identified by the Africa Progress Panel last month…The G8 has yet to present clear timetables outlining future aid provision or to provide increased transparency required to improve the quality of aid”. (full text, 13 – 20 August 2008).
South Africa: Tutu And Sentamu a Disaster for Africa, July 9, 2008.
He writes also (about Kenya’s conflict): … Despicable as these killings are, they must be seen as the dangerous symptoms of the wider social and political problems that were triggered by the disputed elections. Consequently, the solution lies not in an investigation, which would take months, if not years, amid more violence. The only long-term solution lies in establishing who actually won the elections. This can only be achieved through fresh elections administered by an independent election commission and supervised by international observers. It is only then that the violence will stop. But to call on the army to be deployed, which itself is divided along ethnic lines, will set Kenya on a slippery slope towards a full-scale civil war … (full text, January 30, 2008).
Find his name and articles on the African executive; on Google Groups-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Blog-search.
And he writes: … A recent World Bank confirmed that China is financing infrastructure projects in more than 35 African countries with Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mosambique, Nigeria, the Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe among the biggest recipients. In the DRC, China has agreed to build thousands of kilometers of roads, several hospitals and three universities. Unlike the West, China gives Africa quality projects on time and much more cheaply. In their most direct statements yet recorded, African leaders made their views about the West clear during the Chinese Africa summit, held in Beijing in November 2006. Speaking to Lindsey Hilsum of British Channel Four television, former president Festus Mogae of Botswana said “ »I find that the Chinese treat us as equals. The West treats us as former subjects (read slaves). Which is a reality. I prefer the attitude of the Chinese to that of the West.” For his part, President Museveni who is seen as a darling of the West said, “The Western ruling groups are conceited, full of themselves, ignorant of our conditions, and they make other people’s business their business. Whereas the Chinese just deal with you, you represent your country, they represent their own interests, and you do business » … (full text, July 23, 2008).
¿Va a ser África el campo de batalla de una nueva Guerra Fría? 29 July 2008.
links:
China-Africa: “Really to engage with the Chinese you have to move pretty quickly”, August 13, 2008;
Letters: The dangers of dredging: Dredging is destroying our beaches, ecosystems and heritage, March 17, 2008.
Mugabe backs the Tories, June 4, 2008;
The blog FreeThoughtManifesto;
Queen returns to Uganda after 53 years, Nov. 22, 2007.