N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

The binionlhly magazine ol Alrica -

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Caribbean Pacilic & European Union cooperation and relations

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From Normandy to Bastogne:
SLibertv Road

I urlulence in AUL; aviation

The

Courier

Editorial Board
Co-chairs
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Secretary General
Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
wvww.acp.int
Stefano Manservisi, Director General of DG Development
European Commission
ec.europa.eu/development/
Core staff
Editor-in-chief
Hegel Goutier
Journalists
Marie-Martine Buckens (Deputy Editor-in-chief)
Debra Percival
Editorial Assistant
Okechukwu Umelo
Production Assistant
Telm Borrs
Contributed in this issue
Colette Braeckman, Victoria Burbidge, Elisabetta Degli Esposti Merli, Sandra Federici,
Catherine Haenlein, Elisabeth Lequeret, Souleymane Mazou, Jacqueline Meido-Madiot,
Dev Nadkarni, Andrea Marchesini Reggiani
Project Manager
Gerda Van Biervliet
Artistic Coordination, Graphic Conception
Gregorie Desmons
Graphic Conception
Loic Gaume
Public Relations
Andrea Marchesini Reggiani
Distribution
Viva Xpress Logistics ww.vxlnet.be
Photo Agency
Reporters ww.reporters.be
Cover
Hill of Buga in Burundi. At sunrise, the farmers set off for the fields.
Andrea Frazzetta / LUZphoto

Contact
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The views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the official view of the
EC nor of the ACP countries.
The consortium and the editorial staff decline ail responsibility for the articles written by
external contributors.

Table of Contents

THE COURIER, N.17 NEW EDITION (N.E)

al

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M

DOSSIER 12 CIVIL SOCIETY ON THE MOVE 22

EDITORIAL

PROFILE

Anthony Hylton: Trade and aid are still in Europe's
interests
Romano Prodi. A Road Map to increase African
Integration

TO THE POINT

Haiti: careful planning, not speedy reconstruction:
Meeting with the Mayor of Port-au-Prince

ROUND UP

DOSSIER
ACP Aeronautic Industry

ACP aviation: Time for turn around
A Single African sky?
A regional centre of excellence for safety
Pacific: At the cusp of a mini-revolution?
Turbulent times for Caribbean airlines
EU grounds African airlines
EGNOS: EU satellite for African skies?

CIVIL SOCIETY ON THE MOVE

A cultural understanding Islamic Relief
African Civil Society Organisations missing out
on dialogue with China

DISCOVERING EUROPE 26

ROUND UP

Rithy Panh discusses his collaboration with
Burkinab director Gaston Kabor -Interview

DISCOVERING EUROPE
Normandy & Bastogne (France and Belgium)

Liberty Road
From Normandy to Bastogne
The Battle of Hastings in cartoon strip
St. Thrse, 'Patroness ofthe Missions
Farmers from developed and developing countries face
the same struggle
A territorial approach to development
Electricians without borders
A culture of literature and gastronomy

ZOOM

Aaron Mokoena: Bafana Bafana's exemplary captain

OUR PLANET

Earthquakes: between fatality and lucidity

INTERACTION

Democratic Republic of the Congo: a demand for
sovereignty
Africa's re-birth in bronze
Food security remains at the heart of development strategies
Interview with Commissioner Piebalgs: ODA not
sufficient to reach the MDGs

ACP-EU elected representatives concerned at the
situation in Madagascar

24 Sudan: A step towards the 2011 referendum
Cannes 2010: the ACP group ensures the promotion
of its cinema

REPORT
26 Burundi
27
29 Burundi moves forward, now at peace
29 Economic development in Burundi: a quickening
of the pace
30 Multiple opposition
31 NGOs and Press: Brave enough to monitor abuses
32 Extensive aid for a land risen from the dead:
33 Interview with Alain Darthenucq, Head of the EU
Delegation
Success of a well-planned project
Vivace Bujumbura
Burundi: Places to visit
34

CREATIVITY

Je danse donc je suis (I dance therefore I am)
36 Dak'art 2010: retrospective and perspective
Rosenclaire: investing in the immaterial
Homage to a 'Visionary Africa'

FOR YOUNG READERS
38
40 World Cup 2010
42

43 YOUR SAY/CALENDAR

The 2010 ACP Courier Photo Competition has been launched!
For more information visit our website at www.acp-eucourier.info
or contact award@acp-eucourier.info

a

cultural centre promoting artists from countries in Euro-
pe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and cultural
exchanges between communities through performance
arts, music, cinema, to the holding of conferences. It is a
meeting place for Belgians, immigrants of diverse origins
and European officials.

Espace Senghor
Centre cultural d'Etterbeek
Brussels, Belgium
espace.senghor@chello.be
www.senghorbe

C 411111
tJEN-OR

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

ROUND UP 24

INTERACTION 38

Ogoni boy, Niger Delta, Nigeria. George Osodi
Courtesy of the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels (BOZAR)

Courier

On the problem of neutral evaluation,

especially in Africa's case

celebrates 50 years of inde-
pendence this year. It is the
object of attention in both the
African and European press, though
it is mostly French-speaking African
countries that are celebrating their
anniversaries, and the column inches
are therefore largely in the French-
speaking press.

The celebrations taking place on a large
and official scale in the 17 African
countries in question have provoked
caustic criticism from opponents. This
is particularly true of Senegal, where
the highlight has been the inaugura-
tion ofthe colossal African Renaissance
Monument, apparently the largest in
the world. It has provoked an outcry
among groups opposing the country's
President Wade, as well as in Europe.

The Courier has visited the monument
and reports in this issue on the history
and artistic conception of the work,
which has a theatrical quality which is
perhaps pompous but no more or less so
than is the norm for this kind of symbol
all over the world. The Courier provides
an account of comments by officials
and citizens in Senegal, some of whom
consider that Senegal and the black race
in general are indeed deserving of such
great symbols. In the French press,
much space has been devoted to the
opposition's charges regarding the cost
and poor taste of the celebration and to
the personality of the president of the
republic, and above all to a somewhat
negative assessment of the 50 years of
African independence. The monument
has, however, cost the Senegalese treas-
ury nothing; it was a deal made with
North Korea, as President Wade points
out, using his official speech to remind
us that Senegal's independence fol-
lowed five centuries of foreign presence
there, including the period of slavery
and colonisation.

So it is 550 years that need to be
assessed, and not 50. But it remains
the case that just before independence
the country was a great deal richer than
it is now, and this has been brought
up by a number of commentators in

Europe in their evaluations of the road
travelled since independence by the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
for example. This is not true, however,
of Colette Braeckman in her article for
The Courier, which shows that despite
all the travails, threats and handicaps
which still exist, the DRC seems to be
witnessing a new dawn.

In Belgium, the commemoration of
the anniversary of the independence of
the DRC and of Africa has taken on a
special importance, with a vast number
of cultural activities centred on the
major festival 'Visionary Africa', at the
renowned Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar)
and the Brussels Film Festival. But
even culture is not immune to contro-
versy. At the eleventh hour the festival
removed from its programme the film
'Lumumba', by the respected Haitian
film-maker Raoul Peck, as it questions
the role of the Belgian State or officials
thereof in the assassination of the hero
of Congolese independence, Patrice
Lumumba, a politician considered to
be upright even by his detractors. And
this at the same time as Raoul Peck is
a guest of honour at 'Visionary Africa'.

In any evaluation ofthe DRC since inde-
pendence, the currency flowing into the
country for its mineral resources and
the squandering of these plays a major
role. It is hard to provide a verdict. At
the time of independence, the DRC had
either one or two university-educated
citizens, depending on which source is
believed. Some have wondered whether
any country could have managed with
only one or two citizens educated to
this level, when deals had to be struck
with a throng of experts from extremely
wealthy nations. And how and why did
it come about that such a vast country
had only one or two citizens educated
at university? This question is in itself
an assessment.

So as we can see, the evaluation can be
no more than a partial and biased one,
perhaps like any such assessment.

Hegel Goutier
Editor in chief

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Anthony Hylton.

"Trade and aid are still in Europe's interests"

Debra Percival

Jamaican politician,
Anthony Hylton, is a
former Foreign and
Trade Minister and
Energy Minister. Now
an opposition Member
of the Parliament, he has
held the seat of Western
Saint Thomas Parish for
the People's National Party
since 1993. His skills as
negotiator for the Caribbean
region in drawing up
the Cotonou agreement
between African, Caribbean
and Pacific (ACP)
states and the European
Union (EU) earned him
National Honours from
the Government of Benin.
He fought for the interests
of the ACP in the Doha
Round of world trade
talks and for his region in
concluding an Economic
Partnership Agreement
(EPA) with the EU. Jamaica
is in the CARICOM bloc
countries that signed an
EPA implemented at the
end of 2008 which will
eventually lead to free trade
with the EU. We spoke with
him about recent ACP-
EU developments. "Call it
cooperation or partnership,
what is really needed is a

genuine understanding of
the needs of the Caribbean
region", says Hylton.

Is the EPA benefitting
Jamaica?

We warned the incoming
Jamaican government
that the EPA was not
truly developmental. ACP
countries were being asked
to sign away potential
benefits of the preferential
trade arrangements [ed:
notably sugar and bananas].
As a lawyer, even now I
say that Cotonou's sugar
protocol was a binding
arrangement. The EPA
does have potential. The
benefits are largely to
be gained on the goods
side, but only if there is a
market-building exercise in
the Caribbean. Caribbean
people were given a three-
year moratorium [ed: easier
access to the Caribbean
market for EU goods and
services is due to be phased
in from the end of 2011
on expiry of the
moratorium]. We never
thought that those three
years were sufficient. In the
intervening years we have
had a global recession and
almost every EU country
has pumped massive

amounts of state aid into
their own economies and
created public deficits; in
trade terms amounting
to a subsidy. At the same
time, Caribbean countries,
including my own, are
under International
Monetary Fund (IMF)
Programmes. We are facing
a tremendous amount of
fiscal consolidation and
compression. This is the
context in which we must
now open our market to
Europe.

it

of

The future of the ACP
Group

The ACP Group was
founded in Georgetown,
Guyana in 1975. As
Minister, I argued that the
Georgetown Accord should
be given real life so that
the ACP could build other
kinds of relationships, with
the United States, Asia and
other groupings. Whilst

the Caribbean insisted on
this, other ACP countries,
particularly given the
institutional arrangements
in the ACP itself, have not
wanted to move beyond
the confines of the ACP-
EU arrangements. Legally
speaking, however, the
ACP group has a separate
existence.

On the EU-Latin
America- Caribbean
Summit, 19 May 2010

The Caribbean needs to
have a different kind of
relationship with Latin
America and Brazil. Some
call for a Latin American-
Caribbean arrangement
without the United States
and Canada. We have had
a dialogue between the
EU, Latin America and the
Caribbean for some time
but my concern is that this
is not tri-lateral. So far,
Latin America has been
speaking to Europe and
the Caribbean to Europe.
Presumably if not restricted
to trade, there are wider,
global sets of issues that can
be discussed.

To read the full interview with
Anthony Hylton, see:
www.acp-eucourier.info.

Courier

SFoundation for Worldwide Cooperation

Romano Prodi. A Road Map

to increase African Integration

Andrea Marchesini Reggiani

After holding the
role of Prime
Minister of
Italy twice, as
well as President ofthe
European Commission,
what international position
does a politician aspire to
next? Having overseen two
fundamental European
projects -the single
currency and the fifth
enlargement of the EU
(the sixth enlargement
came under the Barroso
presidency) -Romano Prodi
has now decided to turn his
attention to Africa.

In September 2008, United
Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki Moon selected Prodi
as President of the African
Union-UN Peacekeeping
Panel, the aim of which
was to make relationships
between the UN and
the AU closer and more
profitable.

In addition to giving courses
at prestigious universities,
he has created the
Foundation for Worldwide

Cooperation, which
addresses social, cultural,
economic and political
problems with the aim of
promoting new proposals
for collaboration in the
international context.

The Courier met him at the
first big event organised
by his foundation, the
'Africa, 53 Countries, One
Continent' convention,
held on 21 May 2010 in
Bologna. Participants at
the convention included
Abdoulaye Wade, President
of Senegal, Thabo Mbeki,
former President of South
Africa, Asha Rose Mgiro,
UN Deputy Secretary-
General and Andris
Piebalgs, EU Commissioner
for Development.

What is your view about
the role of the AU in peace
keeping?

I believe that it is important
to increase the participation
of the AU in the decision-
making process and in
the execution of peace
operations on the African
continent, and to bolster
its 'peacekeeping capacity'

through financing.
This thesis is still under
discussion, and has not
been agreed upon by
everyone. Those who
oppose the idea of a strong
AU are those who favour
bilateral relations with those
African countries with
which old ties exist. But
multilateral cooperation
with and between African
countries is vital to their
future, and anyway, history
has condemned bilateral
relations.

For a while now, there
has been much discussion
about the impact of China
on Africa. What should
Europe's position be?

It would be useful for the
EU, China and the USA to
come together, in order to
avoid a situation in which
Africa ends up as a pawn
in a game between vying
powerful countries. The
EU has gained a great
advantage: unifying so many
different countries and
therefore asserting itself as a
model, and as a body which
is capable of exercising
strong coordination. But

we must be realistic: the
idea of working without
China or the USA is
unthinkable in Africa today.
Rather, we should try to
work with them to find a
common policy towards
the continent, aiming to
strengthen the role of the
AU and to define long-term
strategies at the continental
level, which are respectful of
all local realities.

Development policies
are at the basis of the
history of EU, but do you
think that they could be
endangered as a result of
the fear and selfishness
that seem to dominate
public opinion?

I had the privilege of being
President in better economic
times. We were able to carry
out important work, such as
starting up finance to enable
the AU to play an active role
in peace keeping. Despite
some worries from public
opinion, cooperation has
remained a constant for the
EU (the EU gives over half
of worldwide public aid to
development) and I hope it
stays this way.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Haiti : careful planning,

not speedy reconstruction

Meeting with the Mayor of Port-au-Prince

Jean-Yves Muscadin Jason, the
Mayor of Port-au-Prince, the capital
of Haiti laid waste by the earthquake
of the 12th January, was invited to
Brussels at the end of April by the
European Parliament's Development
Committee. He also met the European
Commissioner for International
Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and
Crisis Response to give his views on
the reconstruction process, stressing
the importance of planning rather than
starting work straight away.*

Hegel Goutier

I explained to them", he said
to The Courier, "that before
talking about reconstruc-
Ltion, you need a construc-
tion plan. I have asked for support
from the European Parliament for a
long-term multidisciplinary develop-
ment centre for Port-au-Prince and
its metropolitan area, as this would

Jean-Yves Muscadin Jason, mayor of Port-au-Prince
Hegel Goutier

encourage both reflection and the pro-
duction of plans like management, town
planning, public security and transport
programmes".
Interview
HG- On 12January, where wereyou
when everything collapsed under
your feet?
J-Y M J was hosting an adminis-
trative meeting of the city council's

Courier

Water distribution in Port-au-Prince, January 2010. Contrasto/REPORTERS

finance department in an administra-
tive building. There was a dull thud,
and people ran out. I didn't know
what it was, and I went to get my
PDA (Blackberry) from the city council
building, and put it in my bag. Then
the building collapsed, and I found
myself under the rubble, along with a
few employees. There were other col-
leagues who were stuck, and I went to
look for help. We managed to get eve-
ryone out, but there were several deaths
at the run-down town hall, which had
fallen down, and about a hundred at
the city council, including fifty school-
children. The city council runs eight
local schools, and all ofthese collapsed.

Didyou y" ii, il realise the extent of
the damage straight away?

At first, no. It was when I came out that
I realized it had been an earthquake.
I went straight to speak to our civil
protection squad, and then out into
the streets to help people. I saw it was
a catastrophe. It was terrible. I went
to several hospitals to look for doc-
tors who could look after the seriously
injured. It was a traumatic experience,
and I'm still suffering from it.

Why are the city council's civil pro-
tection units so important?

The State in Haiti is weak, and it has
never wanted the city council to be
strong. It's true that there is a consti-
tutional stipulation for administrative
and financial autonomy for councils,
but not all city councils have been fully
set up yet. I came here in March 2007,
and first I had to fight within the frame-
work of decentralised cooperation with
foreign organizations to build up the
city council. When I arrived, there
was an embryonic volunteer organisa-
tion which worked directly with the
Interior Minister in the area of civil
protection. It's thanks to the twinning

programme we've started with several
Mexican towns that we managed to set
up local civil protection units just a few
days before the earthquake, with about
thirty technical staff who had just been
trained.

Is it true that the earthquake has
created a kind of positive cathar-
sis? There seems to have been a lot
of progress in Haiti in the last few
years.

On the first days after the catastro-
phe, those who were on the streets
were citizens and volunteers linked
to the city council. We managed to
get neighbourhood councils going, and
that's what helped us deal with the
disaster. Besides, Haitians are fight-
ers, people who are used to struggling
against adversity, and the earthquake
has shown our ability to respond. Our
experience in Haiti might be helpful to
other countries that suffer disaster like
this. We got up, came together, and dug
into the earth with our fingers, without
waiting for the tractors and excavators,
and we managed to save quite a lot of
lives. It's also a valuable opportunity
to build something new: we have to
build and not rebuild, and find our own
Haitian solutions. And that can only be
done with citizens who are conscious
what does that mean?, who have a sense
of belonging to something on which
we have to work each day to improve
and polish, and who must understand
that they are the masters of their own
future.

Was this all done with the help of the
international community?

We have received aid, but the kind
of aid that kills. When you receive
five planes full of hundreds of bottles
of water, those plastic bottles stay in
Haiti, and we have to deal with that.
How are we going to get Haitians to

accept these people who arrive with
everything and who are frightened of
us, who don't want to go into the so-
called danger zones, what the NGOs
call 'red zones' ? Now at least there is
a local government which can provide
reassurance, and take them to those
areas where there are problems.

When an NGO arrives with thou-
sands, or millions, of bags of rice and
hands them out in a way lacking in all
respect, that spoils people and distorts
the economy. These bags of rice are
subsidized. We have rice in Haiti. Why
don't we subsidise it to give to peo-
ple? In the medium term, there's no
room on the market for our rice from
Artibonite, which is an area that wasn't
hit by the earthquake.

In a few years' time, our country will
start to ask these questions about aid
again. We will either still be receiving
aid, which will be a disgrace, or we
will be looking after ourselves. Either
we have partners, or we have backers.
Backers impose their own ideas, but
partners take the time to talk things
over and work with you to find solu-
tions together.

* The EU Development Commissioner
Andris Piebalgs visited Haiti later.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Haiti: EU-funded
reconstruction begins
European Commissioner for Devel-
opment, Andris Piebalgs, signed
the first five funding agreements for
Haiti's reconstruction during a visit
to Haiti, 23-24 April. They amount
to E200M of a total European Com-
mission E460M package pledged so
far for the country's reconstruction.
Piebalgs opened the first section
of works of national road no.3 link-
ing Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien
in the north of the country. He also
inaugurated the construction site of
the new 'administrative city' which
will replace the destroyed buildings
housing Haiti's state institutions, and
laid the first stone ofa school re-build
in Mirebalais. "The future of Haiti lies
in government and people's hands.
And I want them to know that Europe
will be a determined partner for the
coming years", said Piebalgs prior
to the Haiti visit. The total amount
earmarked to date by EU Member
States, the European Commission
and the Luxembourg-based Europe-
an Investment Bank (EIB) for longer-
term projects is 1.235bn.

;r T,. .. t r .. -"

ts partners with one voice: takes its first steps
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dll dlIlUILIUUs dllU UIIIIcUIL UalI. FIVt.
months after the adoption of the Lisbon
Treaty, the 27 European Union (EU)
member states finally agreed on 26
April they would establish the guidelines
for the future EU External Action Service
(EEAS). A compromise which has not
been to everyone's taste.

Marie-Martine Buckens

E urope needs an External
Action Service, which
will, in a coordinated
manner, present our
response to the challenges which we
face around the world and which will

act to promote comprehensive policies",
said the High Representative, Catherine
Ashton who is British. The head of
French diplomacy, Bernard Kouchner,
agrees: "Europe needs this new dip-
lomatic tool in order to act in a more
effective, clearer and more coordinated
way".

This European diplomatic service
would be made up of around 5,000
people. A third would come directly
from member states, and two thirds
from the Commission and the Council.
However, before the service is put in
place, it will be necessary to win over the
European Parliament, which has threat-
ened to block the service if it places too

much emphasis on national Ministries
of Justice.

For their part, European develop-
ment NGOs and non-European NGOs
(CONCORD, CIDSE, Aprodev, Oxfam,
etc.) have demanded an "urgent and
comprehensive" revision of the EEAS
proposal, stating that it goes against
European interests and those of the
poorest people in the world. In addi-
tion, the NGOs will argue -with the
help of lawyers -that, under European
Treaties, the role of the EEAS should
be limited to the Common Foreign and
Security Policy (CFSP) of the Union
and, in any event, should exclude devel-
opment cooperation.

Call for CAP reform to achieve MDGs

The European Union's (EU) Common Ag-
ricultural Policy (CAP) must be urgently
reformed if the eight Millennium Devel-
opment Goals (MDGs) are to be met by
2015, says the Millennium Campaign for
Europe -the European branch ofa United
Nations' interagency set up by former UN
Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to support
citizens' efforts to hold their governments
accountable for achieving the MDGs.

"Official Development Assistance (ODA)
cannot alone bear the development bur-

den", said Eckhard Deutscher, Chair of
the Development Assistance Commit-
tee of the Paris-based Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), at the recent launch of the study,
'Give Development a Chance Europe's
CAP needs urgent reform', drawn up by
the Millennium Campaign.

"The biggest challenge the EU's devel-
opment aspirations are facing is the lack
of policy coherence. The trade, develop-
ment, agriculture and environmental poli-

cies are simply out of sync with regard to
developing countries", said Deutscher.

German Socialist Member of the Euro-
pean Parliament Gabriele Zimmer said,
"CAP reform will be a reality check for
the MDG package. As we will soon en-
ter into the negotiations over the next EU
budget, we need to fundamentally reform
a subsidies regime that stands for waste
at home and damage abroad".

Find out more: www.endpoverty2015.org

Courier

Speaking to i

Roud-p

Security guarantee for Sahelian countries

The armed wing of the former ruling Islamic Courts in Somalia, AI-Shabab is a powerful resurgent
group and has been fighting foreign troops in the country since early 2007. aAPPhoto

The "non-Maghreb" situation that
currently prevails between the five
countries of Western North Africa
could weigh on the security situation,
both of the EU and of the Sahelian
countries. That is the substance of the
warning issued by the Thomas More
Institute, a European think-tank.

M.M.B.

On 7 April in Brussels, the
Thomas More Institute
held a conference to present
its new report, Towards a
sustainable security in the Maghreb: an
opportunity for the region, a commit-
ment for the European Union (EU). The
fruit of several months of research and
interviews by a multidisciplinary team,
the report looks at the threats to lasting
security in the Maghreb (Mauritania,
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya),
whether in the form of tension between
states, the challenges linked to immi-
gration -from the region and from the

Sahelian countries -or terrorism on
a southern flank. The authors of the
report see cooperation between states
and a Euro-Maghreb partnership as one
of the keys to this lasting security, not
just for the countries of the Maghreb
but for the region as a whole.

Combating crime

On the subject of combating crime and
terrorism, the report's authors stress its
"Maghreb and Sahelian" dimension and
thus the need for ail the Maghreb coun-
tries to be included in moves towards
common security with the Sahelian
countries, "or even beyond, as suggested
by the links with South American drug
traffickers", advises the report.

"A new wider geographical
approach is needed that
encompasses the entire
Maghreb and Sahelian area"

"At the interface of two continents, the
Maghreb region constitutes a crossroads,
historically, geographically and geostra-
tegically", Jean-Thomas Lesueur, general
delegate at the Thomas More Institute,
told us. "It is a region that is changing
rapidly and is opening up ... opening up

to its neighbour the European Union,
with the prospect of new opportunities
and also bringing new responsibilities,
and also opening up to its south, pre-
senting many challenges, which is an
increasingly important factor in the bal-
ance of the entire region. For Europe,
North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa
the strategic stakes are changing with
the need to consider the Maghreb and
Sahelian area in its globality and its
diversity."

With the upcoming series of meetings
between the EU and ACP countries,
the UfM (Union for the Mediterranean)
summit in Barcelona, the stated objec-
tives of the Spanish presidency -which
wants to strengthen relations with the
Maghreb and Africa, its favoured stra-
tegic partners -and the new EU inter-
nal security strategy, is this a favour-
able context for a better awareness of
the stakes? "However you look at it",
adds Lesueur, "there is no denying the
facts... On the migration issues, on the
terrorism and trafficking threats, and on
the border problems in the region, a new
wider geographical approach is needed
that encompasses the entire Maghreb
and Sahelian zone".

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

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Hope for the

Kalahari Bushmen

The visit to Botswana in March 2009 of James Anaya, United Nations spe-
cial rapporteur on indigenous peoples, seems to have produced results. The
Bushmen, driven from their ancestral lands in the Kalahari in 2002, will have
their case heard once again by the High Court on 9 June.

M.M.B.

at the European Parliament
in March this year by Irish
MEP Brian Crowley. He
asked the EU Council "to assess the
extent of the harassment facing the
Kalahari Bushmen".

Flashback. On 13 December 2006, the
High Court of Botswana declared the
expulsion of Gana and Gwi Bushmen to
be "unlawful and anti-constitutional"
and that they were entitled to live on
their ancestral lands in the Kalahari
Central Reserve (KCR). These expul-
sions began a few years after diamond
deposits were discovered in the reserve
in 1980. The operating licence, which
belonged to De Beers, was sold to Gem
Diamonds, a new company set up with
employees of the former South African

diamond company that had apparently
announced its intention to mine the
site. To get the Bushmen to settle in new
camps, the government sealed the well
on the existing reserve. James Anaya
called on the government to reopen
the well, considering that the Bushmen
who had returned to the reserve were
"facing deplorable and dangerous living
conditions due to their lack of access to
water."

Hearing

The reply to Brian Crowley's question
on the part of Europe was cautious. The
Spanish Presidency pointed out that the
issue of the San/Bushmen was the sub-
ject of regular discussions between EU
Heads of Mission and the Government
of Botswana. These discussions take
place in the context of Article 8 of
the Cotonou Agreement that provides
for formal and systematic dialogue on
the three key elements of the Cotonou

A Basarwa woman smokes from a handmade pipe in Metsiamenong, a remote
village in the heart of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana. Reporters

Agreement, namely respect for human
rights, democratic principles and the
rule oflaw. At these meetings, the pres-
idency added, the government informed
the EU on the follow-up to the High
Court ruling. The presidency said that
"according to our information, the San/
Bushmen nominated last December
their representatives who have been
tasked to discuss the issue with the
government. In order to find a solution
to their relocation, contacts are now
underway with the government". The
case will be heard again by the High
Court in early June.

About 100,000 Bushmen still live in
Botswana, Namibia, South Africa
and Angola, where they have lived
for tens of thousands of years.
The Central Kalahari Game Re-
serve lies in the heart of Botswana.
It was created to protect the tradi-
tional lands of the 5,000 Gana, Gwi
and Tsila Bushmen and their neigh-
bours, the Bakgalagadi, as well
as the wild animals on which they
depend. Other Bushmen, the Bu-
kakhwe, who live close to the Oka-
vango Delta, in the northeast of the
country, have concluded an agree-
ment with the NGO Conservation In-
ternational and the company Wilder-
ness Safaris to set up an ecotourism
camp. Conservation International
sees this as an initiative that will en-
able tourists to discover the cultural
heritage of these Bushmen and for
the latter to use the resulting finan-
cial resources for development pro-
jects, thereby reducing the burden
on the wild fauna.

Courier

New ACP

management team

Okechukwu Umelo

Secretaries-General of the
African, Caribbean and
Pacific Group of States (ACP)
have been appointed, which for the
first time in the organisation's history
includes two women.

The four appointees are: Nthisana
Matlhogonolo Philips (Botswana,
Southern Africa), Head of the
Department of Administration,
Finance and Human Resources; Achille
Bassilekin III (Cameroon, Central
Africa), Head of the Department of
Sustainable Economic Development
and Trade; Michele Dominique
Raymond (Haiti, Caribbean); Head
of the Department of Political Affairs
and Human Development; and Paulo
S. Kautoke (Tonga, Pacific), Head of
the Department of Macro-Economics,

Bayimba resounds

in Uganda

The third edition of the festival will
take place from 17-19 September,
2010 at the Uganda National Cultural
Centre in Kampala

Catherine Haenlein

T he first Bayimba
International Festival of
Music and Arts was held
in 2008. It was, in fact, the
first organised festival in Uganda's his-
tory and represented a brand new expe-
rience for its people. A large and diverse
audience was mesmerised by the vibran-
cy ofthe beats, sounds and colours ema-
nating from an eclectic range of events.
Since then, the festival has become an
eagerly anticipated annual event, and
over 100 artists from Uganda, East
Africa and beyond have performed on
its stages, with acts ranging from live
bands to dance, graffiti, storytelling,
video mixing, fashion shows and 'silent
disco'.

Plans for the third edition of the festi-
val are well under way, and an exciting
range of live performances is expected.
No less interesting will be the build up

jj Y i-l -iY IiII
Iu

From left: Nthisana Matlhogonolo Philips, Mohamed Ibn Chambas,
Achille Bassilekin III and Michele Dominique Raymond. ACP secretariat

Development Finance and Intra-ACP
Programming.

The selection of the new management
team was announced by ACP Secretary-
General, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, fol-
lowing a competitive recruitment pro-
cess in four of the six ACP regions.
Chambas underlined the qualities of
his new team which include its gender
diversity and varied professional experi-
ences and competence.

Paulo S. Kautoke. ACP secretariat

Youngsters dance to Islamic matali rhythms. Bayimba Cultural Foundation

to the event, with a series of workshops
and pre-festival events in Gulu in May,
Mbarara in June and Mbale in July.

The organisation behind this cultural
phenomenon is the Bayimba Cultural
Foundation -a Kampala-based asso-
ciation whose vision is to make Uganda
-and East Africa as a whole -an
important hub for music and art on
the African continent. And the festival
has indeed had a profound impact on
the creative and cultural landscape of
the region. The unique fusion of such

diverse artistic forms has led to a profu-
sion of innovative cultural and creative
exchanges, stimulating new forms of
artistic collaboration. The festival has
also played an important role in pro-
jecting the music and arts of Uganda
and East Africa to both a local and an
international audience. The Foundation
charges no entrance fee, thereby ensur-
ing that the event is accessible to the
widest possible audience.

For more information on the festival, please
see www.bayimba.org.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

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Time for turn around

Debra Percival

tion ofpoverty and a thriving
civil aviation industry may
not be obvious. Our focus
on the sector in the following pages
highlights the development of aviation
both for passengers and cargo -in
African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
countries as key to economic and social
development.

The dependency of a region on aviation
is no greater than in the small island
states of both the Caribbean and the
Pacific, but they are both encountering
challenges. In the Caribbean, rising
fuel costs and the global downturn
have hit airlines hard. In the Pacific,
however, there is optimism that polit-
ical cooperation and the arrival of
smaller jets will increase services and
give tourism a boost.

The absurdity of the lack of frequent
connections between major capitals
on the African continent operated by
indigenous African airlines was recent-
ly brought home when chatting with
a Congolese journalist colleague in
Dakar, Senegal. He was 4179 kilometres
miles from home yet the easiest way for
him to return was with an EU airline
via Paris (Dakar-Paris, 4065 km) then
boarding another plane flying a flag of
an EU member state to Kinshasa (Paris-
Kinshasa 6,043 km). He almost doubled
the time he should have spent in the air
-and carbon emissions -in addition to
having to submit to visa requirements
when transiting an EU member state.
His experience alone speaks volumes
about the current domination of African
skies by EU-based airlines.

Africa's single market awaits
take-off

But so farprogress onthe Yamoussoukro
Decision of 1999 between African gov-

ernments on a single African airspace
has been slow. It sets out the principle
of free market access of eligible air
carriers for intra-African connections.
With passenger numbers expected to
soar over the next 15 years in the con-
tinent, we look at the issues preventing
a single market from taking off in the
continent.

We look too at growing Africa-EU
cooperation in the sector from safety
and security related matters, economic
regulation, the environment, training
and funding for navigational aids which
will open up more regional airports
on the continent. The EU is offer-
ing to share its own aviation develop-
ments including the Single European
Sky, which is an ambitious initiative to
reform the architecture of European air
traffic control to meet future capacity
and safety needs.

Courier

1IDose

A Single

African sky?

D. P. if and when liberalisation comes, dense
point to point traffic will be needed if low
cost carriers are to survive.

by the global financial down-
turn. In February 2009 alone,
African airlines posted a pas-
senger drop of 13.7 per cent, according
to AFRAA, the Nairobi-based African
Airlines Association which groups 40 of
the continent's indigenous airline compa-
nies. This year the ash cloud over Europe,
caused by the eruption of Iceland's vol-
cano Eyjafjallajkull caused the cancella-
tion of some flights operated by African
carriers with both passengers and cargoes
of fresh fruit and vegetables and cut flow-
ers particularly from East Africa affected.

Such events of a more unpredictable and
volatile nature have compounded the
longer term issues of African airlines.
They include safety, the connected issue
of weak investment, the 'brain drain' of
pilots and engineers and the slow progress
towards liberalisation of African skies.

The Yamasoukkrou Decision on the
Liberalisation of Air Transport Markets
in Africa in 1999 set out to create a single
African sky by 2002 but its implementa-
tion has been slow. It is one of the areas
where the EU feels that it can share
its "best practices", the EU's own sin-
gle airspace established in 1992 having
increased the number of intra-EU routes
by over 40 per cent and the number of
airlines operating in the EU market by
more than 25 per cent.

AFRAA hopes that the liberalisation will
lead to more low cost African airline oper-
ators and more passengers but it points
out that airlines need to be in a position
to survive liberalisation and that invest-
ment is currently lacking. According to
AFRAA statistics, the African continent
currently accounts for only four per cent
of the world's civil air traffic. It currently
has just seven low cost operators and

European domination

Inter-continental flights to and from the
African continent are currently domi-
nated by European operators which carry
over 70 per cent ofpassengers to and from
the continent on a weekly basis. Back in
the 1970s and the 1980s, Africa had 26
inter-continental airlines, including the
company Air Afrique covering 11 states.
Today just nine African carriers operate
inter-continental routes says AFRAA.

Some African airlines have benefitted
from bilateral agreements with third
countries in securing intercontinen-
tal routes, says AFRAA. They include:
Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, South
African Airways, and Royal Air Maroc,
Afriqiyah and Egyptair. But the body says
that there is a need for better intra-Afri-
can connectivity and further expansion
is needed to shorten inter-city travel time
and reduce costs.

The issue of safety of African carriers is
a huge one, says AFRAA. It says that 58
per cent of the continent's aircraft have
an average age of 19 years. The aircraft
construction company, Boeing puts the
investment needed in the African fleet at
$60bn between 2007 and 2027.

What's more there are environmental
concerns connected to operating older
aircraft. AFRAA says that fleet renewal is
vital to reduce the global carbon imprint
of African airlines. Although the body
applauds the EU's aviation carbon trad-
ing initiative, it would prefer a global
approach initiated by the International
Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

AU-EU Aviation road map

A roadmap for EU aviation cooperation
between the EU and the African Union

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Commission (AUC) took off last year in
Namibia at an EU-sponsored gathering of
policy-makers, aeronautics industry rep-
resentatives and service providers from
both continents. The outcome was more
EU-AU cooperation to improve aviation
safety and security as well as implementa-
tion of the Yamoussoukro Decision on

Commission (AFCAC) to look at ways of
pushing ahead an African single aviation
market into operation.

There was also agreement on further
cooperation in air traffic management
and on dialogue on environmental con-
cerns.

liberalisation for air passengers and cargo.
The EU agreed f750,000 of funding to Also in the pipeline is possible EU financ-
the Dakar-based African Civil Aviation ing for an extension ofits own navigation-

al satellite, EGNOS, especially to improve
safety at regional airports on the African
continent. EGNOS already has receivers
in North Africa (see separate article).

Find out more:
www.afcac.org
www.afraa.org

A regional centre of excellence

for safety

The European Union (EU) is providing funding for training at the African School
of Meteorology and Civil Aviation. The Courier interviewed its Director, Sadamba
Tchagbele.

Souleymane Mazou

C would you tell us about your
institution?

The African School of Mete-
orology and Civil Aviation
(Ecole Africaine de la Mtorologie et
de l'Aviation Civile -EAMAC) is one
of four training centres of the Agency
for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa
and Madagascar (l'Agence pour la
Scurit de la Navigation Arienne en
Afrique et Madagascar -ASECNA),
located in Dakar, Senegal. Our institu-
tion celebrated its 50th anniversary last
December. EAMAC has made an enor-
mous contribution to ensuring safety in

the air space of member states. Today,
EAMAC has 18 member states, includ-
ing France. They include countries of
central as well as west Africa. When
it was set up, EAMAC mainly com-
prised French-speaking countries, but
now also has Portuguese and Spanish-
speaking member states.

What role does EAMAC play within
the context of regional integration?

In terms of integration, our institution's
role is essentially one of cooperation. In
this respect, it contributes to a high degree
of integration among member states.
The tools of integration are our train-
ing institutions, in particular EAMAC
located in Niamey, Niger, ERSI in Douala

Sadamba Tchagbele. soueymane Mazou

Courier

DosI e

(Cameroon), ERNAM in Senegal and the
APSEC centre (aviation security), also
based in Senegal. These training centres
generally work and contribute towards
the integration of our states, in particu-
lar with regard to the men and women
involved in aerial navigation services in
our states. EAMAC has received funding
from the EU to provide training.

What are the main challenges in the
field of safety and training?

They are primarily technological. In the
field of aeronautics, aircraft are being
built to go faster, are increasing in size
and are being designed to travel great-
er distances. Various safety provisions
have to be met regarding each of the
aspects I mentioned. There are many
safety challenges concerning technology,
aircraft construction and in-flight service.
Aircraft control panels have advanced
enormously. ICT (information and com-
munication technology) has extended into
ail fields, including aviation.

Training institutes must therefore keep
pace with developments by adapting to
technological developments in order to
meet the requirements of customers who
want staff to be trained to carry out vari-
ous tasks on board an aircraft or on the
ground. I would like to make a distinc-
tion here because ASECNA is prima-
rily an aerial navigation service provider.
It does not encompass on-board areas,
but ensures the smooth management
of flights, in particular to prevent colli-
sions. Ail of our training meets the stand-
ards and practices recommended by the
International Civil Aviation Organisation
(ICAO), the international body which
establishes regulations aimed at ensuring
safety in the air space of all countries.

Do you face other challenges?

Yes, in particular with regard to require-
ments planning. This is one of the issues
under discussion today at the African level
-how can requirements be better com-
municated to enable training centres to

adapt to them. Another related challenge
concerns the capacity of training centres.
This involves scaling your training centre
to meet requirements, taking account of
the fact that needs vary. Discussions are
taking place at the African level, with the
assistance of ICAO, to create synergies
between the African training centres.

Another challenge is language training
(ed: the ICAO has decided that from
March 2011 no pilot or air traffic control-
ler can practise unless they are proficient
in English). This is a significant challenge
for us, as we are mainly French speaking.

Are you facing any other difficulties?

Yes, above all in terms of funding for the
training institutions. However, the crisis
is a global one. The economic and finan-
cial crises obviously have repercussions
for institutions like ASECNA, and as we
belong to ASECNA, we inevitably feel the
impact of these events which are having a
global effect.

r......

Madagascar. Lait /Reporters

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

DosI e

DosI e

Pacific:

At the cusp of a mini-revolution?

Will more regional co-operation between governments and the arrival of smaller
jets open the Pacific's skies and boost tourism receipts?

Dev Nadkarni

F or almost all island countries in
the Pacific region tourism has
always been either the biggest
or the second biggest single
revenue earner after remittances and
certainly the biggest avenue for both
direct and indirect employment.
But natural factors like long distances
and thin markets small markets with
low seat loads where frequent flights are
not economically viable have conspired
with issues ranging from inadequate
infrastructure and perceptions of politi- - ..
cal instability to more recently eco-
logical uncertainty, undermining the
true potential of the region's beautiful
destinations.
This has resulted in under investment
both in the infrastructure and transport
sectors leading to high costs, less-than-
optimal services and slow growth in the
islands' economies that almost entirely
depend on tourism for their survival.
Long, thin routes typically of three
hour or longer duration that require jet
aircraft but with low passenger demand
- and lack of appropriate aircraft to cost-
effectively address this twin problem
have plagued the aviation industry for
decades, making some sectors in the
region among the most expensive in the
world.
Added to that, a practicable air services
agreement called PIASA (Pacific Islands
Air Services Agreement) remained
non-ratified for years, delaying a much
needed open-skies policy across the
region though good progress is now
being made with better understanding
between governments. .....

Courier

TIDES

At a recent European Union funded
"Tourism Investment for the Develop-
ment of Enterprise and Sustainability"
conference in Samoa (TIDES) the
Pacific Asia Travel Association's (PATA)
Sydney-based Regional Director
Chris Flynn, said Capacity Purchase
Agreements (CPA) between operators
innovatively tweaked around the real-
ities of the uniquely long and thin

[medium to long distance; with low seat
occupany] nature of Pacific island air
routes and could offer solutions to the
region's long standing problems.

More studies were necessary, he said, but
solutions could be worked out around
PIASA. One idea -though never tried
anywhere else in the world so far but one
that holds promise for the islands region
according to Mr Flynn -was to slice and
dice the cabin capacities of larger air-

...

craft in CPAs between operators. This
refers to code shares between airlines
involving the capacity of the whole of
the aircraft shared between two partner
airlines.The slice and dice concept pro-
poses that the cabin of a single aircraft
be shared between three, four or five
or more different airlines instead of the
usual share practice of only two airlines
being involved.

China has introduced a
number of Pacific Island
nations to its preferred
tourist destinations

The region, however, is at the cusp of
a mini revolution in aviation with the
arrival of the new generation of smaller
regional jets that are economical to run
with lower seat load factors. Also, their
appearance in the region -especially in
Australia -coincides with new trends
within island governments to co-operate
regionally that will hopefully lead to
more open skies sooner rather than
later.

Smaller jets

The proliferation of smaller capacity
jets with concomitant open skies will
undoubtedly bring a whole new world
of opportunities for Pacific Island tour-
ism where it would become possible to
island hop and experience more than
one island destination in the course of
one holiday because of convenient inter-
island connectivity -something that is
achieved today only by cruise ships.

With the world emerging out of the
recession, tourist arrivals from New
Zealand and Australia, the region's
primary source markets, have already
begun to improve. Interest in the region
is also bound to skyrocket from more
non-traditional markets following the
Shanghai Expo between May and
October this year where the Pacific
Islands have a combined pavilion that
will be among the largest at the event.

In addition, China has introduced a
number of Pacific Island nations to its
preferred tourist destinations: all this
holds promise for ever growing tourist
numbers as can already be seen by the
increased number of flights between
Pacific destinations and Asia and the
US over the past 12 months.

An airplane flies over Aitutaki the Cook Islands. Reporters

Savai'i, Samoa. oD Percival

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

1IDose

DsI e

~ ~ ~ eY hi,." -%

...... ,-g a s-
-d6

. . . . . . . . . ..... ., ..t -I .-
raBtnt e'aional Airport....o -r
Jamaica, Montego Bay, Buccaneer Beach right at the Sangster International Airport. Reporters

Turbulent times

for Caribbean airlines

Rising fuel prices, coupled with the
global recession, have had a negative
impact on the sustainability of the
Caribbean's indigenous airlines. Some
have been forced to merge or cease
operations.

Victoria Burbidge

O ne airline which has recently
opted to quit the market is
Air Jamaica. After operating
in the industry for 41 years,
Jamaica's national carrier has thrown
in the towel. An agreement for its pur-
chase by Trinidad and Tobago-owned
Caribbean Airlines was expected to be
finalised late April 2010. According
to Jamaica's Prime Minister, Bruce
Golding the continued loss making
operation was the main reason for the
sale. It was also one of the country's
conditionalities for Jamaica securing
an agreement with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF).

Addressing the country's House of
Parliament, Prime Minister Golding
said the airline had wracked up losses
of J$126bn, including losses of J$31bn
over the last three years. Details of the
sale are yet to emerge but it is expect-
ed that Caribbean Airlines will con-
tinue to operate routes that support the
Jamaican tourism product, which has
its major market in North America.
Ian Bertrand, aviation consultant and
former chief executive of British West
Indian Airways (BWIA), the prede-
cessor to Caribbean Airlines said Air
Jamaica's failure was due mainly to
its mandate to fully support the coun-
try's tourism product. "If you want to
lose money, support tourism, support
routes that are strongly ethnic", he told
the Courier. "It is not that the manage-

Courier

. ...........

1IDose

Air Jamaica Airbus. hutterstock

ment was bad, the mission statement
was wrong."

New environment

But Norman Girvan, Professorial
Research Fellow at the University of
the West Indies' (UWI) Graduate
Institute of International Relations in
St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
pointed out that the operating environ-
ment for the airlines industry today
is vastly different from what it was
when BWIA and Air Jamaica were
in their heyday. "Deregulation and
Information Technology have brought
a large number of new players into the
industry and changed the way of doing
business. Low-cost operating, no frills
services, discounting and differential
pricing are among the hallmarks of
the new business models," he said in
a recent presentation on Caribbean
air transportation. "Fuel price increas-
es, security and environmental con-
cerns and global recession have greatly
increased the cost and volatility of the
business environment", he added.

It is not the first time that a Caribbean
airline is exiting the market. BWIA was
wound up in 2006. "It was privatised
in the 1990s and continued to make
losses, and has now reverted to state
ownership. Its rebranding as Caribbean
Airlines however was a strategic move
and may reflect its long-term ambi-
tion", said Girvan.

Bertrand, the man in-charge at BWIA
at the time said, "BWIA failed largely
because it was undercapitalised... it flew
unprofitable routes". He further pointed
that the other regional airlines were
also experiencing difficulties, notably
Bahamasair and Surinam Airways.

Bahamasair is the national carrier
of the Bahamas. It was set up after
the discontinuation of service to the
Bahamas by British Airways in 1970
and Pan American Airlines in 1973 due
to the fuel crisis leaving a void in
the Bahamian transportation industry.
Tourism and the lives of persons living
on the Islands were hurt. According to
the airline's website, since the 1990s
it has faced several challenges includ-
ing the loss of revenue particularly on
routes to the United States and escalat-
ing costs. The Board ofthe carrier then
mandated that the airline only engage
in routes that would be profitable for
the company. It has also introduced
several initiatives to plug the holes in
the carrier. These included the conver-
sion of its fleet to more fuel efficient
ones.

Bertrand says that Surinam Airways
has also faced financial difficulties.
Established in 1955, the airline started
its domestic activities and scheduled
services between Paramaribo, the capi-
tal, and the small bauxite town of
Moengo, using pleasure planes. On 30
August, 1962, the SurinameseLuchtvaart
Maatschappij was officially established.
It was only after the Dutch speaking
country's independence that the air-
line established a transatlantic route to
Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

LIAT's bumpy ride

Bertrand was cautious however about
commenting on the operations of
Leeward Islands Air Transport Services
(LIAT). Headquartered in Antigua
in the Eastern Caribbean, LIAT was
founded in 1956 and today services 22
destinations in the Caribbean. Over the
years the airline has also had a bumpy

ride. In 1971, 75 per cent of its shares
were acquired by Court Line, a well-
known British charter airline. Courtline
went bankrupt three years later but to
save the airline, 11 Caribbean coun-
tries came to the rescue and bought
the airline.

To save it from bankruptcy again,
LIAT was partially privatised again in
1995 and in January 2007 it announced
an intended merger with regional com-
petitor, Caribbean Star Airlines. They
entered into a commercial alliance,
involving the flying of a combined
schedule. However in June 2007, the
share holder Governments of Barbados,
Antigua and St. Vincent instead gave
the go ahead to the Board of Directors
to buy out Caribbean Star Airlines in
October 2007. LIAT has subsequently
changed its slogan to 'LIAT, Star of
the Caribbean'. The airline is owned
by seven Caribbean governments, with
three (Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda,
and St. Vincent and the Grenadines)
being the major shareholders.

Bertrand predicts that competition
from the bigger players in the market
will get "stiffer". He says that the region
does not have the financial capacity to
sustain loss-making airlines. "This is
not an industry for the faint hearted or
shallow pockets", he said.

International carriers from North
America and Europe such as JetBlue,
Jet Air, Air Tran and Westjet have been
capitalising on the Jamaican market. In
just one year the four carriers expand-
ed into Jamaica. Traditional carriers
such as US Airways, American Airlines,
British Airways and Delta have also
expanded their scheduled services.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

DI e

EU grounds

African airlines

An EU ban on over 100 African
airlines from its airspace is
benefitting EU companies, says the
African Airlines Association (AFRAA)
based in Nairobi, Kenya.

EU's 'banned' logo. EC

regularly revised 'blacklist' of
international air companies
that do not comply with EU
regulations was published on 30 March
2010. Eleven -out of a total of 17 coun-
tries -and a total of 111 companies on
the list are from sub-Saharan Africa.

AFRAA says that the EU list dam-
ages both the reputation and business of
many scheduled African airlines whose
safety records and adherence to safe-
ty standards of the International Civil
Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are com-
parable to the best airlines anywhere in
the world.

The ultimate beneficiaries of
the ban are European airlines
which dominate African skies
to the disadvantage of African
carriers

The banning of all Sudanese carriers
due to a poor safety performance of the
civil aviation authority of Sudan and
persistent non-compliance with inter-
national standards in area of oversight
-is one of the new entries in this thir-
teenth update. And although Angola's
airlines remain blacklisted, the ban on
TAAG Angola Airlines has been partially
lifted, meaning that the airline can now
operate under certain conditions with
specific aircraft to all destinations in
the EU.

Those countries whose carriers are
blacklisted are; Angola (see exception),
Benin, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon (with the exception of three
carriers that are able to operate under
restrictions and conditions), Liberia,
Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Sao

Tome and Principe, Sudan, Swaziland
and Zambia. Further, the majority of
aircraft of one company ofthe Comoros,
Air Service Comoros are banned from
entering EU skies, as are all aircraft of
Rwanda's Silverback Cargo Freighters.

European winners

"The ultimate beneficiaries of the ban
are European airlines which dominate
African skies to the disadvantage of
African carriers. If any list is to be
published, it should be done so by the
ICAO, the global regulatory of avia-
tion safety, which has a known track
record of impartiality", says AFRAA's
Secretary General, Nick Fadugba.

AFRAA argues that the majority of the
African airlines on the list have never
operated scheduled flights to Europe,
do not plan to do so and have no air-
craft with the range to fly to any EU
state."The list includes many airlines
that only exist on paper and are not
operational", says AFRAA. The United
States (US) has a more useful position,
it says, with regards to African air safety
challenges having launched a 'Safe Skies
for Africa' initiative to upgrade African
aircraft capacity by developing skills
and provide infrastructure to improve
safety. "All this is being done at a time
when only a few US carriers are operat-
ing to Africa", says AFRAA. It wants
the EU to emulate the US programme
with its own safety improvement pro-
gramme for the African continent.

"We are ready to support countries
that need to build up technical and
administrative capacity to guarantee the
necessary standards in civil aviation",
says EU Commissioner for Transport,
Sim Kallis

To view the full list: http://ec.europa.eu/
transport/air-ban/listen.htm

Courier

1IDose

EGNOS: EU satellite for

African skies?

The African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) are cooperating on how to
improve satellite communication navigation in African skies to enhance safety
and propel the continent's economic development forward. One option is to
extend the EU's own European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS)
to the whole of the African continent, its benefits extending to aviation and
beyond.

the existing Global
Positioning System (GPS)
and other satellite con-
stellations presently under develop-
ment, EGNOS will reduce accidents
on approach and landing particularly
for regional airports without traditional
navigational aids. EGNOS consists of
three geostationary satellites and a net-
work of ground stations. It transmits a
signal containing information on the
reliability and accuracy of the position-
ing signals sent out by GPS and allows
its users to determine their position to
within 1.5 metres. Aircraft flying over
the northern part of the African con-
tinent can already receive information

from ground systems placed in North
Africa.

"Aircraft from the EU to Africa and
vice versa will be able to use the same
navigation instruments over both con-
tinents. It is also worth mentioning that
the same signal is being used in the USA
and in Japan, and is being developed in
India and Russia", says Fabio Pirotta,
spokesperson for the EU's Enterprise
and Industry Commissioner, Antonio
Tajani. "An already completed cost-
benefit analysis of deploying a system
like EGNOS calculates a gain of lbn
for African society," adds Pirotta.

Improved air transport navigation and
safety standards in African skies were
priorities pinpointed at the first Africa-
EU aviation high-level meeting in
Windhoek, Namibia in April 2009. The

potential of an EGNOS-like system was
identified in the first Action Plan of the
8th partnership of the Africa-EU strat-
egy dealing with Science, Information
Society and Space.

A decision on the ail-important
issue of funding could come at
the end of year at the Africa-EU
Summit

The political go-ahead from the EU for
EGNOS (or a similar system) for Africa
and a decision on the all-important issue
of funding could come at the end of year
at the Africa-EU Summit to be held in
Tripoli, Libya on 29-30 November 2010,
says Pirotta. "The building of EGNOS
has cost over C700M to cover Europe.
Any solution to cover Africa would
involve sharing part of the EGNOS
infrastructure and would hence cost
substantially less", he adds.

The sky's the limit

Beyond aviation, EGNOS has spin-offs
in other sectors and could be applied to
improve knowledge of the positioning of
seagoing vessels, animal husbandry and
land management as well applications in
the oil and mining industries.

The EU wants to extend EGNOS to Africa which uses exciting navigation satellite constellations
(GPS, Glonass) and potentially Galileo a system of 30 satellites in medium orbit in development).
SESA

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Islamic Relief (IR) is a faith-based Non
Governmental Organisation (NGO),
but it does not just assist Islamic
communities in developing countries,
as its speedy aid to Haiti showed.

D. P.

Birmingham, the United
Kingdom, it works with the
world's poorest communities
regardless of race, religion or gender,
explains Sarah Douik, its Brussels-based
international officer. Its partners in over
30 countries implement and coordinate
aid, from the provision of water supply
to education and emergency humanitar-
ian aid.

The act of giving is not one of
generosity but also a duty to fulfil
nghts to the poor

Douik says that it has easier access to
Muslim grassroots communities espe-
cially through using local technical
experts and a few senior expatriates from
other developing nations. In Chad its
country director is Mauritanian and in
Mali, Moroccan. Its funders include the
European Commission Humanitarian
Office (ECHO) and the EU's European
Development Fund (EDF), Germany,
the United States, France, the United
Kingdom and Sweden.

- Islamic Relief

In Chad, the EU is presently co-fund-
ing with IR an 18 month 'Community
Development project in the Salamat
Canton' (563,243) to promote local
empowerment in 118 villages.

Although it is particularly active in
African nations with Muslim communi-
ties Chad, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Somalia,
Sudan and Malawi -Douik says it is the

values of the Islamic faith that guide its
actions. "The act of giving is not only
one of generosity but also to fulfil rights
to the poor", she explains. IR was one of
the first NGOs to go into Haiti following
the January 12 earthquake. In Sudan and
Ethiopia, IR also implements projects
with non-Muslim communities as it is
the case in Juba (South Sudan).

Vital aid to Sudan

In 1984, Sudan was the first country
where IR worked following the famine.
Many of the projects are focused on
conflict recovery and include drilling
boreholes, improving health facilities
and reintegrating refugees.
IR is also leading an NGO EDF support-
ed consortium under a Rehabilitation
and Recovery Programme. EU-funded
(initially for 2006-2009 with E54.3M
from the 9th EDF), and administered by
the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme (UNDP), it is reaching 800,000
people in ten areas across rural Sudan.
Individual projects which include ex-
panded agricultural production, medical
treatment, job creation and explanations

of the dividends of peace to communi-
ties, are being implemented by 48 na-
tional and international NGOs.
IR emphasises the importance of a sec-
ond phase ofthe project which could be
hampered because Sudan did not sign
the Cotonou Agreement (2000-2020)
before the deadline, July 1, 2009 and is
so not currently eligible for funding un-
derthe 10th EDF (2008-2013). In March
2010, the European Commission told
IR and other European NGOs active in
Sudan in writing that it is trying to find a
solution to address the vulnerable popu-
lations in Sudan using unspent 9th EDF
funds (2000-2007).

Courier

African Civil Society

Organizations missing out

on dialogue with China

D. P.

n many parts of sub-Saharan
Africa, China is emerging as an
economic -and political -power.
But more needs to be done to get
civil society organizations (CSOs) in
both Africa and China involved in mon-
itoring the deals done between African
governments and Chinese consortia,
heard a conference, 'China, Africa and
the European Union', organised by
the Institute of Development Policy
and Management of the University of
Antwerp (UCSIA), Belgium.

China's push into Africa is often cited
as "win-win" for both China and Africa
where African governments exchange
commodities such as oil, cobalt copper,
gold, ore and diamonds for Chinese con-
cessionary loans used for much needed
infrastructure investment for economic
growth.

"The challenge is how this will trick-
le down to the ordinary people. This
is what should be analysed by Civil

Society Organisations (CSOs) and other
actors", said Stefaan Marysse, Professor
of Political Economy at UCSIA. Zoom
into a map of the infrastructure of
sub-Saharan Africa in the 1950s still
under colonial rule and compare it with
that of 2010. They are almost identical
and show that such investment remains
outward looking -towards seaports
as opposed to creating transport links
within the continent. "Economic rela-
tions with China are very much the
same as a colonial power but without the
political domination", said Marysse.

Other issues which should be taken on
by both Chinese and African CSOs
include the conditions of labour used by
Chinese companies in Africa, environ-
mental degradation created by Chinese
projects and the new xenophobia
emerging in Africa directed at China,
Jonathan Holslag, Head of Research at
the Brussels Institute of Contemporary
Chinese Studies said. He alleged 40
murders of Chinese on the continent in
the last five years. The growing tension
beyond peaceful protests is being pro-
voked by Chinese companies bringing
in their own people and depriving local

people of jobs, and according to Holslag
by the belief that China has contacts
with local political elites. He said there
was a general perception of China being
"a negative and new colonising power".

No home grown CSOs

But the conference also put the spot-
light on the lack of home grown African
CSOs to raise such issues of China-
Africa relations. Many ofthe continent's
CSOs, said Anthony Otieno Ong'ayo,
had been set up with European funding
specifically to address European issues.
He called for wide-ranging pan-African
CSO dialogue to address and raise the
problems linked to China's presence in
Africa

Within China, CSOS are a fairly recent
phenomenon, put at 870,000 in 2002,
said Otieno Ong'ayo. They have mini-
mal contact with the international com-
munity, he said. The status of unregis-
tered Chinese CSOs is precarious and
they lack legitimacy and face fund-
ing difficulties whereas the activities
of those that are registered are lim-
ited by government policy; they can
neither advocate nor organise. Otieno
Ong'ayo thus called for Chinese CSOs
to form partnerships with similar CSOs
in China and also for more partnerships
between Chinese CSOs and African
academia.

See: www.ucsia.org

A visitor viewing items exhibited at the Africa Pavilion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. Reporters / Novosti

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

l~i~~ II

-g.:irr li--- -r -

images is a right"

Interview by Elisabeth Lequeret*
Journalist and critic for Cahiers du Cinma

Rithy Panh, the Cambodian director
of the famous documentary 'S21- la
machine de mort khmre rouge'
(The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine),
talks to us about a productive
working relationship with Imagine,
Gaston Kabor's training centre in
Ouagadougou.

y ou werepatron ofthisyear's
Cannes Film Festival, along
with the actress Sandrine
Bonnaire, of the Les
Cinmas du Monde Pavilion ...

It was an honour and a great experi-
ence. I came into this with lots of
intentions: that there would be an
exchange, a meeting point with these
twelve young filmmakers, including
six who incidentally are from the ACP
area. We need to back the future, and
they are the future. It was wonderful
to meet the young Nigerian filmmak-
er, Elhadj Magori Sani, and discover
his impressive documentary, 'For the
best and for the onion'. Our role is to
talk about them. l'll keep in touch to
see how they develop and how I can be
of help. I hope that more like Gaston
Kabor and Rithy Panh emerge, peo-
ple who make the cinema they like,

and who also want to showcase it.

You are a renowned film-maker
and in 2006 you also founded the
Bophana audiovisual resource cen-
tre, in Phnom Penh ...

We wanted to grow in three direc-
tions: memory, training and produc-
tion. We started off with the most
pressing, memory. Given our history
and the state of audiovisual archives
in Cambodia, collecting and restor-
ing the existing archives, which were
disappearing as a result of a lack of
money, was a must. At the same time,
we trained archivists and researchers.
We recently received a grant to put tra-
ditional Cambodian music online for
free. It is published as open content.
Those who download the music can, if
they wish, help us by making a dona-
tion, within their means: one Euro,

Courier

Round I

The band from RDC "Staff Benda Bilili" at the opening of
the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes. CACP

two Euros or more. The money will be
used to save Cambodian culture.

How many people work at Bophana
and what type of organisation is it?

Thirty-five, whose average age is
under 30. It is a non-profit associa-
tion. The idea is to create a structure,
then at a later point, when the state
has the funds, hand it over to them,
so that in the next ten years, Bophana
will become the National Cinema of
Cambodia.
At the same time, we also have to
train technicians, to build the core
professions. At the moment we have
two training programmes, for cam-
era operators and sound technicians,
taught by Cambodian technicians who
I trained myself ten years ago. We try
to include people outside the system,
people who are disadvantaged. Every
time I go into a paddy field, I think
that there may be an Eisenstein look-
ing after the oxen.

When did your work with Imagine,
Gaston Kabor's training centre in
Ouagadougou, start up?

Two years ago. Gaston is a great film-
maker and a great friend. He started
working in the area of training, where
he is much more advanced than us.
For example, Imagine is already work-
ing on an animation project. On the
other hand, there was no equipment
available to access images at Imagine.
Ouagadougou is almost like the Mecca
for cinema in black Africa. Gaston
Kabor does not, of course, claim to be
replacing the Cinema of Ouagadougou.
Rather, in a more modest way, Imagine
sets out to provide public access to the
cinema, not only in Burkina Faso, but
also continent-wide. My principle is to
always invite people to come to see us.
So, Gaston came to Cambodia, with a
representative of the centre to observe.
Then they wrote up the project, tailored
to their own needs. Bophana has lent its
expertise, that's all. Mostly technology.

Actress bandrine Bonnaire (centre) with M.H Makongo, Presidentot the Committee otAL;P Ambassadors (lett) and
Mrs Jeanette Kavira Mapera, Minister for culture and arts in the DRC. Accompanied by young ACP directors invited
to the Cannes festival, they ascend the stairs together for the screening of the film by Chadian, Houroun who was
winner of the jury prize. CACP

It's a project dealing with access to
images: what are the images?
Images from the films produced by the
Imagine centre, and perhaps eventu-
ally images from television and films
shown in the Cinema of Ouagadougou.
There is no point in digitising images
if they are then left on a shelf. For
a project to work you need the com-
mitment of a professional. Gaston is
a great filmmaker. He really wants to
convey something. He realized that it
was he who for years had brought eve-
ryone together at Fepaci (Federation
of African Filmmakers). He is a man
of integrity. All this interests me. He
wants to help us; I want to help him,
it's natural. I am therefore kept up to
date with what he does in the train-
ing field. He has very good ideas,
like bringing in professionals from
animated films. I applauded his move
to build a centre where disadvantaged
young people could sleep and work.
We cannot do this at Bophana because
of a lack of space, but it's a great idea!

"Ideally, French-speaking
people should get more
involved in South-South
exchanges"

Are you working on projects together?

Yes, film cycles. And archivists from
Imagine have come to train with us.
They learnt about our technology, then
a computer expert from Cambodia
spent one month in Burkina Faso to
help get the project started. It works
very well. They speak to one another
in French. Ideally, French-speaking

people should get more involved in
South-South exchanges. This is not a
money issue, but a political one. And
an issue of mutual trust. Everyone
must assume their own responsibili-
ties. If Gaston and I wanted to do
business, we would. But we love our
countries, we love our culture, our
people, everything.

Do you have projects in other coun-
tries in the ACP zone?

Five African countries are interested
in the project. They are going to come
to Bophana to see how it works and
perhaps, eventually, Imagine will take
over and work with them.

Which countries?

We have been liaising with
Mozambique and Rwanda. We need
to identify the countries where the
memory-related need is urgent. We
have met with people, but the way they
operate is a little too expensive. There
are too many members of staff. We
need to discuss these choices. Gaston's
proposal is to create three or four posi-
tions, and then expand according to
demand. Because there is work to be
done; we have to work with those in
education, to make one's voice heard.
At first people think it's not free, or
that it is complicated but our system
is as easy to use and fun as an Internet
search browser.

* You can find the whole interview in
French on the Courier website:
http://new.acp-eucourier.info.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Report by Marie-Martine Buckens

S ixty-six years ago, after long,
secret preparations, the allied
landings began on the beaches
of Normandy on 6 June 1944.
The liberation of the European coun-
tries occupied by Hitler's Germany was
under way. The landing, followed by
the Battle of Normandy, paved the way
for the liberation of Paris, and then the
whole of France. Four months later, it
was the turn of Belgium and its northern

neighbour, the Netherlands, to be freed
from the Nazis after another horrify-
ing battle, the Battle of the Ardennes,
centred around the town of Bastogne
in Belgium. This issue's 'Discovering
Europe' section looks at these events.
The main focus is on Normandy -or
more precisely Lower Normandy; until
the versatile French decided to reunite
the Lower and Upper parts -the ancient
dukedom whose name harks back to the
arrival of the Vikings ten centuries ago.

Leaving Caen, which is still known as
the 'city of a hundred steeples' despite

the fact that three quarters of it was
razed to the ground by the end of the
Second World War, and following the
'Road to Freedom' -a route running
from the landing beaches to Bastogne
-visitors will encounter the past but,
more importantly, the present as well.
In particular those men and women
who, through hundreds of associations,
are cooperating with their counterparts
in the South, as this region has based
its ethos on adopting an 'international
outlook'.

Courier

From Normandy

to Bastogne

village just a stone's throw
away from Madeleine Beach,
which became legendary
under the codename 'Utah Beach'.
On 6 June 1944 at 1 o'clock in the
morning, 15,000 American parachut-
ists dropped into the area. After three
hours of fierce fighting, Sainte-Mre-
Eglise became the first French vil-
lage to be liberated. Shortly before-
hand, the English took possession of
Bnouville bridge, an impasse to the
north of Caen, a prefecture in Lower
Normandy.

An impressive Allied fleet, made up of
7,000 war ships and landing vessels,
appeared along the Norman coast-
line. They were confronted with the
Atlantic Wall, a daunting network of
12,000 blockhouses and artillery posi-
tions stretching from Norway to the
Spanish border.

'Bloody Omaha'

The landing itself was able to get
under way. At Omaha Beach, just to
the east of Utah Beach, a first wave
of American soldiers leapt into the
water from the landing vessels. It was
low tide and to reach the foot of the

cliffs, they had to cover 400 metres of
open ground. By 8 o'clock, more than
half of the 6,000 men in the first four
waves were either dead or wounded.
By the first evening of Operation
Overlord, 35,000 men had landed, but
3,000 were left on the sands in what
would go down in history as 'Bloody
Omaha.'

Further along the coast, Arromanches-
les-Bains, at the far end of Gold
Beach, was taken by the English on
the morning of June 6. Once the
German defences had been breached,
the Allies faced the problem of how to
get fresh supplies through and land
heavy equipment, as all the major
ports, like Le Havre and Cherbourg,
were in the hands of the Germans.
Arromanches was chosen as the site
for the construction of an incredible
500-hectare artificial port codenamed
'Mulberry'. With a landing capacity
of 7,000 tonnes of cargo a day, this
artificial port was a key factor in the
progress made by the Allied forces.
It helped to secure the gradual lib-
eration of Normandy and in particu-
lar Avranches, a town close to Mont
Saint-Michel, freed by General Patton
on 31 July 1944.

A look back at history

During the Second World War, the
Axis powers controlled most of Eu-
rope, with the exception of Great
Britain. The USA, a rising economic
and industrial power, achieved deci-
sive military victories in the Pacific
in 1944 and the Allied troops were
fighting in North Africa. On the east-
ern front, Soviet forces had great
difficulty in holding back the Ger-
mans despite logistical support from
the Americans. Stalin suggested
that the Allies also carry out opera-
tions in Western Europe to provide
relief for his front. The Allied com-
manders Roosevelt for the USA,
Churchill for Great Britain and Stalin
for the USSR decided to open up
the front in France, more specifically
in Normandy, where the Germans
least expected it. It was decided
that the invasion would take place
from Great Britain, which became a
military hub where equipment was
stored and thousands of soldiers
were trained.

Sixty-six years on, this battle re-
mains the most significant logisti-
cal operation of the landing. Three
million soldiers, mainly American,
British and Canadian but also from
other Allied forces (French army,
Polish, Belgian, Czech, Dutch and
Norwegian troops) crossed the Eng-
lish Channel to land in Normandy;
130,000 arrived on D-Day.

The Bayeux Memorial commemorating the Battle of Normandy o Marie Martne Buckens

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Torches every kilometre
of the way

Liberty Road begins in Sainte-Mre-
Eglise. Stone markers, erected at one-
kilometre intervals, line the route and
a torch is carved on each of them.
The route crosses France from west
to east until it reaches Metz, where it
goes northwards to Luxembourg and
Arlon before finishing in Bastogne, in
Belgium, a distance of 1,145 km.

In December 1944, the Germans
launched a final offensive in the
Ardennes. For Hitler and his chief-of-
staff it was the last throw of the dice.
While the Battle of Bastogne was just
another chapter in this bloody conflict,
its outcome was crucial to the defeat
of the Nazi army. The German army
came face to face with the American
divisions. On 22 December, General
McAuliffe's legendary response to a
surrender ultimatum was "nuts".

To overcome the shortage of ammuni-
tion which threatened to become cata-
strophic, several parachute operations
were carried out. On 26 December,
Patton's troops broke through the
German defences, entering Bastogne.
However, the battle did not end until
16 January. Eight hundred of the
encircled troops were killed, 3,240
injured and 661 disappeared or were
taken prisoner.

The battle of Normandy a constant reminder at the Caen
memorial

Built on the site of a former blockhouse
where the German General Richter had
his command post, the role of the Caen
memorial goes beyond exhibiting the
history of the landings. It has the greater
ambition ofencouraging reflection about
peace by presenting the history of the
20th century. In this respect, it is the only
museum in the world offering a complete
look at the period from 1918 to the pre-
sent day.

Its activities are never-ending. Enjoying
a strategic position around 12 kilometres
from the landing beaches, the memorial
has just opened (May 2010) a permanent
exhibition dedicated entirely to D-Day
and the ensuing battle in Normandy,
which lasted until the end of August, just
a few days before the liberation of Paris.
The exhibition, built around 10 areas,
features 80 information panels, maps al-
lowing visitors to follow the progression
of military operations, 500 photos, slide
shows and films as well as posters, mod-
els and items from the memorial collec-
tions. Is such interest in this tragic chap-
ter of history still justified 66 years after

the event? It most certainly is, judging
by the number of tourists from Europe,
Canada, America and Asia who cross
the landing beaches.

'La poche de Falaise'

Tourists also flock to another memorial,
nestling in the heart of the Auge region,
at 'La poche de Falaise' where a key
battle took place in August 1944. After
the capture of Cherbourg at the end of
June, the allies' progression was halted.
Operations Epsom, Charnwood and
Goodwood in the British sector and the
Americans' arduous war of the hedge-
rows in Normandy's bocages had failed
to push back the German front. The bat-
tle of Falaise opened the way for the al-
lied forces to liberate Paris, but there was
a heavy price to pay. Tens of thousands
of allied soldiers met their deaths within
the space of several days, while the num-
ber of fallen on the German side was ten
times higher. General Eisenhower said
the battle was one of the greatest killing
grounds of the war and marked the be-
ginning of the end of the conflict.

Viewpoint indicator in Arromanches Xavier Rouchaud

Courier

St. Thrse, 'Patroness of the Missions'

More than 700,000 pilgrims travel every
year to the Basilica of Lisieux, built in
honour of Sister Thrse of the Child Je-
sus. But the city benefits little from the pil-
grims because of a lack of hotel accom-
modation a situation which the public
and religious authorities have decided to
improve.

Little Thrse, as she is also known, con-
sidered by the Catholic religion as one of
the greatest saints of the 20th century,
had an extraordinary life. An extraordi-
nary but short life which began in 1873
and was brought to a close 24 years later,
after two years spent in a "night of faith".
The future saint entered the Carmelite
Order when she was 15 years old. She
began writing what would collectively
come to be known as the "Story of a
Soul". Her writings, published in small
numbers shortly after her death, quickly
became an overwhelming success.

Why? "In the early 20th century, anti-cler-
icalism was virulent in France", explains a

lay attache to the Carmelite Order. Th-
rse knew some atheists, friends of her
uncle. She herself, suffering from tuber-
culosis, wondered about the existence
of God. But she decided to believe. Her
"little way" is the opposite of the doctrine
of the period which placed the utmost
importance on effort. Her "effort" was in
offering up the small deeds of everyday
life. She made reference to St John ofthe
Cross God is love in contrast to the
Jansenists, with their image ofa vengeful
God. In this way, Thrse brought a new
message. Very quickly, people began to
go to Lisieux, "a bit like the way that some
people visit the St-Sulpice in Paris, after
having read The Da Vinci Code!"

Canonised in 1925, Pope John Paul II de-
clared her the 33rd Doctor of the Church
in 1997. Patroness ofthe Missions, Th-
rse of Lisieux's popularity has spread
to many countries around the world, as
evidenced by the number of Carmelites,
especially in Africa, and also in the Car-
ibbean and Asia.

The Battle of Hastings in
cartoon strip

Hung in Bayeux cathedral in 1077,
this 70-metre long and 50-centime-
tre high tapestry, which is in fact a
piece of fine embroidery, depicts a
watershed in European history the
victory of William the Conqueror,
Duke of Normandy, over the English
at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

The tapestry welcomes more than
40,000 visitors each year, depicting
the epic tale which begins in 1064
when Edward, the aging King of Eng-
land who had no direct heir, sent his
brother-in-law Harold to Normandy
to offer the crown to William, whom
he had chosen as his successor. But
despite taking an oath of allegiance
to William, Harold seized the crown
of England on Edward's death in
1066. It only took William, who would
become William the Conqueror, sev-
eral months to prepare his troops
and lead them to victory at Hastings,
where he defeated Harold and his
army on 14 October 1066. Count-
less people have studied this unique
work and many believe the only true
subject of the tapestry to be the con-
quest of England and its justification.
It served as a kind of political white
paper as well as incidentally provid-
ing religious and moral edification.

However it is interpreted, the Bayeux
tapestry remains a masterpiece of
creativity. The method of narration,
the continuous scene-by-scene de-
velopment and the style of accen-
tuating subjects in relief are similar
to the techniques used in cartoon
strips. Eternal travellers, the Vikings
were influenced by artistic styles
from faraway lands that are reflected
in the tapestry Barbarian art (drak-
kars, furniture), Byzantine (flat fig-
ures), Muslim (brick arches), Persian
Sassanid (sacred fire between the
lions) and Egyptian Coptic (column
capitals and interlacing).

Part of the Bayeux tapestry 0 Reporters

The Lisieux Basilica Sunset/Reporters

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Historical farms in Lower Normandy Xavier Rouchaud

Farmers from developed and

developing countries face the

same struggle

Pascale Cauchy, the Vice president of the Lower
in charge of Culture and Heritage since 2010,
decentralised cooperation for six years.

SO ur decentralised coop- farmers i
c 0 eration is exemplary, the chant
and has even been of agricul
singled out by the towards t
European Union", explains the former agriculture
Deputy Mayor of Caen by way of intro- cial to far
duction. She continues: "To give you an since it
example: five months ago we organised the surplt
a conference bringing together farmers on stalls
from both developed and developing which w(
nations. We invited our traditional part- Decentral
ners from Madagascar and Macedonia, purpose".
and representatives from Peru. At this ties; mea
conference I spoke about our vision and devel
for the wealthy producers in developed or even b
countries. And yet, look at the milk thework.
crisis in Europe, which is hitting our say what's
producers in Normandy hard. In reality, ised area.
because it's a case of food security, we how to de
are facing the same problems as devel- advise dev
oping countries".
Pascale C
Respect of agriculture to apply
cooperati<
Pascale Cauchy, elected representative which sh
ofthe Europe-Ecologie Party, goes on to January.
say: "The problem is the vicious circle how cult
in which most farmers find themselves. and socia
Productivity is a synonym for overpro- source of
duction, but also for indebtedness and ofwork ai
excessive pollution. Fortunately, some

Normandy Region, has been
prior to which she headed

n Normandy have now made
ge and are practising a type
ture which is more respectful
he environment. A type of
*e which is also highly benefi-
*mers in the developing world
does not generate surpluses,
ises which would then appear
in developing countries and
uld stifle local production.
ised cooperation serves this
How? "By serving communi-
ning those in the developed
hoping worlds working together
y asking an NGO to carry out
But it is not up to the NGO to
right; it has its own special-
Whereas a community knows
velop its own territory and can
eloping communities."

;auchy fully understands how
the concept of decentralised
on to the area of culture, for
e has been in charge since
"Ideally, it's about looking at
ire -as well as its economic
i1 roles -can function as a
decentralised jobs. I have a lot
iead of me..."

L'Esprit Village has been a
staple in Orne for 17 years

Going back to nature is reality in
Lower Normandy. Proof of this can
be found in the ever growing suc-
cess of L'Esprit Village. The adven-
ture began in 1993 when Sylvie Le
Calvez and Claire Lelivre decided
to create l'Acteur Rural, a media
company based in La Carneille, in
the Normandy countryside. The
aim, we read in the magazine, is "to
demonstrate that the countryside is
undoubtedly a place of memory, cul-
ture, knowledge and know-how but
also a place of creativity, innovation,
a laboratory where the future is built
in a different way". Over the years,
l'Acteur Rural has acquired new
communication tools: la Lettre de
l'Acteur Rural aimed at professionals
which was subsequently replaced by
the Blog des Acteurs on territorial
and sustainable development, the
website of the Village magazine, and
a space for debates. Today it has a
permanent team of five people and a
network of around 15 writers spread
throughout France. The magazine
changed its name over time to be-
come I'Esprit Village.

Info: http://www.village.tm.fr/

Courier

I iye. ~ iviarie-viartine bucKens

There are more than 300 players in
the field of international solidarity in
the Lower Normandy region. Most
have joined forces as part of the
'Horizons Solidaires' association,
which is aiming to develop a new
approach: a territorial approach to
development.

L ia Chevalier, project represent-
ative for Horizons Solidaires,
explained: "These players,
most of which are non-profit
organizations, include educational insti-
tutions, public bodies and around 30
local and regional authorities commit-
ted to decentralised cooperation. These

players mainly provide support in West
Africa; Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal,
Niger but also in Madagascar, the
Balkans and, to a lesser extent, in south-
east Asia."

The Horizons Solidaires network focus-
es on and works with the majority of
these bodies in Lower Normandy.

The network's main tasks are to pro-
vide support, information and train-
ing for member organizations. "We are
currently in a post-evaluation phase,
and are setting up a development
approach based on the region", added
Lia Chevalier. Taking account of devel-
opments in national and international
cooperation, all the network's missions
and actions focus on three key areas:
'resource centres', 'engineering and
training' and 'dialogue forums'.

"An international outlook"

The project representative explained:
"The nature of the activities carried
out by the regional network, Horizons
Solidaires, is very diverse. It provides
individual and collective support for the
players in Lower Normandy, aiming to
improve their practices and strengthen
their capacities. It raises awareness of
decentralised cooperation among the
local and regional authorities and sup-
ports them in their projects. It offers
players a forum for exchange, dialogue
and pooling of their activities, in partic-
ular through the Mali and Burkina Faso
intensified dialogue groups. Thanks to
its communication tools, the network
keeps all players in Lower Normandy
informed of meetings, events, sympo-
siums, other international cooperation
events and co-financing opportunities".

The network is supported by both the
Ministry of Foreign and European
Affairs and the Regional Council of
Lower Normandy. Its policy guidelines
are set out in a tripartite agreement. In
addition, the network is committed to
the 'international outlook' policy estab-
lished by Lower Normandy as part of
the Lower Normandy regional develop-
ment initiative.

There are now nine French regions
which have multi-player regional net-
works: Resacoop in the Rhne Alpes
region, Lianes Coopration in the Nord-
Pas de Calais region, Medcoop in the
Provence Alpes Ctes d'Azure region,
CentreAider in the Central region,
Cercoop in the Franche Comt region,
Auvergne, Rciproc' in the Champagne
Ardenne region, Alcid in the Pays de la
Loire region and Cap Coopration in
the Aquitaine region.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

A territorial

approach to

development

Electricians without Borders

(Electriciens sans frontires)

The Lower Normandy section of 'Electriciens sans frontires' (Electricians without
borders) provides electricity and water for people in need in West Africa. Set up
three years ago, this relatively new NGO is working on four projects, three of which
are at implementation stage.

SW e are 35 volunteers,
Sy / people who have
/ taken early retire-
V V ment and employ-
ees. Most of us core from the engi-
neering industry", explained Maurice
Roupsard, President of Electriciens
sans frontires (ESF) in the Lower
Normandy region. Based in Caen, the
recently established organisation is still
in the development stage. Mr. Roupsard
added: "Our first task is to raise our
profile. We have only existed for three
years. We joined the Horizons Solidaires
regional network as this enables other
regional organizations or authorities to
call upon us."

This enabled ESF in Lower Normandy
to secure its first major project in January
2009. "Cherbourg town hall asked us to
examine and take delivery of a 64 m2
solar field in Casamance, Senegal. The
electricity produced should enable a
water tower to be supplied with water
from boreholes and a battery system to
be set up for local lighting", said Mr.
Roupsard. In addition to the receipt
of materials, the developing NGO has
also provided training for drill opera-
tors to enable them to intervene in
emergency situations. "All of the drill
operators in the region have been given
this training. We have also taken advan-
tage of the opportunity to meet the
team responsible for the hydro-electric
plant in Dakar to allow them to take
over", explained the President ofESF in
Lower Normandy.

Sustainability

The water tower (which had not been
used for 20 years as the diesel pump had
broken down) should enable the village
to be supplied with water and new areas
of market gardening to be established.
Mr. Roupsard said: "This will prevent
an exodus from the countryside. We
also want to stop new crops, like jat-
ropha, from becoming new cash crops,
like cotton."

ldiiiiiiiy -ri iuLuvuiLdiu dalu WVdLu[ pl ujeL III Lu~ddiiill dllue. w Liecirciens-sanstrontieres

The project has been launched by the
regional authorities in Casamance in
line with the new priorities of Horizons
Solidaires (see separate article). Mr.
Roupsard explained: "Within the
framework of decentralised coopera-
tion, a regional authority from the north
is cooperating with a regional author-
ity from the south. The project has
to be sustainable, and the population
has to be able to use and maintain the
equipment, which is where the training
we provide comes in." In Casamance,
ESF worked with another NGO from
Cherbourg and received financial sup-
port from the European Union.

Mr. Roupsard underlined: "We are not a
funding provider. The studies we carry
out are free of charge. We then draw up
an agreement and submit the draft to
the ESF's National Committee, which

ensures the project conforms to the code
of ethics established by ESF at national
level. We later carry out a brief iden-
tification mission on the ground. We
then appeal to companies in the Lower
Normandy region to provide the funds
required." The NGO which can call
on the expertise of ESF France, estab-
lished in 1986 -is currently working on
three other projects in Mali, Togo and
Madagascar. In addition to pumping
systems for drinking water, autonomous
energy production projects, essentially
photovoltaic solar equipment, aim to
provide lighting for classrooms and out-
patient and maternity clinics.

Courier

A culture of literature

and gastronomy

C capital ofthe Lower Normandy
region, Caen was known as
the 'Norman Athens' in the
17th century, in reference
to the academies of art and literature
established there during the period. The
city and its region delight in maintain-
ing this reputation, without overlooking
another art form dating back more than
a millennium, the art of cuisine.

In May 2005, the prestigious Magazine
Littraire commented: "Caen is today a
genuine centre of literature in view of
the magnitude and diversity of its exhi-
bitions and literary and philosophical
institutions ... it has kept alive the glit-
tering literary memory of the original
city, better known for its memorial and
beach landings than for literature, and
yet..." The poet Franois de Cornire
explored Caen in a work which is sadly
out of print, but available in the city's
excellent network of libraries. A vivid
portrayal ofthe 1950s and 1960s, when
Caen was enjoying a recovery after the
bombings, gives it an extra sparkle. He
writes: "Isn't it in Caen that they've
been talking about the May revolu-
tion since February 1968? Yes! But it's
ignored".

Going back even further, wasn't the most
ancient work in French literature, La
Chanson de Roland, an epic poem from
the end of the Ilth century, written in
Anglo-Norman? This region's passion
for literature has never been in doubt
since. There are other names we could
mention; Guy de Maupassant, Jules
Barbey d'Aurevilly, Gustave Flaubert,
the much celebrated author of Madame
Bovary, and even Marcel Proust who,
despite being a Parisian, looked out
over the bocages, lingering in Cabourg,
and immortalised them in A l'ombre des
jeunes filles en fleurs (In the Shadow of
Young Girls in Flower).

The region also boasts highly acclaimed
artists like Le Poussin, Gricault,
Fernand Lger and Marcel Duchamp.
It has also provided inspiration for
many others, including Claude Monet,
Courbet, with his falaises d'Etretat, and
Eugne Boudin, who painted the beach
at Trouville. Another major artistic
achievement is Gymnopdies by Erik
Satie, a pianist and composer born in
the region.

Marie Martine Buckens

Apples and tripe

The bocages the wooded countryside
typical of Lower Normandy looks like
a patchwork of English gardens, where
apple trees, interspersed with pear trees,
compete with one another in huge haras,
which are properties with prestigious
names like the Aga Khan. While the haras
are often hidden from view, concealed
behind hedges perfectly manicured with
dressmakers' shears, the orchards can
been seen from everywhere. They are a
mouth-watering sight.

Apples are used for ail sorts of things in
Normandy, not least tarts, apple juice
served at breakfast, cider taken as a
pre-lunch aperitif, and finally calvados,
enjoyed between courses in the even-
ing they call it the "trou normand" (Nor-
mandy hole) or simply as a digestive. It
is a liqueur that has had controlled des-
ignation of origin labelling (appellation
contrle) since 1942. Just like Camem-
bert, the famous cheese from the village
of the same name, and which partially

owes its reputation to the fact that it was
in the rations issued to soldiers during
the 1914-1918 war. Other cheeses, like
pav d'auge and pont-l'vque, followed
close behind.

The list of recommendations is far too
long, but don't leave Mont-Saint-Michel
without tasting the sait meadow lamb or
Caen without trying its famous tripe.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Aaron Mokoena with project participants. AaronMokoenaFoundation

Aaron

Mokoena:

Bafana

Bafana's

exemplary

captain

What drives Aaron Mokoena, captain
of the 'Bafana, Bafana' (Boys), South
Africa's national football team? We
spoke to him as he was preparing for
the FIFA World Cup Finals on home
turf.

D. P. and O.U.

African players onto the field
in their first game on 11
June 2010 against Mexico
which kicks off the FIFA World Cup in
the upgraded Soccer City Stadium in
Johannesburg. Known as 'the Calabash'
its design is based on an iconic African
pot, and it is a short-distance from the
football-crazy township of Soweto.
Aaron currently plays for Portsmouth
FC, a side that has had its ups and
downs this season. It is at the bottom of
the English Barclays' Premier League
(it has already been relegated and is in
administration due to debts) yet has also
won through to the country's FA Cup
final, to be held on 15 May in London's
Wembley Stadium against the team at
the top of the League when we went to
press Chelsea.
What would Aaron tell young people
who would like to be in his football
boots? "All I can say is follow your
heart, but the most important thing is
to be committed", he says on the eve of

one of Portsmouth's last four remain-
ing matches of the Premier League this
season. "Along the way there will be a
lot of sacrifices. You have to be ready for
these but most of ail, enjoy it", says the
29-year-old midfielder.
Aaron was born in the township of
Boipatong, 45 minutes south of
Johannesburg. "I loved being in sport.
1 used to play basketball and volleyball",
he tells us. He was spotted at an early
age by South African football legend,
Jomo Sono, who had his own club,
Jomo Cosmos "He saw me playing and
approached me", says Aaron. He spent
the next two years playing in South
Africa and at just 17 was the youngest
ever player in South African side to be
picked for the national side, a record
that still stands.
Adapting to Europe
Aaron left South Africa at just 18 to
play in Germany for Bayer Leverkusen,
and subsequently for Dutch side Ajax
Amsterdam and Belgium's KRC Genk
and Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen.
He left for the UK in 2005 to play for
Blackburn Rovers and this season joined
Portsmouth FC. He speaks of the per-

Courier

Zoo

- ~

--r mm

r-- ''S. >c.
.a.-f. 4N'3 -ara.
*; ':,~g sserrtMd ZktjlCLJd~ t4

Football training project, Aaron Mokoena Foundation, South Africa. Aaron Mokoena Foundation

sonal wrench of leaving South Africa
at a young age and having to adapt to
the unfamiliar practicalities of grow-
ing up in Europe. "I wanted to follow
my dream. I really loved football and
wanted to make it in football and here I
am today", he says.

Eagertogivesomethingbacktohis coun-
try, last year he launched in Boipatong
the Aaron Mokoena Foundation which
aims to develop football in South Africa
to the levels of what has been achieved
internationally by South Africa's nation-
al rugby and cricket teams as well as
developing young persons' life skills
through sport."It's all about creating
opportunities for girls and boys. I want
to leave a legacy", he tells us. As captain
of the national side, a lot of people look
up to him. "It is using football as a vehi-
cle but developing them in sport and life
in general for the future of South Africa.
Not everybody can become a footballer.
South Africa needs doctors, administra-
tors and teachers and so on."

Projects to be sponsored by the
Foundation include developing coach-
ing skills, especially at community level,
developing a football curricular pro-
gramme in schools, introducing girls
and young women to football and devel-

oping local junior leagues to increase
participation in competitive football;
also improving infrastructure for sport.
Aaron has put some of his own money
into the Foundation and has some spon-
sors but is keen for other partners to
come on board. "It is open doors for
others to come in and help", he says.

'Mbazo'

Known as 'Mbazo' ('The Axe') because
of his tackling skills, he says that his
nickname has stuck because of the way
in which he unswervingly takes eve-
rything on and never gives up. "I am
a very committed character but at the
same time, a very humble person. I do
not allow fame to take me over. I am
always in control of my life and destiny.
I want to be myself, not somebody else.
I want to enjoy my life and be judged in
a positive way", he says. Off the field,
he relaxes by playing golf and snooker,
watching movies, reading and listening
to music: "Almost anything that makes
me dance".

So how is he preparing for all the
big games this summer? "It's all about
training. The day before the game, I
love my privacy and have a quiet time
to think about the game ahead. On

the day, I don't like to think about the
match but like listening to my music
until the game starts."

"...you always have to be in
control of your life and not
let fame control you"

He is clearly relishing the prospect of
leading the host team out onto the field
at the Calabash -the historic stadium
where Nelson Mandela held his first
mass rally after his release from prison
in 1990.The coming weeks are extreme-
ly busy. After training for the FA Cup
Final, he was to join the national side in
South Africa in the run up to the World
Cup Finals. He says participating in the
FA Cup Final is now the highlight of
his career; previously it was playing in
the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2002 in
Japan and South Korea.

But he won't be drawn on giving pre-
dictions for the World Cup: "I feel that
this World Cup will be a surprising one
for everyone". It is the first time that
the tournament has been held on the
African continent. "I hope that African
countries can do well. Most of all, South
Africa has to do well and we are training
very well and very hard at the moment",
he says.

Will he still be playing for Portsmouth
next year? "At the moment, I don't know
what's going to happen. I still have to sit
down with the administrators and see
what their plans are. I just want to play
football", he tells us.

"I have been so lucky to have big coach-
es like Carlos Parreira [South Africa's
current coach] who told me that you
always have to be in control of your life
and not let fame control you. He also
treasures the words of his Portsmouth
coach, Avram Grant: "In football [and
life] you have to learn from and forget
all the negative things".

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

~ __ Ii

mn

between fatality

and lucidity

The earthquake that ravaged Haiti was not at ail exceptional, seismologists will
tell you. What has changed over the past century is the influx of populations to
urban centres located in risk areas, resulting in an exponential increase in the
number of earthquake victims. While waiting for a necessary review of national
planning policy, we take a look at some of the world's hotspots.

M.M.B.

For the ACP states, it is no doubt
the Pacific region that is most
at risk, Dr Michel Van Camp,
a seismologist at the Belgian
Royal Observatory, tells us. A quick look
at the list of major earthquakes (a mag-
nitude equal to or greater than 6 on the
Richter scale) in the past three months
confirms it: of the 50 earthquakes list-
ed (!) more than 20 were recorded in
the Pacific: in the Solomon Islands,
Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, or in Papua New
Guinea, a major epicentre. "It is what
is known as the Pacific 'ring of fire'.
The seismic activity there is intense, as
it also is in nearby countries such as the
Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan
certainly, and even Alaska."

Courier

Stretched to breaking point

The Caribbean (again for the ACP states)
comes second to the Pacific. "Before the
disaster in Port-au-Prince there had not
been an earthquake in the region for 250
years", explains Van Camp. "But the
Caribbean Plate is moving at the rate of
more than 1 cm a year compared with
the North American Plate. Do the calcu-
lation: that makes 2.5 metres of tension
built up in the course of two and a half
centuries. It could not hold out much
longer. It is like an elastic band stretched
to breaking point that finally snaps." Yet
he sees the Caribbean as an area less at
risk than the Pacific Coast of America in
this region.

"Cities are becoming potential
weapons of mass destruction"

The Belgian seismologist points to a
future high risk region: the foothills of the
Himalayas where India is colliding with
the Eurasian continent. "Earthquakes
of a magnitude of 8 are in the making.
When you look at the number of major
cities located in the Ganges Valley, then
disaster scenarios are certainly to be
expected." Although, like other seis-
mologists, he stresses the unexceptional
nature of current seismic activity, Van
Camp also issues a warning: "There will
be more and more victims when you con-
sider that more than half the population
now lives in major urban centres. Cities
are becoming potential weapons of mass
destruction". He also points out that
many cities in the Mediterranean Basin
are still on the danger list: Cairo (which
was partly rebuilt using blocks from the
pyramids following an earthquake in the
Middle Ages) and Alexandria (which
lost its lighthouse), Istanbul, a number
of cities in Algeria and Morocco, and
also Tehran.

Resettlement as
the need arises

The sprawling growth of Bukavu,
located on the banks of Lake Kivu
in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DCR), in the vicinity of vol-
canoes, the Indian megalopolises
in the Ganges Valley, close to the
Tibetan plateau, or the many homes
built in flood zones (as France re-
cently learned to its cost)... There
is a long list of dangerous places
on the planet where people, despite
warnings or even after being driven
out by disaster, have settled, in the
belief that they can escape an inevi-
table fate.

Until the authorities decide to act. But
compulsory relocation often gener-
ates anger and incomprehension, as
was the case after Hurricane Katrina
in New Orleans (United States) and,
just recently, the floods that hit areas
of Western France. In Mozambique,
following the 2001 and 2007 floods,
populations living on the banks ofthe
Zambeze River were moved to about
50 resettlement centres. In Tehran,
President Ahmadinejad is seeking to
induce no fewer than 5 million peo-
ple to move home due to fears of an
earthquake. In the absence ofa gen-
uine regional planning policy, these
are ail decisions taken in isolation as
the need arises.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

OuI i.,

Landslides and African
volcanoes

And Africa? "Compared with the
Pacific and Caribbean regions, the
African continent has been spared,
relatively speaking, thank God", says
Van Camp. But seismic risks, and
above ail volcanoes, are neverthe-
less real, especially along the fault
line ofthe East African Rift that runs
from Ethiopia to the Zambezi, over
6,000 km in length and between 40
and 60 km wide, creating the chain
of great lakes and the site of many
volcanoes. These are most numer-
ous (67) and least known in Ethiopia,
where Erta Aie has been erupting
continuously since 1967.

Then there is the Nyragongo, close
to Lake Kivu in the DRC. This leg-
endary volcano is also unique, by
virtue of its alkalinity that renders
its lava fluid and therefore very fast
flowing (up to 100 km an hour) and
dangerous. The inhabitants of Goma
will never forget the years 1977 and
2002 when major lava flows covered
sections of the city, leaving thou-
sands dead. The presence of large
quantities of methane gas in the
depths of Lake Kivu (an estimated 65
km3) is another threat to the popula-
tions ofthe region.

Luc Andr, head of the Department
of Earth Sciences at the Royal Muse-
um of Central Africa in Belgium, cites
the Nyragongo as an excellent case
study. "Its magmatic activity can also
produce increase of the methane
and C02 contents within the deepest
parts ofthe Kivu lake. Lake Kivu is a
stratified lake and a landslide could
easily cause an inversion of this
stratification." Carbon dioxide is also
found in small pockets close to the
ground, known as 'mazukus' ('devil's
breath' in Swahili), where it stag-
nates, being 1.5 times the density of
air, killing any people or animals who
venture into it. Luc Andr: "It is there-
fore vital for planners to map seismic
zones, zones at risk of landslides.
But this is far from being the case
and as the concentration of popula-
tions in urban areas increases so too
does the risk. Look at Bukavu on the
shores of Lake Kivu. It has become
an urban sprawl. The slightest land-
side and we risk another disaster."

a demand for sovereignty

Colette Braeckman

On the eve of the 50th anni-
versary of its independence,
which will be celebrated in
Kinshasa on 30 June 2010
in the presence of King Albert II of
Belgium, the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) is experiencing a unique
moment in its history with the recon-
struction of its infrastructure and the
reordering of a state so often presented
as bankrupt. The authorities, whose
mandate comes from the 2006 elections
won by President Kabila with 58 per

cent ofthe votes, are feeling the pressure
of time: 30 June 2010 will be a time of
celebration but also a time for introspec-
tion and review while the next elections,
set to take place in 2011, are already
determining the political agenda.

Countering the scepticism of the
International Crisis Group, which
in April denounced the stalemate
regarding the democratic project, the
National Assembly has launched the
next Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC). Its office is to
be limited to seven members, all from
political parties, to the great displeasure
of civil society which will not be repre-

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Inerc i

sented. The INEC will have the task
of organising the 2011 presidential and
parliamentary elections, and the local
elections, which should have already
taken place, having been postponed yet
again. When the celebrations core to
an end on 30 June, the election race will
begin, with a notable absentee: Jean-
Pierre Bemba, still held in The Hague
by the International Criminal Court.
The leader of the Movement for the
Liberation of Congo, a rebel movement
which became a political party, vice-
president from 2002 to 2006, a chal-
lenger to Kabila with 42 per cent of the
votes in the second round, Jean-Pierre
Bemba is still regarded by his followers
as the natural leader of the opposition
and his absence will weigh heavily on
the elections.

If the reconstruction work is to con-
tinue, it is a safe bet that the current
authorities will be given credit for man-
aging to mobilise the necessary capital.
However, past contracts with Chinese
state companies had to be revised and
reduced; loans provided by China in
order to revive the mining sector and for
large infrastructure projects originally
amounted to US$9bn, but pressure from
the International Monetary Fund, who
feared the country becoming indebted
again, forced the Congolese to renounce
US$3bn. This is a sacrifice which could
be offset by new partners: South Korea,
which has pledged to build the Banana
deep-water port, Turkey and Brazil. For
its part, the European Union has just
provided a major donation: 337M to
be allocated to infrastructure, the health
sector and improving river navigation.

Chinese contracts

In addition, the economic situation is
improving: benefiting from the dou-
bling of the prices of raw materials, the
government has for the first time set
aside surplus funds, limited inflation
to 14 per cent, stabilised the exchange
rate of the Congolese Franc at 900 FC
to one dollar and the Finance Minister,
Matanda Ponyo is certain that this
year the DRC will achieve the long-
awaited, almost mythical 'completion
point' of the HIPC (Heavily Indebted
Poor Countries), enabling the country
to cancel US$10bn off the total of its
foreign debt, estimated at US$13.lbn.
There is, however, one disappointment:
while the authorities had hoped that
the writing off would occur before 30
June, as a kind of 'birthday gift', the

People look at newspapers at a makeshift news stand in on a Kinshasa street, Democratic Republic of Congo. CAP

IMF has postponed the review of the
Congolese case until July. The experts
will once again investigate the now
famous 'Chinese contracts'.

Writing off the debt would, neverthe-
less, revive the 'social front' which con-
tinues to lag behind such as increasing
wages in the public sector and finally
establishing free education.

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of
independence, it appears that, in sev-
eral areas, the Congolese authorities
intend to restore state authority and
reduce what they perceive as the trus-
teeship ofthe international community.
This demand for sovereignty explains
the desire to see the United Nations
Mission in DR Congo (MONUC),
which has been present in this country
for ten years, bring its work to a close
in November 2011. In fact, Kinshasa
hopes that in 2010, the MONUC forc-
es will refocus on the eastern side of
the country. The most recent events
which have occurred in the province of
Equateur show that this may be a risky
gamble: in fact, over the Easter week-
end, the rebels, meaning the Enyele, a
tribal movement, attacked Mbandaka,
the capital of Equateur, and the opera-
tions to regain the city were conducted
by the Congolese armed forces with the
support of a MONUC contingent. It
later emerged that the rebels, armed and
equipped with sophisticated communi-
cations devices, were not just fishermen
fighting to recover their ponds, but part

of a structured movement receiving sup-
port in neighboring countries.

Insecurity

Other regions also remain plagued by
insecurity: the formidable Ugandan
rebels of the LRA (Lords Resistance
Army) are still rampant in the Uele
district, where they commit atrocities
against civilians (kidnapping of hun-
dreds of villagers, maiming, sexual vio-
lence ...), and these groups have not yet
been eradicated despite the efforts ofthe
Congolese army and the military train-
ing that is now provided in Kisangani by
American instructors.

In addition, the war in Kivu is far from
over: the military operations carried out
against Rwandan rebels by the FDLR
(Democratic Forces for the Liberation
of Rwanda) have allowed the repatria-
tion of more than 20,000 Hutus, but
armed groups still control certain min-
ing sectors and take revenge on civilians
while the former Tutsi rebels of Laurent
Nkunda (who is still under house arrest
in Rwanda) are generally integrated into
the national army but still control their
former strongholds.

The Congolese authorities believe
that the national army, which is in the
process of restructuring, will be able,
within a year, to take over from the
20,000 MONUC peacekeepers, but the
international community could decide
otherwise...

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Africa's re-birth

in bronze

The colossal bronze African Renaissance Monument, conceived by Senegal's
President Abdoulaye Wade, surges into Dakar's skyline with a strong message of
Africa's rebirth. It creates a dramatic silhouette on a featureless area of the city's
landscape and promises to raise funds for the country's young children.

D.P.

R wounding the 'Corniche' in
Senegal's capital, Dakar, a
giant African man protec-
tively holding a woman with
his right arm comes into view. His left
arm surrounds a baby who is point-
ing towards the Atlantic Ocean and
beyond. The bronze monument rises
from the extinct Ouakam volcano at
the Almadies tip, the most Westerly
point of the African continent. At 53
metres, it is now the world's tallest
statue. Inaugurated on 3 April 2010, the
day before Senegal celebrated its 50th
anniversary of independence, it symbol-
ises the rebirth of the African continent
after five centuries of slavery and two of
colonisation.
Dwarfing even Christ the Redeemer
overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(40.44 metres) and New York's Statue
of Liberty (46.5 metres) the monu-
ment's lifespan is put at 1,200 years.
Some African Heads of State including
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Liberian
president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and cur-
rent President of the African Union,
Malawi's President Ngwazi Dr. Bingu
Wa Mutharika and other dignitar-
ies, notably civil rights activist, Jesse
Jackson, were in Dakar to give it their
seal of approval.
New ties with Europe
President Wade explained to the gather-
ing that the robust African man exits
the volcano "as if propelled by an invis-
ible force, replacing the straight jacket
of the past with fresh stirring from
inner Earth". After the tragedy of slav-
ery, the statue sends the message that
"Africa is still there, not broken", said

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Wade, and is surging forth to form new
relations. Based on a union of reason,
cultural complementarities and mutual
friendship, a new triangular cooperation
between Africa, Europe and Americas
was replacing the triangular trade -
based on slavery, he said. From the
15th century onwards this consisted of
Europe capturing and buying slaves in
Africa and selling them to the United
States to labour in the cotton fields. The
cotton was then sold to Europe.

The statue also symbolised the need to
incorporate in the continent's develop-
ment both its "vibrant and talented
youth" and its diaspora as a "sixth
region", said Wade. "The time for take-
off has arrived for Africa", he added.

The monument cost
nothing to build

At a seminar in Dakar on the theme
of African renaissance on 3 April,
President Ngwazi Dr. Bingu Wa
Mutharika explained that the African
Renaissance meant a "a way of life", to
remove poverty and hunger, establish
good governance and move develop-
ment forward which should be driven
by science and technology. Other par-
ticipants put across the message that
Europe was closing to African peoples
and fears that Europe's special relation-
ship with Africa was being negated by
Europe's closer relationship with the
Mediterranean basin, including North
Africa.

Hungarian sculptor

A sculptor of Hungarian descent, Virgil
Magherusan, designed the statue envi-

sioned by President Wade in his 2006
book, 'Un destin pour l'Afrique' (A des-
tiny for Africa Paris ed. Michel Lafon,
2006, 262 pages). Mansudae Overseas
Project Group of Companies, a North
Korean group, one of only a few in the
world still making such huge structures,
was contracted for the construction.
Although the statue was estimated to
have cost 12bn CFAs (its current market
value is estimated at upwards of 20bn
CFAs), not a single penny had to be paid
said Wade. A legal "payment in kind"
agreement was reached whereby North
Korea was given land by Senegal's State
Property Registration Department.

Some members ofthe Islamic faith have
protested at the monument's represen-
tation of the human form but it is dif-
ficult to find other criticism on Dakar's
streets. Most say it sends the message
that "Africa is rising". "Other conti-
nents have their monuments, so why not
Africa?" said others interviewed.

Inside, when up and running, the visi-
tors' centre exhibition spaces, shops
and galleries are expected to generate
income. Visitors will eventually be able
to ascend by lift -or stairs -to the hat
on top of the man's head where there
is a circular observation 'terrace' that
looks across the Dakar peninsular to the
Atlantic Ocean beyond. The State holds
55 per cent of the monument's shares,
the Abdoulaye Wade Foundation 30 per
cent and the National Agency for Young
Children, 15 per cent. Wade has pledged
that during his period in office, 100 per
cent of the monument's earnings will go
to the national Children's Agency and
to the 'Case des Tout Petits', an associa-
tion benefitting young children.

Haiti's past and present tragedies
took centre stage at the inaugura-
tion. The performance of a scene
of the 1963 play, The Tragedy of
King Christopher (La Tragdie du
Roi Christophe) by Martinican Aim
Csaire gave a voice to one of the
heroes of Haiti's revolution (1791-
1804) which led to independence
from France and the formation ofthe
first Black Republic. Although Henri-
Christophe's Kingdom in the North
of Haiti fell, the monuments he cre-
ated, the Sans Souci Palace and the
'Citadelle' remain standing after the
12 January 2010 earthquake.

President Wade called on other Af-
rican governments to follow his own
example in offering land to Haitians
following the quake. As descendants
of black slaves, he said they had a
right to a new life on the continent.
For many ofthe slaves traded to the
Americas, 'the door of no return',
of the old slave post on the Ile de
Gore, a 20 minute ferry ride from
Dakar, would have been their last
footstep on the African continent. In
the speech on the inauguration of
the African Renaissance Monument,
President Wade said that Ile Gore,
now a heritage site of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO),
"carries the stigma of this shameful
traffic that Senegal has declared a
crime against humanity".

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

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Food security remains at the

heart of development strategies

On 31 March 2010, two years to the day after the first hunger riots broke out
in various countries of the south, the European Commission presented its new
strategy to help developing countries address the issue of food security in both
emergency situations and over the long-term.

M.M.B.

W while in the aftermath of
the 2008 riots all the
industrialized countries
blamed themselves, rec-
ognising that they had neglected agri-
culture in their aid programme, on 31
March the European Commissioner for
Development, Andris Piebalgs, empha-
sised that: "Enhancing food security
remains an issue ofprimary importance
for the European Union (EU). We have
placed food security, sustainable agri-
culture and rural development at the
heart of our policy towards our develop-
ing country partners. It is unacceptable
that, in 2010, one billion people are
still suffering from hunger and malnu-
trition." He added that the initiative
would help to meet the Millennium
Development Goals.

"It is unacceptable that, in
2010, one billion people are
still suffering from hunger and
malnutrition."

The strategy presented by the
Commission includes two 'strategic
frameworks', one of which ensures food
security over the long-term, and the
other in emergency situations. Kristalina
Georgieva, the Commissioner responsi-
ble for policy on emergency humanitar-
ian aid, said: "there can be more effec-
tive ways of helping people, other than
through simple food hand-outs." The
Commissioner explained the new meas-
ures envisaged include providing seeds
and tools to disaster-affected farmers
to help them get back on their feet and
offering cash grants so that people can
buy the food they need -helping local
producers in the process.

The long-term strategy foresees a series
of measures (see box) involving both
EU Member States and the interna-

tional community. Within this frame-
work, Andris Piebalgs announced that
the Commission had decided to allocate
almost 3bn billion in 2010-2012 within
the initiative on global food security

The long-term priorities
In its communication the Commission
proposes:
- A substantial increase in support to de-
mand-led agricultural research, exten-
sion and innovation, aiming to reach 50
percent by 2015;
-A joint initiative with the African Union
to accelerate the implementation of the
African Land Policy Guidelines;
- Support for the establishment or expan-

agreed at the G8 summit of world lead-
ers in 2009.

Info : http://ec.europa.eu/development/
services/dev-policy-proposalsen.cfm

sion of targeted and flexible social
safety nets adapted to local contexts;
- Promoting better integration of nutrition
in development policies, including in ed-
ucation and health, and related capacity
building;
- Support for the reform of the Commit-
tee on World Food Security to make it
the pivotal global institution on food se-
curity.

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Interview with Commissioner Piebalgs

"ODA not sufficient

to reach the MDGs"

M.M.B.

O n 21 April, you delivered
the first major development
policy statement of your new
mandate in the form of a
12-point Action Plan in support of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
These are the internationally agreed tar-
gets for tackling poverty worldwide by
2015.

What are the central messages of
your Action Plan?

Two main points: Europe has to respect
its commitments regarding financial
support to developing countries and has
to ensure that we have the best value for
money. Europe has already committed
to increase its aid to developing coun-
tries which today amounts a 49bn in
2009. We are the most generous donor
in the world, contributing to more than
half of global aid. Yet, we know this
will not be enough if we want to reach
our target of 0.7 per cent of EU GNI
to aid and ensure a drastic reduction
of poverty by 2015. This is do-able
but requires a lot of political will. The
Action Plan thus proposes to Member
States to establish realistic and verifi-
able annual roadmaps to be reviewed by
EU leaders every year until 2015. What
is at stake is Europe's credibility on the
global scene.

Why are we calling for more and better
aid? We are talking about simple things,
those that we take for granted in our
lives. They are: reliable access to clean
water, to energy, to a working transport
infrastructure, health services and to
education. I also add security and rule
of law as fundamentally important pre-
requisites for development.

We should not live under any false
assumption that this aid on its own will
succeed in bringing clean water, energy,
healthcare, transport and education for

everybody. It is only ifwe see our aid as a
catalyst, that we can harbour such ambi-
tions. Indeed, such a change could hap-
pen if this money can be used as a seed
to boost growth through supporting
the creation of new markets, generating
industrial activity or building capacities
such as improved tax systems.

Good governance is key to development.
Without the rule of law, security or
sound public finances aid will never suc-
ceed in giving people a long term future.
If we ignore this we will succeed only
in poverty management, not poverty
alleviation. Simply keeping people alive
is not my objective.

The Plan also focuses on the 'qual-
ity' side of aid. We have to make every
euro count, and target the poorest and
most fragile countries -for example
in Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa -as
well as the MDGs that are most off
track, such as maternal and child health,
food security and education. On top of
that, the Action plan also refers to the
importance of making our EU policies,

in other fields, work for development.
I will work closely with my colleagues
in trade, agriculture, environment,
climate change, security, and migra-
tion, all to ensure a coherent approach.
The accompanying message is that the
EU must define a common position in
view of the UN Summit on MDGs in
September and speak with one voice
to call upon other donors to match our
level of commitment.

Some of the member states are far
from reaching their objectives of 0.7
per cent of their GNIfor development
aid. Given this, would it be better to
work on another basis?

I don't think so. Member States agreed
to the 0.7 per cent target set out by the
UN in view of achieving the Millennium
Development Goals. Some of them
already reached this target, others are
going in the right direction. Changing
the basis would send a wrong message.
However, this does not prevent us from
thinking about new sources of financ-
ing for development. ODA alone will

Andris Piebalgs. 0EC

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

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It ra

not be sufficient to reach the MDGs.
Developing countries also have to help
themselves by raising further domestic
resources. We will help them to set up
sound and transparent taxation systems,
and we will accompany them in the fight
against tax evasion. Promoting good
governance will be one of my priorities.

With the new EU external relations
policy, is there roomfor cooperation
between the EU andindividual mem-
ber states' development policies? If
so, how do you see this new coopera-
tion working out in practice?

There is more than room! The Lisbon
Treaty calls for coordination of EU and
national policies, to increase efficiency
and plays on the complementarities.
It provides the Commission with the
possibility to "take any useful initiative
to promote the coordination" of these
national and EU policies. I already
intend making good use of this compe-
tency by calling Member States to coor-
dinate upstream their programming of
aid so that we avoid redundancies. That
way, we could save as much as 3 to
C6bn yearly. For some time now, the EU
and Member States have been success-

fully working together in selected pilot
countries. A more recent example ofthis
principle is the EU action plan for the
reconstruction of Haiti. We have been
able to establish a common plan, and to
present a joint pledge of f1.2bn during
the international donors' conference on
31 March. Now, I will work with our
international and Haitian partners to
ensure that aid is properly used. This is
how the EU can be stronger and more
efficient.

ACP-EU elected representatives

concerned at the situation in Madagascar

"I would like to convey one of the Assembly's concerns and that is the dramatic situation in Madagascar", declared
Louis Michel at the inaugural meeting of the 19th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 31 March
in Tenerife (Spain).

M.M.B.

Minister Miguel Angel Mora-
tinos, the MEP and Assembly
co-president called on the
EU Council to strengthen European
sanctions imposed on Madagascar
and to bring them into line with those
decided on by the African Union (AU).

"The elections have become a major
source of conflict and political violence",
said ACP co-president Zambian Charles
Milupi, expressing his regret, "when
in fact they are intended to decide
between political sensibilities and
guarantee peace and stability". He
added that "as members of parliament
and of the JPA we must fully oppose
any non-democratic seizing of power,

whether through coups d'etat or civil
manipulation of democratic processes".
Milupi stressed the direct involvement
of the African Union, ECOWAS
(Economic Community of West African
States) and the SADC (Southern African
Development Union) in the political
crises in Niger, Guinea and Madagascar.

The ACP Assembly, which twice a year
brings together 78 MEPs and 78 national
MPs from the African, Caribbean and
Pacific states, relegated the delegations
from Niger and Madagascar to the rank
of observers without voting rights on
grounds of the lack of constitutional
order in those countries. Louis Michel
pointed out that Niger "is making
positive proposals that point in the right
direction". Equatorial Guinea, which is
also grappling with political problems,
did not send delegates to the Tenerife
meeting.

Agrofuels to the rescue of
food security?
Contrary to the opinion of most ana-
lysts, the PANGEA association be-
lieves that food and agrofuel produc-
tion can go hand in hand. Meghan
Sapp, Secretary General of Part-
ners for Euro-African Green Energy
(PANGEA), told the ACP-EU Joint
Assembly meeting in Tenerife that
agrofuels had been wrongly present-
ed as responsible for the 2008 rise
in world food prices. She countered
claims that agrofuels have served to
link food prices to oil prices by point-
ing out that rice prices remained high
even after oil prices fell. Another ar-
gument submitted by Meghan Sapp
is that food production has risen
steadily at the rate of two per cent
a year over the past 20 years while
the population growth rate dropped
to 1.14 per cent a year. She also
stressed the detrimental effect of
trade barriers and subsidies that re-
duce access to food and drew atten-
tion to the structural adjustment pro-
grammes imposed on the developing
countries in the 1980s that resulted
in them opening up their markets to
food exports from Europe, the United
States and Brazil at dumping prices.

Courier

It ract

Sudan: A step towards

the 2011 referendum

Ministerial dialogue held
in Luxembourg 26 April
called on Sudan to settle
its outstanding differences post-
election and fully implement the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA). The CPA includes the holding
of a January 2011 referendum on
southern Sudan's self-determination.

At a separate meeting, the EU's 27
Foreign Ministers said they had
concerns that Sudan's recent legislative
elections, held 11-15 April -the first
in 24 years -had not fully complied
with international standards. However,
they too voiced support for the CPA
between the Government of Sudan and
Sudan People's Liberation Movement

and the referendum which is expected
to determine whether the south -which
is largely Christian -should split from
the mostly Muslim north. EU Foreign
Ministers also said that the EU was
committed to maintaining a high level of
humanitarian aid for Sudan in response
totheneeds ontheground. Sudanhasnot
signed the Cotonou agreement (2000-
2020) and does not receive European
Development Fund (EDF) assistance.
EU Ministers also called for ail parties
in the Darfur crisis to address the root
causes ofconflict in a peaceful dialogue.

Sudan's recent national poll returned
incumbent President Omar-al Bashir
with 68 per cent of the vote, whereas
in the semi-autonomous southern part
of the country, leader of the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement (SPLM),
Salva Kirr, received 93 per cent of
the vote. The 130-strong EU observer
mission for the elections, led by Belgian

Socialist Member of the European
Parliament, Vronique de Keyser,
together with a six-MEP delegation
headed by Portuguese Socialist,
Ana Gomes, reported allegations of
widespread meddling in the voting
process. Gomes, however, applauded
the "lively political debate" which she
hoped would now propel the country's
"democratic transformation" forward.
She added that it was important that the
EU already look beyond the referendum
to help ensure that Sudan does not
become a failed state. "We should not
end up with institutions in the south
that are weaker than those in the north
which is the case already," said Gomes.
She suggested that funds be used
under the EU's stability instrument,
for example, to build the capacity of
institutions and civil society.

Cannes 2010: the ACP

promotes its cinema

For the first time the ACP Group was the official partner of the Les
Cinmas du Monde Pavilion (World Cinema Pavilion) in Cannes. At this
63rd edition of this prestigious festival, the President of the Committee
of ACP Ambassadors, Mr. Ren Makongo, the Ambassador of Gabon,
explained to the cinema going public how the policies of the ACP Group are
contributing to cultural development in ACP countries.

Jacqueline Meido-Madiot*

and the ACPFilms Programme,
along with its partner
EuropeAid, which manages
EU-funded external programmes,
accompanied the young ACP directors,
in partnership with OIF, RFI, TV5
Monde, CFI, and the French Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. Overall coordinator
was CulturesFrance, which was running
the Les Cinmas du Monde Pavilion.

The tone of the Festival was set
even before its official opening. On
13 May 2010, the ACP Secretariat
brought the Les Cinmas du Monde
Pavilion to life by organising an 'ACP

Day', a special event to welcome 12
young filmmakers from the Artistic
Delegation, including six from the ACP,
and three beneficiaries ofthe ACPFilms
Programme. A public meeting was held
on 'development cooperation policies in
the cultural field'. The event whipped up
lively debate, which went on throughout
the festival, and especially during the
legal workshops led by Matre Michel
Gyori. The ACP Secretariat, also a
partner of the Film Market, hosted
a 'Producers Network' round table.

As well as accompanying ACP
filmmakers, the ACP Secretariat was
a partner in the opening evening of
'Director's Fortnight', with a screening
of the film 'Staff Benda Bilili' directed
by Renaud Barret and Florent de La
Tullaye, which showcases a musical
group from the city of Kinshasa.

The grand premiere: Mahamat Saleh Haroun, an official
selection, took the Jury Prize. With "A Screaming
Man...", the Chadian director, officially in competition
in Cannes for the first time, has made his fourth feature
film. In 1999, his first film "Bye-Bye Africa" was selected
for the Venice Film Festival and won the Best First Film
Prize. Next "Abouna" was presented at the Director's
Fortnight in 2002 and "Daratt", received the Special Jury
Prize in Venice in 2006. With "A Screaming Man", the
ACP Secretariat is delighted that a film supported by the
ACPFilms Programme is gaining recognition. M S Haroun)

As the ACP Committee ofAmbassadors
examines possibilities for the cultural
sector's future funding under the 10th
European Development Fund, the award
of the Jury Prize to Mahamat Saleh
Haroun, only strengthens the call from
AC P professionals for continued political
and financial support in the field. It
is vital for the expansion, including
the economic development, of both the
ACP creative sector and film industry.

*Jacqueline Meido-Madiot is the Consultant
on Cultural Policies for the ACP Secretariat.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Burund

forward, now i

i moves

t peace

Hope is reborn and new initiatives
are bearing fruit. "Peace is back". It's
not really fresh news; the last armed
faction laid down its arms back in
April 2009. But this is one of those
countries that appear to be locked
into an image which people hold of
it, in this case that of ethnic conflict.
Burundi deserves to be discovered,
for the economic opportunities, for its
programmes to strengthen democracy,
for its beauty, and above ail for the
qualities of its people, hospitable,
respectful of others, and full of
curiosity about the outside world.

Report by Hegel Goutier

the first elections recognized
as democratic. A new round of
elections will begin this May,
from local councils to the president,
continuing until July or August. It's
clear that the demons of old have not yet
been fully exorcised. No one would dare
to exclude altogether the possibility of
outbreaks of ethnic hatred, but observ-
ers appear to be optimistic and that
progress hence far is irreversible.
The blurring of the ethnic
factor
The most significant victory chalked up
by the country in the last few years is the
blurring ofthe ethnic factor. At the time
of the Courier report in April, there was

more concern about the risk of fraud
by political parties than about issues of
ethnicity. The country's new constitu-
tion balances the "one man, one vote"
system with a quota arrangement for
each ethnic group at ail levels of power.
Forty per cent of seats for deputies are
automatically reserved for Tutsis, and
Hutus and Tutsis enjoy equal represen-
tation (50-50) in the upper chamber,
the Senate, even though the latter group
represents just 16 per cent of the total
population. Neither one of the two
groups may possess more than 67 per
cent of the local administrative staff in
any given municipality in the country,
nor is any party allowed to be mono-
ethnic.
Should the 2010 elections pass without
incident, Burundi will enter a new era
in its history, allowing its potential, in
which a number of foreign organizations
have already shown their interest, to

Courier

shine. The fields ofhydroelectric power,
the mining of minerals, and tourism all
look promising. And then there's the
country's strategic position for southern
and central Africa.

Forty per cent of seats for
deputies are automatically
reserved for Tutsis, and
Hutus and Tutsis enjoy equal
representation (50-50) in the
upper chamber, the Senate.

History

Like the rest of Africa, the territory
occupied today by Burundi was already
settled at the start of the Paleolithic
period, as proven by the 'finds' of carved
stones. Iron tools also show that human
beings were active here in the early Iron
Age. Oral sources transmitted from gen-
eration to generation by accredited pos-
sessors of the truth point to the arrival
in the area of the Great Lakes around a
thousand years ago of a people speaking
a Bantu language. This group is consid-
ered to be the Hutus, a farming people
who supposedly drove out the Pygmies,
whose descendants are thought to be
the Twas, a marginal group today. A
later period saw the arrival from the
north-east of Africa (Ethiopia, Egypt,
Somalia) of the Tutsis, who were live-
stock farmers.

The first kingdom of Burundi was
established at the end of the eighteenth
century, under the leadership of the
king (Mwami) Ntare Rushatsi, a mythi-
cal hero. Most oral sources indicate

Mwaro village. o Hegel Goutier

that he was a Hutu, and that the kings
almost always married Tutsi women.
The descendants of these unions are
known today as 'Ganwa', neither Hutu
nor Tutsi.

The first European explorers arrived in
the area in the middle of the nineteenth
century. Livingstone and Stanley met in
Burundi in 1871. In 1890, the country
became a German protectorate, joining
with Rwanda under the name Ruanda
Urundi, but the monarchy survived.
After the First World War, the League
of Nations entrusted Ruanda Urundi to
Belgium, which was to annex the two
countries to Congo in 1925. The first of
the major revolts against the occupying
power took place in 1934.

The colonist's game: Tutsis
against Hutus

What followed is recounted for us by
the historian Augustin Nzojibwami,
former president of the FRODEBU
(Front for Democracy in Burundi)
political party who tirelessly works
for dialogue between the two com-
munities. The Belgian administration's
policy was to use the Tutsi minority
against the Hutu majority. In 1957, the
'Bahatu Manifesto' made its appear-
ance in Rwanda, followed by a revolt
against the colonial system. At the end
of 1960, local elections with universal
suffrage were organised in the three
territories. In Burundi the victorious
parties were those which advocated a
regime of trust territory rather than
outright independence. The legislative
elections of September 1961, however,
were won by the UPRONA (Union for
National Progress) party, a supporter
of independence and largely made up
of Tutsis. On 1 January 1962, Rwanda
and Burundi hence became autonomous
states and six months later, on 1 July,
they became formally independent. At
this point the two countries separated.
The former opted for a republican sys-
tem and the second remained a monar-
chy. Shortly after, the prime minister
of Burundi, who was also a prince, was
assassinated. Burundi fell into the tur-
moil which would only come to an end
in 2009. In 1966, under the leadership
of UPRONA, a one-party system, which
was to last until 1982, was introduced. A
major outbreak of killings took place in
1972.The victims were essentially Hutus
and some 300,000 people were killed.

The elections of 1993 were won by the
FRODEBU party, made up for the most
part by Hutus, and the president of
Burundi, Melchior Ndadaye, was assas-
sinated in the same year, sparking off a
wave of massacres against the Tutsis.

This turn of events led to the arrival of
UN troops and to the long Arusha peace
process under the auspices of President
Mandela, which eventually resulted in
a peace agreement finally brought to
completion when the last Hutu armed
movement, the FNL, laid down its arms
at the end of 2009. The introduction
of the new constitution guarantees the
participation of both principal ethnic
groups in all levels of administration in
the country.

* See Christine Deslaurier's Petit Fut Guide
to Burundi.

Painting of a king. "Oral sources indicate that the first kings
(Hutu) almost always married Tutsi women"
Hegel Goutier

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Report

Repor

Economic development

in Burundi: a quickening

of the pace

Yves Sahinguvu is the first vice-
president of Burundi, a position
reserved for a Tutsi under the terms
of the constitution ratifying the Arusha
Accords, which put an end to fifteen
years of civil war.

HG The President of the Republic
is in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) at the moment. Is this
visit part of the consultation process
between countries of the Great Lakes
region?
It is true that the President is vis-
iting the DRC. Relations within the
Economic Community of the Great
Lakes Countries (CEPGL) are very
good. Burundi is also part of the East
African Community (EAC). After all the
conflicts in the region, things are now
going very well between Burundi, the
DRC and Rwanda. Trust is being revi-
talised and the economy boosted. The
region's development bank, the BDGL,
which put the three countries back on
their feet has now been relaunched,
and agricultural projects are up and
running once more. The methane gas
of Lake Kivu is being exploited by the
DRC and Rwanda, and Burundi is soon
to join them. Other projects in the pipe-
line, include the Ruzizi 3 hydroelectric
dam, the power station needed by all

of our countries, and in the case of
Burundi, major industrialisation works
are going ahead like nickel extraction at
Musongati.

"The crisis has also led to a
reduction in budgetary support"
How has the global economic crisis
affected Burundi's economy?
The world crisis has hit us hard. We
have just come out of fifteen years of
conflict. The last rebel group only laid
down their arms in April 2009. Burundi
is a country that depends mainly on its
agriculture, in particular the cultivation
of coffee and tea for export. The crisis
has had its repercussions, most sig-
nificantly in the drying-up of bilateral
aid. There has also been a reduction
in direct investment. The most impor-
tant factor has been reduced export
earnings. Between July and September
2008, the price of our coffee fell by 24.1
per cent. The crisis has also led to a
reduction in budgetary support.

Courier

Yves Sahinguvu. o Hegel Goutier

Which backers have reduced aid?

Countries which have helped us histori-
cally, like France, but we are genuinely
happy that the European Union (EU)
has provided support and continued
to do so in 2009. An organisation has
been set up to keep tabs and auster-
ity measures have been taken as far as
public spending is concerned. Greater
transparency has been introduced in
the administration of State finances. We
have asked for budgetary support from
the EU and 7.5M from the 'vulner-
ability FLEX' programme. We have also
received strong support from Belgium.

Budgetary support is normally
granted to countries with relatively
high standards of government. How
are preparations for theforthcoming
elections?

The government is very happy about
what has already been achieved in the
lead-up process to the May elections.
The electoral code has already been
promulgated, the electoral commission
set up, the calendar announced, and the
enrolment of voters completed. Now is
the time for the posting of electoral lists.
The financing is in place, and there is
a shortfall of only $US10M, which we
hope to be able to find between now
and the elections. The code of conduct
for the different political parties has
been agreed, and a decree has been
announced summoning the voters to

the various elections: local, presidential,
and for the legislature and the Senate.
Observers have been invited, and the
EU has responded very positively, pro-
viding 83 observers. There will also be
other observers from the African Union
(AU), the EAC, the CEPGL, and from
Belgium, France and Germany.

"We have reached an agreement
with the United Nations with
a view to no amnesty being
granted for war crimes,
genocide and crimes against
humanity"

There are, however, some difficulties
and challenges. There have been isolat-
ed cases of intolerance, and confronta-
tions between young people affiliated to
political parties, particularly involving
individuals linked to the majority party.
The government has already taken steps
to put an end to these problems. There
have been attempts by certain mem-
bers of political parties to purchase
attestations of registration for certain
individuals, but the CENI (National
Independent Electoral Commission) has
taken effective measures to counter such
fraud. We also have to pay close atten-
tion to fraud related to the use of infor-
mation technology, but on the whole we
are optimistic.

What about intimidation ofjournalists?

It is true that a few journalists have been
intimidated, arrested and taken to pris-
on. There are presently no journalists in
prison, and things have got better.

Given the massacres of the past, is
it the case that justice and recon-
ciliation between Hutus and Tutsis
is impossible without a Truth and
Reconciliation process like that of
South Africa?

Social reconciliation is a must for
Burundi. Specific measures were taken
after the Arusha Accords. These were
integrated into the Burundian consti-
tution and the electoral code, name-
ly the quota system. We have 60 per
cent Hutus and 40 per cent Tutsis (the
minority ethnic group) in the govern-
ment, and the same proportion in the
National Assembly. In the Senate, it is
50 per cent for each group, because this
is the authority with the responsibil-
ity of keeping an eye on what happens
in the other governmental institutions.
It is 50-50 too in the army, and at the
rank-and-file level of local government,
no one ethnic group can have more
than 67 per cent of local administrative
staff, etc.

Resha Beach / Lake Tanganiyka. o Hegel Goutier

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Report

Other measures have also been taken to
recover and honour Burundian cultural
values and encourage mixing at a ter-
ritorial and ethnic level, like the peace
villages housing internally-displaced
Tutsis and repatriated Hutus who have
returned from Tanzania (ofwhom there
are almost 800,000).

We have reached an agreement with
the United Nations with a view to no
amnesty being granted for war crimes,
genocide and crimes against humanity.
As far as the possible future relationship
between the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission and the Special Tribunal
for Burundi which are to be set up, we
still have to come to an understand-
ing. Is the Tribunal prosecutor going
to be satisfied with the cases that the
Commission refers to him, or will he
be able to submit a case to the court
himself?

Burundi seems to be lagging
behind its neighbours economically.
Rwanda, for example, has its sights
set on becoming a minor economic
dragon.

Several programmes have been set up
with a view to kick-starting the econ-
omy. We have plenty of assets, like
our major nickel deposits, petroleum in
Lake Tanganyika, the lake itself, and a
range of truly magnificent landscapes. A
number of backers are now at the point
of making investments. As far as the
East African Community (EAC) is con-
cerned, we are in the process of bring-
ing all the customs systems together,
including VAT regimes. In the near
future, I believe that we will perhaps
progress faster than Rwanda.

As regards government, there has
been some harsh criticism, in par-
ticular in relation to the fraudulent
sale of the presidential plane.

This has been in the news for three or
four years now, and in fact the National
Assembly has set up a commission which
has published a report on it, and this is
now in the hands of the Ministry of
Justice. We firmly believe that this proc-
ess will be rapidly dealt with and those
who were ultimately responsible for this
abuse will be brought to justice. It is not
acceptable that a plane should be sold
under conditions that were not properly
specified, or that such lapses should be
allowed to pass unpunished.

What are your other foreign affairs

inaepenaence m

priorities? Are you interested in
relations with China, Thailand and
Brazil?

We are a landlocked nation. We have to
have good relations with neighboring
countries. China gives us support in
a wide variety of fields, such as health
care, agriculture and many more. With
regards to Thailand, we are perhaps
taking our first steps now, with a project
in the pharmaceuticals field. We con-
tinue, however, to enjoy close relation-
ships with long-standing partners like
Belgium and the EU.

We decided to seek integration into the
EAC for a number of reasons, the first
and foremost being the small size yet
significant population of our country.

monument, bu]umoura. v enave peny or asses". o Hegel Goutier

We are keen for our people to enjoy free-
dom of movement in the wider region.
This has already been achieved within
the EAC, and is due to come into force
in July 2010. Burundi has had problems,
of course, with dualism between the
two ethnic groups. We now need to bury
this in the context of a larger political
group, in order to forget our internal
disputes. We mustn't forget that we only
have small, with a population of just
eight million, so we have to be part of a
bigger unit.

Courier

e'por

Report

Multiple opposition

On the eve of the elections, around
forty opposition parties are lined up to
face the government of the president
of the republic, Pierre Nkurunziza,
whose rule is based largely on the
support of the CNDD-FDD* party. In
the absence of reliable opinion polls, it
is impossible to evaluate the electoral
significance of the opposing parties,
but ail of these groups are harsh
critics of the government, accusing
it of poor governance, thinly-veiled
repressive actions, and corruption.

f observers are to be believed,
those in the best position to take
advantage of the situation are the
old parties previously in power,
FRODEBU and UPRONA, and a
new movement led by the fiery Alexis
Sinduhije, formerly an independent
journalist who, after conducting investi-
gations into a number ofmurky business
deals, spent time in prison for "insulting
the head of State".

For Lonce Ngendakumana of
FRODEBU, grievances against the
party in power are multiple.The govern-
ment puts budgets for programmes to
the vote without providing all the neces-
sary information. Examples can be seen
in a set of six dams, and a large airport
in the centre of the country. According
to Ngendakumana, the government has
also covered up serious cases of misap-
propriation of funds, as, for example,
in the case of the fraudulent sale of the
presidential plane when it is supposed to
be leading the fight against corruption.

Ngendakumana also accuses the presi-
dent of abusing his power. He says the
second vice-president of the country,
who blew the whistle on the plane
affair, has been excluded from the par-
liamentary committee and accused of
conniving with the opposition, and that,

through the Constitutional Committee,
the President has illegally dismissed 22
deputies who criticised him. Parliament
is in fact the only institution with the
legal right to call for such a sanction.
The President has also been accused of
having turned a blind eye to a militia
linked to his party which has terrorised
members of the opposition. This militia
is alleged to have killed as many as six
members of FRODEBU.

The leader of UPRONA, Bonaventure
Niyoyankana, lays emphasis too on the
culture of impunity in favour of power-
ful organizations that apparently played
a role in crimes against humanity in
the years of the conflict, and also of the
criminals who assassinated the vice-
president of OLUCOME (Watchdog
for the Fight against Corruption and
Misappropriation of Funds), Ernest
Manirumva, and other defenders of civil
liberties. He also attacks the nepotism of
which the government is accused.

Alexis Sinduhidje of the MSD (Move-
ment for Solidarity and Democracy)
says he wants to build a country which
is completely without fear. He says the
State should grant each citizen the right
to protection.This is not the case today,
he says, giving the example of his own
imprisonment under a false pretext. He
believes that in Burundi it is the State
which is responsible for the death of citi-
zens: "Even today, the State continues to
kill citizens". With such a panorama of
fear, panic, terror and lack of protection
of the individual, continues Sinduhije,
the State is holding up to ridicule the
freedom to do business. Furthermore,
he is not in favour of the current finan-
cial system, which obliges citizens, and
the rural poor in particular, to take on
debts at usurious rates of interest, when
in Burundi the people already pay very
high taxes, which amount to 70 per cent
of GDP.

* Conseil National Pour la Dfense de
la Dmocratie -Forces de Dfense de la
Dmocratie (National Council for the
Defence of Democracy -Forces for the
Defence of Democracy)

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Jean Mlinani / -HUUtbU 5alwanya
scissionn de Frodebu). Hegel Gouber

Lonce Ngendakumana /FRODEBU.
SHegel Gouter

Alexis Sinduhidje / MSD.
SHegel Gouter

Bonaventure Niyoyankana / UPRONA.
SHegel Gouter

Repor

NGOs and the Press

Brave enough to

monitor abuses

One of the few positive effects of
the serious conflicts of the last 30
years between the Hutu and Tutsi
communities has been the dynamism
of today's civil society, with a press
committed to good governance and
reconciliation between communities
and democracy.

League (League for Human
Rights), Joseph Ndayizeye,
sums up the political situa-
tion in Burundi. "Since the end of the
conflicts, the situation has improved a
lot as far as street violence is concerned,
but the same is not true of human rights.
It is clear that there are still murders,
banditry and cases of rape of women.
What is most shocking is that the perpe-
trators are not identified and arrested by
the police and taken to the courts."

Stand up and be counted

In recent years, young people allied with
political parties have formed militias
and been involved in clashes with knives
and stones. These attacks carried out by
young militiamen have not led to any
deaths, but other killings have occurred
which opposition parties have attributed
to political motives. There have been at
least five of these deaths, according to
the vice-president of the OLUCOME
group (Watchdog for the Fight against
Corruption and Misappropriation of
Funds). There have also been numerous
cases of rape, which is endemic despite
the end of the war, and the association
known as SERUKA (Stand Up and Be
Counted) has led the way in defending
victims and making a real attempt to
apprehend the criminals.

Onesphore Nduwayo, the director of
the OAG (Watchdog for Governmental
Activities), an umbrella organisa-
tion comprising a number of groups,
explained that the OAG publishes in-
depth reports on a variety of topics

related to the governance of the coun-
try. Nduwayo questions those in power
who agree to be interviewed. "But we
give all those involved the chance to
explain themselves. Before anything is
published, it is critiqued by all those
implicated. We generally avoid giving
names, except in blatant cases which
are already in the public domain. But
when we do make a denunciation, we
don't mince our words." A recent case
studied by the OAG is the annulment
by the Minister for Domestic Affairs
of the ruling registered by FORSC
(Forum for the Strengthening of Civil
Society), considered to be a flagrant
case of abuse of power. The FORSC had
demanded explanations regarding the
killing on the 9th of April 2009 of the
vice-president of OLUCOME, Ernest
Manirumva, which has become a cause
clbre of NGOs and the independent
press.

OLUCOME is an important symbol.
Its offices have been searched and it is
clear that they are under surveillance,
to the extent that its representatives

Journalist (Radio-TV Renaissance) and leader of opposition. 0 Hegel Goutier

Courier

Report

:HI PEU DUE P NSt rl

WlCOUP

OLLICOME

D'UN ACTE DE CORRUPTIO%

COME VOUS SOUTIENDRA.
X NUMEROUS SUIVANTS:
853004 C'EST GRATUIT.
Poster of the NGOO LUCOME. "Conuption benefits few and kils many"... The vice president of the NGO was killed. Hegel Gouer

received us behind reinforced doors,
with CCTV cameras everywhere. Its
president, Gabriel Rufyiri, says: "Yes,
we do live in a state of anxiety. We
carry out investigations and denounce
powerful individuals. We know that
the truth of the strongest is always the
one that prevails. Since 2003, we have
investigated more than 1,000 dossiers
on "those in power, the government,
and the courts".

The Press: determination and
responsibility

Denise Mugugu, one of the journalists
whose relations with the authorities are
strained, is president of the House of
the Press, an institution funded by the
European Union which also serves as a
school for specialised studies, a studio,
an audiovisual archive and a centre for
the analysis of audiovisual information.
Mrs Mugugu highlights the drift which
is apparent in government media, which
attack individuals who have had a brush
with the government, even in terms of
their private lives. "Relationships with
those in power get complicated every
time a journalist dares to research cer-
tain cases of misappropriation of funds.
Right now there are no journalists in
prison, but they are the object of intimi-
dation."

In this respect, two weekly magazines,
Iwachu and Arc-en-ciel, community

radio stations, and above ail the TV
station Tl Renaissance have recently
been in the spotlight, along with two
evangelical TV stations which do not
broadcast news, but produce awareness-
building programmes.

Among the best of the radio stations is
Radio Isanganiro, which was set up in
2002 during the civil war and coura-
geously supported reconciliation and
fraternity. It was Radio Isanganiro which
brought up the dossier on the presiden-
tial aircraft, and it continues its work
today, providing information and work-
ing for reconciliation. Even the music
programme presented by Excellent
Nimubona, held in great esteem among
the young, is a voice for raising aware-
ness. Tl Renaissance, has been attacked
by the youth militia of the party in
power, which assaulted the vehicle of
one of its production teams.

And yet all those in charge of these
media organizations and NGOs rec-
ognise that the situation has improved
a great deal, as repression is no longer
an everyday occurrence. Perhaps this
is a sign of moderation and a spirit of
responsibility?

Hegel Gouter
Verbatim
Innocent Muhozi, director
of Radio-TV Renaissance

"First of ail, this job is our choice. If
we do it, it's not to earn money, but to
defend ideas and values. The coun-
try has been the victim of idiocies of
a pseudo-ethnic nature where peo-
ple were massacred without anyone
really knowing why, just because
they were manipulated.

I have lost friends who were in the
wrong place at the wrong time, or
had the wrong colour skin. We have
to tell ourselves we can make a use-
ful contribution in the fight against
fratricidal hatred and the like. I let my
co-workers do their work; what I ask
ofthem is that they respect everyone,
with benevolence but also with inde-
pendence. We are part of a society
that is extremely bloodied and very
poor, which means unhappiness in
the everyday lives of families without
hope who cannot feed themselves.
This kind of drama plays no part in
the political debate here, however.

I set up this station to say 'We are ail
citizens of the same country, and we
should have the same rights and the
same obligations'. That is our edito-
rial line in a nutshell."

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Repor

The European Union and Burundi

Extensive aid for a land

risen from the dead

Interview with Alain Darthenucq, Head of the EU Delegation

The European Union (EU) is the
largest contributor to Burundi, both
of aid in general and one of its most
important elements, budgetary aid.
A number of EU countries also make
additional contributions, such as
Burundi's historical partners, Belgium
and Germany, and its other key
donors, France, Holland and the UK.
The general level of support from the
EU and its member states is on the
increase, states Alain Darthenucq,
Head of the EU Delegation in
Bujumbura.

SHegel Gouter

As regards the overall situation
in Burundi, the European dip-
lomat considers that in many
ways "the situation is bad but
the overall trend is good. An observ-
er might think nothing is going well,
human rights, justice, infrastructure,
governance, the economy, or entrepre-
neurial spirit. But if we consider the
chaotic state the country has core out
of, the progress made since the Arusha
Accords is remarkable."

As an example of this, he cites the return
of peace after 13 years of civil war, the
democratic legitimacy of the govern-
ment, the impressive freedom of the
press, the number of political parties
recognized (more than 40), the work of
the National Audit Office and the State
Police Complaints Authority, the aboli-
tion of the death penalty, the new Penal
Code punishing sexual violence, and the
fulfilling of the quota for 30 per cent of
women in public institutions. "There
are still problems, of course, but in the
last few years Burundi has provided
itself with a set of tools which have not
yet been used either perfectly or in their
entirety."

HG- What are the central themes for
European cooperation in Burundi?

AD -The most visible aspect of our
co-operation is in infrastructure. For
example, we have just completed 31
km of streets in Bujumbura, and have
recently built two roads in the east of
the country. Just as important is our
work to help ensure good governance,
like the census of the population for the
elections, for which we have covered up
to 80 per cent of the costs. In the same
field, the EU has provided support for
the creation or improvement of impor-
tant mechanisms such as the State Police
Complaints Authority and the National
Audit Office, the establishment of 44
'residential courts' in small villages, and

Courier

Report

Ijenda Tea factory. "ln 2009, tea produced the highestrevenue everrecorded in Burundi'. 0 Hegel Goutier

the planning of a new Land Code -even
now conflicts over land are still the prime
cause of violent death. Decentralisation
is also a key area, and here training and
skills development are vital. The second
phase will involve the strengthening of
village institutions so that they have
enough resources, and support for the
decentralisation of services provided by
the State.

The third sector is health, where there
has been a significant increase in financ-
ing in the five-year period from 2008.
Pilots are being carried out with the
new national health programme, which
focuses on results-based decentralisa-
tion.

Can you tell us more about this new
national health programme?

The government has decided to try a
large-scale pilot programme, in five ofthe
country's 17 provinces. We are involved
in this, along with other partners.

Some people have criticised the fact
that the government has decided to
impose policies of education for all

and free prenatal medical care, but
without providing sufficient means
to do this.

It is true that the money is not yet on
the table, but we believe that budget-
ary aid will allow this to happen. More
than half of the State budget comes
from external sources, and the EU, the
Commission and member states provide
more than half of this aid. As regards the
Commission, the budgetary aid paid in
2009 was more than f40M, that is, about
40 per cent of the total aid paid out to
Burundi in that year. On top ofthe budg-
etary aid from the 2008-13 period, there
have been contributions from two other
sources, the EU food programme and the
Vulnerability FLEX programme, with a
view to countering the effects of the food
crisis and the economic downturn on the
country.

The fourth area of EU intervention is
rural development, financed through the
five-year plan and the food programme.
Eighty-five per cent of the population
lives in rural areas. Major operations
have been performed to allow Burundi
to produce basic foodstuffs and at the

same time sustain export crops, in par-
ticular tea, coffee and palm oil, as these
are Burundi's only sources of export
revenue. We have also provided aid to
relaunch the horticultural sector. In
2009, tea produced the highest revenue
ever recorded in Burundi; although the
price was stable, improvements in qual-
ity allowed Burundian tea to be sold at a
price 50 per cent higher than the previ-
ous average.

The last sector we are involved in is
providing support for a civil society that
is already highly dynamic. We are work-
ing with associations like ITEKA, OAG,
COSOME, FORSC, OLUCOME, and
the Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
and we also support the media, especially
via the House ofthe Press.

As so much still needs to be done in
Burundi, the EU plays a role in many
fields. Its public image is very good
there, and it is highly visible, which
makes Burundi a kind of laboratory for
European aid.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Repor

Good governance: everyone's business

Success

of a well-planned project

'Gutwara Neza' (Good Governance) is
an integrated, wide-ranging project
financed by the European Union to
the tune of 20M, and also supported
by the World Bank. It involves the
training of judges, construction of
village courts, informing the population
about their legal rights, conciliation
mechanisms for land conflicts,
etc. Vronique Parque, the project
coordinator, is full of enthusiasm,
and knows ail her co-workers on the
ground.

Itaba, Meeting of the village on human rights and good governance. a Hegel Goutier

to 'Gutwara Neza': the rule
of law, transparency in pub-
lic affairs, and public par-
ticipation. From another point ofview it
might be said that the project combines
economic, political and administrative
management. As regards political gov-
ernance, the key factors are the rule of
law and the strengthening of the decen-
tralisation process. The project lead-
ers began by informing the population
about their rights and the way the jus-
tice system works. Three groups of 900
households were interviewed, and the
results were very simple, with the popu-
lation believing the legal system to be
corrupt and that to receive a favourable

verdict, one had to pay. Besides, crimes
committed against humanity had not
been brought to justice.

From this starting point, an action
plan was devised. The first step was
the organisation of an awareness-rais-
ing campaign about access to justice.
Brochures and noticeboards with draw-
ings and photos were prepared, and a
number of meetings were arranged so
that villages could discuss the topic.

The second aim was to train magistrates
locally, the third to construct or rehabil-
itate buildings for use as courts, and the
final one to establish controls over mag-
istrates. The project has hence helped
to sustain institutions like the National
Audit Office and the Anti-Corruption
Squad, and also assisted the State in
training the magistrates of the adminis-
trative court. NGOs have been provided
with training on the legal maze that
must be navigated to take action against
the State ifneed be.

One of the best-known successes of the
programme has been the village courts
and the management of often bloody
land conflicts, which up to now the
courts only dealt with as a last resort.
Villagers' associations elect 'hill com-
missions', with volunteer members who
conduct surveys of properties in cases
of conflict (for example, between neigh-
bours), and generally manage to reach
an amicable agreement, which will then
be registered in the courts.

On the day the Courier visited the village
of Itaba, near the town of Gitega, the
local courts were in session, with three
judges dispensing justice with patience
and an educational spirit, and a case
involving the 'mountain commissions'
also in progress. But best of all was
the fervour with which the whole vil-
lage discussed for hours topics on the
big educational boards explaining their
legal rights.

Courier

Report

Culture

Vivace Bujumbura

city, Bujumbura, Burundi's
capital of 400,000 citizens is
bubbling over with cultural
activity. The Drummers of Burundi
have paraded through the major audito-
riums of the world, but in their wake is
a whole host of stars who stoke the fires
of a pulsating cultural life. Inspite of the
lack of resources and venues, the city
has a huge variety of arts associations
and production companies.

One of the most dynamic cultural asso-
ciations is Menya Media (see the Courier
No. 12 'NGO Menya Media has the wind
in its sails'). It has just co-produced with
Belgium's French-speaking state televi-
sion and other associated media groups a
short film, 'Na Wewe' ('You too'), which
denounces violence between different
ethnic groups by sometimes straying into
comedy. The film was first presented in a
special preview in Burundi at the begin-
ning of April, and then premiered at
the Centre Culturel d'Uccle in Brussels.
Menya Media has also just released the
musical composition 'Haiti Camp',
Burundi's gift to Haiti in the aftermath
ofthe earthquake, and, organised for the
first time in Burundi the regional festival
'Pearl of Africa Music Awards', under
the name 'Pamwade Burundi'. The top
prizes were awarded to artists with very
promising futures: Steven Sogo in the
male singer category, Risiki in the female
one, and Lions Story among the groups.

The Drummers of Burundi or Khadja
Nin apart, more and more artists
from the country are being discov-
ered. Jrmie Hakeshimana and Sybille
Cushahayo*, were hugely successful as
a support act for the Congolese star
Baloji in Leuven, Belgium last April.
Hakeshimana is a composer, arranger
and musician, while Cushahayo's*, love
songs show her off as a sensual diva. She
is also committed to peace, to the fight
against AIDS and shares the struggles
of women in Africa.

The music of Alida Baranyizigiye,
another female singer to watch, encom-
passes both dream and rhythm. She

started out at the age of twelve in a
gospel choir, and since then has flirted
with the zouk of the West Indies, salsa,
R&B and jazz. She has fused zouk with
the soft and gentle intonation of the
Kirundi tongue, and, in her own words,
her zouk is sung with love and sensual-
ity, with an injection of soul to express
her strong feelings and R&B just for
rhythm, all melded together to create a
music made for the body.

You need time to stroll around
Bujumbura with Serge Nkurunziza**
since he gets stopped by everyone he
meets. He is a musician, arranger and
above all a singer with a wild sense of
rhythm. He is also a talented designer
who has designed and decorated the
interior of a number of the most beauti-
ful villas and hotels in the city, from the
wall coverings to the furniture.

There's a relatively dynamic theatre
scene too, strongly supported by the
Centre Culturel Franais (French
Cultural Centre). A wide variety of art
exhibitions take place both in the Centre
itself and elsewhere. Some examples are
the works ofthe Maoni collective, made
up of three women artists (one Belgian,

Alida Baranyizigiye, singer and fashion designer. 0 Hegel Goutier

one Colombian and the Burundian
Fidlit Bivugire) whose half figurative,
half abstract paintings stand out.

Another to watch is film-maker, Lonce
Ngabo who has kept up his musical
interests whilst studying chemistry. He
wrote the screenplay for a short film and
a fairy tale. A top Swiss film-maker who
came to Burundi to film on location
came across Lonce. In just one day a
contract was signed between them for
the production of a full-length feature
film, involving a large advance. The
film, 'Gito the Ungrateful', had enjoyed
great success in Europe's cinemas. In
his own country Ngabo has set up the
FESTICAP (International Festival of
Cinema and Broadcasting of Burundi)
festival, now in its second edition.

* aka Kazuba DVD 'Indoto & Akazuba'
(2009) and promotional DVD (2009), Ed
Menya Media.
www.menya-media.org.
** Most recent release, 'Africa' (2010, Ed.
Sodetra).

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Jean-Jacques

Nyenimigabo:

a much-loved

Minister of Culture

Culture is an important part of
the Millennium Development
Goals, and ail the more so in
Burundi, where for example
"good values" are promoted through
"peace songs", and culture has played
a major role after all the horrors. This
is what the Minister of Culture, Sports
and Youth, Jean-Jacques Nyenimigabo,
declared in his interview with the
Courier.

Peace. Burundi is placing emphasis on
culture in the national reconciliation
process. At the end of the year, a festival
of culture is held in which all the prov-
inces are represented through dances,
songs and other cultural manifestations,
which helps them to get to know each
other better. The culture of the Batwa
tribe, for example, is quite different
from the others, and the festival allows
them to show themselves to best advan-
tage and to feel part of the nation.

The economy

In the last few years, the Minister
stresses, Burundi has made great pro-
gress in the field of cinema, and he
cites the quality of the film "Gito the
Ungrateful", by Lonce Ngabo, as evi-

dence of this. Other projects are being
filmed at the moment, and a film festi-
val has been set up: Festicab, the cinema
and audiovisual festival of Burundi. The
government is making major efforts
to provide support for these projects,
which also enjoy the backing of other
sponsors, such as the French, German,
Belgian and American embassies. The
music industry is also developing in
parallel, and to avoid the spread ofpirat-
ing, the Minister of Culture has decided
to work with professionals in the field
to set up an artists' copyright office to
protect this and other rights. A law has
already been passed to this effect.

The Ministry of Culture has worked
together with the Artists' Forum and
with producers, and also in conjunc-
tion with the Ministries of Justice and
Security. Checks are carried out regu-
larly in stores and studios, and the coop-
eration between Nyenimigabo and the
artists has been very successful. Even
those artists who criticize the govern-
ment insist that the minister is on their
side, because he shows his concern for
their successes, interests and well-being.
He is truly a well-loved minister, but
of course one swallow does not make a
summer.

Sybille Cisahayo. Performance in Leuven, Belgium.
SHegel Gouter

Serge Nkurunziza

Burundi: Places to visit

* Saga beach, near Bujumbura
www.sagaplage.com

* Saga Nyanza, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika,
on the border with Tanzania

* Resha, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika
(60 km from Bujumbura)

* The Rutana waterfalls

* The thermal waters at Rumonge, which is not
developed for tourism, but a beautiful place, with
a very hot pool for men and a lower, cooler one
for women (unwritten rule)

* The waterfalls on the outskirts of Mwaro
(considered sacred, where ail the queens of
Burundi were buried)

* The private park adjacent to the new luxury Iteka
hotel at Mwaro. Don't fail to talk to the master of
the house, Etienne Barigume, an endless source
of information on the region's ecological riches

* The Lake of the Birds (Kirundo)

* National parks : Ruvubu, Kibira and Rusizi

* The magnificent Fault of the Germans at Nyakazu

* Stanley and Livingstone

* The source of the Nile

* The market at Masekeza

* The waterfalls at Agasamo

* Lake Rwihinda (bird lake)

e'por

Courier

Il, - I : i-

"Je danse donc je suis"

("I dance therefore I am")

Forty young people between the ages
of 12 and 18, two dance centres,
two African countries, one non-profit
organisation and the European Union
have come together in the programme,
'Je danse donc je suis' ('I dance
therefore I am').

Elisabetta Degli Esposti Merli

disadvantaged young peo-

T e aim is to offer socially
ple in Africa an artistic
training course which
fuses tradition and modernity and
promotes social and socio-cultural
integration. Social, economic and
health-related problems can lead
to young people becoming dras-
tically distanced from the socie-
ties in which they live. ANERSER
(Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) and
RIOEV (Bamako, Mali) aim to less-
en this. The former is a non-profit
association which works to reinte-
grate children, while the latter is a
network whose members include 40
associations and 1000 street chil-
dren.

After the project's launch seminar (18-
22 January 2010), 40 young people
were selected to attend courses with the
CDC* La Termitire (http://cdc-later-
mitiere.net/) and Donko Seko (http://
www.donkoseko.org/) -organisations
run by internationally renowned danc-
ers Salia Sanou, Seydou Boro and
Ketty Noel. The programme now car-
ries out artistic training, through work-
shops, choreography and theoretical
lessons on the history of dance and
theatre and puts on local and regional
dance performances to "give back" to
society. It is a triennial project financed
by the European Commission as part of
the 'Investing in People' programme,
and is carried out by the Belgian cul-
tural organisation Africalia, in partner-
ship with the aforementioned African
associations.

We put a few questions to Africalia:

Why did you decide to use dance to
reintegrate the young people?

Africalia -Dance is a very effective
means of communication which allows
young people to express themselves
using their bodies. The expression of
feelings through the spoken word is
often difficult and complicated. As
a type of body language, dance has
a therapeutic effect, as it encourages
listening to others. [...] In the long

term, the programme encourages par-
ticipants to reach professional level
which can lead to real economic oppor-
tunities.

How do you think the local popu-
lation will respond to this pro-
gramme?

The first public activities organised to
"give back" to society were received
very enthusiastically by the popula-
tions of the two cities, who also wel-
comed the change in perspective and
mindset [...] These activities also pro-
mote "universal access to culture" [...]

We believe that the local popula-
tions of Ouagadougou and Bamako
will react positively. Firstly, because
the programme offers young people
in difficulty the possibility of find-
ing employment through a three-
year professional training course. As
Descartes famously said, "cogito ergo
sum" (I think therefore I am). "I
dance therefore I am", puts over the
idea that dance is a synonym of life,
an expression of being, an expres-
sion of hope and a confirmation of
one's self and one's existence. As the
famous dancer Alphonse Tierou said,
"if its music moves, Africa will also
move".

* 'Centre de Developpement Choregraphique'.

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

'~' ' ~ " "

Dak'art 2010:

retrospective and perspective

Dak'Art, the Biennial of African Art, entitled RETROSPECTIVE AND PERSPECTIVE,
was held in the Senegalese capital from 7 May to 7 June. The first edition of the
Biennial took place in 1990 (in the form of the Biennial of Art and Literature), and
was later dedicated to plastic artists from Africa.

Sandra Federici

As usual, the first week saw
critics, curators and artists
running between interviews,
openings and performances
which made up both the official pro-
gramme, and the interesting 'off' events.

The 5 curators of Dak'Art 2010 were in
charge of the selection of artists from
the 400 applications received from art-
ists who had never before exhibited at
Dak'Art. They proposed an internation-
al exhibition which represented above
ail an opportunity to discover young
artists such as the winner of the Great
Prize Lopold Sdar Senghor, Moridja
Kitenge Banza (DRC). This exhibi-
tion was held at IFAN Museum, along
with a retrospective which presented
the new artwork ofthe 9 artists who had
won awards in previous editions of the
Biennial.

The Galerie National des Arts exhibited
the work of five Haitian artists, includ-
ing Mario Benjamin and Maksaens
Denis, displaying two installations
which dealt with the earthquake that
destroyed Port-au-Prince.

Some ofthe 'off' events included: the duo
of Barthlemy Toguo and Soly Ciss at
the Mange Gallery, the Afropixel pro-
ject at Ker Thiossane, and 'La Cour de
Joe Ouakam', a highly respected writer
and artist from Senegal. Of particular
interest was a project by the Dakar and
Rouen Academies of Fine Arts, which
led to the production of a tabloid paper,
suggesting ideas, images and glimpses
of the lives of young people in Senegal.

Although this edition attracted less
attention from the international world
of art, general secretary Ousseynou
Wade made a positive assessment of the
event, above ail from the point of view
of the organisation. "Ail of the works of
art arrived, except for one, which was
supposed to be mounted in situ by the

Barthlmy TOGUO, Road for Exile, mixed techniques, 700 x 400 cm, 2008-2010, Exposition Toguo/
Ciss, Galerie Le Mange, Dak'art Off, Dak'art 2010

Burundian artist Serge Nitegeka who
lives in South Africa, who was not able
to travel because of his refugee status."
His sad email, in which he announced
that it would be impossible for him to
attend the event and thanked the organ-
isers for the opportunity, was exhibited
in the space reserved for him in the
international exhibition.

The Dak'Art 2010 catalogue presents
a critical account of the last 20 years,
through interesting contributions from
the people who created the history of
the event. As an institution, the Biennial
has been strengthened after years of
uncertainty, and has outlived many
events which were better financed but
which nonetheless failed. Moreover, the
Biennial has built up an irreplaceable

heritage of African visual art. In addi-
tion to funding from various European
donors, it has always received signifi-
cant contributions from the Senegalese
state.

But this positive assessment must not
rest on its laurels, and the organizers
must work to make the event more than
just a classic and regular appointment,
transforming it into something which
surprises the viewer through innovation
and depth of thought. How can this be
done? Maybe a suggestion could be the
artwork-appeal of the South African
duo Rosenclaire, which greets visitors
at the entrance of the IFAN Museum,
and invites them to 'Investissez dans
l'immateriel' ('invest in the immaterial';
see next article).

Courier

Cretiit

Rosenclaire:

investing in the immaterial

The artistic duo Rose Shakinowsky and Claire Gavronsky were born in South Africa
and live and work between Florence, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Twenty-five
years ago, they left South Africa for Italy, where they established a prestigious
artists' residency programme in Tuscany. Rosenclaire share their ideas through
collaborative projects which have recently received important recognition. We
spoke to them at the Dak'art Biennial.

You have been acknowledged
rnany times in the last
few years: The Soapboxes
outside the South African
National Gallery, the recent exhibi-
tion at the Goodman Gallery in Cape
Town, 'Domestic Departures' exhibi-
tion at California State University
and now the Dakar Biennial. Why is
this your first time at this event?

We feel that Dak'art is essentially an
opportunity for emerging artists from
the African continent who have inde-
pendently submitted work. However
this year the curator Marilyn Martin
requested that we translate our sign
'Invest in the immaterial' into French
especially for the entrance to the
Bienniale Pavillion. The sign calls on
artists, critics, curators and collectors
to invest in the intangible and the phil-
osophical. An urgent refocusing and
reassessing the meaning and value of

art production in the 21st century. It is
a sign, a writing on the wall against the
trafficking of art we have seen over the
past decade.

Your work often has a political
aspect, through which the present
and the past are linked together.
What are the most important topics
addressed?

Racism, difference and identity (both
in South Africa and in Europe), mem-
ory and colonialism, violence against
women and children and economic
injustice.

The key to our artwork is that it is
always in dialogue with art history and
current critical discourses while engag-
ing in social and political issues. We
employ both traditional and contem-
porary media in order to challenge pre-
conceived notions of art production.
In the feminist exhibition 'Domestic
Departures', for example, with the
works 'Gesture -erased WK drawing'
and 'Vacuum I' and 'Vacuum II' we

invited Kentridge to collaborate with
us, as a guest artist where we vacuumed
up one of his large charcoal drawings,
with a vacuum cleaner. Rosenclaire are
here quoting Rauschenberg's 'Erased de
Kooning'* of 1953 and his 'Factum I'
and 'Factum II' of 1957.

The Rosenclaire artistic entity is a
result of the union of two very differ-
ent art styles. How do you manage
to bring these two aspects together?

We join forces in order to creatively
facilitate a dialogue on a specific theme,
place or situation. You could say our
work is a cross-pollination between the
flea-market, the studio, art history and
personal experience articulated through
painting, drawing, sculpture, installa-
tion and video.

Why have you chosen to live in Italy,
as well as in South Africa?

We love Italy for its way of life and what
it continually offers us in our artistic
work; its lineage and history continue
to inspire both us and the artists with
whom we work. We are deeply rooted
in South Africa, where we continue
to actively participate in art education
and in the dialogues of contemporary
African art practice.

* As an act of artistic expression,
Rauschenberg literally erased a drawing by
Willem de Kooning.

Rosenclaire, Punctuation, 2010, Oil on linen, French
curve and ludo dot, 30 x 39 cm (painting). 0 Rosenclaire

Rosenclaire, Seismograph, 2010, Oil on board and
antique stethoscope, 18 x 12.5 cm (painting). e Rosenclaire

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

Creaivit

Belgian Presidency
of the European Union

Homage to a

'Visionary

Africa'

This is the title under which the Centre
for Fine Arts, Brussels (BOZAR), in
association with the Royal Museum
for Central Africa at Tervuren, is
presenting a major homage to the
dynamism and modernity of African
art, including that of the African
Diaspora. It also celebrates the 50th
anniversary of independence of 17
African countries. Supported by the
Belgian government, the European
Commission and the Secretariat of the
ACP Group, the festival takes place
from 30 May to 26 September 2010.
One of its most original aspects is that
the programme was largely planned
by Africans themselves.

architect of Ghanaian ori-
gin, is the artistic director,
and Nana Oforiatta Ayim,
also from Ghana, the research direc-
tor. Another novel aspect of 'Visionary
Africa' is its marriage of artistic and sci-
entific research. As 2010 is not only the
anniversary of independence of many
African countries but also the year of a
symbolic event, the first football World
Cup to be held in Africa, the festival has
reserved a space for the live screening
of games.

At the heart of 'Visionary Africa' is the
mission to organise a major cultural
event to mark Belgium's presidency
of the European Union (1 July to 31
December 2010), and the government
has entrusted this to the Centre for
Fine Arts. The director-general of this
institution, Paul Dujardin, proposed
"an exchange project with Africa, firmly
centred on the future". The European
Commission hopes that it will serve
as a catalyst to strengthen relations
between the museums and cultural cen-
tres of Europe and Africa. A number of
Belgian cultural organizations focusing
on Africa, such as Africalia, as well as
African Diaspora groups like Matonge*

En Couleurs and the Brussels embas-
sies of 53 African countries have been
involved in the event's planning.

Among its highlights will be the exhi-
bition 'GEO-graphics: A Map of Art
Practices in Africa Past and Present',
which brings the masterpieces of ancient
African art face to face with contempo-
rary works. David Adjaye and Nana
Oforiatta Ayim have played a key role
in curating the exhibition, and eight
African museums have been invited to
send their works of modern art. Among
the well-known artists from Africa and
the Diaspora who are to take part are
Anglique Kidjo, Rokia Traor, Papa
Wemba, Germaine Acogny and Raoul
Peck.

In Belgium, the festival will also encom-
pass a 'museum of 21st century Africa',
based on a museographic review of the
riches of the collections of the Tervuren
museum and set up by the museum and
BOZAR, in association with African
artists and cultural associations. When
the curtain falls on the festival in
Brussels, some African venues will be
able to get a taste of its flavour includ-
ing the Africa-EU Summit in Tripoli,
Libya, 29-30 November 2010.

* Matonge is a Congolese quarter in
Brussels named after a suburb of Kinshasa,
Democratic Repubic of the Congo.

David Adjaye. Ed Reeve Courtesy Palais des Beaux Arts Bruxelles

Nana Oforiatta Ayim.
SSam Pelly Courtesy Palais des Beaux Arts Bruxelles

Courier

Creativity

i

Fo pon readers

N. 17 N.E. MAY JUNE 2010

International Conference
on Africa's Development in
Yaound
At the invitation of the President of
the Republic of Cameroon, H.E Paul
Biya, a two-day International Confer-
ence "Africa 21", has taken place in
Yaound, Cameroon on 18-19 May
2010, under the theme "Africa, an
Opportunity for the World: Realities
and Challenges". Modelled after
the 1979 Monrovia Symposium, the
Yaound International Conference
came against the backdrop of the
golden jubilee celebrations of the in-
dependence of 17 African countries
in 2010, which will provide the right
opportunity to examine the chal-
lenges and perspectives ofthe conti-
nent's development. The Conference
addressed issues related to resource
management, good governance, se-
curity, the role of the private sector,
economic integration, and Africa's
role in the international order.

Development Youtnh rize winners
and Ghanaian students interact. 0 European Commission

ADDRESS: THE COURIER- 45, RUE DE TRVES 1040 BRUSSELS (BELGIUM)
EMAIL: INFO@ACP-EUCOURIER.INFO WEBSITE: WWW.ACP-EUCOURIER.INFO

Agenda JULY-NOVEMBER 2010

July 2010

18-23/7
AIDS 2010 Conference
Vienna, Austria
For more information:

25-27/7
African Union Summit: Assembly
of Heads of State and Government
Kampala, Uganda

September 2010

20 22/09
UN MDG Review High Level Event
New York City, USA

27 -30/09
3rd meeting of ACP Ministers in
charge of Asylum, Migration and
Mobility
Brussels, Belgium

27 -30/09
21st Session of the ACP
Parliamentary Assembly and 21st
Session of the JPA
Brussels, Belgium

November 2010

29- 30/11
Africa-EU Summit
Tripoli, Libya
More information:
http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/
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Courier

Development Youth Prize:
Winners travel to Ghana

From 3 to 8 May, the 27 pupils who won the European competition 'Development
Youth Prize 2008 2009'travelled to Ghana with their teachers to learn more about
Africa and to watch development cooperation as it happened.
The 'Development Youth Prize' was open to pupils between 16 and 18 from any
European country. The 2008/2009 contest was the third edition of the event, which
asks pupils to produce videos or posters that relate to Africa's challenges and its
future. The goal is to raise awareness of Africa and to boost knowledge of Euro-
pean aid and activities in Africa. Each edition of the prize has a special theme; for
2008/2009 it was 'Human Development in Africa'.
The group followed an intense programme, which also gave them the unique op-
portunity of meeting African pupils to chat about their habits, cultures and experi-
ences. The trip ended in Brussels, where the pupils stayed from 7 to 8 May, visiting
the EU institutions in the run-up to Europe Day.

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Woman from Itaba, Bui undi. e Hegel Goutier

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