Grey gold: Ivory Coast cashes in on the cashew

Yahoo – AFP, Christophe KOFFI, May 30, 2018

Ivory Coast is the world's biggest grower of cashews -- it now hopes to develop the
processing side of the industry, to create jobs and wealth (AFP Photo/ISSOUF SANOGO)

Abidjan (AFP) - Famous for its cocoa and coffee, the Ivory Coast has drawn up an ambitious five-year plan for the cashew industry, seeking to modernise production in a sector where it is already the world's number-one exporter.

"We have shown that we know how to produce the nuts -- now we have to demonstrate that we can sell them and above all process them," Adama Coulibaly of the national Cotton-Cashew Council told AFP.

From tiny harvests two decades ago, the West African country now holds the cashew crown, supplanting India as the biggest producer of the nut.

Helped by price guarantees for farmers, its harvest doubled from 380,000 tonnes in 2013 to 711,000 tonnes in 2017, amounting to 22 percent of global output. This year's production of the nut -- known locally as "grey gold" -- is expected to attain 750,000 tonnes.

Curvy, rich in taste and filled with protein, the cashew is a familiar ingredient in salads, stir-fries and other meals.

But it also features in a widening range of other food products, including cashew butter and cheese, and its oil has found uses in medicine, industrial resins and cosmetics.

$200 mn boost

Ivory Coast has a problem, though: the processing side of its cashew sector is puny -- it is currently equipped to handle only six percent of production.

Cashew nuts are peeled by hand at a factory in Bouake, then batched for export 

around the world (AFP Photo/ISSOUF SANOGO)

This is a classic dilemma for African countries, struggling to get out of the rut of dependence on primary sourcing.

"It's in food processing that the real added value lies... which can generate employment. Ivory Coast cannot allow itself to be merely an exporter of raw materials," Coulibaly told AFP.

In March, the World Bank announced funding of $1 billion (866 million euros) for development purposes in Ivory Coast, including $200 million set aside to support programmes to modernise the cashew sector.

Coulibaly hopes that with finance on this scale, the country might in the coming five years attain "a 50 percent rate of product transformation and 80 percent within the next 10 years."

At present, the sector includes 250,000 producers grouped into a score of cooperatives and employs some 1.5 million people, directly or indirectly.

The government plans to build agro-industrial zones at four population centres -- Bouake in the centre, Korhogo in the north, Bondoukou in the east and Seguela in the northwest.

Economist Yves Ouya said the poverty-mired north and centre of the country had to be beneficiaries of the boom.

"This is extremely important for the government in its fight against endemic poverty in these zones," he said.

Not just nuts: Ivory Coast is hoping to meet the growing demand for cashew oil 

and other spinoffs (AFP Photo/ISSOUF SANOGO)

'A working business'

The cashew's extraordinary success sometimes leads to speculation -- by traders who buy nuts below the floor price fixed by the state and hope to sell it on at a profit -- and to smuggling to neighbouring countries.

According to official estimates, between 20,000 and 50,000 tonnes of production is diverted this way each year. The authorities recently responded by ramping up the legal arsenal to deal with such offences, which also affect the cocoa industry.

Kouadio Djedri, a planter in his 60s at N'Zere village near the capital Yamoussoukro, likes to talk about how profitable the cashew business can be.

"I started out growing cashew nuts 20 years ago, when the product sold for 50 CFA francs (0.07 euros/$0.08) per kilo," the farmer, wearing a cowboy hat and green boots, said.

"From a harvest of 200 kilos -- two bags -- in my early days, this year I've grown 13 tonnes for sale at 500 CFA francs per kilo," he said.

Djedri, who is also village chief, has a cashew plantation of 11 hectares (27 acres) and plans to expand over a further 13 hectares.

"I tell young people to go into growing cashew nuts. It's a working business that has enabled me to send my children to school," he said.

Zimbabwe applies to rejoin Commonwealth

Yahoo – AFP, May 21, 2018

The Commonwealth meets in a summit every two years -- the last time was in April,
where leaders gathered at Buckingham Palace for a 'family portrait' alongside
Queen Elizabeth II (AFP Photo/Yui Mok)

Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwe has applied to rejoin the Commonwealth, the group said Monday, marking a major step in the country's international re-engagement after Robert Mugabe was ousted last year.

Mugabe angrily pulled Zimbabwe out of the bloc of former British colonies in 2003 after its membership was suspended over violent and graft-ridden elections the previous year.

The Commonwealth said it had received a letter dated May 15 from Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa applying to re-join.

Member countries "very much look forward to Zimbabwe’s return when the conditions are right," said Secretary-General Patricia Scotland in a statement from London.

"Zimbabwe's eventual return to the Commonwealth, following a successful membership application, would be a momentous occasion."

Scotland confirmed that the Commonwealth would send observers to elections due in July or August, the first polls since Mugabe was ousted in November after a brief military takeover.

Mugabe was replaced by his former deputy Mnangagwa, a veteran ruling ZANU-PF party loyalist who was backed by senior military officers.

Mnangagwa has vowed to hold fair and free elections, and has pledged to revive the moribund economy by repairing international ties and attracting foreign investment.

Scotland called for "a credible, peaceful and inclusive (election) that restores citizens' confidence, trust and hope in the development and democratic trajectory of their country."

Britain said last month that it would strongly support Zimbabwe returning to the Commonwealth.

Zimbabwe had fractured relations with the West under Mugabe, who had held power since independence from Britain in 1980.

The government in Harare was not immediately available to comment.

The Commonwealth brings together 53 countries representing 2.4 billion people, under a charter pledging commitment to democracy, human rights and rule of law.

The last country to join was Rwanda, in 2009.

The organisation also holds an Olympics-style multi-sport event every four years, most recently in Australia's Gold Coast in April.

African nations vow to recover stolen assets

Yahoo – AFP, Ola AWONIYI, Joel Olatunde AGOI, May 20, 2018

African nations have vowed to recover billions of dollars held in off-shore
accounts (AFP Photo/Daniel ROLAND)

Abuja (AFP) - Former British prime minister David Cameron two years ago was caught talking about an anti-corruption summit and calling Nigeria "fantastically corrupt".

But meanwhile his country ranks among the top destinations for stolen assets from African countries.

Nigeria and ex-British colonies in Africa hope to change that by working together to repatriate billions of dollars in offshore accounts from London and beyond.

At a regional conference held this week in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, the heads of anti-corruption agencies from around Africa met to discuss strategies to overcome bottlenecks in the recovery of stolen assets.

"Concerned about the heavy losses that Africa suffers as a result of illegal transfers of proceeds of corruption and crime out of Africa," the anti-corruption representatives vowed on Friday to "strengthen cooperation and partnership in the tracing, recovery and return of assets".

They further pledged in a joint statement to encourage African countries to commit to greater corporate transparency and called for investment in anti-corruption agencies to "trace, recover and return assets."

'Fight this tsunami'

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland said Africa is losing tens of billions of dollars annually to corruption, urging the anti-graft tsars to lead the "fight against this tsunami".

"We all know that the difference between the money we need to deliver the hopes and aspirations (of our people).... and the money we have, is the sum equivalent to that which is egregiously siphoned off by corrupt practices," Scotland said.

Nigeria, the continent's largest oil producer, is ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world by anti-graft group Transparency International.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to continue his war against corruption as part of his 2019 re-election campaign.

Buhari's anti-graft chief Ibrahim Magu claimed earlier this year that his agency has recovered over 500 billion naira ($1.3 billion) in illicit funds.

But the government's fight against corruption has been accused of being politically motivated.

'Mafia of leaders'

Commonwealth adviser Roger Koranteng told AFP that leaders at the summit want a regional approach to recovery of stolen assets.

"There is strength in unity. If you go as a single country, you will have a problem because the countries outside the African countries are together," he said.

Sustaining the momentum however may be difficult. Ghana's independent prosecutor Martin Amidu said the will to tackle graft comes in ebbs and flows on the continent.

"For me, for the past decades, Africa has had a mafia of leaders who speak of corruption as if they are against it but internally didn't attempt to fight it," Amidu said.

Still, countries stand to gain huge amounts of money should they streamline asset recovery.

Nigeria announced in April it recieved over 300 million dollars from Switzerland as part of money seized from the family of ex-dictator Sani Abacha, who ruled the country from 1993 until 1998.

Buhari said the money will be spent on a welfare scheme targeting the "poorest of Nigerians", in a country where poverty is widespread and unemployment is rampant.

Yet it is difficult to trace how the repatriated money is being spent, with some critics voicing concerns that stolen money gets repatriated to Nigeria only to be looted again.

"There is a need for robust oversight mechanisms as well as continuous monitoring of the use of recovered assets to ensure that they are used properly and efficiently for development outcomes and poverty alleviation," said Marie Chene of Transparency International in a 2017 report.

'Global effort'

Greater global attention on the issue is helping reforms, say anti-corruption activists.

"It took the publication of the Panama Papers to expose many government officials with offshore accounts," said Debo Adeniran of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders lobby group.

"The decision to sign mutual legal assistance with several countries is helping the (Nigerian) government in its loot recovery efforts," Adeniran said.

In January, Nigeria signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on asset recovery.

Buhari's anti-corruption sweep and banking reforms are acting as a deterrent, Adeniran added.

"When you steal and cannot keep the money in the banks, you will stop stealing," he said.

S.Africa miners reach landmark silicosis settlement

Yahoo – AFP, Beatrice Debut and Michelle Gumede, 3 May 2018

The settlement will cover those who worked for the mining giants between March
1965 and the present day and will reportedly benefit up to 100,000 former mine
workers or their dependents

Thousands of miners in South Africa affected by silicosis from exposure to dust reached a breakthrough settlement worth $390 million with several mining companies on Thursday, their lawyers said.

The settlement will cover those who worked for the mining giants between March 1965 and the present day and will reportedly benefit more than 100,000 former mine workers or their dependents.

Many of those affected were poor migrant labourers originally from countries neighbouring South Africa including Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique.

South Africa's mines, which have attracted workers from across the region in the 130 years following the discovery of the world's largest gold deposits, remain some of the world's deepest and most dangerous.

"This is an historic settlement, resulting from years of extensive negotiations," said a statement issued jointly by the miners' representatives and the affected companies.

"The agreement provides meaningful compensation to all eligible workers" who worked for African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater, it added.

It is the first class action settlement of its kind in South Africa and follows three years of negotiations.

Many miners caught silicosis, which has no known cure, while drilling through rock and inhaling silica dust that lodged in their lungs and caused permanent scarring.

Symptoms include persistent coughing and shortness of breath, and the disease regularly leads to tuberculosis and death.

The agreement must now be approved by the South Guateng High Court in Johannesburg.

'The best we could achieve'

"The purpose was to hold the gold mining industry accountable for the enormous harm that it has inflicted on workers for years. The second objective was to bring a measure of redress for the families of miners and ex-miners," said lawyer Richard Spoor who headed the class action on behalf of the miners.

Some studies have found silicosis prevalence in South African gold mines at between

22 and 36 percent of all workers -- among the highest rates in the world

"It is the best we could achieve. We have not compromised. We have done the best we could possibly achieve."

Graham Briggs, who represents the Occupational Lung Disease Working Group which acted on behalf of six of the mining companies, said "a settlement is certainly preferable for several parties because it brings payment sooner than any class action".

"A settlement is preferable because it brings certainty," he added.

The joint statement said that six companies last year made financial provisions worth a total of 5 billion rand ($390 million) to cover the claims.

Anglo American has set aside the most for the payments with a provision for $101 million (84 million euros), followed by Sibanye which has earmarked $82 million, according to Bloomberg News.

Spoor said that claimants could expect payments to begin in September or October which he said might be "disappointing for those who have waited so long".

"In the last five years, out of 35,000 clients that my firm has represented, approximately 5,000 have died. It puts tremendous pressure to settle," he said.

In cases where the original claimants have died, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi vowed that "the widows will be paid (but) it is not going to be very easy to find them".

Some studies have found silicosis prevalence in South African gold mines at between 22 and 36 percent of all workers -- among the highest rates in the world.

In 2011, the Constitutional Court paved the way for the class action by ruling that mineworkers who had often accepted paltry compensation for their ill-health could still sue.

Activists warned of the huge challenge of organising the claims and dispensing the compensation.

"This is a good starting point, but they need to include actual miners and ex-miners in the trustees board so we can contribute to the rollout," said Rantso Mantsi, a former miner from Lesotho.

"There are many people who died before being compensated, hopefully their families will now be paid out."

Red Cross chief sees Syria aid shift towards 'rehabilitation'

Yahoo – AFP, Nina LARSON, May 2, 2018

Syria's seven-year conflict has killed more than 350,000 people and displaced
millions (AFP Photo/LOUAI BESHARA)

Geneva (AFP) - Providing humanitarian aid in war-ravaged Syria looks set to shift increasingly away from emergency, life-saving assistance towards rehabilitating devastated areas to help Syrians return home, the head of the Red Cross said Wednesday.

Peter Maurer told reporters in Geneva that the conflict appeared to be entering a new stage, with fewer "big-battle" moments and perhaps even a chance to provide displaced Syrians with a sense of normalcy after seven years of devastating violence.

"Syria to us looks very different from Syria last year or from Syria two years ago," Maurer said.

Syria has been torn apart a war that has left more than 350,000 people dead and displaced millions.

But Maurer said that as the situation in many parts of the country appears to be stabilising, he expected to see a shift away from a pure focus on emergency assistance towards reestablishing services in areas people want to return to.

"For us it is just important that we get the rehabilitation thing going," he said.

Maurer pointed out that Syria now appeared to be split into fairly clearly defined territories, and said the "big actors" seemed ready to work towards "consensus to stop the war and to go into a phase of more tranquility."

'Post-big-battle era'?

"I have the impression we are at a little bit of a threshold moment," he said, adding that he believed "we are entering the post-big battle era."

The Damascus regime has retaken large parts of Syria since 2015 with Russia's backing, but opposition groups with Western backing still control most of the northern Idlib province.

Turkey also controls an area in the north after launching an operation into Syria in January to root out the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in the Afrin enclave.

Maurer acknowledged that the situation could still spiral in a "dangerous" direction.

But he said his recent visits to Moscow and other capitals had convinced him there was now a "minimal consensus" to stabilise the country.

Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, says

the Syria conflict may be changing (AFP Photo/HAMZA AL-AJWEH)

Despite a relative calm in a number of places across the country, Maurer stressed that "humanitarian assistance (must) continue to go into Syria, because ... there are a lot of humanitarian needs."

But he said the nature of the assistance would evolve in many places away from pure emergency assistance towards "protection activities".

Chance of normalcy?

Such activities include helping reestablish basic services, assisting people to find lost family members and also help provide protection to avoid communities coming under attack.

ICRC said it had received some 13,000 tracing requests from people looking for loved ones since the start of the conflict, with the number of requests soaring 25 percent in 2017.

This increase, Maurer said, indicated that people were no longer focused only on emergency needs but could concentrate more on broader necessities.

These include reestablishing basic services in relatively stable areas that people want to return to, he said.

Maurer insisted that this should not be seen as a reconstruction bid -- a controversial issue that is politically fraught, with widespread disagreement on whether to work with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to rebuild the country.

"When you bring a mobile medical clinic in to a destroyed city in Syria to which people are returning, that is not reconstruction. That is to us rehabilitation."

Maurer said he believed there was "the chance in Syria, with a little bit of support to bring back normalcy to Syrians," adding though that "just to do minimal humanitarian assistance won't do the trick."