Water issues

 The new World Water Development Report (WWDR4) warns of the impact of changing dietary habits.

The 2012 United Nations report on freshwater resources, the World Water Development Report (WWDR4) says around four billion people lack access to safe water. It says the figure could get worse as the global population is likely to reach 9.1 billion in 2050, and 68 % of these people would live in cities.

The report – Managing Water under Uncertainty and Risk – provides a comprehensive review of the world’s freshwater resources and is the fourth in the three-yearly series. The content comes from the coordinated efforts of 26 UN agencies that make up UN-Water, working with governments, international organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders. The report seeks to demonstrate, among other messages, that water underpins all aspects of development, and that a coordinated approach to managing and allocating water is critical. Water, it says, needs to be an intrinsic element in decision-making across the whole development spectrum.

The report points out that water availability for agriculture is set to worsen, leading to increased competition for water resources, and that the shift in diet that has accompanied economic growth – from predominantly starch-based diets to meat and dairy – also has a major impact as the latter require much more water to produce. Production of 1kg of rice, for example, requires approx 3,500 litres of water whereas 1kg of beef requires 15,000 litres.

European and North American populations consume a considerable amount of virtual water embedded in imported food and other products, the Ghanaian Chronicle reported the WWDR4 as saying.  Each person in North America and Europe (excluding former Soviet Union countries) consumes at least 3,000 litres per day of virtual water in imported food, compared to 1,400 litres per day in Asia, and 1,100 litres per day in Africa. Various estimates suggest that approximately 3.5 earth-sized planets would be needed to sustain a global population to achieve the current lifestyle of the average European or North American, the Chronicle said.

Some of the specific implications for Africa are:

• India is growing maize, sugar cane, lentils and rice in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal and Mozambique to feed its domestic market.
• European firms are seeking 3.9m hectares of African land to meet their 10% biofuel target by 2015.
• The amount of water required for biofuel plantations could be particularly devastating to regions such as West Africa, where water is already scarce, given that one litre of ethanol from sugarcane requires 18.4 litres of water and 1.52 square metres of land.

Standpipes are Still the Norm in Africa

Water is a huge priority for Africa. Over one billion people in developing countries still have no access to safe water ‑ and 42 % of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.

At a meeting of ministers from Africa and representatives of United Nations agencies, development banks, public water operators, non-profit groups and trade unions from around the world to celebrate World Water Day on March 22nd in Cape Town, it was observed that the number of people living in cities in Africa with no access to tap water at home or in the immediate surroundings increased from 137m to 195m between 2000 and 2008.

In most SSA countries, communities rely on communal standpipes, vendors, open waterways, rain water collection and wells, and over 80 % of the lowest income groups fetch their water.

Unfortunately, this is the case despite enormous wealth and increasing numbers of educated people in policy-making positions in Africa, pointing to a possibility that the situation is accepted as normal, says Professor Andrew Muwonge writing in The Southern Times

Information from UN Habitat, city level data of 43 African cities showed that in fact 83% of the population lacked toilets that were connected to sewers, and only one to seven percent of the African city’s populations are connected to the city sewer, with the result that many city residents defecate along beaches, watercourses and gutters or use latrines that empty in wetlands and even water wells.

54 African water and energy ministers, 700 experts and a number of scientists in water, sustainable development, energy, environment and electricity attended an African water ministers’ conference in Cairo on May 14th-15^th. On the agenda was water, drainage, environment, infrastructure of water resources, the use of water in generating power and improving irrigation, Egypt’s state information service said.

Vast Reservoir of Groundwater?

A team of scientists from the British Geological Survey and University College London (UCL) writing in the Journal, Environmental Research Letters, have argued that Africa sits on a vast reservoir of underground aquifer and have produced a detailed map of this hidden resource.

A BBC news, Science and Environment report said the scientists are warning caution about the best way of accessing the groundwater and suggest that widespread drilling of large boreholes might not work and could rapidly deplete the resource, given poor rainfall. They suggest that slower means of extraction would be more effective.

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Algeria: Apathy reigns as Algerians head to the polls

Voting has begun in what has been billed as the most transparent election in the country’s history, but voters are staying away from the polling booths.

The Algerian government has been under pressure to reform since widespread revolts across the region last year. However, the country has been gripped by apathy, with voter turnout expected to be low.

More than 28000 candidates are standing in the elections, more than 60 candidates per seat.

The BBC’s Chloe Arnold reported from the Algerian capital, Algiers:

“Algerian flags – white and green with a red crescent moon – are fluttering from the lamp posts. But very few people are out on the streets.

At a polling station in the el-Biar district of Algiers, there were about a dozen police officers outside, but almost no voters for them to keep under control.

I asked how many people had been in to vote two hours after the polls opened and was told only 10. They were mostly old people, they told me.

Mehdi, an architecture student, on his way to a cafe, said there was no point in voting because it wouldn’t change anything – Many Algerians see parliament as a rubber stamp for any laws President Abdelaziz Bouteflika wants to pass.

Billboards put up especially for the elections have had their campaign posters ripped down or defaced – a sign many people have chosen to boycott this vote.”

To read the full BBC report, click here.

The results of the Algerian elections are expected to be announced on Friday.

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Egypt: Protestors killed in Cairo attack

Over 20 people have been killed during armed battles in the Egyptian capital.

Violence broke out on the streets of Cairo today as armed assailants attacked a group of protestors. The attackers used shotguns, firebombs, rocks and clubs, killing more than 20 people, and injuring a further 150. The identity and exact motive of the assailants remains unknown.

Many of the protesters had gathered at a sit-in rally outside the Ministry of Defence building to protest against restrictions placed upon the Salafist preacher Hazem Abu Ismail, who has been disqualified from standing in Egypt’s forthcoming presidential elections due to the dual US-Egyptian nationality of his mother. Only Egyptian nationals who are born to Egyptian parents and who do not hold dual citizenship can qualify for candidacy, according to a new election law issued in mid-January.

The BBC is reporting that the attackers may have been local people angered by the disruption caused by the sit-in, which began at the weekend.

Egyptian authorities have come under criticism for their alleged slow response to the attacks. It took six hours for the violence to be stopped. Responding to the conflicts, several presidential candidates decided to suspend their election campaigns.

Egyptians are due to go to the polls later this month. According to rules set by a referendum last year, the new president will serve for four years and be able to serve two consecutive terms. The election of a new president will mark a return to democratic rule, as Egypt’s interim military ruling council Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) hand governing powers back to elected politicians.

The election’s first round is scheduled for 23 and 24 May, with a run-off vote for the top two candidates expected on 16 and 17 June.

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Liberia: Charles Taylor found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes

Former Liberian president found guilty after near five year trial at The Hague.

The International Criminal Court, The Hague

Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, has been found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes during the Sierra Leone civil war. Taylor stood accused of supporting rebels who killed tens of thousands in the war, which took place for over a decade, finally ending in 2002.

Taylor was convicted on 11 counts including terror, murder and rape, but was cleared of ordering the crimes.

Taylor’s conviction is a landmark moment for the international justice system as he is the first head of state to be convicted by an international court since the Nuremburg trials of prominent Nazis in the aftermath of the second World War. International human rights campaigners believe this is a watershed moment that could set a legal precedent, something that will be on the mind of Taylor’s former Hague prison neighbour, Laurent Gbagbo. The former leader of Ivory Coast  is currently awaiting the outcome of his own trial on charges of crimes against humanity. Jean-Pierre Bemba, former vice-president of DR Congo, is also on trial at the ICC at the moment.

Amnesty International released a statement saying the conviction ”brings some measure of justice to the people of Sierra Leone.”

Taylor had pleaded not guilty, but was ultimately found to have been “criminally responsible” by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The former president’s crimes occurred between 1996 and 2002, when he supported the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in committing crimes involving murder, rape, sexual slavery, enforced amputations, and terrorising the general civilian populace in Sierra Leone.

Of Taylor’s conviction, Human Rights Watch said:

“For decades, so-called “big men – people who either led armed groups or wielded significant political power – have been allowed to carry out abuses, seemingly with no fear of being investigated or held accountable by a credible judicial body. In this trial, for the first time, such a ‘big man’ was taken into custody and forced to answer for his alleged crimes.”

Charles Taylor has 14 days in which to appeal his verdict. If he loses his appeal he is expected to serve his sentence in the UK.

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Guinea Bissau: Elections derailed by another coup

The new military junta defies calls for a return to constitutional order and announces an interim governing council.

On April 12^th, on the eve of the kickoff of the campaign for the April 29^th presidential runoff, soldiers seized the headquarters of the ruling PAIGC party and the national radio station and arrested outgoing Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and Interim President Raimundo Pereira.

Gomes Junior is not popular with the military, which he had vowed to prune. He had won the first round of the election, while former President Kumba Yala was second. But Yala had called for a boycott of the second round, alleging that the first was rigged. Pereira was appointed as interim head of state following the death of President Malam Bacai Sanhá, who died in January following a long illness. The International Committee of the Red Cross was able to visit Gomes Junior and Pereira on April 20^th and said it had been able to give them medical supplies, clothes and toiletries, adding that both men have been allowed to send news to their families.

Drugs

Guinea-Bissau has a long history of coups, misrule and political instability since it gained independence from Portugal in 1974. Since 1998, it has been through one war, four military coups and the murder of one president and four military chiefs-of-staff. No president has ever completed a full term in office.

This instability has allowed cocaine traffickers to exploit the struggling state as a transit point for cocaine being moved from Latin America into Europe. The drug trade is worth about double the country’s official GDP and senior army officials allegedly control the trade. Army officers have even re-claimed drugs seized by the  ill-equipped police.

The UN Special Representative for Guinea Bissau, Mr. Joseph Mutaboba, who is also the head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea Bissau (UNIOGBIS), which was set up in 2009 to promote stability in the country, told the UN Security Council that negotiations on a power deal between the junta and some other elements in the country have excluded the parliamentary majority party, the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde (PAIGC).

”I call attention to the fact that any solution that excludes the PAIGC and other parliamentary parties is a recipe for a future crisis and would be a negation of the will of the people through elections in 2008,” he said.

Chair of the Guinea Bissau Configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission, Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti of Brazil, said the Security Council and the international community as a whole must act with resolve to assist Guinea Bissau in breaking away, once and for all, from the cycle of violence, coup d’états, impunity and instability that has plagued the country for so long.

”The solution to the current crisis requires the immediate release of all the authorities presently detained by the coup perpetrators, the return of the Armed Forces to the barracks and the resumption of the electoral process,” she said.

April: Ten Days in Bissau

12^th: Army seizes hq of PAIGC and radio station.  Arrests PM and presidential frontrunner Carlos Gomes Junior and Interim President Raimundo Pereira.

13^th: ECOWAS sends a delegation to Bissa. Coup leaders agree to allow the immediate restoration of normal constitutional rule.

14^th: The Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), currently headed by Angola, adopts a resolution at a meeting in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, calling for the creation of an “intervention force under the aegis of the United Nations.”

15^th: The military authorities close the country’s maritime borders and airspace to preclude foreign intervention.

16^th: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expresses grave concern over the fact that, despite calls by the international community, the coup leaders have continued to deepen the political crisis through their declared plans to establish a transitional government. The EU issues strong condemnation.

17^th: The African Union suspends Guinea-Bissau from all AU activities with immediate effect, pending restoration of constitutional order. The African Development Bank and the World Bank suspend development programmes, with the exception of urgent assistance. South Africa deplores the coup former colonial power Portugal says it is sending navy ships and a plane for a possible evacuation of its nationals.

18^th: The National Transitional Council (NTC) is formed to run the country for two years after an agreement between the junta and leaders of 20 opposition parties says Junta spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Daba Da Walna. Manuel Sherif Nhamadjo, who finished third in the first round of presidential elections on March 18^th is named head but tells Al Jazeera he was not consulted.

19^th: The PAIGC and eight other parties denounce the NTC as illegal and call for the electoral process to be completed.  ECOWAS calls the creation of the NTC an “usurpation of power”

21^st: Raising the possibility of targeted sanctions, the UN Security Council demands the immediate restoration of constitutional order as well as the reinstatement of the legitimate government. The junta says its plan for a two-year transition was only a suggestion. Nhamadjo says he is turning down what he describes as an “illegal” appointment.

23^rd: The EU joins other in saying it will not recognize the NTC. ECOWAS cancels an emergency trip to Bissau because of the junta’s intransigence.

The Angolan Angle

The military command has accused Angola of interfering in security matters.  Lieutenant Colonel Daba Nah Waina, one of the coup’s leaders, told IPS: “The crisis has been brewing since Angolan soldiers arrived in Guinea-Bissau with vehicles and weapons, but without notifying the chief of staff of the armed forces of the country.”

The Angolan government operates a bauxite mine in the east of Guinea-Bissau – the country is one of the world’s leading producers of this mineral – and also has an interest in a project to construct a new port in the south.

Since October 2011, some 300 Angolan troops have been present in Guinea-Bissau, drafted in to reform the army and police of the country in line with an agreement between the two governments. But the coup plotters accuse Angola of wanting to “destroy” the country’s army and have demanded that Angolan troops leave.

There are rumours that the coup was motivated by a desire to pre-empt an expected crackdown on corrupt army generals by Gomes Junior.  Such a move might have been aided by the elite troops from Angola.

Find out more with the following issues of the Africa Research Bulletin

Presidential election – first round   (Vol. 49 Number 3 Political series)

Leading presidential candidates (Vol. 49 Number 3 Political series)

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Huge water resources under Africa

Scientific study suggests continent is sat atop ‘huge’ reservoir of groundwater.

Picture: Nino barbieri

A scattergun approach to borehole drilling in Africa is likely to be unsuccessful. This is the message from a group of UK researchers who have, for the first time, quantified the amount, and potential yield, of groundwater across the whole of Africa.

They estimate the total volume of groundwater to be around 0.66 million km3 — more than 100 times the available surface freshwater on the continent — and hope that the assessment can inform plans to improve access to water in Africa, where 300 million people do not have access to safe drinking water.

The results were published April 20, in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters.

The researchers, from the British Geological Survey and University College London, warn that high yielding boreholes will not be found using a scattergun approach and a more careful and exploratory approach that takes into account local groundwater conditions will be needed, which they hope their new study will encourage.

Their results show that in many populated areas in Africa, there is sufficient groundwater to supply hand pumps that communities can use for drinking water. These hand pumps can deliver around 0.1-0.3 litres per second.

Opportunities for boreholes yielding five litres per second or more — the usual amount needed for commercial irrigation — are not widespread and limited to specific areas, such as countries in the north of Africa.

Central to the researchers’ methods was the collation of existing national hydrogeological maps as well as 283 aquifer studies from 152 publications. The vast amount of data was compiled into a single database in which the researchers were able to make their calculations.

The amount of groundwater present in a certain region is reliant on the interplay between the geology of the area, the amount of weathering and the amount of rainfall experienced both in the past and present. All of these factors were considered to estimate the volume and potential yield of groundwater in each aquifer.

As a result of population growth in Africa and a planned increase in irrigation to meet food demands, water use is set to increase markedly over the next few decades. Climate change will pose a huge threat to this increase; however, groundwater responds much more slowly to increasing climatic variability as opposed to surface water, so will act as a buffer to climate change.

The lead author of the study, Dr Alan MacDonald, said: “Groundwater is such an important water resource in Africa and underpins much of the drinking water supply. Appropriately sited and developed boreholes for low yielding rural water supply and hand pumps are likely to be successful and resilient to climate change.

“High yielding boreholes should not be developed without a thorough understanding of the local groundwater conditions.”

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DR Congo: Kabila appoints new PM

President Joseph Kabila has appointed former finance minister Augustin Matata Ponyo as the country’s new prime minister.

DRC president Joseph Kabila (Picture: Helene C. Stikkel)

In a move designed to help stabilise the country’s ailing economy, Kabila’s promotion of respected economic expert Matata comes after months of political wrangling after DRC’s election process was heavily criticised.

DRC has been in deadlock over the disputed poll results for months, causing a temporary interim administration to take control of the government after Mr Kabila was re-elected.

Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi disputed the election results, even declaring himself president after polls closed.

In his time as finance minister Mr Matata was praised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for helping to stabilise DRC’s economy. One of his notable achievements in office was the agreement of a $12bn debt reduction deal with DRC’s international creditors.

Mr Matata’s  immediate priority will be the drafting of a new national budget. DR Congo is ranked the world’s least developed state by the United Nations.

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South Sudan and Sudan: On the Brink

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has refused to withdraw his country’s troops from a disputed border region with neighbouring Sudan, heightening fears of a full-scale conflict between the nations.

In fact South Sudan was reported to have consolidated its position in the oil-rich border town of Heglig, which both sides claim but which is on Sudan’s side of the border. Sudan operates Heglig’s oil facilities, which account for nearly half of the north’s daily production.

Troops from South Sudan’s SPLA army attacked and captured Heglig on April 11th, which is claimed by Sudan. Mr Kiir told parliament the SPLA would also re-enter another disputed area, Abyei, which is occupied by Sudan, if the United Nations does not urge Sudan to withdraw. Heglig is 60 miles east of the disputed region of Abyei, whose fate was left unresolved when South Sudan split from Sudan in 2011. Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir accused South Sudan of seeking war and vowed to retake Heglig which is in the South Kordofan area.

The military advance by South Sudan into territory it claims, but is internationally recognised as Sudan’s, brought swift condemnation from the United States and Britain. Along with the UN Security Council and the African Union, they urged South Sudan to withdraw from the town of Heglig and condemned the bombings of South Sudan territory by Sudan. The UN also called on Al-Bashir and Kiir to “meet immediately” in order to compensate for a summit they were supposed to hold on 3 April but which was cancelled by Khartoum following earlier fighting. Al Jazeera carried an analysis of the background and impact of conflict between the two Sudans. It reported that South Sudan had rejected the calls to withdraw and set conditions – including that Sudan leave Abyei – before it would do so. The Sudan Tribune also asked if the two Sudans were now definitively moving towards a “catastrophic war”.

Unresolved Issues

South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in July 2011, has been locked in a bitter dispute with Khartoum over many issues, including:

• The border regions – the borders have not been clearly marked
• The status of Abyei, where 30% of oil exports originate
• Citizenship
• Oil Payments – 75% of the oil is produced in South Sudan but it has to travel through Sudan to be exported and talks to agree on transit fees have broken down.

Oil Production Cut

In January South Sudan made the radical decision to entirely cut oil production because of the impasse over transit fees and also because it accused Sudan of stealing the oil. This was despite the fact that oil accounts for a staggering 98% of South Sudan’s revenue. It is now surviving on oil reserves and international loans, a situation that is not sustainable.

The shutdown of oil production exacerbates conditions in South Sudan, which has some of the worst development indicators in the world, particularly in health and education. Eight out of 10 people live on the equivalent of less than $1 a day, six out of every 10 have no access to any healthcare, and the maternal mortality rate is the highest in the world (2,054 per 100,000 live births). It recently halved its budget for 2012.

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Malawi: Africa’s second woman President is sworn in

Following the death from a heart attack of beleaguered leader Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi’s vice-president, Joyce Banda, has been sworn in as president on April 7th.  She becomes southern Africa’s first female head of state, but Africa’s second after Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

 

Ms Banda, 62, who had been vice-president since 2009, was cheered and applauded before, during and after the ceremony. She is a longtime campaigner for women’s rights and better education and is now expected to run the country at least until scheduled elections take place in 2014.

The peaceful transition of power is a great relief in Malawi, where a political crisis seems to have been averted after the sudden death of President Bingu wa Mutharika.

Mr Mutharika, 78, went into cardiac arrest on April 5^th but his death was not confirmed for a few days, leading to fears his supporters were trying to manipulate the succession.  Many Malawians blamed him for the current economic crisis. He was elected into office in 2004 and again in 2009, but in recent years he was accused of economic mismanagement, becoming autocratic, and souring relations with important donors – especially the United States and the United Kingdom – who then withheld hundreds of millions of dollars of much needed aid. Both his terms in office were mired in controversy said the BBC in its obituary with critics saying he had not so much run the country as run the country into the ground.

The country’s constitution stipulates the vice president is to take over leadership if the president dies but it was uncertain at first whether this would happen because Banda and Mutharika had fallen out in 2010.  Although she retained the post of vice president, she was expelled from Mutharika’s political party and formed her own. Mutharika, meanwhile, appeared to be grooming his brother to replace to him.

There were reports of Malawians celebrating Mutharika’s death but the new President Banda ordered the nation’s flags to be flown at half-mast for a 10 day mourning period.

Ms Banda inherits a difficult task. Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, is prone to natural disasters and is facing critical fuel shortages and rising food prices. One of her first acts as president was to sack the chief of police, state media reported.

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Mali: United Nations “deeply concerned by deteriorating situation”

The United Nations says it is worried about “the proliferation of armed groups” in the north of the country.

As we wrote in February, a rebellion by Touareg groups in northern Mali has sparked a political and humanitarian crisis, as thousands of refugees flee the affected area.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) chief spokesperson Melissa Fleming said: “Refugees pouring into neighbouring countries are reporting the presence of armed militiamen and home guards units set up by local communities to defend themselves.”

Aid groups have reported that they have had to withdraw from the northern territories due to the increased violence. Malian refugees have been crossing the border into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mauritania in their thousands, according to UNHCR.

The situation is believed to have worsened after Touareg rebel groups took control of several northern towns in the last week.

The Touareg rebellion has also seen Mali’s policital system fall into chaos after soliders deposed President Toure in March, saying he had not done enough to fight the Touareg separatists.

The UN Security Council has added its voice to calls for a return to diplomacy. The Council said it condemned “the continued attacks, looting and seizure of territory carried out by rebel groups in the north of Mali and demands an immediate cessation of hostilities.”

Mali’s ambassador to the UN, Oumar Daou, said:

“How is it that a country just weeks ago that was known and recognised as a benchmark, a country in which the democratic model had taken route, our country was an example on the African continent, how is it that today our country is finding itself before the international community needing its help?”

According to the UNHCR, 200,000 people have now been displaced by the conflict. More than 23,000 have found shelter in Burkina Faso, 46,000 are in Mauritania and a further 25,000 are  in Niger, along with approximately 2,000 Niger nationals who had been living in Mali.

Almost 100,000 are believed to have  been internally displaced within Mali.

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