Category: Government
Press Release: Consultation between the African Union and Japan on Peace and Security Issues (7.March 2015)
AMISOM – Somali Fire-Fighters undergo training in Nairobi (2nd March 2015)
Farmers in Nigeria refuse to give up lands for massive rice plantation backed by the G8

Monday, February 02, 2015
Farmers in Nigeria’s north eastern state of Taraba are being forced off lands they have farmed for generations to make way for US company Dominion Farms to establish a 30,000 ha rice plantation.
The Dominion Farms project forms part of the G8′s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa and the Nigerian government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, which are both intended to enhance food security and livelihoods for small farmers in Nigeria. A new report, however, finds that the Dominion Farms project is having the opposite effect. The report was produced by two Nigerian NGOs, Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN) and Center for Environmental Education and Development (CEED), with the support of Global Justice Now and GRAIN. It is based on field investigations and interviews conducted with local farmers, community leaders and government officials.
The report shows how the lands provided to Dominion Farms are part of a public irrigation scheme that thousands of families depend on for their food needs and livelihoods. The local people were not consulted about the Dominion Farms project and, although the company has already started to occupy the lands, they are still completely in the dark about any plans for compensation or resettlement. Dominion Farms is involved in a similar land grab for a rice farm in Kenya that has generated conflicts with local communities.
“The only story we hear is that our land is taken away and will be given out. We were not involved at any level,” says Rebecca Sule, one of the affected woman farmers from the Gassol Community in Taraba State. “For the sake of the future and our children, we are requesting governmental authorities to ask Dominion Farms to stay away from our land.”
“Our land is very rich and good. We produce a lot of different crops here, and we farm fish and rear goats, sheep and cattle,” says Mallam Danladi K Jallo, another local farmer from Gassol. “But since the Dominion Farms people arrived with their machine and some of their working equipment, we were asked to stop our farm work and even leave our lands as the land is completely given to the Dominion Farms project.”
“The local people are united in their opposition to the Dominion Farms project,” says Raymond Enoch, one of the authors of the report and director of CEED. “They want their lands back so that they can continue to produce food for their families and the people of Nigeria.”
Nigeria is already suffering from violent conflicts and insecurity, especially in the North. Land grabs for agribusiness projects will only make the situation worse.
The report can be accessed here.
For more information please contact:
Mariann Bassey Orovwuje (Abuja, Nigeria)
Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN)
mariann@eraction.org
+234 70 34 49 59 40
Raymond Enoch (Jalingo, Nigeria)
Center for Environmental Education and Development (CEED)
ceednigeria@yahoo.com
+234 70 65 55 02 17
Heidi Chow (London, UK)
Global Justice Now
Heidi.Chow@globaljustice.org.uk
+44 20 7820 4900
Ange David Baimey (Accra, Ghana)
GRAIN
ange@grain.org
+233 269 089 432
Sam Mugumya – Where is he now?
Where is he now? How is his health? What is happening with Sam Mugumya the former aid of Dr. Kizza Besigye the FDC leader?
Any fresh statements on the matter. Don’t forget – he is still somewhere hidden, but not forgotten. The world remember that! Amnesty or Human Rights Watch what are you saying and doing!
Peace.
PSC/PR/COMM.(CDLXXXVIII) – African Union – Peace and Security Council 488th Meeting 23. February 2015 – Communique
2015/320/AFR: World Bank Boosts Fisheries in South West Indian Ocean African Countries

WASHINGTON, February 27, 2015 – The World Bank Group’s (WBG) Board of Executive Directors today approved a total of US$75.5 million to improve the management of fisheries and increase the economic benefits from fishing-related activities for families living in the coastal communities of the South West Indian Ocean region.
The First South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Governance and Shared Growth Project(SWIOFish1) will help improve regional cooperation for the nine African countries that border the waters of the South West Indian Ocean.
“Fisheries are a key contributor to food security, nutrition and job creation for rural coastal populations of the South West Indian Ocean, who are among the poorest and most vulnerable in the region,” said Colin Bruce, World Bank Director of Regional Integration for the Africa Region. “Promoting sustainable use of fisheries, linking smaller operators to new value chains and improving regional cooperation over shared resources will boost shared prosperity in these countries and the entire region.”
The coastal populations of the South West Indian Ocean region suffer from challenges such as too little economic growth, hunger, poverty and exposure to climate change impacts. Fish stocks in the region are increasingly facing risks of overexploitation or depletion from overfishing by industrial vessels and artisanal fishers.
The project will initiate regional discussions and cooperation to develop a regional fisheries management program focusing on reducing pressure on the fishing ecosystems and helping countries address shared challenges. Safeguarding fish resource productivity and developing the value chain for fish production will expand the fishers’ livelihoods as a step towards reducing poverty.
Financed by $75.5 million from the International Development Association (IDA)*, the WBG’s fund for the poorest, and $15.5 in co-financing trust funds form the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the project will support regional coordination and cooperation to improve the management and sustainable development of fisheries in the South West Indian Ocean and will benefit the countries in the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Yemen and Maldives.
Three countries in the region, Comoros, Mozambique, and Tanzania have already taken steps to develop strategies and institutions to improve fisheries management and marine health through other World Bank projects. To leverage these previous investments Comoros will receive $13 million, Mozambique will receive $37 million and Tanzania will receive $36 million to strengthen country-wide institutions and activities, improve fishers’ livelihoods, expand the regional business climate and increase private sector investment in the fishing industry.
“Overfishing, including from uncontrolled small-scale fishing, progressively undermines the resource base upon which coastal communities depend,” said World Bank Task Team Leader Xavier F. P. Vincent. “The South West Indian Ocean marine fisheries are part of a larger marine ecosystem shared by all countries of the region. Today’s project will support regional coordination among the countries that border the South West Indian Ocean, improve the health and sustainability of the fisheries.”
#OpenToSyria – Amnesty International’s Chart of World Action towards the refugees of the conflict in Syria
(Youtube – Speech) DA Mmusi Maimane fires back at President Zuma (this is happens a few days after the EFF got throwed out of Parliament)

Here is clips from what DA Mmusi Maimane is adressing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5Vf3_AjtBo
And Malema adress in the aftermath:




















