Chris Mfula | LUSAKA
Zambia opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, arrested last week on suspicion of treason, was charged in a magistrate&#8217;s court on Tuesday with trying to overthrow the government.
Relations between the government and opposition have been raw since last August, when President Edgar Lungu&#8217;s Patriotic Front (PF) party beat Hichilema&#8217;s United Party for National Development (UPND) in a vote the opposition says was rigged.
Police in Africa&#8217;s No. 2 copper-producing country raided Hichilema&#8217;s house on April 11 to arrest him and he was initially charged with treason for obstructing Lungu&#8217;s motorcade.
In court on Tuesday, he was charged with treason in that &#8220;(he together with other persons did prepare or endeavoured to overthrow by unlawful means the government&#8221; between Oct. 10 last year and April 8 this year.
The charge in the motorcade incident was changed to disobeying instructions from a police officer by failing to give way to a presidential motorcade and using insulting language.
The court directed that Hichilema should be allowed visits by his children and at least five other family members following an application by his defence lawyers, who said he had so far been allowed to see only his wife.
Dressed in a red coat and khaki shirt, Hichilema waved his party symbol to supporters in court and stood throughout.
The prosecution is expected to respond to the issues raised on Wednesday after which the magistrate will make a ruling. Hichilema and five others facing the same charges, who are all members of his party and include his driver, did not enter pleas as treason can only be tried in the high court.
Lungu has narrowly beaten Hichilema, an economist and wealthy businessman who goes by the nickname &#8220;HH&#8221;, in two presidential elections by a razor-thin margin.
Rising political temperatures in Zambia, a landlocked and impoverished southern African nation, has come against the backdrop of an economy hobbled by low commodity prices, mine closures, rising unemployment, power shortages, a widening budget deficit and diminishing foreign-currency reserves.
The political turbulence, however, does not appear to have closed the taps of international finance or aid. The presidency said on Tuesday Zambia was on the verge of a possible $1.2 billion programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying it was expected to be sealed by the end of April.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Alison Williams and Angus MacSwan)

Zambian opposition leader charged with trying to overthrow government

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s consumer inflation eased in March as the return of rainfall following a severe drought cut into food price inflation.
The slide to 6.1 percent year-on-year in March from 6.3 percent in February bolstered the likelihood of the central bank will keep interest rates on hold despite recent shocks to the currency. On a month-on-month basis, inflation fell to 0.6 percent from 1.1 percent, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.
The rand retreated about 12 percent after of President Jacob Zuma&#8217;s decision to fire respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in early April. The firing lead at least in part to two credit downgrades to &#8220;junk&#8221; and a spike in investor concerns over the direction fiscal policy.
Such moves would normally boost inflation, putting pressure on central banks to raise interest rates.
But Paul Sirani, chief market analyst at Xtrade, said the data would let the South African central bank stand pat.
&#8220;Today&#8217;s figure shows that prices are heading in the right direction, though policy makers are likely to sit on their hands and seek further reassurance from next month&#8217;s figures,&#8221; he said.
Food inflation, which climbed close 12 percent in 2016 as the worst drought in decades swept through southern Africa, continued to retreat, slowing to 8.7 on a yearly basis.
At its March policy meeting, South Africa&#8217;s Reserve Bank (SARB) said it forecast consumer price growth to average 5.9 percent in 2017 and that it had reached the end of its tightening phase, adding that any rate cuts would depend on data.
However the bank, which has raised benchmark lending rates by a cumulative 200 basis points since 2014, warned on April 10 that the sharp fall in the currency following Zuma&#8217;s midnight cabinet reshuffle had caused the exchange rate to re-emerge as a major risk to inflation.
(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by James Macharia/Jeremy Gaunt)

South African inflation slows as food price rises ease

<div id="article-byline">By <a href="http://www.reuters.com/journalists/david-lewis">David Lewis</a> | KINSHASA</div>
One day in November 2015, President Joseph Kabila visited his foreign ministry and smiled broadly as a computer took his photograph and fingerprints. He was there to mark the launch of the Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s new biometric passport, fitted with a chip to store details of his identity.
Kabila and his aides have extolled the benefits of the passports, saying they will allow freer movement across an increasingly security-conscious world. In private, the organizers of the deal have another reason to celebrate: It presents an opportunity to make hundreds of millions of dollars off some of the poorest people on the planet.
The passport is among the most expensive in the world, costing each Congolese applicant $185. A UK passport costs half as much, and a U.S. passport $110.
Yet according to documents reviewed by Reuters, the Congolese government will receive just $65 from each passport. Instead, most of the money will go to Semlex, a firm based in Belgium that is producing the travel documents, and to a small company in the Gulf.
That Gulf company, called LRPS, receives $60 for every passport issued, according to documents relating to the deal between the Congo government and Semlex. LRPS is registered in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a jurisdiction where details of ownership are often kept secret.
According a person with direct knowledge of the passport deal, LRPS is owned by Makie Makolo Wangoi, who is believed to be a close relative of Kabila. This source said that Wangoi traveled to the UAE in June 2015 to complete the transfer of LRPS shares into her name. Documents referring to travel arrangements and the share transfer indicate that Wangoi owns LRPS, though the evidence is not conclusive.
Reuters sent questions about LRPS to Wangoi&#8217;s email address but received no reply. The Congolese presidency did not respond to Reuters inquiries about the passport scheme and the ownership of LRPS. Nor did Semlex respond to requests for comment.
After these various inquiries were sent, a senior Congolese security official contacted Reuters and said he would provide responses on behalf of Kabila, Wangoi, and others. He later said all questions should be referred to the CEO of Semlex, Albert Karaziwan, and supplied no further comment.
Karaziwan did not reply to emails or text messages sent to him. Lawyers for him declined to comment, citing possible legal action over a person involved in the passport deal for allegedly disseminating misleading information. Reuters gave Kabila and others multiple opportunities to say whether any of the information about the passport deal in this article was misleading. They did not respond.
The surprising cost of Congo&#8217;s passports is highlighted by a rival proposal from a separate Belgian company called Zetes. In that document, reviewed by Reuters, Zetes outlined plans in 2014 to supply biometric passports to Congo for $28.50 each. Zetes confirmed making such an offer.
Over time, Congo&#8217;s $185 biometric passports could generate hundreds of millions of dollars for LRPS and Semlex while diverting potential revenue away from an unstable and impoverished state. According to the United Nations, the average per capita income in Congo is just $680 a year.
The Congolese state needs all the funds it can get and has previously missed out on revenues from big corporations: A 2013 report by the Africa Progress Panel said Congo appeared to have lost out on $1.3 billion in revenues from five mining deals since 2010 because state companies had &#8220;systematically&#8221; undervalued assets when selling concessions to investors.
Those deals involved complex transactions between big enterprises; in the passport scheme, the state is losing out on revenue that comes directly from ordinary citizens.
Kabila was due to step down in December but elections have been postponed, leaving him in charge as domestic opponents assert his authority has run out. Dozens of people have been killed in violent clashes between protesters and police.
During Kabila&#8217;s rule, some of his close associates have acquired considerable wealth through interests in numerous businesses in the country, according to the corruption watchdog Global Witness. In December, the news agency Bloomberg detailed a network of about 70 companies – not including LRPS – that it said were linked to members of Kabila&#8217;s family, including Wangoi.
Kabila did not respond to requests for comment on that story either, but officials close to Kabila have denied Congo is losing out in deals that favor officials or businessmen close to the president. They have also defended his family&#8217;s involvement in business, saying they are private citizens who have a right to engage in commercial activities.
IDENTITY EXPERT
Over the past 20 years, Semlex has become a leader in providing identity and travel documents for African nations. From its headquarters in an imposing building on Avenue Brugmann in Brussels, it has supplied clients stretching from Guinea-Bissau in Africa&#8217;s west to Kenya in the east and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.
Landing a contract in Congo &#8211; one of the continent&#8217;s most populous nations, with some 70 million people – had the potential to be highly rewarding for the firm. Documents seen by Reuters, including correspondence between Semlex and the government and agreements between individuals and firms involved in the deal, paint a picture of how the contract was pulled together.
A key figure was Semlex CEO Karaziwan, who founded the company in 1992 and whose family owns all but a small percentage of the business. Karaziwan is a Belgian of Armenian origin, born in the Syrian city of Aleppo. He owns a turreted castle in Belgium and has business interests from real estate to restaurants. His main focus is technology and security for governments, particularly in Africa.
Between October 2014 and June 2015, Karaziwan engaged in a series of communications with Congolese authorities, including several letters addressed directly to Kabila, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. On Oct. 16, 2014, Karaziwan sent Kabila an outline of his company&#8217;s expertise, saying Semlex was able to offer biometric passports at a cost of 20 to 40 euros each ($21.50 to $43), thanks to having its own printer in Lithuania.
Five days later, Karaziwan sent another letter to Kabila. This time he invited two senior officials from Kabila&#8217;s inner circle, Moise Ekanga Lushyma and Emmanuel Adrupiako, to Dubai for meetings to discuss a possible contract.
Ekanga has headed the Congolese government office overseeing billions of dollars of cooperation between Congo and China. Adrupiako is an influential financial adviser who has worked with Kabila since 2001. One official with detailed knowledge of the workings of Kabila&#8217;s presidency described Adrupiako as the informal &#8220;treasurer&#8221; in his office.
In early November 2014, Semlex said it could produce passports at $50 apiece, according to the documents seen by Reuters. In a letter sent to Kabila on Nov. 13, the price had risen to $120.
In March 2015, Karaziwan was invited to Kinshasa, DR Congo&#8217;s capital, by the foreign minister to finalize a deal. By the end of May, a proposal for Semlex to provide passports for five years was cleared by the budget ministry.
On June 11, 2015, Karaziwan and Congo&#8217;s Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda and Finance Minister Henry Yav Mulang signed the final contract. Semlex agreed to invest $222 million in the project. The Congolese government would charge citizens $185 per passport, a steep rise from the $100 cost of the country&#8217;s previous passports.
On the day the passport was launched, Karaziwan, Tshibanda and a group of Semlex workers posed for a photograph, seen by Reuters: In the middle was Kabila, grinning broadly.
Weeks later, the prime minister of Congo at the time, Mapon Matata Ponyo, wrote to Foreign Minister Tshibanda complaining that he had only heard about the passport deal in the press. In the letter, reviewed by Reuters, Matata Ponyo asked for more details on the contract to see whether it met requirements for transparency. He never received a reply, a spokesman for Matata Ponyo said.
A senior official at the body that regulates government contracts in Congo, the Autorité de Regulation des Marchés Publics, said the passport deal should have gone through a public tender. &#8220;This did not happen,&#8221; said the official. &#8220;It was handled directly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The contract should have been published.”
THE SPLIT
The June 11 contract provides that $65 from each passport be earmarked for the Congolese state. The remaining $120 was allotted to a consortium that includes Semlex Europe, based in Brussels; Semlex World, based in the United Arab Emirates; Semlex&#8217;s Lithuanian printer; and the UAE entity called LRPS.
That $120 was further divided up by two other agreements, also dated June 11. According to one contract, a Kinshasa-based firm called Mantenga Contacto Trading Limited was allotted $12 from each passport in return for handling much of the project&#8217;s human resources issues, including supplying staff. Mantenga acknowledged Reuters inquiries but supplied no comment.
The three Semlex firms involved in the deal were allotted $48 per passport.
That left $60 out of the $120 allotted to the consortium. According to documents seen by Reuters, that $60 from each passport issued was allocated to LRPS. In return, LRPS would help with administration, logistics and the relationship with the government.
LRPS was represented in the talks with the government by Karaziwan, the boss of Semlex, according to the contract between Semlex and the Congolese government.
Reuters was unable to verify the current status of LRPS. But its certificate of incorporation with authorities in Ras al Khaimah shows it was set up on Jan. 14, 2015, as Semlex was negotiating the passport deal with Kabila&#8217;s representatives. The document does not say who owned the company when it was created. But a second document – an agreement to transfer shares – indicates that later in 2015, LRPS was owned by Cedric Fevre, a Frenchman based in Dubai who is a business associate of Karaziwan.
Though this computer-created document is unsigned, metadata embedded in it shows that it was created in the UAE in 2015 and printed on June 25 that year. That was the day that Fevre transferred all 10,000 shares in LRPS to Wangoi, according to the source with direct knowledge of the passport deal.
A second source, who was aware of the deal without having direct knowledge, also said Wangoi became the owner of LRPS.
The person with direct knowledge of the passport deal said that the only signed copies of the LRPS share-transfer agreement are held by Fevre and Wangoi. Reuters has not seen a signed copy, and Fevre and Wangoi did not respond to questions for this article.
Wangoi is little known outside the Kabila family. Corporate records confirm she is a shareholder in several companies with other Kabila family members. In two of these firms, Congo-based Shaba Impex Sprl and Shaboil Sprl, Wangoi uses the name Makolo wa Ngoy Kabila in the registration. Two people familiar with the president&#8217;s circle said Wangoi is one of Kabila&#8217;s many sisters. She was identified as a Kabila sister in the Bloomberg investigation into the business interests of the president&#8217;s family. Another source, who has studied Congo and Kabila for many years, said she could be a niece.
The passport contract runs for five years. It doesn&#8217;t stipulate how many passports will be made, but in recent years Congo has issued around 2.5 million of its old passports annually. A person with direct knowledge of the Semlex operation said the Belgian company had produced 145,000 of the new biometric passports by the end of January 2017, which would earn LRPS nearly $9 million.
In another document reviewed by Reuters, Semlex said that it would be able to supply Congo with 2 million passports a year, once the operation was fully up and running. That suggests the Belgian company could receive nearly $100 million a year from the deal, while LRPS could receive $120 million a year.
ELECTION DELAY
Kabila was due to step down in December at the end of his second term in office, a move that would have marked Congo&#8217;s first peaceful transfer of power. But the government said it needed more time and money to organize elections, and Kabila has remained president.
Dozens of people have been killed in protests over the election delay while a fresh rebellion in the south has killed hundreds more. On Dec. 31, mediators from the Catholic Church secured an agreement from Kabila&#8217;s camp that the vote will be held this year and Kabila will not seek re-election. Months on, the deal has still not been implemented and the church has walked away from the mediation process. Kabila himself has not publicly declared his position. His opponents say several efforts to push back the vote show he is in no hurry to yield power.
Whether or not Kabila stays in power, LRPS looks set to continue to make money from every passport issued in Congo. According to Article 14 of the contract for the deal, the agreement remains valid even if there are &#8220;institutional changes&#8221; in the country.
(Additional reporting by Noah Browning and Tom Arnold in Dubai, Stanley Carvalho in Abu Dhabi, Teis Jensen in Copenhagen, Robert-Jan Bartunek in Brussels and Matt Scuffham in Toronto; Editing By Richard Woods and Michael Williams)

Special Report: Congo’s pricey passports send millions of dollars offshore

By Sethuraman N R
Gold slipped on Wednesday as the dollar recovered a bit from a three-week low hit in the previous session, but geopolitical concerns about North Korea and nervousness ahead of the French presidential election lent support to the safe-haven asset.
Spot gold was down 0.2 percent to $1,286.40 per ounce as of 0314 GMT. The metal hit its highest since early November at $1,295.42 on Monday before closing lower, and rose 0.4 percent on Tuesday.
U.S. gold futures were down 0.4 percent at $1,288.80.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday reassured Japan of American commitment to reining in North Korea&#8217;s nuclear and missile ambitions, after warning that U.S. strikes in Syria and Afghanistan showed the strength of its resolve.
&#8220;The whole situation for gold is more than optimistic because of the geopolitical tensions aroused by North Korea and with the interest rate hike expectations coming down,&#8221; said Mark To, head of research at Hong Kong&#8217;s Wing Fung Financial Group.
&#8220;The trading range from $1,200-$1,250 over the past few weeks has been broken convincingly&#8230; We see $1,280 as the gravity around which the trading range will be built and prices will move between $1,270-$1,310.&#8221;
The dollar index edged up, but was hovering near a three-week low on disappointing U.S. housing starts data and nervousness over trade talks between the United States and Japan. [USD/]
In France, investors remained nervous ahead of the first round of the country&#8217;s presidential election this Sunday, even though an opinion poll put centrist Emmanuel Macron first, just ahead of far-right, anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen.
&#8220;Nervousness heading into the French election should theoretically provide some support to gold, but at some point, we think the markets will start to discount a poor showing for Le Pen and perhaps siphon off some of the risk premium already baked into prices,&#8221; said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.
&#8220;However, offsetting this somewhat, is the possibility that the dollar will continue to recede on a Le Pen defeat, coupled with the fact that U.S. tax reform and infrastructure spending both seem to be increasingly far removed, painting a rather bullish backdrop for gold.&#8221;
British Prime Minister Theresa May&#8217;s call for a snap general election added to a lengthening list of uncertainties for investors already on edge over geopolitical tensions that also include Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey and U.S. relations with Russia and China.
Spot silver dropped 0.2 percent to $18.21 per ounce.
Platinum fell 0.1 percent to $972.45, while palladium was down 0.3 percent at $772. Palladium on Tuesday fell nearly 2 percent to a more than four-week low of $769.80.
(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Gold edges lower, but geopolitical worries support

Shares in Aspen Pharmacare fell 2.5 percent on Tuesday following a British newspaper report accusing the African company of withholding drugs to try to drive up prices in European markets.
Citing leaked internal emails, The Times newspaper reported staff at Aspen discussed destroying supplies of life-saving cancer medicines during a price dispute with the Spanish health service in 2014.
Aspen, Africa&#8217;s largest generic drugmaker, declined to comment on specific allegations because it could be in breach of sub-judice laws that apply to matters that are the subject of legal processes.
&#8220;Aspen has clearly demonstrated its commitment to providing quality medicines affordably over many years. The supply of the oncology products in question is no exception,&#8221; Aspen said in a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
&#8220;Aspen looks forward to the opportunity to demonstrate the integrity and legality of its practices in the context of these legal processes.&#8221;
Shares in the company fell 2.5 percent to 273.17 rand by 0805 GMT, lagging behind a 0.7 percent decline in the Johannesburg&#8217;s Top-40 index. Tuesday was the first day of trading after the long Easter weekend.
Aspen, based in the South African city of Durban, has expanded overseas to benefit from the expiry of patents on best-selling drugs. That has helped to fuel a more than nine-fold increase in its share price since early 2008.
The company said the oncology drugs in question generated sales in the European Union of 60 million euros ($64 million) in the year to the end of June 2016, much of which was achieved on an average price of approximately 2 euros per tablet. ($1 = 0.9391 euros)
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Keith Weir)

Aspen shares drop after accusations of forced price hikes in Europe

South Africa&#8217;s competition regulator has decided against pursuing a complaint of unfair pricing lodged against mobile phone giants MTN Group and Vodacom by smaller unlisted rival Cell C.
Cell C made the complaint with the Competition Commission in 2013, accusing MTN and Vodacom of discriminatory pricing because its larger rivals made it cheaper for users to call customers on the same network but charged a premium for calls to other networks.
&#8220;The Commission found that it would be unlikely to succeed in a prosecution of the specific conduct subject to Cell C&#8217;s complaint,&#8221; it said in a statement.
However, the Commission, which investigates cases and makes remedial recommendations to the Competition Tribunal, said Vodacom and MTN&#8217;s pricing strategies made it difficult for late entrants like Cell C to compete effectively.
It said there was a need to look more broadly into the state of competition in the South African telecoms market and would discuss possible regulatory interventions with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, the industry watchdog, to make the market competitive.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

S.Africa’s competition watch says not pursuing pricing complaint against MTN, Vodacom

Shares in Ecobank fell 5 percent on Tuesday after the pan-African lender reported a loss for 2016, blaming a recession in Nigeria &#8211; its main market &#8211; and a strong U.S. currency.
The bank also proposed raising $400 million via a convertible bond issue from shareholders at 6.46 percent above Libor. It said it had received subscriptions from existing shareholders for around $300 million.
Ecobank, which operates in nearly 40 African nations, reported a loss before tax of $131.3 million for 2016 compared with a loss of $205.2 million a year earlier.
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Mark Potter)

Ecobank shares fall after African lender reports full-year loss

By Kieran Guilbert
DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; The devastation wrought by Boko Haram, which has left millions of people in northeast Nigeria on the brink of famine, could exacerbate Europe&#8217;s migration crisis if the world fails to act urgently, the country&#8217;s chief humanitarian coordinator said.
Nearly five million people in the region are desperately hungry and risk starving to death this year if they do not receive food aid, according to figures from the United Nations.
This could drive even more Nigerians to flee the country and attempt the perilous journey to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, unless the international community ramps up support and funds, said Ayoade Alakija, Nigeria&#8217;s humanitarian coordinator.
&#8220;With so many people facing famine, this is the wrong time to criticise us and simply say &#8216;You are the giant of Africa&#8217;.
&#8220;The world could see a mass exodus from a country of 180 million people if support is not given, and fast &#8230; if people facing famine fall into famine,&#8221; she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.
While the European Union has been strained by the influx of 1.6 million refugees and migrants between 2014 and 2016, a greater number of people in northeast Nigeria, some 1.8 million, are displaced and unable or unwilling to go home, Alakija added.
&#8220;For Nigeria, this is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis of large magnitude. We, and the wider world, were largely unprepared for it,&#8221; she said, adding that Nigeria was struggling to respond as it deals with its first recession in 25 years.
Jihadist group Boko Haram&#8217;s eight-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has killed at least 20,000 people and forced some two million to flee their homes.
http://cnbc.africa/news/western-africa/2016/08/10/failure-to-help-farmers-in-northeast-nigeria/
TACKLING ROOT CAUSE
The state&#8217;s handling of the situation in northeast Nigeria has been hit by allegations of officials stealing and selling aid, and having sex with women in exchange for food.
Alakija said the Borno state government had taken measures to improve protection efforts &#8211; such as having more female officials in camps for the displaced &#8211; and tackle corruption.
&#8220;But you need to put such incidents in the wider context of widespread suffering and desperation,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We need to tackle the root cause of the crisis, not just these symptoms.&#8221;
The humanitarian response has also been fraught at times due to tensions between the state and international aid agencies.
The president&#8217;s spokesman in December said aid agencies, including the United Nations, were exaggerating levels of hunger to get more funding from donors, while Borno&#8217;s state governor in January said many of the groups were profiting from the crisis.
&#8220;This arose from a lack of understanding and the fact that Nigeria has never faced this kind of situation before &#8230; there is no denial of the scale of the crisis within the country, but rather incredulity around what has been going on,&#8221; Alakija said.
&#8220;For the first six years of the insurgency, the previous government did not adequately acknowledge or respond to it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It was not until (President Muhammadu) Buhari came to power (in 2015) that Nigeria, and the world, woke up and smelt the coffee.&#8221;
With Boko Haram&#8217;s insurgency in its eighth year and showing little sign of ending, many aid agencies are thinking beyond just emergency aid, and considering how best to foster and improve long-term development and resilience-building efforts. 
&#8220;The government is tackling the crisis on several fronts, not just handing out food parcels,&#8221; said Alakija. &#8220;We are focusing on rebuilding entire communities, so that people can go back to their homes, jobs, and resume their lives as normal.&#8221;
http://cnbc.africa/news/western-africa/2017/04/11/nigeria-frees-people/
(Reporting By Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org/">news.trust.org</a>)

World must aid famine-threatened Nigeria to avoid ‘mass exodus’

Zimbabwe&#8217;s mining industry needs to be &#8220;reorganised&#8221; so that it contributes more towards the African country&#8217;s economy, President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday.
Although Mugabe did not give details on what form the transformation would take, his government has, in recent years, pressured mining firms to transfer majority stakes to black ownership under a 2008 law and to cede some claims.
&#8220;There is a lot of work which is going on in that sector, not least the reorganisation whose completion we impatiently await,&#8221; Mugabe, Zimbabwe&#8217;s sole ruler since independence in 1980, told thousands at a rally to mark the southern African country&#8217;s 37th independence anniversary in a Harare stadium.
Zimbabwe, where mining generates more than 50 percent of export earnings, holds significant mineral deposits and the world&#8217;s top two platinum producers, Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum, have operations there.
Mining has also overtaken agriculture as the leading provider of employment, after the Mugabe government started seizing white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks in 2000.
The government has also leaned on producers to invest in local refinery facilities. Platinum miners currently ship their matte to South Africa for processing.
While Mugabe&#8217;s government has signalled plans to relax the ownership rules for existing mines, it has shifted its focus to seizing land owned by foreign mines, which it claims to be idle.
&#8220;Much is expected from this important sector. It must play its part towards this overall development vision we have,&#8221; Mugabe said.
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; editing by Alexander Smith)

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe impatient over pace of mining reform

While the world goes digital, some brands are staying in an analogue world. Businesses are expected to spend nearly $300 billion, or half their marketing budgets, on digital advertising by 2021, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/05/global-ad-spend-to-slow-in-2017-while-2016-sales-were-nearly-500bn.html" target="_self">according to figures from MAGNA</a>, but some companies are sticking with traditional print ads.
Those companies are the makers of high-end luxury goods, such as watches, jewelry and couture fashion, whose adverts sometimes seem to make up the bulk of glossy magazines, with many pages of ads before the actual editorial content.
Figures out today show that these &#8220;high luxury&#8221; companies around the world still spent nearly three-quarters of their budgets (73 percent) on print advertising in newspapers and magazines in 2016, with this figure set to stay high in 2017, at 72 percent.
High-end luxury goods companies spent only 16 percent of their budgets on digital advertising in 2016, followed by outdoor billboards with 8 percent and TV at 3 percent, according to the report by media agency Zenith.
Meanwhile, companies that make more accessible, &#8220;broad luxury&#8221; products, including cars, cosmetics and perfumes, are spending increasing amounts on digital advertising, with 30 percent of their budgets going online in 2016.
TV advertising made up the bulk of broad luxury ad spend in 2016, at 41 percent, but the gap between TV and digital advertising will gradually reduce, the report states. By 2018, TV ad spend will go down to 39 percent, while digital will increase to 34 percent, up four percentage points on 2016.
Luxury brands (both high-end and broad) are forecast to spend $11.8 billion globally on advertising this year, with the fastest-growing region being Eastern Europe, with 10 percent annual average growth. The Middle East and North Africa will see ad spend shrink by around 6 percent a year, due to political instability and lower oil prices, Zenith forecasts.
&#8220;Luxury advertisers are having to respond to consumers&#8217; changing expectations,&#8221; said Vittorio Bonori, Zenith&#8217;s global brand president. &#8220;Consumers are now looking for luxury experiences that are personal and relevant to them, and targeted brand communication is central to creating this extra brand value.&#8221;
But it seems that spending on print advertising could be working. LVMH, the world&#8217;s largest luxury goods group, including the Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Celine labels, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/11/lvmh-shares-hit-record-high-after-q1-sales-beat-other-luxury-stocks-rise.html" target="_self">saw its shares reach a record high last week</a>, after reporting a 15 percent year-on-year increase in first quarter sales.

The advertising world goes digital but luxury brands spend on print

A paradox has played out in Ethiopia over the last decade. While its economy has thrived, its political landscape has been overwhelmed by rampant corruption. In 2013, for example, more than 50 high profile people, including government officials and businessmen, were arrested during an anti-corruption crackdown.
As Ethiopia’s economy transformed between 2010-2015, through the expansion of services, agriculture and improvements in infrastructure, corruption became a way of life. This is predominantly because of the political dominance of a single party – the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. The Front is a coalition of four parties and has ruled Ethiopia since 1991.
Despite touting itself as a multiparty state, true multiparty politics have not been able to take root in the country. This is because of the ruling party’s control over security apparatus, media, electoral organs and administrative structure. “Politics of tolerance” are not entertained as opposition parties are seen as enemies, rather than political rivals.
Underlying the change needed to tackle corruption, is the need to transition from this single party state to a true multiparty system.
This will promote political choice and give democratic rights to all citizens. It will introduce a system of checks and balances that will expose abuses and reveal corrupt officials.
Corruption in action
As explained in my book, Ethiopia borrowed its development model from South Korea and Malaysia. These presume that development is managed by highly disciplined, nonpartisan, professional government functionaries.
In Ethiopia, however, government bureaucrats are recruited on meritocracy. They operate in line with their ethnic affiliation and to fulfil the whims of the dominant party.
The second is that public procurement for development projects such as highways, electrification, telecommunications, information technology and housing are not handled through tender processes.
Another major contributory factor is the state’s complicated bureaucracy. Sectors such as land administration, customs and public procurement, have become the pillars of the rent seeking political economy. Businesses are forced to pay bribes to obtain permits and licenses.
The prevalence of political corruption has had a number of consequences. It’s affected the country’s gross domestic product and rewarded unproductive employees in both the private and public sectors.
Its greatest impact, however, has been the fuelling of instability. This has led to a great deal of domestic turmoil. As a result, violent anti-government protests against domestic and foreign investments have erupted in recent months.
This violence has threatened the country’s infrastructure, foreign investment and civilians. The situation has escalated to a point that ordinary law enforcement agencies are unable to properly handle the situation. Instead, the Federal Government declared a six-month-long state of emergency, effective October 10, 2016. This has been extended by another four months.
Anti-corruption efforts
If the Ethiopian government refuses to address these issues, the current flourishing economy will likely evaporate. The signs aren’t good. The government’s current attempts at fighting corruption are superficial and will produce marginal results.
The anti-corruption Proclamation of 2005, for example, was poorly implemented and lacked methodologies in handling corruption cases. It had limited power and its enforcers lacked skills in investigation and prosecution.
The country’s court system can’t effectively deal with corruption either. This is because the court system in Ethiopia is engulfed with injustices and corruption is deeply rooted. For example, judges are generally not assigned to the court bench as a result of their training or experience, but to fulfil the country’s ethnic quota system of ruling. They therefore make decisions in favour of their ethnic groups and purposely prolong the execution of court cases.
The way forward
Certain changes need to be made to fight corruption. Civic organisations, alternative parties and opposition groups need to be involved in political dialogue. This can start to happen through the restructuring of the federal system and a multiparty system that gives an equal playing field.
By doing this, Ethiopia will improve its electoral system and give way to proportional representation rather than only allowing the largest block of voters to be represented.
By design, Ethiopia established the political gridlock itself through the creation of ethnic and regional federalism. Communication and commercial interaction among constituents has gradually declined because regions are confined within watertight compartments. They develop apart and have little influence on each other.
The existing regional states need to be subdivided into manageable units or woredas as they’re called in Ethiopia. This would make local units more manageable. They will each have a say in selecting their own administrators, holding them to account for their decisions. Each unit could have a number of municipalities run by community elected mayors and council members.
For the judicial system at the federal level, the framework for judicial appointment and retention must be reevaluated and restructured. Judicial positions should be advertised publicly to attract a wider selection pool of higher calibre candidates. Judicial Administration Commissions must have clear standards, procedures, and rules for decision making.
These basic structural changes, and a willingness on the part of the government to allow multiparty democracy to prevail and real power devolved to the local level, will pave the way for Ethiopia to sustain its current economic growth trajectory.

Ethiopia needs a multi-party democracy to end the crushing impact of corruption

YAOUNDE (Reuters) &#8211; A doctors&#8217; strike in Cameroon left patients without critical care in the capital Yaoude on Monday, the latest in a string of union actions that have crippled a country in the midst of political crisis.
The doctors union, known as SYMEC, demanded better working conditions and pay and left nurses to attend to sick patients in some of Yaounde&#8217;s major hospitals.
The strike was not directly linked to other union action, but it adds to the turmoil in the central African country where protests have erupted since October in the Anglophone south- and northwest regions.
Teachers and lawyers have been on strike for months to protest at what they say is their marginalisation by the French-speaking majority under President Paul Biya&#8217;s 35-year rule. In reaction, the government has shut down the internet in English-speaking areas.
At Yaounde&#8217;s Central Hospital on Monday, patients angrily waited to be seen, clutching prescriptions and test results, but there were no doctors in sight, a Reuters witness said.
&#8220;My father had a motorcycle accident and must undergo surgery today. But there are no surgeons, we are told that there is a strike, and the nurse told us that they only deal with the sick in-house or by appointment,&#8221; said Marianne Balla, who was waiting in the Central Hospital.
The government said the strike was illegal as SYMEC is not a legally recognised union, a charge SYMEC dismissed as untrue.
It was not clear how well observed the strike was in other parts of the country. Some hospitals contacted by Reuters outside the capital said by telephone that they were operating normally.
The strike comes at a critical time for Biya, who is under pressure to peacefully resolve a growing crisis.
At least six protesters have been shot dead and hundreds others arrested during the rare challenge to state authority ahead of a presidential election next year.
In an apparent bid to stamp out online critics, the government has cut internet access in the two English-speaking regions for three months, hobbling business activity and prompting criticism from human rights groups and the United Nations.
Still, with Biya looking to extend his long rule next year, some expect government crackdowns to continue.
&#8220;With elections coming up next year, we can expect the situation to get much worse before it gets better,&#8221; said Jeffrey Smith from campaign group Vanguard Africa.
(Reporting by Sylvain Andzongo; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Alison Williams)

Cameroon doctor strike leaves patients unseen amid political crisis

Business Leadership South Africa calls on elected leaders to stop state capture.
<ul>
<li>Our President’s irrational and inexplicable changes to the Cabinet have caused a sharp, expected an unnecessary decline in South Africa’s global financial standing.</li>
<li>Those within the government and ruling party who disagree with the President’s actions are being vilified and criticised and the robust debate that has characterised South Africa’s liberation movement since 1912 is being silenced.</li>
<li>Certain individuals and organisations, who do not understand the severe implications of a weakening currency and sovereign downgrade to “junk status”, either deny the cause or use ideology and pseudo economics to dismiss the effects.</li>
<li>Propaganda, slogans, racism, lies and fake news is misrepresenting the nation’s anger with state capture and corruption, attempting incorrectly to reflect this anger as an attack on the ruling party.</li>
<li>With few exceptions, our state institutions and enterprises are poorly governed, inefficiently managed and over indebted, functioning way below their capacity and the expectations and needs of citizens.</li>
</ul>
South Africa is being divided into three groups: an elite who benefit from patronage and corruption; those too fearful to do anything about it; and millions who will suffer as a result.
All of these developments can be traced back to state capture centred mainly around the President and one family, aimed at the illegitimate acquisition of South Africa’s natural and financial assets. 
Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) does not accept this. South Africans, including the business community, should not stand by and allow this to become the “new normal”. We stand for a constitutional democracy, rule of law, respect for the independence of state institutions, an effective state, zero tolerance for corruption in both the private and public sectors, and a growing and inclusive economy that works for all. 
South Africa’s business sector is under constant attack despite providing employment for 13.5 million or 86% of the country’s working population and the bulk of the direct and indirect taxes that pay the salaries of 2.2 million government employees. 
Despite this we have no desire, intention or mandate to involve ourselves in party politics. We respect the Constitution and the means by which political leadership is determined. These are matters for the citizens of South Africa and their elected representatives. 
However, we regard the present situation as the political and economic low point of our young democracy. We know that without decisive action by leaders in every sphere of South African life our future is bleak. 
As corporate leaders BLSA makes an urgent appeal to all our elected representatives in parliament, and the ruling party and alliance partners in particular, to exercise their conscience in taking whatever immediate steps are needed to reverse corruption and state capture and to restore confidence in our country’s leadership, our economy and the future of South Africa.

South Africa is in crisis says Business Leadership S.A

Could it happen in this age of greed? A leading international musician pays his own way to travel thousands of miles to celebrate the independence of an African nation. He spends a night in a run-down hotel; smokes marijuana with farmers; survives teargas and writes a song that goes down in history. This was Bob Marley 35 years ago at the birth of Zimbabwe – an African story told by those who were there.
It all started with the impossible dream in Harare. Two Zimbabwean businessmen, nightclub owner, Job Kadengu and Gordon Muchanyuka, wanted a big name to serenade the new Zimbabwe at independence at midnight on April 17, 1980. Kadengu and Muchanyuka agreed Bob Marley was their man.
They flew to Kingston, Jamaica, to invite Marley, just weeks before independence day.
“Chris Blackwell, his manager at the time, was against this tour, but Marley, who had been following events in Zimbabwe, decided he would go. He hired a PA system in London and paid for his freight to Zimbabwe at his own expense,” says Fred Zindi, now a professor at the University of Zimbabwe, then, one of the Marley dreamers.
Marley had inspired Zimbabwe.
“During the years of Chimurenga (chiShona for uprising), Bob Marley’s music had been adopted by the guerrilla forces of the Patriotic Front; indeed, there were stories of ZANLA troops playing Marley cassettes in the bush. Certainly, Marley’s music has potency and a commitment which goes far beyond simple entertainment. He now enjoys a special place in Third World culture; an artist who directly identifies with the black African struggle. Thus, he was the only outside artist asked to participate in Zimbabwe’s independence celebrations,” says Zindi.
“His songs were the food that people in liberation movements, particularly the armed wings, were swallowing. From that point of view… to be able to see that music was an important aspect of the liberation of this continent. Bob Marley, like Amilcar Cabral (the first president of Angola), articulated so well the importance of the role of culture and music in the liberation struggle,” says Shadrack Gutto, a Unisa professor and constitutional law expert in South Africa, who was to teach law in Zimbabwe for 12 years.
So, it was set for a strange arrival at Salisbury Airport (now Harare International) on a Wednesday afternoon, on April 16. A bemused contingent of police in stiff green uniforms and peaked caps struggled to control a swarming crowd who came to see the arrival of the Jamaican dreadlocked band. The airport had not seen so many people for years as sanctions kept the world away.
“By the time the band arrived, a chartered Boeing 707 was on its way from London to Salisbury with 21 tons of equipment; a full 35,000-watt PA system plus backline equipment. It was one of the most extraordinary logistics operations. Mick Cater, from Alec Leslie Entertainment, flew down with the equipment and then set himself the problem of building a stage in time for the celebrations. By Wednesday, when the 12-strong road crew arrived in Zimbabwe, he had six hours in which to construct the stage and find sufficient power for the PA system,” says Zindi.
Marley and his crew spent the night, socializing with many former guerrilla fighters, at the run-down Skyline Hotel on the outskirts of Harare as foreign journalists had booked all the big hotels. The next day, Marley traveled to spend time with marijuana farmers in Mutoko, a town 143 kilometers outside Harare, where he sampled the herb.
In the last hours of Rhodesia, on April 17, thousands flocked to Rufaro stadium in Mbare, the Harare township that was the crucible of the struggle. There was a carnival atmosphere, people wore caps and t-shirts bearing the face of the new prime minister, Robert Mugabe.  At midnight, the green, gold and black flag of Zimbabwe, with the African fish eagle, replaced the Union flag.  A 32-year-old Prince Charles stood and saluted as the Union Flag came down for the last time in Africa.
People crushed into the stadium as Marley took to the stage. The police panicked and fired teargas into the crowd.
Back-up singers Marcia Griffiths and Rita Marley, the wife of the lead singer, were the first band members to get a whiff of teargas and they ran backstage. When it cleared, they went back.
“Bob was still in his element, he didn’t realize what was happening around him. So when we got back on stage, this is what Bob said to us: ‘Now I know who the true revolutionary is,’” says Rita in a documentary years later.
“It was a poignant moment; Bob Marley takes a celebratory stance at the front stage, calling out ‘Viva Zimbabwe!’ Each time eliciting a greater response from the audience. It is a moment pregnant with possibilities. Rastafari in our father’s land. A realization of the inherent unity in black culture, as emotional for the audience as it is for the band. Homecoming,” says Zindi.
“Bob Marley was at his height and that alone attracted a lot people’s attention to Zimbabwe. It was an historic moment of the liberation of Zimbabwe where the white arrogant people declared independence and so on. It was a moment when I and the other progressive intellectuals went to Zimbabwe. It was a special period. It captured the imagination of the world. You can’t hold Marley responsible for what Robert Mugabe did after that,” says Gutto.
One of the things that Mugabe did was to declare Gutto persona non grata, on unspecified national security grounds, in 1988 and deported him.
One of the many Zimbabweans turned away on independence night by police outside Rufaro stadium was 21-year-old Enos Nyarenda, an activist who had just returned from exile.
“When the war ended in Zimbabwe, in January, I went home in Harare with many other activists to witness our independence. My mother cried so much. It was after two years of my absence. My father was still in detention then, detained by the Ian Smith government, but he was released just a few days before independence day. I can’t describe the feeling, it was so emotional. We hugged. He had been detained for five years,” says Nyarenda, now a businessman in Kwekwe, in central Zimbabwe.
Luckily, for thousands like Nyarenda, Marley agreed to play again at Rufaro the following day. Nyarenda went with his new girlfriend, Susan, who is now his wife and mother of his three children.
“Oh man, we had this international outfit for the first time in Zimbabwe, these guys with long dreadlocks. Some of these things were not familiar at that time. I have never attended a music show bigger than that one. Having been from the bush, I was not the real reggae person. But the people were so excited and screaming. It was a free show. We instead had love for the music. Everyone couldn’t believe we were actually free, I never felt like that in my life. We are still talking about that day,” says Nyarenda.
So will Africa as long as people talk.

Bob Marley serenades Zimbabwe on its birth

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that leaders should listen to <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/04/10/thousands-march-in-s-a-calling-for-zuma-to-step-down/">protesters who have taken to the streets demanding that President Jacob Zuma resign </a>or be removed after a cabinet reshuffle triggered damaging credit downgrades. 
Zuma is to step down as head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December but his second term as president only expires after a general election in 2019. Ramaphosa and Zuma&#8217;s ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma are the leading candidates vying to replace him. 
Zuma is widely believed to support his ex-wife&#8217;s candidacy, while Ramaphosa, a wealthy businessman and former trade unionist, has the backing of the ANC&#8217;s labour allies. 
&#8220;People of our country are taking to the streets. They&#8217;re raising their concerns, and I think what we should be doing as leaders is to listen to some of the concerns that are being raised,&#8221; Ramaphosa told the eNCA news network on Sunday after attending an Easter church service in northern Limpopo province. 
Ramaphosa&#8217;s remarks are a marked contrast to Zuma&#8217;s. He has accused the marchers of having racist motives. The protests have had mixed racial profiles, and drew tens of thousands to Pretoria on Wednesday and nationwide on April 7. 
Zuma, who turned 75 on Wednesday, has survived previous protests. But the main opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA) and other parties believe they can drum up support to force Zuma from office following his dismissal of respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in a cabinet reshuffle. 
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/trending/sa-downgrade/2017/04/07/fitch-downgrades-sa/">Fitch and S&amp;P Global Ratings have downgraded South Africa&#8217;s debt to &#8220;junk&#8221;</a>, citing Gordhan&#8217;s dismissal as one reason. 
South Africa&#8217;s top court is considering whether a parliamentary motion of no confidence against Zuma should be taken by secret ballot. Opposition parties have said the motion would be more likely to succeed if held by secret ballot. 
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Alison Williams)

South Africa’s VP, Ramaphosa says leaders must listen to protesters

TARKA FOREST, Zimbabwe (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; Thousands of unemployed Zimbabweans have turned to illegal gold panning in a bid to survive the country&#8217;s deteriorating economy, leaving a trail of destruction that has alarmed farmers, timber plantation owners and the country&#8217;s environmental authorities. 
Peasant miners have set up makeshift mines on farmland and timber plantations in the country&#8217;s eastern provinces, which border Mozambique where gold fetches a higher price. 
Deep tunnels have been dug beneath roads, railways and buildings in the Kwekwe area of the Midlands province. In some parts of Manicaland province, waterways have been diverted and roads destroyed. 
With more illegal miners likely to exploit the area as the economy continues to slump, and the state placing responsibility to act on landowners, farmers are fearful of irreversible damage to their land, and the risk of losing their livelihoods. 
&#8220;Kwekwe is under siege from illegal miners and some of these miners are very violent. We don&#8217;t know what to do,&#8221; resident Jonas Dube told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
Simon Simango, an illegal gold miner in Chimanimani, Manicaland province, acknowledged that the excavations were having a negative impact on the environment. 
But many workers had run out of options, he said. 
&#8220;This (illegal mining) is our only source of livelihood. Look, there are no jobs in the country,&#8221; Simango told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
&#8220;We sell most of our gold to illegal buyers from Mozambique who are offering us very good prices.&#8221; 
Miners report that buyers in Zimbabwe paid around $30 per gram of gold while buyers in Mozambique were paying, double at around $60 per gram. 
Zimbabwe has never fully recovered from an economic slump that began in 2000 with the violent seizure of thousands of white-owned farms. Unemployment runs at 80 percent, and even those with jobs face unpaid wages and an acute shortage of cash. 
There is no official data on the number of illegal miners in Zimbabwe. 
However, a report by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization estimated that between 2007 and 2012, some 500,000 illegal, artisanal gold miners were operating in the country. 
Experts believe these numbers could grow as the economy continues to falter. 
&#8220;SHOCKING&#8221; 
In Tarka Forest, a timber estate owned by Allied Timbers in Chimanimani district, more than 600 hectares of prime timber have been damaged to make way for the illegal digs, according to company executives. 
Manicaland&#8217;s minister of provincial affairs, Mandi Chimene, said in February that illegal gold mining in Tarka Forest had reached &#8220;alarming levels&#8221;, and resulted in the pollution of streams and rivers, and destruction of standing timber. 
&#8220;What is happening in Tarka (Forest) is shocking,&#8221; Chimene said. &#8220;We wonder who is benefiting from the illegal gold because as a country, we are not. Such gold is not going to the legal market.&#8221; 
The government says it is the responsibility of landowners or affected businesses to evict the illegal miners. 
&#8220;If it&#8217;s a forest plantation, it is the responsibility of the timber companies to remove the illegal miners,&#8221; Minister for Mines and Mining Development Walter Chidhakwa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
&#8220;If an area belongs to the timber plantations, the government cannot legalise gold mining in the area. The companies must put measures in to stop illegal mining in their plantations.&#8221; 
The same rule applies to illegal miners on privately-owned farmland, he said. 
Darlington Duwa, CEO of the Timber Producers Federation, warned of lasting damage as a result of the disappearing forests and water pollution caused by illegal mining. 
&#8220;It (illegal mining) reduces the timber resource, thus affecting direct and indirect employment, economic development, foreign currency earnings and leads to environmental degradation and reduced resilience to climate change effects,&#8221; Duwa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 
&#8220;In some areas illegal miners (settlers) uproot young trees that have been planted,&#8221; Duwa said. &#8220;At this rate, the industry is bound to suffer irreversible damage.&#8221; 
(Reporting by Andrew Mambondiyani, Editing by Paola Totaro; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women&#8217;s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

Gold rush fever among poor Zimbabweans leaves trail of destruction

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; The United Nations&#8217; World Food Programme could in a few weeks run out of funding to feed millions living on the brink of famine in Nigeria, four people familiar with the matter said, intensifying one of the world&#8217;s largest humanitarian crises. 
In the northeast, 4.7 million people, many of them refugees from the conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, need rations to survive, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), one of the main aid groups handing out food. Many of those living in camps for displaced people say they already barely get enough to eat. 
&#8220;With the money they have right now, and if they won&#8217;t cut rations, they can only go to May 18,&#8221; one person said, citing talks with the WFP, who asked to not be named because they were not authorised to speak to media. 
The WFP was &#8220;reasonably certain&#8221; it would get enough funding to last until late June, the person added. 
&#8220;All humanitarian crises globally are woefully underfunded and for WFP Nigeria is in one of the worst situations for funding,&#8221; a WFP spokeswoman said. 
&#8220;We are trying to save lives. We need over the next six months $207 million for Nigeria. At the moment the programme is 13 percent funded for 2017. It&#8217;s extremely low. Of the four countries facing famine it is the least funded.&#8221; 
The conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a caliphate in Nigeria&#8217;s northeast, began in 2009 and shows no sign of ending. It has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than two million. 
Nigeria&#8217;s northeast is now teetering on the brink of famine, aid organisations say, pointing to two years of missed crop harvests in what was once a breadbasket for the country, and the high likelihood of missing a third. 
The approaching rainy season increases the risk of disease spreading, especially within camps for the displaced, adding more stress to efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis. 
The wet season also means tens of thousands of refugees are attempting to return home to farm, despite facing serious dangers, saying there is not enough food provided in the camps to sustain them.
CONTINGENCY PLAN
In a meeting on Monday with the WFP in Nigeria&#8217;s capital Abuja, donor countries and organisations, criticised the group for not having a satisfactory contingency plan if funding starts to dry up, two of the people with knowledge of the talks said.
The WFP spokeswoman said meetings with donors were genial, open and frank. 
&#8220;When we are funded and able to get out to the field we are getting to people. This crisis can be averted and we want people to understand this will work if it&#8217;s funded. We can avert the famine.&#8221; 
The U.S. Embassy in Abuja said the U.S. government was working &#8220;urgently and cooperatively with our partners in an effort to address the critical humanitarian needs in northeastern Nigeria&#8221;. 
&#8220;There is not adequate funding to sustain the global response to those needs here. Additional resources must be found urgently so that feeding does not stop,&#8221; the embassy said in emailed comments to Reuters. 
The WFP and donors have also locked horns over who is to blame for the lack of funding reaching the aid organisation, with the U.N. agency saying the money promised has not been released to them and donors arguing that basic paperwork still has not been submitted, the two people said. 
&#8220;There&#8217;s a dark cloud hanging over them that they&#8217;ll cut rations,&#8221; one person said. &#8220;It shouldn&#8217;t be this way.&#8221; 
The WFP, along with other groups, has come under fire in Nigeria for its slow reaction to the humanitarian crisis in the northeast, only launching a full-fledged response last year while other aid organisations had been in the country since at least 2014. 
On Wednesday, the U.N. children&#8217;s fund said its response to the crisis &#8220;remains severely underfunded&#8221;, a warning echoed by many other aid groups. 
The United Nations says it needs $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid this year for the Lake Chad region &#8211; which spreads across parts of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad &#8211; and $457 million had been pledged for 2017 by late February. 
Despite the Nigerian army saying the insurgency is on the run, large parts of the country&#8217;s northeast, particularly in Borno state, remain under threat from Boko Haram. Suicide bombings and gun attacks have increased in the region since the end of the rainy season late last year.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Susan Thomas)

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News

Zambian opposition leader charged with trying to overthrow government

South African inflation slows as food price rises ease

Special Report: Congo’s pricey passports send millions of dollars offshore

Gold edges lower, but geopolitical worries support

Aspen shares drop after accusations of forced price hikes in Europe

S.Africa’s competition watch says not pursuing pricing complaint against MTN, Vodacom

Ecobank shares fall after African lender reports full-year loss

World must aid famine-threatened Nigeria to avoid ‘mass exodus’

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe impatient over pace of mining reform

The advertising world goes digital but luxury brands spend on print

Ethiopia needs a multi-party democracy to end the crushing impact of corruption

Cameroon doctor strike leaves patients unseen amid political crisis

South Africa is in crisis says Business Leadership S.A

Bob Marley serenades Zimbabwe on its birth

South Africa’s VP, Ramaphosa says leaders must listen to protesters

Gold rush fever among poor Zimbabweans leaves trail of destruction

With Nigeria’s northeast facing famine, WFP funds could dry up in weeks –sources

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