- Senegal has called for United Nations support for the “Great Green Wall” project in which African countries have agreed to plant trees in a band across the breadth of the continent to try to lessen the effects of desertification.
President Abdoulaye Wade told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate yesterday that he wishes the UN will endorse the project, “which contributes to the protection of the environment,” help in the battle against climate change and would mobilise thousands of people.
The Great Green Wall will stretch about 7,000 kilometres from Dakar, the Senegalese capital, to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and will be about 15 kilometres wide as it traverses the continent.
Senegal has responsibility for coordinating the project, and Mr Wade said that his country has already planted about 525 kilometres of trees, with Mali and Chad to begin work on their sections soon.
“With the help of experts from around the world, we could select plants adapted to the relatively arid climatic conditions of the Sahelo-Saharan zone,” he said. “At the same time, we have decided to develop rainwater ponds along the course of this wall.”
Mr Wade stressed that Africa must play its part in wider global efforts to renew and protect the environment, saying the wall project is part of those efforts.
He also said the wall project could lead to the mobilisation of many young Africans in the service of a cause that boosts the environment and peace.
Meanwhile, the President of Gambia also called on the UN to step in and save Africa from the exploitation and discrimination it has suffered at the hands of the developed world, or the continent will take its own action.
“The UN must come to the rescue of Africa otherwise we Africans stand ready to liberate ourselves from this eternal bondage at any cost,” said President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh at the second day of the 64th annual General Assembly debate.
“We the Africans have been suffering for too long at the hands of the Westerners and we will put an end to this,” Mr Jammeh told the Assembly, which has gathered at UN Headquarters in New York for its high-level debate.
The President of the small West African country said that powerful multi-national corporations - which he described as “locusts” - have exploited the continent’s natural resources for centuries, keeping at least 95 percent of the profits for themselves.
Mr Jammeh noted that only four African countries receive more than 3 percent of the profits from the mining of their mineral resources, with the rest making even less from the companies.
In addition, he said that the excruciating debt burdening African nations, which very few rich countries have cancelled, consumes 80 percent of the 3 to 5 percent profit left to them by the multi-nationals.
“As from now the AU [African Union] would work towards ensuring that African nations and our farmers get their rightful share of our God-given natural and agricultural resources,” he said.
Stressing that it is “African sweat, blood, tears and natural resources that have built the North throughout almost five centuries of merciless and racist exploitation until today,” he said that we “will no longer accept less than 65 per cent royalty for our natural resources. Enough is enough.”
The President said that “by any means necessary” the new generation of African leaders would put an end to the degrading names they are called, such as “dictators, corrupt leaders, failed States and even rogue States.
“The world will not live in peace and security as long as this dehumanising and racist status quo continues to prevail with regards to the continent of Africa and Africans,” he stated.
“We have been forced to endure this for far too long and now we are going to put an end to it as we have ended apartheid in South Africa; by force if need be. We will defend our humanity, our dignity, our resources, our interests and our culture as from now.”
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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