Russell Simmons raising money for Africa

NF Reporter · 12-06-2006, 01:52 PM

AP - Hip-hop and fashion mogul Russell Simmons said Tuesday he's selling bling to help raise money for the development and empowerment of Africans.

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waltky · 11-14-2007, 08:00 PM

Guess it helped...

Report: Africa Entering Period of Sustained Economic Growth
Nov 14, 2007 - World Bank says continent experiecing sustained, if uneven, growth.

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Several African economies are now showing signs of the positive growth needed to end decades of poverty, poor growth and stagnation in the continent, the World Bank said on Wednesday. African countries had recorded strong growth between 1995-2005, reversing the trend of economic collapses and stagnation between 1975-1995, the bank said in its Africa Development Indicators report released in Johannesburg.

"Over the past decade (1995-2005), Africa has recorded an average growth rate of 5.4 percent, which is at par with the rest of the world," Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region said. The performances of countries varied from 30.8 percent in Equatorial Guinea, to -2.2 percent in politically-troubled Zimbabwe, the report showed.

Zimbabwe was the only country to post negative growth, while nine countries posted growth rates close to or above the 7 percent threshold needed for sustained poverty reduction. John Page, the world bank's chief economist for Africa said since 1995 the continent had improved macro-economic management and economic policies, which allowed African economies to move from having twice as many growth accelerations as growth collapses over the last 30 years.

The continent's ability to maintain the growth would be critical in its bid to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals on poverty and health, and helping it become an exciting investment destination, he said. Africa is rated as one of the poorest continents in the world and has battled with extreme poverty levels affecting almost half of the continent's population.

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waltky · 11-17-2007, 10:30 PM

Some parts of Africa still a risky investment...

World Bank concerned about some African nations
Friday 16th November, 2007 - The World Bank has reported that many economies in sub-Saharan Africa have worsened, causing income inequalities.

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Even though African countries have experienced strong growth over the past ten years, research by the World Bank has found that poorer countries did not grow as fast, widening the income gap between them and the wealthier countries.

For Africa as a whole, the World Bank said resource-rich economies grew at 3.4 percent a year, oil-exporters at 4.5 percent and non-oil exporters at 1.3 percent. The World Bank noted inequality levels were at their worst between 1985 and 1995, when many countries fell into conflicts

But during the time, top performers in Africa included Botswana, Cape Verde, Gabon, Mauritius, Namibia and the Seychelles. South Africa accounted for 40 percent of the region's GDP.

World Bank concerned about some African nations

waltky · 07-18-2008, 01:03 AM

Maybe he can help get their farms back so Africa won't starve...

Battered but not beaten, Zimbabwe farmers seek justice
July 15, 2008 -- Farmers kidnapped, beaten days after election for challenging land confiscation; Dozens of farmers appeal to 14-nation tribunal for relief from Zimbabwe land grabs; Ben Freeth recalls being beaten with a shambock, a whip made of hippo hide; Mike and Angela Campbell -- 75 and 67 -- still recovering from June beating

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It was a frigid June night at Pickstone Mine in Zimbabwe when 67-year-old Angela Campbell -- soaking wet, her arm broken and a gun to her head -- signed a document vowing to give up the fight for her family's farm. The kidnappers demanding her signature at gunpoint were "war veterans" from President Robert Mugabe's heyday as a liberation hero, and they made it clear that her refusal would mean more beatings. Though Campbell signed the document, her son-in-law said she has no intention of giving up her battle; Campbell's family will be in Windhoek, Namibia, on Wednesday to present arguments to a Southern African Development Community tribunal.

In pursuing the case, the Campbells and 77 fellow Zimbabwean farmers are risking theft, torture and death for what may be their only remaining chance to save the homes and farms so coveted by Mugabe and his loyalists. Mugabe blames the West for his nation's soaring inflation and poverty. But analysts say Mugabe's 2000 "resettlement" policy, in which property was snatched from white farmers and redistributed to landless blacks, is more to blame for the country's turmoil. "All I want to see is justice," said Richard Etheredge, 72, a white farmer who was evicted from his farm last month. "The world cannot carry on with criminals."

On June 15, Etheredge, who has joined the case, and his family received word that a Zimbabwean senator planned to take over his Chegutu farm, a process known as "jambanja." "We're going to murder you if we catch you," Etheredge recalls an assailant yelling from outside his son's house two days later. The senator bused "criminals" to his property, Etheredge said. Etheredge, his wife and one of his twin sons escaped, but the other twin and Etheredge's daughter-in-law were later beaten, he said. Looters stole his computers, farm equipment, antiques, custom gun collection and a safe with billions in Zimbabwean currency (hundreds of thousands in U.S. dollars). Etheredge said he watched the thieves abscond with his possessions in vehicles belonging to the senator.

The looters also caused about $1 million in damage to his property, which includes three houses and a fruit-packing plant that was once among the most sophisticated in southern Africa. The Etheredges have been farming for 17 years and, before the attack, were producing 400,000 cartons of navel oranges and kumquats a year, he said. "The destruction is absolutely incredible," Etheredge said. Mugabe's cronies visited the adjacent Mount Carmel farm about two weeks later, just days after Mugabe won a majority of votes in a runoff denounced as a "sham" by the international community.

More Battered but not beaten, Zimbabwe farmers seek justice - CNN.com

waltky · 09-01-2008, 05:11 AM

Money needed in Zimbabwe for medicine...

Zimbabwe Doctors' Advice: Don't Get Sick
Aug. 31, 2008 - Doctors' Advice As Economic Collapse Hits Health Service: Don't Get Sick In Zimbabwe

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The advice of doctors to Zimbabweans is, don't get sick. If you do, don't count on hospitals _ they're short of drugs and functioning equipment. As the economy collapses, the laboratory at a main 1,000-bed hospital has virtually shut down. X-ray materials, injectable antibiotics and anticonvulsants have run out. Emergency resuscitation equipment is out of action. Patients needing casts for broken bones need to bring their own plaster. In a country with one of the world's worst AIDS epidemics, medical staff lack protective gloves.

Health authorities blame the drying up of foreign aid under Western sanctions imposed to end political and human rights abuses under President Robert Mugabe. A power-sharing agreement aimed at bringing the opposition into the government could open the gates to foreign aid. But negotiations have stalled over how much power rests with Mugabe. Meanwhile, the economic meltdown is evident in empty store shelves, long lines at gas stations _ and hospitals where elevators don't work and patients are carried to upper wards in makeshift hammocks of torn sheets and blankets.

Jacob Kwaramba, an insurance clerk, brought his brother to Harare's Parirenyatwa hospital, once the pride of health services in southern Africa. Emergency room doctors sent Kwaramba to a private pharmacy to buy drugs for his brother's lung infection. He returned two hours later to find his brother dead, he told the AP in the emergency room. "I couldn't believe it. It wasn't a fatal illness," he said.

Another family said a relative dying of cancer was sent home, and no painkillers could be found in Harare pharmacies. Relatives abroad were able to pay for morphine, but by the time import clearance was obtained from the state Medicines Control Authority, the man had died in agony, the family said, requesting anonymity for fear of government retribution.

More Zimbabwe Doctors' Advice: Don't Get Sick, Doctors' Advice As Economic Collapse Hits Health Service: Don't Get Sick In Zimbabwe - CBS News