African News Briefs

U.S. COMPANIES VIE TO HALT LANDMARK APARTHEID LAWSUIT

Jan. 12 (GIN) – A U.S. appeals court is hearing arguments from a group of multinational corporations seeking to block a lawsuit brought by South African victims of apartheid.

The suit seeks up to $400 billion in compensation for the Black victims.


The corporations are accused of complicity in human-rights abuses during the years they did business in apartheid South Africa.

After years of legal delays, a US court last year gave the green light for the companies to be sued on US soil under the Alien Tort Claims Act.

The companies - Daimler AG, General Motors, Ford Motor Company and IBM – were cited in the suite because they had refused to testify during the truth and reconciliation process about their actions during the apartheid years.

Recalling the presence of Ford and GM in Port Elizabeth, the late poet Dennis Brutus, in a previous interview with the news show Democracy Now, recalled “…both Ford and GM were using black labor, but it was very cheap black labor, because blacks were not allowed to join trade unions, and they were not allowed to strike, so that they were forced to accept whatever wages they were given.

“They lived in ghettos near where I lived, actually in the boxes in which the parts had been shipped from the US to be assembled in South Africa. So you had a whole township called Kwaford, meaning the place of Ford, and it was all Ford boxes with the name “Ford” on them, because they were addressed to Ford in Port Elizabeth.”

Michael Hausfeld, representing the black South Africans, said: “If companies can affect lives in ways that make those lives worse, so that people are suppressed or terrorized, as we contend the apartheid regime was towards its black South Africans, then anyone who provided the tools to enforce that suppression and terrorism should be responsible.”

German automaker Daimler called the charges "inadmissible and unfounded."

South Africa ended its opposition to the case in September, shortly after President Jacob Zuma took office. The previous president, Thabo Mbeki, opposed the case on the grounds that it might put off foreign investors.




GHANA OIL DEAL FACES GOV’T AND U.S. SCRUTINY w/pix of J. Kufuor

Jan. 12 (GIN) – A British newspaper reports that a deal between a Texas oil company and its local partner in Ghana to sell a major new oil field may be tainted by corruption. US and Ghanaian authorities are said to be investigating the allegations.

The case could spoil efforts by Texas company Kosmos to sell its stake in the Jubilee oil field to ExxonMobil in a deal valued at $4 billion. Kosmos, owned by US private equity groups Blackstone and Warburg Pincus, and its partner, the EO group, have denied wrongdoing.

The EO group was set up by two political allies of former president John Kufuor. For bringing Kosmos into Ghana, their stake could be worth more than $200 million.

Duke Amaniampong, a California-based lawyer working for the Ghanaian investigation told the Financial Times that there was "enough evidence of criminal culpability … to bring charges against the EO group and its directors".

The charges are said to include "causing a financial loss to the state, money laundering and making false declarations to public agencies.”

Ghanaians in the blogosphere reacted to the scandal. Adjei M. of Vancouver wrote in ModernGhana.com: “They will steal anything, room furnishings etc.” John of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia replied: “Yeah -this is Ashanti sense at work but Uncle Atta (current Pres. John Atta Mills) will surely teach them the lesson very soon. Good work Uncle Atta.

An online editorial in “The Statemen,” said: “It is very pathetic that that our political judgments have been clouded with avowed penchant for prosecution and political bigotry rather than generosity with praise for those through whom the image of Ghana is redeemed.”


TRAGEDY MARS OPENING ON AFRICA SOCCER GAMES

Jan. 12 (GIN) – Togo’s elite soccer squad, victims of an ambush by an Angolan separatist movement, headed back to Togo, cancelling their much-awaited shot at the championship at Africa’s Cup of Nation games.

Separatist guerrillas, who reportedly had Angolan security forces in their crosshairs, opened fire instead on Togo's convoy Friday as it crossed into Cabinda from neighboring Congo-Brazzaville, leaving players cowering under their seats during a 20-minute gunbattle with security escorts.

Angolan state media reported on Monday morning that two unidentified suspects had been arrested over the attack in which an assistant coach, press officer and bus driver were killed while several other players were injured.

Almost a third of Angola’s oil is found in Cabinda, which has been described as a Niger Delta in the making. The area teams with both government troops and private, well-armed security firms who guard the foreign-owned onshore oil facilities and gold mining ventures.

Human Rights Watch in a recent report cited "disturbing pattern of human rights violations by the Angolan armed forces and state intelligence officials.”

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos condemned the attack but privately some complained that security was not tight as promised. Further, the incident raised doubts about security at the FIFA World Cup games to be held in South Africa this June.


NIGERIANS CALL ON MISSING PRESIDENT TO STEP DOWN

Jan. 12 (GIN) – With no sightings as yet of the ailing president, and conflicting reports as to his condition since entering a Saudi hospital in November, several thousand Nigerian opposition leaders and others marched to the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday, demanding a transfer of power to the president’s deputy.

Protesters drummed and chanted anti-government slogans during the five-kilometer walk to the National Assembly. Some carried placards and banners demanding, "Umaru, where are you?" and "We want electoral reforms now."

In his first public remarks in 50 days, the 58 year old President Umaru Yar’Adua, in a faltering voice, told the BBC he was recovering and hoped to be able to return to Nigeria to resume his duties.

The President is reportedly suffering from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart. He is also known to have kidney problems.

“It is one thing to be alive and it is another to be well enough to function as a president,” wrote RA Prince of Lagos on the internet. The fact that he did not designate that his vice-president should take over in his absence has led to fears of a power vacuum and a potential constitutional crisis, a little more than 10 years after the country returned from military to civilian rule.

Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka addressed the rally, saying the president's continued absence - and the lack of an appointed replacement - was allowing corruption to flourish unchecked and important government business to languish.

In an unrelated development, Nigeria House in New York City is facing a federal tax lawsuit for between
$16 and $41 million in unpaid taxes for commercial offices and other non-tax exempt spaces in the 22-story building it owns at 828 Second Avenue in Manhattan.