SAHARAN VIBE: August 2007

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

CALL ME DOCTOR PRESIDENT JAMMEH

Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh aka Yahya Alphonse Jemus Jebulai Jammeh. Commander In Chief of The Armed Forces, the Secretary of State for Defence and the Chief Custodian of the Sacred Constitution of The Gambia.

Jammeh was born 25th May 1965 in Kanilai Village Foni Kansala District, Western Division Gambia. He joined the army in 1984 upon completing his secondary education at the Gambia high school. As a young army lieutenant and chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council, Jammeh took control of the Gambia in a military coup in July 1994. Two years later Jammeh was elected president , in September 1996, in widely criticized elections. He founded the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction as his political party. Jammeh won his third term in office with two thirds of the votes in September 2006. His main rival, Oussainou Darboe, is reported to have rejected the result, saying there had been widespread intimidation by local chiefs, governors and members of the security forces.However commonwealth observers said overt support for Jammeh from public officials during the run-up to the vote may have given him an unfair advantage.

Jammeh is married to Madam Zineb Yahya Jammeh. Zineb was born in Rabat, Morocco on the 5th October 1977 to Ambassador Soumah, a career diplomat from the distinguished Guinean Soumah family and Mrs. Soumah who hails from Morocco. Madam Jammeh was married to Jammeh in December 1998. The couple have one daughter, Maryam.

Jammeh resume on the Gambia government website notes that he has special skills in that he possesses extensive knowledge in traditional herbal therapy especially in the treatment of Asthma and Epilepsy. In January 2007, Jammeh announced he had discovered a cure for HIV/AIDS. He made that announcement in front of a group of foreign diplomats, telling them the treatment was revealed to him by his ancestors in a dream.

Jammeh's treatment is free of charge and his healing powers for HIV/AIDS are only available to him on Thursdays.

Jammeh claimed he could cure HIV/AIDS and asthma with natural herbs. Jammeh's family is said to have a history of healing people through traditional African medicine. Some patients are said to have improved through his treatment, but he has also been criticized for promoting unscientific treatment that could have dangerous results.The country representative of the United Nations development programme in The Gambia, Fadzai Gwaradzimba, was told to leave the country after she expressed doubts about the president's claims and said the remedy might encourage risky behaviour.

“Where we are today, Cuba was there 20 years ago. The best pilot for a route is the one who is very familiar with that route… If you are really interested in development, the alpha of it is health.”

DR. YAHYA A. J. J. JAMMEH
President, The Gambia Source iSalud

The treatment involves several herbal treatments applied and consumed over a number of weeks and prayer from the Quran. His patients have to renounce alcohol, tea, coffee, theft and sex for the duration of their treatment. His patients are also advised to stop taking the anti-viral medication for his herbal treatments to take full effect. Jammeh's healing powers for HIV/AIDS are only available to him on Thursdays. He can only cure asthma on Saturdays. The western foreign trained Gynecologist Dr Tamsir Mbowe Minister of Health of the Gambia equally accolades and supports Jammeh's herbal treatment.

Jammeh has been accused of restricting freedom of the press. The laws in the Gambia as of 2004 provide that those found guilty of sedition or libel would serve long sentences for their comments. Jammeh is reported as having retorted of critical journalists that he believed in "giving each fool a long rope to hang themselves" and also threatened to bury them "six-feet deep." There are allegations that he was responsible for the unresolved killing of Deyda Hydara a critical reporter from the Gambia. Jammeh has denied that his security agent were involved in the killing. (Source Suite 101)

In his spare time Jammeh likes to indulge in his hobbies which include playing tennis, football, reading, hunting, riding motorcycles, browsing the internet, watching movies, agriculture and keenly following the world events.

WATCH JAMMEH HERBAL TREATMENT VIDEO INTERVIEW
Meet the President Yahya Jammeh May 2007 Part 1
Meet the President Yahya Jammeh May 2007 Part 2

MORE INFORMATION
Republic of the Gambia State House Online
The Quack in Gambia- African Despot 'Cures' AIDS

Friday, August 17, 2007

THROUGH THE LENSE OF MOHAMMED AMIN

Mohamed "Mo" Amin

29 August 1943 - 23 November 1996
Photo by Mohamed Amin Foundation

“Mo's story is one of courage, persistence, and humanitarian commitment. He started with nothing, not even a decent education, but became something through his hard work and determination to succeed”.

Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Mohamed Amin aka Mo was one of the internationally acclaimed news cameramen in the world. Born of humble beginnings in the slums of Eastleigh Nairobi, (Kenya) Mo was the second born of a total seven children to a Punjabi railway engineer. He purchased his first camera at the age of 11. It was at this stage in his life that he developed his passion for photography. He dropped out of school at the age of nineteen to pursue photography. He soon set up shop in Dar es Salaam in the early sixties opening his photo agency Camerapix.

Over the years, Mo developed his camera skills and knowledge of the journalism industry. Mo became a pioneer in reporting from dangerous zones and disaster areas, with a list of enviable contacts, crossing an invisible line in a field mostly dominated by western journalists. Mo watched history in the making in real time and informed the global community of events as they unveiled through his camera.

His reputation as a world-class camera man began with his coverage of Kenya independence celebrations in 1963 and the discovery of Soviet and East German military trainers in Zanzibar.. Mo is widely acclaimed for her coverage of Ethiopian famine in the 1980s .Throughout his career Mo succeeded in capturing high profile and exclusive events.

In 1991 following the fall of the Mengistu communist regime Mo was to loose his arm to a rocket missile whilst filming the chaotic events that followed. This loss really affected Mo nevertheless his passion for filming was unperturbed and soon he was able to obtain an prosthetic arm.

Mo received many prestigious awards in recognition of for his astounding camera work on major world stories. Having lived such a colorful life Mo was to meet a tragic end. On November 23 1996, returning home from Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET961 was hijacked and the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean just off the coast of the Comoros Islands.

Mo's energy and perseverance made him one of the most successful photojournalist in the world and a man whose flame of journalistic excellence will forever be a live.

Following the tragic demise of Mo his son Salim Amin , David Johnson (U.S.A) & Christel de Wit (South Africa), set up the Mohamed Amin Foundation in 1998 a training center for young Kenyan and East African television professionals.

Mohamed Amin Foundation Click here

"MO & ME" DOCUMENTARY BY SALIM AMIN MO'S SON

Mo & Me Episode 1 Part 1
Mo & Me Episode 1 Part 2
Mo & Me Episode 2 Part 1
Mo & Me Episode 2 Part 2
Mo & Me Episode 3 Part 1
Mo & Me Episode 3 Part 2
Mo & Me Episode 4 Part 1
Mo & Me Episode 4 Part 2
Mo & Me Episode 5 Part 1
Mo & Me Episode 5 Part 2
Mo & Me Episode 6 Part 1
Mo & Me Episode 6 Part 2
Mo & Me Episode 7 Part 1
Mo & Me Episode 7 Part 2

Sunday, August 12, 2007

SUMPTOUS DELICACY AND YET ENDANGERED DRILL

Drill aka Mandrillus leucophaeus

Range and Habitat Drills are found in the lowland rain forest, coastal, and riverine forest and in mature secondary forest of Nigeria, Cameroon, Bioko Island - Equatorial Guinea. Drills are primarily terrestrial forest dwellers but will climb trees to obtain fruit.

Physical Characteristics Males are much larger than females, weighing 80 to 110 pounds. (Females tip the scales at a considerably smaller 30 to 40 pounds.) Males have canine teeth that rival those of big cats in length (1.5 to 2 inches long). These teeth are used for dominance displays rather than for eating.

Diet

Drills are considered to be omnivores, feeding on a variety of both plant and animal found sites on the forest floor. Drills also feed on a variety of insects, invertebrates and small vertebrates: termites, millipedes, worms, crabs, snails, grubs, tadpoles, frogs, and small snakes

Behavior

Drills live in family troops of 20 or more animals. Troops are led by a dominant male, who retains his status until successfully challenged by another male.
Unlike great apes, drills do not walk on their knuckles, using the flat surfaces of their feet and hands instead.

Life Span
30 years. Females are sexually mature at 4 to 5 years; males, 5 to 7 years.

Source http://www.zooatlanta.com

In Africa bush meat, is consumed as a delicacy. Bush game ranges from endangered rare bush monkeys and other bush game to marine products such as turtles.
According to a Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program study conducted in Equatorial Guinea they note that as Malabo (Capital City) becomes more prosperous, demand for bush meat has increased and as a result the prices for have increased considerably and enticing more local people to hunt wildlife for profit.

Since 1997, Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program (BBPP) conducted a survey of animals for sale at the Malabo bush meat market. They visited the local market six days a week, recording the species, sex, approximate age (infant, juvenile, adult), source, method of capture (gun, dog, snare, by hand), condition (live, freshly killed, dried) and sale price of each animal.

By mid-2005, a total of 93 months of bush meat market information had been collected. Unfortunately, after declining for the first five years of the survey, the rate of monkey harvest on Bioko Island increased abruptly in 2002, and now appears to have increased again in 2005. A number of factors probably contributed to this increase:

Increased Profitability: Bush meat prices are rapidly increasing, making hunting more profitable, even when hunters must travel greater distances.
Increased Demand: Bush meat buyers have benefited from Equatorial Guinea’s rapidly rising GDP (resulting from the development of offshore petroleum reserves) and have money to spend on bush meat, even at higher prices. Monkeys are definitely a luxury meat.
Mardi Gras Effect: Shotgun hunting on Bioko Island is thought to be controlled by government officials who profit from bush meat hunting. Inside sources reported alarm among these officials in anticipation of an enforced ban on the illegal shotgun hunting, especially of primates, in protected areas, initially as a result of the 2002 Bioko Biodiversity Round table and more recently, the National Biodiversity Policy for Equatorial Guinea, as proposed by Conservation International as part of their role in the Congo Basin Forest Partnership.

http://www.bioko.org

BUSH MEAT AT THE BIOKO MARKET IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Photos by Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program

MORE INFORMATION
Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program
Zoo Atlanta
The Endangered Mandrillus Leucophaeus: Behaviour Leading Towards Extinction by Kevin Meckes

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?

Starving Child in Sudan

"It's our moral duty to be concerned...towards humanity."

Kevin Carter - Pulitzer 1994

This photo is the "Pulitzer Prize" winning photo taken in 1994 during the Sudan famine. The picture depicts a famine stricken child crawling towards a United Nations food camp, located a kilometer away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die so that it can eat it. The internationally acclaimed photographer Kevin Carter captured this award winning shot and then chased away the vulture. The girl then resumed her trek to the UN feeding center. Afterwards, Carter told an interviewer, that he sat under a tree for a long time smoking cigarettes and crying.

This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows the fate of the girl child, including the photographer Kevin Carter who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken. 14 months after capturing that memorable scene, Carter received the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography.

With the Pulitzer, however, he had to deal not only with acclaim but also with the critical focus that comes with fame. Some journalists in South Africa are reported to have criticized his winning of the prize a "fluke," alleging that he had somehow set up the tableau. Others questioned his ethics. "The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering," said the St Petersburg (Florida)Times, "might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene." Even some of Carter's friends wondered aloud why he had not helped the girl.

Two months later he committed suicide due to depression, drugs, his relationship with his girlfriend was shaky, money problems and difficulties in making ends meet. Overwhelmed, Carter began talking openly about suicide. With no hope in sight Carter was found dead of carbon-monoxide poisoning inside his car in Johannesburg. "His red pickup truck was parked near a small river where he used to play as a child; a green garden hose attached to the vehicle's exhaust funneled the fumes inside."

"At around 9 p.m., Kevin Carter backed his red Nissan pickup truck against a blue gum tree at the Field and Study Center. He had played there often as a little boy. The Sandton Bird Club was having its monthly meeting there, but nobody saw Carter as he used silver gaffer tape to attach a garden hose to the exhaust pipe and run it to the passenger-side window. Wearing unwashed Lee jeans and an Esquire T shirt, he got in and switched on the engine. Then he put music on his Walkman and lay over on his side, using the knapsack as a pillow."Time Magazine

This was later found in his diary:

"Dear God, i promise i will never waste my food no matter how bad it can taste and how full i may be. I pray that He will protect this little boy, guide and deliver him away from his misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests."

The suicide note he left behind , he wrote, he was "depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners..." And then this: "I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."

The movie "The Death of Kevin Carter" was released in 2004 and nominated for the coveted Oscar awards and Emmy awards.

MORE INFORMATION
The Life and Death of Kevin Carter - Time Magazine
The Ultimate in Unfair by Flat Rock.org

Saturday, August 4, 2007

THE AFRICAN IDENTITY-WHAT IS IT?

A while back I was invited to give a talk to a post-graduate class on Inside Africa at the New York University. The topic for which I was to speak on - What is the AFRICAN IDENTITY?

DO WE HAVE ONE? IF SO WHAT IS IT

IS IT THE FACT THAT WE COME FROM THE SAME CONTINENT-ONE LAND MASS WITH SEVERAL ISLANDS REFERRED TO AS AFRICA