10/24/08

US Secretary of Education Says Higher Education Key to Development in Africa


23 October 2008

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U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is in Kigali this week promoting partnerships between American and African universities. The goal is to use higher education to drive development in Africa. For VOA, Thomas Rippe reports from Kigali.

U.S. Secretary of State Margaret Spellings visits the FAWE Girls school in Kigali, Rwanda
U.S. Secretary of Education  Margaret Spellings visits the FAWE Girls School in Kigali, Rwanda
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings says higher education is vital to the future development of Africa. She says Africa needs highly trained professionals to take on issues such as poverty, hunger and health.

"We believe we cannot be effective in solving development challenges like those we face in health care and other ways without tackling education," she said. "It is such a fundamental building block to development."

Secretary Spellings is in Rwanda this week to open the Africa Regional Higher Education Summit. The summit will bring together representatives from universities around the United States and Africa. The focus is on partnerships in higher education, food security, economic growth and health. Current projects are driving economic development in Nigeria and public health in Rwanda.

Also attending the summit are high-profile donors from around the world.  

Iqbal Noor Ali is the CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation USA. He agrees with Secretary Spellings on the importance of higher education for development.

"How else are you going to grow the strong leadership that this continent, or any other part of the developing world, needs? Leaders in government, leaders in business, leaders in civil society," said Noor Ali. "If you stop at just primary and secondary education you are not equipping people with the skills, the knowledge, the tools necessary for their own growth."

Noor Ali says the Aga Khan Foundation has been working with the U.S. government on various programs, including education, for the past 25 years. He says his foundation is active in Africa because it believes in the promise and potential of the continent.

Belief in the potential of Africa is shared by many of those at the conference. Secretary Spellings says U.S. government investment represents only one ninth of all American investment in Africa. She says that when American institutions invest in Africa they want something back, and that is a good sign.

"U.S. higher institutions have some element of self-interest," she said. "They see this as a place that is worth investing in, worth coming to. I think their actions speak volumes."

One of those institutions is Tulane University in New Orleans. In 2000 Tulane established a partnership with the National University of Rwanda to train professionals in public health. The project received a grant from the American Embassy in Rwanda, and every year USAID provides scholarships to 10 students to attend the school.  

Tulane's senior staff member at the School of Public Health in Kigali, Joshua Rodd, explains the school helps doctors expand their thinking from individual patients to broader social issues.

"These were excellent doctors, but they did not really have any public health background," he said. "So now all of a sudden they are responsible for the health of several-hundred-thousand people. It is not just a patient they are treating in front of them. They have to think in an entirely new way about health."

One of those doctors is Jeanine Condo. As a physician she was treating HIV-positive children who were malnourished. But each time she treated a child she knew the child would have to come back for more treatment.  

She says she was treating the symptoms, but not the root of the problem. But at the School of Public Health she is able to create programs that address the root.

"I also work with other NGOs in Rwanda," said Condo. "I designed a program where all HIV-positive kids will benefit with food.  I helped them in developing training manuals that they are using now and the counseling cards they are using now. Half of the health centers in Rwanda, around 200 centers, they are using the cards."

One question that many here are asking is how the upcoming election in the United States will affect these programs. But Cheryl Sim, the Charge d'Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda, is confident the momentum will continue.

"I see an energy and a commitment to this whole thrust and this whole approach that I have not seen previously in my career," said Sim. "So you have that kind of bureaucratic energy. That will also carry through a transition and into the next administration."

Another question some are asking is why focus so much on higher education when so many countries are struggling with their primary and secondary education. Secretary Spellings says that most of the focus was on primary education, but through experience she has learned that it is really higher education that makes a difference.

"I think we have all realized that we will be much more effective at meeting our needs in primary and secondary education if and when we build capacity and engagement in our post-secondary system," she said. "That is where teachers are trained. That is where technologies are incubated."

The Higher Education Summit is trying to create a ripple effect. American institutions train people like Jeanine Condo, who is currently a lecturer at the School of Public Health in Kigali. Some of those students are themselves university lecturers, who will widen the circle by passing on their knowledge to their students.







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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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Global Credit Crisis Takes a Toll on Former Titans of Banking

By Jennifer Yousfi
Managing Editor
Money Morning

It takes more than a globally competitive economy to have a sound banking system.

For the third straight year, the United States finds itself at the top of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as part of its annual Global Competitiveness Report.

"Once the global economy emerges from the current financial crisis, which it will, the countries that do well on our index are those that are best prepared to bounce back and perform well in the longer term," Jennifer Blanke, director of the WEF's global competitiveness network told The Financial Times.

And the United States is at the top. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the safety of U.S. banks dropped to 40th this year from 26th in the WEF's 2007 – 2008 report.

"Despite rising concerns about the soundness of the banking sector and other macroeconomic weaknesses, the country's many other strengths continue to make it a very productive environment," the report said of the United States.

But such a fall in the rankings for bank safety is a bit frightening for U.S. banking customers already spooked by the collapse of investment bank such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (OTC: LEHMQ) and regional banks such as IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (OTC: IDMC).

Summing a Country's Competitive Balance Sheet

The WEF analyzes 110 economic indicators in 12 different categories for each of 134 countries to come up with its overall GCI ranking. One of those 12 areas is financial market sophistication, which is made up of factors such as "venture capital availability," "strength of investor protection" and even "regulation of securities exchanges."

But perhaps the most important factor in this category is the soundness of banks.

Confidence in a nation's banks is what keeps citizens from stuffing dollars under a mattress. Banks need deposit assets to keep the wheels of U.S. industry turning, as deposit assets are used to fund the short-term credit markets that are so vital to the daily operations of many corporations.

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And it's an area where the United States ranks a disappointing 40.

Coming in behind such well-developed nations as Canada, which tops the list, or even Hong Kong in the 11th spot, might not seem so bad. But even the small African nation of Namibia ranks in at 17, illustrating the United States has some definite room for improvement.

While there are plenty of surprises at the type of the bank safety list, there aren't many such surprises at the bottom. Algeria comes in dead last with Libya just above it.

Of the "BRIC" nations – Brazil, Russia, India and China – most moved up the list this year against better-developed nations. China landed in the top 30 for the first time as it moved up four spots to reach 30, but China's banking system is still near the bottom of the list at 108. India, however, slipped two spots to 50 from 48 due to a widening budget deficit. India's banks also slipped, falling to 51 from 46. 

Meanwhile, Brazil was the biggest mover with an eight-spot jump to 64 on the overall list, and also tops the United States when it comes to the soundness of its banks with its 24th spot on the banking safety list. Oil revenues gave Russia a gain of seven to move to 51 from 58 the year prior, but Russia's banks clocked in at 107 on the soundness rankings.

Slipping Bank Titans?

The United States wasn't the only nation to find its ranking slipping in the bank safety category. The United Kingdom made a stunning plunge from 4th in the 2007 – 2008 survey, to 44th in the current one, after the emergency nationalization of banks such as Northern Rock PLC (PINK: NHRKF).

Even Switzerland, synonymous with banking to many, was hit hard by the global banking crisis, as it slipped from its top spot in last year's banking soundness rankings to 16th this year. Swiss giants such as UBS AG (UBS) got caught with over-exposure to U.S. subprime mortgage-backed securities that necessitated government intervention while #2 rival Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR: CS) was forced to raise fresh capital.

Nations from Sweden to the United Kingdom to the Netherlands have all introduced government-sponsored packages to help support ailing domestic banks and avoid the fate of nearly bankrupt Iceland and Pakistan.

The United States $700 billion bailout package is by far the largest, but even that might not be enough to return the domestic banking industry back to safety.

The U.S. financial landscape has been changed forever as firms such, as Lehman Brothers – old enough to have weathered the Great Depression – toppled under the crushing weight of a credit market. The strong – Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) – have bought out the weak.

Bank of America bought both mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC) and former standalone investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER). JPMorgan bought both regional bank Washington Mutual Inc. (OTC: WAMUQ) and the failed Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. Wells Fargo is buying Wachovia Corp. (WB).

But in the wake of such massive acquisitions, the United States is left with huge nationwide banking complexes dangerously close to the 10% regulator's cap any one bank is allowed to have of domestic market share. 

And with 117 financial firms on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s (FDIC) "Problem List" at the end of the second quarter, more bank acquisitions and rescues could be on the way. The FDIC's list for the third quarter won't be published until November.

The FDIC's coffers have already taken a hit from the rescue of IndyMac and with the recent bailout law raising the cap for FDIC-insured deposits, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to imagine the nation's banking insurance coming up short if one of the largest banks were to fail.

Bank Safety Plays

The FDIC doesn't publish the names of the banks on its watch list, but luckily there are some simple ways to help ensure your banking deposits are safe. Here are three quick and easy steps from Money Morning Investment Director Keith Fitz-Gerald that you can take to determine if your bank is safe or not:

  1. Click over to Bankrate.com's Safe & Sound ratings page. There you can plug in your bank's name and see how it scores on the basis of 22 objective measures designed to gauge the capital adequacy, asset quality, profitability and liquidity of thousands of banks. "If your bank doesn't make the cut with a higher rating, then switch to one that does," says Fitz-Gerald.
  1. Use the FDIC's electronic deposit insurance estimator to see if your assets are covered in full. With the recent signing of the bailout legislation into law, the FDIC now covers accounts up to $250,000 at any one bank in any single account or $250,000 per co-owner for joint accounts. Traditional and Roth IRAs, SEPS and other retirement accounts on deposit at an FDIC-insured bank or savings institutions are insured up to $250,000 separately from any other deposits you may have at the same institution. "But remember," said Fitz-Gerald, "this is mainly deposit accounts and doesn't include stocks, bonds, mutual funds or life insurance policies."
  1. Double-check your ownership. If a portion of your assets is uninsured, getting full coverage may just be a matter of changing ownership or spreading out your accounts to different banks. "Like most things the government doesn't make this easy, so that means more paperwork," Fitz-Gerald said.






--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm:   +250-08470205
Home: +250-55014140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali - RWANDA
East AFRICA
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID: kayisa66

10/22/08

Get a life....


 



A doctor on his morning walk noticed an older lady sitting on her front step smoking a cigar, so he walked up to her and said, 'I couldn't help noticing how happy you look!  What is your secret?'
 
'I smoke ten cigars a day,' she said.  'Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint. Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food.  On weekends, I pop pills, get laid, and don't exercise at all.'

'That is absolutely amazing!  How old are you?'

Thirty-one,' she replied.
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 




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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
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East AFRICA
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10/21/08



David McKay, executive editor
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Of cabbages and kings


Law of unintended consequences

Posted: Tue, 21 Oct 2008

[miningmx.com] -- THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) is its mining industry�s flagship basket case. Though among Africa�s richest sources of minerals, the legacy of its civil war has earned it the sobriquet �paradox of plenty� � little of its minerals wealth has been converted into lasting national wealth.

In 2005 the DRC�s government reported a contribution to gross domestic product by its mining industry of 0,24%. Compare that to the 25% contribution mining made to GDP during the Eighties. So it�s quite understandable Joseph Kabila�s government should introduce a new mining licensing system that has the development of the DRC�s fiscus at heart. Better still if the government can identify where there�s a trickle down effect to the Congolese people. As for standardising mining contracts � absolutely. If the DRC is to prove its legitimacy as an investment destination it needs to establish consistency through a uniform mining code. Transparency is another key element in order to successfully set down a fresh, consistent basis for future commerce.
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However, the implementation of the DRC�s new licensing system has failed to ensure that. In July, the Atlanta-based Carter Centre expressed its deep concern that DRC mining contracts would be renegotiated �without policy or procedures to guide that process or indication of whether requisite expertise will be secured�. Global Witness, the British non-governmental organisation, also raised the flag on transparency: without it, it argued, the credibility of the licensing system could not be improved. One of the problems raised has been the legitimacy of an inter-ministerial commission that reviewed the mining licences in the first place. What, say some commentators, qualified it to make such judgments? In its initial review the commission determined no mining contracts should proceed in their current form, while a further 37 required renegotiation. The suspicion is the commission�s inquiry was a bit of a sham. If that�s true it shows how good intentions beget poor consequences. There are other examples of that in our 2008 Green Book. South African mining�s attempts to make itself safer appear to have failed, at least so far. Having stopped mining at Rustenberg, Anglo Platinum�s section hasn�t been able to avoid further fatalities. Gold Fields has embarked on a similar strategy of not mining until it can guarantee safety. Hopefully, it will enjoy more success and, hopefully, Government interaction with SA�s mining industry will provide it with momentum to improve. Elsewhere we survey the flood of fresh legislation in SA�s mining industry to regulate the consequences of mining. But none of that can succeed unless there�s real, transparent change within the industry itself. So we�ve tried to pick out the lip service from the real intentions in the hope of identifying where sustainable mining will take place and where it won�t.









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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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MKB Design refurbishes Le Grande Casino in Kinshasa, DRC

21 Oct 2008 - eProp - MKB

Intro
MKB Design, an independent Johannesburg company that is affiliated to the MKB Group, recently completed an extensive refurbishment of the Le Grande Casino in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The premier interior design firm has been prominent in the industry for many years specializing in concept, concept development and execution of interior design of local and international casinos, hotels, restaurants, bars, night clubs, residential homes, wine cellars, spas and cigar bars.

Established in 2007 by CEO Gregor Bremer, the firm has a staff of 200 full-time highly skilled employees with extensive experience in refurbishment and interior design and architecture. The company offers a turnkey service and can handle every aspect of any refurbishment.

MKB Design manufactures all the fixtures and fittings for the company's projects at its large factory in Sandton. There is also a full design studio on site. MKB designs and manufactures fittings for their own turnkey projects but also has the capacity to supply other contractors with top-quality fittings.

The 900m2 Le Grande Casino, although owned and managed independently, forms part of the Le Grande Hotel complex. This is the only casino in the DRC and it has 90 gaming machines and 14 games tables including American Roulette and Blackjack. Located in the Gombe residential area of Kinshasa, Le Grand Hotel and the Casino is conveniently situated near the President's Palace and the diplomatic and business areas of Kinshasa.
 
Established 34 years ago the Le Grande is a five star hotel with 422 rooms including 32 presidential suites and 12 penthouses. The well-positioned establishment offers elegance, luxury, comfort and a wide-range of facilities including a retail component with 35 shops, a gym, entertainment, a business centre and conference facilities for up to 1220 delegates. Le Grande Hotel is the meeting place of choice in Kinshasa and draws a wide range of tourists, politicians, and business people from the Congo and all parts of the world. The Le Grande Casino provides a sought after entertainment option in an area that is relatively devoid of entertainment facilities.

MKB Design completed the refurbishment in just four weeks. Bremer says that this was a challenge as the Casino was completely gutted before refurbishments commenced. In addition to the tight schedule, the DRC is a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape and rules and regulations vary and are often dependent on the needs of the relevant officials.
"We utilised top quality materials wherever possible," says Bremer. "We imported every single item that we needed for this refurbishment, right down to the last nail. Everything was flown into the DRC from South Africa. There is very little that they can supply and what is available is not consistent in terms of quality or availability."

MKB Design also flew in it's own work crews for the project. "Due to the tight time constraints we worked with two teams around the clock," adds Bremer. "Original plans included transporting materials by road. Road problems necessitated a change in plans and materials were then going to be shipped. Further logistical problems in terms of shipping and harbours resulted in another change of plans. In the end we flew everything into the DRC, a costly but more reliable exercise."

In keeping with the ambience and décor of the Le Grande Hotel, the interior of the Le Grande Casino has a contemporary design that incorporates classical elements. Bremer says that the overall effect is similar to the casinos that one sees in the original James Bond films. "We used traditional flocked wallpapers, quality chandeliers and custom-made carpeting."

 






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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
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Congo Kinshasa | Africa
Economy - Development | Politics

"Hypocrisy to cancel banks' debt, not DRC's debt"

African Future, 21 October - As world leaders needed only weeks or days to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into their banks and finance institutions to save them from bankruptcy, decades of alerts and outcry have still not resulted in the debt cancellation in countries like Congo Kinshasa (DRC), church leaders lament.

The DRC, which keeps struggling with internal conflicts, large numbers of displaced people and a humanitarian crisis, still receives five times less development aid than it spends on paying Western banks and governments for dubious loans made by the corrupt Mobuto regime. Indeed, an annual US$ 270 billion is spent yearly only to pay interests for these loans; money that should have been used to develop the vast country.

The Congolese example was brought up at the high-profiled "International symposium on illegitimate debt" currently being arranged in Oslo, Norway, hosted by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Church of Sweden and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), including high-ranking guests from developing countries.

NCA Secretary-General Atle Sommerfeldt today it is totally unacceptable that Western nations are sponsoring their own banks with thousands of billions of dollars, while at the same time not willing to cancel the debt of developing countries. "The financial crisis is revealing this hypocrisy," Mr Sommerfeldt told the press in Oslo.

"There is made an impression in the media that the biggest crisis in the world today is found at Wall Street. But this is wrong," the church aid leader added. The biggest global crisis remains to be the extreme poverty two billion people around the world suffer from, he held, again pointing to the fact that funds spent on fighting poverty are not proportional to what is spent on saving Western banks.

The Oslo symposium has drawn visitors from all over the world - both political and religious leaders - including Liberia's Deputy Minister for Finance Tarnue Mawolo and Bishop Sumoward Harris of the Lutheran Church in Liberia. Both want to increase the focus on the large illegitimate debt made by Liberia's corrupt former leaders, which the country's current democratic government has to pay back, preventing it from spending enough funds on reconstruction and development.

Bishop Harris reminded the participants that much of the loans were not spent on development projects "but went in the wrong directions," questioning the ethics behind lending to the corrupt Taylor regime in the first place. As an example, he cited an April 2008 letter he wrote to the Swedish government, requesting cancellation of debt incurred through the dubious sale of two naval boats to Liberia's previous government.

According to Mr Sommerfeldt, the same banks that now are receiving crisis funding previously had been "pushing loans onto poor countries and dictators" in an irresponsible way, contributing to the debt crisis still felt in many developing countries. "We have now be working for over 20 years to make Western governments take responsibility for this, which they are still not doing," he says, adding this contrasted the quick response to the banking crisis.

It is expected that Mali's President Amadou Toumani Touré, who is currently at a state visit in Oslo and has a meeting with NCA on his agenda, also may make an appearance at the conference, which started yesterday and runs until Thursday. The symposium hopes to develop new mechanisms that may help reduce the debt burden held by developing countries.







--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm:   +250-08470205
Home: +250-55014140
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East AFRICA
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Getting Farmers Back to the Land in D.R.C.

20 October 2008

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A Congolese boy and his sister wait for food from the U.N. World Food Program at a camp for displaced persons in Masisi, D.R.C., last year
A Congolese boy and his sister wait for food from the U.N. World Food Program at a camp for displaced persons in Masisi last year
The Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that hunger increased by seventy-five million people last year. The United Nations agency blamed rising prices for food, fuel and fertilizer.

The F.A.O. estimates that in two thousand seven, the world had nine hundred twenty-three million undernourished people.

Among them are most of the people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The D.R.C. has a population estimated in July at sixty-six million. The Food and Agriculture Organization says seven out of ten of them do not get the food they need.

The D.R.C. is huge. The central African country has about seven million hectares of productive land. Yet only about one million hectares are used for permanent crops.

Farmers fled their land after civil war began in nineteen ninety-eight. Five years of conflict, hunger and disease killed four million people.

Now, five years have passed since that war officially ended. But hundreds of thousands of people in the D.R.C. remain homeless. And there is continued unrest, mostly in the east.

In the southern province of Katanga, however, there is a tense, sometimes shaky peace. Four hundred fifty thousand people returned to Katanga by the middle of this year. The F.A.O. says many plan to farm and fish again.

International organizations are working to get farmers back on their land.

The Food and Agriculture Organization has more than two hundred workers involved in the effort. They travel around to supply seeds, tools and animals. They also provide supervision and training to support farming and fishing.

The agency says its fifty million dollar program has assisted about two million men, women and children in the last three years.

Former colonial ruler Belgium and the European Commission are supporting the program. Commission projects officer Patrick Houben says big companies will not invest in small-scale farming. But he says the only way to renew agriculture is to begin with small farmers.

Other groups and countries including the United States are also supporting the program.

Joachim von Braun is director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington. He said in Kinshasa recently that the D.R.C. has strong possibilities for agriculture and that making use of them could reduce poverty fast.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty.







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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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ABC: An Introduction to Outsourcing

By Stephanie Overby

CIO

Everything you need to know to avoid the pitfalls of outsourcing.

Compiled by Stephanie Overby

What is outsourcing?

There are as many definitions of outsourcing as there are ways to screw it up. But at its most basic, outsourcing is simply the farming out of services to a third party. With regards to information technology, outsourcing can include anything from outsourcing all management of IT to an IBM or EDS to outsourcing a very small and easily defined service, such as disaster recovery or data storage, and everything in between.

The term outsourcing is often used interchangeably—and incorrectly—with offshoring, usually by those in a heated debate. But offshoring (or, more accurately, offshore outsourcing) is, in fact, a small but important subset of outsourcing wherein a company outsources services to a third party in a country other than the one in which the client company is based, primarily to take advantage of lower labor costs. This subject has proven to be a political hot potato (see Offshore Outsourcing: The Politics and Offshore Outsourcing: The People) because unlike domestic outsourcing, in which employees often have the opportunity to keep their jobs and transfer to the outsourcer, offshore outsourcing is more likely to result in layoffs.

Why outsource?

The business case for outsourcing varies by situation, but reasons for outsourcing often include one or more of the following:

  • lower costs (due to economies of scale or lower labor rates)
  • variable capacity
  • the ability to focus on core competencies by ridding yourself of peripheral ones
  • lack of in-house resources
  • getting work done more efficiently or effectively
  • increased flexibility to meet changing business and commercial conditions
  • tighter control of budget through predictable costs
  • lower ongoing investment in internal infrastructure
  • access to innovation and thought leadership

ITO, BPO, KPO—what's the difference?

Business process outsourcing—or BPO—is the outsourcing of a specific business process task, such as payroll. It's often divided into two categories: back office outsourcing, which includes internal business functions such as billing or purchasing, and front office outsourcing, which includes customer-related services such as marketing or tech support. Information technology outsourcing (ITO), therefore, is a subset of business process outsourcing.

While most business process outsourcing involves executing standardized processes for a company, knowledge process outsourcing—or KPO—involves processes that demand advanced research and analytical, technical and decision-making skills. Less mature than the BPO industry, sample KPO work includes pharmaceutical R&D, data mining and patent research. The KPO industry is just beginning to gain acceptance in corporate America.

IT outsourcing clearly falls under the domain of the CIO. But often CIOs will be asked to be involved—or even oversee—non-ITO business process and knowledge process outsourcing efforts. CIOs are tapped not only because they often have developed skill in outsourcing, but also because business and knowledge process work being outsourced often goes hand in hand with IT systems and support.

Why is outsourcing so hard?

There's no debate about it. Outsourcing is difficult. The failure rate of outsourcing relationships remains high. Depending on whom you ask, it can be anywhere from 40 to 70 percent. At the heart of the problem is the inherent conflict of interest in any outsourcing arrangement. The client is seeking to get better service, often at lower costs, than it would get by doing the work themselves. The vendor, however, wants to make a profit. That tension must be managed closely in order to ensure a successful outcome for both client and vendor.

Another cause of outsourcing failure is the rush to outsource in the absence of a good business case. Outsourcing is increasingly pursued by organizations as a "quick fix" cost-cutting maneuver rather than an investment designed to enhance capabilities, expand globally, increase agility and profitability, or bolster competitive advantage.

That said, according to a recent study by CIO magazine and MIT's Center for Information Systems Research, some outsourcing arrangements are easier to make work than others. Transactional outsourcing deals, in which a company outsources discrete processes that have well-defined business rules, are successful a whopping 90 percent of the time. Co-sourcing alliances, in which client and vendor jointly manage projects (usually application development or maintenance work that goes offshore) are successful only 63 percent of the time. And "strategic partnerships", in which a single outsourcer takes responsibility for a big bundle of IT services, works only half the time.

Generally speaking, risks increase as the boundaries between client and vendor responsibilities blur and the scope of responsibilities expands. Whatever the type of outsourcing, the relationship will succeed only if both the vendor and the client achieve expected benefits. For more on how to target that sweet spot in managing outsourcing, see the CIO/CISR special report.

 

How is outsourcing priced?

There are various ways to structure pricing within an outsourcing contract, including:

Unit pricing: The vendor determines a set rate for a particular level of service, and the client pays based on its usage of that service. For instance, if you're outsourcing desktop maintenance, the customer might pay a fixed amount per number of desktop users supported.

Fixed pricing: The customer pays a flat rate for services no matter what. Paying a fixed priced for outsourced services always looks good to customers at first because costs are predictable. And sometimes it works out well. But when market pricing goes down over time (as it often does), a fixed price stays fixed. And suddenly it doesn't look so good. Fixed pricing is also hard on the vendor, who has to meet service levels at a certain price no matter how many resources those services end up requiring.

Variable pricing: This means that the customer pays a fixed price at the low end of a supplier's provided service, but allows for some variance in pricing based on providing higher levels of services.

Cost-plus: The contract is written so that the client pays the supplier for its actual costs, plus a predetermined percentage for profit. Such a pricing plan does not allow for flexibility as business objectives or technologies change, and it provides little incentive for a supplier to perform effectively.

Performance-based pricing: At the opposite end of the spectrum from cost-plus pricing, a buyer provides financial incentives that encourage the supplier to perform optimally. Conversely, this type of pricing plan requires suppliers to pay a penalty for unsatisfactory service levels. This can be tricky to pull off successfully, but is becoming more popular among outsourcing customers, dissatisfied with performance in their previous forays into outsourcing.

Risk/reward sharing: With this kind of arrangement, the customer and vendor each have some skin in the game. Here, buyer and supplier each have an amount of money at risk, and each stands to gain a percentage of the profits if the supplier's performance is optimum and meets the buyer's objectives. The buyer will select a supplier using a pricing model that best fits the business objectives the buyer is trying to accomplish by outsourcing.

What about bundling?

Bundling services means paying an IT services provider one price that has more than one IT service or product lumped together. It's usually not a good idea (see Bundle With Care). If you agree to the bundling of certain service levels into the price of a product, for example, you must buy that service every time you buy the product—whether you need it or not. Bundling also makes it difficult to understand what you're paying for individual products or services and to benchmark that against market pricing. Itemizing products and services keeps the vendor more accountable and enables the buyer to be able to charge back the usage fees to its various user departments.

What is an SLA?

A service level agreement (SLA) is a contract between an IT services provider and a customer that specifies, usually in measurable terms, what services the vendor will furnish. Service levels are determined at the beginning of any outsourcing relationship and are used to measure and monitor a supplier's performance.

Often, a customer can charge an outsourcer vendor a penalty fee if certain SLAs are not met. Used judiciously, that's an effective way to keep a vendor on the straight and narrow. But no CIO wants to be in the business of penalty charging and collecting. Bad service from an outsourcing vendor, even at a deep discount, is still bad service, and can lead to greater problems. It's best to expend that energy on finding out why the SLAs are being missed in the first place and working to remedy the situation.

What is the best length for an outsourcing contract?

What's the best length for a skirt? While the outsourcing industry is not quite as fickle as fashion, the prevailing wisdom about the best length for an outsourcing contract has changed over the years. When outsourcing first emerged as a viable option for providing IT services and support, long contracts—as many as 10 years in length—were the norm. As some of those initial deals lost their shine, clients and vendors began to look at contracts of shorter duration.

So what is the best length for an outsourcing contract? As with most other questions about outsourcing, the answer really depends on what's being outsourced and why. A transformational outsourcing deal will require more time to reap benefits for both client and vendor and therefore must be structured as a longer-term contract. But when outsourcing desktop maintenance or data center support, a shorter relationship may work better. Generally speaking, overly long contracts (more than seven years) are frowned upon unless there is a great deal of flexibility built into the contract.

Should I outsource everything to one vendor? Or should I use a best-of-breed approach?

Several years ago, the megadeal— multi-billion-dollar IT services contracts awarded to one vendor—hit an all-time high, and the IBMs and EDSs of the world couldn't have been happier. But this wholesale outsourcing approach proved difficult to manage for many companies. Today, although the megadeal is not dead, the trend has turned toward the multi-vendor approach, incorporating the services of several best-of-breed vendors to meet IT demands. And the major IT services players say they're able to accommodate this change. The highest-profile example of this brand of outsourcing is GM. After years of outsourcing much of its IT to EDS, GM is pursuing what it calls the "third wave" of outsourcing, bringing together a cadre of competing outsourcers to work together.

But the multisourcing approach is itself not without great challenges. According to CIO Senior Writer Susannah Patton, to make sure they are getting the most from their various outsourcers, CIOs need to dedicate staff to oversee each vendor relationship and establish regular reviews of vendor performance with measurement applications such as dashboards or vendor scorecards. In contract negotiations, CIOs need to spell out that vendors should cooperate and refrain from blaming each other, or else risk losing the job. CIOs need to find qualified staff with financial as well as technical skills to help run a project management office or some other body that can track all outsourcing agreements. The whole new set of skills is outlined in Multiple Choice Answers.

How do I decide what vendor or vendors to work with?

Selecting a service provider is a difficult decision. But start by realizing that no one outsourcer is going to be an exact fit for your needs. Trade-offs will be necessary.

To make an informed decision, you need to articulate what you want to gain from the outsourcing relationship and extract from that your most important criteria for a service provider. It's important to figure this out before soliciting any outsourcers who will undoubtedly come in with their own ideas of what's best for your organization, based largely on their own capabilities and strengths.

Some examples of the questions you'll need to consider include:

  • What's more important to you: the total amount of savings an outsourcer can provide you or how quickly they can cut your costs?
  • Do you want broad capabilities or expertise in a specific area?
  • Do you want low, fixed costs or more variable price options?

Once you define and prioritize your needs, you'll be better able to decide what trade-offs are worth making.

Can I get outside help with this decision?

Many organizations bring in an outside sourcing consultant or adviser to help them figure out what their requirements are and what priority to give them. While third-party expertise can certainly help, it's important to research the adviser well. Some consultants may have a vested interested in getting you to pursue outsourcing rather than helping you figure out if outsourcing is a good option or not and then helping you figure out your requirements and priorities. A good adviser can help an inexperienced buyer through the vendor-selection process, aiding them in steps like conducting due diligence, choosing providers to participate in the RFP process, creating a model or scoring system for evaluating responses, and making the final decision.

Help can also be found within your own organization, from within IT and from the business. These people can help you figure out what your requirements should be. There is often a reluctance to do this because any hint of an impending outsourcing decision can send shivers throughout IT and the larger organization. But anecdotal evidence suggests that bringing people into the decision-making process earlier rather than later makes for better choices and also creates an openness around the process that goes a long way toward allaying fears.

Do you have any tips for negotiations?

The advice given above for selecting a provider holds true for negotiating terms with the outsourcer you ultimately select. A third-party services provider has one thing in mind when entering negotiations: making the most money while assuming the least amount of risk. Clearly understanding what you want to get out of the relationship and keeping that the focus of negotiations is the job of the buyer. Balancing the risks and benefits for both parties is the goal of the negotiation process, which can get emotional and even contentious. But smart buyers will take the lead in negotiations, prioritizing issues that are important to them, rather than being led around by the outsourcer.

Creating a timeline and completion date for negotiations will help to rein in the negotiation process. Without one, such discussions could go on forever. But if a particular issue needs more time, don't be a slave to the date. Take a little extra time to work it out.

Finally, don't make any steps toward transitioning the work to the outsourcer while in negotiations. An outsourcing contract is never a done deal until you sign on the dotted line, and if you make steps toward moving the work to the outsourcer, you will be handing over more power over the negotiating process to the provider.

What are the "hidden costs" of outsourcing?

The total amount of an outsourcing contract does not accurately represent the amount of money and other resources a company will spend when it sends IT services out to a third party. Depending on what is outsourced and to whom, studies show that an organization will end up spending 10 percent above that figure to set up the deal and manage it over the long haul. That figure goes up exponentially—anywhere from 15 to 65 percent—when the work is sent offshore (see The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing) and the costs of travel and difficulties of aligning different cultures are added to the mix.

Among the most significant additional expenses associated with outsourcing are: the cost of benchmarking and analysis to determine if outsourcing is the right choice, the cost of investigating and selecting a vendor, the cost of transitioning work and knowledge to the outsourcer, the costs devolving from possible layoffs and their associated HR issues, and ongoing staffing and management of the outsourcing relationship. It's important to consider these hidden costs when making a business case for outsourcing.

What do I need to know about the transition period?

Vantage Partners calls the transition period—during which a new provider's delivery team is getting up to speed on the buyer's business, existing capabilities and processes, expectations and organizational culture—the "the valley of despair." During this period, the new team is trying to integrate transferred employees and assets, begin the process of driving out costs and inefficiencies, while still keeping the lights on. Throughout this period, which can range from several months to a couple of years, productivity very often takes a nosedive.

The problem is, this is also the time when executives on the client side are looking most avidly for the deal's promised gains; business unit heads and line managers are wondering why IT service levels aren't improving, and IT workers are wondering what their place is in this new mixed-source environment.

IT leaders looking to the outsourcing contract for help on how to deal with the awkward transition period will be disappointed. The best advice is to anticipate that the transition period will be trying and attempt to manage the business side's expectations and set up management plans and governance tools to get the organization over the hump.

How important is ongoing relationship management to outsourcing success?

The success or failure of an outsourcing deal is unknown on the day the contract is inked. Getting the contract right is necessary, but not sufficient for a good outcome. One study found that customers said at least 15 percent of their total outsourcing contract value is at stake when it comes to getting vendor management right. A highly collaborative relationship based on effective contract management and trust can add value to an outsourcing relationship. An acrimonious relationship, however, can detract significantly from the value of the arrangement, the positives degraded by the greater need for monitoring and auditing. In that environment, conflicts frequently escalate and projects don't get done.

In their book, "Multisourcing," Gartner analysts Linda Cohen and Abbie Young point out that successful outsourcing is built on "a network of relationships not transactions," and outsourcing governance is the single most important factor in determining the success of an outsourcing deal. But many companies still haven't internalized that truth. Gartner found that fewer than 30 percent of enterprises will have formal sourcing strategies and appropriate governance in place. In a 2004 survey of 130 CIOs, 42 percent said they were dissatisfied with their outsourcing relationships, according to outsourcing advisory company EquaTerra, primarily due to poorly developed, underbudgeted and undersourced governance models.

Where's the best place in the world to outsource IT?

You'd probably expect to hear that India is the best place to send work. And indeed, India remains the locus for offshore outsourcing. But again, it depends on what you're outsourcing, why, and your in-house capabilities for managing the relationship.

In fact, the best place in the globe in terms of people skills and availability for IT services remains the United States, according to A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index 2005. The index contains some other eye-opening stats. Top financial structures to support outsourcing? Philippines and Ghana. Best IT services business environment? Singapore.

India and China (to a lesser degree) still dominate for IT services in the Asian region, although turnover in India and intellectual property issues in China (and rising wages in both locations) remain significant concerns. Central and Eastern Europe are attractive destinations, but costs are rising there, too. Offshoring is actually increasing in Africa and the Middle East, but political instability poses ongoing challenges there.

The easy answer is that there is no easy answer about what geographical location is best for outsourcing. For a more detailed look at outsourcing around the globe, check out CIO's Buyers Guide to Offshore Outsourcing. The most important thing to understand is that offshore outsourcing is a big decision that can have lasting ramifications for an organization—negative or positive. The decision about where to outsource should be one of the last in the outsourcing decision- making tree. Figure out what your outsourcing requirements are first.

What if outsourcing doesn't work out? Can I just bring the work back in?

Backsourcing (bringing an outsourced service back in-house) when an outsourcing arrangement is not working—either because there was no good business case for it in the first place or because the business environment changed—is always an option. However, it is not easy to extricate yourself from an outsourcing relationship, and for that reason many clients dissatisfied with outsourcing results renegotiate and reorganize their contracts and relationships rather than attempt to return to the pre-outsourced state. In a recent study, outsourcing consultancy TPI found an "unprecedented" concentration of contract restructuring in 2005, with a significant number of mega-deals being reworked.

But sometimes backsourcing is the best option, and in those cases it must me handled with care. For more on the good, the bad and the ugly of bringing IT back in-house after an outsourcing deal, see Backsourcing Pain and Bringing IT Back Home.







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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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Kigali - RWANDA
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CPI : affaire Jean-Pierre Bemba, report de la date de confirmation des charges

Europe | 21 Octobre 2008 à 08:02:03

L'affaire du procureur contre Jean-Pierre Bemba, la date de l'audience de confirmation des charges sera alors fixée après la conférence de mise en état du 22 octobre 2008. L'annonce est faite dans un communiqué de la CPI rendu public lundi après-midi. Selon ce document, le 17 octobre 2008, la Chambre préliminaire III a décidé que l'audience de confirmation des charges dans cette ne s'ouvrira pas le 4 novembre 2008 comme prévu initialement. C'est pour assurer le bon exercice des droits de la Défense et notamment sa préparation adéquate pour cette audience, rapporte radiookapi.net





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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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Kasumbalesa: lenteur administrative, les camionneurs en attente sont victimes de vols

Katanga | 21 Octobre 2008 à 09:09:03


Les camionneurs en provenance de l'Afrique australe qui traînent dans la zone neutre, entre la RDC et la Zambie, au poste frontalier de Kasumbalesa s'inquiètent de cas de vol dont ils sont souvent victimes. Des personnes non identifiées volent le carburant, les phares des véhicules en stationnement ainsi que d'autres biens qui se trouvent dans les containers. Ceux qui passent plusieurs jours dans cette zone neutre accusent la douane congolaise de lenteur dans les traitements des dossiers, rapporte radiookapi.net

La circulation est intense dans cette zone neutre où près de 200 camions chargés attendent la traversée de la frontière congolaise. Certains camionneurs accusent la douane congolaise d'entretenir la lenteur administrative dans l'étude des différents dossiers. D'autres par contre, affirment que le retard est causé par l'absence à la frontière des importateurs ou de leurs commissionnaires en douane pour amorcer les formalités de dédouanement. A ceci s'ajoute les cas de vol perpétrés sur leurs camions par des personnes non identifiées. Témoignage de ce transporteur tanzanien : « les voleurs nous font souffrir car ils volent la nuit. Et la nuit nous passons notre temps à surveiller nos véhicules. Ils ouvrent nos containeurs pour voler. En tout cas, il n'y a pas de mesure de sécurité en ce lieu ».
Interrogé à propos de la lenteur administrative, le sous-directeur de l'Ofida à Kasambalesa n'a pas voulu s'exprimer. Entre temps, pour lutter contre le vol dans la zone neutre, le chef de cité de Kasumbalesa indique qu'il avait pris des mesures pour placer des éléments de la police dans cette zone, afin d'assurer la sécurité des marchandises. Ceci n'avait pas enchanté la partie zambienne.




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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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Mahagi : recrutement des démobilisés pour un camp d'entraînement en Ouganda

Ituri | 21 Octobre 2008 à 12:45:33


Les responsables des FARDC en territoire de Mahagi, à 200 kilomètres au nord de Bunia, ont arrêté le week-end dernier trois personnes en provenance de l'Ouganda. Selon eux, ces personnes procèdent au recrutement des ex-combattants dans plusieurs villages de ce territoire pour le compte d'une rébellion qui se formerait en Ouganda. Information confirmée par l'administrateur du territoire de Mahagi, rapporte radiookapi.net

Militaires destinés à la démobilisation ou au brassage


Selon le chargé des renseignements du 12e bataillon des FARDC en poste à Mahagi, l'une des personnes arrêtées, un certain Jean Marie Uwerguwu, détenait une liste d'une centaine d'ex combattants et des chauffeurs motos qui seraient déjà recrutés. Ce détenu a ajouté que ces recrues suivraient des entraînements militaires dans les localités ougandaises de Kasantu et de Kikongo, non loin de Parombo. « C'est lui qui était envoyé pour recruter des gens. Grâce à une SIM que nous avons maintenant, nous sommes tombés sur les gens qui organisent ce mouvement », a indiqué le chargé des renseignements.
Pour sa part, Emile Uzunga, administrateur directeur de Mahagi, affirme que la DGM (Direction générale des migrations) a intercepté, il y a une semaine, une correspondance venant de l'Ouganda qui faisait état de ce recrutement : « Il y a une lettre dans laquelle il était dit que Louis Lumumba, un Congolais, aurait envoyé un montant important pour recruter 380 démobilisés »
Selon le coordonnateur de la société civile, l'annonce de l'arrestation de ces personnes , ajouter à cela le renforcement observé depuis une semaine des troupes ougandaises de l'autre côté de la frontière, inquiètent la population.
Toutes les démarches pour joindre les autorités ougandaises sont restées vaines.





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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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Miba : environ 50 000 USD de manque à gagner par journée de grève

Mbuji Mayi | 21 Octobre 2008 à 13:43:04


La grève déclenchée lundi par les travailleurs de la Minière de Bakwanga, Miba, exacerbe la crise que traverse cette entreprise minière depuis plus de deux ans. D'après sa haute direction, la production de l'entreprise étant déjà faible, le mouvement amorcé risque de plonger davantage la Miba au fond du gouffre, rapporte radiookapi.net

Diamants de la Miba

La production actuelle ne dépasse pas 5 000 carats de diamant par jour. Ce qui permet à la Miba de gagner environ 1 500 000 USD par mois. Or, l'enveloppe salariale mensuelle du personnel se chiffre, selon des sources porches de cette entreprise, à plus de 2 millions USD. Donc, pour les responsables de la Minière de Bakwanga, si la grève persiste, la situation de l'entreprise va empirer. Le manque à gagner par journée de grève étant d'environ 50 000 USD.

Christine Tuse, ADGA de cette entreprise, regrette le mouvement de grève amorcé lundi. D'après elle, l'œuvre de plusieurs jours risque d'être effacée en un seul jour. La confiance des investisseurs intéressés risque même d'être compromise, souligne-t-elle. La baisse de la production entraînera certainement la suppression de la prise en charge médicale et d'autres avantages sociaux, tel le transport du personnel.

Hier, poumon économique de Mbuji-Mayi, voire de la province du Kasaï-Oriental, la Miba injectait mensuellement près de 2,5 millions USD dans l'économie de la ville par le salaire du personnel interposé.






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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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Kigali - RWANDA
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Lubumbashi : un cousin du chef de l'Etat aux arrêts

Katanga | 21 Octobre 2008 à 15:12:14


M. Bebe Kibawa, cousin du président de la République, Joseph Kabila, a été arrêté dans la nuit de lundi à mardi dans la ferme familiale, à Kalebuka, à une dizaine de kilomètres du centre ville de Lubumbashi, au Katanga. Ce mardi matin, il a été conduit, d'abord à l'auditorat militaire,et ensuite à la prison centrale de la Kasapa, rapporte radiookapi.net

Bebe Kibawa est accusé, notamment des coups et blessures, d'enlèvement, de menace de mort et de viol. Il y a plus d'un mois, rappelle-t-on, ce cousin du chef de l'Etat était accusée d'avoir brûlé sa propre épouse à l'aide d'un chauffe-eau branché après l'avoir copieusement tabassée. Selon les mêmes sources, dans les mêmes circonstances de temps et de lieu, Bebe Kibawa aurait aussi enlevé une jeune fille de 16ans, petite sœur de l'épouse en question. Pas plus tard que la semaine dernière, c'était le tour du beau père du bourreau d'être enlevé puis torturé. Deux militaires commis à la garde de la belle famille auraient également subi le même sort.

A l'annonce de cette arrestation, l'Asadho Katanga a exprimé sa satisfaction, estimant qu'il s'agit "d'un pas de géant dans la lutte contre l'impunité" : « Maintenant, nous pensons, à l'Asadho, qu'on ne va se contenter de cette arrestation parce que nous avons connu beaucoup d'épisodes de ce genre avec des arrestations des personnes, et que par après, des poursuites judiciaires n'ont pas été organisées convenablement ou effectivement, et que deux ou trois semaines après, ces mêmes personnes étaient relâchées », a expliqué Thimoté Mbuya, vice-président de cette ONG de droits de l'Homme. « Nous allons organiser la défense des victimes jusqu'à ce que la justice soit effectivement rendue », a-t-il conclu.




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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
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Kinshasa : un transfert des détenus qui inquiète le MLC

Kinshasa | 21 Octobre 2008 à 17:30:11


Une centaine de détenus militaires de l'ancienne garde de Jean-Pierre Bemba et entre autres ceux du groupe Eric Lenge ont été transférés de la prison centrale de Kinshasa vers le centre de brassage de Kamina au Katanga. Cette opération a eu lieu samedi dernier devant les autorités militaires et civiles congolaises et de la Monuc. Cette situation soulève des inquiétudes du Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo, MLC, dont sont issus la plupart de ces soldats, rapporte radiookapi.net

Le brassage étant une opération volontaire, il fallait au préalable avoir l'avis des militaires transférés. C'est en ces termes que réagit Jacquy Ndjoli, sénateur, membre du MLC. Il évoque une violation massive des droits de l'homme en général, faisant allusion a tous les cas de détentions irrégulières.
Selon la même source, le MLC ne s'oppose pas au processus de brassage. Le MLC souhaite que cela se passe dans le strict respect de la légalité. A l'heure actuelle, ce parti politique dit attendre la mise en place du gouvernement pour avoir un éclairage à ce sujet.
Quant à la Monuc, elle n'a pas la même perception de la chose. Pour la mission onusienne, il s'agit d'une étape importante pour les anciens belligérants. La section droit de l'homme de la MONUC affirme que sur place au centre, ils auront à choisir entre la réintégration dans les FARDC ou la démobilisation.
Par ailleurs, la Voix des sans voix déplore et dénonce l'arrestation le même samedi de 3 de ces militaires par des éléments de la Police Militaire pour les acheminer ensuite au camp Kokolo où ils seraient en détention jusqu'à ce jour. Selon le directeur de la prison centrale de Kinshasa, ces trois militaires sont restés à Kinshasa pour des raisons de santé. Ils sont depuis le week-end dernier à la disposition de leur famille.





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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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Rwanda: Kibaki Sends Special Message to Kagame


The New Times (Kigali)
 

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James Karuhanga
Kigali

Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister, Moses Wetangula, Monday delivered a special message to President Paul Kagame from President Mwai Kibaki.

Wetangula said that Kibaki's communiqué was hinged on the fact that Kenya is the current chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), a forum that aims at finding lasting solutions to the region's woes.

"We discussed the emerging tensions between Rwanda and the Congo and the rising rhetoric," he said, adding that President Kagame had assured him of his commitment to dialogue as a means to peace.

"You know Kenya is the chair of the great lakes conference that deals with issues of peace, security and dialogue. President Kibaki sent me to deliver a special message to President Kagame, which I have done," Wetangula said, shortly after meeting the President. In his message, Kibaki is said to have urged for restraint.

"We have agreed with the President that we should do everything humanly possible to avoid conflict," Wetangula stressed, saying Kagame had voiced his concerns in the meeting, concerns which the minister said he will put to President Joseph Kabila when he travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) soon.

Government recently expressed deep concerns and condemned a reported lethal alliance between the DRC army, Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) and genocidal forces now regrouped under Forces Democratique pour la Liberation de Rwanda (FDLR).

FDLR are remnants of the former Rwanda army (ex-FAR) and Intarahamwe militia who spearheaded the country's 1994 Genocide in which over one million people perished.

Apart from fighting side-by-side, in the currents clashes between FARDC and Gen. Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) in the east of the country, other reports indicate that FARDC is in cahoots with the FDLR and other negative forces in the illegal mining of gold and tin instead of helping disarm and repatriate them.

Dr. Richard Sezibera, Kagame's former special envoy to the Great Lakes region who was appointed Health Minister Saturday, also attended the meeting at Village Urugwiro.

He said that Kibaki sent his envoy to discuss security issues in the region, with special weight on Rwanda's security concerns in the DRC and how they can be resolved.

Kibaki's message comes at a time when Uganda prepares to host 26 African leaders for the first Tripartite EAC-SADC-COMESA Summit of Heads of State this week.

Relevant Links

For the first time, leaders of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will meet and discuss on how to integrate territories and move towards deepening and widening integration, among others.







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Rwanda: France Should Pay for the Teaching of English in African Schools


The New Times (Kigali)
 

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Ngango Rukara
Kigali

When the Government of Rwanda announced the new language policy, emphasizing the use of the English language as a medium of instruction in schools, some observers were quick to associate the decision with the soured diplomatic relations between Rwanda and France that stem from France's prominent role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

Writing in the Saturday Nation of October 18, 2008, Peter Mwaura claimed, that:"It would appear that Rwanda was quick to drop the French language because of its long standing and bitter dispute with France arising out of the 1994 genocide...".

But if Mr. Mwaura thought that Rwanda's new language policy was motivated by the bad blood between the two countries, he needs to take an another look. He needs look no further than France itself.

French Education minister Mr. Xavier Darcos has declared that schools in France would henceforth offer extra lessons in English, during holidays, to allow the young French generation to master the language.

Reason? Mr. Darcos says inability to speak the English language is a "handicap" since all international business is conducted in English. Sounds familiar?

The French minister also observed that owing to globalization "very few people outside France will be able to speak French in the future".

And the French minister wasn't done. To demonstrate that he was dead serious and that times have truly changed, Mr. Darcos announced that he was availing a budget to enable all French students study English, including kids from wealthy families whose parents have been paying for their English lessons abroad.

"I am offering them (English lessons) to everyone right here", vowed the French minister.

For those who quickly concluded that Rwanda's new, language policy was her way of getting back at France, Mr. Xavier Darcos' declaration and the new French government policy regarding the English language, are a clear signal that politics have nothing to do with it.

It probably further shows that Rwanda is way ahead of her own time. Otherwise, how do you explain the fact that Mr. Xavier Darcos sounded like he was reading from our own Théoneste Mutsindashyaka's script with regard to the importance of the English language, and the fact that French is increasingly becoming irrelevant in world affairs?

Now that France is doing the right thing at home, how about the millions of Africans, she has through her colonial policy and history, made to believe that you can't get anywhere in life if you don't speak French?

When you come to think of it, the French government should in all fairness take the responsibility to undo the years of a gross misguided education in her African colonies and pay for an entirely new English language curriculum in her former colonies. After all, they are now doing it at home (in France) and what is good for the French kids is good for African kids.

The Government of France should have used the 'Francophonie Summit' in Quebec City, Canada last week, to apologize to the French-speaking Africans whom they have, over the years, convinced to love the French language more than the French themselves.

Remember the late President Leopold Senghor of Senegal who in the 1970s declared that the worst threat against the "civilizing" French language and culture was the United States, precisely because the US was the single country with the largest number of English speakers? How the world has changed since!

One of Senghor's own successors, President Abdullah Wade last week spoke to reporters in English at, of all events, the 'Francophonie Summit' in Quebec, thereby vindicating those who have already figured out that French is, after all, nothing more than another local vernacular language on the European continent.

Leopold Senghor must be turning in his grave; only that this time round he wouldn't blame the demise of his beloved French language on the ever-present "Anglo-Saxon conspiracy".

He would have to confront a French minister of education who has no difficulty articulating the fact that the French language has no future in the new world order of globalization.

Relevant Links

Indeed Mr. Xavier Darcos, the French Education minister, if for nothing else, has proved that it is never too late to learn how to sing, as the French wake up to smell the coffee.







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Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
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