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Kenya’s Information and Communications Technology Board, together with the Ministry of Information and Communications, will for the first time host an international convention to promote Kenya as an ICT hub.

The three-day event will bring together international policy makers, venture capitalists, IT entrepreneurs and a diverse group of leaders who will form a think tank that will work to ensure Kenya’s proposed outsourcing services industry meets the expectations of an international audience.

The convention will be held in Italy from March 14th to March 18th and is sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Government of Kenya.
The Rockefeller Foundation has supported major ICT projects in Kenya over the past three years, demonstrating its confidence in Kenya’s growing ICT sector and Vision 2030 plan.

Kenya’s outsourcing and IT-enabled services sector has experienced double digit growth in the past three years.  The country’s recently-laid fiber optic cables have improved the quality, affordability and availability of broadband Internet and new innovation
in the ICT sector has bolstered confidence in the market.

This material is distributed by Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of the Office of the President of the Republic of Kenya. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Send in to API by Laura Cilmi March 11, 2011

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SOUTH AFRICA: Foot-and-mouth disease threatens communal farmers

Photo: James Hall/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG, 14 March 2011 (IRIN) – Officials in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province are struggling to contain the first major outbreak of foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease in more than a decade.

The outbreak, confirmed by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) on 3 March, has already proved costly for the commercial farming sector and could be even more devastating to small-scale farmers.

The World Organization for Animal Health has temporarily suspended South Africa’s FMD-free international status, forcing it to ban all exports of potentially infected animal products.

FMD is highly contagious, affecting cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep and goats, and is characterized by lesions, high fever and lameness. While seldom fatal in adult animals, the disease can cause sudden death among young animals, seriously hampering production and compromising the future of herds, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It does not affect humans.

Sandy La Marque, CEO of the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (Kwanalu), said the epicentre of the outbreak was a highly rural area where smallholder farmers were rearing about 100,000 cattle and 2,000 goats.

The government has yet to formally declare an FMD-control area, but has begun to implement control measures, such as vaccinating uninfected animals and setting up road blocks to prevent the movement of livestock. DAFF spokesperson Selby Bokaba said there was no immediate threat of culling.

However, Dr Botlhe Modisane, a DAFF technical spokesperson, said there was a chance that farmers with asymptomatic infected animals might ignore warnings to limit the movement of livestock in certain areas, and to report suspected cases to state veterinary surgeons.

He noted that the outbreak has been characterized by particularly mild symptoms, which might make it difficult to diagnose infected animals, especially among the hardy Nguni cattle kept by communal farmers.

“Unfortunately, if there is no clinical manifestation of the disease, some farmers may not realize there is a problem, and we are concerned because there are so many cultural practices in the area in which we are trying to contain the disease,” Modisane told IRIN.

He explained that one such practice – paying lobola (the bride price) in cattle – could result in infected animals being moved to other areas, spreading the disease.

[Government] should declare an FMD-control area…Without that, we’re sitting in the unknown

Earlier this week, KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial minister for economic development and tourism, Mike Mabuyakhulu, urged residents in the affected area, which is near South Africa’s borders with Swaziland and Mozambique, to respect the ban on animal movements across district, provincial, and international borders.

“If you want to pay lobola to a family across your border, or any other traditional ritual that requires cattle, and you were hoping to buy it across the border, you are advised to suspend such arrangement until further notice,” Mabuyakhulu said in a statement. “However, buying, slaughtering and eating meat from cows bought within your district boundary is allowed.”

Lydia Johnson, the provincial minister for agriculture, environmental affairs and rural development, also urged rural communities to report farmers who refused to bring their livestock to state dipping tanks.

Control measures hampered

A lack of symptoms may not be the only thing hampering control of the outbreak. “[Government] should declare an FMD-control area that stipulates any movement protocol, and what can and can’t be done,” La Marque of Kwanalu told IRIN. “Without that, we’re sitting in the unknown… it really is a necessary declaration and would bring clarity to the situation.”

Modisane said the government would define an FDM-control area once it had established the exact extent of the outbreak.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which has its powerbase in the province, alleged that the outbreak was caused by South Africa’s porous borders with Swaziland and Mozambique.

“The fence between Ingwavuma (a town in the north of the province close to the Swaziland border) and the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast was vandalised over the last few years and has not been reconstructed despite funds being allocated for this purpose,” said Henry Combrinck, the IFP shadow provincial minister for agriculture, environmental affairs and rural development in a statement.

DAFF spokesperson Bokaba denied that the broken fence was to blame for the outbreak, but said the department was committed to repairing it.

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source http://www.irinnews.org

The conflict in Libya has escalated over the past few days, with large-scale acts of war now taking place. The fighting is causing great suffering to the civilian population. “The international community is sending a clear message to the regime in Tripoli that those responsible for committing atrocities against civilians will be held accountable,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Next week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will start investigating the atrocities committed against the civilian population in Libya. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has also announced that the Court will open an investigation.

“I am deeply concerned that the Libyan authorities are not giving the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross the access they need to assess the situation in Western Libya and to provide emergency relief. This is a clear violation of international humanitarian law,” said the Foreign Minister.

The parties to the conflict have an obligation to respect international humanitarian law. This means that they must distinguish between military targets and civilians, and effectively protect the civilian population.

The humanitarian situation in Libya’s neighbouring countries is still critical as a result of the conflict. The UN is doing an excellent job providing humanitarian aid in areas on the borders with Tunisia and Egypt. So far, more than 100 000 migrant workers have been evacuated to their countries of origin.

“The international community must stand united in its condemnation of the Libyan authorities’ brutality and lack of respect for international law. It is particularly important that regional actors such as the African Union and the Arab League launch initiatives to help the civilian population in Libya and contribute to a long-term solution to the conflict,” said Mr Støre.

By the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
Duty Press Officer, Date:   March 12 2011

By Thomas Ochieng, API Kenya,

The giant cooperative movement in Kenya with membership of over 8 million members has formed the Cooperative alliance of Kenya (CAK).This is following in the footsteps of the South Africa’s cooperative alliance.

Kenya cooperative movement in its 100th year and contributing 43% of the national GDP, and mobilizing over 200 billion in terms of membership contribution and investments annually, forms the largest single quarter of the country’s economy.

While officially launching the Cooperative alliance the Kenyan minister for cooperative and marketing Joseph Nyagah stressed the need of the cooperative movement to restructure itself in conformity with the new constitutional dispensation The cooperative movement in Kenya needs to reflect on past challenges and come up with mitigation strategies that will utilize the huge investments the sector has in the country;  said the minister he added that the government was had developed a strategic plan that will change the way cooperative sector in the country operates outlining the formation of an independent  regulator body in the sector, and the committee of ethics to instill integrity in the sector.

The minister’s sentiments were echoed by the managing director of the giant Kenya union of saccos(KUSCO)  said the formation of the alliance was long overdue as the form the single base of revenue of the national gross domestic product, hence unity and coherence is of great importance. The CAK has already come up with an investment venture in the communications sector in the country.

Ends.