Introducing AfricaFocus Bulletin An independent e-mail bulletin on key issues affecting Africa Subscribe today. It's free! To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change your e-mail address, write to africafocus@igc.org. Voluntary subscription payments are requested but not required. You may continue a free subscription as long as you wish. In-depth analysis. Each issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin provides timely analysis and advocacy information on a single topic. The emphasis is on themes of continent-wide or regional relevance, or on selected country-specific topics. Draws on the best African, international, and U.S. sources. AfricaFocus Bulletin reposts selected statements, research reports, and conference presentations from a wide range of sources, including nongovernmental organizations, activist groups, international agencies, and governments. Links and contact information for the original sources are always provided, so you can follow up for more details. Fast, convenient, and just the right length. AfricaFocus Bulletin arrives in your e-mail 1 to 3 times a week. At about 6 to 8 pages (20K maximum e-mail size) - it's long enough to provide in-depth analysis, but short enough to skim quickly. Longer reports are included as executive summaries or excerpts only, with clickable links to the full texts. The whole bulletin comes in the body of the e-mail - no attachments to download. An editor's note puts the information in context. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter, a writer, researcher, and analyst and the former editor of Africa Policy E-Journal. Each issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin begins with a brief editor's note introducing the material and placing it in the context of current developments. A full archive, with additional news and information resources, is available at http://www.africafocus.org. Most recent issues Feb 3, 2012  Africa: Paying for Health http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/hf1202.php     "Simply put, if we allow the fund to fail, many people will die, and we will forfeit the chance at the "AIDS-free generation" that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for in November. This is no time to step back." - Paul Farmer Jan 30, 2012  Sudan/South Sudan: A Lose-Lose Scenario http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/sud1201.php     Sudan and South Sudan seem to have entered a "lose-lose" scenario, precipitated by failure to agree on payments for transport of oil from fields in South Sudan through the pipeline in the north to the Red Sea. Despite African Union mediation and pressure for compromise not only from Africa but also from the United Nations, China, and the United States, South Sudan has closed the oil fields, with likely disastrous economic and humanitarian consequences for both countries. Jan 23, 2012  Kenya: Impunity & Elections, 2 http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/ken1201b.php     "The promulgation of the constitution on 27 August 2010, was a historic moment in our country. The constitution was a culmination of the work of a lifetime for most people in this gathering and many other Kenyans not at this meeting. It may also stand out in history as the singular achievement of Kenyans in this time. ... Yet, my concern is that there appears not to have been a proper appreciation of the essence of this constitution after its promulgation. ... I have come to the inescapable conclusion that there are Kenyans at all levels who are yet to make the mental shift to the national and individual conduct that the constitution heralds." - Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, December 2011 Jan 23, 2012  Kenya: Impunity & Elections, 1 http://www.africafocus.org/docs12/ken1201a.php     "Public support for the ICC remains high. A majority of the respondents - 64 per cent - are happy that the ICC is pursuing the six suspects. ... the perception that the government is unlikely to conduct genuine investigations, or prosecute powerful individuals, has sustained high support for the ICC as the justice mechanism of last resort." - Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation (KNDR) Monitoring Project, January 2012 Dec 30, 2011  Africa: Review 2011 with AfricaFocus http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/rev2011.php     As regular readers know, AfricaFocus averages between 6 and 7 issues a month (a total of 77 this year). So there is no way that it can cover the full range of issues and countries around the continent. Nor am I inclined to venture into the popular attempt to name "the top ten issues" of the year. But I am confident you will agree that AfricaFocus has provided you and other readers with a wide range of useful analyses this year. Dec 21, 2011  Congo (Kinshasa): Dubious Mandate, Uncertain Future http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/drc1112.php     Joseph Kabila was inaugurated for his second term as president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 20, with representation from Western countries limited to ambassadorial level. African countries, including Congo's neighbors, were represented at prime minister or foreign minister level, with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe the only foreign head of state in attendance. But despite unresolved doubts about massive fraud in the election, the "international community" (both African and non-African) is unlikely to mobilize any significant pressure to reexamine the results. Dec 17, 2011  Africa: Measuring Capital Flight http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/cap1112.php     "The magnitude of African capital flight is staggering both in absolute monetary values and relative to GDP. For the thirty-three sub-Saharan African countries for which we have data, we find that more than $700 billion fled the continent between 1970 and 2008. If this capital was invested abroad and earned interest at the going market rates, the accumulated capital loss for these countries over the thirty-nine-year period was $944 billion. By comparison, total GDP for all of sub-Saharan Africa in 2008 stood at $997 billion." - L. Ndikumana and J. Boyce, in their new book "Africa's Odious Debts" Dec 17, 2011  Africa: Capital Flight Updates http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/iff1112.php     This week Global Financial Integrity released its latest report on illicit financial flows from developing countries, including data for 2009. The result: despite a drop in 2009 due to the recession, developing countries lost between US$723 billion and US$844 billion per annum on average through illicit flows over the decade ending 2009. In current dollar terms, the flows increased in current dollar terms by 15.19% per annum from US$386 billion at the start of the decade to US$903 billion in 2009. Dec 12, 2011  Africa: Books New & Notable 2011 http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/books1112.php     It's past time for one of our too infrequent book issues. I've organized this one into three groups of new books I've come across this year: three books on current priority issues that I recommend to readers as "must reads," new and notable books by AfricaFocus subscribers, and other new and notable books on a variety of topics. Dec 7, 2011  Africa: Climate Change Updates http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/clim1112a.php     "Rich countries must hear loud and clear that Africa won't pay for their crisis. Developed countries are trying to kill the Kyoto Protocol. They want to turn back the clock to 1997 and shift responsibility for the climate crisis they created onto the developing countries already bearing the brunt of climate change." - Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends of the Earth International. Dec 7, 2011  Africa: Carbon Trading Deceptions http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/clim1112b.php     "Africa's share has remained at about two per cent of CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) projects officially registered with the UN's climate change secretariat. If South Africa and countries in North Africa are taken out of the aggregate, all the other African countries currently account for just 0.6 per cent of registered CDM projects." But even in carbon markets in Africa were expanded, argues this new comprehensive study from the Institute for Strategic Studies, carbon offsets at best bring only deceptive benefits to developing countries, while allowing rich countries to evade their responsibilities for reducing carbon emissions. Nov 29, 2011  Congo (Kinshasa): Election Background Analysis http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/drc1111.php     "Widespread discontent with the current regime and the longing for radical change do explain the great popularity of Etienne Tshisekedi, leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), DRC's oldest opposition party, established in 1982. ... [His] message has been warmly received because it reflects the deepest aspirations of the majority of Congolese. Faced with this formidable challenge, the Kabila regime is doing its best to win the election through violence and intimidation." - Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja Nov 25, 2011  South Africa: Secrecy Bill Evokes Apartheid Era http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/saf1111.php     "The new South Africa is not comparable to the evils of old. But on Tuesday, when parliament passed a state secrecy law, we were shamed. The ANC became like its apartheid predecessors. The party of Mandela ignored the man himself and muzzled whistleblowers, journalists and its own citizens. It defied its trade union allies and civil society, and used its majority to ram through the protection of information bill, which gives the state power to classify information and criminalise whistleblowers, journalists and anyone who comes into possession of such classified information." - Justice Malala Nov 16, 2011  Africa: Fast-Paced Mobile Growth Continues http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/ict1111.php     "With over 620 million mobile connections as of September 2011, Africa has overtaken Latin America to become the second largest mobile market in the world, after Asia. Over the past 10 years, the number of mobile connections in Africa has grown an average of 30% per year and is forecast to reach 735 million by the end of 2012." - GSMA African Mobile Observatory