Nelson Mandela ‘no saint’ in new biopic

The film is based on Mandela's autobiography

A new screen biopic of Nelson Mandela does not shy away from the less flattering aspects of his character, according to its British star.

"It was important we had both sides, the good and the bad," said Idris Elba.

Early scenes in Justin Chadwick's film show Mandela as a womaniser who was violent to his first wife Evelyn.

"I didn't want to deface Mr Mandela in any way," the Luther actor continued. "But I didn't want to portray him in a way that wasn't honest."

Elba was speaking at the Toronto Film Festival, where Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom had its world premiere this weekend.

Based on the former South African president's autobiography, the film charts his early life as a lawyer, his political activism and the 27 years of imprisonment that preceded his democratic election in 1994.

Naomie Harris, also British, plays Mandela's second wife Winnie in Justin Chadwick's two-and-a-half hour drama.

'Brave choice'

[L-R] Terry Pheto, Naomie Harris, Idris Elba, Lindiwe Matshikiza star in director Justin Chadwick's film

The film has had a mixed reception from critics, with one calling it "more dutifully reverential than revelatory or exciting".

"We've seen the saintly Mandela we all know and love," continued Elba, who did not meet "Madiba" before embarking on the project.

"It was important for us to take the audience on a journey prior to that and understand who he was."

The internationally revered anti-apartheid campaigner, now 95, was released from hospital last week after three months of treatment for a recurring lung infection.

"Like everybody I've been very concerned for his health but I've been keeping optimistic," Elba told reporters on Sunday.

According to Chadwick, the Hackney-born actor was the right person for the biopic despite being from England and bearing little physical resemblance to its subject.

"There were other obvious choices, but Idris was the brave choice," said the director, whose other credits include the BBC's 2005 dramatisation of Dickens' Bleak House.

"He doesn't look like Madiba, but we weren't going for a lookalike, soundalike version."

"Idris managed to capture the Mandela magic," agreed Terry Pheto, the South African actress who plays Evelyn in the film.

Industry reviews

Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, David Harewood and Sidney Poitier are among the others to have portrayed the beloved statesman on film and television.

Elba has found success as a rule-breaking detective in BBC One's Luther

Elba, whose other films include summer blockbusters Thor and Pacific Rim, has been singled out for praise by critics who have seen the film in Toronto.

"It takes a commanding actor to fill the shoes of the man most instrumental in ending institutionalised oppression in South Africa," wrote David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter.

"The charismatic Idris Elba proves equal to the task."

According to Screen International, though, the film is "too tasteful and conventional to offer much insight into the remarkable man it wishes to celebrate".

"It doesn't have much of a point of view about its narrative, serving more as a rote recitation of memorable moments."

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is one of several Toronto titles this year to draw their inspiration from real-life figures.

Julian Assange, Jimi Hendrix and Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts also feature in films in this year's line-up.

The launch of Chadwick's film coincides with the UK release of Diana, a biographical drama about Diana, Princess of Wales that drew a withering response from the British media.

Dag Hammarskjold death: UN 'should reopen inquiry'

The DC6 plane crashed in the early hours of 18 September 1961

A commission looking into the death of former United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold has recommended that the UN reopen its investigation.

Mr Hammarskjold's plane was travelling to Congo on a peace mission in 1961 when it crashed in Zambia.

A UN investigation in 1962 failed to find the cause of the mysterious crash.

The commission said there were significant new findings, and that the US National Security Agency might hold crucial evidence.

In a statement, the UN thanked the commission and said the UN secretariat would study its findings closely.

It said Mr Hammarskjold had given "unparalleled service to the UN and paid the ultimate price", and that it was "among those most concerned in arriving at the whole truth".

The Swedish-born diplomat's plane crashed on 18 September in a forest near Ndola in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia.

All but one of the passengers and crew on the flight were killed.

Mr Hammarskjold was trying to negotiate a peace agreement between Congo's Soviet-backed government and Moise Tshombe, who had declared independence for its mineral-rich province of Katanga.

The UN secretary general was going to Ndola to meet Mr Tshombe, who was backed by former colonial power Belgium and some Western mining interests.

Three investigations have failed to determine the cause of the crash, and many conspiracy theories have swirled around Mr Hammarskjold's death.

Two investigations held in the British-run Central African Federation, which included Northern Rhodesia, were followed by an official UN inquiry which concluded that foul play could not be ruled out.

The Hammarskjold Commission report, written by four international lawyers, said there was "significant new evidence".

It said the claim of an aerial attack, which might have caused the descent of the plane by direct damage or by harassment, was capable of being proved or disproved.

The report said that given the NSA's worldwide monitoring activities at that time, "it is highly likely" that the radio traffic on 18-19 September 1961 was recorded by the NSA and possibly also by the CIA.

The report said: "Authenticated recordings of any such cockpit narrative or radio messages, if located, would furnish potentially conclusive evidence of what happened to the DC6."

The Commission said it had made Freedom of Information Act requests to the National Security Archive, which were rejected on national security grounds - but that an appeal had been lodged.

The report concluded that Mr Hammarskjold's death was "an event of global significance which deserves the attention both of history and of justice".

Central African Republic says scores killed in new clashes

CAR has been unstable since independence in 1960

At least 60 people have been killed in Central African Republic in fighting between former rebels and forces loyal to the president they ousted in March, officials say.

A government spokesman said fighters loyal to Francois Bozize had seized the town of Bouca north of the capital.

This is the first large-scale operation launched by the former president's forces since he was toppled in March.

The UN has warned that CAR could become a failed state, threatening the region.

Presidential spokesman Guy-Simplice Kodegue said bridges had been destroyed and villages attacked near the town of Bossangoa, 250 km (155 miles) north-west of the capital Bangui.

He accused pro-Bozize fighters of attacking members of the Muslim population.

The Seleka rebels who seized power in March are seen as largely Muslim.

Mr Kodegue said five Seleka fighters had been killed during the clashes.

It has not been possible to verify this information because of a lack of communication with the region.

Aid workers have accused undisciplined Seleka fighters of looting the healthcare system, as well as robbing civilians, since they came to power.

About a third of the country's 4.6 million people need assistance with food, shelter, healthcare or water, according to UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, who recently visited the country.

Last week, the authorities launched a disarmament campaign in the capital, Bangui.

CAR has gold and diamond deposits but has been unstable since independence.

Seleka leader Michel Djotodia, who was sworn in as president earlier this month, has promised to relinquish power after elections scheduled for 2016.

Mr Bozize is currently in France after initially fleeing to Cameroon when Seleka fighters seized Bangui.

Liberia: Government Responds to Media Watchdog

DOCUMENT

Photo: FrontPage Africa

Imprisoned FrontPage Africa's Managing Editor, Rodney Sieh.

On behalf of the President, I acknowledge with thanks your continuous interests in the post-conflict development of Liberia. In the matter of your present concern, however, I am compelled to point out that it is more complex and challenging than you have represented.

Firstly, Liberia's continued progress in preserving free speech is second to none. Since 2006, the media landscape of Liberia has exploded with more than 30 newspapers and online services, 19 radio stations and 45 community radio stations which operate across the rural areas. All of these are independently owned and operated. Together with the implementation of the freedom of information law, under which, only a few days ago, the Independent Freedom of Information Commissioner ruled in favor of a private petitioner's right to information against a government functionary, as well as a robust engagement with the civil society on issues of transparency and accountability within the framework of the Open Governance Partnership (OGP), Liberia continues to take steps to uphold and preserve access to information and free speech.

Additionally, being the second only country on the Continent to accede to the Table Mountain Declaration, having now enlisted the inputs of stakeholders including the Press Union of Liberia, the Umbrella organization of journalists in the country, we are in the advanced stages of legislating the decriminalization of media related offenses from our statutes, a process we hope to conclude by the next sitting of the Legislature which begins in January. All of these – and we are prepared to do more – has improved the environment and expanded the space for voices, at home and abroad which were previously silenced, to be heard on national challenges and public policy issues.

Yet, we must also admit that this media explosion is growing in dire need of technical support and assistance including training for journalists and a strong self-regulatory framework, as well as renewal of commitments to best practice, professional care and ethical standards. Careful to avoid impugning on the important values of independence of the media, the government has tried to reach out in a limited way, and would warmly appreciate your assistance and support, for the continued development of the Liberian press.

Secondly, today, the sheer confluence of voices and the heightened public awareness against corruption ought to testify to how far we have travelled in this fight against corruption. The first Liberian Administration to seriously lift the fight against corruption into national prominence and a deeper consideration by all Liberians, each year, we have tackled age-old vulnerabilities in the public service, strengthened institutional weaknesses, build capacities, and have either administratively or through the courts, wherever applicable, taken the required actions against corrupt officials to both expose the societal problem and set the right examples. In this regard, we have already enacted and are implementing strong anti-corruption laws and best practice procedures, regular increases in civil servants salaries, the conduct of various audits, and the creation of integrity and watchdog institutions such as the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC) and the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) which continues to significantly change the way we have publicly procured, awarded contracts and concessions, and accounted for revenues from our natural resources. Also, an internal audit mechanism has been institutionalized across the government agencies and functionaries to assist with stricter adherence to best practices and procedures. Here, especially, we are determined to prevent as opposed to waiting to cure.

Moreover, the Office of Attorney-General has recruited a team of private lawyers to sift through dozens of previous and current audit reports for the purpose of specific evidence gathering for the ensuing judicial process. Aware that there is not a statute of limitation for the prosecution of corruption allegations, and although we have successfully prosecuted a number of such audit findings, the truth also is that the government has lost a few high-profiled corruption cases.

Accordingly, we have encouraged the prosecutorial team to continue this important exercise, and to work along with the General Auditing Commission (GAC) until the required evidence is sufficient, within the limits of the law, to prove the guilt of accused persons beyond reasonable doubts – the required standard for such criminal trials.

We recognize the ease with which a suspicious mind may misconstrue these actions as attempts to delay or to be selective. Our response, without prejudice to anyone, is that in post-conflict environments like ours which are struggling to rebuild the country literarily from scratch; where important decisions such as prosecution has to be continuously weighed against other competing imperatives including infrastructure (roads, power, ports and ICT), education, health and agriculture because of the acute limitation on available resources, the Liberian government does not have the benefit of chance nor is our fight against corruption enabled by failing to convict especially in the prosecution of high-profiled cases. Lessons have been learned and the condition of the country confirms to us that we must insist on getting it right the first time of asking.

Recently appointed, a young solicitor-general, on account of the work of this team, has already secured a number of high-profile grand jury indictments for corruption. We urge you to stay tuned. It may interest you to also know that our fight against corruption is a cultural shock – an attack on entrenched values across the multiple institutions of the society (see Transparency International's Corruption Perception Report) which reached disproportionate levels over the years of the complete collapse of the Liberian State. Undoubtedly, it requires time and steadfast dedication – the latter we are determined to institutionalize – in order to realize the objective of winning our fight against corruption.

In short, in the fight against corruption, we are not where we want to be but the progress we have made is considerable as well as sustainable. We have the various reports of Transparency International Global Corruption Index which show Liberia's steady progression, year-on-year, against corruption, as well as an improved national awareness, to back up this claim. Again, as anyone will expect, overtime, we may ebb and flow on the Global Corruption Index, however, we assure you that it will not be on account of the lack of will by the government to continue to deepen the gains already made in the fight against corruption.

And so, properly framed, the object of our present engagement cannot, or better said, should not be our proved commitment to fight corruption or to preserve free speech. This matter is really a test of our continued dedication to the rule of law – to building a society where all are subjects of the law.

In this regard, we admit that our courts are not where we wish them to be, and our laws may not be altogether perfect. In recognition of these, we have continued to undertake reform measures which have included the passage of a new jury law and the enforcements of stricter ethical codes and administrative practices for court officers. The Supreme Court recently named, shamed and penalized a number of court officers including high-profile lawyers for various breaches of these codes, and has promised to further deepen the reforms across the entire Judiciary. Aware of the dire consequences of a return to lawlessness, we must continue to build public confidence in the courts as fair venues for the settlements of civil disputes and criminal offenses.

At the same time, we are painstakingly reviewing our statues and laws, including the Liberian Constitution, through the works of an independent law review commission of eminent jurists and other Liberians. At the completion of this work, proposed changes will be regularly put to the people or their representatives for their actions. We are always mindful so as not to undermine the enhancement of the rule of law in the country by actions and examples which can easily pervade the unwanted impression that anyone, either by the influence of their profession or the importance of their status in the society, is above the law.

As you know, Liberia is travelling from a very dark past of lawlessness influenced in large measures by an 'imperial presidency'. We have tried to enable this difficult journey by attending to matters of the rule of law with devotion and care, and have consciously suppressed appetites and refused invitations to draw the Liberian Presidency into influencing the resolutions of disputes, civil or criminal, which are cognizable before the courts. In fact, the Liberian Constitution forbids interference in judicial processes, and this President does not wish to ever be endowed with such powers.

Speaking of the Liberian Constitution, in keeping with Article 59, you have requested the exercise of presidential pardon. The presidential pardon to which the Constitution refers is at the outcome of criminal prosecutions. This dispute is civil, between two private citizens, and one in which the government is not a party for which its rights can be waived or pardoned. The defendant is being held, and offices ordered closed by the Civil Law Court, in accordance with the Civil Procedure Law of Liberia which provides that anyone who cannot or will not pay a libel judgment is to be ordered imprisoned, and as the business was attached as a juridical person to the suit, it was ordered closed by the Civil Law Court. We may not all agree but this is the law.

Also, although in your letter we noticed a number of critical omissions, as a government, we must avoid being publicly engaged in a retrial of the issues of law or facts especially of civil disputes between citizens which were raised or waived by the parties, and decided by the courts, including the highest court of our land. We cannot find how the ongoing consolidation of the rule of law, and the broader aspirations of building a just and equitable society, are helped by such engagements especially where parties have represented their causes before the courts, and have either exhausted the available remedial processes or waived the opportunities afforded by the law to do so.

Like you though, we are concerned about the imposition of excessive awards, fines and punishments. In fact, the Liberian Constitution specifically proscribes such impositions. It is also true that the Liberian Supreme Court has consistently ruled against excessive judgment awards and punishments by trial courts and juries. However, such claims, over a period of sixty days as at the date of announcement of the appeal, must be regularly brought to the attention of the Supreme Court by litigants who believe the judgment award or punishment to be excessive or unfairly imposed. No branch of the government, including the President, can do for a party which has been enjoined in a controversy before the courts, what the party must do for itself. Like we say in Liberia, the government hands are tied.

As to the implications of excessive awards and punishments from libelous suits on the continued exercise of free speech in the country, while we are right to be concerned, and commit ourselves to work with you and others in finding ways for appropriate reforms, which could include consideration of a defendant's ability to pay, we remain optimistic that the ongoing efforts to uphold and preserve various freedoms, including freedom of speech and worship, as well as the protection of rights of citizens, are becoming so well established, and widely embraced across the Liberian society that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to undo. Moreover, libel falls where truth stands. It follows therefore that a professional and public commitment to reporting the truth should not be equated to censorship. It really is, and should be encouraged to remain, a duty of public officials and journalists.

As to the wellbeing of Mr. Sieh, please be reassured that after contracting malaria, a common tropical illness, he is being treated and cared for by the Liberian government at our largest medical facility. All of the rights and privileges to which Mr. Sieh is justly entitled as a citizen of Liberia under these circumstances, are and will continue to be accorded him. Meanwhile, we are not adverse, and will encourage the parties to speedily work out a much-needed resolution.

Of course we have some ways to go to become the society we aspire to be. But thanks to the resilience of the Liberian people, and the continuous friendly engagements of organizations like yours, the transformation of our society is being diligently pursued. This is also possible because as leaders, we have been bold in tackling the issues which combined to plunge our country into war. These issues have profoundly included corruption, transparency and accountability, the rule of law, preservation of freedoms and protection of rights.

Having just celebrated 10 years of living together in peace, we believe the steady progress of our country to be self-evident, and that the foundations for a functionally thriving democratic society are being solidly planted. It may please you to also know that each day the confidence of Liberians improves in regard to our desire to govern transparently and accountably, to deepen the rule of law, to protect freedoms and rights, and by such dedicated actions, to add value and new meaning to Liberian citizenship; is yet another day to celebrate our society's leap from its past of conflict and anarchy to a future of peace and security. It is within this context that we have elaborately responded to your concerns, and have requested your understanding and support.

Please accept, dear friends, our gratitude for sharing this response with your vast membership and the various stakeholders in Liberia's transformation which were copied in yours.

Sincerely,

Lewis G Brown, II

Minister of Information

Nigeria: Why Did China's Infrastructure for Resources Deal Fail in Nigeria?

ANALYSIS

I was on board the defunct Air Nigeria Airline to the Gambia for the Conference for African Ministers, Fisheries and Aquaculture (CAMFA) in 2010 when I encountered another Nigerian (Ikechukwu), who was alighting in Sierra Leone.

We both boarded the aircraft in Lagos and soon I began to chat to him about political developments in Nigeria. The young man told me he had lived in China for more than a decade and was involved in business. After regaling me with the wonders of Chinese infrastructural development, he narrowed it down to his own venture in Nigeria.

"I brought a Chinese construction firm to negotiate construction of railway line in my state, on a public-private partnership model but they rejected it," he told me. "The government officials who were in the driving seat said they preferred to award contracts, so that they can get their own cut of the deal."

Ikechukwu's account is not strange in Nigeria; it is almost a normative for government officials to want to profit from projects that are supposed to profit the masses. This is informed by the fact that the Nigerian elite are a creation of the state and are sustained by it.

One sector of the Nigerian economy where such cronyism is pervasive is in the oil industry. Oil is the life-wire of the Nigerian economy and accounts for about 90% of the country's gross earnings.

Oil was first discovered in today's Bayelsa state in the 1950s by Shell BP. Though Shell led the way for exploration in Nigeria, other International Oil Corporations (IOCs) such as Shell, Agip, Mobil, Chevron, Philips and Texaco play dominant roles in the Nigerian oil sector.

These IOCs operate in partnership with NNPC under Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs). These IOCs also represent the interests of various Western countries, which are dominant players on the global state. In other words, the oil sector in Nigeria suffers from two dominant influences: foreign countries that dominate the sector and crony capitalism.

What is Infrastructure for Resources?

'Infrastructure for resources' is a kind of borrowing guaranteed by resources such as crude oil, copper, tin, gold etc. In the case of China, it develops infrastructure, which is lacking in most African countries and gets paid with resources.

Whilst this model has become embedded in China's policy of engagement with resource -rich countries (particularly in Africa), it did not originate in China.

In her book, The Dragons Gift: The Real Story of China In Africa, Deborah Brautigam emphasised that China adapted the policy from its engagement with Japan in the 1970s. Ana Alves argues that the model was first developed in London by private banking institutions (British, French, Dutch and later South African) to mitigate the risk of lending to resource-rich African governments.

Friendly Ties

The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Deng Boqing, put the relations between Nigeria and China in perspective, when he told Nigeria's Punch Newspaper that "In the past 42 years, China and Nigeria have enjoyed cordial relations."

A 2010 opinion poll on views on China conducted by the Pew Research Centre buttressed this position. According to the poll, three quarters of Nigerians hold a favourable view on China, seeing it as a partner rather than an enemy.

China and Nigeria have exchanged state visits since 1974 when the then military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, first visited. Subsequently, since the advent of democracy in 1999, every democratically elected president of Nigeria has visited China. In contrast, only one Chinese head of state, Hu Jintao, has visited Nigeria, though twice in 2004 and 2006.

Trade Relations

According to a business registration document obtained from the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), as of 2012, there were 208 registered Chinese companies doing business in Nigeria. These companies include state enterprises organisations (SEOs) and private investors, with investments concentrated in the oil industry, manufacturing, construction and telecommunications.

Nigeria and China commenced trade relations earlier in 1969 before formalising diplomatic relations in 1971. The value of trade has risen astronomically, with levels of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) the second highest in Africa.

'Infrastructure for Resources' model in Africa

China has deployed the infrastructure for resources model in many African countries, with a record of success and failure. According to the World Bank, "China's financial commitments to African infrastructure projects rose from less than US$1 billion per year in 2001-2003 to around US$1.5 billion per year in 2004-2005 [and] reached at least US$7 billion in 2006--China's official 'Year of Africa' and trailed back to US$4.5 billion in 2007."

A Nigerian Perspective

In 2006, Nigeria and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) - the first of its kind in Africa - on the establishment of a strategic partnership.

The partnership formed part of the FDI drive of the Obasanjo administration to encourage Chinese investors to do business in Nigeria. A key outcome from these buoyant relations was the oil-for-infrastructure deal, in which Chinese companies were offered right-of-first-refusal for oil processing licenses.

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), an SEO, was allocated an Oil Processing License in return to invest $2 billion to rehabilitate the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna's failing oil refinery but the deal fell through in 2007.

Gregory Mthembu-Salter states that "The suspension by the Yar'Adua administration of the massive 'oil for infrastructure' agreements of the Obasanjo era was a setback for the Chinese government's Nigeria policy, requiring significant re-evaluation by China of how best to do business with Nigeria."

While this account has been recorded by scholars and journalists alike, there has not been an explicit account for the factors that led to its failure, save for reference to change in political leadership in Nigeria.

However, in this investigation I have identified two central factors that stalled China's infrastructure for resources deal in Nigeria.

First, the policy failed because of the interest of Nigerian elites, who felt implementing the deal would cut them off profit from crude oil sales on the international market. It is also significant to note that China's offer when deploying its infrastructure for resources falls below the prevailing market price.

Honourable KGB Oguakwa, a two term member of Nigeria's House of Representatives told me "Nigeria prefers to sell her oil on the international market which is more lucrative than to adopt the Chinese model."

Adeola Yusuf, head of energy desk at the Daily Independent newspaper in Lagos said China's infrastructure for resources model failed in Nigeria because "many people at the corridor of power in Nigeria perceived the concept as modern slavery."

Another Nigerian, who was a member of late President Yar'Adua's Federal Executive Cabinet, added another perspective: "When they travelled to China with Yar'Adua, we discovered that the deal the previous administration signed with China was not concluded." For instance, he said: "the figure being quoted here in Nigeria did not match with the figures the Chinese authorities have in China."

The second factor that worked against the infrastructure for resources deal was the influence of the IOCs, who contributed in developing the Nigerian oil industry and their influential home countries.

Adeola Yusuf, again, states that "One of the reasons that led to the failure of [infrastructure for resources] is stiff competition by American, Dutch and UK oil conglomerates in the Nigerian oil industry."

A US Embassy cable released by Wikileaks gave vent to the position that Western oil executives were "fearful of Chinese and Russian companies breaking into a market vital to US fuel interests."

"China is a very aggressive and pernicious economic competitor with no morals," stated Johnny Carson, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Carson. Tope Fasua, Chief Executive Officer of Global Analytics Consulting limited, concurs that the "Chinese foray into Nigeria was halted by powerful western elements, because at a point in 2008/9, Nigeria became the last gambit in the global chess game."

The Chinese Never Say Never Though the late Yar'Adua's administration terminated China's infrastructure for resources deal in Nigeria, the Chinese did not give-in, but kept pushing for the deal with alluring offers.

Segun Adeniyi, former Senior Special Adviser to the late President Yar'Adua, gave an insider account of how the Chinese kept persuading Yar'Adua to accept their offer.

Adeniyi recounted that the story of the Chinese interest in the Nigerian oil and gas sector (this was after the infrastructure for resources it signed with the Obasanjo administration had been terminated) began in November 2007 when a Chinese consortium, led by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Africa Ltd. expressed its desire to acquire a large number of oil and gas assets, estimated to contain six billion barrels of oil reserves.

He notes that the Chinese offer included a proposed offer of $50 billion in what they described as 'alternative funding for infrastructural development in Nigeria', which he said was very difficult to resist.

Adeniyi said the government of President Yar'Adua first assessed the volume of oil and gas in the reserves in the acreage under consideration.

"The NNPC data and records revealed that they contained about 11.562 billion barrels of oil and 1.082 billion barrels of condensate, which meant that the offer made by the Chinese consortium would then, make it technically an offer of $1.8 per barrel of oil equivalent," Adeniyi revealed. Adeniyi emphasised that the Chinese negotiators were insistent; dangling the carrot of their "investible funds" in infrastructural projects.

However, he notes that the Chinese did not make headway because the committee which assessed the offerings of the Chinese based their decision on "market benchmarks."

According to Adeniyi, "[after] four offers, the answer remained the same: no deal... .The government now made a counter offer shaped by the fact that prevailing market conditions around the world indicated that major resource holders were not selling equity barrels."

Consequently, President Yar'Adua turned down the Chinese offer because it fell short of prevailing "market benchmarks" of Crude oil, at the time. This conclusion makes Ikechukwu's story meaningful: "The government officials who were in the driving seat said they preferred to award contracts, so that they can get their own cut of the deal."

Africa: Rethinking Mental Health in Africa

Kampala — As African countries strive to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and plot a new development agenda thereafter, health experts are gathering evidence across the continent to make a case for a greater focus on its millions of mentally ill.

Experts say investing in mental health treatment for African countries would bolster development across the continent, but national health priorities have been overtaken by the existing MDG structure, which has specific targets for diseases like malaria and HIV, placing them higher on countries' agendas than other health issues.

"Everyone is putting their money in HIV, reproductive health, malaria," says Sheila Ndyanabangi, director of mental health at Uganda's Ministry of Health. "They need also to remember these unfunded priorities like mental health are cross-cutting, and are also affecting the performance of those other programmes like HIV and the rest."

Global experts celebrated the passing of a World Health Assemblyaction plan on World Mental Health Day in May, calling it a landmark step in addressing a staggering global disparity: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 75-85 percent of people with severe mental disorders receive no treatment in low- and middle-income countries, compared to 35-50 percent in high-income countries.

The action plan outlines four broad targets, for member states to: update their policies and laws on mental health; integrate mental health care into community-based settings; integrate awareness and prevention of mental health disorders; and strengthen evidence-based research.

In order for the plan to be implemented, both governments and donors will need to increase their focus on mental health issues. As it stands, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the world's biggest bilateral donor, will only support mental health if it is under another MDG health priority such as HIV/AIDS.

Meanwhile, mental health receives on average 1 percent of health budgets in sub-Saharan Africa despite the WHO estimate that it carries 13 percent of the global burden of disease.

"Mental health hasn't found its way into the core programmes [in developing countries], so the NGOs continue to rely on scraping together funds to be able to respond," Harry Minas, a psychiatrist on the WHO International Expert Panel on Mental Health and Substance Abuse and director of the expert coalition Movement for Global Mental Health, told IRIN.

"Unless we collectively do something much more effective about NCDs [non-communicable diseases], national economies are going to be bankrupted by the health budgets."

The post-MDG era

According to a May report from the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the MDGs have overseen the fastest reduction of poverty in human history.

Yet it also acknowledges that they have done little to reach the world's most vulnerable. The report says the MDGs were "silent on the devastating effects of conflict and violence on development" and focused too heavily on individual programmes instead of collaborating between sectors, resulting in a largely disjointed approach to health.

Experts say without a more holistic approach to global health in the new development era, the world's most vulnerable will only be trapped in that cycle.

"The MDGs were essentially a set of vertical programmes which were essentially in competition with each other for resources and for attention," said Minas. "We've gone beyond that, and now understand we're dealing with complex systems, where all of the important issues are very closely interrelated."

Poverty and mental illness

In Africa, where many countries are dealing with current or recent emergencies, WHO sees opportunities to build better mental health care.

"The surge of aid [that usually follows an emergency]combined with sudden, focused attention on the mental health of the population, creates unparalleled opportunities to transform mental health care for the long term," say the authors of the report Building Back Better: Sustainable Mental Health Care after Emergencies, released earlier this month.

In a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in July, researchers in northern Uganda - which, starting in the late 1980s suffered a two-decade long war between the government and the rebel Lords' Resistance Army - monitored the impact of group counselling on vulnerable groups such as victims of sexual and domestic violence, HIV-infected populations, and former abductees of the civil war.

It found that those groups who engaged in group counselling were able to return and function markedly faster than those who did not receive counselling, while reducing their risks of developing long-term psychiatric conditions.

"We need to be mentally healthy to get out of poverty," Ethel Mpungu, the study's lead researcher, told IRIN.

The link between mental illness and persisting poverty is being made the world over. According to a 2011 World Economic Forum report, NCDs will cost the global economy more than US$30 trillion by 2030, with mental health conditions alone costing an additional $16 trillion over the same time span.

"It really is around issues of development and economics - those things can no longer be ignored," says Minas. "They are now so clear that ministries of health all around the place are starting to think about how they are going to develop their mental health programmes."

Putting mental health on the agenda

As mental health legislation is hard to come by in most African countries, Uganda is ahead of most on the continent with its comprehensive National Policy on Mental, Neurological and Substance Use Services, drafted in 2010.

The bill would update its colonial era Mental Treatment Act, which has not been revised since 1964, and bring the country in line with international standards, but is still waiting to be reviewed by cabinet and be voted into law.

Uganda is also part of a consortium of research institutions and health ministries (alongside Ethiopia, India, Nepal and South Africa) leading the developing world on mental health care.

PRIME - the programme for improving mental health care - was formed in 2011 to support the scale-up of mental health services in developing countries, and is currently running a series of pilot projects to measure their impact on primary healthcare systems in low-income settings.

Research shows that low- and middle-income countries can successfully provide mental health services at a lower cost through, among other strategies, easing detection and diagnosis procedures, the use of non-specialist health workers and the integration of mental healthcare into primary healthcare systems.

Although a number of projects have shown success in working with existing government structures to ultimately integrate mental health into primary health care, the scaling up of such initiatives is being hindered by a lack of investment, as the funding of African health systems is still largely seen through donor priorities, which have been focused elsewhere.

"Billions of philanthropic dollars are being spent on things like HIV/AIDS or water or malaria," said Liz Alderman, co-founder of the Peter C. Alderman Foundation (PCAF), which works with survivors of terrorism and mass violence. "But if people don't care whether they live or die, they're not going to be able to take advantage of these things that are offered."

Somalia: 'Biggest Guns' to Control Somalia's South

Mogadishu — Somali clan leaders say that an Aug. 27 agreement between the government and only a few leaders from the country's three southern Jubba regions, which aims to resolve the ongoing dispute over who controls the area, creates more problems than it solves.

"The agreement, in essence, gives in to the original demands of one clan, the Ras Kamboni militia, for the domination over other communities just because they have the bigger guns. And that is unfortunate," Mohamed Hassan, a clan elder in the southern port city of Kismayo, told IPS.

Since the 2012 ouster of the Islamist militant group, Al-Shabaab, from much of this Horn of Africa nation's southern territories, the Somali government and the local militia group Ras Kamboni have been at loggerheads over control of the area.

On May 15, Ras Kamboni selected Ahmed Mohamed Islam, better known as Sheikh Madobe, leader of the group and as president of a self-declared regional autonomous state, which they named Jubbland. Kismayo was declared the state's capital city. The Somali government, however, refused to recognise the state, which comprises the three southern regions Gedo, Lower Jubba and Middle Jubba.

In June, fighting broke out between the Ras Kamboni militias and local clans after they rejected Madobe's authority. The World Health Organisation said that more than 70 people were killed and hundreds more injured as a result.

But Hassan said that the Jubba agreement, which was signed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, did not address the core issue of the conflict and could lead to a more "uncertain future" for the people in the three provinces.

"With the exception of changing the name of the self-proclaimed state from Jubbaland to the Interim Jubba Administration, such an arrangement will further ignite communal conflict," he said.

The deal establishes a two-year interim administration that will be run by leaders from the three southern states. It outlines managing the region's federal institutions and infrastructure, including the airport and seaport - two of the main revenue generators for Gedo, Lower Jubba and Middle Jubba regions.

The agreement also envisages the integration of the local militias into the Somalian National Army and calls for reconciliation and confidence building between communities in the regions.

But Hassan cautioned against the agreement institutionalising a "one-clan hegemony" in Somalia's most-diverse regions.

"We all know these regions are not inhabited by one clan, but are the most diverse regions in Somalia. Giving priority to one clan over others is calling for a continuation of the conflict, so I call on the Somali government and the international community to annul the so-called agreement and organise a real reconciliation for all clans here," Hassan told IPS.

"We are for peace and brotherhood between the peoples here, not legitimising clanism. We will not accept anything less than justice, equality and respect for all."

Yusuf Omar, a political scientist and independent analyst from Kismayo, told IPS that most of the local clans had not been represented in the talks that culminated in the signing of the Aug. 27 agreement.

"The conflict is not between the Somali government on the one hand and one clan in the Jubba regions on the other. The conflict is between local communities over the future of the provinces, and most were not represented at the talks," he said.

While clan leaders say that the deal does not change anything on the ground, both the Somali government and leaders of Ras Kamboni insist that the agreement guarantees the new interim administration will be "an all-inclusive and representative body of all clans and constituencies."

But the Mogadishu-based independent Somali think tank, the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS), said the agreement was deliberately "crafted in worryingly vague terms."

"In the absence of reliable population data and a recent census, the accurate distribution of seats [among the] clans is not possible. Representation lies at the heart of Somalia's political conflict. Use of this language threatens to incite further conflict," HIPS said in a reporttitled the "Jubba Agreement: Imperfect Progress", which was released after the signing of the deal.

Kulmiye Yusuf, a local academic from Kismayo, agreed that the ambiguity of the terms of the agreement could lead to problems during its implementation phase. However, he believes that the deal marks a new start in the relations between the government and Madobe, the leader of the Ras Kamboni militia and the self-declared president of Jubbaland.

"I do agree with the assessment of the institute [HIPS] that what has been achieved so far is an imperfect progress. But what is needed is to view this as a good start and that genuine reconciliation between the local communities can now be initiated," Yusuf told IPS.