Patty Culhane
Patty Culhane joined Al Jazeera in 2009 and is now the White House Correspondent for the network.
DISTURB THE PEACE destroy YOUR LIFE
Saturday 9 August 2014
Picha 5 za ajali ya kuungua kwa basi la 5 Aliance leo
Hili ni basi la kampuni ya 5 Aliance ambalo linafanya safari zake kati ya Mtwara na Dar es salaam limeungua asubuhi ya August 09 likitokea Mtwara kuelekea Dar es salaam.
Taarifa ya awali inasema kuwa hakuna abiria aliyepata madhara yoyote juu ya kuungua kwa basi hili ambalo limeteketea kijiji cha Mihambwe mkoa wa Lindi.
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| Basi likiungua hapo |
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| Add caption |
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| Kabla ya moto |
PART 3: Growth Trumps Freedom OF AFRICANS.
Growth Trumps Freedom
REUTERS
Chinese companies have pumped
billions into Africa to secure access to natural resources, boosting
countries' economies along the way. Ordinary citizens aren't reaping the
benefits, though, and have become increasingly wary of the new
investors.
In a three-part series, SPIEGEL is exploring fundamental changes
occurring in Africa -- a continent the West has long written off, but is
now being embraced by other countries. This is Part I of the series. An
introduction can be read here, while Part II explores the digital
revolution's tranformative impact on the continent and Part III shows
how women in Africa are making great strides.
The concept of "West is
best" is now a thing of the past. Disappointed by Europe and America,
where their continent has often been written off as a hopeless case, Africans
have instead looked to the Far East. There, they have found a strong ally, one
that is mainly interested in doing business and doesn't interfere in their
internal affairs. China attaches no political conditions to economic
cooperation, unlike the West, which, at least on paper, demands good
governance, the rule of law, anti-corruption measures and protections for human
rights.
This is one of the reasons that
despots like Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hold the Chinese in such high
regard. Cooperating with China fills their empty coffers and enables them to
secure their hold on power. And Africa's dictators are not badgered when they
oppress and prey on their own people.
For example, Beijing wasn't overly
troubled when the regime in Sudan waged a criminal war of forced displacement
in Darfur. It continued to supply the Sudanese government with weapons and
blocked resolutions in the United Nations Security Council. Beijing's primary
concern was that Sudanese oil would continue to flow. Next to Angola, Sudan is
China's second-most important source of oil in Africa.
With Chinese economic dominance, the
West's political influence is gradually being eroded. In authoritarian
countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda, the model of the Chinese
development dictatorship, which prioritizes growth over freedom, has long been
a welcome alternative to liberal democracy.
At the same time, Europe's and
America's cultural influence is waning. China's Xinhua state news agency now
has 28 offices in Africa, more than any Western competitor. The state
television broadcaster CCTV, which opened a new headquarters in Nairobi last
year, is gaining more and more viewers. Instead of airing the usual disaster
reports, the station tends to broadcast "good news" from Africa and
portrays China as a "true friend."
Growing Resentment and Violence
Nevertheless, there is growing
resentment in South Africa, where there are reportedly already 250,000 Chinese.
In the townships, the new immigrants are berated as "yellow masters."
Among South Africans, the Chinese are often seen as greedy, ruthless and
racist, as people who are exploiting Africa, flooding its markets with cheap
products and ruining an already weak domestic industry.
Union leaders in Angola complain
that Chinese companies are creating too few jobs for local workers. There are
rumors in the capital, Luanda, that the Chinese are using prisoners as forced
laborers on construction sites.
WAKE WENZA WA KUTANA:Wema Sepetu na KIDOTI ndani ya SELFIE
Wema na Jokate walipokutana kwenye ndege leo
Jokate aliwahi kukiri kwenye exclusive na millard ayo kwamba aliwahi kuwa na uhusiano wa kimapenzi na Diamond kwa muda usiozidi miezi miwili ambapo wakati yuko na Diamond zilitoka stori nyingi pia kuhusu uhusiano wa Wema na Jokate kuingia matatizoni.
Ni stori ambazo ziliandikwa sana na inawezekana mpaka leo watu wengine walikua wanaamini Jokate na Wema hawawezi kukaa meza moja ila Aug 9 2014 Wema Sepetu baada ya kuwasili Mwanza kwa ajili ya show ya Serengeti Fiesta 2014 baadae CCM Kirumba amepost hii picha.
Wakiwa kwenye ndege ya Fastjet Wema na Jokate wakitokea Dar es salaam walipiga selfie ambayo Wema ameipost kwenye instagram page yake na kuandika hayo maneno hapo chini akimaanisha wako poa sasa hivi.
Friday 8 August 2014
Terror suspects want case heard in Zanzibar
Terror suspects want case heard in Zanzibar.
8th August 2014
Sheikh Farid Hadi Ahmed
Before Magistrate Riwa of the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in
Dar es Salaam, the terror suspects mid this week also claimed that they
are denied visitation rights and being unjustly interrogated.
The development comes as the prosecution in the case added four
more suspects to the suspect list bringing it to 20 persons, all
Tanzanians and most being residents of the Isles.
The prosecution has also added at least two more charges to their
charge sheet. The 16 were first charged with conspiracy and recruiting
of persons to take part in terrorism contrary to section 21 (b) of the
Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2002 but now the 20 are charged under
section 27 the same Act.
In addition to the said charges one accused – Farid Had Ahmed - is
also charged with recruitment of persons to participate in terrorism and
harbouring of terrorists.
The accused are Farid Had Ahmed, Nassoro Abdallah, Hassan Suleiman,
Anthari Ahmed, Mohamed Yusuph, Abdalah Hassani, Hussein Ally, Juma Juma
and Said Ally.
Others are Hamis Salum, Said Salum, Abubakar Mngodo, Salum Salum,
Salum Amour Salum, Alawi Amir, Rashid Nyange, Amir Juma, Jamal Swalehe,
Kassim Nassoro and Said Sharifu.
The prosecution, led by Senior State Attorney Prosper Bernad
Kongola and assisted by State Attorneys, George Barasa and Peter Njike
alleged before Senior Resident Magistrate Hellen Riwa that the accused
committed the offences on diverse dates between January 2013 and June
2014 in parts of the country.
It was alleged that on the said dates the accused conspired to
commit an office in violation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002
by recruiting people to participate in terrorism.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
PART TWO: Tanzania is one of the focal points of the Chinese globalization strategy in Africa.
REUTERS
Chinese companies have pumped
billions into Africa to secure access to natural resources, boosting
countries' economies along the way. Ordinary citizens aren't reaping the
benefits, though, and have become increasingly wary of the new
investors.
In a three-part series, SPIEGEL is exploring fundamental changes
occurring in Africa -- a continent the West has long written off, but is
now being embraced by other countries. This is Part I of the series. An
introduction can be read here, while Part II explores the digital
revolution's tranformative impact on the continent and Part III shows
how women in Africa are making great strides.Tanzania is one of the focal points of the Chinese globalization strategy in Africa. In 2011, a large Chinese company invested $3 billion in coal and iron ore mines in the country. The enormous natural gas reserves off the Tanzanian coast -- an estimated 40 trillion cubic feet -- are of strategic interest. The China National Petroleum Company is currently installing a 532-kilometer (333-mile) pipeline from Mtwara, a port city in southeastern Tanzania, to Dar es Salaam. When the pipeline is finished, supertankers docking at the new Bagamayo port will load liquefied natural gas, cooled to temperatures of minus 164 degrees Celsius (minus 263 degrees Fahrenheit), and transport it to the Far East. Mineral ores and agricultural products from Tanzania, Zambia and Congo will also be shipped from the port. The Chinese are also reportedly planning to build a naval base to protect their economic interests along the Indian Ocean. "History is repeating itself," says Shaba, the journalist and cultural activist. "In the past, ivory and slaves were exported through Bagamayo. Today, it's natural resources." Slaves once dubbed this town Bagamayo, which means "throw your heart away." Anyone who had not managed to escape the slave traders en route to the coast was lost by the time they reached Bagamayo. China's economic offensive in Africa began before the turn of the millennium. At first, it was very gradual and inconspicuous. But, since 2000, trade volumes between China and Africa have grown twentyfold, reaching $200 billion in 2012. China has surged ahead of the old major powers - France, the United Kingdom and the United States -- to become Africa's most important trading partner. A Chinese 'Irruption' For years, China has engaged in an intensive campaign of visiting the continent. Presidents, heads of the government and ministers have traveled to almost all sub-Saharan countries that support China's policies and do not recognize Taiwan. They have forgiven debt, granted billions in loans, sealed defense deals and handed out generous aid packages. Most of all, however, they have secured access to Africa's natural resources. China's "irruption onto the African scene has been the most dramatic and important factor in the external relations of the continent -- perhaps in the development of Africa as a whole -- since the end of the Cold War," wrote Christopher Clapham of Cambridge, England-based Center of African Studies. There are now more than 2,000 Chinese companies and well over a million Chinese citizens in sub-Saharan Africa. They can be encountered in the major cities, in mining centers and oil fields, on plantations and even in the most remote jungle villages. They include managers and military advisers, doctors and agronomists, engineers and importers, itinerant traders, small business owners and contract workers employed on countless construction sites. The Chinese are building conspicuous signs of their presence everywhere: presidential palaces, ministries, military barracks, conference centers, museums, stadiums, broadcasting companies, hotel complexes and large-scale agricultural operations. They are renovating railroad lines, paving thousands of kilometers of roads and building airports, dams, power plants and hospitals. Indeed, the Chinese are modernizing a large segment of the continent's infrastructure. The Washington-based Center for Global Development estimates that, between 2000 and 2011, China provided about €75 billion in aid to Africa for a total of 1,673 projects, or roughly as much as the United States did in the same period. However, it is sometimes hard to tell where profitable investment ends and altruistic initiatives begin. The competition from the West is often left empty-handed. Chinese state-owned companies operate with less bureaucracy, are faster and cheaper and, as a rule, provide financing for projects with low-interest loans from state-owned banks. In return for developing the infrastructure, the Chinese receive lucrative licenses to exploit natural resources and fossil fuels. For instance, Angola, a war-torn and marginalized country until not too long ago, has become one of China's key oil suppliers, competing with Saudi Arabia for the top position. An Unequal 'Marriage' Other newly industrialized countries -- such as Brazil, India and Turkey -- have also discovered or rediscovered Africa. But no country is making its presence felt as strongly, from Khartoum to Cape Town, as China. Lamido Sanusi, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, already sees a "whiff of colonialism" in China's activities. Senegalese intellectual Adama Gaye is even more concerned, warning of a second wave of conquest. In his polemic "China-Africa: The Dragon and the Ostrich," China, the voracious dragon, and Africa, the naïve ostrich, face off as an extremely unevenly matched duo. "They take what they can get," says Gaye, referring to the Chinese. He even accuses them of creating "an apartheid-like culture" through social segregation. Azaveli Lwaitama, 61, takes a more relaxed view. "The Chinese keep to themselves and are just doing their thing," he says. A lecturer in philosophy, Lwaitama speaks on behalf of the Vision East Africa Forum, a think thank dedicated to the future of East Africa. "We are being globalized at the moment and are experiencing an accelerated battle for a share of our resources." In his view, this is merely capitalism with a different, "Chinese face." It's hard to understand what Lwaitama is saying due to the deafening noise coming from a nearby Chinese construction site, where pile drivers are pounding steel posts into the ground. Dar es Salaam is one big construction site, with skyscrapers, office complexes and bank towers sprouting up from the ground. The streets are constantly congested, and half of the pedestrians are walking around with mobile phones in their hands. "We have arrived in the modern world. It all looks promising, but we shouldn't be fooled," says Lwaitama. Despite an economic growth rate of about 7 percent in 2012, the majority of the 45 million Tanzanians haven't benefited much from the upturn. On the contrary, Lwaitama says, the gap between rich and poor has only grown wider. "The African leaders have married China, the most attractive bride on the world market, and now the West is complaining about its unwanted rival," says Lwaitama. But, he adds, the Chinese are just as motivated by profit as the Americans and the Europeans. "However, they have a key advantage: They are tougher than the whites. They come from poverty and can survive under the most difficult conditions.
PEACE & STABILITY: THE U.S. RANKS LAST
For Peace & Stability, The U.S. Ranks Last.
Kenneth Rapoza, Contributor
I cover Brazil, Russia, India & China
Despite ranking dead last among rich developed countries, the
U.S. ranks high for civil liberties.
If you want peace of mind, dear immigrants, don’t come here, might be the message.
The Index measures the state of peace in 162 countries and is conducted by the Institute for Economics and Peace in New York. The index uses qualitative and quantitative data to gauge internal and external levels of peace on matters such as number of jailed citizens, militarization, political participation and freedom of the press, among other things.
The GPI Report provides an analysis of the Institute’s data, identifying trends in peace over time, as well as the key drivers of peace and an economic calculation of the impact of violence to the global economy.
War and political violence have placed a target on America’s collective backs. The United States surely isn’t licked yet in comparison to its wealthy friends in Europe, Canada and in the Asian-Pacific rim.
On individual matters, the U.S. scores quite high. On a scale of one to five, with five being least secure, the U.S. scores poorly on gun-related violence, terrorism, overseas conflicts, education spending, and militarization. It does best on adult literacy, civil liberties and — to some this may seem totally ironic, but — the electoral process.
The slideshow below shows the 10 most peaceful countries in the GPI.
Here’s a look at the most peaceful and the least peaceful in certain parts of the world.
North America
Most Peaceful: Canada Most Stressed: The United States
Latin America
Most Peaceful: Uruguay Most Stressed: Colombia
Continental Europe
Most Peaceful: Denmark Most Stressed: Russia
Middle East
Most Peaceful: Qatar Most Stressed: Syria
Africa
Most Peaceful: Botswana Most Stressed: Somalia
Asia Sub-Continent
Most Peaceful: Bhutan Most Stressed: Afghanistan
Asia-Pacific
Most Peaceful: New Zealand Most Stresssed: North Korea.
Thursday 7 August 2014
THIS IS HOW YOUR SMARTPHONE DATA IS ACCESSED BY NSA.
iSpy: How the NSA Accesses Smartphone Data
The US intelligence agency NSA
has been taking advantage of the smartphone boom. It has developed the
ability to hack into iPhones, android devices and even the BlackBerry,
previously believed to be particularly secure.
Michael Hayden has an interesting story to tell about the iPhone. He
and his wife were in an Apple store in Virginia, Hayden, the former head
of the United States National Security Agency (NSA), said at a
conference in Washington recently. A salesman approached and raved about
the iPhone, saying that there were already "400,000 apps" for the
device. Hayden, amused, turned to his wife and quietly asked: "This kid
doesn't know who I am, does he? Four-hundred-thousand apps means 400,000
possibilities for attacks."
Hayden was apparently exaggerating only slightly. According to internal
NSA documents from the Edward Snowden archive that SPIEGEL has been
granted access to, the US intelligence service doesn't just bug embassies and access data from undersea cables
to gain information. The NSA is also extremely interested in that new
form of communication which has experienced such breathtaking success in
recent years: smartphones.
In Germany, more than 50 percent of all mobile phone users now
possess a smartphone; in the UK, the share is two-thirds. About 130
million people in the US have such a device. The mini-computers have
become personal communication centers, digital assistants and life
coaches, and they often know more about their users than most users
suspect.
For an agency like the NSA, the data storage units are a goldmine, combining in a single device almost all the information that would interest an intelligence agency: social contacts, details about the user's behavior and location, interests (through search terms, for example), photos and sometimes credit card numbers and passwords.
New Channels
Smartphones, in short, are a wonderful technical innovation, but also a terrific opportunity to spy on people, opening doors that even such a powerful organization as the NSA couldn't look behind until now.
From the standpoint of the computer experts at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, the colossal success of smartphones posed an enormous challenge at first. They opened so many new channels, that it seemed as if the NSA agents wouldn't be able to see the forest for the trees.
According to an internal NSA report from 2010 titled, "Exploring Current Trends, Targets and Techniques," the spread of smartphones was happening "extremely rapidly" -- developments that "certainly complicate traditional target analysis."
The NSA tackled the issue at the same speed with which the devices changed user behavior. According to the documents, it set up task forces for the leading smartphone manufacturers and operating systems. Specialized teams began intensively studying Apple's iPhone and its iOS operating system, as well as Google's Android mobile operating system. Another team worked on ways to attack BlackBerry, which had been seen as an impregnable fortress until then.
The material contains no indications of large-scale spying on smartphone users, and yet the documents leave no doubt that if the intelligence service defines a smartphone as a target, it will find a way to gain access to its information.
Still, it is awkward enough that the NSA is targeting devices made by US companies such as Apple and Google. The BlackBerry case is no less sensitive, since the company is based in Canada, one of the partner countries in the NSA's "Five Eyes" alliance. The members of this select group have agreed not to engage in any spying activities against one another.
Exploiting 'Nomophobia'
In this case, at any rate, the no-spy policy doesn't seem to apply. In the documents relating to smartphones that SPIEGEL was able to view, there are no indications that the companies cooperated with the NSA voluntarily.
When contacted, BlackBerry officials said that it is not the company's job to comment on alleged surveillance by governments. "Our public statements and principles have long underscored that there is no 'back door' pipeline to our platform," the company said in a statement. Google issued a statement claiming: "We have no knowledge of working groups like these and do not provide any government with access to our systems." The NSA did not respond to questions from SPIEGEL by the time the magazine went to print.
In exploiting the smartphone, the intelligence agency takes advantage of the carefree approach many users take to the device. According to one NSA presentation, smartphone users demonstrate "nomophobia," or "no mobile phobia." The only thing many users worry about is losing reception. A detailed NSA presentation titled, "Does your target have a smartphone?" shows how extensive the surveillance methods against users of Apple's popular iPhone already are.
In three consecutive transparencies, the authors of the presentation draw a comparison with "1984," George Orwell's classic novel about a surveillance state, revealing the agency's current view of smartphones and their users. "Who knew in 1984 that this would be Big Brother …" the authors ask, in reference to a photo of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. And commenting on photos of enthusiastic Apple customers and iPhone users, the NSA writes: "… and the zombies would be paying customers?"
In fact, given the targets it defines, the NSA can select a broad spectrum of user data from Apple's most lucrative product, at least if one is to believe the agency's account.
The results the intelligence agency documents on the basis of several examples are impressive. They include an image of the son of a former defense secretary with his arm around a young woman, a photo he took with his iPhone. A series of images depicts young men and women in crisis zones, including an armed man in the mountains of Afghanistan, an Afghan with friends and a suspect in Thailand.
No Access Necessary
All the images were apparently taken with smartphones. A photo taken in January 2012 is especially risqué: It shows a former senior government official of a foreign country who, according to the NSA, is relaxing on his couch in front of a TV set and taking pictures of himself -- with his iPhone. To protect the person's privacy, SPIEGEL has chosen not to reveal his name or any other details.
The access to such material varies, but much of it passes through an NSA department responsible for customized surveillance operations against high-interest targets. One of the US agents' tools is the use of backup files established by smartphones. According to one NSA document, these files contain the kind of information that is of particular interest to analysts, such as lists of contacts, call logs and drafts of text messages. To sort out such data, the analysts don't even require access to the iPhone itself, the document indicates. The department merely needs to infiltrate the target's computer, with which the smartphone is synchronized, in advance. Under the heading "iPhone capability," the NSA specialists list the kinds of data they can analyze in these cases. The document notes that there are small NSA programs, known as "scripts," that can perform surveillance on 38 different features of the iPhone 3 and 4 operating systems. They include the mapping feature, voicemail and photos, as well as the Google Earth, Facebook and Yahoo Messenger applications.
The NSA analysts are especially enthusiastic about the geolocation data stored in smartphones and many of their apps, data that enables them to determine a user's whereabouts at a given time.
According to one presentation, it was even possible to track a person's whereabouts over extended periods of time, until Apple eliminated this "error" with version 4.3.3 of its mobile operating system and restricted the memory to seven days.
Still, the "location services" used by many iPhone apps, ranging from the camera to maps to Facebook, are useful to the NSA. In the US intelligence documents, the analysts note that the "convenience" for users ensures that most readily consent when applications ask them whether they can use their current location.
Cracking the Blackberry
The NSA and its partner agency, Britain's GCHQ, focused with similar intensity on another electronic toy: the BlackBerry.
This is particularly interesting given that the Canadian company's product is marketed to a specific target group: companies that buy the devices for their employees. In fact, the device, with its small keypad, is seen as more of a manager's tool than something suspected terrorists would use to discuss potential attacks.
The NSA also shares this assessment, noting that Nokia devices were long favored in extremist forums, with Apple following in third place and BlackBerry ranking a distant ninth.
According to several documents, the NSA spent years trying to crack BlackBerry communications, which enjoy a high degree of protection, and maintains a special "BlackBerry Working Group" specifically for this purpose. But the industry's rapid development cycles keep the specialists assigned to the group on their toes, as a GCHQ document marked "UK Secret" indicates.
According to the document, problems with the processing of BlackBerry data were suddenly encountered in May and June 2009, problems the agents attributed to a data compression method newly introduced by the manufacturer.
In July and August, the GCHQ team assigned to the case discovered that BlackBerry had previously acquired a smaller company. At the same time, the intelligence agency had begun studying the new BlackBerry code. In March 2010, the problem was finally solved, according to the internal account. "Champagne!" the analysts remarked, patting themselves on the back.
Security Concerns
The internal documents indicate that this was not the only success against Blackberry, a company that markets its devices as being surveillance-proof -- and one that has recently lost substantial market share due to strategic mistakes, as the NSA also notes with interest. According to one of the internal documents, in a section marked "Trends," the share of US government employees who used BlackBerry devices fell from 77 to less than 50 percent between August 2009 and May 2012.
The NSA concludes that ordinary consumer devices are increasingly replacing the only certified government smartphone, leading the analysts to voice their concerns about security. They apparently assume that they are the only agents worldwide capable of secretly tapping into BlackBerrys.
As far back as 2009, the NSA specialists noted that they could "see and read" text messages sent from BlackBerrys, and could also "collect and process BIS mails." BIS stands for BlackBerry Internet Service, which operates outside corporate networks, and which, in contrast to the data passing through internal BlackBerry services (BES), only compresses but does not encrypt data.
But even this highest level of security would seem not to be immune to NSA access, at least according to a presentation titled, "Your target is using a BlackBerry? Now what?" The presentation notes that the acquisition of encrypted BES communications requires a "sustained" operation by the NSA's Tailored Access Operation department in order to "fully prosecute your target." An email from a Mexican government agency, which appears in the presentation under the title "BES collection," reveals that this is applied successfully in practice.
Relying on BlackBerry
In June 2012, the documents show that the NSA was able to expand its arsenal against BlackBerry. Now they were also listing voice telephony among their "current capabilities," namely the two conventional mobile wireless standards in Europe and the United States, "GSM" and "CDMA."
But the internal group of experts, who had come together for a "BlackBerry round table" discussion, was still not satisfied. According to the documents, the question of which "additional enrichments would you like to see" with regards to BlackBerry was also discussed.
Even if everything in the materials viewed by SPIEGEL suggests the
targeted use of these NSA surveillance options, the companies involved
are not likely to be impressed.
BlackBerry is faltering and is currently open to takeover bids.
Security remains one of its top selling points with its most recent
models, such as the Q10. If it now becomes apparent that the NSA is
capable of spying on both Apple and BlackBerry devices in a targeted
manner, it could have far-reaching consequences.
Those consequences extend to the German government. Not long ago, the government in Berlin awarded a major contract for secure mobile communications within federal agencies. The winner was BlackBerry.
ANZEIGE
For an agency like the NSA, the data storage units are a goldmine, combining in a single device almost all the information that would interest an intelligence agency: social contacts, details about the user's behavior and location, interests (through search terms, for example), photos and sometimes credit card numbers and passwords.
New Channels
Smartphones, in short, are a wonderful technical innovation, but also a terrific opportunity to spy on people, opening doors that even such a powerful organization as the NSA couldn't look behind until now.
From the standpoint of the computer experts at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland, the colossal success of smartphones posed an enormous challenge at first. They opened so many new channels, that it seemed as if the NSA agents wouldn't be able to see the forest for the trees.
According to an internal NSA report from 2010 titled, "Exploring Current Trends, Targets and Techniques," the spread of smartphones was happening "extremely rapidly" -- developments that "certainly complicate traditional target analysis."
The NSA tackled the issue at the same speed with which the devices changed user behavior. According to the documents, it set up task forces for the leading smartphone manufacturers and operating systems. Specialized teams began intensively studying Apple's iPhone and its iOS operating system, as well as Google's Android mobile operating system. Another team worked on ways to attack BlackBerry, which had been seen as an impregnable fortress until then.
The material contains no indications of large-scale spying on smartphone users, and yet the documents leave no doubt that if the intelligence service defines a smartphone as a target, it will find a way to gain access to its information.
Still, it is awkward enough that the NSA is targeting devices made by US companies such as Apple and Google. The BlackBerry case is no less sensitive, since the company is based in Canada, one of the partner countries in the NSA's "Five Eyes" alliance. The members of this select group have agreed not to engage in any spying activities against one another.
Exploiting 'Nomophobia'
In this case, at any rate, the no-spy policy doesn't seem to apply. In the documents relating to smartphones that SPIEGEL was able to view, there are no indications that the companies cooperated with the NSA voluntarily.
When contacted, BlackBerry officials said that it is not the company's job to comment on alleged surveillance by governments. "Our public statements and principles have long underscored that there is no 'back door' pipeline to our platform," the company said in a statement. Google issued a statement claiming: "We have no knowledge of working groups like these and do not provide any government with access to our systems." The NSA did not respond to questions from SPIEGEL by the time the magazine went to print.
In exploiting the smartphone, the intelligence agency takes advantage of the carefree approach many users take to the device. According to one NSA presentation, smartphone users demonstrate "nomophobia," or "no mobile phobia." The only thing many users worry about is losing reception. A detailed NSA presentation titled, "Does your target have a smartphone?" shows how extensive the surveillance methods against users of Apple's popular iPhone already are.
In three consecutive transparencies, the authors of the presentation draw a comparison with "1984," George Orwell's classic novel about a surveillance state, revealing the agency's current view of smartphones and their users. "Who knew in 1984 that this would be Big Brother …" the authors ask, in reference to a photo of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. And commenting on photos of enthusiastic Apple customers and iPhone users, the NSA writes: "… and the zombies would be paying customers?"
In fact, given the targets it defines, the NSA can select a broad spectrum of user data from Apple's most lucrative product, at least if one is to believe the agency's account.
The results the intelligence agency documents on the basis of several examples are impressive. They include an image of the son of a former defense secretary with his arm around a young woman, a photo he took with his iPhone. A series of images depicts young men and women in crisis zones, including an armed man in the mountains of Afghanistan, an Afghan with friends and a suspect in Thailand.
No Access Necessary
All the images were apparently taken with smartphones. A photo taken in January 2012 is especially risqué: It shows a former senior government official of a foreign country who, according to the NSA, is relaxing on his couch in front of a TV set and taking pictures of himself -- with his iPhone. To protect the person's privacy, SPIEGEL has chosen not to reveal his name or any other details.
The access to such material varies, but much of it passes through an NSA department responsible for customized surveillance operations against high-interest targets. One of the US agents' tools is the use of backup files established by smartphones. According to one NSA document, these files contain the kind of information that is of particular interest to analysts, such as lists of contacts, call logs and drafts of text messages. To sort out such data, the analysts don't even require access to the iPhone itself, the document indicates. The department merely needs to infiltrate the target's computer, with which the smartphone is synchronized, in advance. Under the heading "iPhone capability," the NSA specialists list the kinds of data they can analyze in these cases. The document notes that there are small NSA programs, known as "scripts," that can perform surveillance on 38 different features of the iPhone 3 and 4 operating systems. They include the mapping feature, voicemail and photos, as well as the Google Earth, Facebook and Yahoo Messenger applications.
The NSA analysts are especially enthusiastic about the geolocation data stored in smartphones and many of their apps, data that enables them to determine a user's whereabouts at a given time.
According to one presentation, it was even possible to track a person's whereabouts over extended periods of time, until Apple eliminated this "error" with version 4.3.3 of its mobile operating system and restricted the memory to seven days.
Still, the "location services" used by many iPhone apps, ranging from the camera to maps to Facebook, are useful to the NSA. In the US intelligence documents, the analysts note that the "convenience" for users ensures that most readily consent when applications ask them whether they can use their current location.
Cracking the Blackberry
The NSA and its partner agency, Britain's GCHQ, focused with similar intensity on another electronic toy: the BlackBerry.
This is particularly interesting given that the Canadian company's product is marketed to a specific target group: companies that buy the devices for their employees. In fact, the device, with its small keypad, is seen as more of a manager's tool than something suspected terrorists would use to discuss potential attacks.
The NSA also shares this assessment, noting that Nokia devices were long favored in extremist forums, with Apple following in third place and BlackBerry ranking a distant ninth.
According to several documents, the NSA spent years trying to crack BlackBerry communications, which enjoy a high degree of protection, and maintains a special "BlackBerry Working Group" specifically for this purpose. But the industry's rapid development cycles keep the specialists assigned to the group on their toes, as a GCHQ document marked "UK Secret" indicates.
According to the document, problems with the processing of BlackBerry data were suddenly encountered in May and June 2009, problems the agents attributed to a data compression method newly introduced by the manufacturer.
In July and August, the GCHQ team assigned to the case discovered that BlackBerry had previously acquired a smaller company. At the same time, the intelligence agency had begun studying the new BlackBerry code. In March 2010, the problem was finally solved, according to the internal account. "Champagne!" the analysts remarked, patting themselves on the back.
Security Concerns
The internal documents indicate that this was not the only success against Blackberry, a company that markets its devices as being surveillance-proof -- and one that has recently lost substantial market share due to strategic mistakes, as the NSA also notes with interest. According to one of the internal documents, in a section marked "Trends," the share of US government employees who used BlackBerry devices fell from 77 to less than 50 percent between August 2009 and May 2012.
The NSA concludes that ordinary consumer devices are increasingly replacing the only certified government smartphone, leading the analysts to voice their concerns about security. They apparently assume that they are the only agents worldwide capable of secretly tapping into BlackBerrys.
As far back as 2009, the NSA specialists noted that they could "see and read" text messages sent from BlackBerrys, and could also "collect and process BIS mails." BIS stands for BlackBerry Internet Service, which operates outside corporate networks, and which, in contrast to the data passing through internal BlackBerry services (BES), only compresses but does not encrypt data.
But even this highest level of security would seem not to be immune to NSA access, at least according to a presentation titled, "Your target is using a BlackBerry? Now what?" The presentation notes that the acquisition of encrypted BES communications requires a "sustained" operation by the NSA's Tailored Access Operation department in order to "fully prosecute your target." An email from a Mexican government agency, which appears in the presentation under the title "BES collection," reveals that this is applied successfully in practice.
Relying on BlackBerry
In June 2012, the documents show that the NSA was able to expand its arsenal against BlackBerry. Now they were also listing voice telephony among their "current capabilities," namely the two conventional mobile wireless standards in Europe and the United States, "GSM" and "CDMA."
But the internal group of experts, who had come together for a "BlackBerry round table" discussion, was still not satisfied. According to the documents, the question of which "additional enrichments would you like to see" with regards to BlackBerry was also discussed.
Those consequences extend to the German government. Not long ago, the government in Berlin awarded a major contract for secure mobile communications within federal agencies. The winner was BlackBerry.
INSIDE GAZA:what you don't see can't hurt you.
War and the US –what you don’t see can't hurt
The US media's exclusion of graphic images fails to convey the reality of war and allows its glorification.
Last modified: 21 Jul 2014 03:41
I’ve never understood the people
who don’t watch or read the news. Obviously, I believe what we do is
important, so I’ve always been a bit baffled. I get it now. I have
been so overwhelmed with emotion watching the Gaza conflict unfold that
it has in many ways consumed me from thousands of miles away.
That means I’ve been doing a lot of walking around D.C. to try and get the pictures out of my head at least temporarily. I was struck by a couple of things during my walks. First, there are a lot of tourists in this town. Second, they are here to see some very beautiful memorials. And then I realized the old memorials here in Washington are all to war and to President’s that are associated with war.
That made me ask myself, is war at the heart of the American identity? Much of what is left of this country’s manufacturing base is to make tools of war, the planes, the bombs and the ships that carry them. The United States spends more on defense than the next 13 countries combined. At the heart of America’s foreign policy are weapons, they allow some to buy them and pay for others to have them as well. The video game industry survives on make believe war and Hollywood benefits from it as well. The one place you would be hard pressed to find graphic images of war – on television news.
I’ve been watching the domestic coverage very carefully. I’ve written about the bias that I see in some of the reporting. It’s been fairly blatant in many cases, but there is a subtler form of bias and that is in choosing what pictures to show.
No dead or dying
I watched the 3 network evening broadcasts the other night. One talked to injured children but no one showed any of the dead or dying. They showed bombs from far away, toppled buildings, most didn’t show close ups of mourning and not once did I hear the death toll.
I’m not saying this is being done on purpose although that is always a possibility. I was brought up in American television and quite frankly I never really questioned the practice of not showing graphic images. In local news if a murder victim wasn’t covered up with a white sheet, you usually didn’t even take video of it until the coroner arrived. It just isn’t what is done. I remember when I first came to Al Jazeera English; I was very surprised, even mildly shocked, to see the footage we aired. We are always careful to not cross that hard to define line, but we don’t censor ourselves the way the American media does. In essence, we don’t sanitize the scene for our viewers to a point that it distorts the reality.
The images of the grief in Gaza and Israel are just powerful. The video of the dead, the grieving and destruction stays with you. The Pentagon knows this, which is why for years no one was allowed to take any video of the caskets of fallen soldiers being returned home. The loss becomes real. War becomes real.
I just watched video of a father being told his baby girl was dead. And his pain seared my heart. In many ways I wish I had never seen that, but to me, turning away would in some ways insult her memory. I have to watch this to really know what is happening. Information that makes us more empathetic humans cannot be a bad thing, even if it is so terribly hard at times.
With this heavy heart, I think I might take another walk. This time, I might go see the newest memorial; it honors the life of Martin Luther King Junior. He spent his life in the search for justice through the use of non-violent resistance. It will be good to be in the one place here where non-violence is held up as something worth honoring, something worth remembering.
That means I’ve been doing a lot of walking around D.C. to try and get the pictures out of my head at least temporarily. I was struck by a couple of things during my walks. First, there are a lot of tourists in this town. Second, they are here to see some very beautiful memorials. And then I realized the old memorials here in Washington are all to war and to President’s that are associated with war.
That made me ask myself, is war at the heart of the American identity? Much of what is left of this country’s manufacturing base is to make tools of war, the planes, the bombs and the ships that carry them. The United States spends more on defense than the next 13 countries combined. At the heart of America’s foreign policy are weapons, they allow some to buy them and pay for others to have them as well. The video game industry survives on make believe war and Hollywood benefits from it as well. The one place you would be hard pressed to find graphic images of war – on television news.
I’ve been watching the domestic coverage very carefully. I’ve written about the bias that I see in some of the reporting. It’s been fairly blatant in many cases, but there is a subtler form of bias and that is in choosing what pictures to show.
No dead or dying
I watched the 3 network evening broadcasts the other night. One talked to injured children but no one showed any of the dead or dying. They showed bombs from far away, toppled buildings, most didn’t show close ups of mourning and not once did I hear the death toll.
I’m not saying this is being done on purpose although that is always a possibility. I was brought up in American television and quite frankly I never really questioned the practice of not showing graphic images. In local news if a murder victim wasn’t covered up with a white sheet, you usually didn’t even take video of it until the coroner arrived. It just isn’t what is done. I remember when I first came to Al Jazeera English; I was very surprised, even mildly shocked, to see the footage we aired. We are always careful to not cross that hard to define line, but we don’t censor ourselves the way the American media does. In essence, we don’t sanitize the scene for our viewers to a point that it distorts the reality.
The images of the grief in Gaza and Israel are just powerful. The video of the dead, the grieving and destruction stays with you. The Pentagon knows this, which is why for years no one was allowed to take any video of the caskets of fallen soldiers being returned home. The loss becomes real. War becomes real.
I just watched video of a father being told his baby girl was dead. And his pain seared my heart. In many ways I wish I had never seen that, but to me, turning away would in some ways insult her memory. I have to watch this to really know what is happening. Information that makes us more empathetic humans cannot be a bad thing, even if it is so terribly hard at times.
With this heavy heart, I think I might take another walk. This time, I might go see the newest memorial; it honors the life of Martin Luther King Junior. He spent his life in the search for justice through the use of non-violent resistance. It will be good to be in the one place here where non-violence is held up as something worth honoring, something worth remembering.
IS TRUE? IF AFRICANS DIVIDED OVER CHINESE PRESENCE
Billions from Beijing: Africans Divided over Chinese Presence
REUTERS
Chinese companies have pumped
billions into Africa to secure access to natural resources, boosting
countries' economies along the way. Ordinary citizens aren't reaping the
benefits, though, and have become increasingly wary of the new
investors.
Everything is as it has always been: decayed rows of houses, weathered doorframes with intricate carvings, potholed dirt roads, fishing boats rotting on the beach and, in the middle of it all, the Boma, a stone fortress built by the former German conquerors in Bagamayo, a sleepy coastal town in Tanzania.
ANZEIGE
The 65-year-old radio journalist is wearing a bright, mango-yellow kitenge, the traditional dress worn by Tanzanian women. She calls herself a cultural activist. For years, Shaba has been fighting to have Bagamayo, an important arena for the slave trade in the 19th century and for colonial history, declared a United Nations World Heritage Site.
But now Shaba fears that the sleepy town will disappear in the waves of progress.
This spring, Bagamayo was the focus of a story in international business news, when more than 400 newspapers worldwide reported that China was making a low-interest loan of $10 billion (€7.4 billion) available for the construction of a modern container terminal 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of the city, and also planned to fund the establishment of a special economic zone in the hinterlands behind the port.
"This is good for Tanzania, very good. It's a poor country that will be making a giant step forward," says Janson Huang, 36. It's also good for him and his company. Huang manages the local office of Chinese construction company Group Six International in Dar es Salaam. A short, wiry man with a sparse moustache, he is dressed casually in an open, gray-and-white striped shirt and dark slacks. Huang speaks English well, and he speaks openly and directly.
This is unusual, as Chinese investors tend to shy away from the media. All other inquiries SPIEGEL made with Chinese companies registered in Tanzania were either rejected or not answered at all.
A Win-Win Situation?
The Group Six headquarters, in the Mikocheni industrial area, was not easy to find. The unpaved access road hadn't been named yet. The company is housed in an inconspicuous complex behind high walls topped with barbed wire. Across from the materials warehouse are two red Chinese lanterns, marking the entrance to the uninviting dormitory for the Chinese foremen. The manager's office next door is sparsely furnished with imitation leather armchairs and filing cabinets.
Huang, an engineer, has been working in East Africa for a decade, first in Kenya and then in Tanzania. He likes his new home and wants to stay here with his family. He would like to have a second child, preferably a son.
It wasn't easy to gain a foothold in Tanzania, he says, "but we Chinese are not afraid of taking risks. We see Africa with different eyes than the West, not as a rotten continent, but as an economic region with enormous potential."
Huang's privately owned company has had a hand in constructing many buildings. Most recently, it built the Crystal Tower in downtown Dar es Salaam. "We invest and create jobs. It's a win-win situation for both sides," he says.
The only decoration in Huang's office consists of framed photographs on the wall, which depict him during the presentation of company donations for humanitarian purposes. He is especially proud of a group photo with President Xi Jinping. Huang, a young economic pioneer from China, is standing directly behind China's first lady.
'A Galloping Lion'
The photo was taken during Xi's state visit in late March, when China's newly chosen president signed the investment agreement for the Bagamayo port and special economic zone, as well as 17 other bilateral agreements. The president and party leader had just come from Moscow, and it was no accident that the second stop on his first trip abroad was in Africa.
China, Asia's economic superpower, is hungry for natural resources, energy, food and markets for its products. Africa can offer all of these things: about 40 percent of global reserves of natural resources, 60 percent of uncultivated agricultural land, a billion people with rising purchasing power and a potential army of low-wage workers.
Before giving his speech, Xi had made a symbolic gesture of handing over a monumental conference center, built by a Chinese construction company in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, to the Tanzanian president. After his visit, he traveled to the BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, to do business with representatives from the other states in this group: Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.
UKAWA MEMBERS:are they after ALLOWANCE payment or ?
Tanzania: Some Ukawa Members in U-Turn Stance
Dodoma — AS Members of the Coalition of Defenders of People's Constitution (UKAWA) maintain that they will not attend the ongoing Constituent Assembly (CA) sessions to discuss the draft constitution, a few of them have been seen registering Reporters on CA witnessed Ms Leticia Nyerere (Special Seats - Chadema) registering at the Parliament Grounds.She refused to comment or be photographed when approached. "I don't want to comment anything. It is also illegal to take my photo without my consent," Ms Nyerere, who was trying to get away, said as photographers jostled to get a good angle of her.
Dressed in a grey suit and white and black scarf, Ms Nyerere hurriedly walked away when she spotted reporters walking towards her with a view to getting her comment. Another member who also registered for the CA session is Mr John Shibuda (Maswa West-Chadema) on Tuesday but did not attend.
Ms Clara Mwatuka (Special Seats - CUF) also registered but did not attend. There were reports that Mr Said Arfi of Chadema had also registered. However, when this reporter contacted him, he denied the claims, saying that he had arrived in Dodoma late.
When asked if he would register, he said that he has not made up his mind yet and when he does, he will make it known.
About four days before the CA resumed its duties, UKAWA, whose members who constituted Chadema, CUF and NCCR-Mageuzi, announced it will not participate in the special assembly's sessions.
According to unconfirmed reports, members who register but do not attend the sessions receive 230,000/- out of the 300,000/- daily stipend.
Wednesday 6 August 2014
Islanders Blamed for Delaying Process of Creating New Union Constitution.
Islanders Blamed for Delaying Process of Creating New Union Constitution.
Zanzibar — AS the Constitution Assembly (CA) resumes its session, members of the assembly from Zanzibar are to blame for the delays and disputes over the constitution, a report says.The Zanzibar Institute for Research and Public Policy (ZIRPP) says in its report after series of forums in the islands on 'how to resolve constitution stalemate', "it is unfortunate that division within CA members from Zanzibar was a drawback in the process."
"Reckless and emotional debate from Zanzibaris during the CA meeting in Dodoma was the main cause of the row between CA members forming UKAWA and the CCM group," reads the report made public in Zanzibar.
Mr Ali Abdulla Suleiman, Chairperson of the ZIRPP Special Committee, formed during the fora, read the report at a press conference convened in Zanzibar town.
The fora held on both Unguja and Pemba islands, attracted different type of the people including students, retired civil servants, politicians, academicians, and members from NGOs.
ZIRPP which functions as a think-tank, consultancy and research-to-policybased Institute, is a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) which aims at mobilising untapped human resources of Zanzibaris from within Zanzibar and in the Diaspora.
"According to the views collected during our fora, people have been so disappointment with how CA members from Zanzibar behaved. Unnecessary use of hate speech and abusiveness were also the source of the problems," said Suleiman.
ZIRPP fora special committee members, who include Mr Ali Hassan Khamis, Mr Msellem Khamis Msellem, Ms Naila Majid Jidawi, Mr Enzi Talib Aboud, and Mr Abbasi Juma Mhunzi, recommend in their reports that all CA members from Zanzibar, including those forming UKAWA, should go back to the assembly.
"It is never too late; we kindly ask both President Ali Mohammed Shein and President Jakaya Kikwete to initiate a discussion that will lead to reconciliation of UKAWA and other group in the assembly," it recommends.
The speaker of the Zanzibar House of representatives, Mr Pandu Ameir Kificho, has been also asked to convince all the members from Zanzibar to take part in the CA session for the interest of Zanzibar.
"This is an important opportunity for Zanzibaris to raise our demands so that included in the new union constitution. Politicians from Zanzibar should put national interest first, before personal and political interest," ZIRPP says.
It says people in Zanzibar want full autonomy in managing its economical affairs, establishing its own state bank, union president on rotation between Zanzibaris and Tanganyika, and that Zanzibar should enjoy complete legal freedom to join or work together with regional and international organizations such as EAC, SADC, UNESCO, WHO, and FAO.
According to ZIRPP Zanzibaris want Zanzibar's president to become a permanent union vice president as it used to be when Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Zanzibar should have its own police and own intelligence department, and proportion for the job opportunities in the union.
ZIRPP, arguably the first NGO in the islands to organise fora involving all groups of people in Zanzibar and come up with recommendations, says Zanzibaris stand a good chance to have their voice heard, should they work together.
Obama Announces $33bn in Investment Commitments to Africa
Obama Announces $33bn in Investment Commitments to Africa
06 Aug 2014
US President Barack Obama
Zacheaus Somorin
with agency report
US President Barack Obama yesterday announced $33 billion in new investment and financing commitments to Africa during a three-day summit with dozens of leaders from the continent.
Zacheaus Somorin
with agency report
US President Barack Obama yesterday announced $33 billion in new investment and financing commitments to Africa during a three-day summit with dozens of leaders from the continent.
“That will support development across Africa and jobs in the United
States,” Obama said, according to AFP. “The bottom line is that the
United States is making a major long-term investment in African
progress.”
The $33 billion included $12 billion in new money for the power sector,
seen as crucial to building up the African economy, and another $14
billion in investments in other sectors by US companies.
The bulk of the commitments came from private-sector companies,
including Coca-Cola and General Electric, underscoring Africa's growing
appeal to businesses.
The continent is home to six of the world's fastest-growing economies
and a rapidly expanding middle class with increased spending power.
The announcement was aimed at convincing some 45 African heads of state
and government gathered in Washington that the United States is
committed to participating in Africa’s economic emergence, despite
having fallen behind competitors in China and Europe.
Obama also called Republican members of Congress not to close down the
US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank), as it remains a vital source of
funding America’s export industry, especially for US companies seeking
to invest in Africa.
The Ex-Im Bank is at the centre of a political controversy in
Washington, with some Republicans seeking to shut the bank and
threatening to block its reauthorisation when Congress returns from
recess this fall. The GOP lawmakers seeking to shut down the bank argue
that its spending is politically motivated and unnecessary.
Yet Obama noted that US trade with the entire African continent was
about the same as its trade ties with Brazil and that just about one per
cent of US exports go to sub-Saharan Africa.
“We've got to do better, much better,” he said during closing remarks
at a day-long session that brought together U.S. and African politicians
and business leaders.
“I want Africans buying more American products and I want Americans buying more African products."
The US is hardly alone in seeing economic potential in Africa, with
China, Europe and India moving aggressively to tap into Africa's growing
markets. China in particular is hungry for oil, coal and other
resources and is eager to develop the roads, bridges and ports needed to
pull them out of Africa.
“We also realise we have some catching up to do,” said Michael
Bloomberg, the former New York mayor and billionaire businessman who
opened the summit yesterday. “We are letting Europe and China go faster
than the US.”
Obama has sought to cast the US as a better partner for African nations than China, arguing that his administration has a long-term interest in the continent's success and is not simply seeking to extract resources for its own purposes.
Obama has sought to cast the US as a better partner for African nations than China, arguing that his administration has a long-term interest in the continent's success and is not simply seeking to extract resources for its own purposes.
“The United States is determined to be a partner in Africa's success,”
he said. “We don't look to Africa simply for its natural resources. We
recognise Africa for its greatest resource, which is its people, their
talents and their potential.”
The business forum is part of an unprecedented three-day summit
underway in Washington, with nearly 50 African heads of state in
attendance. Obama hosted the leaders at a White House dinner yesterday
night.
About 100 US companies were represented at yesterday’s conference.
Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State, John Kerry also
addressed the attendees, as did former President Bill Clinton, who
declared that the US has “only barely scratched the surface” of Africa's
economic potential.
In conjunction with the meeting, US companies announced $14 billion in
investments for Africa. Among them: a $5 billion investment from
Coca-Cola to fund manufacturing lines and production equipment; $2
billion investment from GE by 2018; $200 million in investments across
Africa by Marriott, and a $66 million commitment by IBM to provide
technology services to Ghana's Fidelity Bank.
The White House also touted another $12 billion in new commitments for
Obama's Power Africa initiative from the private sector, World Bank and
the government of Sweden. Obama announced the Power Africa initiative
last summer, setting a goal of expanding electricity access to at least
20 million new households and commercial entities.
The president said that with the new financial commitments, he was boosting that goal to 60 million homes and businesses.
Obama also announced $7 billion in new government financing to promote
US exports to and investments in Africa. That includes $3 billion in
financing from the US Export-Import Bank aimed at supporting American
exports to Africa over the next two years.
GE CEO Jeff Immelt, who was among the business leaders participating at
the summit, also appealed to Congress to renew the bank's charter,
saying its existence signals to other countries that the US government
believes in investing overseas.
“The fact that we have to sit here and argue for it is just wrong,” Immelt said.
Obama also signed an executive order creating an advisory committee which comprised private sector representatives who will advise the White House on ways to boost economic ties with Africa.
Obama also signed an executive order creating an advisory committee which comprised private sector representatives who will advise the White House on ways to boost economic ties with Africa.
The first day of the meeting, which was on Monday, saw US officials
chiding their guests over democratic reform and civil rights. But by
yesterday, Obama and US titans of commerce and industry were trying to
convince their counterparts that America is as determined to take part
in Africa's growth story as China or Europe.
Hundreds of US and African business chiefs joined political leaders in
different fora on Monday including the top executives of General
Electric, Coca-Cola and Walmart, as well as African billionaires such as
Nigerian commodities king, Aliko Dangote, telecoms tycoon Mo Ibrahim,
and Ashish Thakkar, the young founder of the tech-focused Mara Group.
But outside of a few top companies, US businesses faced criticism that
they are less knowledgeable and more afraid of risks on the continent
than their European and Asian rivals.
The US remains the largest source of investment but most of that has been in the oil and gas sector.
Meanwhile, China and Europe have built stronger positions in
infrastructure, manufacturing and trade, with China’s trade with Africa
more than double that of the US.
American companies “are still thinking about Africa as a decade ago... whereas things have really changed dramatically. Africa now has been growing at about 5.5 per cent on average in the last decade,” said Dangote, Africa's richest man whose fortune is estimated at more than $20 billion.
“There is a lot of perceived risk. People only talk about risk. But the
majority of those who perceive risk don't know the story. They have not
really been there,” he added.
US Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker, said Washington would boost
efforts to build commercial ties, with more government help on financing
and more trade missions going both ways. “The time to do business in
Africa is no longer five years away. The time to do business is now,”
she added.
Pritzker stressed that building trade and investments with Africa would
be good for both sides, helping African countries develop and creating
jobs in the United States. “As Africa's middle class continues to
expand, we hope to see our export numbers grow,” she said.
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