BODO, Nigeria — by Adam Nossiter: "Big oil spills are no longer news in this vast, tropical land. The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill
UPI Oct 20: "Africa's exports of oil to the United States, largely from Nigeria and the dictator state of Equatorial Guinea, are roughly equal to those of the Middle East." "A major oil strike was made around Lake Albert in western Uganda in 2006, and geologists say it contains at least 2 billion barrels.Only 25 percent of the region, which includes the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has so far been explored, and some reports say there could be up to 6 billion barrels there.Uganda expects to start producing an initial 200,000 barrels per day in early 2012." Makerere prof Naimah Achim Bucha: "The truth is that Africom is there for the militarization of Africa and for the other purpose of elbowing out all U.S. competitors from the continent, China and Russia included."(
Care petition against land grab Saudi Arabia "Resistance doesn't help when you are relocated, often being met with threats, violence and arrest, according to Human Rights Watch. The thousands already moved are just the beginning; the Ethiopian government plans to relocate 1.5 million people by next year. "
Huffington Post 28.1.2012 In the desert of Southern Tunisia, a group of renewable energy entrepreneurs, NUR Energie Ltd, and their Tunisian joint venture partner, Top Oilfield Services, are creating what may just be the most ambitious solar power renewable energy project to date. Along with the endorsement of the Desertec Foundation, NUR Energie has launched the TuNur project to export solar energy from North Africa to Europe, linking Tunisia to Italy via a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Cable and into the Italian electricity grid in order to supply a constant 2,000 MW of electricity. When completed, TuNur is set to be the world's largest solar energy project.
"Remove Corruption Not Subsidies" "469 NASS members gulp N1.12 trillion and its ok....But 160million citizens gulp N1.3trillion and it becomes an issue. #OCCUPYNIGERIA."
February 1, 2013 "A full-scale invasion of Africa is under way. The United States is deploying troops in 35 African countries, beginning with Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger. Reported by Associated Press on Christmas Day, this was missing from most Anglo-American media."
William F. Engdahl. " Mali for the Pentagon is but the next building block in the militarization of all of Africa by AFRICOM using proxy forces like France to do the dirty work. "
"The biggest Brazilian investor in Africa - and one of the biggest investors in the continent from anywhere - is Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, which is usually known as Vale. It is one of the three biggest mining companies in the world and is the world's biggest iron ore miner, controlling about 27% of the global market. It also produces coal, nickel, copper, bauxite, alumina, aluminium and a wide range of other commodities. As a result of the needs of its mining operations, it also invests heavily in power plants, railways and port infrastructure. Vale currently has investments totalling $7.7bn in nine African countries and plans to invest more than $18bn in Africa over the next five years but much will depend on the direction of global markets over that time." "The firm's biggest investment, however, is its Moatize coal mining project in the Moatize Basin of Tete Province in northwestern Mozambique."
In September 2012, the Oakland Institute published a report in collaboration with Greenpeace International on a 73,000 hectares (ha) palm oil project proposed for development by SG Sustainable Oils Cameroon, Ltd. (SGSOC)/Herakles Farms in the Southwest region of Cameroon. The report, Massive Deforestation Portrayed as Sustainable Development: the Deceit of Herakles Farms in Cameroon, described the major flaws of the project and the questionable tactics used by the New York-based company and its CEO, Bruce Wrobel, to make the project look sustainable and beneficial to Cameroon
Over the past decade and a half, foreign companies have signed over 60 deals covering nearly 4 million hectares in central and western Africa for the development of oil palm plantations. The land grabs are already generating violent conflicts in several African countries.
Shale Gas and its Implications reviews estimates that have been made for shale gas deposits in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, South Africa and the Western Sahara and highlights the challenges to their development. In a foreword to the report, AfDB President Donald Kaberuka, affirms the Bank’s willingness to support these and any other member countries and sub-regions that have shale gas prospects