(REUTERS) – Kenya is seeking investors and technical knowledge to build a small nuclear plant to meet growing electricity needs, says energy minister Mr Kiraitu Murungi.
The country with the region’s biggest economy can generate 1,100 megawatts of electricity compared with peak time demand of 1,050. That capacity includes emergency supplies from independent power producers.
“We are thinking of a small plant to generate about 1,000 megawatts initially. From very rough castings, initially it will cost us about US$1 billion,” Kiraitu Murungi told reporters on Monday.
The energy minister said the country could become a major electricity exporter to the region if the plans succeed.
“Use of nuclear power for civil and peaceful uses is now accepted globally. So we in Kenya should not be afraid when the word nuclear is mentioned,” Murungi said.
He said the country wants to add a million new connections to its electricity grid over the next five years — doubling the electricity consumer base.
The government is holding a national energy conference next month to discuss ways to boost cost-effective energy supply.
Infrastructure
Apart from South Africa Nigeria is the other country with plans to plans to build nuclear power plants to meet a major part of the West African country’s electricity demand by 2015.
Two years ago the country set a target for to generate 40 000 megawatts of electricity within the next decade, with a significant part coming from nuclear energy, Nigeria runs two nuclear research centres, one in the northern town of Zaria and another outside the capital, Abuja, set up under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear regulatory body.
It currently has no nuclear power plant. Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil and gas producer and the world’s eighth-biggest oil exporter, but remains a low electricity generator and consumer.
The country runs on less than half of national capacity of 6 000 megawatts of electricity, with power cuts frequent and the electricity infrastructure run down by years of corruption and mismanagement.
Programme
Justifying their quest for nuclear power a government official said the country could not rely on its natural gas, coal and hydroelectric resources alone to meet its energy requirements.
Nigeria had then confirmed that it had no ambition to acquire nuclear weapons and would comply with all international requirements for safe use of nuclear energy.
However this did not stop the G8 from questioning the country’s intentions. In June, the world’s most powerful nations, the G8, expressed fears over Nigeria’s quest to acquire nuclear technology.
The were reported to be uncomfortable with Nigeria’s programme citing safety and security concerns despite the country’s position that the nuclear power is purely meant for electricity supply.
Confirming the G8 concerns to Africa News, the Director General of the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency Shamsedeen Eleba, said most of these countries are cynical about the level of safety and some even had questioned the country’s level of responsibility because it is something that just one little mistake and every body is affected.
DJIBOUTI – For the first time in the history of Djibouti, there is a firm move towards tackling the issue of khat in the country. On 4 September 2008, an inter-ministerial meeting called by the Minister of Health was hosted by the Ministry of Education to deliberate on the socio-economic and health consequences of khat consumption on Djiboutians.
In attendance were the Minister of Education, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Women Promotion, the Minister of Muslim Affairs and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Youth. Several senior technical staff of these ministries as well as key Muslim religious leaders and senior UNICEF staff attended the meeting. All agreed that Khat is a social phenomenon that requires strong political commitment in order to address it heads on.
A major outcome of the meeting was the commitment from these line ministries to set up a national committee that will take the leadership of moving forward the fight against khat nationwide. The committee is set to develop a multi sectoral strategy with a five year plan of action to reduce the consumption of khat in the country, especially among children and youth.
During the meeting’s deliberations, Muslim leaders advocated for the ban of khat, while the majority of other participants argued for a strategy based on communication for sustained reduction of khat consumption.
This high level meeting is held in the wake of the three-day July visit to Djibouti of Ms Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle-East and North Africa region. During her meetings with the President of the Republic of Djibouti and several members of his Cabinet, Ms. Kaag had persistently called for a firm commitment from national authorities to address the thorny issue of khat in the country.
In the Horn of Africa, chewing khat – a plant that usually contains the alkaloid called cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant – is a practice deeply ingrained in society. It causes, among others, excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria. In 1980 the World Health Organization classified khat as a drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence.
On average, a khat session in Djibouti lasts for over five hours and it is estimated that households spend 30 percent of their income on its purchase. Nationally, about 25 million US dollars are devoted to khat transactions every year. According to the 2006 Djibouti Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), 26 percent of the population chew khat, and 22 percent consume it every day. This survey also revealed that men (46 per cent) chew khat much more than women (7 per cent). Most observers believe these figures are underestimated.
Khat consumption in Djibouti is a serious threat to the well being of its children. The survey generated by the best survey apps shows that in the group age of 15-19 years 4.7 percent chew khat every day and 7.4 percent once per week. Many children below the age of fifteen are known to also chew khat. The future of children who consume khat is likely to be compromised, including because many families’ expenditure on the substance does not leave enough resources to send children to school. Khat’s depletion of household income comes in a country where extreme and relative poverty affects respectively 42 and 74 percent of the total population.
The time is ripe to demystify the taboo around addressing khat consumption in Djibouti. Development partners are encouraged to support the Government and civil society in this drive for long term interventions to free Djibouti from this harmful practice.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
A drug designed to reduce the transmission of HIV when taken as a single pill before unprotected sex is going to be tested in Uganda soon.
The pill has proved successful in monkeys and initial tests in human beings have shown encouraging results, according to Dr Patrick Ndase, who is coordinating the drug trial. A team of Ugandan and American scientists are preparing for a Phase III trial, which is considered the final test before the drug goes into use.
The pill would help discordant couples, where one person is HIV positive and the other is negative, to produce children without spreading the infection. It would also help a woman to protect herself in case her sexual partner does not want to use a condom.
Ndase says they are enrolling volunteers in Kampala, Kabwohe (Bushenyi), Mbale and Tororo. “Overall, we want to enroll 3,900 discordant couples on a volunteer basis and follow them up for a planned period of four years,” Ndase said. “Those who want to take part in the trial should go for HIV testing as a couple and if they are discordant, go to our centres for more information,” he said.
Such a strategy, in which someone takes a drug to pre-empt infection is referred to as pre-exposure prophylaxis. It has been used against malaria and TB. If the trial is successful, it would be the first time the method is used to prevent HIV among adults.
The trial, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is a partnership involving universities, Government departments and NGOs in Uganda and the United States. It involves the Makerere University Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere-University Johns Hopkins University collaboration, the University of Washington, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Health of the US. Others participating in the experiment are Kabwohe Clinical Research Centre, TASO Mbale and CDC Tororo.
According to documents from the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), drugs under study are tenofovir disoproxil fumerate (TDF), commercially known as Viread, and TDF combined with emtricitabine (FTC), commercially known as Truvada. “Both drugs are ARVs that have been in use for treating HIV infection,” said the AVC document. “They have proved safe, remain in the blood stream for long periods of time, require once-daily dosing and if someone developed resistance, they would still be able to use many other classes of ARVs”.
Ndase added that the two drugs are broad antiviral drugs which can be used for all HIV types. “As ARVs, they are effective both at early and late stage of the infection and as a prevention tool, they can block initial infection. They have no food or drug restrictions and will soon be very affordable because their patent period is ending soon.”
Patent period is the time given to a pharmaceutical company that develops a drug to exclusively manufacture and sell it to recover the money invested. After that time, it can allow other companies to manufacture the drug, thereby lowering prices.
Although the drugs are proven to be friendly to the kidneys, liver and bones, Ndase said, volunteers will still be closely monitored to ascertain that they do not suffer side effects.
AVAC, a non profit organisation carrying out global advocacy to expand HIV prevention, revealed that the trials are currently planned or going on in many countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the US. “At this point, no one knows whether it will work,” a statement says. “But if it does, it will be used in combination with current HIV prevention methods, including safer sex practices, condoms, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, risk reduction counselling, safe needles, and male circumcision.”
Dr. Kuhuumuro Apuuli, Director General of the Uganda AIDS Commission, hails the trials saying all experiments, successful or not, yield important lessons. “Apart from the new scientific information to base our subsequent research on, there is community participation, political involvement and the whole trial site benefits.”
He calls for support for the trials and speedy utilisation of the findings. “In Uganda, we have always been champions in the HIV fight. The first HIV vaccine trial in Africa was here. We must remain at the forefront.”
He, however, warns that the drug should be taken within the context of a comprehensive prevention strategy against HIV. “At the HIV International Conference in Mexico, it came out clearly that we need to combine all prevention measures, which include behaviour change, condoms, treatment, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, male circumcision, vaccines and microbicides.”
Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye, chairman of the parliamentary committee on HIV/AIDS, welcomes it as good news. “We have 57% discordant couples in Uganda,” he says. “There are also young adults who were born with HIV and want to raise families. Our serosurvey also showed that HIV incidence is high among married people. I think husbands fear to move with condoms and end up in problems. This drug would be the best preventive method which a female can control without permission from a man.” Early next year, another trial will start in Kampala and other places in South Africa, using the same drugs in high risk women. The trial to be conducted by Makerere University and Johns Hopkins University corroboration, will be funded by the US National Institute of health. It will target 4,200 sexually active women.
Heritage Oil, a Canadian oil prospecting firm has said it discovered Uganda’s largest oil deposit in the Albert Basin near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Heritage Oil said the flow of 14,364 barrels of oil per day (bpd) from its Kingfisher-2 well “surpassed our expectations, indicating the outstanding potential of the Kingfisher discovery.”
“Kingfisher-1 was an exceptionally good well and we didn’t expect to exceed that, but Kingfisher-2 has exceeded it,” Brian Westwood, country manager for Heritage, told AFP.
In a statement, the company said the well was the third to produce more than 12,000 bpd.
Heritage discovered oil near the Uganda-DR Congo frontier in 2006, while British firm Tullow Oil said in May it had struck oil and natural gas in the Lake Albert Rift Basin.
“The oil is good quality, of light to medium gravity and sweet, with a low gas-oil ratio and some associated wax,” the statement cited company chief Tony Buckingham as saying, adding the firm had started its “busiest and most exciting drilling schedule in Uganda.”
Oil experts estimate that there may be up to two billion barrels of oil reserves, most of it under Lake Albert and drilling is tentatively scheduled to begin mid-2009.
“This is an exciting time for Heritage as we approach the commercial threshold for the development of our reserves in Uganda which will transform the Company,” Buckingham said.
Uganda will late next year embark on an early production scheme producing 4,000-5,000 bopd. The mini-refinery will produce diesel, kerosene and heavy-fuel.
The heavy fuel will be used to run a thermal plant which will produce 50-85MW that will be connected to the national grid to reduce the country’s power crisis.
The scheme will also be used as a pilot study before large scale commercial production of the country’s potential 300 million barrels of oil starts.
(UN News Service) ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – The Tripartite Commission on the voluntary repatriation of Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia projected a repatriation figure of 12,000 for the year 2009- a number close to half of the 26,492 refugees currently in Ethiopia. Most of them will go from Fugnido camp in Gambella which is accommodating 21,690 refugees.
A further 2,000 are expected to return to Upper Nile and other States during late 2008 if conditions allow.
Composed of officials of the governments of Ethiopia and Sudan and representatives of UNHCR, the Commission was established by the Tripartite Agreement the three sides had signed in February 2006 which paved the way for tens of thousands of refugees to repatriate in a safe and dignified manner. The Agreement also set out the roles and obligations of each side in facilitating the repatriation. The Commission is charged with coordinating and planning the repatriation activities and giving guidance on the matter.
Concluding its third meeting here late yesterday, the Commission said in a joint communiqué that the projections can be translated into actual achievements if all parties to the repatriation- the governments of Ethiopia and Sudan, UNHCR and other UN agencies, NGO partners and the donor community- discharge their responsibilities well.
It underlined the need for more investment in the areas of return in order for the return exercise to be a truly lasting solution. “More investment and social infrastructure is needed in Upper Nile and Jonglei States to ensure the sustainability of returns. In this, the Government of Sudan and UNHCR undertook to redouble their efforts to attract adequate funding and partnerships and investment to ensure sustainable reintegration,” a paragraph from the joint communiqué reads.
The Commission expressed concern on the accessibility problems that afflict the repatriation operation, particularly the collapse of the Pagak bridge in Gambella Regional State and inaccessibility of a 17km road Kuorgen-Pagak road. It called for exerting more efforts on the parts of all concerned to ensure that lack of accessibility shall not hamper the pace of the repatriation. It also recommended the option of airlift for those going to otherwise inaccessible destinations in Southern Sudan such as Akobo and Pochalla.
“Lucian makes the Ethiopians to have excelled all other nations in wisdom and literature.” And, continues Cummings Antiquities: Heliodorus says, that the Ethiopians had two sorts of letters, the one called regal, the other vulgar; and that the regal resembled the sacerdotal characters of the Egyptians.”
We have already treated upon that first branch of their literature, hieroglyphics, under the head of Builders of the Pyramids, and we add here, that according to Lucian, “they invented astronomy and astrology, and communicated those sciences, as well as other branches of learning, to the Egyptians. As their country was very fit for making celestial observations, such a notion seems not entirely groundless, though scarce any particulars of their knowledge had reached us.”
We present here, copied from Cummings taken from the great History of Ethiopia by that learned Israelite in Ethiopian literature, Job Ludolphus, the regal letters or Royal Ethiopians Alphabet, which none but the kings, priests, royal family and nobility were expected to learn.
The hieroglyphics were the vulgar or common letters, because representing objects or things to the eye, known and understood at sight by the common people, the compositions or combination of which into sentences, could easily be learned by them. Hence, a hawk, for swiftness, meant dispatch or hasty news; a crocodile, for its meanness, meant malice; a serpent, danger; the open right hand, plenty; the closed left hand, safety or security: a jackal, watchfulness or vigilance; an oxen, patience; a sheep, innocence or harmlessness; a dove, love and innocence; a pigeon, news sent abroad; a swallow, news received; a rat or rabbit, caution, to be aware from their ruining habits; a water jug, thirst; the eye, Divine watchfulness, all seeing; water, to run as a stream; land or territory, a country,
representing hills and dales, an owl, always ominous and portentious; a dog, friendship, fidelity, faithfulness and trustworthiness; and a cat, companionship, meekness and constancy; a cock, boast or banter; a horse and chariot, preparation for war; all of which readily address themselves to the senses and comprehension of the common people.
The hieroglyphics are letters forming a literature founded upon the philosophy of nature without alphabet; but that which we shall now present is of much higher order, being artificial characters based on metaphysical philosophy of language.
With our limited knowledge in archaeology, we have always believed that the philosophy and root of alphabetical literature had its origin in Africa, or with the Hamite family. We have gone a step aside from this, and claimed that the first sixteen letters of the Greek alphabet, from alpha A to pi II, originated in Africa, as a part of the sacerdotal alphabet, the Greeks adding eight more from ro to omega.
We call attention to the Ethiopian alphabet presented above, the oldest, we believe, on record, if we discard the extraordinary assertion of Confucius, the Chinese historian, who claims for his race, a civilization and literature fifteen thousands years older than the theological period of creation. But happily for our claim, we believe they have no alphabetical arrangement.
The Old Original Ethiopian Alphabet
The second Ethiopian Bet gives the twentieth Greek upsilon small, a little modified, inverted;
the fifth Haut gives the twenty first Greek psi modified;
seventh Zai gives eta the seventh Greek;
the eighth Ethiopian Hbam gives the fourteenth Greek xi modified;
the tenth Lawi gives lambda, the eleventh Greek, modified;
the fifteenth Saat gives pi, the sixteenth Greek modified;
the sixteenth Ain gives delta the fourth Greek, inverted;
the nineteenth Kof gives phi the twenty first Greek;
the twentieth Rees, gives zeta, the sixth Greek;
the twenty first Saut gives small omega the fifteenth Greek;
the twenty fourth Tawi gives tau the nineteenth Greek, modified.
There is a slight modification in several of the letters, but the essential structure of the character is the same in both.
We regard the comparison of much importance in such a work as this, upon a most interesting subject to the whole human family.
And we must here beg to be borne with when we record our conviction tht the literature of the Israelites, both in the science of letters, and government, also religion, was derived from the Africans, as they must have carried with them the civilization of those peoples and that country, in their memorable exodus, as the highest encomium upon Moses in the Scripture is, that he “was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” Or that their religion and laws, we shall treat to another place.
They “invented Astronomy and Astrology,” says Lucian.
And this important fact, however much it may be doubted by those who have given little or no thought to the subject, is borne out by the arrangement of this department of science, as the constellations beautifully illustrate. We shall designate the principal constellations having a direct bearing upon the subject, according to the legend of astronomical history: Cepheus and Cassiopea, Andromeda and Perseus, Pegassus and Cetus: the horse which carried them (the son in law and daughter) to heaven, and the monster of the sea which approached the shore of Ethiopia to destroy the Princess while taking a surf bath, when she was saved by Perseus, who was watching her, and slew the monster, and escaped to heaven on the winged horse. Orion and Auriga, beautiful constellations, are none other than Nimrod and Rameses II and Sirius is none other than Osiris.
And all these important facts seem to have been lost sight of, or passed unnoticed, by those who dispute so high a civilization as this given to the Ethiopians at so early a day, as being the authors of astronomical science. And do not these facts of those people comport with the living reality of their knowledge of the science of geometry, by the existence of those monuments of mathematical accuracy, the “everlasting Pyramids”?
What power brought to the plains of Egypt, through sand and bog, from no one knows where, shaped, lifted and placed those great cubic rocks of many thousand tons weight, one above the other in regular and symmaterical layers to a given height, decreasing from the first surface layer, finishing by a capstone, large enough for from twenty to forty persons to stand upon, but a knowledge of mathematics? None other whatever.
And doubtless, it was dwelling among and studying, in after ages, the structure of these great monuments, that induced Euclid to pursue his mathematical studies to the discovery of the forty seventh problem, which seems to be the ne plus ultraof termination of problems in that science, as none beyond it has since been discovered.
to omega 
.
small, a little modified, inverted;
modified;
the seventh Greek;
modified;
the eleventh Greek, modified;
, the sixteenth Greek modified;
the fourth Greek, inverted;
the twenty first Greek;
, the sixth Greek;
the fifteenth Greek;
the nineteenth Greek, modified.