Profile: Who are Nigeria's Ansaru Islamists?

Nigeria's militant Islamist group Ansaru has proved to be a formidable threat during its short existence, using dynamite to penetrate heavily-fortified compounds and taking foreigners hostage - seven of whom it said it had killed on Saturday.

Ansaru was formed in January 2012, though it rose to prominence only about six months later through the release of a video in which it vowed to attack Westerners in defence of Muslims worldwide.
"For the first time, we are glad to announce to the public the formation of this group that has genuine basis," said a statement issued by the group in January 2012 and quoted in local media.
"We will have [a] dispassionate look into everything, to encourage what is good and see to its spread and to discourage evil and try to eliminate it."
Its full Arabic name, Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan, means: "Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa".
This suggests that it has a wider regional agenda, with the UK listing Ansaru as a "terrorist group" linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Ansaru at a glance

• Based in Nigeria
• Suspected to be an off-shoot of Boko Haram, another militant Islamist group in Nigeria
• Listed by UK government as a "terrorist organisation" aligned with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
• Released a statement in January 2012 to announce its existence
• Said it would target non-Muslims "in self-defence"
• Full Arabic name is Jama'atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan (loosely translated it means: "Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa")

Just two months after it was formed, the UK said the militant group had killed a Briton and an Italian taken hostage in the north-western state of Sokoto after a failed attempt to rescue them.

Then in December 2012, it abducted French national Francis Colump, 63, following an attack on a well-guarded compound in the northern town of Rimi, about 25km (15 miles) from Katsina city.
About 30 Ansaru gunmen used dynamite to force their way into the compound, seizing Mr Colump who, officials, said, was working on a wind power project.
It carried out a similar attack in February 2013, capturing seven foreign nationals from a housing compound owned by the Lebanese construction company Setraco.
It said the attack was to avenge "transgressions" by European nations in Mali and Afghanistan, where Western forces are battling Islamist insurgents.
On Saturday, it released a video saying it had killed the "Christian" hostages because the UK and Nigerian forces were planning an operation to rescue them - an allegation the UK denied.
'Lost dignity of Muslims'
It has also carried out attacks on Nigerian targets.
In January 2013, Ansaru said it had carried out an attack which killed two Nigerian soldiers as they prepared to deploy to Mali.

End Quote Abu Ussamata al-Ansary

The group said it targeted the troops because the Nigerian military was joining the French-led military campaign to "demolish the Islamic empire of Mali".

French journal Jeune Afrique-L'Intelligent says Ansaru is led by the little-known Abu Ussamata al-Ansary.
It quoted a statement by him as saying that the Nigerian government was "incapable of defending Muslims in inter-religious violence with Christians".
The group also said it was fighting to reclaim "the lost dignity of Muslims of black Africa" and the creation of an Islamic caliphate from Niger to Cameroon and northern Nigeria.
Analysts believe it is an off-shoot of Boko Haram, which launched an insurgency in 2009 to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, rather than across the region.

"To some, the sect headed by Ansary is seen as one that will compliment the 'struggle' by the Boko Haram sect under Imam Abubakar Shekau but to many it is an indication that all is not well with the leadership of the Boko Haram sect and that there has been conflict about its ideology and its understanding of Islam," wrote journalist Tukur Mamu in Nigeria's Desert Herald newspaper last year.

Boko Haram has been blamed for many bombings across northern Nigeria in recent years

"Hence, the decision to form a new group."
According to Nigeria's Standard newspaper, Ansaru has denounced Boko Haram's style of operation as "inhuman to the Muslim ummah [nation]", an apparent reference to killing of innocent Nigerians - Christian and Muslim - through bombings and assassinations.
"Islam forbids killing of innocent people, including non-Muslims. This is our belief and we stand for it," Mr al-Ansary said in the video released last year.
But Mr al-Ansary added that non-Muslims can be killed "in self-defence or if they attack Muslims", which seems to explain the killing of Nigerian soldiers to be deployed to Mali.
However, analysts say it does not justify the killing of civilian hostages - unless Ansaru holds them accountable for the actions of Western governments in countries such as Mali, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Analysts believe that Nigeria's government will find it more difficult to end the Islamist insurgency now that two groups are operating.
The government is said to be working with counter-terrorism experts from several countries - including the US and UK - in an attempt to neutralise the threat posed by Boko Haram and Ansaru, amid fears that they could worsen instability across West and central Africa.

Courtney Morgan - Nigeria hostage murder: Brendan Vaughan's family 'saddened'

Nigeria hostage murder: Brendan Vaughan's family 'saddened'

 

Relatives of a British construction worker thought to have been murdered by a Nigerian Islamist militant group have said they are "shocked and saddened".

Brendan Vaughan's family said he was a "lovable rogue" who "lived his life to the full and on his own terms".
Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday that Mr Vaughan, 55, from Leeds, was "likely" to have been killed, along with six other foreigners.
The workers were captured in a raid on a construction site on 16 February.
Ansaru, a suspected off-shoot of the Boko Haram network, said it had carried out the attack in revenge for what it called atrocities by European nations against Islam.
An Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers were also seized in the raid on the Setraco construction site, in the northern state of Bauchi.
One security guard died during the assault.
In a statement, Mr Vaughan's relatives said: "The family of Brendan Vaughan, aged 55 from Rothwell, Leeds, are obviously shocked and saddened by recent events.
"Brendan, best described as a lovable rogue by everyone who knew him, lived his life to the full and on his own terms.
Grandfather-to-be
"He was a loved father, brother and fiance who was tragically killed on March 10th 2013."
The statement added that Mr Vaughan had been "deprived of meeting his first grandchild, a baby girl to be born in May.
"Brendan may be gone but will be never forgotten."
On Sunday, Mr Hague said Mr Vaughan was "likely to have been killed at the hands of his captors, along with six other foreign nationals.
"This is an unforgivable act of pure, cold-blooded murder, for which there can be no excuse or justification."
On Monday, the militant group purportedly posted a video online with the caption: "The killing of seven Christian hostages in Nigeria."
In it, a gunman with a rifle is seen standing in the sand next to several bodies, the Associated Press reports.
The video appears to match grainy images of bodies posted online by Ansaru on Saturday.
In an accompanying online statement, the militant group said it had killed the captives.

Courtney Morgan - Maiduguri: The Nigerian city gripped by insurgency

Rare footage from inside Nigeria's hidden conflict

Since 2009, northern Nigeria has been gripped by a bloody insurgency as militant group Boko Haram continues its quest to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state. Visiting the Boko Haram stronghold Maiduguri is dangerous, so a BBC reporter filmed with a concealed camera to reveal what life is like for citizens caught in the crossfire. The journalist's identity has been concealed for security reasons.

The city of Maiduguri is an hour's flight from the Nigerian capital Abuja, or a gruelling 900km (560-mile) drive, with no exact time of arrival because of the countless checkpoints along the way - manned by heavily-armed soldiers in full combat gear, many of them hiding behind dark goggles.
Troops on the lookout for the next suicide bomber stand guard on street corners, their positions protected by sandbags.
The streets are lined by deserted buildings, peppered with bullet holes, and people must abide by a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
Banks close at 1300, markets from 1600, and many children are no longer able to attend school after buildings were burnt down.

 The Boko Haram group behind the faceless campaign of terror gripping the city, is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.

Drive-by motorbike assassinations of politicians and policemen became their modus operandi, but their activities have grown in confidence and scale, spreading to other states in the region too.
The group's official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means: "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad".

But Maiduguri's residents dubbed them Boko Haram, which loosely translated from the local Hausa language means: "Western education is forbidden".

The group promotes a version of Islam which forbids Muslims from taking part in any political or social activity associated with Western society, including voting in elections, wearing shirts and trousers or receiving a secular education.

Brutal crackdown

The group has been blamed for the deaths of some 1,400 people in central and northern Nigeria since 2010.

Maiduguri locals say this building is a feared detention centre and have nicknamed it Guantanamo

"As it is, you can't even tell if your neighbour is a member," one Maiduguri resident told me, "and you dare not talk about them in public."
Boko Haram's members are so well-embedded in the community here, that it is almost impossible to know who is Boko Haram and who is not.
The Nigerian state has responded by deploying the Joint Task Force (JTF), an elite military and police intelligence force, and the crackdown has been brutal.
People are being killed by unknown gunmen and the military is accused of killing and detaining innocent people without trial.
Many people are fleeing because of the insecurity and entire neighbourhoods in this once-prosperous city are now completely deserted because the army has warned residents to relocate, so they can try to "weed out" members of Boko Haram.
One of the displaced agreed to take me to his house. On an eerily quiet street, he unlocked a padlock to show me around the dusty, cobwebbed four rooms where he once happily lived with his family.
"It's been over four months since I left this house," he explained.
"There was an incident in the neighbourhood and soldiers told us to leave and the house has been locked since then. I have been trying to return but I am scared because I don't know what would happen."
One widow told me her husband was killed in 2011 by soldiers on a sweep for Boko Haram. She says he pleaded he had nothing to do with the insurgents but they shot him in the street.
"We heard gunshots while at home and thought Boko Haram had attacked the area," the 28-year-old mother of four told me.
"Outside we saw a military vehicle so we ran in the direction of the soldiers seeking their help. Soldiers pushed us into the gutter and took matches and kerosene from inside my house. Then they burnt my house down.
"Witnesses saw soldiers talking to my husband for 15 minutes. Then they shot and killed him and burnt his car."
'Empty promises' Almost every family I meet has a grim story to tell.

Twelve-year-old girl

Many parents told me their young adult male children have been in military detention for several months and they have not been allowed to visit them.

Sources say there are thousands of young men being held in various detention centres across the city.
"They took my son while he was sleeping and slapped his wife who was six months pregnant," one woman told me.

"It's been a year and eight months now since they took him and I haven't heard anything. I have tried my best to know why he is being held, but without success. The soldiers keep saying that they would release our children but it is all empty promises."

Both the Nigerian constitution and Terrorism Prevention Act clearly state that detainees should be brought to court within a reasonable time. But one of Maiduguri's top lawyers told me that has not been happening.

"People are in detention in JTF custody since 2011," he told me, "since they came to Maiduguri they did not take a single person to court."

When asked about allegations of detentions and human rights abuses by serving military officers, Nigerian Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika told the BBC:
"I've not received a single case against any single identified soldier or officer as Chief of Staff."

The bloody insurgency here has left hundreds of children without parents. Without any welfare protection, those not taken in by sympathetic relatives often end up on the streets.
Some of the more fortunate come to the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation orphanage, where free breakfasts and primary education are provided for children whose parents have been killed by either the army or the insurgents.
The school is so popular it has a lengthy waiting list.
I visited at playtime while the pupils played outside in the sunshine. But behind the chanting and clapping, almost every child has a chilling story to tell.
"Two men broke into our house in the middle of the night and pulled my father from his mosquito net," one 12-year-old girl told me. "They shot him, slit his throat and used water from our kettle to clean their knife.
"My mother covered the body and we prayed."
Across Nigeria, many worry that if resentment against the state builds, it may make recruitment for the insurgents easier.
And as Boko Haram widen their campaign by kidnapping foreigners to reflect their wider regional ambitions, it seems there is no end in sight to the conflict plaguing the country.
This report was first broadcast on BBC Newsnight on Tuesday 12 March, 2013.

Courtney Morgan - Nigeria: Rescue effort for capsized Gabon-bound boat

A boat carrying 160 people has capsized off Nigeria's coast, workers in charge of the rescue effort have said.

So far only two people are known to have survived.

The wooden vessel set off from south-eastern Nigeria on Friday heading to Gabon - a popular route for traders moving between West and Central Africa.

The BBC's Tomi Oladipo in Lagos says these trips last for several days in poor safety standards, and boat accidents are common.

The boat left the remote town of Oron in Cross River state and was heading across the Gulf of Guinea when it capsized 40 nautical miles (74km) offshore, officials say.

Rescuers working off the coast of Cross River state's main city of Calabar say they have recovered dozens of bodies of passengers who drowned.

The two known survivors, a young boy and a woman, clung to a gas cylinder before they were found by fishermen, Cross River state emergency official, David Akate, told Reuters news agency.

DHL Global Forwarding – Sub Saharan Africa

(COURTD) Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, and today employing in excess of 470,000 people in over 220 countries and territories worldwide, Deutsche Post DHL has become a name synonymous with couriering and logistics. The world’s leading mail and logistics group, it generated revenues of €55.5 billion during 2012, representing an increase of 5.1 percent comparing to previous year. This increase mainly reflects the exceptional market position that DHL maintains in the world’s growth regions, such as Asia and Africa.
When it comes to Global Forwarding, DHL is the world leader in air freight services and one of the biggest providers of ocean freight services. Through the work of its 30,000 employees, DHL Global Forwarding (DGF) helps ensure the transport of all manner of goods by air or sea on a daily basis.
“At the beginning of 2012,” states Roger Olsson, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding – Sub Saharan Africa, “DGF merged three previously separate regions, Europe, the Middle East and Africa into a single EMEA region. This consolidation allowed DGF to better coordinate its commercial activities and improve operational efficiencies between countries.”
Meanwhile, this event also brought about the establishment of some sub-regional offices, one of which would open in Johannesburg, South Africa. “From this office,” Olsson continues, “we have a regional team committed to improving the group’s activities in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. It also means that for the very first time, DHL is now running its African operations from within the continent itself.”

Sub-Saharan Africa is made up of no fewer than 48 different countries, with DHL today boasting offices and capabilities in 41 of these. The remaining seven are covered through the groups’ work with credible local partners.
“When it comes to DGF’s operation in Africa,” Olsson explains, “having the biggest overall coverage of any other logistics provider is understandably vital. In addition, we are also able to leverage our global presence to cater for the vast number of businesses that are working to bring cargo into and out of the continent.”
Olsson also shares the belief held throughout DHL that the people that make up its workforce are just as vital a component to its success as its global coverage. “We have dedicated people throughout the business who know better than anyone else how to expertly deliver the type of services we provide. At the end of the day you can have the largest network in the world, but without the right people on hand to make it work you will never get very far.”
With its GDP growth outlook estimated to remain around 5.5 percent over the next three years, Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to remain the region with the second highest growth rates worldwide, after Asia for the foreseeable future. Some of the more tangible opportunities for a multinational logistics player like DHL are the recent oil & gas discoveries in Eastern Africa, and the immense natural and mining resources found throughout the region. It is however important not to ignore the more traditional logistics sectors that DHL serves, namely engineering, automotive and the consumer-sector.
“The oil and gas industry,” Olsson reveals, “accounts for roughly half of our entire business today in the Sub-Saharan space. It is for this very reason alone that we continue to invest more and more in this area of our operations as the opportunities available to us are simply unbelievable, particularly as major oil and gas undertakings further help put countries like Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda on the map. Following just behind in terms of importance is the mining sector where we also have a special focus, leveraging our global expertise when it comes to the industry to assist in the development of business across Sub-Saharan Africa.”
As an organisation, the work of DHL goes beyond simply doing business with its customers. One of the achievements it is most proud of has been the development of a comprehensive strategy to fulfil its Corporate Social Responsibility requirements. In Africa it has helped spearhead the “Go Teach” programme. Sustained through an existing partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, the programme aims to provide disadvantaged youths with the confidence, knowledge and skills needed to enter the world of employment. Furthermore, DHL supports Global Volunteers Day, an annual event that sees thousands of its employees volunteer to carry out environmental and community related activities.
As DGF makes plans for the future its focus looks set to revolve around increasing its service offerings and capabilities in such a way that it will be able to deliver the same kind of door-to-door service in Africa that it currently does elsewhere in the world.
“Achieving this goal,” Olsson concludes, “will no doubt bring with it challenges of its own. Nevertheless we see it as absolutely fundamental to our business that we are able to deliver ever-improving service levels and product offerings that allow us to service the entire logistics chain here in Africa, from origin to final destination. What we benefit from is having a clear strategy and vision for the future, one that we hope will result in DGF being the first choice solutions provider for its customers in Sub-Saharan Africa, growing up our market share in the process. This will be accomplished by expanding into sectors with a seamless end-to-end service offering and a broad product portfolio, by developing best-in-class operational capabilities.”

Sub-Saharan Africa to see 5.8 percent growth this year - AfDB

 

Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to show robust 5.8 percent growth this year, with domestic demand playing a key role, but business must do more to promote a more inclusive society, the African Development Bank said on Monday. "We are looking at growth of around 5.8 percent this year in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa it would be 6.2 percent," AfDB president Donald Kaberuka said on the sidelines of a business briefing.

Growth prospects for the region were "slightly higher" than 2012, Kaberuka added.

The World Bank forecasts growth of 4.9 percent this year for sub-Saharan Africa, with South African growth seen at 2.7 percent.

Growth in Africa has been strong in the past few years, compared with anemic growth in much of the developed world. The World Bank sees global growth at 2.4 percent this year, with high income countries expected to see a rise of only 1.3 percent.

Mining and resources only contributed around 30-32 percent towards sub-Saharan African growth, Kaberuka said, with consumer demand, infrastructure, financial services and agri-business the other main contributors.

Kaberuka said he hoped to outline plans at the bank's annual meeting in Marrakech in May for an infrastructure bond totaling up to $24 billion, backed by the AfDB and bought by African central banks, to help investment in the region.

But the AfDB president told the briefing that despite rapid growth on the continent, Africa still suffered from too much poverty and wealth inequality, and needed to make more progress towards creating an inclusive society.

"A lot needs to be done about equity...especially around natural resources management," Kaberuka said, adding that AfDB calculations showed wealth inequality has been rising in Africa by around 1.5 percent a year since 2000.

"Sometimes it seems that the rent-seeking elites and the extractive industry business live off each other. Otherwise, how can we explain that a country pumps out two million barrels of oil a day and yet half live below the poverty line?"

Both policymakers and investors had their part to play in spreading wealth more evenly, Kaberuka said.

"Perhaps for too long we have been pointing fingers at governments, businesses have a responsibility here as well," he said. "This is Africa's trouble, which prevents us going to the next level." (COURT D)

Courtney Morgan - Kano blast: Nigeria bus station bomb toll rises

The bus station was primarily used by passengers heading to the mostly Christian south of Nigeria

The number of people killed in a suicide car bomb attack at a bus stop in the Nigerian city of Kano on Monday has risen to at least 22, police say.

Several buses were destroyed in the attack in the Sabon Gari district - which is home to many Christians from southern Nigeria.
No group has admitted responsibility, but Islamist Boko Haram militants have previously attacked Kano.
It is the largest city in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria.
Several witnesses told Reuters that one of the buses targeted was full when the explosion happened, and was completely destroyed. At least 65 people were injured.
Police say two suicide bombers drove their explosive-laden car into the station in a Christian enclave in the predominantly Muslim commercial centre.
The BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano says that security in the city has been substantially tightened following the blast, with the area of the explosion almost completely sealed off.

In January 2012, about 150 people died in Kano in a series of co-ordinated attacks by Boko Haram.
The group is fighting to overthrow the Nigeria government and create an Islamic state.
It is also believed to have a presence in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Our correspondent says that the targeted bus station is primarily used by passengers heading to the mostly Christian south of Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the violence. A statement from his office said that this "barbaric incident will not deter the federal government from its strong-willed determination to overcome those who do not mean well for this nation".
Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer. It is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

Harsh deal climate in sub-Saharan Africa

©Alamy

The Kenyan capital Nairobi is an economic powerhouse in sub-Saharan Africa

Miles Morland, a pioneering Africa investor, has spent more than two decades looking for deals in places where you can’t drink the tap water. If his experience is anything to go by, finding successful private equity opportunities has more to do with sharing a glass of the stronger stuff in African bars.
“In Africa there are hundreds of deals but you have to go and look for them. In the west, investment bankers The case for investing in sub-Saharan Africa is clear. It has some of the fastest growing economies in the world, boosted by a nascent consumer class increasingly thirsty for everything from credit to cappuccinos. And it represents just 4 per cent of the emerging markets private equity asset class – emerging Asia takes the lion’s share at 63 per cent – suggesting there is plenty of room to grow.
But even as private equity groups raise ever larger Africa funds, there are persistent murmurs in the market that there simply aren’t the deals out there to match. Mr Morland disagrees. Development Partners International, the private equity group he co-founded, has invested the $500m fund it raised in 2008 in nine deals and is raising a new fund of the same size.

Home › World News › U.S. US President to host sub-Saharan leaders on March 28

US President Barack Obama will host leaders from four sub-Saharan African countries for a meeting on March 28, the White House said late Monday, DPA reported.

Participating are presidents Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, Macky Sall of Senegal and Joyce Banda of Malawi and Prime Minister Jose Maria Pereira Neves of Cape Verde.

The meeting "underscores the strategic importance the president places on building partnerships and substantive engagement with sub-Saharan Africa, and our commitment to working with strong and emerging African democracies," the White House said.

The agenda includes strengthening democratic institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, generating economic opportunity and expanding trade and investment.
COURT D

Coffee pest spreading to other crops in East Africa

Esther Nakkazi

12 March 2013 | EN

The coffee pest now threatens other important cash crops in East Africa

Flickr/noodlepie

[KAMPALA] East Africa's horticulture could face a severe crisis due to 'species jump' — whereby a disease moves from a known host to new and unusual ones — affecting fruits, vegetables, and medicinal and ornamental plants.
Researchers in Uganda have discovered that the Black Coffee Twig Borer, a devastating coffee pest, has crossed over from Robusta coffee to about 40 plant species including avocadoes, cocoa, eggplant, ginger, guavas, jackfruit, mangoes and tomatoes.

SPEED READ

• Coffee pest destroys 90 per cent of each infected plant, devastating the crops
• Around 40 new fruit and vegetable species, including important cash crops, are now being affected
• Expert call for better data collection and management practices

"Sooner rather than later it will also cross over to tea" — another major cash crop in the East Africa region — Africano Kangire, director of Uganda's Coffee Research Institute (CORI), tells SciDev.Net.
The researchers who addressed the media at CORI last month (6 February) say the pest has badly hit coffee farming in the region, especially in Uganda, where the indigenous Robusta coffee is widely grown.
"It has been reported in many countries in Africa, including Kenya and northern Tanzania, which are already highly infested," says Godfrey Kagezi, a researcher and entomologist at the Coffee Research Centre (COREC), based at the National Agricultural Research Organisation.
A 2012/13 COREC survey, as well as various reports by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, show that the pest is rapidly spreading from Bundibugyo, western Uganda, where it was first reported in 1993, to other parts of the country.
The research also shows that more than 40 plant species in over 17 families are potential hosts for the pest.
According to Kagezi, it is yet to be identified in Burundi and Rwanda.
But he also flags up issues with data collection in the region: there is not enough information available on whether the disease has spread to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and all three countries need comprehensive surveys.
The pest, native to Asia, has slowly spread to the rest of the world. When the small black beetle attacks coffee, it destroys 90 per cent of the plant, as it does with both fruit and vegetables.
"Most research [regionally] has been done on coffee only and not in relation to other tree crops," says Kenneth Masuki, a researcher with the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa.
Scientists say temperature rises related to climate change could be responsible increasing the spread of species jump by creating an enabling environment for their survival.
Patrick Kucel, a COREC plant entomologist, says the pest's high reproductive ability also makes it difficult to control: the female pest is capable of reproducing both sexually and asexually, and produces about 20 offspring per week — a peculiarity among its group.
Kucel says better management practices to help reduce or eliminate infestation sources must be implemented.
This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's Sub-Saharan Africa desk.

Bolivian researchers sound alarm over quinoa farming

Cristina Pabón

12 March 2013 | EN | ES

Quinoa farming may be squeezing out llama and sheep farmers

Flickr/Johannes Roith

[LA PAZ] Bolivian scientists have warned that growing international demand for quinoa is endangering local farming practices and the environment, as well as denying access to local consumers.

Their caution follows the UN's kick off last month (20 February) of a year-long series of cultural, artistic and academic activities — along with scientific research — to celebrate 2013 as the International Year of Quinoa.
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), a grain-like crop cultivated in the Andes for 7,000 years, has remarkable nutritional value and adapts well to a variety of growing environments.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a press release that quinoa offers an alternative food source for countries suffering from food insecurity as populations rise and the climate changes.

SPEED READ

• The FAO has launched a year of events dedicated to quinoa, a staple crop in the Andes
• Foreign demand for quinoa may be coming at the expense of soil quality and local consumers
• More research is needed to grow quinoa sustainably, though few research plans exist in Bolivia

"In Kenya and Mali, the crop is already showing high yields," it states, adding that it holds promise for cultivation "in the Himalayas, the plains of northern India, the Sahel, Yemen and other arid regions of the world".

In recent decades, the increase of exports from Andean countries to countries such as Canada, France and the United States has made quinoa an important source of income for producers in the Southern Altiplano region of Bolivia.

But local experts say that the current mode of export-oriented production is causing soil erosion, and spreading into wild areas where local communities farm livestock such as llamas and sheep.

"The cultivation of quinoa in current conditions is unsustainable," Vladimir Orsag, an agronomy researcher at the Higher University of San Andrés, in La Paz, Bolivia, tells SciDev.Net.

Satisfying foreign demand leads farmers to handle the soil poorly, not allowing it to rest fallow or be fertilised by livestock. Orsag says this leads to a decline in the quality of soil and an increase in pests.

He suggests improving the quality of the soil in areas where quinoa is already grown, rather than expanding further into wild areas.

"We need comprehensive investigation of practices to improve soil fertility, land management, and land space and therefore prevent soil erosion," Orsag says.

But there is no government strategy to boost research, he adds, although President Morales announced recently (26 February) that a project to industrialise quinoa production will begin at the end of March. Enrique Ormachea, a researcher at the Center of Studies of Labor and Agrarian Development (CEDLA), says that as long as the production of quinoa in the Southern Altiplano is driven by profit and for the foreign markets, it will be difficult to return to traditional crop management.

"Traditional farming practices corresponded to quinoa production for local consumption and this scenario has changed radically in recent years," he tells SciDev.Net.
Ormachea adds that the more cultivated areas expand, the more the production will become mechanised, use genetically improved seeds and insecticides, and require wage labour.
Orsag highlights the need for a close relationship between the responsible state institutions, such as the National Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Innovation, and universities or research centres on devising policies and improving farming practices.

He adds that current cropping practices are affecting the domestic consumption of quinoa in Bolivia, and that the country's policies should also address local consumption.Felix Mamani, a researcher at the Choquenaira Experiment Station at the Higher University of San Andrés, tells SciDev.Net that local rural communities are still eating quinoa, although in smaller proportion than in past decades.

But in urban areas, he adds, people are losing the habit of consumption, in part because prices increase with the behaviour of external markets.

Mobile phone microscope detects worm infections

Esther Nakkazi

12 March 2013 | EN

Intestinal worms cause chronic anaemia and malnutrition in children

Flickr/US Army Africa

[KAMPALA] Children suffering from intestinal worms can now be diagnosed using a mobile phone microscope that is significantly cheaper than conventional methods, which are prohibitively expensive for many communities
The microscope costs around US$15 and runs off the phone's battery, whereas a conventional light microscope costs US$200 and requires electricity in most countries.
To build the microscope, scientists transformed an iPhone 4S mobile phone into a microscope by temporarily mounting a 3-millimetre ball lens to the camera, using double-sided tape to hold it firmly. A US$8 ball lens was positioned in a small hole punctured in the middle of the double-sided tape.

SPEED READ

• The microscope is US$185 cheaper than current technology
• Mobile phone zoom enables slides to be magnified up to 60 times
• Scientists hope to increase accuracy from 70 to 90 per cent needed for clinical rollout

They then placed the mobile phone microscope on top of the slide, which was illuminated from below by a small flashlight. Images were viewed on the mobile phone screen, and magnification of up to 60 times was enabled using the digital zoom function.
Scientists from Canada, Switzerland, Tanzania and United States, used the microscope to evaluate stool samples from almost 200 children in Pemba, Tanzania, alongside conventional light microscope to measure the efficacy of different intestinal worm treatments.
A study published yesterday (11 March) in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reports that the accuracy of the mobile phone microscope varies depending on the worm type and infection intensity. The microscope was found to detect 69.4 per cent of helminth eggs, 81 per cent of giant roundworm infections and 14 per cent of all hookworm infections.
"It is 70 per cent accurate but we think it can be up to 90 per cent," says Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, Canada, and the study's lead author. The study reports that the microscope will only be of clinical standard when it is sensitive enough to detect 80 per cent of infections.
"It was quite successful at detecting moderate to heavy infections but not very good at detecting mild infections where there might be only a few eggs in the sample," Bogoch adds.
However, the researchers are confident the technology could be a valuable and popular tool for regions where intestinal worm infestation is widespread, due to it being easy to make, portable and cheap.
The new application is also potentially relevant in the diagnosis of other infections in the blood, urine and intestine, says Bogoch, and could work equally well with other types of phones with camera zooms.
David Walker, president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, says: "This study is an illustration of how a modest investment in tropical disease research can help reap enormous health benefits for children."
Jennifer Atim, a data specialist at Health Alert-Uganda, says the innovation is another tool for improving child health, but wonders whether it will be available since many information and communication technology related innovations fail to make the transition from lab to field in Africa.
Intestinal worms can hinder physical and mental development in children by causing chronic anaemia and malnutrition, but when diagnosed early can be treated successfully with cheap drugs.
Link to full study
This article has been produced by SciDev.Net's Sub-Saharan Africa desk

Cheap 'nano-tablet' purifies water for up to six months

Munyaradzi Makoni

15 March 2013 | EN | ES

The filter consists of a ceramic disk containing copper or silver nanoparticles

Jim Smith

[CAPE TOWN] Researchers have developed a water purification tablet comprised of nanoparticles that can be used by developing world communities with no access to clean water.The tablet, MadiDrop, invented by PureMadi — a non-profit organisation of the University of Virginia, United States — was presented at the organisation's one-year celebration event last week (8 March).
It consists of a small ceramic disk filled with silver or copper nanoparticles that is placed a water vessel, where it can repeatedly disinfect water for up to six months.

SPEED READ

• A ceramic tablet containing nanoparticles can repeatedly disinfect water for up to six months
• Its inventors, from the University of Virginia, are planning longer-term tests for durability
• However, its ultimate success will rely on both cost and social acceptability

"There is nothing easier," James Smith, a professor in the Environmental and Water Resources programme at the University of Virginia who co-leads the PureMadi project tells SciDev.Net.
"You drop it in your water container, fill the container up at night and the water will be safe to drink for all the next day." The tablet is capable of treating 20 litres of water per day.
Only trace amounts of silver and copper nanoparticles are released into the water — at levels that are safe for human consumption, but high enough to kill waterborne pathogenic micro-organisms, says Smith.
The tool developed for use in communities without safe drinking water is named 'Madi' after the Tshivenda (one of the official languages of South Africa) word for water.
Smith says there isneed for more long-term field tests on the tablet's life span.
"Based on shorter-term tests that we can extrapolate, it should work for six months," he says. "We will be conducting longer-term tests in South Africa in June, July, and August."
It is hoped that the tablet will improve the supply of safe water to the community of Mashamba in South Africa and beyond, says John Mudau, director of the Centre for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation at the University of Venda, South Africa.
The university is ensuring that the tablet complies with South African safety standards; that education on water quality reaches the rural communities of Limpopo province that have little or no access to clean water; and that locals accept the tablet.
The process is technically viable, saysAnthonyTurton, a water and environment expert in the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of Free State, South Africa.
However, he warns that the filter's sustainability is predicated on a number of factors including cost and social acceptability.
PureMadi established a water filter factory in Limpopo province, South Africa last year, employing local workers who have already produced several hundred alternative flowerpot-like water filters.
This means that it is likely to attract support from other companies eager to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and regional development, Turton adds.
The additional value of the tablet lies in the way it provides a transfer of skills through usage of cheap local materials and the employment of local people from deeply impoverished communities to produce these gadgets, he says.
Smith is uncertain as to how much the tablet will cost. But he adds: "If we can obtain a price point of US$5, it would likely be the least-expensive or among the least expensive point-of-use water purification methods available on the market".
This article has been produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa desk.