Makhtar Diop, a Senegalese national with more than 25 years of development experience, today becomes the new World Bank Vice-President for Africa.

 Diop was previously Country Director for Brazil since 2009 where he managed the World Bank’s largest country program. Prior to joining the Bank, Diop worked at the International Monetary Fund and served as Minister of Finance of Senegal, and as Chair of the West African Monetary Union (WAEMU) Board of Finance Ministers.

 After joining the World Bank in 2001, Makhtar Diop held various senior positions, including Country Director for Kenya, Eritrea and Somalia, as well as Director of Infrastructure and Director of Strategy and Operations in the Bank's Latin America and Caribbean region.

 “It is an honor to return to the Africa region as Vice-President at a time when the continent is on the rise, with strong growth led by private investment, and a new sense of optimism,” said Diop. “With world-class development knowledge and innovative financing, we can help support Africa’s momentum and ensure that all Africans, especially the poor, share in the continent’s economic and social transformation.”

 The World Bank is a partner of 48 countries in Sub Saharan Africa and finances approximately 500 projects in the region. The Banks' portfolio includes projects and programs in areas such as agriculture, trade and transport, energy, education, health, water and sanitation.

 In fiscal year 2011, the World Bank committed more than US$ 7.0 billion in new development financing for Africa, and disbursed over US$ 5.5 billion, in addition to producing more than 200 analytical studies.

 

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today discussed a new four-year (2012-2016) Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Gabon, focused on adopting the transfomational changes and reforms Gabon needs to lay the foundation for job-creating, long-term economic growth.

 

Renewing infrastructure and basic services; promoting agriculture and job creation especially for unemployed youth; tackling urban poverty; and increasing opportunities for girls and women are some of the other cross-cutting objectives of the CPS.

 

More than 75 percent of Gabon’s estimated 1.5 million inhabitants live in urban areas. The population is young, with 50 percent under 19 years of age.

 

“The support that has been discussed is in line with the World Bank’s Strategy for Africa, which pays special attention to the urgent need for job creation, good governance, and a high performing public sector. It also integrates and is inspired by the priorities laid out in the Gabon’s strategic development program,” said Zouera Youssoufou, the World Bank Country Manager for Gabon.

The US$250 million in World Bank funding for Gabon during the four-year period will notably support critical reforms in public financial management and key economic sectors.

 

It will more specifically seek to improve development outcomes in six areas: (i) improving governance; (ii) improving efficiencies and transparency in the management of the budget;(iii) improving the country’s management of its debt and its mining resources; (IV) improving the investment climate and supporting the growth of the private sector; (v) ensuring the adoption of a long-term plan for the transparent management of the country’s natural resources;(vi) and the production of an in-depth analysis (study) of the country’s social safety net and its health system.

 

Gabon is a resource-rich country and the fifth largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is well endowed with arable land, forest, and mineral resources, has extraordinary biodiversity, as well as rich deposits of magnesium and iron ore.

 

Forty years after the start of oil exploration, Gabon remains largely dependent on oil. On average over the last five years, the oil sector has accounted for 80 percent of exports, 45 percent of GDP, and 60 percent of the budget revenue.

 

A middle-income country, Gabon has been a member of the World Bank since 1963. Since then, the World Bank has funded some 20 projects in the country. In March 2011, the value of the World Bank’s portfolio was an estimated US$51 millions, invested in five ongoing or active projects.

As previously announced on March 23, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank will conduct interviews with the three candidates in Washington, D.C. The schedule of interviews has been agreed with the candidates based on their availability:

 

• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Monday, April 9
• José Antonio Ocampo on Tuesday, April 10
• Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday, April 11

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved an International Development Association (IDA*) \interest free credit of US$30 million to kick-start a new Public Private Partnership (PPP) centered on infrastructure development in Ghana, the multilateral institution announced today.

 Bank support is the first phase in a series set to close a critical funding gap and to leverage urgently needed private sector investment from 2012-2016.

 The Republic of Ghana’s PPP program with the World Bank will combine the skills and resources of both the public and private sectors.  For its part, the Government will benefit from the expertise of the private sector by making it easier for authorities to focus instead on policy, planning and regulation.  Meanwhile, private firms will take care of day-to-day operations of various tasks, allowing both the private and public sectors to better coordinate while working more efficiently.

 Specifically, phase one of the Public Private Partnership project for the Republic of Ghana seeks to improve the legislative, institutional, financial, fiduciary and technical framework to generate a pipeline of bankable PPP projects.

 

(CNN) -- Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade called rival Macky Sall to concede Sunday's runoff election, which Sall hailed as a "victory of the Senegalese people," state media reported.

The 85-year-old Wade faced off against his former prime minister and protege after he failed to win a majority during last month's controversial election. The two survived a field of 14 candidates during the February 27 election, with Wade receiving 32% of the vote and Sall getting 25%.

Sall garnered support from several of the failed candidates, who vowed solidarity against Wade as he sought a third term.

Sunday night, Sall's supporters gathered at the candidate's headquarters in Dakar, cheering and dancing to hip-hop songs in the streets.

"We want change because Senegal is poor and Abdoulaye Wade has done nothing," said Alpha Ba, 18, who voted for Sall. "Today we are proud to be Senegalese."

With 5.3 million voters registered in the country, early turnout was heavy with large crowds waiting to vote in the capital city.

Earlier in the day, the head of the European Union Observer team, Thijs Berman, said voting was going well and there were no signs of fraud.

In the first round of voting last month, Wade was booed by much of one crowd at a polling place in Dakar.

There were unconfirmed reports that he arranged for supporters to come cheer for him and intimidate opponents Sunday. Local radio reported the supporters were dispersed with tear gas when they attempted to enter the polling place.

"In the first round, the voters here spontaneously booed him and it hurt him," said voter Malick Sy. "They took it upon themselves to mobilize people who don't have anything to do with this polling place to come and defend him, basically. I don't think it is a good image for Senegalese democracy."

However, the incident was thought to be isolated in an otherwise peaceful day of voting.

"Before the first round, there was huge political tension and even casualties," Berman said. In the second round, "the situation is much calmer," he said. "There is still a lot of political tension but there has hardly been any violence."

Senegal, a small country on Africa's west coast, has been an outpost of democratic stability in a region with a history of electoral chaos, civil wars and coups. But deadly demonstrations broke out after the country's highest court cleared Wade to seek a third term in January, and protesters demanded that Wade give up his bid for a new mandate.

Opponents argue that the court was compromised and the constitution limits presidents to two terms. But Wade successfully argued that he is exempt because he took office in 2000, before the term limit was put in place.

Wade once was hailed as a visionary, but his popularity has plummeted. Protesters calling for Wade's ouster have clashed on the streets in recent months.

A presidential spokesman has accused opposition candidates and their supporters of fueling "urban guerrilla warfare" leading up to the February vote. But Wade's opponents blamed police for the escalating violence, saying they were responsible for some deaths during demonstrations in Dakar and Rufisque.

The African Development Bank Group and the World Bank Group, long-standing development partners of Mali, join the African Union and ECOWAS in condemning the military coup, urging a speedy resolution of the crisis, and calling for the restoration of constitutional government to preserve the development gains of the country and its people.  Mali had in recent years made steady economic and social progress, and strengthened its democratic governance. The country was in the final stages of its preparation for democratic elections scheduled to take place next month.

 

Our development operations are suspended, with the exception of emergency assistance.

 

We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

The South Africans are an ungrateful lot. After all Nigeria did for them during the struggle against apartheid, white minority rule and the relentless tyranny of the Boers they have done nothing but treat us with disrespect, disdain and contempt. A glaring example of this is their shameful treatment of our Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, at Johannesbourg airport a few years ago when this respected and much-loved international statesman was stopped by the immigartion officials, treated like a common criminal and kept waiting for hours simply because he was a Nigerian. Though Soyinka had a valid visa he was only allowed into the country after the intervention of a high ranking South African government official who was contacted by the Nigerian Ambassador to South Africa in the middle of the night. So unpleasant was that experience for Professor Soyinka that he vowed before the world that he would never travel to South Africa again.


Sadly nothing appears to have changed since then. The deportation and humiliation of no less than 75 of our people (all of whom had valid visas) at Johannesbourg airport just a few days ago for allegedly not having valid yellow fever vaccination certificates is just the latest chapter in that sordid catalogue of insults. They did this after Arik Nigeria, our leading airline carrier, faithfully flew our people from Lagos directly to Johannesbourg. The South African authorities denied them entry and promptly put the majority of those passengers back on board the plane and compelled Arik to fly them back home there and then. I feel particularly bad about this because as Minister of Aviation a few years ago I was one of those that fought hard for Nigerian airline carriers to secure most of the international routes that they are plying and that our people are enjoying today. I am particularly impressed by Arik's robust reaction to the incident when they threatened to simply stop flying to South Africa if the authorities were not ready to treat our people and their passengers with respect, fairness, sensitivity and decency.

I am also glad that the Federal Government itself has risen to the occassion and has found the courage to reciprocate the South African gesture by denying entry into our country and promptly deporting 75 South African air travellers that arrived at Lagos airport just a few days. They gave the same reason as the South Africans had earlier done for this action. This was an appropiate reaction though it is only a first step. However more steps have to follow and we must go much further than that. Nigerians in South Africa have suffered racial dsiscrimination, unjustifiable incarceration, humiliation, murder, beatings, insults, persecution, unfair trade practices, the most vicious form of racial-stereotyping and all manner of crimes and indignities from the South African authorities and the local population on a regular basis. This has been going on for the last twenty two years, it is institutionalised, it is systemic and it appears to be getting worse.


Such cheek and consistently uncharitable acts channeled towards a friendly African country is inexplicable and sickening. This is all the more so when it is coming from a so-called ''rainbow nation'' with black legs, a brown torso, a coloured neck and a big white Boer head and mentality. Can this sort of thing really be happening to our people in the land of the great Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramphosa? Nigeria shed her blood, spent her treasure and made monuemental and painful sacrifices for over 40 years for these people and for that land through the darkest years when they were regarded as being sub-human and mere ''drawers of the water'' and ''hewers of the wood'' by their white Boer overlords and compatriots. Have our South African brothers and sisters forgotten so soon? We may have our own fair share of challenges in this country and we may still be struggling with our own internal differences and contradictions but let those that seek to shame and humiliate our people make no mistake about it- Nigeria is still the giant of Africa and no-one, not even the biggest economic players on the world stage, have ever been able to bring us to our knees. South Africa would be best advised not to provoke a regional conflict whose outcome she cannot predict and which she cannot possibly contain, control, handle or win.


The number of South African companies that are fleecing Nigeria today are enormous. In the light of what has happened they should all be closely scrutinised and probed and where they are found wanting they should be kicked out. Enough of these insults from people that are very far behind us in terms of enlightenment, civilisation, culture and education. Nigeria is just too big and too good to be treated in this way. The South Africans may have more fighter jets, tanks and war ships than we do but they do not have the fighting spirit, discipline, courage, ferocity, professionalism and experience of the Nigerian ground forces and infantry. No nation on the African continent does. Our efforts in Chad, Sierra Leonne, Liberia, Somalia, Burma, the Congo, Angola, Mozambique and countless other nations over the decades where we have fought, shed our blood, kept the peace and made our input can bear testimony to that.

The average South African does not have the spirit and appetite for war and aggression and the ability to forcefully resist evil and stand up against injustice that the average Nigerian has cultivated over the last 52 years. Our civil war, in which over two million people died for a cause, is sufficient evidence of that. In any case they are the ones with the massive economic and financial investments in Nigeria whilst Nigerian companies have been effectively and systematically shut out of the South African market right from the outset. In this respect if the conflict widens and it comes to an economic war the South Africans have far more to lose than we do.


The truth is that nothing forges Nigerian unity more than any form of aggression or hostility from outsiders and foreigners. This is because before anything else we are first and foremost Nigerians and we are ready to sacrifice all in order to defend our honour, our land, our dignity, our citizens and our integrity even if it means doing so with the last drop of our blood. The South Africans must not mistake our liberal values, our generous disposition and our friendly and genial nature for weakness or stupidity. Behind our smile lies a proud heart and a resolve of steel. We do not shirk. We are slow to anger but irresistable in battle. Our history, our lineage, our stock, our ancsetry and our strength of purpose tells our story. They should read that story well before going any further. Nigerians are very tough, very resilient and very hard people. We are not just titans but we are the immortals. The South Africans would do well not to not dare us and not to wake up our sleeping sword lightly.

So much has been written about the fairy-tale run of the Zambian national team, The Chipolopolo (Copper bullets), to lifting the African Nations Cup in Gabon on Sunday that I was tempted not to feature them in my column today. But its like I, was also being haunted by the ghosts of about 30 Zambians that perished in the Gabon Continental Shelf  in April 1993 after a plan crash.

Before their final match against the Elephants of Cote d'ivoire got under way on Sunday, I had written on my Facebook Status as follows:- "The elephants of Cote D’ivore will probably be playing against eleven Zambia players and a number of ghosts (if truly they exist) tonight". After the Zambians over came their highly rated West Africa opponents, not a few people agreed with me. This line of thought of mine was however occasioned by the views of an aged Zambian football fan that I stumbled upon on the Internet before the tournament got underway in Gabon.The man had predicted that  since the tournament's hosting rights was awarded to Equitorial Guinea and Gabon,he had no doubt in his mind that Zambia would lift the trophy by reason of the fact that the ghosts of the Zambian players and coaches that perished in Libreville,Gabon in 1993 will wake up and play alongside their current team in the tournament as their final resting place was like stone throw from the field of play. Indications that the prediction might come out true and that the Zambian challenge might be real started showing after their first match when they hammered the star-studded Senegalese national team,the Lions of Teranga.

It all started on the 27th April 1993 a  Zambian Air Force Buffalo DHC-5D which was carrying the Zambian national team to Senegal for a 1994 World Cup qualification match crashed, killing all 30 passengers, including 18 players and a number of coaches.

Indeed so may questions are pertinent against the backdrop of this ghost story after the Zambian victory.

Were the ghosts even responsible for the inability of strong football playing Africa nations like defending champions, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria and Cameroon to qualify for the championship for the first time in decacles to reduce the number of tough challenges on the chipolopolo’s road to victory? Where they responsible for the pathetic penalty miss by such great players like Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan and Cote D’ivoire’s Didier Drogba which penalties, if scored would probably have put paid to Zambia's dreams? And indeed, did the ghosts actually constitute the unseen force that ensured that an entirely local based Zambia team outplayed, outsmarted and overwhelmed the entirely Europe based teams from such super power Africa Soccer nations like Senegal, Ghana and Cote D’voire? But this I believe is subject to individual belief about the existence of ghosts and their ability to change people's fortunes for the better or otherwise. It is however not enough to sway thoughts away from or becloud the real reasons why the Chipolopolo against all reasonable permutations won the African Cup of Nations for the first time ever.

The real reasons I submit are; The commitment, determination, resilience, patriotism and teamwork  of the players and also, the fact that the team attracted so much support and sympathy from the home crowd against the bigger teams after their countries were eliminated. Even, all over Africa, people were rooting for them against the likes of Ghana and Cote D'ivoire. By my own analysis, I believe over 80% of Nigerians wanted Zambia to beat Cote D'ivoire.

The first reason I gave above is a big lesson to the handlers of the Nigerian National team and indeed all football coaches; Names do not play the game, a disciplined, committed, patriotic and fit local player will always be more result oriented than an imported, self-effacing, world class virtuoso. That is why you see the entire Europe based Ivorian Team that consist of such world class players like Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou, current African player of the year, Yaya Toure, Arsenal's Gervinho ,Newcastle's Check Tiote, Manchester City's Kolo Toure, Paris St German's Siaka Tienne and others finding it difficult to hold their own against an entirely African based Christopher Katongo - led Zambian team.

I congratulate the Zambians and I actually wanted them to win the trophy in the absence of Nigeria, my country. Zambia, as far as the African game is concerned has come a long way, they have always been in the thick of things playing at almost every edition of the African Cup.Their major clubsides like Nchanga Rangers and Dynamos also were also notable in the African Club championships, but Zambia  never won anything except for low-glamour regional championships. The last time they qualified for the African Nations Cup final was in 1994 in Tunisia when Emmanuel Amuneke's two emphatic strikes secured the cup for Nigeria. Then the whole world sympathized with them and except Nigerians, everyone wanted them to win since it was just eight months before that they lost almost their entire team to the crash in Gabon.

I am also particularly happy for Kalusha Bwalya who was seen in unimaginable ecstasy in Libreville on Sunday after Kingsley Kalaba's final spot kick that nailed the Ivoriens. Bwalya was crowned the 1988 African footballer of the year,(the first and only Zambian to achieve that feat) and was the actual captain of the team that perished in Gabon in 1993 but was fortunate not to be on board the ill-fated plane because he was travelling down from Belgium where he was playing for Cercles Brugges FC to join the team in Dakar Senegal. He is perhaps one of the luckiest Zambians alive today. So, one could really understand why his joy appears unlimited on Sunday.

Indeed, Zambia became really free on Sunday, not the freedom Kenneth Kaunda envisaged  in his book, ZAMBIA SHALL BE FREE but freedom from the trauma of 27th April 1993.Surely,the ghosts can rest peacefully now if indeed it was true they were awake during the tournament.