Briefs
FrontLines - June 2010
Granville and
Rahama Killers
Escape Sudan Jail
KHARTOUM, Sudan—
Four men sentenced to death
for killing USAID employees
John Granville and
Abdelrahman Abbas
Rahama escaped through
the sewer system of Kober
prison June 11 and shot dead
a police officer as they fled
the capital, police told
Reuters.
Granville and Rahama
were killed when they
returned from New Year’s
celebrations on Jan. 1, 2008.
During the trial, the prosecution
said defendants
Mohamed Makkawi Ibrahim
Mohamed and Abdel
Basit al-Hajj Hassan fired
the fatal shots. Prosecution
statements said the third
defendant, Mohamed
Osman Yusuf Mohamed, a
former Sudanese army officer,
was the driver of the
attackers’ vehicle, while
Abdel Raouf Abu Zaid
Mohamed, the son of a wellknown
Islamic preacher,
was a passenger.
The four denied murdering
Granville and Rahama,
saying taped confessions
were extracted under
torture.
A group in Sudan calling
itself Ansar al-Tawhid (Supporters
of Monotheism)
claimed responsibility for
the killings, saying they
were fighting against efforts to
“Christianize” Sudan.
African Economy
Growing Says
McKinsey
Africa’s economic growth is
accelerating after decades of
stagnation as global demand for
commodities rises and as Africans
move to cities and spend
more, McKinsey & Co. said
June 9 in a report, according to
Bloomberg.
Fifty percent of Africans
will live in cities by 2030, up
from about 40 percent today,
and the top 18 cities will have
combined spending power of
$1.3 trillion, said McKinsey in
its quarterly report.
The rate of return on foreign
investment is higher in Africa
than in any other developing
region and gross domestic product
expanded by 4.9 percent a
year from 2000 through 2008,
more than twice the pace of the
1980s and 1990s, McKinsey
said.
Obama Pledges
More Aid to
Palestinians
President Barack Obama met
with Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas June 9
as tensions remained high over
Israel’s blockade of the Gaza
Strip, Bloomberg reported.
Obama announced the
United States will provide $400
million in aid for housing,
school construction, and other
infrastructure improvements in
Gaza and the West Bank to help
improve the “day-to-day lives of
ordinary Palestinians,” Bloomberg
reported.
“The situation in Gaza is
unsustainable,” Obama said,
calling for a new “conceptual
framework” for Israel’s blockade
of ships bringing supplies
to Gaza to focus more narrowly
on stopping the flow of arms
into Gaza.
Abbas thanked Obama for
the aid pledge, saying the
“United States cares about the
suffering of the people in Gaza
and about the suffering of the
Palestinian people.”
The aid includes more than
$100 million channeled through
USAID. Of that, $75 million
will be for infrastructure
improvements in the Palestinian
territories, $5 million for projects
to repair water distribution
and wastewater systems, and
$10 million to bolster Palestinian
businesses. Another $10
million would pay for construction
of five new schools in
Gaza.
The biggest portion is $240
million to the Overseas Private
Investment Corp. for home
mortgages in the West Bank.
Gates, USAID Use
Phones for Haitian
Cash
SEATTLE/ WASHINGTON—
The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and USAID
announced June 8 a $10 million
incentive fund to start offering
financial services by mobile
phone in Haiti and expedite the
delivery of cash assistance to
victims of the country’s Jan. 12
devastating earthquake.
Enabling Haitians to send,
receive, and store money using
their mobile phones reduces the
risks and costs of financial
transactions, increases savings,
and generates employment.
They also connect people to
services like banking, insurance,
and utilities.
Administrator Rajiv Shah
said that “before the earthquake,
fewer than 10 percent of
Haitians had ever used a commercial
bank. A mobile money
system can restore and remake
banking in Haiti and serve as
an engine of inclusive growth.”
The first company to launch
a mobile money service that
meets certain criteria in the
next six months will receive
$2.5 million. The second operator
to launch and reach these
benchmarks within 12 months
will receive $1.5 million.
Another $6 million will be
awarded as the first 5 million
transactions take place, divided
accordingly between those
operators that contributed to the
total number of transactions.
Medical Group Says
Donors Cut AIDS
Funds
JOHANNESBURG—Doctors
are being forced to turn away
people with HIV/AIDS in
eight African countries as
donors cut funding amid the
global economic meltdown, an
aid group said May 27, according
to The Associated Press.
Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF), also known as Doctors
Without Borders, said funding
cuts threaten to unravel years
of progress on the continent
hardest hit by AIDS.
The MSF study looked at
AIDS programs in Congo,
Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi,
Mozambique, South Africa,
Uganda, and Zimbabwe, and
found the effects of funding
cuts widespread.
In Kenya, clinics fear running
out of money. Health
policy makers in Mozambique
and Uganda say they
cannot afford to follow international
standards for the
commencement of treatment.
MSF found people were
turned away because the clinics
did not have enough
medication.
However, Eric Goosby,
head of the President’s Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR), said in a statement
to AP that the budget
had increased from $6.8 billion
in 2010 to “nearly” $7
billion for 2011 and the number
of people PEPFAR
directly supports on treatment
increased from 1.6 million to
nearly 2.5 million in 2009.
From news reports and other
sources.
★
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