> Kenneth King wrote:
>
> http://www.independentngonline.com/?c=122&a=8245
>
> Death of 180 African migrants in Yemen
> Editorial
>
> The recent tragic death of about 180 Africans in
> the
> Red Sea while attempting to enter Yemen by boats is
> yet another sad instance of how very oppressive
> socio-economic and political situations in Africa
> continue to drive its citizens into fatal
> desperation
> and misadventures. According to a Somali Diplomat,
> Hussein Haji Ahmed, the two boats conveying the
> migrants had capsized off the coast of Yemen
> killing
> their occupants who were fleeing Africa in search
> of
> what they felt were better living conditions
> elsewhere.
>
> It is estimated that about 28,000 Somalis have
> migrated to Yemen this year alone. Many citizens of
> several other African countries have equally used
> the
> same Somali route and several others existing at
> the
> fringes of Africa to escape from their countries to
> several parts of the world. But, sadly, not many of
> these migrants make it to their intended
> destinations
> alive.
>
> According to accounts by international aid
> agencies,
> nearly 600 people are believed to have died while
> attempting to cross over to Yemen while about 650
> are
> believed to be missing. The figure could even be
> higher at some other escape points in Africa. Only
> recently, bodies of 56 Africans who had met their
> deaths while trying to enter the Gulf of Aden were
> also recovered, according to a statement by
> Medecins
> Sans Frontiers (MSF), which claimed its staff in
> Yemen
> found them. It is believed that both the dead and
> survivors were mostly Somalis and Ethiopians, in
> whose
> countries serious economic and political
> instability
> has created a clearly suffocating situation for the
> populace.
>
> It is unfortunate that successive leaders of
> African
> nations have only succeeded in turning the
> continent
> into a theatre of war, disease, hunger and
> instability, so much so, that Africa has become too
> dreadful a place to majority of its inhabitants who
> are now forced by these serious adverse conditions
> to
> flee in droves. Indeed, the African elite has
> continued to daily distinguish itself as the bane
> of
> the continent. We must deplore the excessive greed
> and
> pervasive corruption that have created the
> resilient
> criminal class out of the African political elite
> who
> divert a greater percentage of their countries'
> resources to themselves leaving the masses with
> mere
> crumbs to scramble over. It is most unfortunate
> that
> they are by their preoccupations reinforcing the
> racist stereotype that Africans are incapable of
> governing themselves.
>
> In the sixties, when most of these African
> countries
> gained their independence, there were no reports of
> desperate migrants drowning in the Red Sea while
> trying to enter Yemen or other places. Even as late
> as
> the seventies, African students in Europe and
> America
> wasted no time to return home once they finished
> their
> studies. But today, many never contemplate a return
> to
> Africa. Indeed, failure of leadership and character
> has wrought untold havoc on Africa, leaving it a
> beggarly and shriveled continent, incapable of
> solving
> even its most basic problems.
>
> In Nigeria, the story is even more saddening given
> our
> abundant natural resources and the fact that
> hundreds
> of billions of dollars have indeed accrued to the
> nation since independence. But, most unfortunately,
> we
> have found ourselves saddled with very incompetent,
> greedy and light-fingered leaders whose obsession
> with
> personal privileges and comfort is gratified at the
> expense of the most basic needs of the populace.
> That
> this saddening preoccupation is even more
> pronounced
> today creates serious doubts about the nation's
> future. Instead of checking the excesses of the
> Executive, the Legislature has colluded with it
> against the people they claim to represent.
>
> It is amazing that in a country where nearly eighty
> per cent of the citizenry live below poverty level,
> members of the National Assembly are renovating
> their
> offices, which are known to be in very good
> condition,
> at the cost of N107 million. As if that was not
> outrageous enough, they have gone ahead to approve
> for
> themselves the sum N2.1 billion for refreshments
> and
> entertainments alone in 2008. Also, the sum N500,
> 000
> was allocated to each lawmaker as wardrobe
> allowance.
> Yet this is the same country where conditions have
> become so unbearable that many Nigerians are
> prepared
> to take several unspeakable risks just to escape to
> even countries, which though not as richly endowed
> as
> Nigeria is, but whose lean resources are prudently
> husbanded by their honest and patriotic leaders. It
> is
> sad that Nigeria is daily diminished by the undue
> pressures its visa-seeking citizens eager to flee
> the
> country are exacting on the various embassies, as
> if
> there is war in the nation.
>
> We hope that the recent Yemen tragedy and the
> several
> others that have continued to occur at the fringes
> of
> Africa would touch the conscience of African
> leaders
> and compel them to see the need to fix the
> continent.
> Nigerian leaders must see their obsession with
> criminal accumulation as one effective way of
> creating
> monsters that may not make discrimination between
> the
> obscenely rich and horribly poor in the day they
> would
> strike. The time to have a serious rethink can only
> be
> now.

Baba Ras Marcus writes:
In addition we can take a very serious look at the present state of Kenya and the Murderous tribal wars which are taking place, and which are being caused by greedy politicians who can not be called African Liberators, as a result of their dishonest and out of order attitudes.
Again I send many oceans of blessings and self determination to Adfrican people everywhere
ONE BLACK HEART ONE BLACK LOVE
Baba Ras Marcus