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Muammar Al Ghaddafi Larger than life!!

Rather than having murdered him and his ideas, his death will be the seed that is planting the idea of direct participatory government and revolution into the hearts of a new generation of young Africans, Europeans, Asians, Americans, Australians. Ghadafi, his philosophy and thinking is being understood by millions who would never have known that it is possible to have a government by the people, for the people, and to their benefit. The death of Muammar Ghadafi will be the seed and inspiration for a new phase of the international struggle for liberty, equality and justice. His undoing may well prove to become the seed of the undoing of those who reside in the heart of darkness.

23.10.2011 | Christof Lehmann

André Mingas believed in rapid Angola’s development - Eulogy

Luanda – The late musician and composer André Mingas believed that Angola, thanks to the nature of its people, would get rid of underdevelopment and social imbalance than other African nations, Angop learned Monday in Luanda.

This was disclosed during his burial at Luanda’s Santa Ana Cemetery.

According to a message of condolence from the Aid Services of the Presidency of the Republic read out at the ceremony, Andre Mingas dreamed of making the country more beautiful and more humane.

"He wanted to translate them (dreams) into projects in favour of the development of the country and wellbeing of Angolans,” reads the message.

The source added that would his projects ever come true, they will become the ex-libris” of the capital, in view of their quality and aesthetics.

According to the source, André Mingas was one of those that engaged more in clarifying  the concept of “new centrality” and though his work is still little known, it will eternalise him.

Líbia: Instabilidade mundial, responsabilidades penais e III guerra mundial

ÚLTIMA HORA: Mortes incalculáveis em Sirte/Líbia, caça ao homem (negro), uso indiscriminado de drones, helicópteros e mísseis em todos os lados. Destruiu-se a cidade de Sirte para vencer uma batalha - a guerrilha e a resistência VERDE continuam. Se as acções dos Rebeldes do CNT ajudados pela OTAN não constituem um "Crime Contra Humanidade", podemos concluir que não existem mais crimes nesta terra. São várias as lições desta guerra, uma delas resta para nós, angolanos, africanos, povos em vias de desenvolvimento: QUEM QUER A PAZ PREPARE-SE PARA GUERRA. Entre, no fim das contas, vale o equilíbrio de terror.

ANGOLA HOJE. O cenário actual nos impõe a necessidade da construção de um país forte, de um país disciplinado e organizado, unido entorno a objectivos claros e partilhados: bem estar das populações e crescimento sustentável sem perder de olhos as nossa segurança económica, alimentar e militar. O mundo post-guerra fria, unipolar, é dos piores lugares para viver. Observando o que acontece em várias zonas podemos afirma que nos encontramos em plena floresta, no que se refere ao respeito das leis internacionais, aonde reina o direito da força, a lei do mais forte. Quem pode, faz o que quer. Cfr: Iraque, Afeganistam, Paquistam, Sudão, RDC, Somália, Líbia, Tunísia, Egipto, PALESTINA, etc. Países nos quais reina o caos. Tudo é controlado, tudo é programado, não aceitem nas teorias dos "acasos".

MÃOS SUJAS. Sarkozy & CO em pouco tempo organizam em África duas guerras e por incrível que pareça, em todo o continente africano não temos nenhum país capaz de dizer basta as incursões homicidas europeias. Nem mesmo a solidariedade africana e internacional existe ainda, para não citar o eloquente silêncio da organizações dos direitos humanos. As mãos de Sarkozy, Cameron, Obama & CO estão cheias de sangue dos civis inocentes que morreram em toda a Líbia. Nos dois países (Costa do Marfim e Líbia) as mortes continuam, porque os governos impostos com a força das armas não resolvem problemas que necessitam de diálogo e política desinteressada, senão no bem estar do povo de referência. Quem pode levar o Sr. Sarkozy diante de um juiz do Tribunal Penal Internacional?

UM MUNDO TRISTE E PERDIDO. Morrem milhares de civis em bombardeamentos indiscriminados em cidades e/o centros altamente habitados e nenhuma organização internacional diz nada. Nem mesmo os famosos defensores dos direitos humanos exprimiram o mínimo da perplexidade. O mundo actual, recto segundo a pax americana em debandada, recto segundo a PAZ DE BARACK HUSSEIM OBAMA, homem que todos esperavam ser o agente da mudança do nosso século, este mundo corre verso o abismo. Tarde ou cedo alguém usará a bomba suja, e se acontecer será o caos.

III GUERRA MUNDIAL. A minha tristeza não tem limites, e me sinto fraco, como fraco sou, débil, como são os países desorganizados que como ovelhas esperam a própria vez, na ordem de destruição. Para as multinacionais é fácil começar uma guerra em qualquer país do mundo, basta armar os descontentados, usar as organizações dos direitos humanos para sujar os regimes no poder, manipolar a informação das grandes redes internacionais e tudo é feito. Cfr. Líbia, agora Síria - entrando numa guerra civil, mais além o Irão, o próxima da lista. O que dizer? "Não sei como será a terceira guerra mundial, mas sei como será a quarta: com pedras e paus. " ( Albert Einstein )

Nos próximos dias veremos crescer a escalation contra o Irão, e ninguém dirá nada. Estamos entregues a bicharada, e neste ritmo podemos crer que tempos terríveis chegarão se quem pode nada fizer. Cada um faça o que pode, porque fazer o que podemos é fazer o que devemos. Informar, participar nas mobilizações internacionais (Ex. 15 de Outubro), re-compactar o Movimento dos países não alinhados, repensar a União Africana, a SADEC, etc. E' tempo de agir, basta com as argumentações sem fim.

=> O MUNDO ACTUAL: “Guerra é paz, liberdade é escravidão, ignorância é força”.. . Acorda!

Francis/PAC

 

The Millennium Villages Project is working well - How achive the development goals in rural Africa?

The project is not throwing 'gazillions' of dollars at poverty, and evaluation is based on rigorous measurement, detailed comparisons with other sites, and peer-reviewed science

UK chancellor George Osborne and Jeffrey Sachs inspect maize crops in Ruhiira, Uganda, which is part of the Millennium Villages Project. Photograph: Stuart Price/AFP

The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is a systematic approach to achieving the millennium development goals in rural Africa. The model is community-led development with simultaneous, integrated, science-based interventions in five main areas: agriculture, education, health, infrastructure (roads, power, water, sanitation, connectivity), and business development. The project's bottom line is to achieve the MDGs in the millennium village sites in ways that are rigorously documented, replicable and scalable.

When we began the project, we knew that randomised trials would not be the appropriate methodology for evaluating it's impact. Our focus was, and is, on designing operational systems across many sectors to achieve the eight MDGs, a task that is far more complex than can be addressed in a standard clinical trial. Systems design in a complex setting is based on local context, learning by doing, community participation, and a high degree of technical innovation – especially using information and communication technology tools. Designing such systems is quite different from testing a new drug or a new bednet, neither of which is the point of the project or its main contribution to achieving the MDGs.

Of course, the MVP is based on rigorous measurement, detailed comparison of the villages with other sites, and peer-reviewed science. It is just not framed as a simple randomised trial among a few "arms" of an experiment. Rather, we document the methods of advancing the MDGs, measure budgetary needs with care, and create a portfolio of online tools for replicability and scalability of the successes. The approach is enormously successful. The millennium villages are making rapid progress towards the MDGs, much faster than in the countries at large, and in a manner that is leading to massive imitation, replication and scaling.

An approach like this is rigorous and adaptive. Course corrections are informed by real-time information on working models – for example, on the design and management of community-based health systems. The questions that the project and the communities have together identified and addressed are about human resources, systems management, information flows, community participation and empowerment, and, of course, results. Our methods are quantitative and peer-reviewed (you can find a full list of scientific publications stemming from the MVP here).

There are very few studies like ours that take as their end point the success of the MDGs in real time and with carefully monitored budgets. That's the bottom line that should be of interest to readers of the Guardian. The questions we hope the informed reader would want to hear answered are: what are the key pathways of progress towards the MDGs, how much do they cost, and how can they be replicated and scaled up?

The inputs and outputs of the project are all carefully measured. The budgetary costs are studied. Contrary to the loose talk of critics, this project is not throwing "gazillions" of dollars at poverty. The project spent $60 on each villager every year between 2006 and 2011 to build the capital of the community. That prompted further contributions from the government itself and in-kind contributions from the community. This is a replicable and scalable budget model, well within the official development assistance amounts donors have long promised. It's nonsense to suggest otherwise, or to change the game now this amount has been shown to work so powerfully.

The systems the Millennium Villages Project are building and working to expand will continue to be improved and upgraded along the way, and we will follow the challenges and successes of our colleagues in the villages for much longer. Our critics are quick to point out how we should be doing this or that better, but they do not offer concrete alternative models for achieving the MDGs. We wish they would. When improved methods of service delivery come along, the project is very keen to take on those lessons and ideas.

We are eager to join forces with others working practically, holistically and successfully to achieve the goals. We are developing new tools, notably tools based on new information and communications technologies, while harnessing cutting-edge advances in agriculture, health and infrastructure systems (for instance, solar power).

We want to hear from others in the same line of activity. If you have interesting and promising results, please get in touch by emailing: mvp@ei.columbia.edu.

Republic of Angola: Kambambe Hydroelectric Dam Fully Operating By 2012

Luanda — Kambambe Hydroelectric Dam, located in Kwanza Norte province, with an installed capacity of 180 megawatts, will start its operation in full from October 2012.

This information was released, Wednesday in Luanda by the administrator of the production area of the National Electricity Company, José Carlos Neves, during the "Informative Morning" programme of the Radio Nacional de Angola (RNA).

The Kambambe Dam, according to the official, is benefiting from rehabilitation and modernization of two units, which is the replacement of major instruments of supervision and control of the venture, which has reduced its production by 50 percent of installed capacity.

He stressed that the project aims to ensure greater operational capability and availability of the dam, whose completion is scheduled for October 2012.

"With full operation of the hydroelectric dam it can be improved the power supply to Luanda and other regions of the country," he said.

Via | Agency | Angop

Republic of Angola Signs Agreement To Use Mine Detecting Dogs - Director Leonardo Severino Sapalo

LUANDA, Oct 13 - Angola's National Institute of Demining (INAD) has signed an agreement with two organisations from the United States and Europe to obtain technical assistance to introduce the use of mine detecting dogs in this country.
The accord was signed by INAD Director Leonardo Severino Sapalo, Perry Franklin, the chairman of Marshall Legacy Institute, a non-profit organisation from the US, and Nermin Hadzimujagic, director of the Mine Detection Dog Centre for Southeast Europe (MDDC), an institution of the Bosnia-Herzegovina government.
The main purpose of the accord is to provide INAD technical assistance for the development of skills of mine detection dogs.
Under the agreement, INAD will build 12 kennels for the Viana demining school here and secure training and accreditation for local trainers of mine detection dogs as part of efforts to speed up demining operations in Angola, one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, a legacy of its 27-year civil war which only ended in 2002.
The MDDC will supply two professional teams of dogs for detection of landmines to work in Angola for two months, under INAD's demining operations while the MLI will operate as programme co-ordinator and help INAD choose a programme manager in the country.
Franklin said the MLI had so far supplied 165 explosive detecting dogs to various countries of the world. The Marshall Legacy Institute is a non-profit organisation which provides resources and training as well as landmine detection dogs to affected countries.
The MDDC in Borci, near Konjic, was founded with help from the international community, and has been active since early 2003 as a response to the increasing needs for enhancement in demining methods in the Eastern Europe region. Its activities have recently spread to other parts of the world as well.

Via | Agency