Economy: July 2007 Archives

"Jobs in South Africa's footwear factories that were once considered permanent have turned casual since its government introduced free trade policies........."

BRUSSELS (IPS) - When European campaigners suggest that a free trade deal could harm the poor, they typically encounter a frosty reaction from civil servants in Brussels. Still, no one tries to muzzle them.

Yet when a Namibian trade analyst insinuated that the European Union was trying to browbeat southern African governments into signing an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) before they had a chance to analyse its consequences, he found himself out of a job.

Wallie Roux, a market researcher for the Namibian meat firm Meatco, spoke out against EPAs in a speech to the Labour Resource and Research Institute in April when he claimed the EU is trying to enter the Guinness Book of Records for the most rapidly negotiated trade agreement in history.

His remarks were reported in Namibian newspaper New Era on April 18. Meatco responded to his claim by suspending him on May 11.

HAVANA (IPS) - Like other Latin American countries, Cuba is focusing on the development of renewable energy sources. But unlike Brazil, a leader in biofuels, this Caribbean island nation has ruled out the production of ethanol fuel based on sugarcane, because of President Fidel Castro's opposition to using food crops to produce biofuel on a large scale.

BUJUMBURA (IPS) - Several months ago, residents of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, were struggling with disposal of household waste. The Municipal Technical Services (Services techniques municipaux, SETEMU) weren't able to deal with all the refuse -- and health conditions in the city were deteriorating.

Fast forward to June 2007, and matters have taken a turn for the better -- thanks to a waste management process imported from neighbouring Rwanda, and put into effect by the recently-created Association for Development and the Fight Against Poverty (Association pour le développement et la lutte contre la pauvreté, ADLP).

This organisation stepped forward after authorities decided to open the collection and treatment of household refuse to outside contractors, becoming the first privately-owned organisation to get involved in waste management in the city.

Alidi Hakizimana, a resident of the Nyakabiga community in the centre of Bujumbura -- where the ADLP is most extensively involved -- notes that health conditions "have clearly improved since the organisation took responsibility for waste" in the area.

But, ADLP doesn't only collect waste -- it also transforms it into fuel.