The first day of legislative and presidential voting in Namibia which is the size of
The first day of legislative and presidential voting in Namibia, which is the size of Britain and France combined but has a population of just 1.7 million, went off smoothly yesterday, despite internal tensions and President Sam Nujoma’s revision of the constitution last year to allow himself a third term in office.
In Mozambique, which has a population of more than 20 million, President Joaquim Chissano’s election for a second term seems certain, even though his Frelimo party’s majority in parliament is under threat. It sells more to its neighbours than it buys; the trade balance ratio between Nairobi and Kampala is 20 to 1.The Community replaces an earlier pact in November 1994. It will regulate tariffs and trade and facilitate the movement of goods and people across common borders. The treaty covers co-operation in investment and industrial and socio-economic development, and integration in areas such as agriculture, resources, tourism, wildlife, health, social and cultural activities and judicial affairs.The aim is to establish a customs union, a common market, a monetary union and ultimately a political federation embracing 80 million people.. Uganda and Tanzania oppose plans setting zero tariffs on imports, claiming Kenya would be the main beneficiary.But after 30 months of talks it was agreed to defer the issue.Of the three, Kenya’s economy is the strongest, with a relatively sound manufacturing sector and more advanced infrastructure. The day-long ceremony in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha was attended by Presidents Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania.
The secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity, Salim Salim, was also present.
The signing ceremony had been postponed twice before, in November 1998 and July this year, to give the three countries time to work on contentious provisions, mostly relating to trade. AFTER TWO failed attempts in the past year, the leaders of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania signed a framework agreement yesterday establishing the East African Community, which is intended to lead to a common market similar to that of the European Union. Yes, Dandong is linked into cyberspace and you can go online at the government-operated Wang Yuan (Net Garden) for about pounds 1.40 an hour. Despite official paranoia about the Internet, I had no difficulty reading about a further crackdown against the Falun Gong religious sect Dandong has truly joined the real world.. As I stopped to gawp, a severe- looking female sales assistant solemnly offered me a packet of a mysterious gel guaranteed to prolong my sexual pleasure.I muttered some excuse, and hurried off to e-mail my wife about the day’s adventures. Washed down with a large bottle of slightly fruity local beer (or Budweiser if you insist) a superb meal need cost you no more than pounds 2.50.Food and drink are not the only sensual delights Dandong has to offer.
Although there is no more surprising country than China, I was nevertheless astonished to find a new translation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in a Dandong bookshop, while the city’s main department store sells everything from exercise bikes to Cadbury’s chocolate – and it also has a sex counter.On view are packets of condoms emblazoned with lurid pictures of pouting blondes. The city is full of packed shops and restaurants and has a booming night life. In the Tang Ren bar in the centre of town the elegant manageress drinks Mexican beer out of the bottle as she watches a Mariah Carey video, while the Australia Beef restaurant is full of customers enjoying not barbies or Foster’s but delicious “Mongolian hotpot” – thinly sliced lamb (from New Zealand, according to the menu) boiled at the table with vegetables and noodles and dipped into a spicy soy sauce. He was referring to the poverty, regimentation and all-powerful personality cult of the late Great Leader Kim Il Sung and his son and successor, the Dear Leader Kim Jong Il.The similarity to the personality cult that surrounded Mao Tse-tung during the Cultural Revolution in China is striking, as is the poverty which is at least as much the result of the wilfully dogmatic policies of a single dictator as it is of failed harvests or international isolation.Down by the river there are plenty of Korean restaurants, serving kimchi or cabbage pickled in red peppers and garlic and other spicy dishes, but Dandong is essentially a Chinese city with Koreans making up less than 5 per cent of the population. The main sign of North Korean influence in Dandong itself consists of dozens of stalls selling North Korean stamps, which include not just gaudy folders of issues depicting the omnipresent Kims, but issues marking the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981 and her 21st birthday.North Korea has had to be pragmatic in its efforts to earn foreign exchange, and philatelists are among its main targets.The “hermit kingdom” on the south bank of the Yalu may be miserably poor, but most people in Dandong seem to be enjoying life too much to let that get them down. The obvious poverty of North Korea makes Chinese people all the more proud of the economic progress their country has made in recent years.”It’s a bit like our country in the old days,” said a Chinese tourism official who has visited North Korea on several occasions. Dandong is booming, with shops selling mink coats for pounds 1,300 – about nine times the Chinese monthly salary – while fellow communist North Korea is racked by famine and many people are forced to eat grass and bark.Although Chinese tourists can visit North Korea quite easily – a day trip costs about pounds 30 – the poorest country in East Asia is closed to Westerners, who have to make do with a trip in a speedboat to within a couple of hundred metres of the south bank of the Yalu or else a walk on the remains of a bridge that juts out towards the North Korean city of Shinuiju.The bridge across the Yalu, which was partly destroyed by the US Air Force during the Korean War, has recently been turned into a tourist attraction as well as a monument to imperialist aggression.Apart from the amusement park, factories and a small shipyard, there is not much to see from the bridge.
It’s so poor,” said a Chinese who has visited North Korea as a tourist.
The contrast with China could hardly be more dramatic. A DESERTED amusement park and a few dead-looking factories are all that can be seen on the North Korean side of the Yalu river when looking through a telescope from the thriving Chinese city of Dandong. For a country that claims to be “paradise on earth”, it’s hardly impressive
“They’re really hungry over there. Now they have admitted they were half-baked from the start, and are having to go back to scratch.”. What it suggests is that local authorities and the police have not been as vigorous as we thought they would and they said they would be in pursuing these orders.”
Where orders had been used, they had proved very effective, he insisted.
The Shadow home affairs spokesman David Lidington said: “This is calamity Jack at his very best They [the measures] were Tony Blair’s flagship crime policy. Breaking an order is a criminal offence.
But so far only a handful have been issued Mr Straw said: “It’s certainly not unworkable.
The civil orders, imposed by a court, are intended to prohibit disruptive individuals from indulging in anti-social behaviour, particularly on problem estates. we will give that very sympathetic consideration.”
He also agreed anti-social curfew orders aimed at “neighbours from hell” were also failing to have an impact because of a low take-up. The orders, available for 14 months, are supposed to allow authorities to ban troublemakers from the streets at night.
“It may be that we set the age for curfew orders too low at 10,” said Mr Straw. “We are now consulting local authorities and the police about whether it should be raised to 16, which is the age limit in Scotland … He will hail the first elections to the Scottish Parliament as the crucial turning point in the battle.. Jack Straw was accused of making a U-turn yesterday after he revealed he may increase the age limit from 10 to 16 for the controversial child curfew orders that place tearaway youngsters under house arrest, because the measures have been a flop. Jack Straw was accused of making a U-turn yesterday after he revealed he may increase the age limit from 10 to 16 for the controversial child curfew orders that place tearaway youngsters under house arrest, because the measures have been a flop.
The Home Secretary agreed there might be a problem with the design of child curfew orders None has been sought by a local authority or police force.
