After a strange week of battling between Trafigura's lawyers from the firm Carter-Ruck and The Guardian, and a week of terrible publicity for the company, Trafigura finally gave in and said the preliminary report could be made public.

The draft study contains details of waste dumped in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in 2006 - and evidence of its chemical components, and their potential effect.

The injunction banned The Guardian from reproducing or reporting the Minton Report which was already available on Wikileaks.org and the Norwegian media (maybe elsewhere, too). The order was obtained by lawyers Carter-Ruck on behalf of its client Trafigura.

“No newspaper can reveal the contents of this report, but at least we can now say that it exists and has been rendered secret. The option of ‘publishing and be damned' is not available.” [The Guardian, 14.10.09]

But until last week no-one, except those it involved, knew that the injunction existed and that The Guardian could not report the order. Why? It's one of many existing secret injunctions, which not only ban reporting a story but also the existence of the ban itself.

The only reason we know about it now, is because of one British member of parliament (MP), Paul Farrelly. As Private Eye, a UK magazine famous for its investigative journalism and its disdain for Carter-Ruck, a leading media libel litigation firm, said this week on its website, Farrelly's “intention was to test this conspiracy of silence [i.e. secret 'super injunctions'] by asking questions about it in Parliament”.

How? Because MPs are protected under the Bill of Rights of 1689, which declares that “freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any place or court outside Parliament.”

Therefore an MP's comments can be published without fear of legal action (a fuller history at this link). But The Guardian knew that to reproduce Paul Farrelly's question (below, tabled in Parliament, see point ii.) would contravene the existing order. So it contacted Carter-Ruck to see if they could change the terms of the injunction. “We were advised by Carter-Ruck that publication would place us in contempt of court,” stated The Guardian.

Carter-Ruck meanwhile maintained that The Guardian's account was ‘misleading'. Its full statement can be found at this PDF link. The lawyers acting on behalf of Trafigura said they would take further instructions from their clients, but The Guardian published its article first.

A very comprehensive account of the extraordinary activity online can be found on the Online Journalism Blog but to sum it up:

• After the Guardian posted an account stating that it was not able to report a Parliamentary question that was publicly available without mentioning any details at all, an online frenzy whipped up, with several bloggers working out what the question in question was. The notion that journalists could not report Parliament shocked readers of The Guardian's article - both its critics and fans.
• Twitter users and blogs willfully ignored the injunction - if its possible to ignore a secret injunction - and passed on links and keywords connecting Trafigura and Carter-Ruck to Paul Farrelly's question, and even the Minton Report. At one point, for example, #Trafigura was the top trending topic on Twitter - globally.
• So although the Guardian had still not reported the question or broken the terms of the Order, all the information contained in Farrelly's question was out there. The Guardian intended to go to court to fight the Order, but Carter-Ruck said it would no longer try to prevent his publication reporting MP Paul Farrelly’s parliamentary question about Trafigura. “The parties have now agreed to an amendment to the existing Order so as to reflect that,” Carter-Ruck reported in its statement.
• The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger, who tweeted sporadic updates, said the firm had “caved-in” and the paper finally reported Farrelly's question. The Guardian, and other mainstream media, praised social media for its role in applying pressure throughout the day.

Simply put - whether defiant online users were the reason Carter-Ruck agreed to vary the order or not - Paul Farrelly's question could not be suppressed online. And what's more, thousands of people who had never heard of Trafigura now knew its name and its connection to a toxic waste scandal.

Then, later in the week  Carter-Ruck suggested debate could be blocked in Parliament by claiming that the secret injunction it had obtained is “sub judice,” ie. in active legal proceedings. If proved, it would prohibit any motion, debate or question concerning the matters going ahead, under Westminster rules.

A day later the Minton Report injunction was lifted in the British press.

Before, journalists could only say it existed, nothing more. And that's what was really controversial here.

Because the report is all to do with the dumping of waste in West Africa.

For background on the waste dump in the Côte d'Ivoire in 2006 please read this commentary on Journalism.co.uk: ‘The journalist and NGO collaboration to expose Ivory Coast toxic waste dump'. For more detailed information on events themselves, visit The Guardian's section on Trafigura and the Probo Koala.

Further information on the Trafigura-Guardian story can be found in the Journalism.co.uk blog updates at this link.

Firstly, the use of new media for which the President’s administration has become renowned has allowed ordinary citizens globally to interact with the President during his visit. Metaplace explained that they will hold a “global conversation” during and after his speech:

On Saturday, July 11, a global conversation will push definitions of citizenship by demonstrating how new technologies enable global civic participation. Citizens from numerous countries will meet together in virtual worlds to collectively watch a speech from President Obama, view Twitter feedback on his talk, and a join in discussion with musician and activist D.N.A. (Derrick Ashong), Ambassador Kenton Keith and African historian Professor Tim Burke.

President Obama will speak to a live audience in Ghana, Africa. The White House is using a Twitter feed which will enable individuals from around the world to participate in the conversation and share their thoughts with President Obama.

This event provides a public sphere for people to come together as citizens sharing independent views which in turn shape the political institutions of society. These conversations, literally hosted in a virtual physical space, are essential for the marketplace of ideas in our globalizing society.

Second Life Africa also discussed the Obama administration’s use of new technology:

Since entering the White House in January, the Obama administration has made use of a myriad of social networking and Internet communications tools, such as blogs, the YouTube video service and Twitter, to interact with the public. Come Saturday, you can add a virtual world appearance to the list.

Vanguard NGR explained the White House’s invitation to SMS President Obama during his visit.

The White House has set up SMS codes to allow people across Africa to send “words of welcome” via text message to Obama during his visit. Obama has already received thousands of messages, and plans to answer several of the questions sent to him, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported yesterday.

Second Life explained that Uthango Social Investments members took up the invitation to SMS the President shortly before his visit:

Uthango team members participated in the text message invitation and sent the following question to the President on the 8th of July – “Mr. President, What role could African civil society organisations play to further investment and responsible development?” implying that ‘Africans are responsible for Africa’. A day later, his comments ahead of the Ghana visit were therefore music to our ears: ‘Ultimately, I’m a big believer that Africans are responsible for Africa. I think part of what’s hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we’ve made excuses about corruption or poor governance, that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism – I’m not a big believer in excuses.

Naturally, “Why Ghana?” dominated bloggers’ discussions. Kukah suggested that Ghana was simply being used to further US interests across Africa:

I am not downplaying the significance of this momentous event. However, I believe that this visit is for Africa and President Obama will not only speak to Ghanaians but merely use Ghana as a platform to address Africa by laying down where he wishes to take the US.

Jamii Forums quoted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on the purpose:

This is both a special and an important visit for him personally as president but also for our country to articulate a vision for Africa.

Kukah suggested that the US ought to hold its own players in Africa to account much as the President would expect African leaders to account to their people:

I expect that President Obama will politely but firmly speak directly to the leaders of Africa, calling for an end to corruption and the need for an equitable distribution and allocation of the continent's resources. He will call for an end to violence and the need for Africans to hold their leaders accountable and responsible. These may be nice sound bites. The real challenge is that, as he may realize, Africans have heard all this before. What they are yet to see is a clear signal from the US and the international community that they are truly committed to helping Africa. For, to do this, they must be ready to expose their multinational corporations and other corporate crooks (e.g. Halliburton), the sponsors of strife and violence in Africa in the course of the exploitation of mineral resources and the need to energise and support civil society groups…

And what happened?

At Huffington Post, Larry Diamond described the content, significance and tone of President Obama’s speech in Accra:

In his historic speech to Ghana’s parliament today, President Barack Obama put democracy and good governance at the front and center of Africa’s future and America’s hope for it. That is just where it needs to be. Obama could not have been more eloquent or forthright in identifying bad governance—corruption, lawlessness, abuse of human rights, and purely superficial deference to democratic norms—as the bane of Africa’s quest for development and dignity.

Of course, the point was forcefully made from the start in Obama’s choice of Ghana in his visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president. Ghana is not immune from the ills of corruption and misuse of power that plague the continent, but among the continent’s sizeable countries, it has gone the furthest in achieiving a reasonably liberal democracy, with repeated free and fair elections, media freedom, a pluralistic civil society, and responsible governance. And it has generated significant new flows of international development assistance (and to some extent investment) as a result.

The Accra speech was historic in a number of respects. No American president has ever spoken so candidly on African soil about the real roots of Africa’s development malaise, which lie in the “big man” syndrome of patronage-drenched ethnic politics, contempt for the role of law, and wanton abuse of human rights. Perhaps only an American president whose African grandfather felt the brunt of racist European imperialsm could say to Africa as frankly as Obama did that—more than half a century after decolonization—the core problem is not the colonial legacy but what Africans themselves have done and filed to do with thye hopes and dreams they carried into depdenence.

At Political Articles blog Prof. Richard Joseph clearly explained why Ghana was the perfect platform from which to champion good governance:

The country has witnessed five successive elections since its return to multiparty democracy in 1992. In 2006 the United States rewarded Ghana for its progress with a $547 million Millennium Challenge Account grant for capacity building — an initiative of the administration of President George W. Bush

The December 2008 national elections were hotly contested and ended in a confusion of lawsuits, the boycott of a run-off vote in one constituency and accusations of fraud and other irregularities. But when the defeated presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo of the governing New Patriotic Party, conceded to John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress after losing by a sliver (0.46 percent) of the popular vote, Ghana was spared the trauma of the post-election upheavals we have seen in recent years in Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

He noted that, while enjoying almost two decades of political stability, Ghana still faces challenges on electoral and governance fronts:

In last December’s election, the virulence of party campaigns, deepening ethnic-bloc voting and the mobilization of vigilantes showed that Ghana has not yet crossed the frontier to intimidation-free electoral politics.

In government, a bloated executive dominates and marginalizes parliament and the judiciary, and financial self-dealing among governing elites is again rampant. The prospect of oil revenue highlights the urgent need for improved and transparent systems of economic management.

As expected, the speculation over “Why not Nigeria or Kenya? And why now?” raged around the world, particularly across Africa:

Of the decision to visit Ghana and not Kenya, The Ethiopian Review blog quoted Jonathan Clayton and Tristan McConnell of the Times Online who put it bluntly:

…he is not letting emotions rule his head.”

The Kenyan Government and its notoriously corrupt and quarrelsome ministers are not happy. On the other side of the continent in West Africa, however, Ghanaians are jubilant that America’s first black President has chosen their country for what they see as his first real visit to Africa, dismissing his recent speech in Cairo as a staged event for the Middle East.

Kenya has been left to ponder what might have been. Kenya’s elite whispered of preferential trade and investment deals, increased business opportunities and an image-boosting first visit to their country by an incumbent US president. Instead, relations have deteriorated, with Kenya receiving regular dressing-downs for its failure to follow reforms recommended by an international inquiry into a flawed poll in 2007, which led to the deaths of about 1,500 people in post-election violence.

The article continues:

He will be the third consecutive US President to visit Ghana, which has just had a peaceful transfer of power after a close presidential election. In contrast, the Kenyan crisis has its roots in decades of high-level graft, mismanagement and exploitation of tribal tensions. President Obama has made it clear that historical ties count for little compared with his aim of encouraging political reform and rewarding good governance, democracy and accountability.

Kenyan citizen and chef by trade, Mr Charles Analo, expressed his feelings in the same post:

Everyone expected him to come to Kenya first. Now our politicians are feeling ashamed that he is not coming.

At The National Post Blog Araminta Wordsworth quoted various sources and the reactions including The Nation Daily in Kenya which suggests that this rebuff is not unexpected:

It is the view of every Kenyan, who is appalled by the inertia in government. Few things have been done to redress the past wrongs’” the paper said, suggesting that Kenya’s uneasy coalition government deserved the rebuff after post-election unrest last year.

Safari notes asks if Kenyan leaders are listening:

By not coming to Kenya, Obama is simply trying to send a message and get Kenyan leaders to move their country in the right direction. And the message is for all of Africa: the continent needs clean leaders and good governance. “…..if you talk to people on the ground in Africa, certainly in Kenya, they will say that part of the issue here is the institutions aren’t working for ordinary people and so governance is a vital concern that has to be addressed.” Are Kenyan leaders listening?

On why not Nigeria:

When the White House announced two months ago that President Obama would visit Ghana this week, Nigerians read a different, glaring message between the lines: The American leader was not going to their country …

That Obama also is not visiting about 50 other African nations seems beside the point. Here in Africa’s self-enthroned behemoth, Obama’s sojourn to small but stable Ghana has spawned an outpouring of soul-searching and self-flagellation about Nigeria’s image and dubious democracy.

Why would Obama want to come to Nigeria? To lend credence to the putrefying edifice that the nation has largely become?’ one writer asked in the Guardian newspaper. Wole Soyinka, a Nobel prize-winning writer, said he would ‘stone’ Obama if he legitimized Nigeria by visiting.

Kukah discusses the Nigerians’ reactions:

Since the news of President Barack Obama's planned trip to Ghana en route from Russia became public, some Nigerians have been acting like a jilted wife on the matrimonial calendar in a polygamous household.

As a measure of the seriousness of those who hold these views, which other country has reacted in the rather garrulous manner that some Nigerians have reacted to a routine state visit such as this? Are the Kenyans who can lay claim to Mr. Obama sulking, whining and pinning in the way these Nigerians are doing that he did not come home first? They had bad elections and a near civil war, but are they wallowing in self pity? If President Obama had chosen to visit Nigeria, would Ghanaians have shown this narrow mindedness or jealousy in their interpretation of his motive? Is President Obama the world's electoral Pope who is going around rewarding and punishing election defaulters?

Davis Ajao counters, from several angles, the common argument among Nigerians that their nation ought to have been President Obama’s first stop in sub-Saharan Africa:

Some Nigerians hold the view that Nigeria deserves to be the first sub-Saharan African country Obama visits as President. Such views are anchored on the illusion that Nigeria is presently Africa’s super-power. A Nigerian interviewed by the BBC World Service consoled himself by saying: “When it’s time to visit a super-power, he will… Now is the time to visit a sub-power and that’s why he is visiting a sub-power”.  The cheek of it!

Oil: Oil is strategic to the US economy. Some believe Nigeria being a major exporter of oil to the USA, should be considered above Ghana. Last time I checked, Angola had become the largest exporter of oil from sub-saharan Africa. That implies that Angola can easily take over from Nigeria with the US oil business.

Economy: Nigeria’s economy is a major one in Africa, but it is not the largest. If the size of economy was what mattered most, South Africa should be making the loudest noise but I have not heard a complaint from South Africa.

Super power: I ask myself, “What super power?” I grew up hearing a certain cliché about Nigeria being “the giant of Africa”. I believe that was in the past. If there was any African super power, it would be South Africa. Aside it large economy, military might, technology and better general living conditions, South Africa is globally recognised as one of the emerging countries in the same league as Brazil, Mexico, India and China.

African support: Some one interviewed by the BBC about this issue made a point about the amount of moral support from Nigerians during the American elections in 2008. This is mainly an emotional point. If any country would qualify using this criteria, it would Kenya! The world media descended on Kenya during the US Presidential elections and were there to cover the jubilation when Obama was declared winner since Barack Obama’s father was Kenyan.

The bottom line is simple: The President of  the United States is at liberty to decide which countries to visit or not to visit, and in what order he visits them.

Araminta Wordsworth quotes the President of the Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, on the choice of Ghana:

President Laurent Gbagbo [paid] tribute to Ghana, with the former Gold Coast sometimes seen as a regional English-speaking ‘twin’ of the Francophone country, because of its geography and economy. ‘It’s not just chance’ that Obama chose Ghana, which has come through tests to be “stable and democratic,’ said Gbagbo, whose nation is still seeking the way out of a civil war that split the nation in two from October 2002.

And there is the question of oil and transparency. Jonathan Wallace explained what Ghana has been doing to avoid the “tired and tragic narrative” that plagues other developing, oil-producing nations:

Ghana's discovery of oil in 2007 in the large Jubilee field in the Gulf of Guinea, has raised concerns that this well-governed though still fairly undeveloped country may follow the same tragic path as Angola, Chad, and Nigeria. Oil wealth in these states has led to corruption, increased poverty, violence, the desertion of indigenous industry outside of energy, and declining living standard for all but a few well-connected elites.

Ghana is well aware of this trap and has been looking to set up institutions to avoid the so-called “resource curse.” Impressively, these efforts span presidential administrations and political parties in Ghana, but there is much more to be done.

Obama was right to choose Ghana for his first true African visit. Instead of visiting his father's native Kenya, or oil behemoth Nigeria, President Obama will recognize that good governance can flourish in Africa and be a model for other nations. Hopefully, he will remind the Ghanaian policy makers that transparency is the best method to ensure broadly shared prosperity, and that it becomes especially important with the added blessing and burden of oil wealth.

Mr Stephane Bollang of Afrik quotes CEO of Gold Star Resources (Canada), Mr Patrick Morris as saying,

U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Ghana on July 10th-11th is a subtle White House oil strategy to secure another source of energy on the continent of Africa

Mr Bollang explains that the choice to visit Ghana is related to oil and other resources. The US intends to increase its consumption of oil from the western part of Africa, as a percentage of total consumption from Africa, by 10% from the current level of 15% to 25% by 2020:

The Energy department’s forecasts on oil supply, according to some, prove this point. By 2020, the United States would need an annual import of 770 million barrels of oil fom Africa, 25% of which is expected to come from the western region of the continent as against a current 15%. Others disagree with this as a motive for his choice of Ghana, saying that Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea would fit the bill better as they would continue to produce, relatively, more oil than Ghana. Nana Yaw Osei, a Ghanaian student believes that “Ghana stands to benefit from its oil exports as long as it deals with partners who are willing to do business in a transparent way.

A reserve of about 600 million barrels of oil was discovered in Ghana in 2007. Commercial operations are expected to begin next year with a daily production of 120, 000 barrels. This is not all. Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world, producing over 20% of the world’s cocoa beans. The western African country is also the second largest producer of gold (its former name was Gold Coast) and has huge deposits of industrial diamonds and bauxite (aluminum).

Permanent Red blog quotes Ann Garrison of SF Energy Policy Examiner who asks how Obama will advance mutually beneficial trade policies with Ghana and other African countries:

Ninety percent of U.S. Africa trade is in oil, gas, and mining industries. Much of the trade in these extractive industries has been exploit¬ative, bringing little value to those on whose land the resources lie. Ghana has discovered oil just in 2008. How will the Obama administration advance trade policy with Ghana and other African countries that are mutually beneficial?

A writer at BN Village asked:

Is this the real intention of Obama's visit to Ghana. To secure a military home in Afrika for the muderous American military to stir violence and wars on the continent and to puff their chest out at China and Russia who are all trying to secure the natural wealth of Afrika ?

Why do Ghanians not take a suspicious standpoint and instead see him as some God who would in some magical way improve the lives of Ghanians just because he is the American president whose father was Afrikan.

Kenyan blogger Gukira contemplates the multiple affiliations and identities being demanded of President Obama in his visit to Africa as the US President and someone who “embodies newly diasporic Africans”:

I wonder about that “we” that surrounds and haunts Obama’s trip to Ghana. The “we” with which we keep insisting he’s African. The “we” that creates a line between Ghana and the United States, that implicates him in Atlantic slave histories. The “we” that wants a kind of affect to overcome or intercede between differential structural positions—the “we” that wants him to forget he is the U.S. president on an official visit to Africa.

I also wonder about the “we” that Obama will construct and deploy while in Ghana. The “we” that will anticipate and negotiate the multiple “wes” being thrown at him. The “we” that will allow him to the implicit and explicit demands that he be pan-African, which has, in some incarnations, been highly critical of U.S. policies and politics. He will be asked to negotiate a “we” that demands he be “one of the people,” and that has specific demands on presence and etiquette (one man on TV already complained that Obama will not spend enough time in Ghana).

Obama will be navigating pasts and presents while forging presents and futures. If, as friends and I have been discussing, he embodies newly diasporic Africans, his trip also represents a set of ongoing navigations that will continue to affect Africa in ongoing, unfolding futures.

Finally, Kukah looks beyond the symbolism and ask:

Perhaps a more important question is, beyond the emotional and symbolic value, what difference will a Presidential visit make in the lives of ordinary people in the country?

Other blogs that were nominated in the Best African Weblog category are Being Brazen (South Africa), Appfrica, West Africa Wins Always (Cote d'Ivoire) and Scarlett Lion (Liberia).

Phillygirl got the good news from White African's twitter stream. In a post titled, International Bloggebrity Coming Thru, she celebrates the good news:

OMG! I think I won. The official site hasn't yet been updated (slackers!) but, I've had heaps of hits, a comment on yesterday's post congratulating me on my award and I found this on @whiteafrican's twitter stream:

Could it be true? So I sadly can't seem to access Twitter's search tool but I did do some browsing online and found it on the Gossip Rocks Forum too. I think it might be true. YAY.

Wow. Still in shock. This is truly awesome. And yeah, I know, I'm not really the best African Blogger, or even the best South African Blogger, but hell yeah, I'll take what I can get :) Welcome to all the new readers who'll be hitting my site for the first time after this award, you're why the win (and even just being a finalist) is important. Exposure. That's what it's all about … the awards I mean, not why I blog in general.
Wow. Still in shock. This is truly awesome. And yeah, I know, I'm not really the best African Blogger, or even the best South African Blogger, but hell yeah, I'll take what I can get :)

In another post, Choosing an award reward, she asks for suggestions on how to treat herself:

Wow, yesterday was quite an awesome day :) Am still amazed by the award. But am thrilled with the support it has brought … since mostly what I was expecting was a bit of a backlash about how can I be the Best African Blog blah blah. But I'm grateful not to have read any of those posts yet. The back of my mind (the part that is trying to kill me) is still waiting for them tho, the other shoe, so to speak. But for now, it seems that South African's can't help but be happy for a fellow South African :) I got a wonderful mention on SA Rocks and a featured headline article on BizCommunity.

Updated 09h02: And I just found there is also a mention on News24 :) A friend of mine msged me to congratulate me after she'd read about it there! Unbelievable :)

Now how to celebrate. Since I missed the awards ceremony (being in Texas and all), and there is no award other than the prestige and status (and kajillion million new first-time visitors), I figure I need to treat myself somehow. I mean say what you like, it's still a pretty momentous thing and I feel I need to do something to acknowledge it for myself. So, do I go ahead and get that personalised number plate I was thinking of a while back (I was sure I'd mentioned this before on the blog but can't for the life of me find the post to link to!)? Anyhoo, I've been pondering the number plate for a while: GLD2BGR L(impopo). But it's a 2 & half grand expenditure … for something I don't really need. I mean it'd be cool and all, but do you see my issue? And having just had a brief browse online, Plates.co.za is still refering to Limpopo as Northern Province (and they're R2500, which is where I got the price from before) but the government website says it's only R1500 for a Limpopo Personalised Plate. I dunno.

In Bits and Bobs she discusses the “media hype”:

Okay so it's been an amazing few days :) After yesterday's “media hype” (haha!) it just continues … I was asked to be the first guest Top 10 reader on The Digital Edge for Monday's new episode and I was interviewed by a newspaper!

Other good things that have happened: my unique site hits went over 1000 yesterday :) Today I expect it'll start going back to normal tho.

Should she go for a tattoo or a personalized number plate to celebrate?:

Oh, and in response to yesterday's post, I'm glad the majority of you seem to agree with me that a personalised number plate is a waste of money ;) Maybe I should finally get that tattoo I've been thinking about. I've always sort of wanted one, but could never decide on what (or where really). I like the idea of getting something meaningful, as I've mentioned before, and I've been thinking about the Glad to be a Girl logo. I designed it and it's now been a meaningful part of my life for a little over 2 years … hmmm, somehow two years doesn't seem significant enough yet … maybe I'll wait for the 5 year mark ;) Hahahahahaha. We'll see.

Of the 270 project proposals, the following five are most representative of the innovation, purpose and goodwill that Rising Voices aims to support.

Abidjan Blog Camps

Théophile Kouamouo has long been one of Francophone Africa's leading bloggers. Based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Kouamouo is one of the founders of the Ivoire Blog network and started the wildly successful meme “Why I Blog About Africa.” (Elia Varela Serra summarized many of the resulting responses in a two-part series on Global Voices.) Kouamouo is now trying to bring many more of his countrymen and women to the blogosphere by organizing a series of “blog camps” around Abidjan in which current Ivorian bloggers can discuss the issues affecting them and show new bloggers how to join their ranks. Kouamouo first proposed the idea on his blog back in August last year, which attracted a number of enthusiastic commenters supporting the idea. Blog Camps have a long history of attracting new citizens to the participatory net. A number of blog camps have taken place in India, including in Chennai in 2006 and, more recently, in Mumbai. Blogcamp CEE last October brought many new participants to the Russian-speaking blogosphere. For the most part, however, West Africa (and particularly Francophone West Africa) has been left out of the booming global blogosphere. That is starting to change. Panos West Africa, in partnership with Highway Africa and Global Voices, recently announced the winners of the Waxal - Blogging Africa Awards. Next year we can expect to find many more Ivorians on that list as Théophile Kouamouo sets out to organize a series of events that will bring dozens if not hundreds of Ivorians to the blogosphere. Abidjan Blog Camps will also promote more pan-African online interaction by teaming up with existing blog camp movements in Madagascar, Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius, and South Africa.

Ceasefire Liberia

Just west of Ivory Coast lies Liberia and its roughly 3.5 million inhabitants. Settled by free slaves from the United States in the early 19th century, Liberia fell into a 14-year dark period of civil war and lawlessness that concluded in late 2003 with the presence of ECOWAS and the United Nations. Today Liberia is slowly recovering despite inadequate infrastructure, unemployment at around 80%, and former combatants (many of them minors) who must be re-integrated into society. Many unemployed Liberians have put their hopes in friends and relatives living abroad in the United States. However, there is often a lack of communication and understanding between Liberians at home and those living in the diaspora. By partnering with African Refuge - a drop-in center for West African youth - and the Century Dance Complex in Park Hill, Staten Island (the largest Liberian community outside of Africa), and Amnesty International in Monrovia, freelance journalist Ruthie Ackerman aims to help foster a transatlantic Liberian blogging community.

Those Liberians who lived through the war — whether soldiers or not — experienced some type of trauma or displacement. By creating a community and sharing experiences with others, it has helped give these youth a purpose and vision that there is something larger than themselves. This will benefit the community (on both sides of the ocean) on many levels: Liberians, many of whom have difficulty adjusting to life in America, can reconnect with their families and dispel myths about what life is like in the U.S. There are also left-over tensions from the war, which may be able to be diffused through the dialogue created between the communities.

Real Experience of the Digital Era - China

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Shenyang, literally meaning “the city to the north of Shen River” and capital of the Liaoning province, is touting itself as China's “next tourist destination.” But whether you are visiting the ancient pagodas of Old City or the official “High-tech Industrial Development Zone” the tourist brochures won't mention the city's male and female sex workers who mostly come from poor rural communities in search of talked-up urban opportunities. In partnership with the Ai Zhi Yuan Zhu Center for Health and Education documentary filmmaker Wei Zhang will train male and female sex workers who use the AZYZ center how to maintain a blog and upload short video documentaries to share their experiences, opinions, and troubles in order to promote more understanding of the region's sex worker population.

Nomad Green - Mongolia

Environment officials from throughout Northeast Asia met in Ulaanbaatar this week for the first time to discuss climate change and how to enhance energy efficiency in the region. Mongolia's capital city was a fitting location for the meeting as the country's environmental deterioration has accelerated recently due to rapid urbanization, industrial growth, and increased coal consumption. Ulaanbaatar is frequently shrouded in a haze of thick pollution:

Desertification from climate change is threatening the livelihoods of nomadic Mongolian tribesmen and the country's saiga antelope was just named the most endangered antelope species in Asia. It is amid so much negative news that Portnoy Zheng, in collaboration with the Mongolian and Tibetan Foundation and the Mongolian Green Party, will train Mongolian citizens how to spread awareness - both at home and abroad - about their country's environmental crisis. Nomad Green aims to 1.) train citizen journalists how to use blogs, digital video, podcasts, and map mashups to report on environmental news, 2.) create a network and community of environmentalists sharing and spreading information about related threats, solutions, and opportunities, and 3.) translate content into Chinese and English to promote more regional and international cooperation in facing Mongolia's environmental challenges.

Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques - Yemen

With international coverage of the Middle East focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict, the war in Iraq, Iran's nuclear program, and the financial markets of the Persian Gulf States, little attention is given to one of the region's poorest countries, Yemen. The few spikes in media coverage of Yemen over the past few years are all related to fears of al-Qaida presence.

In collaboration with the Hand in Hand Initiative, Ghaida'a al-Absi will organize a new media training course for female politicians, activists, and human right workers in order to bring a new perspective to the Arabic-language blogosphere and to build an online network of Yemeni gender activists. It is fitting that today, on the 98th anniversary of International Women's Day, we announce al-Absi's initiative to bring more women's voices to the internet. The deteriorating status of women's rights in Yemen is frequently documented and discussed, but rarely do women themselves take part in those discussions. By reaching out to NGO's and political parties throughout Yemen al-Absi aims to change that.

Please join me in congratulating and welcoming the newest five grantee projects to our community.

Waxal (pronounced WA-HAL), which means “speak” in Wolof, captures the essence of the evolution of the worlwide web as a platform for conversation and for raising marginalized voices. The first edition of the award recognizes the use of new media by professional journalists in Africa and by African media organizations working to promote the production of alternative information and citizen expression.

After reviewing the submitted blogs, members of the jury awarded four prizes corresponding to the three categories announced at the beginning of the contest and an additional special award of encouragement. The jury looked at blogs that illustrate good editorial line, quality of expression, interaction with users, originality, regular posts and a variety of format for content. 10 blogs have also attracted the attention of jury members.

The jury was made up of Dr. Lilian Ndangam, Cameroonian Media Professor based in Canada, Joel Phiri, Filmmaker and Multi-media expert from Zimbabwe and Fatou Jagne, Freedom of Expression and media expert. She is the Coordinator of Article 19 Africa. All jury members are bilingual.

And the winners are…

1. Best Journalist Blog (Francophone):
Cedric Kalonji from the Democratic Republic of Congo (he used to blog at www.congoblog.net blog). Cedric has been working for five years as a journalist for Radio Okapi:

I have been working for five years as a journalist for Radio Okapi (http://www.radiookapi.net) in Kinshasa. In 2005, I created a Blog on which I posted pictures and personal thoughts on ordinary daily life in Congo. More precisely, it all started in September 2005. At the time I was using a small digital camera that my mother had given me as a present. I posted my pictures and wrote captions to explain the content of the photos in more detail. (…) Very quickly I received comments and points of views from visitors, mainly from Congolese living abroad. At that time, there were very few pictures of Kinshasa on the Internet; this was a result of the 32 year-long dictatorship under Mobutu (…)I come from a country where most of the journalists are praising those in power, in order to receive protection and rewards. It is difficult, in that context, to be an independent journalist. You have to withstand strong criticisms and sometimes even threats. Thanks to the Internet, I can publish my articles without fearing the censorship that the ordinary newspapers are subject to. (…) My desire to share experiences of my daily life was driven by a deep need to express myself freely. Thanks to my Blog, I had the opportunity to develop a media of my own, and to talk freely on subjects that matter to me, without being censored. Nevertheless, I was and am very careful with my editorial line, and always take into account my own security.

He receives I million CFA Francs (about US$2,000).

2 - Best Journalist Blog (Anglophone):
Rosebell Kagumire, a journalist from Uganda. Rosebell works for the Independent newspaper. She blogs mostly about her job as a journalist:

I write mainly about my job as a journalist and also I comment on socio-political issues in Uganda and Africa mostly. I also write about opportunities that my colleagues can benefit from especially media related training. I write about conflict and the work I write in other media is always brought to feature on my blog. (…)Though very new my blog gives people my views about my life, my country and life generally (…)My interest in blogging is to express myself in sometimes ways that cannot be accepted in the media. I believe also it’s important for people and friend s to know my thought, principle and values which are all reflected in the different posts on my blog. I also think I can trigger discussion about many issues some of which I write about and others that are featured in the media for positive change. I get discussions going especially by posting my blog posts on facebook to share them with my colleagues. Through such discussion i get to know how the society views certain issues.

Rosebell receives 1 million CFA Francs (about US$ 2, 000).

3 – Best African Civil Society Organization’s Blog:
Lusaka Times, a news and discussion blog run by Zambians from around the world.

LT is an electronic news platform that allows all types of users to have an open discussion on the day to day current issues in Zambia. The idea that is powering Lusakatimes today was birthed in 1998 as a casual conversation between friends. In 1999, the idea was made manifest with the launch of Lusaka Information Dispatch. The project was funded by the Dutch IICD who provided seed capital for the equipment and operational costs for a limited duration. However, the operational model for Information Dispatch proved too difficult to sustain at the time. In 2002 Information Dispatch suspended its operation after key members quit the group. In January 2007, the site was re-launched under the new URL address called lusakatimes.com and a new operational model. Today Lusakatimes is run by a number of people distributed around the world, working in an open source type of structure, purely driven by hobby and ambition to provide Zambians around the world with current news content based on facts and not speculation. Our day to day news content comes from known Zambian sources like Zambia Daily-Mail, Times of Zambia, ZNBC and ZANIS. These are the giants whose shoulders we stand on. Our added value to the commodity called news is the speed with which we deliver it to our readers and the community, feeling and experience we have created around the news content on our website. Additionally, Lusakatimes also provides a platform for any Zambian who wants their article published, provided they take full ownership and responsibility of the content. The ability of our users to be able to read news and anonymously provide immediate feedback is something we have always highly valued from the Information Dispatch days. Lusakatimes.com was ranked as the most visited website in Zambia under traffic listing on Alex.

Lusaka Times receives 2 millions CFA Francs (about US$ 4, 000).

4. Special Panos Institute West Africa Prize for West Africa:
Israel Yoroba Guebo from Côte d’Ivoire. Israel receives 500 000 CFA Francs (about US$ 1, 000).

Below are blogs that received congratulations from the jury:

Category 1: Best French-speaking journalist’s blog (Non-hierarchical classification):
Edouard Tamba from Cameroun
Ramata Sore from Burkina Faso
Basile Niane from Senegal

Category 2 - Best English-speaking journalist’s blog (Non-hierarchical classification):
Emmanuel Onyango from Tanzania
Conrad Dube from Zimbabwe
Khaya Dlanga from South Africa.

Category 3 – Best African Civil Society Organization’s Blog (Non-hierarchical classification):
Penplusbytes' blog that covered 2008 elections in Ghana
REgul-Telco-Afrik from Senegal
20mai.net from Cameroon
Remastp News

Other blogs captured the attention of jury members individually, but were not unanimously selected for different reasons:

Remmy Nweke from Nigeria,
Martin Aihonnou from Benin
Nadine Kouamouo-Tchaptchet from Côte d’Ivoire
Vusi Gumede from South Africa
Khaya Dlanga from South Africa
Shashank Bengali from Kenya

The winners will receive their prizes at a special event in Dakar, Senegal on March 9th 2009.

• ITNewsAfrica is an independent media portal that aggregates technology and telecoms news relevant to Africa’s development. The blog produces regular technology reports and coverage of the biggest ICT news events of the day. Information on ITNewsAfrica is produced by its own editorial team as well as content partners.
• Erik Hersman blogs at White African. He is a web developer, co-founder of Ushahidi.com, a citizen media site documenting post-election violence in Kenya and a regular contributor to AfricanGadget.com. From time to time you can find information about startups and entrepreneurship in Africa on his blog, WhiteAfrican.com.
• Appfrica is a blog from Uganda, which is described as “an African developer / entrepreneur’s heaven.” The blog deal with a variety of topics related to African IT industry, features interviews with African entrepreneurs and looks at news trends in the mobile and web industry. The founder of Appfrica is Jonathan Gosier, a software developer, writer and social entrepreneur based in Kampala, Uganda.

Jonathan is also the founder of Afridex, a business information aggregator and professional database pulling data from across the web about African start-ups, established companies and foreign groups operating in the continent.

• Startup Ivoire is a new weblog that aims at reviewing and analysing web startups, web technologies and applications in Cote d’Ivoire , as well as tech/mobile products and services in Cote d’Ivoire. However, since the blog was set up in January, 2009, nothing has been posted yet.
• TechMasai monitors and reviews web 2.0 with special emphasis on Africa. The “About” page of TechMasai reads, “It is our mission to obsessively write about any technology start up we find exciting and interesting. We also aim to fill the gap left over by big media companies in relation to African web 2.0 which we view as not receiving the recognition they deserve.” Techmasai is run by Munashe Gumbonzvanda, an African blogger and entrepreneur based in Canada.

Timbuktu Chronicles
Emeka Okafor, the TED Africa Director blogs at Timbuktu Chronicles, which “seeks to spur dialogue in areas of entrepreneurship, technology and the scientific method as it impacts Africa.” Timbuktu Chronicles covers a wide range of technology related projects and initiatives in Africa.

• BandwidthBlog is a South African blog that covers startups in South Africa and other parts of the world. The blog is run by the South African blogger, Charl Norman.
• StartUpAfrica is a community project to stimulate technology entrepreneurship in Africa. The blog covers innovative technology solutions coming out of Africa and shares information on development programmes, investors, funding and mentoring programmes. StarUpAfrica is run by Ismail Dhorat.
• StartupsNigeria is a blog dedicated to reviewing and analysing web startups, web technologies, mobile products and applications in Nigeria, with the aim of connecting global web-savvy blogs and businesses with those in Nigeria. The blog features startups advice, tips and ideas for Nigerian web entrepreneurs. StartupsNigeria has an online community that provides opportunities for networking and discussion on the latest tech/mobile news and developments in the Web 2.0 industry in Nigeria. StartupsNigeria is authored by the Nigerian blogger, online media analyst and social entrepreneur, Loy Okezie.
• Afrigadget does not cover the typical high-tech startups but stories (in text and video) of low-tech African ingenuity and innovation.

Five blogs have been nominated in the Best African Weblog category:
Being Brazen: This is a blog from South Africa. The profile of the blogger reads:

Im a quirky, day dreaming, 20-something who believes in love, God, the power of words, having an open mind and that laughter is probably the best medicine. I dont like flying, over crowded places, standing in lines and most bugs.I stumble in stilettos. I write to stay sane.

Appfrica: A web portal for the latest news related to African innovation, education and entrepreneurship in technology.

Glad To Be a Girl: A South African blogger based in Johannesburg.

Her profile:

Sift through my insanity and revel in my genius! Modesty drips off me in buckets ;) Sarcasm is my weapon of choice. Christians, Muslims & Jews only believe in one more God than I do.

West Africa Wins Always: This is a blog by Pauline, a jounalist who has been living in Ivory Coast since 2003.

Last but not least is Scarlett Lion: She is a jounalist based in Liberia.

In her own words:

Photographer, writer, reporter. Going through life with an eye towards creating records and histories. Previously in Uganda, now in Liberia. This blog provides curiosities, cynicism, and commentary. And some photos.

Voting closes February 2 and the winners will be announced in March in Austin, Texas, USA at South by Southwest Interactive Festival.