As Johannesburg’s flagship Soccer City stadium seethed in a mass of yellow and brightly coloured flags on Friday afternoon, the hum of tens of thousands of vuvuzelas was suddenly overcome as Gripen Fighter jets burst overhead. Africa’s first Fifa World Cup was opening in spectacular fashion.

As the smoke cleared, five jets, their tails emblazed with the South African flag, sent the crowd’s excitement levels sky rocketing. The moment a nation had been counting down towards for more than six years had arrived.

“Fellow Africans, today we rewrite history. Because we have brought the World Cup to our soil,” cried out Zolani Mkhiva, the “Poet of Africa”. Mkhiva is the youngest practitioner of kubonga (praise singing), one of Africas oldest oral traditions.
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GFAA Co-President Ebrima Jeng says that the GFAA Father’s Day picnic is an event honoring the Gambian man.

The Gambians of metro Atlanta are a people who genuinely honor their fathers and mothers. Last month the Gambia Families Association of Atlanta (GFAA) had a series of special activities for Mother’s Day. This month, the GFAA will have a special event to pay tribute to Gambian fathers. That program will be a picnic 4:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 20th.

Why is the GFAA having this event? It’s going to be basically honoring the fathers and paying tribute to the Gambian man, GFAA Co-President Ebrima Jeng replies. We do the Mother’s Day program to honor the Gambian woman. Father’s Day is basically the same ­ honoring the Gambian man. We normally have a picnic for Gambian families on Father’s Day. So we gather all the mothers, the fathers and the kids together. The fathers buy presents for the kids and the mothers buy presents for the fathers.

Gambian women who had been having Mother’s Day celebrations suggested having similar events for Father’s Day. They decided they wanted to honor the fathers as the mothers are honored, Jeng explains. They wanted to show appreciation for the Gambian man as well. Gambian women bring food, cooked by them and by friends and family. Gambian men and women both participate in organizing the Father’s Day event.

There is no charge to be admitted to the GFAA Father’s Day picnic and anyone may attend it.  We’re inviting people from other African countries to join us and black Americans, too, Jeng states. It’s a social event that we invite everyone to join. There are no barriers based on race or ethnic background. Last year some people came with their white friends, Jeng elaborates. A woman came with her white husband and a man invited his white friends. If you have a friend you want to bring to the picnic, the friend could be Chinese or whatever, you can bring them. The Father’s Day picnic will take place at the Ben Hill Recreation Center that is located at 2405 Fairburn Rd. in Atlanta.

That residents in metro Atlanta who hail from The Gambia should contribute so strongly to the social life of this community is not surprising since Gambians are heirs to genuinely rich traditions. The Wikipedia states, Gambians are known for their excellent music, as well as their dancing. Although The Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, its culture is the product of very diverse influences. The national borders outline a narrow strip on either side of the River Gambia, a body of water that has played a vital part in the nation’s destiny and is known locally simply as ŒThe River.’ Without natural barriers, The Gambia has become home to most of the ethnic groups that are present throughout western Africa, especially those in Senegal. Europeans also figure prominently in the nation’s history because the River Gambia is navigable deep into the continent, a geographic feature that made this area one of the most profitable sites for the slave trade from the 15th through the 17th centuries. (It also made it strategic to the halt of this trade once it was outlawed in the 19th century.) African Americans might feel a special connection to this country since it plays a major role in a work that strikes a strong emotional chord with that community. The Wikipedia continues, Some of this history was popularized in the Alex Haley book and TV series Roots which was set in The Gambia.

Ebrima Jeng is proud of the country from which he comes. The Gambia is a very peaceful country, he says. The people are very, very nice people, very hospitable people. They always invite people from all over the world. The Gambia has people from all over the world because of its peacefulness and the hospitality that Gambian people have. A lot of people, Europeans and now Americans are going to visit The Gambia. Gambian people are very friendly. The waters, the beaches are very beautiful and we have beautiful hotels. What does Jeng think is most special about Gambians who live in metro Atlanta? They revere The Gambia, is his simple reply.

Why was the GFAA founded? We were able to realize that within Gambian families here, especially among the teenagers, there was a cultural gap, GFAA Co-President Sunni Joiner answers. These teenagers especially were suffering from what we call cultural alienation. That cultural alienation affected their relationships with their families, caused a lot of stress with their parents and a lot of stress for the teenagers themselves. We felt that this was an issue that we had to address in the community. Effectively, the game is to bring Gambian culture to our young people who are growing up in this country.

Joiner thinks that it is important to transmit Gambian culture because that culture has a strong tradition of respect between the generations. Within Gambian culture, there are a lot of attitudes that help young people to grow up well in terms of respect for their parents and respect for their partners, Joiner maintains. We have moral values that will help to shape the characters of young people with cultural advantages as they grow up.

Jeng states, The aims and objectives of the GFAA are to strengthen the Gambian family in the USA by teaching young Gambians their culture, tradition, values and education so they can be good members of the society and can help our people back home.

To learn more about the GFAA and its activities, email GFAA Secretary General Abdoulie Njie at lekbi@hotmail.com.

There is growing alarm among Kenyan farmers about a government announcement that 2.3m bags of maize were unfit for human consumption. Health experts say the maize contained high levels of lethal aflatoxins, which have killed at least one child. The government has pledged to buy and destroy the contaminated maize. The crop was harvested in the drought- and famine-prone Eastern Province and went bad because farmers lacked the appropriate storage facilities.

The east of Kenya is regularly hit by drought and food shortages. But heavy rains last year prompted a bumper harvest. Farmers were not expecting so much maize and did not know how to store it properly, our correspondent says.

Maize can be hit by a toxic fungus if it is not stored properly. There have reportedly been more cases of maize-related food poisoning in border regions.

An appeal by the son of Nigeria’s ex-ruler Sani Abacha against a court order to return $350m in illegally gained assets has begun in Switzerland. Abba Abacha was also convicted of being a member of a criminal organisation and given a suspended custodial sentence.

Switzerland began investigating the Abacha family in 1999 and has so far handed back about $700m to Nigeria.

Nigerian state lawyers believe Sani Abacha, who ruled from 1993 until his death in 1998, may have stolen $2.2bn.

The appeal started earlier this month at a court in Geneva, officials say. However, Swiss newspaper LeTemps reports that Mr Abacha, who is currently in Nigeria, would not be attending the hearing. He was refused a visa to come to Switzerland because he did not apply for it in time, the newspaper says.

The Swiss authorities pursued Abba Abacha for six years before extraditing him from Germany in 2005. He was finally convicted by a court in Geneva in November 2009.

After 13 years on Zimbabwe’s death row, George Manyonga is still waiting to see his lawyer. He saw him once, briefly, the day before his trial, but since then he has been left on his own. He has lost his lawyer and now he is losing hope.

I’m paying a price for something I never committed, Manyonga says. If I had a lawyer throughout my trial, the judge would have understood my concerns and acquitted me.

Manyonga’s main concern during his trial in 1997 on charges of killing a security guard during a robbery was that a crucial piece of evidence – his identity card which was allegedly found at the scene of the crime – was never produced in court. After conviction I prepared on my own my appeal papers, he remembers. I tried to have a number of issues clarified, but no-one heard me.

It seems that being heard these days in Zimbabwe’s courts is a privilege of the rich. In theory, Zimbabwe does offer free legal representation to the poor. But in practise, the country’s economic problems have left the Legal Aid Clinic desperately short of money – and the poor desperately short on confidence that Zimbabwean justice can ever work for them.

Zimbabwe hanged its last convict in 2004 Yes, there have been complaints. Yes, there are still complaints that the service is poor, admits Charles Nyatanga, registrar at the High Court of Zimbabwe in the capital, Harare.

There is a danger of a wish-washy approach which results in them [lawyers] rendering poor quality service to the persons deserving legal representation. And there seem to be few more deserving than Manyonga. During his several years waiting for death, he speaks of festering for 23 hours a day in solitary confinement with a plastic bag for a toilet. My genitals bear the scars of torture, he claims.

Brian Crozier, legal ethics lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe Law School, believes lawyers have a duty of care to clients such as Manyonga. Lawyers have a monopoly over representing people in court and they cannot use that monopoly merely to make money, he says. They must provide the best possible defence they can, particularly if the person they are representing is facing the death penalty.

There are currently 50 such people in Harare – and the last person to be hanged in Zimbabwe was in 2004. But what can be done to help them if they have no money? Zimbabwe’s Attorney General Johannes Tomana acknowledges the poor are losing out, but believes lawyers are not necessarily philanthropists who enjoy giving their services for free.

Eleven militia members have been sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo for their part in an attack that left two UN staff dead. During the attack, in April in the town of Mbandaka, local militia overwhelmed UN and government troops and briefly seized the airport. The unrest followed clashes between two ethnic groups over fishing rights. Some 36 men were initially charged; four were acquitted and the rest were given prison terms.

The unrest in Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province, is separate from the violence involving numerous armed groups in eastern DR Congo, which has drawn the world’s biggest peacekeeping operation to the country. Mbandaka airport was retaken the day after the attack in a joint operation.

Some 3,500 refugees have crossed into northern Togo from Ghana, Togo’s security minister says. They are victims of ethnic conflict and land disputes in the northern part of Ghana, he said. The refugees started arriving last week and consist mainly of women, children and young people. Ghanaian refugees fleeing into northern Togo to escape unrest at home has become a regular occurrence in recent years. However, Ghana’s Information Minister John Tia sought to downplay the trouble. He told a regional news service that the violence occurred two weeks ago and that far fewer than 3,500 had fled their homes. He said some people were taking advantage of the offer of assistance from the UN in Togo.

Temporary shelter camps have been set up in Tandjouare in northern Togo.

After visiting the camp, Security Minister Colonel Mohammed Atcha Titikpina said:

We have come in the name of the government of Togo to express our sympathies and solidarity with our [Ghanaian] brothers and sisters. Our immediate task is to find the resources to provide these refugees with emergency relief supplies, security, feeding, clothing and temporary rehabilitation structures.

In 1994-95, land disputes in northern Ghana erupted into ethnic violence, resulting in the deaths of 1,000 people and the displacement of a further 150,000.

Nigeria’s police force carry out extrajudicial killings, torture in custody, and sexual assault against women, according to a study by a civil liberties group. The report claims that police openly parade suspects for the media, before executing them without trial.

The Open Society Justice Initiative’s study is the latest of a number of reports to severely criticise Nigeria’s police for brutality and corruption. The authorities have so far made no comment on the report. The group observed officers and suspects at 400 different police stations over two years. They say Nigeria’s police, in effect, get away with murder.

Police in Nigeria commit extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and extortion with relative impunity, the report says.

Nigeria Police Force personnel routinely carry out summary executions of persons accused or suspected of crime. [The police] rely on torture as a principal means of investigation; commit rape of both sexes, with a particular focus on sex workers; and engage in extortion at nearly every opportunity.

The study details cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. It also describes prostitutes being arrested and raped. One policeman is quoted saying: This is one of the fringe benefits attached to night patrol.

Sex workers on the streets of Lagos told a regional news service that the group’s report was accurate. They pick us, some of them beat us, they will go to third mainland bridge, they will beat us, rape us… They will make love with us without a condom, said one sex worker.

Sometimes they will search us and steal our money, and then drop us and run away. Other sex workers describe being attacked by men in police uniform – who appear to come from outside their local area. There are also accounts of women being forced to use sex to barter their way out of police custody.

In a country where bribes guarantee safety, those who cannot pay are at high risk. A culture of police impunity is widely criticised – officers are almost never prosecuted for violent crimes.

This is the first World Cup to be held on the continent of Africa and I think the African teams such as Ivory Coast, the host-nation, South Africa, and Ghana, all have a very good chance to shine. Ultimately the Ivory Coast is probably the strongest of the African nations with a number of English Premier League players at its disposal such as, Drogba and Kalou – who both play for Champions Chelsea – Kolo Toure, who plays for Man. City and his brother, Yaya Toure, who plays for Barcelona. Although the team is in an extremely difficult group – which many have called the group of death – with Portugal, Brazil and North Korea ­               I’d expect the Ivory Coast to do well provided the team make it through to the next round. However, I expect the main contenders for the World Cup to be Spain and Brazil. Spain is the current European Champions and has world class players throughout their ranks such as Torres, Villa, Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and goal keeper Casillas.

Brazil is the COPA America and Confederation Cup holders and their coach, Carlos Dunga, has the squad playing in a consistent, structured manner.  This systematic approach combined with the usual Brazilian flair make them extremely dangerous.  Their team includes star attacking players such as Kaka, Luis Fabiano, and Robinho as well as having a solid defense with three players from Inter Milan ­ who won the UEFA Champions League on Saturday last ­ including goal keeper, Julio Cesar, Maicon and Lucio.

Outside of those two, I believe England has a good chance. The team is in a relatively easy group and should qualify for the second round and progress from there depending on the draw.  Once a team can get to the quarter finals, it is possible to develop a good chemistry and get on a roll -anything can happen.  Ultimately however, I would say Brazil is my favourite to win the 2010 trophy, which would be their sixth title.

From a Central American perspective, I think Honduras can have a good tournament in their first World cup since 1982 given that they have players with a high level of experience.  Palacios ­ who had an exceptional season with Spurs – and Figueroa, who plays with Wigan Athletic in the Premier League, are two of the team’s stars. Honduras also qualified ahead of Mexico which demonstrates how capable they are.

In terms of player performances, I am really looking forward to watching the star players perform on the world stage. There is the class of Kaka and Maicon from Brazil, and the skill and pace of Torres, Villa and Xavi, from Spain. I also expect Wayne Rooney to have a great tournament provided he can overcome any fitness difficulties. It would be great to see the power of Didier Drogba come to the fore for the Ivory Coast ­ given that the tournament is being held in Africa.  Lionel Messi from Argentina should also be one of the shinning lights – this is perfect stage for his immense talents.

I believe the top goal scorer will come from one of the teams which make it to the final. Players from Spain ­ such as Torres and Villa, Brazil ­ Nilmar and Fabiano, and Rooney from England will be in the running.      Once again, the Italians will be one of the strongest defensive teams; they won the 2006 World Cup with this as their foundation – and there really seems to be something ingrained in their mentality that makes this component of their game so prominent.  This time around three of the back four from the winning side in the 2006 World Cup will be available again.  Keeper, Buffon, is still one of the most outstanding in that position in the world.  However, the lack of firepower upfront and creativity in midfield will prevent them from posing enough of a threat to be real contenders this time around.

Brazilian coach, Dunga, has brought a new structure to the team, making it one of the strongest in terms of defence.   Lucio and Maicon from Champions League winners, Inter Milan, are the standout defensive players for Brazil and ­ while they don’t have the tradition of the Italians in this department ­ they certainly have the pedigree. I also think Germany and England will be difficult to break down with both teams boasting a strong back line.

I am picking my Fantasy Football squad for the tournament beginning this week with the back line as follows: My pick for the goalkeeper position would be the Real Madrid stopper, Casillas, who has been Spain’s number one since he was 19 years old.  His experience and agility was a critical part of Spain’s European Championships victory in 2008.  As a back-up keeper Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon, would be an ideal replacement.

At the center back position would be Serbian, Nemanja Vidic who also plays for Manchester United, and Brazilian, Lucio Filomeno, who together would make a tremendous partnership.  Vidic has such a commanding presence and is an exceptional ball winner both on the ground and in the air.  He formed the cornerstone of a very good Serbian team which did not concede many goals and qualified ahead of France.   In fact, Serbia could be one of the dark horses in South Africa.  They may not be fancied by many because they’re not considered to be one of the glamorous nations but could pose a real threat if teams choose to take them lightly.  Lucio has the presence and guile one would expect from a Brazilian and is also an exceptional reader of the game.  There would not be too many attacking line-ups that would get much change from these two.

It would be difficult to look further than Chelsea and England’s Ashley Cole for the left back position.  He has had a fantastic season with Chelsea after returning from a broken ankle.  Despite having a turbulent time off the pitch, his attacking ability from left back provided Chelsea with the cutting edge on numerous occasions with Cole contributing a number of goals in the later stages of Chelsea’s Premier League campaign.  With England choosing not to utilize a natural left footer in mid-field, Cole’s contribution will be extremely important to their hopes in South Africa.

At right back, Douglas Maicon of Brazil and Inter Milan, has been hugely impressive for club and country.  Like his counterpart on the left, he brings attacking flair which is so important for full backs in the modern game. Maicon’s skill and ability would grace any World Cup as was demonstrated by his goal against Juventus in April this year.

If I could have two players to come off the bench, I would select Chelsea and Portugal’s star centre back, Ricardo Carvalho.  He was plagued by injuries during the season so could be fresh for Portugal.  He will need all of this freshness when he is confronted with his club mate, Drogba, in the pool match. In fact, Portugal versus the Ivory Coast is likely to be the decider game on who progresses from this pool with Brazil.

Many may be surprised by my final defensive choice in the squad. I really admire Arsenal and Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eboue. Eboue is one of the best attacking right full backs in the world now and gets himself in very good forward positions.  He can play a number of positions in a team and performed consistently at a high level throughout the second half of the season.

These players have the less glamorous job but the more critical one.  Cannavaro from Italy was undoubtedly the star of the 2006 World Cup and who is to say that the standout player for the 2010 World Cup won’t be a defender once again. If so, I suspect he will be one of the players from my Fantasy Football picks.

DAKAR, Senegal ‹ An outbreak of public infighting within Nigeria’s governing party this week has exposed how confused the country’s politics remain in the wake of the recent shaky transfer of power at the top, analysts contend.

The ruling People’s Democratic Party, or P.D.P., suspended 19 prominent members this week for challenging the party’s leadership over a lack of openness in selecting candidates for political office and for what one member called a total lack of internal democracy.

The squabble hints at the power struggles to come in advance of the wide-open 2011 presidential election. Factions in the all powerful P.D.P. are challenging the rule of the acting president, Goodluck Jonathan, who took over in February from President Umaru Yar’Adua, a northern Nigerian deemed too ill to rule by the National Assembly.

Mr. Jonathan, who is from the south, is resented by northerners who think his selection violates the practice of alternating between a northerner and a southerner for the presidency, a guiding rule of the country’s politics since the advent of democracy just over decade ago. Since Mr. Yar’Adua had not finished out his term, critics say it is unfair that a southerner now holds office.

The would-be reformers met in Abuja, the capital, this week to discuss overhauling the P.D.P., which dominates both branches of the country’s Parliament and the powerful state governorships, and has won every presidential election since the nation’s return to democracy. Shortly after the meeting, the dissident leaders learned they had been suspended from the party, said Ken Nnamani, former president of the Nigerian Senate.

Some of us are in a state of disbelief that party members trying to improve the party end up being suspended, Mr. Nnamani said. The party is not democratic itself, he said, adding, We believe you can’t give what you don’t have.

Analysts echoed the view that the party dominating political life in Nigeria was an imperfect dispenser of democracy. The P.D.P. itself lacks internal party democracy, said Kabiru Mato, a political scientist at the University of Abuja. They don’t subject themselves to electoral practices.

Motivating the movement for reform is discontent over the sway that the country’s state governors, over three-quarters of whom are in the P.D.P., hold over the loosely organized party. The dissidents contend that the state governors have become so powerful that they have overtaken the party machinery, a view echoed by some analysts.

They have their own network of patronage, Peter Lewis, director of African studies at Johns Hopkins University, said of the governors. They run independent fiefdoms.

Mr. Lewis said that the reformers and party establishment both wanted to preserve the party’s power, but he said the latter seemed intent on doing so through traditional means like manipulating elections and increasing patronage.

A spokesman for the P.D.P. said the dissidents had failed to abide by party rules in presenting their grievances. There is nothing wrong with anybody coming up with a proposal to improve the party, said Rufai Ahmed Alkali, the party’s national publicity secretary. But there are channels. This party is only going to operate according to the rules.

Mr. Alkali declined to comment on reports this week in Nigerian newspapers that the party’s national chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, was the subject of corruption charges brought by the country’s Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission in a federal court in Abuja on Wednesday.

The would-be reformers have not suggested giving up. But analysts were skeptical that their movement could change the P.D.P., given its immense patronage machine and well-established electoral machine.

This is simply a form of internal convulsion the party is undergoing, Mr. Mato said.