Terrorism in Africa
Islam means patience, love, and togetherness. That's what the Koran says and the definition that is given by many Muslims when asked to give a little explanation of what the religion is about.
However, that definition is immediately called into question or disagreed with by the new global desire for violence and the desire of Islamic fanatics to kill innocent people to end their lives.
Islam is rapidly turning into a more violent religion than the unity and love they advocate. Umar Abdulmutallab, a failed suicide bomber, expressed his terrifying vision of a world run by radical Islamic hardliners in a string of online messages.
Frequently, the African continent is completely disregarded or undervalued. World leaders are cautioned not to undervalue Africans anymore after this 23-year-old terrorist managed to evade security measures and all of their detectors to board the aircraft to bomb Flight 253, which was traveling from Amsterdam to the United States.
Had his murderous plans been successful, Islamic extremists such as al-Qaeda would have boasted about it and plotted additional assaults.
It is now time for world leaders to concentrate more on Africa to prevent the usage of that continent as a safe haven for terrorists.
I believe that there will be a time when genuine Muslims and true followers of the Prophet Mohammed will openly speak against what their fanatic brothers are doing and try to do their best to end or reduce this unnecessary global violence, especially in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
Yves Leterme, Belgium's former prime minister, who is now deputy secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
On Wednesday, 25 November 2009, Belgium named the controversial Dutch-speaking conservative Yves Leterme as its prime minister, succeeding Herman Van Rompuy, who resigned to become the European Union's first president.
The 49-year-old Mr. Leterme, although he is held unpopular by many people in the French-speaking colony, got the job because he is the most popular politician in Belgium's majority party, the Flemish-speaking Christian Democrats.
Although Belgium is a relatively small country with 6 million Dutch speakers, 4 million French speakers, and 70 thousand German speakers, it is a country difficult to be governed because the people are not one.
This has caused much distress in the country in terms of politics, employment, and distribution of resources.
Leterme, as an intelligent politician, must be aware that a strong economy is not built on sand. His second coming to most Belgians does not mean anything, but what he is coming to do is what matters.
He has a big responsibility on his shoulders by creating more jobs for the Belgians because Belgium lacks jobs. Even before the severe economic recession hit America and Europe, Belgium was one of the leading Western European countries with few job opportunities.
However, comparing the country to other European countries, Belgium is one of the best countries to live in Europe in terms of the cost of living. Astonishingly, employers pay very well.
Another crisis that Leterme has to pay particular attention to is resolving internal tensions over how much autonomy to grant to the three regions of Wallonia, Brussels, and Flanders.
Dutch-speaking Flanders wants to avoid paying taxes that fund the poorer region of French-speaking Wallonia and seeks to expand its administrative powers.
But it has so far fallen short of demanding full independence, mostly for fear of losing its shared political control of Brussels, a majority French-speaking city located within Flanders.
The Belgians are watching him to tackle what they called (aggressive issues) affecting and dividing the country; else his second coming would be seen as meaningless.
Culture of disgrace in Africa
Some traditional values, such as female circumcision, polygamy, and other outdated customs handed over by ancestors to tribes, are doing more harm to Africa than good.
Female circumcision has caused more health hazards to females than ever imagined, but this old tradition of female genital mutilation is still widely practiced in many African countries.
Polygamy in royal households in Africa is another factor draining some of the African countries' financial resources. A couple of months ago, King Mswati III of Swaziland caused public outrage by sending his favorite wives on a globe-trotting shopping spree.
The royal ruler, despite the poverty of his people, used 7 million dollars of state money to send five of his thirteen wives and dozens of their aides to France, Italy, Dubai, and Taiwan on a secret shopping trip.
The Swaziland people are suffering, but they are smiling, even though it is a criminal offense to criticize the king's private life in their country. Campaigners have reacted angrily against the British government, which gives aid totaling 65 million pounds to the African country. Swaziland also receives about 235 million dollars from the US.
The king of Swaziland has a personal fortune of $240 million and also receives money from the national budget for the upkeep of his family, yet more than two-thirds of the country's 1.2 million population survives on less than fifty cents per day, and more than a quarter of the adult population suffers from HIV.
In a country like Swaziland, where education and health should be priorities, he spent $5 million on 20 armored Mercedes-Benz cars. A journalist from the Swaziland Solidarity Network told the British Times newspaper.
"They shout about Zimbabwe, but they keep quiet about what is happening in Swaziland, even though they are one of its biggest aid donors. They are wasting British taxpayers' money on this tyrant."
