The recession and the economical slowdown is hurting the  African aviation sector at the most inconvenient time.

Just when it seemed that the sector was experiencing tremendous growth rates due to increased economical activity with the outside world, the recession made an abrupt end to it.

The growth motivated African avitaion to improve the quality, safety and service to provide the same standard as western carriers, due to increasing partnership with other non-African airline as well as the growing number of freight and passengers volumes. In early April European and African representatives have met to discuss the establishment of a common strategic framework for air transport safety (European Commission).

Early during the year in January African aviation traffic dropped by 2.6% according to the International Airline Transport Association (IATA).

Many African airlines are reducing capacity by cutting on routes from this year. Eritrean Airlines stopped flying from Asmara to Frankfurt (capitaleritrea), Air Namibia suspended flying to London, Air Senegal stopped operating at all and many other carriers took similar actions.

The near future does not look promising as demand for travel and freight is continuing to drop.

In addition IATA expressed concerns that the Swine Flu outbreak will further reduce demand when the timing could not be worse. The latest IATA statistics show that airline revenues declined by up to 20% for the month of March.

According to the WHO the swine flu epidemic has so far not broken out in Africa. There are no known cases of infected people on the continent. Given the poor medical infrastructure and a lacking response network on the continent, an outbreak in Africa could have devastating impact on the death toll and rate of infections linked to swine flu.

Luca’s grandfather was an Italian living for a while in Eritrea. When Luca was looking through the old belongings of his grandfather, he discovered a model of sunglasses from old times, which fascinated him. He had the idea to bring the elegance of Africa paired with the design of Italy into a newly merged model of  sunglasses. He went back to the original manufacturers to reproduce them and named  some designs after places in Eritrea, such as Asmara, Massawa and Keren. The collection of sunglasses and old pictures of his grandfather in Eritrea can be viewed on the brand’s homepage. The sunglasses are manufactured in Italy.

Abraham Tadesse the new comer from Eritrea made his first Marathon and finished the first place at the Zurich competition. The 27 year old Eritrean runs for the team LC Ulster. The second place went to Oleg Kulkow from Russia and Tesfaye Eticha from Ethiopia achieved the third rank. Read more:

World Bank head Robert Zoellick warns of a “human catastrophe” unless more is done to tackle the global economic crisis.

In a recent Wall Street Journal report,  Mr. Chernin (Board of Directors Fight against Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis) is explaining that the fight against Malaria has been a success story in countries such as Eritrea and other Horn of Africa nations. As Malaria is said to  cost 1.3% of the GDP to those countries who do not progress in the fight against the disease, it shows that it can pay out for a nation to invest in getting Malaria under control. The Wall Street Journal report highlights that it would be possible to eliminate Malaria completely from the earth, if governments and nations act swiftly. Read more from the Wall Street Journal Report.  In another news cast by Reuters  the Lutheran World Federation claims that Malaria was a major problem for Eritrea during the 90s causing most deaths for adults and children above the age of five. Techniques introduced by the authorities in Eritrea such as:

• Sufficient Health care for Patients
• Introduction of insecticide treated nets in Eritrean rural areas such as villages
• Intensive participation of the community in draining Mosquito breading sites
• Public relation and mass media to create awareness

 have helped Eritrea to nearly eradicate the disease.

For the past few years African countries exporting mining products were in a good bargaining position, due to a strong world demand and high prices. This has recently changed due to the world recession and declining commodity prices. The shift places big western companies in a better bargaining position, which is in general terms nothing to worry about, as it reflects the rule of a free market economy.

However, those big players tend to overstep the mark if the African continent becomes desperate for income in times of world crisis. Many countries want to cash-in quickly on deals, they tend to undersell their treasures to the western companies contracting them for many years.

As a new entrant to the mining industry Eritrea should act wisely and assure that it gets a fair deal with the western companies (capitaleritrea article). Many African countries have been exploited in the history and the wealth has hardly benefited the origin of  the natural resources, speaking of  the country and the people. There are many examples, such as Nigeria, Kongo and many more who can serve as proof that foreign companies are only aiming for profit maximisation, but hardly for sustainable trade with the host country. This is exactly what African countries try to avoid by consolidating their efforts to put pressure on multinational companies and investors. Read more from the Business Daily.

Copenhagen, Denmark: A 29- year old man of Eritrean descent, was wounded when a motorcycle gang hit him in a drive by shooting.  It is said that there are frictions between motorcycle gang members and immigrant groups in Copenhagen. The shooting happened in an ethnically – mixed part of  Copenhagen. By chance a news team of the Doha based Al Jazeera News Channel was close by to the scene. Read here The exclusive report

In a recent Press Release of the Insitut for OneWorld Health, DR. Menghis Bairu, who was born in Eritrea, was appointed to a Member of the Board of Directors of OneWorld Health. The Organisation is a non-profit pharmaceutical entity, which develops drugs for people of the developing world. The company is located in San Francisco USA and has branches around the world. Read the Press Release

General Goitom Ghebrezghi came to international prominence when he deserted the Derg regime of Ethiopia in 1974 and joined the Eritrean Liberation Front. The event was seen as a big political development in the region at the time and was reported internationally, including by the BBC. Times Online UK.

JERUSALEM (MarketWatch) — Moses once parted the sea somewhere around there, but that was some 4,000 years before the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea were actually rejoined by the builders of the Suez C…

---

This item provided by Sudan News latest RSS headlines – Arab Herald.com

Stockholm, Sweden: Politicians and media in Stockholm claim, that Eritreans in Sweden have to pay a 2% tax on their net income to the Embassy of Eritrea in Stockholm. Fredrik Malm, a member of the parliament for the Liberal Party states; it is unacceptable for other states to recover tax from Swedish citizens. He further claims that the monopoly to collect tax in Sweden is owned by the State of Sweden. According to the newspaper Expressen people who do not adhere with paying the tax will be imprisoned when they return to Eritrea for holiday or for visiting relatives. Having fact checked the story, this is not true and people visiting Eritrea are not being imprisoned, because they do not pay the 2% tax. Having visited Eritrea many times without paying the tax, it has never happened that the freedom of movement was limited by being imprisoned due to not not paying the 2% tax. The tax is rather seen as a voluntary contribution from the Eritreans living abroad to the countries struggle for independence. The only limitation one has if not paying the tax is, that it might be difficult to do business or purchase property in Eritrea. read more: