Sunday 20 May 2012

Nobel Prize Winners from Africa


Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei (Egypt)On October 7, 2005, ElBaradei and the IAEA were announced as joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for their "efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy, for peaceful purposes, is used in the safest possible way." ElBaradei donated all of his winnings to building orphanages in Cairo. The IAEA's winnings are being spent to train scientists from developing countries to use nuclear techniques in combating cancer and malnutrition. ElBaradei is the fourth Egyptian to receive the Nobel Prize.

Wangari Maathai (Kenyan) is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards, most notably The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Others include The Sophie Prize (2004), The Petra Kelly Prize for Environment (2004), The Conservation Scientist Award (2004), J. Sterling Morton Award (2004), WANGO Environment Award (2003), Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award (2002), Excellence Award from the Kenyan Community Abroad (2001), Golden Ark Award (1994), Juliet Hollister Award (2001), Jane Adams Leadership Award (1993), Edinburgh Medal (1993), The Hunger Project's Africa Prize for Leadership (1991), Goldman Environmental Prize (1991), the Woman of the World (1989), Windstar Award for the Environment (1988), Better World Society Award (1986), Right Livelihood Award (1984) and the Woman of the Year Award (1983). Professor Maathai was also listed on UNEP's Global 500 Hall of Fame and named one of the 100 heroines of the world. In June 1997, Wangari was elected by Earth Times.

Kofi Atta Annan  is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for his founding of the Global AIDS and Health Fund to support developing countries in their struggle to care for their people.


Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (South African)  is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected President. Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades. Mandela's leadership through the negotiations, as well as his relationship with President F. W. de Klerk, was recognised when they were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.


Ahmed Hassan Zewail (Egypt) is an Egyptian-American scientist who won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry. He is the Linus Pauling Chair Professor Chemistry and Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Frederik Willem de Klerk (South African) , often known as F. W. de Klerk, was the seventh and last State President of apartheid-era South Africa,  Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela for his role in the ending of apartheid.

Anwar El Sadat (Egypt) was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981. In his eleven years as president he changed Egypt's direction, departing from some of the economic and political principles of Nasserism by re-instituting the multi-party system, and launching the Infitah economic policy. He was given a Nobel Peace Prize for embrassing peaceful negotiations with Israel, culminating in the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. This won him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Desmond Mpilo Tutu  (South African)  is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was the first black South African Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa). Tutu has been active in the defense of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Albert John Lutuli (South African)  was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress (ANC), at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa. He was awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the non-violent struggle against apartheid. He was the first African, and the first person from outside Europe and the Americas, to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ahmed Hassan Zewail  is an Egyptian-American scientist who won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry. He is the Linus Pauling Chair Professor Chemistry and Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology.

Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka (Nigerian)is a Nigerian writer, notable especially as a playwright and poet; he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first African in Africa and the diaspora to be so honoured. He was described as one "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence". His Nobel acceptance speech "This Past Must Address Its Present," was devoted to South African freedom-fighter Nelson Mandela. 

Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts, and five plays over a 70-year career. Many of his works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films.

Nadine Gordimer (South African) is a South African writer, political activist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity

John Maxwell "J. M." Coetzee(South African) is a novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. On 2 October 2003 it was announced that he was to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the fifth African writer to be so honoured, and the second South African after Nadine Gordimer.] When awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy stated that Coetzee "in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Algeria) is of Algerian decent, a French physicist and Nobel Laureate. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physicswith Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips for research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms. He is still an active researcher, working at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

Albert Camus is a also of Algerian was a French author, journalist, and philosopher. His views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as absurdism. Camus was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times" He was the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, after Rudyard Kipling, and the first African-born writer to receive the award.


Sydney Brenner (South African) is a South African biologist and a 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate, shared with H. Robert Horvitz and John Sulston.  Brenner made significant contributions to work on the genetic code, and other areas of molecular biology.He established the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism for the investigation of developmental biology,and founded the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, California, U.S

Allan MacLeod Cormack (South African) was a South African-born American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Godfrey Hounsfield) for his work on X-ray computed tomography (CT).

Max Theiler (South African) was a South African/American virologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever.



Friday 18 May 2012

TOP AFRICAN PORTS


  1. DURBAN SOUTH AFRICA
  












Durban is Africa's busiest general cargo port and home to one of the largest and busiest container terminals in the Southern Hemisphere. The port has a total of 59 effective berths excluding those used by fishing vessels and ship repair. A single buoy mooring at Isipingo caters for very large crude carriers (VLCC) that are too large to enter the port. In response to demand the port of Durban is creating more container handling facilities including a second container terminal, but space will continue to be reserved for breakbulk and bulk cargo. The port has excellent rail and road links to neighbouring industrial zones and hinterland. The largest ships to have entered Durban harbour are in the region of 230,000 dwt but even larger vessels are catered for in the outer anchorage.

2. PORT OF RICHARD BAY, SOUTH AFRICA (largest coal export terminal in the world)

The Port of Richards Bay, the largest coal export terminal in the world, is located approximately 160km north-east of Durban and 465km south of Maputo, on the eastern seaboard of South Africa. The establishment of the port 30 years ago has transformed a small fishing village into a dynamic industrial city, and a new berth has opened every second year. To date the port has handled in excess of 1.3 billion tonnes of coal and a further 500 million tonnes of other raw materials and cargo. The average throughput is over 80 million tonnes annually, which represents an impressive 60% of South Africa's total seaborne cargo. There are five dedicated cargo-handling terminals at which approximately 1700 vessel calls are made each year. Port of Richards Bay has an entrance channel 300m wide with a permissible draft of 17.5m, and open storage for 6.7 million tonnes of coal.

  1. MOMBASA PORT, KENYA













Kenya's Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, serving Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the eastern gateway for the Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the most important ports in East Africa but struggles to cope with heavy throughput traffic. However, a rehabilitation programme is currently underway. Kenya enjoys an extensive, if deteriorating, infrastructure. Mombasa is the best and most important deepwater port in the region, despite deteriorating equipment and problems with inefficiency and corruption. The Port of Mombasa, with a rated annual capacity of 22 million tonnes, is Kenya's main seaport and features 21 berths, two bulk oil jetties and dry bulk wharves that can handle modern deep draft ships. The port offers specialised facilities, including cold storage, warehousing, and container terminals. Mombasa serves most international shipping lines and has an average annual freight throughput of about 8.1 million tonnes, of which 72% are imports.

4. DAR-ES-SALAM, TANZANIA












The principal sea port of Tanzania has a dedicated container terminal equipped with two ship-to-shore gantry cranes (SSG), each with a lifting a capacity of 35.6 tonnes. These are supported by six rubber tyred gantry cranes (RTG) for stacking containers in the yard.  The port benefits from being situated at the conversion of the two railway lines (Tanzania Railways and Tanzania Zambia Railways) serving the hinterland, and the international airport is located just 11km away. There is also an inland container depot located 2km outside the port.

  1. PORT BEIRA, MOZAMBIQUE













The port of Beira in Mozambique is situated at the mouth of the Pungue River. The port is directly linked to the hinterland (Zimbabwe and Zambia) by road and rail networks, and currently by road only to Malawi. However, the Sena railway line linking Beira with Malawi and the Tete Province is currently being rebuilt. A pipeline constructed in 1960 links the port with Zimbabwe. Beira also has direct sea links to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The facility at Beira has a total of 11 berths stretching over a total length of 1994 metres, excluding fishing berths.

  1. DJIBOUTI PORT












DP World secured the management contract for Djibouti Port in June 2000. A 20 year concession provides long-term commitment from DP World to the development of the port at Djibouti. The links with the Middle East are further enhanced as Djibouti Free Zone (DFZ) is managed by Dubai's JAFZA. With a capacity area of 17 ha, DFZ serves 39 national and multinational companies and will accommodate more when fully operational. Djibouti lies on the main east-west trade route with minimal journey deviation, and provides a secure hub within the region for transhipment and relay business. Djibouti serves as a primary gateway for the strong transit trade to Ethiopia, being the only port in the region connected to the Ethiopian capital by rail. The terminal currently has a container handling capacity of 350,000 TEUs per annum

  1. SUEZ CANAL CONTAINER TERMINAL, EGYPT














A state-of-the-art facility has emerged at Port Said East as a transhipment centre serving the Mediterranean at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. The facility is ideally located at the entrance of Suez, which allows for zero deviation of vessels catering to European trade from the Middle East, Asia and East Africa. The container terminal is one of the newest in the whole of Africa, having begun operations in 2004, and its inclusion in the Top Ten African Ports is warranted on the back of its outstanding development rate.

  1. LAGOS, NIGERIA
















The Port of Lagos is Nigeria's primary seaport and is split into three main divisions: Lagos Port, Apapa Port and Tin Can Port, all located on the Gulf of Guinea and operated by the Nigerian Port Authority. Lagos handles significant trade from neighbouring Benin, Niger and Cameroon. Nigeria itself is home to 140 million people, making it the largest single market on the continent. The terminal handles imports of consumer goods, foodstuffs, motor vehicles, machinery, and industrial raw materials for Africa's most populous nation. Despite declining export trade in timber and agricultural products, such as cacao and groundnuts since the early 1970s, the port has handled growing crude oil exports.


9. SALDANHA BAY, SOUTH AFRICA













Walvis Bay is the principal port of Namibia and is situated on the west coast of southern Africa. The port has a concrete quay of 1400 metres and the channel and waters alongside berths 1, 2 and 3 have been dredged to 12.8 metres, with berth 4 deepened to 10.6 metres. Walvis Bay is a general cargo port and is being aggressively marketed as an alternate port of choice to South African ports further south and east. There are good road and rail connections with the rest of Namibia while the Trans Kalahari Corridor links the port with Botswana and Gauteng province in South Africa.


TOP TEN AFRICAN AIRLINES


TOP TEN AFRICAN AIRLINES

  1. SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS

South African Airways (SAA) is the national flag carrier and largest airline of South Africa, with headquarters in Airways Park on the grounds of OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. The airline flies to 36 destinations worldwide from its hub at OR Tambo International Airport, using a fleet of 59 aircraft



  1. EGYPT AIR


EgyptAir (Arabic: مصر للطيران, Miṣr liṬ-Ṭayarān) is the flag carrier airline of Egypt and a member of Star Alliance. The airline is based at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to more than 75 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. An extensive network of domestic services is focused on Cairo, Egypt's capital.


  1. AIR ALGERIA
Air Algérie is the national flag carrier airline of Algeria, with its head office in the Immeuble El-Djazair in Algiers. With flights operating from Houari Boumedienne Airport, Air Algérie operates scheduled international services to 39 destinations in 28 countries in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as domestic services to 32 airports.






4.      ROYAL AIR MAROC (MOROCCO)

Royal Air Maroc is the flag carrier airline of Morocco, headquartered on the grounds of Casablanca-Anfa Airport in Casablanca. It operates scheduled international flights from Morocco to Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America and a domestic flight and charter flight network, (including Hajj flights). Its base is Mohammed V International Airport (CMN), Casablanca.






  1. TUNISAIR, TUNISIA
Société Tunisienne de l'Air, or Tunisair  is the flag carrier airline of Tunisia. Formed in 1948, it operates scheduled international services to European, African and Middle Eastern destinations. Its main base is Tunis-Carthage International Airport. The airline's head office is in Tunis, near Tunis Airport.








  1. ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES


Ethiopian Airlines formerly Ethiopian Air Lines, often referred to as simply Ethiopian, is an airline headquartered on the grounds of Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It serves as the country's flag carrier. The company is wholly owned by the Government of Ethiopia. Its hub is Bole International Airport, from which the airline serves a network of 64 international destinations and 16 domestic ones. The carrier flies to more destinations in Africa than any other airline. Likewise, it is one of the few Sub-Saharan profitable airlines, as well as one the fastest growing airlines in the industry. The airline's cargo division has been awarded The African Cargo Airline of the Year in early 2011.



7.      KENYA AIRWAYS


The airline was wholly owned by the Government of Kenya until April 1995, and it was privatised in 1996, becoming the first African flag carrier in successfully doing so. Kenya Airways is currently a public-private partnership. The largest shareholder is KLM (26%), followed by the Government of Kenya, which has a 23% stake in the company. The rest of the shares are held by private owners; shares are traded in the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange, and the Ugandan Securities Exchange. Tanzanian air carrier Precision Air is a subsidiary of Kenya Airways; it is 49%-owned by the Kenyan airline.

  1. AFRIQIYAH AIRLINES, LIBYA
Afriqiyah Airways is an airline based in Tripoli, Libya. It operated domestic services between Tripoli and Benghazi and international scheduled services to over 25 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Due to the United Nations "No Fly Zone" instituted under Security Council Resolution 1973 the airline is unable to operate and all operations are therefore currently suspended. Its main base is Tripoli International Airport.



  1. AIR MAURITIUS


Air Mauritius Limited, stylised as Air Mauritius, is the flag carrier of Mauritius. The airline is headquartered at the Air Mauritius Centre in Port Louis. Its main base is Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, Mauritius, serving 23 destinations therefrom. Air Mauritius is the leading scheduled carrier within the Indian Ocean region.




  1. LIBYA AIRLINES

                     
Libyan Airlines is the national flag carrier airline of Libya, based in Tripoli. It operates scheduled passenger and cargo services within Libya and to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Its main base is Tripoli International Airport. The airline carried 885,000 passengers in 2007, of which 40% travelled on domestic services. Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways, Libya's other state carrier, have recently been grouped under Libyan African Aviation Holding Company, an umbrella organisation created to oversee a co-ordinated development of Libya's air transport sector. The airline is also a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization and the International Air Transport Association. By mid-October 2010, Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways were expected to merge into one airline. On 19 March 2011, a multi-state coalition began a military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which was taken to protect civilians specifically targeted by the Libyan Regime's forces in response to events during the 2011 Libyan civil war.[Point 17 of the United Nations resolution specifically bans flights from members of the United Nations of aircraft registered in Libya, effectively prohibiting under international law the operation of Libyan-based airlines.