Sample text from the Online World Monitor newsletter
ISSN: 0805-6315. December 1994. (C) by Odd de Presno, Norway.
Links are not maintained! Check
the handbook for current links.
Earlier this month, I visited Lagos, Nigeria. Getting in and out was a bad
experience. The Murtala Muhammad Airport's customs people asked for bribes,
and some in an aggressive way. The amount requested seemed to increase by
the number of stars on the uniform. I paid some of them off to avoid more
hassle.
 Then they discovered my
laptop computer! Five of them jumped on me. "You must pay US$200.00!
You can reclaim the money when you leave." A lie. We later discovered
that they had given me a receipt for VAT on the amount. Worthless. . . .
Beware!
I had checked up on the
country before leaving, so I knew that there were problems ahead. Still,
my negotiating position was weak.
Background information
on all African countries is available in the CIA World Factbook. The Online
World resources handbook explains where to find it, but you may find it easier
to search the book using
a Web browser.
There, you can search
for country specific information, as in
general search terms: lagos
country name: nigeria
Note: The handbook explains how to receive World
Wide Web pages by email.
The
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
TRAVEL INFORMATION texts are also interesting. Their December 16 bulletin
said:
"The onset of the holiday season and the continuation of bad economic
conditions in Nigeria increase the incidence of
automobile checkpoints by persons wearing police or military uniforms.
Many of these checkpoints are not sanctioned by the government,
but are improvised, usually in darkness, by bands of police, soldiers,
or bandits posing as or operating with police or soldiers. The purpose
of these unauthorized checkpoints generally is to extort cash. The
best defense against unauthorized checkpoint shakedowns is to avoid
night travel, and act cautiously at all times. Checkpoint personnel
should be considered armed and could be dangerous."
All my Lagos night travels was done with police escort. My only problems
were at the airport. I enjoyed my stay. Interesting country.
Read more about traveling
and living in Nigeria in the
soc.culture.nigeria newsgroup. As
for information about other African countries, check out the following
newsgroups:
The following clari.* groups are only available if your site pays for them:
clari.world.africa
clari.world.africa.south_africa
There are many South African newsgroups under the za hierarchy:
| za.ads.jobs |
|
Looking for a job?/Offering a job? |
| za.ads.lifts |
|
Want a lift from Bulawayo to Cape Town via Durbs? |
| za.ads.misc |
|
For sale/to swap/wanted to buy |
| za.archives |
|
Who's got what, where... and how... |
| za.culture.xhosa |
|
For discussions of Xhosa language and culture.
(Ingxoxo ngolwini, amasiko nezithete zakwaXhosa.) |
| za.events |
|
Conferences, events and happenings nationally |
| za.humour |
|
Humour/jokes/fun |
| za.misc |
|
General chat, comments, announcements etc |
| za.net.misc |
|
Miscellaneous ramblings on networking in ZA |
| za.net.stats |
|
Statistics on network usage, automated postings etc |
| za.net.uninet |
|
Announcements and feedback from the Uninet-ZA office |
| za.politics |
|
Politics in Southern Africa |
| za.schools |
|
Issues affecting primary and secondary education |
| za.sport |
|
Finer points of jukskei or the Comrades marathon |
The za hierarchy is also distributed outside South Africa. You may also find
things of interest in soc.culture.misc
(discussion about other cultures), and
soc.culture.native (Aboriginal people
around the world.)
You may also find it useful
to search or monitor Usenet more broadly for African country specific information
using The Stanford Netnews Filtering service (Now defunct. Instead, use
Reference.COM presented in
Chapter 11).
Connecting from there
It is possible to connect to the Internet from Lagos, if you have friends
in a local educational institution, or subscribe to commercial services like
one offered by Ross Clayton Limited, Plot PC1, Engineering Close, Victoria
Island, P.M.B. 10745, Marina, Lagos. (I know nothing of them. It's expensive.
You'd better be careful!)
If you just want email,
then your best bet may be to call
CompuServe's 14.400 bits/s nodes
in North America. That's what I usually do when moving around. It is easy
to set up, and "switch off" upon return to home base.
CompuServe has local dial-up
numbers in some African countries, but not in Nigeria. Most of them are for
2,400 bits/s access. The connection is usually through a surcharged network
like Infonet (WORLD-Connect) and CSIR- Net.
I assumed that phone lines
between Nigeria and the U.S. were better than to neighboring states, and
most other countries. This appeared to be the case. Daily, generally after
five to six attempts, I had a LAP-M quality connection to a CIS number in
the United States
While you can do a lot
in two minutes at 14.400 bits/s, it still costs a leg and an arm. If you
plan to stay for a longer period in an African country, you may therefore
want to check if there is a FidoNet node nearby, or the possibility of using
the dialup UUCP links in Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
A
directory of Internet
access in Africa is regularly posted to the
alt.internet.services newsgroup.
Communications is still
difficult in most African countries. No wonder that information on the continent
is limited compared with other parts of the world.
Things are changing
South Africa has a good information infrastructure. Egypt was the fourth
fastest growing Internet domain in the world during 3rd Quarter 1994 (148%
growth). Tunisia is coming. Most other African countries, however, still
have little to offer, but investments seems to be picking up.
The
handbook has several pointers to African information
resources, such as:
-
The South African Bibliographic and Information Network. The Information
Bank on African Development Studies (The World Bank). The United Nation
Information Centre. The Fourth World Documentation Project. CompuServe's
International Trade Forum.
-
Mailing lists on African people, culture and issues. The Tunisia Network.
The Egypt Discussion and News Forum. The Pan-Africa Forum. The Kishwahili
language. The IPE mailing list. The SUDAN-L mailing list.
-
French language Algerian News. News from Reuters. The PeaceNet World News
Service's six digests on Africa covering different regions of the continent.
NewsNet offers newsletters such as Africa News (IT15), Africa Intelligence
Report (IT69), Country Risk Guide: Mid-East & North Africa (IT13), Country
Risk Guide: Sub-Saharan Africa (IT14), Monthly Regional Bulletin - Africa
S. (IT67), PRS Forecasts: Mid-East and North Africa (IT56), and PRS Forecasts:
Sub-Saharan Africa (IT59).
Here are some recent discoveries:
News from Africa
Somalia News Update is irregularly published out of Sweden. Email to:
bernhard.helander@antro.uu.se
.Subject: Somalia request. Body: Ask nicely.
The Weekly Mail & Guardian
(Johannesburg, South Africa) offers news by email. Write
wmail-info@wmail.misanet.org
for subscription information, or look it up on the Web. A one year subscription
costs $100.
Their November 11 issue
came in at 245 Kb, and was broken up in sections called News, Business, and
Art.
The North
Africa/Europe MeteoSat weather picture is updated half-hourly.
Background information and databases
CERN's
DataSources library should be your starting point.
The African
Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) offers an interesting
resource of African news and information.
Among other things, this
database contains:
-
Electronic African News (radio & television broadcasts, online computer
resources). Includes: broadcast frequencies, African Communications Satellite,
African Language Radio & T.V. Broadcasts, BBC's schedules, DX Hotline
for Africa, etc.
-
Computer Networking information (email to Africa, networking & Africa,
interest & discussion groups, Africa-related software, resources for
academic research).
-
Governmental & Political Documents (Official statements, policy papers),
and country information.
-
Articles, papers, newsletters, conference proceedings, and book reviews.
-
Africa, Islamic, and Arabic related bibliographies.
-
African Studies related monographs.
-
Organizations, Institutes and Associations (newly formed, research &
international organizations and institutes).
-
Publications & Publishers (newsletters, journals, monographs, African
publishers and Africa-related publications).
-
Products & Services (commercial products and services related to Africa).
-
Urgent Action & Commentary (Appeals for intervention, activist events
and petitions).
-
Travel Opportunities (employment, study, vacation, internships, and volunteer
positions abroad).
-
GIF Images (GIF archives, Africa-related graphics, including CIA Maps).
-
Miscellany (African Fine Arts including FaceMasks, African recipes).
An extensive country study on Ethiopia is available on the Web address
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ettoc.html.
The report has these five chapters: History, The Society and its Environment,
The Economy, Government and Politics, National Security,
Egypt's Regional Information &
Communication Network offers country profiles for Algeria, Egypt, Morocco,
Syria, and Tunisia, and information about economy, geography, communication,
research, government, people.
While visiting, take a
look at Collection of Arabic and Islamic manuscripts, Treasures of the Egyptian
Museum, and Tut the King (under the choices Programs of Work & Products
/ RITSEC / Products)..
The African National Congress
(ANC) gopher has information about South African history, policy documents,
and press statements. A summary of South African demographics by region is
on
http://www.aztec.co.za/exinet/sa_regn.html,
while information on politics is at
http://unpsun3.cc.unp.ac.za/UNPDepartments/politics/saonline.htm.
The South Africa
FAQ has country specific information on Abyssinia, Eritrea, Malawi, and
Ethiopia. The Abyssinia FAQ has information on Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Somalia and Somaliland.
Subscribe to "the Ethiopians'
E-mail group" by mail to
Ethiolist-Request@Netcom.com.
Put "join EthioForum" in the body of your mail.
Education and Research
The University of South Africa has
links to FTP sites throughout South Africa.
The Algerian Centre de
Recherches sur l'Information Scientifique et Technique is on
http://www.cerist.dz/esrs/cerist/home.htm. The Reseau National de la
Recherche et de la Technologie of Tunisia (RNRT) is at
http://www.irsit.rnrt.tn/.
Business
For leads in South Africa, start with
ExiNet. This South African
trade information resource has information on South African Exporters, South
African Trade Fairs and Exhibitions, Travel and Tourism, South African
Publications, South African Property, and South African Demographics: A Regional
Summary.
ExiNet boasts a database
of over 70,000 South African companies. Mail to
exinet@aztec.co.za for information.
Some other pointers:
Travel
If you plan a safari in Zimbabwe, Zambia, or Botswana, point your Web browser
at
http://www.aztec.co.za/exinet/travel/travel.html.
The Cape Town page is
on
http://www.aztec.co.za/aztec/capetown.html,
and for more South African tourism information, check out the URL:
http://www.africa.com/captour/.
The Online World Monitor newsletter
The newsletter and the book were companions. While the book describes
the online world as it is, the newsletter tracked changes. It could more
freely focus on selected offerings or phenomena than could be done within
the strict framework of the book.
For more about the newsletter, see
monitor.html
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