Saharan Experts Fear Spread of Niger's Tuareg Rebel Violence

By Phuong Tran Dakar 23 August 2007

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Recent rebel violence from a nomadic tribe in northern Niger may escalate into civil war according to analysts, who are concerned the revolt may affect neighboring countries in the West African Saharan region. Phuong Tran brings us this report from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar.

A group of Tuareg nomads near an army base in the Sahara desert north of Agadez, Niger (file photo)

The Tuareg rebel group, Niger Movement for Justice, has claimed responsibility for recent deadly mine explosions, and violence that has resulted in at least seven deaths this month.

The government has refused to negotiate with the nomad fighters until they stop their attacks, dismissing them as "bandits" and "drug smugglers."

African security analysts say this tactic is dangerous.

David Zounmenou with the South African Institute for Security Studies says the current stalemate can lead to civil war and divide the country into rebel and government held territory.

British anthropologist Jeremy Keenan has worked in the Saharan region for the past 40 years, and says Niger's remote northeast, home to the country's uranium mines and Tuareg rebels, is a rough place to conquer.

"The Niger army is not doing real well in the military sense," said Keenan. "It is up against rebels who are supremely in command of the terrain. If that escalates, it has the potential to spread very rapidly into Mali."

Both analysts say rebels in Niger and Mali formed an alliance last month called the Alliance of Niger and Malian Tuaregs. Rebels in neither country have confirmed or provided details.

Keenan says a Tuareg alliance could change the domestic uprising into a regional problem.

"The situation in the region now is probably more dangerous than at any other time in the threat of a wider almost trans-Saharan conflagration of rebellion," he said.

The government has accused "rich foreign powers", of backing the revolt to weaken the government's ability to bargain on mining contracts and initiate oil exploration.

The nomad rebels last took up arms in the 1990s, saying foreign mining companies exploited their tribe with government support.

A foreign-mediated peace deal ended fighting in 1995.

Last February, the rebels reignited the low-intensity war against the government, demanding more services and a bigger share of the country's uranium royalties, a major source of government revenue.

A Niger government spokesman told VOA the rebels' demands are unrealistic. Iboun Gueye said uranium profits are for the entire country, just like gold mining royalties in the west must be distributed nationwide and not just where the mineral is found.

The fighting has killed at least 44 people since the beginning of the year, critically wounded dozens, led to the hostage taking of more than 70 government security forces, and a number of high-ranking defections.

Despite the country's mineral wealth, the United Nations has ranked Niger's living conditions as the worst in the world for the past two years.

VOASE0823_Economics Report

23 August 2007

Recalls Add to Pressure on Toy Industry
Mattel, the world's biggest toy company, has urged parents to return millions of products because of risk from small magnets, lead paint.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Parents know about supply and demand. What they supply is not always what children demand. Toymakers have the same problem. These days, they not only face greater competition -- kids have more entertainment choices than ever. But parents could also become more choosey.

Last week, the world’s largest toy company announced the largest recall in its history. Mattel is recalling more than eighteen million toys that contain small, powerful magnets. These can cause serious injury if swallowed. One death has already been reported.

The toys were made over the past five years based on Mattel designs that the company says have now been improved.

Mattel combined its announcement with a separate recall of more than four hundred thousand toy cars. Mattel said the manufacturer, Lee Der Industrial in China, used lead-based paint without permission. Chinese media said the company owner hanged himself.

The 'Sarge' vehicle recalled because of lead paint

The vehicles are based on the "Sarge" character in the movie "Cars."

Mattel is based in California but makes about sixty-five percent of its products in China. The company promises greater testing.

On August first, Mattel recalled almost one million toys from its Fisher-Price division because of lead paint. That recall cost the company thirty million dollars.

Other companies have also recalled children's products. Last week Toys "R" Us recalled baby bibs made in China. Independent tests showed that the vinyl bibs contained high levels of lead.

The seller of a simple test for lead in products has seen its sales jump. The kit from Homax can be found in stores including home improvement centers. Homax's Donald Hamm says the company is receiving five or six calls each day from businesses wanting to sell the LeadCheck kit.

The company has now set up a Web site to sell directly to the public, at leadtesttoys.com.

China has formed a cabinet-level committee to improve the quality and safety of its exports. This follows a number of recalls around the world.

But China has also criticized the quality of some American imports. And it has accused the United States and the European Union of trade protectionism.

The American toy industry is worth an estimated twenty-two billion dollars. Eighty percent of the toys are made in China. But now several companies that still make toys in the United States are reporting increased sales.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOASE0823_American Mosaic

23 August 2007

For Linda Blair, Life After 'The Exorcist' Includes Animal Rights Activism
Also: The results are in from the Special English listener contest. And former Shangri-Las singer Mary Weiss returns to music.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We listen to music from Mary Weiss …

Answer a question about American actress Linda Blair …

And report about the recent Special English listener contest.

Listener Contest

HOST:

The results of the Special English listener study are in. Many of you might have answered our announcement back in May. If you did, thank you for taking a few minutes to communicate with us. The information you provided will help Special English better understand who is listening to us, and how. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

We asked listeners to tell us when they listen to us and how: shortwave or medium wave radio frequency, by satellite or on the Internet. We received just over one thousand letters and e-mails. They came from ninety-nine countries all around the world.

More than three hundred responses came from East Asia. More than two hundred sixty came from Africa. The largest number came from listeners in China, followed by Nigeria. Most of our fans are listening to Special English by shortwave, followed closely by the Internet.

Here are quotes from some of the e-mails we received:

Orlando in Venezuela told us that he listens to Special English every night on his shortwave radio and also downloads the text of our programs from our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. He says he is learning to write and read and hear in English and each day is better than the day before.

Mohsen from Iran wrote that he has been listening to our programs for more than ten years. He is now an English teacher and recommends our programs to his students. He also uses materials from our Web site to teach his students about the culture, history, people and language of the United States.

Joanna from Poland told us that she also uses our Web site. “I can read the text, check the meaning of the words and I can hear the pronunciation... Thank you very much for very interesting information.”

We wish we could read on the air all the wonderful messages we received. We also wish we could give every person who responded a shortwave radio. But, only one lucky person wins the radio. That person is Nguyen Kim Vu Bao, an eighteen-year-old student from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Vu Bao wrote a letter saying he has never missed any of our programs since he first discovered our broadcasts on the radio more than a year ago.

Twenty other listeners will receive smaller VOA gifts. We want to thank everyone who took part in our study and hope you all will keep listening to Special English.

Linda Blair

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. Ivan Crespo wants to know what actress Linda Blair has done since she starred in the nineteen seventy-three movie “The Exorcist.”

In that famous movie, Linda Blair played a child who becomes possessed by the devil. The movie was very successful. The thirteen-year-old actress was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Today, most people know that the scary parts of "The Exorcist" were done with special effects. But Linda Blair says: "You would not believe how often people ask me to make my head spin around."

After ”The Exorcist,” she starred in other movies, playing troubled teenagers. She also starred in the sequel to the movie that made her famous, “Exorcist Two, the Heretic.” But it was not very successful.

In the nineteen eighties she was in several other movies that were not very popular. She also dated the singer Rick James. Some people have said that James wrote his popular song “Cold Blooded” about their relationship.

In nineteen ninety, Blair made fun of "The Exorcist" in the movie “Repossessed.” She also appeared on some television shows. In two thousand one, she hosted the show “The Scariest Places on Earth.”

Linda Blair always loved riding horses. In the nineteen eighties she competed in

Actress Linda Blair appearing in support of pit bull owners in Sacramento, California, in 2005

horse-riding events. She has a long history of helping animals. In fact, as a young girl, she had wanted to become a veterinarian, a doctor who treats animals. She has received many awards from the animal rights organization PETA. The City of Los Angeles honored her for her work with abused and lost animals.

She also began the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation. This organization provides animals with health care, food, training and shelter. It also helps people learn how to care for animals, so that fewer of them will be left alone or hurt in the future.

Mary Weiss

(MUSIC)

HOST:

That was "Leader of the Pack," a nineteen sixty-four hit song by the Shangri-Las. The four girls in this popular group were only about sixteen years old when they started making records in Queens, New York. Their songs expressed the ups and downs of being a teenager. Now, more than forty years later, the band’s lead singer Mary Weiss has returned to music. Her new album is called “Dangerous Game.” Faith Lapidus has more.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS:

That was the album’s title song, “Dangerous Game.” Mary Weiss worked with the

music band Reigning Sound to make her record. They did not want to copy the music of the Shangri-Las. Mary Weiss said that nobody wants to go back to the past. But she did want to keep the style of the past in her record. She said her favorite song on her album is “Break it One More Time.”

(MUSIC)

Mary Weiss’s deep, smoky voice has changed a lot since she was a teenager. She says she is always surprised to learn how many people still listen to her old songs. Now, people can listen to her new songs.

Mary Weiss has said she learned what kinds of music young people are listening to through the social networking Web site, MySpace. She even created her own MySpace page.

We leave you with “Cry About the Radio.” This song criticizes the workings of the music industry.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

It was written by Erin Braswell, Dana Demange and Jill Moss. Caty Weaver was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

VOASE0822_The Making of a Nation

22 August 2007

American History: How Science and Technology Helped Shape '90s
The last decade of the 20th century is often called one of the best periods in US history. There was peace. The economy grew. The Internet spread. But social problems included race riots in Los Angeles.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Doug Johnson with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States. Today, we tell about life in the United States during the nineteen nineties.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Many experts describe the nineteen nineties as one of the best periods in United States history. During almost all that time, America was at peace. The frightening and costly military competition with the Soviet Union had ended. The threat of a nuclear attack seemed greatly reduced, if not gone. Military officials said America’s defenses were strong.

A boy browses a Web site with a TV and wireless keyboard at a store in 1997

The economy improved from poor to very good. Inflation was low. So was unemployment. Production was high. Scientists and engineers made major progress in medicine and technology. The Internet computer system created a new world of communications.

VOICE TWO:

America grew by almost thirty-three million people during the nineteen nineties. This is the most the United States has ever grown during a ten-year period. Some minority groups are growing faster than the white population. For the first time in seventy years, one in ten Americans was born in another country.

During the past ten years, there was a huge increase in immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. More than two hundred eighty million people lived in the United States by the end of the twentieth century.

This population was getting older, however, and needing more costly health care. And, America had other problems in the nineteen nineties. Some people feared crime in the streets. People were shot and killed in offices and schools. Divisions grew between rich people and poor people.

Racial tensions remained high. In nineteen ninety-nine, Congress impeached the president of the United States. President Clinton was accused of lying to courts about a sexual relationship with a young woman who worked in the White House. Bill Clinton was found not guilty. Still, the trial and the events leading to it caused deep concern among some Americans.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

American families changed in the nineteen nineties. More people ended their marriages. The rate of these divorces increased. So did the percentage of children living with only one parent. Children in such families were more likely to be poor or get into trouble. Many American children did not live with their parents at all. The number of children living with grandparents increased greatly.

Test scores and national studies during the nineteen nineties showed that many public school students were not learning as they should. The nation needed more and better teachers.

VOICE TWO:

Rodney King shows the injuries he received from four Los Angeles police officers

Racial divisions in America were a continuing and serious problem. In nineteen ninety-one, an African-American man named Rodney King was fleeing from police in Los Angeles, California. The police had chased his speeding car for miles before stopping him. They say he reacted violently when they tried to seize him.

Police officers beat and kicked Mister King as he lay on the ground. A man who lived nearby filmed the beating with a video camera. He took the video to a local television station. Soon people all over the country were watching the police repeatedly striking Rodney King.

The four white police officers were arrested for their actions. They were tried outside Los Angeles at their request. A jury in a nearby wealthy, conservative community found them not guilty.

Fire damage in Los Angeles from rioting in April 1992

Within a short time, angry African-Americans began rioting on the streets of Los Angeles. The unrest lasted three days. Fifty-five people died in the violence. More than two thousand others were injured. One thousand buildings lay in ruins.

VOICE ONE:

Another major court trial divided black people and white people. O.J. Simpson had been a football hero and an actor. In nineteen ninety-four, Simpson was accused of killing his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and a male friend of hers. Simpson is African-American. Nicole Brown Simpson was white. Many legal experts believed the case against him was strong. Still, the mainly African-American jury judged him not guilty. Later, a mainly white jury found him guilty in a civil damage case.

Studies showed that white people believed Mister Simpson had killed his former wife and her friend. Black people thought he was not guilty.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

During the nineteen nineties, scientists worked to map the position of all the genes in the human body. Research on this human genome map progressed slowly at first. Then it speeded up. The goal was to help scientists study human health and disease. The discovery was expected to change the way some diseases are treated.

Since nineteen eighty, doctors had made important progress in treating diseases like cancer, AIDS and Parkinson’s disease. But they still could not cure them. They hoped treatments developed from knowledge of human genes would help.

Computer technology also had progressed greatly in the nineteen eighties. During the next ten years computers became even more important in American life. People depended on computers both at work and at home. They used the Internet to send electronic messages, get information and buy all kinds of products. They completed and sent their income tax forms. They read newspapers and books. They even listened to music.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Americans continued to attend classical music concerts and operas. However, many more people enjoyed popular music. One popular music form was called rap. Rap music is spoken quickly rather than sung to the music of recorded rhythms. Some rap songs suggest violent actions. Others contain sexual suggestions that many people found offensive. But rap music was very popular with many young people. So was a form of rock music called grunge.

VOICE TWO:

During the nineteen nineties, Americans watched traditional television programs as well as new kinds of shows. Millions of people liked weekly dramas like "ER" that takes place in a busy hospital emergency room. A program called “Law and Order” tells about the work of police officers, lawyers and judges. "NYPD Blue" shows the work of police officers in New York City. A show called “Seinfeld” also told about life in New York City. But this program was very funny. “Seinfeld” was the most popular television show of the decade.

Another funny and popular show was the animated series called "The Simpsons." Cable television programs also grew in popularity. One of the most popular was MTV. It showed music videos and other programs for young people.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in ''Titanic''

At the movies, Americans saw popular films like “Titanic.” It told about the sinking of the famous passenger ship on its first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in nineteen twelve. Two young people are shown falling in love during this tragic event. Another popular film was “Jurassic Park.” It brought ancient, frightening dinosaurs to life.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

As usual, Americans enjoyed sports. Public interest in baseball decreased sharply, however, after a players’ strike in nineteen ninety-four. The strike cancelled the championship World Series games that year. In nineteen ninety-eight, interest in baseball increased when two great players competed to hit the most home runs. Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire helped restore the popularity of baseball.

In basketball, experts say Michael Jordan became the best player in history. He led the Chicago Bulls team to win many championships.

VOICE TWO:

As the nineteen nineties ended, some experts worried about computers making the change to the year two thousand. They feared that computer failures might cause serious problems for everyday life. But midnight of December thirty-first passed with only a few incidents of computer trouble. Millions of people celebrated the beginning of a new century and another one thousand years. Life in the nineteen nineties had been good for many Americans. They hoped for even better days to come.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by George Grow. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.