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Nigeria's hard-won democracy is the beacon of hope for the developing countries, said Shridath Ramphal, former secretary- general of the Commonwealth.

The state of insolvency currently facing the RNM, with offices in London, Brussels, Washington and Barbados, has resulted directly from significant outstanding arrears in contributions owed by Surinam and the Dominican Republic and, to a lesser extent, a number of Caricom states and territories. According to a copy of Ramphal's letter obtained by CANA, with payables to the RNM at 20 August amounting to approximately 600,000 US dollars and outstanding arrears on contributions at the same date standing at 596,201.56 US dollars, the RNM \"must now be considered insolvent\". As a consequence, he has authorized an immediate freeze on all overseas travels, rescheduling of unavoidable meetings, while salaries of all RNM staff, payments to Internet providers, utilities and other operating expenses for the RNM offices \"are all in jeopardy for this month (August)\".

Southern Africa is \"very close to a war\" and Canada and other Commonwealth countries should send money, expertise and medical help to the black states confronting Pretoria, the Commonwealth's top official said yesterday. In remarks that visibly angered some members of his Empire Club audience, Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal slammed the South African government's \"racist philosophy,\" defended economic sanctions and said that supporters of apartheid are evil or blind or both. In his speech to the Empire Club, Ramphal described the Commonwealth as \"a coalition for good in the world\" that has \"succeeded in blowing away the smokescreen\" which Pretoria had put up to justify its policy of denying black rights.

LONDON (Reuter) - South Africa's imposition of a state of emergency is nothing short of a terrorist act, Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal said yesterday. In Washington, the White House called on South Africa to move toward meaningful reform and away from apartheid. But the statement stopped short of recommending action of any kind against South Africa. Norway, Denmark and Sweden, which have long been in the vanguard of international opposition to apartheid, voiced strong opposition to South Africa's action.

\"I don't think we should be holding on with bated breath because between Labour and the Conservatives, how much is going to change - whichever way it goes - for us,\" Sir [Shridath Ramphal] said in an immediate reaction to Tuesday's announcement that Britons will go to the polls on May 6. \"Quite a lot may change within Britain but in terms of Britain's relations with the Caribbean; do you think Foreign Office policy is going to undergo a sea (of) change under Cameron? I doubt it very much and I don't think the people in the dependent territories believe that anything big is going to happen,\" Sir Shridath said in an interview with the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). \"We've been through the whole process of the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement), where Britain did not play a positive role in the cause of the Caribbean ... Britain has not been a champion of the Caribbean in relation to financial services, which they understand very well but which they are in fact guarding their corner at our expense,\" Sir Shridath added.

WEST Indies cricket stars striking over a pay dispute have made themselves available for the one-day series against Bangladesh...

GEORGETOWN, Feb. 11 (IPS) -- Despite the debate around the world about a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq, the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) appears wore worried about the threat to oil supplies from troubled Venezuela. The former leader was backed by [Lester Bird], who suggested that the United States should not invade Iraq, despite his belief that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has not fully complied with the United Nations and its inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) said it will begin looking at the possible effects of a war on the region, bearing in mind the drastic effects of the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Caribbean economies.

PORT OF SPAIN, Apr. 12 (IPS) -- English-speaking Caribbean states should seek trade accords with the European Union before rushing headlong into discussions for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), says Sir Shridath Ramphal, former head of the region's negotiations body. Sir Shridath, who has resigned his post as chairman of the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), is telling Caribbean nations their interests would be better served in first negotiating a deal with Europe. That would give them some weight in the World Trade Organization (WTO) that they could then leverage in negotiations over the FTAA. If the region adopted this strategy, it would have a \"marginal chance\" in deal-making with FTAA, despite the fact that the Caribbean has no influence in the community of the Americas, central America or Mercosur (a South American bloc), said Sir Shridath, former secretary general of the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat.

New Delhi, 19 November: India's President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Wednesday [19 November] presented the 2002 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to former Commonwealth Secretary- General Sir Shridath Ramphal. [Passage omitted] Felicitating Ramphal, the prime minister said that it was during his tenure as secretary-general of the Commonwealth that Ramphal pursued its persistent and vigorous campaign against apartheid in South Africa which eventually led to the dismantling of the racist regime there.

[Shridath Ramphal], in his opening speech to the union's general assembly last week, noted that the world's population is expected to grow from 5.5 billion to 10 billion by the middle of the 21st century. And he cited a U.N. estimate that a child born in industrialized countries will consume at least 20 times the resources as a child in developing countries. People in many developing countries aspire to a U.S. \"model\" of prosperity as seen in movies and television. But if developing countries were to approach such levels of consumption and waste, Ramphal said in an interview, \"we would be heading toward exceeding the carrying capacity of the planet, so we've got to change the model.\" Industrialized countries of the north should set a better example before criticizing developing countries of the south for damaging the Earth's environment. \"The south sees the north as the principal culprit, yet it is on the receiving end of lectures from the north,\" Ramphal said. \"They're not going to heed those lectures unless they come with more moral authority.\"