A politician from the Telugu Desam Party said: “The government should try to find a solution to the farmers’ problem within the state The whole scheme looks escapist and fanciful. In 2000, one Kenyan Asian told The Washington Post: “I think of ‘Kenyan Asians’ like ‘German Jews’.”The arrival of hundreds of Indian farmers at private reserves in areas where indigenous farmers are facing poverty may prove extremely unpopular.In Andhra Pradesh, the scheme has come under fire from opposition parties. Relatively few returned to Uganda after Amin fell.Today, many African Kenyans resent the comparative wealth of the Asians, and, historically, the Asian community has not assimilated. Others moved to Britain, where they are among the most successful immigrant communities.

In 1972, Uganda’s Idi Amin, looking for a populist cause to shore up his dictatorial rule, expelled more than 70,000 Asians and confiscated their property.Some returned to India and Pakistan. Although there were already extensive trade links, the Indian presence rose dramatically when labourers were imported en masse during the British colonial era to build a railway from the port of Mombasa to the Ugandan capital, Kampala.The Asian population became wealthy but racial tensions arose with the African majority. What we need is the green revolution experience of Indian farmers.”Asians have had a troubled history in east Africa. “The next step is formalisation of the lease, selection of farmers, identification of crops to be grown and funding,” CC Reddy, an adviser to the Andhra Pradesh government, told the paper.Mutuma Kathurima, the Kenyan high commissioner to India, said: “We have fertile land and abundant water. They can send their earnings home to their families in India, but they must use Kenyan and Ugandan labour. The lease will be paid off using a percentage of the profits earned by the co-operative.The Andhra Pradesh government has signed letters of understanding with local authorities to lease 50,000 acres in Kenya, and with the Ugandan Investment Authority to lease 20,000 acres, the Hindustan Times reported yesterday. A farmers’ co-operative will be set up, and the Indians will be allowed to run the farms as if they were the landowners.

In the past six years, more than 3,000 in the state have killed themselves.Andhra Pradesh says its African venture will ease farmers’ woes. The suicide rate among farmers unable to pay their debts because of failed crops has rocketed. Like most of India, Andhra Pradesh has suffered years of droughts which have crippled agriculture. Part of the city of Hyderabad has been dubbed Cyberabad because of the number of international IT firms moving there.Rural areas are a different story. The fear is that they will be seen as modern colonisers from an India that is growing in economic strength. Andhra Pradesh has been a powerhouse of economic transformation, although its farmers have seen enjoyed little of that. The state government is negotiating 99-year leases of 70,000 acres in Kenya and Uganda for cultivation.
The scheme is likely to be controversial.

Memories of Idi Amin’s forced expulsion of more than 70,000 Asians from Uganda in 1972 are still raw, and tensions have arisen between Kenya’s African and Asian communities.Under the Andhra Pradesh plan, the first 500 farmers will leave for Kenya and Uganda in June. The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is planning to export its drought-hit farmers to Africa in what may become one of the extraordinary migrations of modern times. The former Prime Minister “needs Dahlan,” he added.Fatah supporters of Mr Dahlan, an ambitious member of the younger Fatah generation, were predictably dismissive of any claims to the presidency by the imprisoned Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, who nevertheless enjoys strong support among younger activists in the West Bank.. He heard one shout “No to Abu Mazen, No to Dahlan”.He left the tent to see what was happening and while he was outside one of Abu Mazen’s guards was shot two metres from where he had been sitting.He vehemently denied suggestions that the man had been shot – even accidentally – by one of Mr Dahlan’s own security men and added that Mr Dahlan was vital to shoring up support for Abu Mazen, with whom he has so far allied himself. He had heard shooting outside the tent and saw security men guarding Abu Mazen gather at the entrance to stop other armed men entering.

They need to work very forcefully against anyone who works against the law”.Mr Habil said that he had been inside the mourning tent on Sunday, close to the door when he heard shooting outside as Abu Mazen and his security men arrived at the same time as a separate group led by Ahmed Hilles, Fatah’s secretary general in Gaza. What happened yesterday is a big issue.”Fatah supporters of Abu Mazen’s candidacy said before last night’s meeting that its atmosphere may be helped by the Sunday’s shooting as many of the factions would recoil from seeing a repeat of the violence.Jamal Abu Habil, a member of Fatah’s regional council, said: “People will say that this was a frightening scene, and that will have a political impact on what I believe will be a very positive meeting.” Mr Habil added that the transitional leadership under Abu Mazen and Ahmed Qureia “needs to be strong. But he added: “I doubt if Mr Sharon has the political will.”Despite a concerted effort by Abu Mazen and the prominent local Fatah leader, Mohammed Dahlan, who was with him at the time, to play down the significance of Sunday’s shooting, Mahmoud Ajrawi, a PLO veteran in Gaza said: “This reflects the current absence of stability and of law, of control The factions within Fatah are in a power struggle. The exact details were still disputed last night, but the incident is said by local analysts to have thrown a harsh spotlight on the hostility to Abu Mazen’s candidacy among political figures who fear their power could decline without Mr Arafat’s patronage.The meeting came as Sylvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister touring the US, said publicly for the first time that if the new Palestinian leadership “fights against terrorism,” Israel will agree to negotiations over co-ordinated implementation of the disengagement plan.Meanwhile Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, yesterday told the BBC that if Palestinians and Israelis adhered to the internationally agreed “road-map” there was still time for a Palestinian state to be created by the end of 2005.