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Northern Uganda's Brutal War: Murder, Rape, Abductions and Mutilations in the Name of the Ten Commandments

Denise Lifton

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/18094

As 2003 draws to a close, the conflict in northern Uganda shows no sign of abating. For the past seventeen years the north of Uganda has been mired in a conflict that is difficult to understand. Since the National Resistance Movement (NRM), now known as the Movement, came to power in 1986, the government has been bogged down in numerous armed conflicts. However, unlike those that came before it and even during it, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony has managed to survive, where other armed groups negotiated peace talks, surrendered under amnesties or were just wiped out by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).

Ostensibly the LRA fighting in Acholiland, northern Uganda, demands freedom from discrimination for the Acholi people and the establishment of a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments. While it is true that historically the Acholi people were discriminated against, the actions and deeds of the LRA, however, belie their demands as they continue to commit atrocities against the civilian population of northern Uganda reminiscent of the RUF in Sierra Leone.

The civilian population is often the deliberate target of the rebels: They are abducted as the rebels forcibly recruit children for use as soldiers and sex slaves, houses are burnt and villages and camps for internally displaced persons (IDP), which have extremely limited access to food and water, are targeted by the rebels for food and medicine. New figures show that from June 2002 to July 2003 8,500 children were abducted. People are unable to harvest their fields, leading to an increased pressure on humanitarian agencies to provide aid and other relief supplies. However, many agencies are unable to operate in such an insecure and volatile environment and lacking secure access to remote areas are usually restricted to the towns. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) remains the only agency that, with a military escort, can reach the majority of IDPs. Many of the major roads that link the north to the rest of the country are highly insecure and prone to frequent rebel ambushes. As the countryside becomes depopulated and agricultural production ceases, combined with the lack of services, IDPs and refugees are suffering from severe cases of malnutrition. The conflict is stretching resources of many districts and is having a severe impact on water, sanitation, health, and education services.

This conflict remains one of the most intense long-term conflicts within the region. Why does northern Uganda continue to be mired in a bloody and barbaric conflict when other armed conflicts such as in Sudan and Somalia have pursued peace with the backing of the international community? Why has this conflict been forgotten by the outside world while it is uprooting and slowly killing entire communities?

The few details known about the LRA and its structure hamper any real effort towards effective peace talks. The recent ‘peace talks’ were conducted with one group within the LRA, although it was not apparent whether they had the full backing and authority of Joseph Kony. It is often agreed that unless Kony himself is involved all peace talks are bound to fail. Very little is known about Kony. Stories from escaped or captured abducted children continue to show that Kony believes that he has mystical powers and communes with the Holy Spirit. Like Alice Lakwena’s Holy Spirit Movement, out of which grew the LRA, Kony believes that he endows his forces with magical powers to defeat the UPDF. However, the reality is very different. Far from being a committed force, many of the rebels are abducted children forced to commit horrific atrocities against one another, and often against members of their own family or village, in order to sever all ties with their community.

The Ugandan government has historically both fought against and then tried to negotiate peace with the rebels. Both strategies have failed, but continue to be reflected in the government’s present actions. Although President Museveni has been to the north twice to oversee operations of the UPDF, who are a permanent presence in the region, their ability to engage with the rebels remains sporadic. Their presence is limited to certain areas and their forces are often thin on the ground. Deadlines issued by the government as to when the conflict will end belie the fact that ambushes, looting, killings and mutilations by the rebels steadily continue, and in some areas increased. Their poor track record also gives rise to allegations that those with a vested interest in the conflict continue to manipulate it to their own ends. As long as fighting the rebels is a legitimate reason for continued and increased spending in the defence budgets, an end to the conflict may not be in the interest of those in the UPDF leadership with immediate access to these funds.

Poor communication from both sides continues to overshadow any formal negotiations without a neutral third party to mediate. At the start of the year, talks between the Presidential Peace Team (PPT) and the rebels had collapsed even before formal negotiations could begin. The PPT, led by former Premier Prime Minister Eriya Kategaya, is now a defunct body languishing in Kampala without a new chairman and no direction. Likewise the sincerity of the government in negotiating is crucial to making peace a reality. The actions and words of President Museveni continue to reflect and dictate the attitude of the government. Looking at the rebels as terrorists, his scepticism of any successful peace talks, and his conviction that only a military solution can wipe out the rebels all highlight his reluctance to involve the international community – for their involvement would give the rebels a mantle of legitimacy and justification for the conflict.

Museveni has also indicated that the amnesty, under which the rebels can be re-integrated into the community if they renounce their activities, will not be extended to cover the top LRA leadership beyond the end of the year. Therefore, the government’s increasing belligerent and militaristic actions, using more helicopter gunships and ground troops, is in Museveni’s eyes the only real and effective response in dealing with the rebels. This is in direct conflict with the belief of a significant portion of the affected population, religious leaders, in the form of the Acholi Religious Leader’s Peace Initiative (ARLPI), the only body continuing to undertake constructive engagement with the rebels, some MPs and local leaders as well as some members of the international community who have all pushed for peace talks.

There is also a wider regional dimension to the conflict: Sudan has historically supported the LRA in retaliation for Uganda’s support of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). The 1999 Nairobi Peace Accord, although flawed by not involving the two rebel groups in its discussions, ensured the co-operation of each country to end this support. Under provisions of this Accord, in June 2002 Sudan allowed the UPDF, through Operation Iron Fist, to enter southern Sudan to fight and destroy LRA bases. It has never been completely believed that each side fully adhered to provisions in the agreement, most notably the injunction against aiding and supporting rebel groups. It is now certain that Kony has re-established two new camps south of Juba in the Sudan and that some Sudanese military officers continue to provide the rebels with weapons and other necessities. Church leaders and children who managed to escape from the rebels backed these allegations. Relations continue to remain polite but strained and in August both countries withdrew their observer posts set up to monitor and prevent rebel cross-border activity. Although the Protocol to extend Operation Iron Fist was renewed for the eighth time in September it remains to be seen if these new accusations impact negatively on it. What will be interesting is how the outcome, and perhaps the longevity, of the negotiated peace settlement between Khartoum and the SPLA/M will considerably affect relations between the Sudanese government and the LRA.

Since Operation Iron Fist began the rebels have re-entered Uganda. The repercussions of this policy are devastating and it has become the catalyst for the worst humanitarian disaster to date. As a consequence of this policy, the conflict has extended beyond its traditional boundaries of the north – mainly in the districts of Gulu, Pader, Lira and Kitgum – into the Teso region, northeastern Uganda, encompassing Katakwi, Soroti, Kumi, and Kaberamaido districts. There has been speculation as to why the rebels expanded their activities into northeastern Uganda, probably for food, medicines, and because of a low army presence in these districts.

Uganda is now looking at possibly the worst humanitarian crisis since the start of the conflict: insecurity continues with a lack of economic and social activity, displacements of whole villages, and the influx of refugees into the region. Figures are bleak and in no way can convey the misery and suffering by those directly affected by the conflict. The WFP estimates that about 1.6 million people in Uganda are in need of food aid, including over 1.1 million displaced in northern and eastern Uganda, with over 820,000 displaced in the north, the majority of the population. The IDP population within the Teso region has increased enormously since rebel activity began in June. It is estimated that around 300,000 are displaced and are mainly reliant on the host communities.

With increased rebel activity local authorities have established paramilitary groups to help fight alongside the UPDF – the Arrow Group in Teso and the Rhino Defence Unit in Lira. Most recently in September another militia was established composed of Karimojong fighters, from the eastern Karamoja region, a group more well known for carrying out violent cattle raids on its neighbours. However, arming the Karimojong can only exacerbate old tensions and ensure that a region already awash with small arms becomes even more volatile and insecure.

The reactions of the international community to date have been worryingly muted: Although they continue to express concern about the insurgency, there has been no concerted effort beyond rhetoric to find a peaceful solution to the fighting. On his first visit to Uganda in June of this year, George Bush made no overt attempt to push for a peaceful resolution. International institutions have called for an end to the conflict: The East African Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to establish a peace committee to negotiate between the two sides. On 3 July 2003, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the atrocities and called for constructive engagement by all parties and wider international support for the reconciliation process. At the present time no action has been taken to implement any of these resolutions.

Many religious and civil leaders feel the momentum is at present with the rebels, regardless of government’s claims that a military solution is the successful formula to defeat the rebels. It seems that the international community implicitly agrees with the government. What is needed, however, is an immediate ceasefire, guaranteed safe humanitarian access to the region and peace talks preferably outside of Uganda arbitrated by a neutral party.

To the international community, this conflict seems to be just one of many dotted on the African continent. To the people of northern Uganda, it is an every-present danger, keeping them away from their homes, their fields, disrupting their lives and families, forcing them to live in constant fear and hunger. Would it be too cynical to think that the people of northern Uganda are just not dying in sufficiently large numbers to be worthy of the attention of the international community, and jolt someone into action? What kind of disaster will make the international community sit up and take concrete and deliberate steps to ensure peace is brought to the region?

* Please send comments on this editorial to editor@pambazuka.org

look first when it comes to trade, says women's edge coalition

2003-10-30

http://www.womensedge.org/pages/newsandevents/news.jsp?id=154

The Look FIRST (Full Impact Review and Screening of Trade) Campaign calls for policy-makers to conduct studies of all trade agreements before they are signed, using the Trade Impact Review, a study designed by the Women’s Edge Coalition.

protest the Sentencing of a 16-year-old child to cross-amputation in Sudan

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/18039

A 16-year-old child has been sentenced to cross-amputation in Sudan. You can write to the Sudanese authorities and protest the sentence.
Case SDN 231003.CC
CHILD CONCERN
Risk of torture

The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT
intervention in the following situation in Sudan.

Brief description of the situation

The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the
Sudanese Organisation against Torture, a member of the OMCT network,
of the sentencing of a 16-year-old child to cross-amputation in
Sudan.

According to the information received, on 14 October 2003, Nyala
Special Court in Darfour sentenced Mohamed Hassan Hamdan, a 16-year-
old nomad belonging to the Ja'afra tribe, to 'cross' amputation
(amputation of the right hand and left foot). Mohamed Hassan Hamdan
was convicted under article 167 of the Penal Code (1991) for armed
robbery (Hiraba). He was arrested near Rehaid Albirdi area, south
west of Nyala, in August 2003 with another 5 individuals. All of them
were accused of armed robbery, but Mohamed Hassan Hamdan was the only
one convicted.

His lawyer will submit an appeal to the Appeal Court in Nyala. The
sentence of cross amputation will be carried out if his appeal is
rejected.

The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned for the
physical and psychological integrity of Mohamed Hassan Hamdan. OMCT
wishes to emphasize that, under international human rights
conventions ratified by Sudan, torture, such as amputation, is
prohibited under any circumstance. This form of corporal punishment
remains prohibited, even when it is imposed as a criminal sentence.
OMCT is particularly concerned by the fact that the Nyala Special
Court does not allow for fair trials and that the victim is a child
as defined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. As such,
he is entitled to the particular protection afforded by article 37 of
the Convention, which absolutely prohibits any form of torture or
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Action requested

Please write to the authorities in Sudan urging them to:

i. Immediately revoke the sentence to which Mohamed Hassan Hamdan was
condemned;
ii. Ensure that Mohamed Hassan Hamdan be tried in a manner consistent
with international standards of fair trial and juvenile justice.
iii. Take all necessary measures to ensure respect for the
international human rights instruments, in particular the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Sudan is party, which
includes respect for the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment and punishment, such as the practice of corporal
punishment;

Addresses

· President of the Republic of Sudan, His Excellency Lieutenant-
General Omar Hassan al-Bashir, President' s Palace, PO Box 281,
Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: +24911 771651/783223/779977

· First Vice-President, Mr Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, People's Palace PO
Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax : +249 11 771651/ 779977

· Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mr Ali Mohamed Osman
Yassin, Ministry of Justice, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: +249 11
771479/774842/774906

· Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, PO Box 873, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax :+249 11 779383

· Advisory Council for Human Rights, Dr Yasir Sid Ahmed, PO Box 302,
Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: +249 11 779173/770883

· Minister of Internal Affairs, Major General Abdul-Rahim Muhammed
Hussein, Ministry of Interior, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax: +249
11 774339/776554/777900/773046/770186

· Minister of Federal Government, Dr Nafie Ali Nafie, Office of the
Presidents People's Palace, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan, Fax : +24911
771651/783223

· His Excellency Ambassador Mr. Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim, Permanent
Mission of the Republic of Sudan to the United Nations in Geneva, PO
Box 335, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +4122 731 26 56, E-mail:
mission.sudan@ties.itu.int; mission.sudan@bluewin.ch

Please also write to the embassies of Sudan in your respective
country.

Geneva, October 23rd, 2003

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this
appeal in your reply.
Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT)
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Organización Mundial Contra la Tortura (OMCT)
8 rue du Vieux-Billard
Case postale 21
CH-1211 Geneve 8
Suisse/Switzerland
Tel. : 0041 22 809 49 39
Fax : 0041 22 809 49 29
E-mail : omct@omct.org
http://www.omct.org

Water for all educational movie

2003-10-30

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/articles.cfm?ID=10623

Public Citizen's Water for All Campaign now has a 25 minute audio visual presentation on everything you ever wanted to know about water privatisation. The movie exposes the major multinational water companies investing in water resources and analyses the environmental and social impacts of water privatisation, water mining and bulk water sales. It is a great educational tool for community groups, schools, libraries and anyone else who is concerned about protecting the earth's water and ensuring that clean and affordable water is available to all.

Maurice Ufon Beseng

Cameroon

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/17987

Renato Palmi

South Africa

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/17986

sizani weza

Zimbabwe

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/17984

Simon's Hinds letter (Pambazuka News 129: Issues in Human Rights and Democracy in Kenya) magnifies Richard Carver's earlier assertions about the West's hypocrisy in the treatment of Robert Mugabe's leadership record. However, the bulk of his message appears to be a repeat of the many assertions that Zimbabweans can never be independent of the West or Rhodesians - which is a serious misconception of the reality of the Zimbabwean situation.

For the record: Police assaulted human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa after she had called them to report the attempted hi-jacking of her motor vehicle. Last week, three MDC personnel were shot by a local businessman - they are in hospital under police custody as the accused. Over 200 National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) members are in police custody after demonstrating for a new Constitution. Settlers in Mashonaland West held the South African High Commissioner, Jeremiah Ndou, hostage. Ndou was later summoned to Zimbabwe's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "where it was discovered that he had not been given clearance to visit the area" (State television). Fifty-three members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were arrested before they could start protests over taxation. The unionists were released from custody after being cautioned and told that the police might press charges later. All the above events occurred in the first three weeks of October!

There is clear state collusion in all the above. The target is clear - to suppress individual and collective rights - or anything considered a threat to Mugabe's rule - yes - even elections!. To claim that the 2002 presidential elections were a true reflection of the will of the people of Zimbabwe by merely repeating the conclusions of foreign observer missions is incorrect. Simon and others may take a cue from the observations of the South African observer mission and the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) whose conclusions are quite the opposite of what they observed. The SADC parliamentary forum felt that the "electoral process could not be said to adequately comply with the Norms and Standards for Elections in the SADC region". The international community, mainly the West, has been feeding millions of starving Zimbabweans. We are only grateful. Those that have listened to the oppressed voices have only echoed them to distances far and wide. We salute them.

Blind Moon

Chenjerai Hove

2003-10-30

http://www.africanbookscollective.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_New_Titles_68.html

A new collection of evocative and defiant poetry from one of Zimbabwe's leading literary and political writers. The poems reflect on the plight of the individual citizen and the state of Zimbabwe, the poet's birthplace and spiritual home. They convey empathy for those who suffer anonymous deaths at the expense of tyrannical power, and yearning for a more peaceful world and spirit of common destiny; their intention being in his words ' to persuade the heart and the soul and human body to be together and to gently cry out to the world'.

Journal of Contemporary African Studies September issue available

2003-10-30

http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com

The Journal includes:
* Survival of cottage industries in Africa: the case of clustering and social networks in Tanzanian garment industries by Stein Kristiansen, Andrew Mbwambo;
* Economic reforms and 'virtual democracy' in South Africa and Zimbabwe: the incompatibility of liberalisation, inclusion and development by Stefan Andreasson;
* Ethiopia-Eritrea: proxy wars and prospects of peace in the horn of Africa by John Abbink.

Stolen Fruit

Peter Robbins

2003-10-30

http://zedbooks.co.uk/

Fifty or more developing countries still depend mainly on the tropical commodities or minerals that they produce. Over the past half century, it has become abundantly clear that this has been a disaster. Peter Robbins looks into the possible solutions being proffered - from ideas to exploit new niche markets and improve quality, to more radical notions like fair trade, and shows how they all fail to measure up to the scale of the disaster facing the Third World.

The Decolonization Reader

Edited by James Le Sueur

2003-10-30

http://www.semcoop.com/detail/0415231175

What is decolonization? How did decolonization transform the colonial and European metropolitan societies in the aftermath of World War II? How does the legacy of decolonization continue to affect postcolonial politics as well as cultural and intellectual life in the former European powers and ex-colonies? Assembled in The Decolonization Reader for the first time is a unique and broad set of responses to these and other important questions.

Zimbabwe's Plunge

Patrick Bond and Masimba Mahanya

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/17991

Zimbabwe's Plunge is a rare and unique book about Zimbabwe's geo-political and economic situation. The book, with consistent objectivity and the precision of a butcher's cleaver, analyses the link between finance and politics and the way these have contributed to the economic predicament in Zimbabwe. The simple and dynamic style appeals to a wide readership including politicians, economists, historians, academics, secondary school students and ordinary people who want to have knowledge about Zimbabwe's current socio economic problems and their possible solutions.
Zimbabwe's Plunge by Patrick Bond and Masimba Mahanya
Published in Zimbabwe by Weaver Press
Reviewed by Kamurai Mudzingwa
Zimbabwe's Plunge is a rare and unique book about Zimbabwe's geo-political and economic situation. The book, with consistent objectivity and the precision of a butcher's cleaver, analyses the link between finance and politics and the way these have contributed to the economic predicament in Zimbabwe.
The simple and dynamic style appeals to a wide readership including politicians, economists, historians, academics, secondary school students and ordinary people who want to have knowledge about Zimbabwe's current socio economic problems and their possible solutions.
There are 5 chapters and 4 appendices, all of which are packed with comprehensive information that is complemented by simple statistical representations and excerpts of interviews with notable politicians like Nathan Shamuyarira and former finance minister Simba Makoni.
The book's central argument revolves around 90 years of colonialism that engendered uneven development "around which debt bubbles rose and burst." The book depicts how the same economic and political problems were replayed after independence, this time led by a government that "talks left and acts right."
The authors trace the macroeconomic policies from 1920 where protection for local manufacturers (white) stimulated industrial growth, to the present, where there is a return to dirigist policies that encompass foreign debt default, uncontrolled budgetary growth, a currency peg etc.
Pre-independence political economy is given as a comprehensive background. This includes primitive settler acquisition that was characterised by finance from excess capital from London, the forcible removal of black peasants from fertile land and the creation of petit white bourgeoisie on colony land.
World political events such as the Great Depression that resulted in dry foreign markets, engendering "import-substitute industrialisation" that paradoxically saw the booming of local manufacturing industries with a very small market base because of uneven development are chronicled. (The manufactured goods were luxury goods targeted at whites who constituted a very small market base)
The book also portrays the relationship among the multinational corporations, colonial governments, the IMF and the World Bank. The multi national corporations benefited, through loans, from this complex relationship.
The colonial governments' manner of defaulting on loan repayment is portrayed and how these debts were subsequently passed on to the government of Zanu at independence.
Having traced the pre-independence's uneven development and its consequences on the economy, the book then analyses the process of uneven development after independence.
First, the book tracks how the new government maintained the bulk of neo-liberal policies and other pre-colonial regulations while it displayed an unsure hand on economic matters. Then there was Esap, which was aggravated by drought but the book makes an interesting analogy and analysis. Drought, as the authors argue, is not the major issue because the economic boom of the 60s and the 70s was against the backdrop of drought.
Critically, the advantages that would have ensued from defaulting on the colonial debt are analysed. An analysis of how the government was sweet-talked into paying the debt that colonial governments had defaulted on is also made.
The writers portray how the 1997-2001 period marks the beginning of the general collapse of the Zimbabwean economy, with the precise date given as 14 November 1997 when over a half hour period, the Zimbabwe dollar lost 74 percent of its value against the US dollar.
An analysis is also made about the effects of the Democratic Republic of Congo war, the challenge of the Movement of Democratic Change to the ruling party, that made the government less and less concerned with economic integration and concentrate on political crises.
With objectivity, the authors look at how the implementation of the Land Designation Act and War veterans' unbudgeted for gratuities led to the collapse of the economy.
Apart from local and economic factors, the book analyses global influences on the collapse of the economy, including the World Bank's push for neo-liberal policies and Thabo Mbeki's "soft stance" which must be viewed against his government's "subimperialist investment/trade policies, applied to both the region and to the continent through the New Partnership for Africa's Development."(NEPAD)
The authors go beyond simple critical realism. Having analysed the flawed economic policies of both the colonial and post independence governments, they then analyse weaknesses of the proposed MDC policies before offering possible, practical solutions. Among the solutions proposed are anti- apartheid global strategies, concrete financial strategies, domestic self-reliance and Zimbabwe's options.
Zimbabwe's Plunge is definitely a book that must be read by anyone interested in an unbiased view of the global and domestic geo-politics and the manner in which they have destroyed the once vibrant economy of the country.

algeria: women to get 'equal rights'

2003-10-30

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=85&art_id=qw1067266801447B242&set_id=1

The Algerian government has set up a commission to revise the north African country's family code to improve women's rights, an official said on Monday. Under the current code, based mainly on Islam's strict Sharia law and adopted in 1984, women must submit to male protection throughout their lives.

ghana: Women Prepare To Make Their Mark In Elections

2003-10-30

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=45621

Ghana is scheduled to hold both presidential and parliamentary elections next year – a prospect that has galvanized the country’s women. A series of meetings is being held nationwide to draft a women’s manifesto for the two polls. Organisers hope this will end a situation where – as they put it – women have been left behind in the democratisation process.

kenya: Commission On Gender Approved

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310170156.html

Parliament has passed a Bill seeking to establish an autonomous National Commission on Gender and Development. The commission will co-ordinate and facilitate gender mainstreaming in national development. It will also initiate legal reforms on issues affecting women.

kenya: School Shelters Girls from Forced Marriages

2003-10-30

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1579

Nice Mulejo was just 9 years old when her father decided to pull her out of school and give her away for marriage. But two days before the wedding, a concerned teacher learned of the preparations and begged Mulejo's father to allow the girl to attend school for one more day. When he reluctantly agreed, the teacher used the extra day to whisk Mulejo off to a government boarding school for girls.

sudan: women hope for peace

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310270902.html

The ongoing conflicts in Sudan have largely interfered with family cohesion, with most men going into permanent hiding to avoid execution or conscription into enemy forces. There is now hope, however, for the abandoned women, following last week's affirmation that a final deal could end the 20-year-old civil war.

swaziland: Women Candidates Vow to Promote Social Agenda

2003-10-30

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20782

In last week's parliamentary elections, the number of women legislators increased by 150 percent in a country where women candidates had complained that it is difficult for them to be taken seriously as representatives or as authority figures because of their gender.

Uganda: 'My life as a gay Ugandan Christian'

2003-10-30

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/3216229.stm

Christopher Senteza is a committed Christian who has been with his partner for six years. But Christopher is also gay, something the church in Uganda frowns upon and the state can throw you in prison for.

uganda: Women Demand Law to Weed Out Domestic Violence

2003-10-30

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20768

Rights campaigners in Uganda are demanding a law to protect women from domestic violence, which has been blamed for the high prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among them. The campaigners, mostly women's groups, have argued that lack of such legislation would water down efforts to fight the pandemic.

drc: Human Rights Violations on the Increase in Katanga, says aid group

2003-10-30

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/106691913330.htm

There has been an increase in human rights violations associated with the return of DRC government (FAC) troops to the territory of Malemba Nkulu on 5 September 2003, reports Action Against Hunger. Malemba Nkulu Territory has been the centre of a power struggle between FAC and the MayiMayi local militia since early 2002 attributing to a precarious humanitarian situation for much of the 230,000 civilians living in this area.

drc: No peace without an end to impunity

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/18038

The transitional government in Kinshasa must give the highest priority to stopping, urgently and immediately, the horrendous cycle of human rights abuse still prevailing in eastern DRC, said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, at the end of her visit in Kinshasa.
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

Democratic Republic of Congo: No peace without an end to impunity for human
rights abuses

AI Index: AFR 62/047/2003 (Public)
24 October 2003

The transitional government in Kinshasa must give the highest priority to
stopping, urgently and immediately, the horrendous cycle of human rights
abuse still prevailing in eastern DRC, said Irene Khan, Secretary General
of Amnesty International, at the end of her visit in Kinshasa.

"While the different factions now in Kinshasa wrangle for power and
privilege, people still live in fear of death, plunder and carnage in the
Kivus, Ituri and other parts of the country. Mutilations and massacres
continue. Children are still being used as soldiers, and rape of women and
girls is a standard tactic of warfare. That grim reality throws a cold
shadow on the optimism in Kinshasa," said Ms. Khan.

Underlining the continued links between several senior members of the
government, the political parties they represent and the armed elements who
are committing these abuses, Ms. Khan said: "The credibility of the
transitional government will suffer if these atrocities are allowed to
continue with impunity."

"Neither national unity nor democracy can be built on the back of abuse and
impunity. The right of victims and their families to truth and justice is
an essential element of the process of reconciliation and peace in the DRC.
Those who are suspected of having perpetrated war crimes, crimes against
humanity and genocide must be investigated, regardless of the position or
power they enjoy," Ms Khan said.

"We welcome the indications by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that
they will investigate crimes committed in Ituri. This must be accompanied
by further action at the national and international level to investigate
crimes beyond the scope of the ICC."

In talks with the Vice Presidents and other senior members of the
government as well as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary
General and members of the diplomatic community, Amnesty International
stressed that the real test of the political process in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) will not lie in the planned election two years down
the road but in the willingness and ability of the government to reign in
the armed elements, to end human rights abuse, address impunity and
undertake fundamental reform of the army, police and justice systems.

"Giving men and women the chance to vote is meaningless if they do not
enjoy the right to a life free from the threat of rape, murder, torture,
arbitrary detention and forcible displacement. Preparations for elections
and economic reconstruction must go hand in hand with building institutions
of governance, based on respect for human rights and international
humanitarian law," emphasised Ms. Khan.

During a visit to Bunia last week, Amnesty International noted that a
reinforced MONUC has brought some degree of security, but a lot more needs
to be done to deploy troops in other parts of Ituri and in the Kivus, to
support the reform of the army and the police, and demobilisation and
disarmament.

"The international community must continue to give MONUC the political and
financial support it needs and must stay the course until the tasks are
done," urged Irene Khan.

"More attention must be given to assisting the victims of sexual violence
and the demobilisation and rehabilitation of child soldiers, in particular
building the capacity of local organisations."

"The UN Security Council must insist on the most scrupulous respect of the
arms embargo on eastern DRC. It must put teeth in its resolution by setting
up a mechanism to enforce the embargo, and provide MONUC with the resources
to support this mechanism," said Irene Khan.

Amnesty International calls on UN member states not to engage in arms
transfers and supplies of military and police equipment or training to the
DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda unless these transfers are subject to the
most stringent certification and scrutiny to ensure that the equipment will
not be used to perpetrate human rights abuses.

"We must not forget that the desire to control and exploit the natural
resources of DRC has been a major driving force behind massive human rights
abuses," said Irene Khan.

"So far, the findings of the UN Panel, implicating Uganda, Rwanda and
Zimbabwe as well as many companies worldwide, have not led to
investigations or action against these actors. On the eve of the
publication of the final report of the UN Panel, we call on the UN Security
Council to take concrete action to implement the recommendations of the
four reports of the Panel. It is of the utmost importance that the UN
Security Council establishes a mechanism to continue to monitor actively
the resource exploitation to ensure that it is not tainted with human
rights abuses."

"In order to gain the confidence of the Congolese people and set a new
beginning for this country, the Congolese leaders must take firm steps to
stop babies from being mutilated, children from being recruited to fight
wars, women from being raped. The United Nations, the international
community and governments in the region must work with the Transitional
Government -- but the ultimate responsibility lies with the Congolese
leaders," concluded Irene Khan.

Background
Irene Khan, the Secretary General of Amnesty International led a high level
mission to Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo from 15 - 24
October 2003 to discuss with the leaders of these countries, their role in
ending grave violations of human rights in eastern DRC, including massive
summary killings of civilians, torture, rape, "disappearances", forced
displacements and systematic use of rape as a weapon of war. Ms. Khan also
raised with various presidents and senior government leaders Amnesty
International's human rights concerns specific to their countries.

Amnesty International recognizes the regional dimensions of the conflict in
eastern DRC and has, during the current visit to the Great Lakes region,
raised its concerns with the Presidents and governments of Rwanda and
Uganda. Kigali and Kampala must take immediate steps to translate into
fact, pledges made to end their continued support of armed groups and the
economic plunder which fuels the human rights atrocities in eastern DRC.

In addition to Kigali, Kampala and Kinshasa, Amnesty International's
delegation visited Goma and Bunia in eastern DRC where it met with human
rights defenders, civil society, survivors of human rights abuses, the
governor of North Kivu, MONUC and other UN officials.

The delegation gathered information indicating that a large number of
civilians, including children, women and the old, continue to be
deliberately and systematically subjected to horrendous human rights abuses
in eastern DRC.

All documents on the Democratic Republic of Congo:

http://amnesty-news.c.tep1.com/maabAGBaa1yEcbb0iygb/

Take action to help end the use of child soldiers in the DRC:

http://amnesty-news.c.tep1.com/maabAGBaa1yEdbb0iygb/

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ghana: debate over icc agreement

2003-10-30

http://www.theheritagenews.com/article.asp?id=773

As Parliament readied itself for business after re-opening last week, one of the major issues that may likely generate hot debate touches on the sovereignty of the country, with the NPP Government trying to get the House to ratify a Bilateral Non-Surrender Agreement (BNSA) Ghana is said to have signed with the United States (US).

kenya: anti-terrorism bill will 'violate human rights'

Evans Wafula

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/17969

Pressure is mounting in the country against the anti-terrorism bill officially known as The Suppression of Terrorism Bill 2003. In addition to the public campaign against the bill, the human rights network is collecting signatures from Kenyans, and using these to pressurise the government to withdraw the bill. The Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Kenya chapter, and religious organisations have also voiced their concern. Indeed, the LSK has offered to write a bill for the government if such a law is badly needed in the country. However, the government, through the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, has indicated that the bill will not be withdrawn. Talking to members of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) recently the Minister, Mr. Kiraitu Murungi, said that the bill would be amended and not withdrawn. SUPKEM has led the campaign against the bill, which apparently discriminates against the Muslim community.
The Anti-Terrorism bill is Dragonian and is intended to violate Human Rights and promot Torture

By Evans Wafula

Advoacy Officer(Independent Medico-Legal Unit)

Pressure is mounting in the country against the anti-terrorism bill officially known as The Suppression of Terrorism Bill 2003. In addition to the public campaign against the bill, the human rights network is collecting signatures from Kenyans, and using these hopes to pressurise the government to withdraw the bill. The Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Kenya chapter, and the religious organisations have also voiced their concern against the bill. Indeed, the LSK has offered to write a bill for the government if such a law is badly needed in the country.

However, the government, through the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, has indicated that the bill will not be withdrawn. Talking to members of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM), recently in his office, the Minister Mr. Kiraitu Murungi said that the bill would be amended and not withdrawn. SUPKEM has led the campaign against the bill, which apparently discriminates against the Muslim community.

On July 8th, the Chambers of Justice, a civil society legal lobby, argued at a public forum that there is need to form a panel of legal experts to review the bill and advise the Attorney General on the way forward. That review should be against the backdrop of the current criminal law regime, and should at best propose a new legislation.

According to the Chambers, this bill highly repressive runs against the national spirit and militates against our national sovereignty in favour of American and British interests. The chambers further says that the bill germinates out of the US Patriot Act 2001, whose official title is Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Tools Required to Intercept and obstruct Terrorism Act. In the US, the chambers notes, the “application of the Patriot Act by the US government has resulted in some of the grossest violations of human rights ever revealed since the Nuremberg trials.” It cites the case of the al-Qaeda suspects who are still incarcerated incommunicado at the US military base in Quatanamo Bay in Cuba, two years after they were arrested in Afghanistan.

But whereas the US law targets foreign nationals, the Kenya government is eager to go along with her “development partners” by instituting such a law, which is against her own citizens. Indeed, this bill elevates security above liberty and abrogates constitutional rights and freedoms.

Section 30 of the bill says, “ Any police officer above the rank of an inspector is allowed to hold a suspect incommunicado for up to 36 hours without access to a lawyer or family members.” This section allows inhuman and degrading treatment.

It contravenes section 72, which says, “ A detained person has the right to be taken to court within 24 hours and to have prompt access to a lawyer of his choice.” It also contravenes section 74 (1) of the constitution, which says, “No person shall be subject to inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment.” Secondly, the general and imprecise manner in which terrorist offences are defined, and the indeterminate fines as alternates to imprisonment leave too much latitude and offends core principles of criminal law. Indeed, it contravenes section 77(8) of the constitution, which says, “ No person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty thereof provide for.” Moreover it extends the definition of a terrorist to cover a person who has been involved in terrorist activities before the enactment of the law, something that offends section 77(4) of the constitution, which says, “No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of an act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence.” The chambers analysed the bill further and argued that it lowers the standard of the burden of proof as required in all criminal cases, to the detriment of the suspect. That means it has the effect of declaring a suspect guilty until proven innocent, whereas section
77(2a) of the constitution states, “every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until proved or pleads guilty.” In addition, the bill gives sweeping powers to the police to arrest any person whose dressing is suspicious in his/her opinion. This curtails personal freedom as to choice of clothing, and amounts to legalising discrimination against dress codes of certain religious organisations. It’s inconsistent with section 82 of the constitution, which outlaws treatment that is discriminatory on account of inter alia religion, political opinions or place of origin.

And the bill confers upon the police and other security officers the power to use reasonable force in the performance of work and if from the exercise of such powers death or injury to a person or loss or damage to property is occasioned, the officers are indemnified from any claim in any civil or criminal proceedings. In the face of it, it does not define what constitutes reasonable force.

Coming from a government that is eager to distance itself from police brutality and human rights abuses of the previous administration, this is shocking, for, in effect, the bill allows torture, maiming and even killing of suspects by security officers. Indeed, the bill mocks the human rights campaigns of the last ten years. It contravenes the bill of rights, which guarantees every person the right to life, liberty, property & protection from torture and inhuman treatment. The bill does not define reasonable force and therefore this blanket immunity is illegal even in emergency cases because it actually sanctioning terror. There are other concerns about this bill. These include its lack of adequate provisions for compensation of victims of terrorism and provision of sweeping powers to the police; powers to detain cash belonging to a suspect and forfeits the property of suspected persons to the state.

It also mortgages our sovereignty and allows foreign security forces, notably American and British, to arrest and detain Kenyans. Not surprisingly, there are reports that both the Kenyan CID officers and the American FBI agents tortured those who were arrested recently in Mombassa on terrorism suspicion. One shudder to imagine what will happen if this law is enacted.

Finally, the bill is not drafted in the spirit of international human rights conventions and creates a general climate of fear and suspicion in which the state is invested with coercive, intrusive and intimidating powers. It also introduces a new concept in criminal jurisprudence under section 26 when it grants the police powers to use excessive force to punish members of the public by detaining them in buildings or establishments where there are suspected terrorists. The concept of communal guilt is obviously highly oppressive.

Because of the above, the human rights network opines that the country does not need an entirely new piece of legislation to combat terrorism; the current criminal legal regime is sufficient to do that. In any case, the so-called war against terrorism is not Kenyan war. It has its roots in Middle East and is being waged against the Americans and the British because of their policies in that region. Why then drag Kenyans into other people’s wars?

The writer is an Advocacy Officer with the Independent Medico Legal Unit a human rights organisation working with victims and survivors of torture by providing them free legal and medical assistance.

Namibia: Authorities must ensure a fair trial for Caprivi defendants, Amnesty urges

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/18104

As the treason trial of 122 defendants, at least 70 of whom Amnesty International considers to be prisoners of conscience, resumed in Namibia on 27 October, the organisation is urging the Namibian authorities to ensure that the trials proceed in line with international standards of fairness. The defendants were arrested and accused of high treason, murder and other offences in connection with the secessionist Caprivi uprising of August 1999.
News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International
AI INDEX: AFR 42/005/2003 30 October 2003


As the treason trial of 122 defendants, at least 70 of whom Amnesty
International considers to be prisoners of conscience, resumed in Namibia
on 27 October, the organisation is urging the Namibian authorities to
ensure that the trials proceed in line with international standards of
fairness.

"Since being detained in 1999, the defendants have been subject to a
catalogue of violations: many have been tortured, subject to harsh
conditions of detention and denied access to lawyers, their families and
medical treatment for periods. The onus is on the Namibian authorities to
ensure a fair trial now that the defendants are finally having their cases
heard", an Amnesty International spokesperson said today.

The defendants were arrested and accused of high treason, murder and other
offences in connection with the secessionist Caprivi uprising of August
1999. Most of them were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, and harsh
prison conditions. They were also denied access to lawyers, medical
treatment and their families for approximately three weeks. The defendants
have remained in custody for the past four years and have been waiting for
the resumption of their trial since June 2002. Some appear to have been
arrested based solely on their actual or perceived non-violent support for
the political opposition in the region, their ethnic identity or their
membership in certain organizations.

On 16 October 2003, one of the defendants, Oscar Luphalwezi, died at the
Katima Mulilo state hospital while in police custody. This brings to 12
the total number of treason trial defendants who have died in police
custody since 1999. A copy of Oscar Luphalwezi's death certificate issued
on 17 October indicated that he had died from "severe malaria". Amnesty
International is concerned that some of the illnesses which preceded the
deaths of the 12 defendants may have been aggravated by unsanitary prison
conditions and medical neglect. Soon after his arrest in 1999, Oscar
Luphalwezi was severely tortured while in police custody and denied
medical treatment for six days.

The Namibian authorities have a responsibility to ensure respect for
international standards for fairness and independence in the
administration of justice and to end torture. They must ensure that all
statements extracted by torture or ill-treatment will not be used as
evidence in court, in accordance with Namibia's obligations under the
United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The Namibian authorities are also
obliged under the CAT to take effective measures to investigate all
allegations of torture and ill-treatment promptly, thoroughly and
impartially, make the results of the investigation public and bring the
suspected perpetrators to justice.

Amnesty International is calling on the Namibian authorities to
immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience and
ensure that the remaining defendants are tried in a fair manner.


BACKGROUND

Following an armed attack launched by the secessionist group, the Caprivi
Liberation Army, on government forces and buildings on 2 August 1999 in
the Caprivi region of north-eastern Namibia, the Namibian government
declared a State of Emergency and detained over 300 people on suspicion of
participating in the attack, sympathizing with the secessionists or
assisting them to plan or launch the attacks. 122 of the defendants
remained in custody charged with high treason, murder and other offences.

In August 2003, Amnesty International released a report "Namibia: Justice
delayed is justice denied - The Caprivi treason trial" which detailed the
violations of the Caprivi defendants' pretrial rights. (You can read the
full report online at http://amnesty-news.c.tep1.com/maabBTFaa1IsJbd5AQwb/)


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nigeria: Trade Unions Threaten to Resume Strike

2003-10-30

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20789

Nigeria's trade unions have announced that they would call for mass action to protest government's refusal to revert to the old price of fuel. They said they would resume the suspended mass protests scheduled to have started on Oct. 9, but which were called off after governors of Nigeria's 36 states hammered a deal with the trade union leaders.

rwanda: Former minister tried for inciting genocide

2003-10-30

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28629334.htm

Two French Lawyers on Tuesday began presenting evidence in defence of a former Rwandan finance minister accused of genocide for allegedly encouraging, planning and instigating mass rapes and murders. Emmanuel Ndindabahizi, a greying 53-year-old, denies all charges of involvement in the 1994 massacres when extremist Hutus slaughtered around 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days.

rwanda: Will Native Courts Heal Rwanda?

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310230836.html

In a hilly neighbourhood of Kigali, Rwanda's capital, beneath a makeshift tent bathed in mid-morning sunlight, a pivotal social experiment unfolds. Across this deeply traumatised central African country, the victims of a state-sponsored genocide are starting to confront their alleged attackers in community courts convened in open fields and school yards.

south africa: 'Colin Powell intervened in apartheid lawsuits'

2003-10-30

http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1465360-6078-0,00.html

South African Justice Minister Penuell Maduna was instructed by the US government to oppose lawsuits brought in the US against multi-national corporations which allegedly benefited from apartheid, lawyer Michael Hausfeld has alleged. Professor Hausfeld told the Cape Town Press Club he had been told by Khulumani victims who attended a reparations meeting last month that Maduna had been given the instruction by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Zimbabwe: Food Used as Political Weapon

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/17949

Zimbabwean authorities discriminate against perceived political opponents by denying them access to food programs, Human Rights Watch says in a new report. The report documents how food is denied to suspected supporters of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party and to residents of former commercial farms resettled under the country’s “fast-track” land reform program.
Embargoed for Release:
Friday October 24, 2003
At 00:01 GMT
(For Friday’s Newspapers)
Zimbabwe: Food Used as Political Weapon
Government, Donors Must Halt Discrimination

(New York, October 24, 2003) – Zimbabwean authorities discriminate against perceived political opponents by denying them access to food programs, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. International relief agencies in Zimbabwe fail to ensure that access to food is based on need alone and is not biased by domestic or international political concerns.

The 51-page report, “Not Eligible: The Politicization of Food in Zimbabwe,” documents how food is denied to suspected supporters of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party and to residents of former commercial farms resettled under the country’s “fast-track” land reform program. The report examines the widespread politicization of the government’s subsidized grain program, managed by the Grain Marketing Board, as well as the far less extensive manipulation of international food aid.

According to the report, government authorities and party officials of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) manipulate the supply and distribution of government-subsidized grain and the registration of recipients for international food aid. International aid agencies must devote greater resources and attention to preventing the manipulation of recipient lists. The report also examines international community’s tacit complicity in preventing food from reaching former commercial farm areas resettled under land reform.

“Select groups of people are being denied access to food,” said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “This is a human rights violation as serious as arbitrary imprisonment or torture.”

Today one-half of Zimbabwe’s population of nearly 14 million is considered “food-insecure,” living in households that are unable to obtain enough food to meet basic needs. The international community has spent hundreds of millions of dollars pouring food aid into Zimbabwe, yet thousands continue to go hungry.

Any perceived political adversaries of ZANU-PF or the government encounter difficulty gaining access to food. Known members of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), are top-most among perceived enemies. This category also encompasses teachers, former commercial farm workers and urban residents–groups generally considered to
favor the MDC. In effect, without a ZANU-PF party card, a Zimbabwean cannot register for or receive government-subsidized grain.

The international relief agencies rely on local authorities in some cases to determine beneficiary status, which leads to a certain degree of political manipulation. However, the international aid programs are also politicized. According to insiders of the international aid regime, some international donors are opposed to funding aid for those resettled on the former commercial farms that were redistributed under the “fast-track” land reform program. The international aid agencies deny that donors’ political opposition to land reform is a factor, explaining that they cannot distribute any relief food in these areas until a comprehensive needs assessment has been completed by the government.

“Politically, it is disadvantageous for the Zimbabwe government to investigate need on the resettled farms,” said Takirambudde. “If the farms are not productive and people are hungry, the government’s land reform program will look like a failure. It seems that the government is manipulating relief efforts, and that the international community is playing along even though people on the resettled farms need food desperately.”

Human Rights Watch asserted that the Zimbabwe government has an obligation under international and domestic law to supply food without reference to race, religion, ethnicity or regional origin, or to residence, sex or political affiliation. The government should instruct authorities in charge of beneficiary lists to abide by the principle of nondiscrimination.

The government should impress upon the leadership of all political parties that it is prohibited under domestic and international law for politicians and party supporters to use food to influence or reward constituents or voters. Punitive action should be taken against those who flout this prohibition.

Human Rights Watch recommended that the international community continue to fight the politicization of relief food through its efforts to maintain tight controls on food distribution and to implement all aspects of relief efforts directly or through local non-governmental organizations.

Human Rights Watch also emphasized that international aid should not be based on any factor other than need. In particular, farmers who were resettled under the “fast-track” land reform program should be made eligible to receive food aid from all international sources. Donors that have withdrawn support for humanitarian programs in Zimbabwe should reconsider their duty, under international law, to assist those in need.

During the embargo period, the report is available at http://docs.hrw.org/embargo/zimbabwe1003 with the user name: ‘zimbabwe’ and the access code: ‘food2k3’.

After the embargo, the report will be available at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/zimbabwe1003

For further information, please contact:

In New York, Peter Takirambudde: +1-212-216-1235
In London, Steve Crawshaw: +44-20-7713-2766
In Brussels, Vanessa Saenen: +322-732-2009

zimbabwe: lack of political tolerance continues

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/17951

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has condemned the pervasive levels of inter-party political violence that continue to be recorded in Zimbabwe. "Inter-party violence, sustained by lack of political tolerance and at times encouraged by statements made by party officials, has been prevalent in Zimbabwe since early 2000," said the Forum in its latest political violence report for the month of September. The report records 18 assaults, 16 cases of political discrimination and two cases of torture for the month of September.
ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM
POLITICAL VIOLENCE REPORT
SEPTEMBER 2003
23 October 2003
A report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum

OVERVIEW
ln September 2003, politically motivated violence was largely perpetrated in the follow up to the Urban Council Elections held on 30/31 August 2003. There were reports that civilians were victimised and intimidated, based on the victory of either the opposition MDC or the ruling ZANU PF in the Elections. For example, EM, DN, and TM, MDC supporters from Chitungwiza (HARARE PROVINCE) were reportedly assaulted by Zanu PF youths at their homes. The assailants were purportedly.celebrating the ZANU PF victory in the Urban Council Elections. They allegedly forced TM to chant the ZANU PF slogan and attacked the other two with clenched fists and booted feet. In Mutare Central (MANICALAND PROVINCE), Cecilia Gambe (former ZANU PF Councillor), asserts that Pamela, Fungai, Billiard, Gertrude Sithole, Fortune Chishakwe, John Manikai, James Manikai, Alice Manikai, and a Mrs Manikai of the opposition MDC stoned her home, injured her on the head and destroyed property worth about Z$600 000 following the victory of the opposition MDC in the Urban Council Elections. In Mutare Central, Cyril Nzero, MDC Councillor elect, claims that ZRP officers arrested him when he had gone to visit the nine MDC supporters who were arrested and detained by the police at Chisamba Police Station, on allegations of stoning the home of Cecilia Gambe.
Another violation that continues to be perpetrated is that of freedom of association/ expression. Political party supporters and private individuals have continued to victimise civilians in an effort to force them to desist from supporting political parties of their choice. In Marondera East/ West (MASHONALAND EAST), PS was purportedly kicked in the lower abdomen and face, and then had her suitcase, cash and some MDC membership forms confiscated by Isidore Kambiti and a group of Zanu (PF) supporters. She was waiting for transport at a bus stop. MT of Mbare (HARARE PROVINCE) alleges that ZANU PF supporters threatened him with death, assaulted him, and then displaced him from his home because he was supposed to testify in a case in which they had assaulted one Alfred Horomba. In the same area, ZANU PF supporters are said to have displaced FS because he supports the opposition MDC. AT, MDC polling agent for Mashonaland East Ward 11 in the August 2003 Urban Council Elections, fled from his home fearing for his life following threats from the ZANU PF supporters, to ‘deal with him accordingly’.
In Gutu North/ South (MASVINGO PROVINCE), it is reported that some CIO operatives took AR from his workplace to the police station, accusing him of hoarding cash and sabotaging the Zimbabwean economy. He claims that he was ordered to undress, chew his underwear, howl like a dog, and was then assaulted under the feet with baton sticks. The victim asserts that he was then driven and dumped at a place about 10km out of Gutu. In Mufakose (HARARE PROVINCE), SN claims that his neighbour, a soldier, burst into his house and accused him of ‘talking about the MDC’. He allegedly slapped SN three times across the face and then called upon a group of 6 policemen and 2 Zanu PF youths, whom he purports falsely accused him of insulting the President. The victim was arrested and taken to Machipisa Police Station where he was assaulted with baton sticks on his back, legs and head.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum condemns the pervasive levels of inter-party political violence that continue to be recorded. Inter-party violence, sustained by lack of political tolerance and at times encouraged by statements made by party officials, has been prevalent in Zimbabwe since early 2000. The Human Rights Forum considers it the duty of the respective political parties in Zimbabwe to restrain their supporters from perpetrating violence against persons who support divergent political parties or persons who chose to be apolitical.

zimbabwe: Mugabe collapse sparks speculation over his successor

2003-10-30

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=458273

The health of President Robert Mugabe is failing and he is positioning his favourite, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to take over, according to sources in Zimbabwe.

zimbabwe: Social Forum places socialism on the national agenda

Thomas Deve

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/17979

Participants at the Zimbabwe Social Forum which was held in Harare from 9-11 October have called on the working class communities the world over to enhance global solidarity and roll back the advance of neo-liberalism by working for and marching towards Socialism. The forum adopted a charter of principles that basically said "Say no to capitalism, no to Globalisation, No to any form of domination!"
Zimbabwe Social Forum places socialism on the national agenda.



By Thomas DEVE



Participants at the Zimbabwe Social Forum which was held in Harare from 9-11 October have called on the working class communities the world over to enhance global solidarity and roll back the advance of neo-liberalism by working for and marching towards Socialism.

The forum that was convened as a People's Forum for Peace, Reconstruction and Prosperity in Zimbabwe" using the slogan "Another Zimbabwe is possible!" adopted a charter of principles that basically said "Say no to capitalism, no to Globalisation, No to any form of domination!"

Testimonies from students fighting against privatisation, children and parents from overcrowded parts of Zimbabwe's large towns, women engaged in cross border trade and other numerous community-based organisations outlined the challenges faced by ordinary people in Zimbabwe especially those that were caused by privatisation of basic social services.

Most testimonies unequivocally proclaimed that the current thrust in global economic governance was not sustainable.

The Forum which deliberated on the role of social movements in anti-globalisation struggles, underlined the importance of building a value-based resistance movement whose vision underscores global solidarity rooted in the working class, the poor and marginalised people.

Brutal frankness marked most of the sessions and it is instructive to note that the Youth Tent produced fireworks especially after some sentiment had been expressed that "Zimbabwe was a nation of cowards".

Debates that subsequently transpired highlighted the weaknesses in the existing movements especially around the ideology that guided them in creating a critical mass.

Participants agonised for example the confusion that now surrounded the importance of using the clenched fist when sloganeering and resolved that the space provided by the social forum should be used to reclaim working class songs, symbols and social mobilisation tactics which the ruling elite in African polities have appropriated.

The participating faith-based organisations emerged as a clearly organised grouping that had developed progressive positions on issues of global injustice.

They articulated the need to build a world that was based on people-centred social and economic justice.

Emphasizing the need to take a position on the way forward out of the political, social and economic crisis currently gripping Zimbabwe, faith based organisations coined the slogan "Its our time", which was chanted repeatedly to highlight the fact that faith-based organisations' were siding with the poor and ready to expose the bankruptcy of neo-liberalism by advancing the cause of Freedom.

A people's tribunal was one of the forums' major achievements. It saw real life situations being used to judge the culpability of the Zimbabwean government, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organisations in promoting injustice through Structural Adjustment Programmes and its attendant neo-liberalism.

A peace march scheduled to be held on Saturday to seal the Forum's proceedings was cancelled because police did not grant permission.

Instead, a peace rally was organised and in all the solidarity messages that were made, participants welcomed the hosting of the social forum as a rare opportunity to share, acquire, reflect and promote awareness on anti-globalisation and struggles against poverty.

The Forum successfully brought together non-governmental organisations, social movements, students, labour organisations, residents and small traders associations and faith based-organisations.

But if the Social Forum has to grow in Zimbabwe, it needs to address gender concerns identified by activists during the Addis Ababa, Africa Social Forum.

This is critical in mobilising women's organisations, lest the space becomes another sphere of male-domination.

MWENGO, Seatini, Trades Centre and Afrodad were some of the regional non-governmental organisations that threw their weight behind the Zimbabwe Social Forum.

Africa: Refugee Crises - is Africa Being Short-Changed?

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310270903.html

"The dichotomy of how refugees were treated in say, Guinea, versus how those from Kosovo were treated was totally unacceptable; unacceptable to spend less than US$ 20 million on 500,000 refugees from Sierra Leone and then ask for US$ 240 million for an equivalent number in Kosovo." These were words of a former US Secretary of State, complaining about double standards employed against African refugees.

car: help needed to prevent famine

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/18046

The 200,000 people who still remain displaced in the Central African Republic after a coup d'etat in March face serious food shortages, according to a report released this week by the Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Norwegian Refugee Council Press Release - For immediate release

GENEVA, 28 October 2003 - The 200,000 people who still remain displaced in
the Central African Republic after a coup d'etat in March face serious
food shortages, according to a report released today by the Global IDP
Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Food production was severely disrupted during the six-month fighting that
preceded the coup. Despite an appeal issued by the United Nations and
first reports of children dying as a result of the emerging food crisis,
there has been hardly any response from international donors so far, the
report says.

"This epitomizes a situation in which the Central African Republic, having
suffered decades of coups, instability and misrule, remains one of the
least funded countries in the region", stresses the report.

Up to 300,000 people were uprooted by widespread human rights violations
accompanying the fighting between government forces and rebels that
culminated in the overthrow of President Ange-Felix Patassé in March 2003.
Half a year later, some 200,000, mostly originating from strongholds of
the former President, still remain displaced inside the country. Fear of
reprisals by the new authorities, as well as raids by armed bandits
operating in a general state of lawlessness, prevent them from returning
to their homes.

To prevent a famine in the Central African Republic, which would have
devastating effects on the country's vulnerable displaced population,
international humanitarian assistance is needed urgently. The report
points out that lack of international funding, particularly through the
international monetary institutions, already was a key factor in sparking
the armed conflict that led to the current humanitarian crisis.

The full report is available at www.idpproject.org

The Geneva-based Global IDP Project, established by the Norwegian Refugee
Council at the request of the United Nations, is the leading international
body monitoring internal displacement worldwide.

DRC/Uganda: Displaced in western Uganda struggle with refugee influx

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37521

Displaced people in western Uganda’s Bundibugyo District are struggling to cope with the arrival since March of some 11,000 refugees from the war-torn Ituri District of neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a report by the Kampala-based Refugee Law Project (RLP).

ETHIOPIA/SOMALIA: Camp for Somali refugees to be closed

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37452

An Ethiopian camp for Somali refugees - once the largest of its kind in the world - will close by the end of the year, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It said in a statement on Friday that the closure of Hartishek camp, located in a semiarid area near the border with Somalia – would bring to an end "one of world's most tragic refugee cases".

Mali: France Demands Crackdown On People Smugglers

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310270074.html

Mali has rejected a demand by France that it crack down on people trafficking organisations that help illegal immigrants to reach Europe and North America, arguing that such immigrants send home 40 billion CFA (US $65 million) a year in remittances.

SUDAN: Rising numbers of displaced in Darfur

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37414

Conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, has displaced over half a million people since March, in addition to 70,000 who have fled across the border to eastern Chad, according to the UN. Figures remain uncertain due to access constraints and poor road conditions, but the latest estimates document at least 300,000 IDPs in northern Darfur, and 126,000 in western Darfur. In southern Darfur 76,000 have been displaced this year, on top of 200,000 who fled north from Bahr el Ghazal between 1988 and 2001.

Uganda: Alleged Graft in Lira IDP Camp

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310240347.html

Displaced people (IDPs) at Railway division camp in Lira municipality have complained about the extortion of money from them in exchange for registration and food. They told the state minister for youth and children's affairs, Felix Okot Ogong, that some people were masquerading as IDPs simply to get relief assistance. Okot advised IDPs to expose corrupt officials and warned corrupt officials to stop the practice.

AFRICA: NGOs urge greater transparency of diamond control

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37531

Attempts to convince some of the world's major diamond producing countries to submit to an independent audit of their national diamond control systems were scuppered on Wednesday by a handful of governments, who argued that calls for an impartial review system went beyond the scope of the Kimberley certification process.

CHAD: Plenty of oil to export, but no electricity

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37500

Chad has begun to export oil to the United States, but this desperately poor African country remains incapable of producing electricity to meet its own power needs. Just two percent of the landlocked country's eight million people have access to the electricity produced irregularly by an ancient rundown power station in the capital, N'Djamena.

kenya: Corruption saps a rich tradition

2003-10-30

http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=85141

Government is considering banning community fundraising parties, or harambees, a cornerstone of life in Kenya. Officials say they became a tool for corruption and graft under former president Daniel arap Moi, as government workers routinely began demanding donations for funerals, school fees and weddings, or for the dispensation of birth certificates, licenses or yellow fever cards.

Kenya: Teachers Declare Their Wealth

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310280262.html

Ninety six per cent of the country's 228,000 teachers have declared their wealth, it was revealed this week. Section 32 of the Public Officer Ethics Act, warns that people who fail to submit a declaration or clarification as required under the law, or who submit false or misleading information, are guilty of an offence.

namibia: Greed not need fuels corruption

2003-10-30

http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=85140

Yet again this week the columns of local newspapers have reported more incidences of theft and misappropriation of monies. But the increasing frequency of these occurrences unfortunately only seems to inspire silent resignation in many people.

São Tomé: braced for windfall when oil revenues begin to flow

2003-10-30

http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=85170

São Tomé and Principe, one of Africa's smallest and poorest countries, is poised to reap a windfall of up to $200m - 50 times annual average export earnings. But the prospect of new wealth has already heightened instability in the island state, where there have been frequent changes of government in recent years and concerns about corruption.

south africa: 'Lies behind the lies' must be exposed

2003-10-30

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?a=11&o=31953

Deputy President Jacob Zuma took a swipe at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) late last week, saying three years was a long time for it to fail to find any evidence of wrongdoing or corruption against him. The deputy president was referring to the three-year probe into allegations he was involved in corruption related to South Africa's multibillion-rand arms deal.

South Africa: NDA CEO suspended

2003-10-30

http://www.finance24.co.za/Finance/Economy/0,,1518-25_1436446,00.html

National Development Agency CEO Delani Mthembu has been suspended from his position pending an investigation into allegations of mismanagement and corruption, Social Development Minister Dr Zola Skweyiya announced on Monday.

Zambia: Nchekelako - a reader on corruption

2003-10-30

http://afronet.org.za/nchekelako/chp_01.htm

Today, corruption in Zambia is a disease of endemic socio-economic and political dimensions. It is a disease that threatens the fabric of sustainable livelihoods in the country and a disease that is sustained by inappropriate and maladaptive democratic linkages between the State and its citizenry, and narrow perceptions of corruption by individuals tasked with the management of the citizenry's common good.

africa/global: 100% World Bank and IMF debt cancellation is possible, says report

2003-10-30

http://www.jubileeresearch.org/

A new report challenges the IMF and World Bank's assertion that they are unable to cancel 100% of the debts owed by the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs.) Using rigorous financial analysis, the paper shows that both the IMF and World Bank have ample resources to cancel all HIPC debt, and that this could be done without in any way jeopardising their normal operations, or threatening their credit ratings, says the report by Jubilee Research.

Africa: Africa's Biggest Retailer

Mandisi Majavu

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/18096

Shoprite/Checkers claims to be Africa’s largest food retailer. The South African company operates 641 corporate outlets, with 14 retail outlets across the continent (Africa) and according to the company’s website (www.shoprite.co.za), towards the end of 2003 Shoprite/Checkers will for the first time enjoy representation beyond the African continent when it opens its first supermarket in Mumbai in India. What the website won’t tell you is that the company pays some of its employees R6.17 (US $1 trading at R7) an hour, while it reported revenue of R25 billion for the 12 months ended 30 June 2003.
This article was first published on http://www.Zmag.org
Reprinted with kind permission of the author.

Shoprite/Checkers claims to be Africa's largest food retailer. The South African company operates 641 corporate outlets, with 14 retail outlets across the continent (Africa) and according to the company's website (www.shoprite.co.za), towards the end of 2003 Shoprite/Checkers will for the first time enjoy representation beyond the African continent when it opens its first supermarket in Mumbai in India.
What the website won't tell you is that the company pays some of its employees R6.17 (US $1 trading at R7) an hour, while it reported revenue of R25 billion for the 12 months ended 30 June 2003. The website does not reveal the fact that the company pushes its employees to a point where they are forced to sign crooked contracts that reads as follows: "you agree that from time to time you may be scheduled and required to work up to 12 hours a day, inclusive of meal intervals, without overtime pay…." Normal working hours according to the South Africa labour law is eight hours a day. The contract goes further to say: "your usual meal interval will be one hour, to be taken at times determined by the company; [furthermore], you agree, when required to do so, to reduce your meal interval to 30 minutes." Despite all of this, the local business press assures us that we have the most "rigid" labour laws the world has seen in years, and of course this is not good for us.
The contract continues: "you agree and consent to any medical examination or test and to any validated psychometric test required… you agree, voluntari y, and without limiting the aforegoing, to submit to any required, valid test to determine your HIV status…." I don't even want to comment on the logical contradiction of that statement: "you agree, voluntarily, and without limiting the aforegoing, to submit…"
Taking alienation to ambitious heights, the contracts further reads: "you agree that the company has the right to monitor, access and review the utilisation of all computer, communication, or similar, equipment, including all and any email, voice-mail and other electronic records, and you consent to all such communications and records being accessed by the company in this regard."
The contract was introduced at the beginning of this year, February, and makes it clear that even if a person had been working for the company for five years before the introduction of the contract they were being hired anew, the five years is irrelevant and does not count. "Your employment will commence on 1 February 2003 … during the first three months of your employment, your work performance and general suitability for employment within the company will be assessed … should you not meet the required standards, your employment may be terminated," reads a contract of a worker who has been with the company for two years.
Part-time employees are the most affected by the contract. And a lot of part-time staff too. In South Africa, Shoprite/Checkers employs more than 36 500 part-time staff and about 23 000 permanent staff. Outside of South Africa the company employs about 3 800 permanent staff and 3 500 casual staff (1). It's an ideal situation for any capitalist – operating at minimum costs while making maximum profit.
The company has 6 000 shareholders (2), and you can be sure they are not subjected to obligatory HIV tests, and furthermore, they all go on holiday whenever they feel like it – holidays that are paid for by thousands of poor people working unpaid overtime.
While the poor are being humiliated, and exploitation intensified, Shoprite/Checkers CEO, Whitey Basson, earned a salary of R5.2 million plus a R3 million bonus for the financial period ending June 2003, according to the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (SACCAWU). In that same period the company shed 3 351 jobs. How these CEOs achieve sleep at night is a mystery.
In a move to create more markets for the wealthy few, the South
African president, Thabo Mbeki, together with a "business delegation" visited India earlier this month on a "free trade" mission. Free trade and new markets when translated into simple language mean increased profits for the rich, more monopoly and scarce jobs for the poor. What is interesting about this visit is that it came at a period when Shoprite/Checkers business operations in India are on its infancy – if there is a link between the two events or it's just a mere coincidence is anyone's guess. However, it's very unlikely that it's just a coincidence given the age of capitalism we live in whereby governments are reduced into salespersons by business for business (3).
Last Week, Friday (24 October) Shoprite/Checkers workers took to the streets in protest against exploitative conditions they are subjected to and against a humiliating contract that they say they were forced to sign. Nigel Mabija, a shop-steward at one of the company's retail outlets, says part-time workers were told to either sign the contract or resign.
At the march, when I asked one of the SACCAWU officials, (SACCAWU organised the march), that I'm not sure exactly what they were hoping to achieve with the march because it's the African National Congress (ANC) and its neoliberal policies, the same ANC they are affiliated with, that's creating an environment that makes it easy for these companies to exploit the poor. The official got indignant and asked "what kind of a journalist are you that points fingers?" Needless to s y, the interview did not last long.
In all this one thing remains clear and that is even though Shoprite/Checkers claims to be the "largest food retailer" in a continent where it's estimated that about 20 million people live on the brink of starvation – the company is not planning to give away food for free to any starving people.
1. taken from the company's website
2. from the company's website
3. borrowed from The Silent Take Over, by N.Hertz.
4. from the South African official website: www.southafrica.info

Africa: NEPAD Bodies to Merge Into African Union

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310230598.html

African leaders have approved a three-year timetable for integration of the institutions of the continent's development blueprint into the governing and administrative structures of the African Union. They originally adopted the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in 2001, but with the old Organisation of African Unity in the process of transition to the AU, the institutions set up to promote the plan have remained distinct, linked to the AU only on an ad hoc basis.

Africa: NEPAD Meeting Starts in Nairobi

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310290254.html

Vice-President (V-P) Moody Awori has told a regional New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) Eastern Africa Region Council of Ministers meeting in Nairobi, that African leaders must rise up and provide leadership in development processes on the continent and play a leading role in safeguarding the well-being of their people.

africa: REAL PROGRESS REPORT ON HIPC

2003-10-30

http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/analysis/reports/realprogressHIPC.pdf

Countries are being delayed in the HIPC initiative by conditionalities that are not relevant to debt relief, including overly stringent fiscal criteria and the requirement to privatise large swathes of the economy, according to a report from the New Economics Foundation intended to shadow the official World Bank and IMF annual HIPC Status of Implementation Report. The report says debt sustainability should be defined according to whether or not countries will be left with sufficient resources to meet the Millennium Development Goals after debt relief.

mozambique: the imf's Action plan for the reduction of absolute poverty vs a view from the ground

2003-10-30

http://www.africafiles.org/articles/2956.asp?ThisURL=./ecjustice.asp&URLName

The IMF recently published an Implementation Evaluation Report (IER) on the Mozambican Action Plan for the Reduction of Absolute Poverty (PARPA). The report emphasises that even though, broadly generalized, aggregate statistics indicate progress, the poor are inadequately served. William Butt, of the Mozambican Christian Council (CCM) contrasts the IER's findings with those of the CCM in areas such as; Good Governance, Education, Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Infrastructure, and his broad conclusion is that since the PARPA is heavily influenced by the IMF's policy of free-market-inspired development, so far the results seem to indicate not even a "trickle down" outcome but a "trickle around" one.

Namibia: textile company charged with poor working conditions

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/18035

It cost the Namibian government N$120 million in public funds to set up the infrastructure needed to chase foreign direct investment from an international company. Given this expense, the financial support that the company received was the equivalent of its salaries to its 7000 workers for almost three years. This is according to a study from the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI), which casts doubts on the benefits of foreign direct investment. Low wages, poor working conditions, everyday work accidents and verbal abuse were all par for the course at textile company Ramatex's plant in Windhoek. Rametex produces for Nike, Adidas, Puma, Otto Versand, Target, Wal-Mart and Sears Woolworth. "The experiences in Namibia are in line with international trends of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) spreading their operations globally in search for increased profits. The fact that Ramatex managed to play out three Southern African countries against each other shows how TNCs utilise their bargaining position to gain increasing concessions from host countries, which are desperate to attract investors."
PRESS RELEASE
Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI)

The Experiences of Ramatex Workers in Namibia
16 October 2003


The Namibian Government introduced the EPZ Act in 1995. The main of the EPZ policy was to encourage foreign investors to Namibia so that the country’s manufacturing capacity could be boosted. To date, the most spectacular foreign investment since independence is the Ramatex factory. Even before the company began its operations in 2002, it made headlines, as it became the most talked about investment in Namibia. The debate around Ramatex revolved around the massive size of its operations, the establishment of a new industry and the controversies surrounding the company’s environmental impact and working conditions. Due to its massive operations, government expected that this particular investment would help reduce the high unemployment rate in Namibia.

The purpose of LaRRI’ s study was to investigate the working conditions and experiences of Ramatex workers. In-depth interviews with over 30 workers were conducted and the interviews were transcribed, analysed and compiled into a booklet. The main part of this booklet covers the experiences of Ramatex workers. LaRRI wanted to document their views, which are often ignored by policy makers who simply argue that ‘workers should be grateful to have any job at all’.

LaRRI’s booklet presents Ramatex workers’ s stories as they have told them. We hope that this booklet will contribute to the debate about the costs ad benefits of investments like Ramatex in terms of long-term sustainable investment. Some of our main findings are:

· The majority of Ramatex workers indicated that they received training, either at the Windhoek Vocational Training Center or at the Ramatex factory. The training received varied as the workers who were trained at VTC were only trained for a maximum period of 3 months whereas the workers trained at the factory remained in training for a longer time, some up to 6 months and longer.
· Ramatex workers earn very low wages. Workers who have completed training earn N$3-00 per hour, for overtime they earn an extra N$1.50. Trainees receive N$ 1.50 per hour plus 75 cents for overtime. Even when workers work long hours of overtime, they only reach about N$ 700.00 per month.
· Workers indicated how difficult it is for them to make ends meet with their meager income. Most are forced to work overtime to supplement their basic salaries so that they can cover their basic expenses such as rent, water, food and transport. Most workers still have to share their limited income with their extended families and children.
· Most Ramatex workers start work around 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning and knock off at 17:00 in the evening. The majority however indicated that they work at least until 19:30 when the night shift begins.
· Both low salaries and long working hours have a severe impact on workers at Ramatex. Due to low salaries, most workers have to walk long distances to and from work. By the time they reach the factory, they are exhausted. When leaving the factory in the evening most workers still walk back long distances. Since most workers are women they pointed out that they do not feel safe to walk back home.
· Workers also indicated that they are not provided with protective clothing, which they regard as a basic necessity when working at Ramatex. Some workers have developed chest problems whereas others had allergic reactions because of being exposed to the dust from the fabric. This has created another burden for the workers because their expenses now include medical costs.
· Work related accidents seem to be an everyday occurrence. One of the respondents showed us that one of her fingers has been disabled because she got cut by one of the machines at the factory. Another had an injury to her eye caused by a needle. The workers reported that when they get injured and take sick leave, it is regarded as unpaid leave. Because workers are not paid sick leave, they end up working even when they are sick or injured.
· Workers also complained about backaches owing to the uncomfortable wooden benches that they sit on for the whole day when working.
· They further complained about the humiliation they endure when they get searched especially as they enter the factory in the morning, when they leave or when they visit the bathroom. . Women workers were particularly concerned about the body searches and indicated that it was uncomfortable for them, especially when they have their menstrual cycles.
· Workers reported inhumane treatment from their supervisors. The workers feel trapped because they can not take their grievances to their supervisors whom they felt did not have their well-being at heart. Some of the workers who have asked for compassionate leave have been told to go and never come back. Disputes and disciplinary procedures are characterised by endless signing of warning letters without any explanation.
· The lack of proper and fair disputes handling procedures has led to escalating conflict especially between the Asian and the Namibian workers.
· Workers frequently reported that they are verbally abused by their supervisors and often told how ‘lazy and useless’ they are.
· Currently Ramatex employs about 7 500 worker of whom about 6000 are NAFAU members. The main purpose of workers joining NAFAU was for NAFAU to assist workers on matters such as work-related accidents, protection from dismissals and salary increments. So far, the workers feel that NAFAU has not done enough with regard to salary increases, but the union assisted in other areas such as unfair dismissals.


Conclusion

Ramatex represents a typical example of a global production chain in the area of globalisation. The experiences in Namibia are in line with international trends of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) spreading their operations globally in search for increased profits. The fact that Ramatex managed to play out three Southern African countries against each other shows how TNCs utilise their bargaining position to gain increasing concessions from host countries, which are desperate to attract investors. Ramatex’ s employment practices are in line with other global textile companies who prefer young women workers who are seen to be ‘docile’ with ‘nimble fingers’ and less likely to join trade unions or resist company management.

The first two years of Ramatex operation in Namibia have been characterised by many controversies. Many of the conflict and tensions have remained unsolved, as they seem to be dealt with at the ‘political level’ instead of addressing the root causes of the problems. Unless the problems experienced by Ramatex workers are addressed, Ramatex will be contributing to the establishment of a large number of ‘working poor’ in full-time employment, unable to meet even their basic needs. This is in sharp contradiction of the Namibian government’s stated objective of promoting decent work in line with ILO standards.

The Ramatex investment did not come to Namibia free of charge. Based on the assumption that Ramatex and its subsidiaries will employ about 7 000 Namibian workers at the end of 2003 with an average wage of N$ 500 per month, and given the expenses of about N$ 120 million in public funds to set up infrastructure for the company, the following calculation can be made: The financial support that Ramatex received from the Namibian government is equivalent to the salaries of all workers for 34 months – almost 3 years! A huge investment by any standard which can only be justified if Ramatex' operations in Namibia will lead to long-term sustainable jobs of decent quality. Otherwise one may well argue that the huge public investments could have been spent more efficiently on other programmes aimed at job creation.



Recommendations

Ø There is a need for the government to review its current EPZ policy to ensure that the policy results in investments that will promote socio-economic development in Namibia instead of draining national resources.
Ø The environmental Impact Assessment study on Ramatex urgently needs to be made public, so that all relevant stakeholders are aware of possible threats and are able to devise strategies how to deal with them. If such a study has not been executed, then it is imperative for a new study to be conducted as a matter of urgency. Such a study should at least cover the following: health and safety issues at Ramatex, the impact of Ramatex’ s usage of water on Windhoek residents, as well as the impact of possible pollution on residents living in the vicinity of the company.
Ø Trade unions must negotiate better salaries and working conditions through collective bargaining.
Ø The recognised union, NAFAU, should employ more organisers to be able to effectively organise the Ramatex workers. Preference should be given to women organisers because of the high number of women employed by Ramatex.
Ø The company has to review its contracts and bring them in line with Namibian laws and practices. Ramatex also has an obligation to ensure that workers understand their contracts, and possibly even translate them into a language best understood by the workers. The company must also ensure that workers are compensated for injuries at work.
Ø Like all companies with 50 or more employees in Namibia, Ramatex should comply with the Affirmative action legislation
Ø Ramatex should be enlightened by the Namibian government and trade unions in no uncertain terms that to comply with all Namibian laws and regulations. This includes the Namibian Constitution, the Labour Act, the Social Security Act, the Affirmative Action (Employment) Act, collective bargaining agreements, health and safety regulations etc.

The experiences with Ramatex to date point to the urgent need to ensure compliance by foreign investors with Namibian laws, regulations, workers rights as well as environmental, health and safety standards. Experiences elsewhere have shown that compromises on social, environmental and labour standards in the name of international competitiveness have led to a ‘race to the bottom’. The Namibian government as well as trade unions have to demonstrate that they are serious in defending these rights that were only won through long and bitter struggles. It is of critical importance to demonstrate to Ramatex that Namibian laws, regulations and rights are not negotiable. Otherwise, Ramatex might set an example that others will follow, resulting in the loss of some achievements made by Namibia since independence.

Nigeria: Taking Nigeria Seriously

2003-10-30

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/politics/p114102003.html

Unless and until Nigerians institute an abiding faith in their country, dumping short term ethnic interests for the larger, long-term goal of national engagement and development, the road to true nationhood would continue to be a mirage, argues the author of this seven part serial published in Nigeria's The Vanguard newspaper, which takes a very hard look at the Nigerian nation.

Africa/Global: Global Health Watch - the state of the world's health

Call for testimonies

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/18106

Medact, together with the People's Health Movement and GEGA, is planning the publication of the Global Health Watch, a report providing a civil society view on the state of the world's health. In preparation for this report, Medact is calling for testimonies from civil society on the different issues covered by the report. We will launch this call in several waves: firstly, we are looking for testimonies on the effects of the marketization of: Health care provision in the developing world; and Water, sanitation and electricity services.
Global Health Watch

Global civil society has not adequately participated in international health advocacy. Although high-profile success has been achieved with some campaigns, most notably around access to medicines and breastfeeding and certain diseases, there has been a striking lack of involvement and pressure from health campaigners on broader public health and health systems issues. In addition, disparities in health between the rich and the poor have grown at alarming rates both within and between countries, leaving society and the public health movement with a large humanitarian and moral challenge.

The increasingly global dimensions of poverty, disease and health policy require a much more vigorous input from public health experts, civil society and non-government organisations. The People’s Health Movement, the Global Equity Gauge Alliance and Medact therefore propose to mobilise a fragmented global health community through the publication of an annual Global Health Watch. This publication will be used to shift the health policy agenda away from a technocratic approach to delivering health, to one that recognises the important political, social and economic barriers which prevent the achievement of better health.

We want the Watch to strengthen the calls for a broad approach to health amongst policy-makers, health professionals, campaigners, researchers and others concerned with health and to act as a reality-check on those formulating health policy by providing a forum which magnifies the voice of the poor and vulnerable and those who work with them.

The Watch will consist of a compilation of chapters on various global health issues written by NGOs and academics. Stories, experiences and analysis direct from poor communities will be threaded through the chapters and enable those who are traditionally unheard to voice their concerns on global health issues:

The Global Health Watch team is now looking both for authors to write chapters and for stories and experiences from around the world. For more information on the areas we are covering, go the Medact website www.medact.org



Medact
The Grayston Centre
28 Charles Square
London N1 6HT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 20 7324 4733
Fax: +44 20 7324 4734
www.medact.org October, 2003
Medact, together with the People's Health Movement and GEGA, is planning the publication of the Global Health Watch, a report providing a civil society view on the state of the world's health (see accompanying flyer).

In preparation for this report, Medact is calling for testimonies from civil society on the different issues covered by the report. We will launch this call in several waves: firstly, we are looking for testimonies on the effects of the marketization of:

1. Health care provision in the developing world. Issues we are particularly interested in are:
 the effects of privatisation and commercialisation on access to health care and the quality of health care. For example, has privatisation led health providers to see health care as a business rather than a public service? Has it resulted in an increase in user fees? Have profit-motives led to an increase in unethical practices such as using cheaper drugs that do not work?
 ways in which advocacy has improved access to health services (such as report cards for public services; participatory budgeting; and health consumer protection groups).

2. Water, sanitation and electricity services.
 What is the effect of privatisation on access to these services? How does reduced access to water, for example, affect the poor? What is the effect on cost and quality of these services?

The testimonies will feed into and support arguments put forward in the publication. They will also be organised thematically and geographically and available for public access on the web. Testimonies should be no more than 800 words in length.

We hope that the Global Health Watch will form a mechanism to express and amplify civil society's concerns about the increase in marketisation and commercialisation of key public services and goods. Join us in this venture by helping us collate the testimonies of the poor. Please e-mail Patricia Morton at patriciamorton@medact.org

africa: CLINTON SECURES AIDS DRUGS DEAL

2003-10-30

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=71439&region=4

Former United States President Bill Clinton has announced a deal with four generic-drug companies to slash the price of AIDS drugs in parts of the developing world.

Africa: WHO Hopes To Provide 3-in-1 AIDS Pill To Poor Nations

2003-10-30

http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20031027/449_9797.asp

The World Health Organisation was this week due to reveal the first details of its global strategy to bring low-cost HIV/AIDS drugs to 3 million people in poor countries, a plan that top officials said will eventually include endorsement of pills that combine three antiretroviral drugs in a single tablet, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

ethiopia: Malaria Threatens 15 Million People

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310240971.html

Fifteen million Ethiopians are facing a deadly malaria epidemic, according to a warning issued by the UN last Wednesday. This new development comes in the wake of an unprecedented and complex humanitarian crisis hitting the impoverished country, leaving 13 million people in need of food aid.

Ghana: How far has Ghana progressed in curbing maternal mortality

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310271031.html

Maternal mortality rates in Ghana, as in other African countries, are very high. One study estimated the rate at 2 145 per 100,000 live births while another study estimated 7 406 per 100, 000 live births.

kenya: Price Reductions for AIDS Drugs a First Step, Say Activists

2003-10-30

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20805

The prospect of receiving anti-retroviral therapy was brought a little closer to millions of HIV-positive Kenyans recently, with the announcement of a price reduction for some of the drugs that are used to treat AIDS. British-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said last week that it would cut the price of various anti-retrovirals (ARV’s) from between 25 to 43 percent. This comes amidst an ongoing campaign by AIDS activists to lower the cost of ARV’s, which prolong the lives of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

NIGERIA: Muslim fears hinder polio immunisation in the north

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37487

A national immunisation exercise against the polio virus launched in Nigeria last week has been slowed down by the refusal of many people in the country's mainly Muslim north to participate, officials said on Monday. The nationwide campaign was part of a regional effort launched in vulnerable West African countries on Wednesday by international agencies to protect 15 million children against a recent resurgence of polio.

South Africa: HIV-Testing Row in the Military

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310290860.html

A recent row in South Africa over the deployment of HIV-positive soldiers on peacekeeping missions has turned the spotlight on the issue of HIV testing and the exclusion of HIV-positive individuals from the army. South Africa's Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota sparked controversy earlier this month when news reports quoted him as saying: "Anybody with the condition (HIV/AIDS) cannot be recruited (into the defence force)."

uganda: 20 Years On, People With AIDS Still Suffer Discrimination

2003-10-30

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20804

Ugandan Magdalena Achero (not her real name) is a bitter woman. As a school teacher, in a country which has been hailed as a beacon of hope for people living with HIV/AIDS, she has experienced discrimination firsthand. Last month she received a discouraging message from the local education officer. “The District Education Officer said, since everyone in the district knew my HIV status, he could not post me to any school. He said I should look for a school that would accept me, and convince the community to tolerate me, then go back to his office for posting or transfer to that school,” she says.

UGANDA: Gov't commits to buying generic anti-retrovirals

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37478

The Ugandan health ministry made its first ever clear commitment on Sunday to buying cheap generic copies of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. "We have a law in place that allows us to import generic drugs in a crisis, and we will certainly be doing this," Health Minister Jim Muhwezi, told IRIN at the 11th conference of the Global Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS, held in the capital, Kampala.

zimbabwe: Doctors want 8 000% pay increase

2003-10-30

http://iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=84&art_id=qw1067005086604B254&set_id=1

Doctors at Zimbabwe's government hospitals have gone on an indefinite strike demanding an 8 000 percent pay increase, their union leader Phibion Manyanga said on Friday. Manyanga, who heads the Hospital Doctors Association, told AFP that the strike, which started last Thursday, would go on until their demands were addressed.

ZIMBABWE: Health system unravels

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37424

The decline of Zimbabwe's health system, once one of the best in the region, has been underlined by the unravelling of its national immunisation programme. Until 2001, immunisation coverage for most antigens was over 70 percent. But coverage in some districts has now dropped to 44 percent, and the number of children dying before their first birthday has increased from around 56 per 1,000 live births in 1999 to around 65 per live 1,000 births in 2000.
Related Link:
* Zimbabwe deploys army staff in hospitals
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3223617.stm

africa/global: Policy, Technology to Shape Global Child Malnutrition

2003-10-30

http://www.ifpri.org/pressrel/2003/20031027.htm

By 2050, the percentage of the world's children who are malnourished could drop dramatically from the current 31 percent to 11 percent, if policymakers respond to the global challenge of hunger. However, rates will drop only modestly if there are serious policy or technology failures in the next half-century. These new findings are from a paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research on October 29. "We have come to a major crossroads for the world food situation. Fifty years from now, one child in four could be suffering from chronic hunger, or it could drop to one child in ten. The outcome depends on decisions made now and in the next few years," said Joachim von Braun, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and lead author of the paper.

ANGOLA: Education drive receives govt boost

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37494

Angola made one of its biggest peacetime strides on Monday as education experts set the wheels in motion to train 29,000 new teachers, with the aim of getting one million children back into the classroom.

GUINEA-BISSAU: Schools reopen as World Bank pays teachers

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37542

Government schools in Guinea-Bissau reopened on Wednesday after the World Bank agreed to provide an exceptional US $2.5 million loan to pay teachers 10 months of salary arrears. The school system of this former Portuguese colony in West Africa has been paralysed for most of the past two years by a series of teachers' strikes.

LIBERIA: Thousands of children receive school supplies

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37457

Hundreds of thousands of children who were kept out of class by Liberia's civil war have started receiving school kits containing pencils and exercise books in preparation for a Back-To-School (BTS) programme, which will be launched on 3 November.

NIGER: University reopens after two-week closure

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37465

The national university of Niger has reopened after two weeks of official closure following student demonstrations earlier this month. Officials said on Monday that classes were due to resume this week. The government unexpectedly closed Abdou Moumouni national university in the capital, Niamey, on 13 October following two days of anti-government demonstrations on 8 and 9 October.

south africa: More Poor Households Than During Apartheid

2003-10-30

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20796

What has freedom brought? It is almost 10 years since apartheid ended and government has published its draft review of its first decade in power to hold up a mirror to its own performance. Its reflection of the freedom years reveals a chequered pattern - good in parts; patchy in others. There are more poor households than there were in 1994 when the African National Congress (ANC) was voted in. Then, 28 percent of all households lived in poverty; that figure has now grown to over one in three households.

SWAZILAND: Halting measles outbreak hampered by religious sects

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37436

An outbreak of measles this month in all four of Swaziland's regions has health organisations scrambling to immunise children in populous urban townships.

Zambia: University of Zambia Students Protest Tuition Fees Hike

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310290878.html

Protesting University of Zambia students this week disrupted a senate meeting convened to consider a 100 per cent hike in tuition fees. The students stormed the senate chamber when word went round that the university governing body was meeting to discuss the proposed increment for the 2004 academic year.

ZAMBIA: WFP targets HIV/AIDS orphans in urban areas

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37488

The rise in the number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Zambia has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to scale up its assistance programmes in some of the country's urban centres. WFP information officer Lena Savelli told IRIN on Monday that although food security in Zambia continued to improve, there was growing concern over the plight of vulnerable children, most of whom were left to support households after the death of a parent.

africa/global: RACISM IN SPORTS IS TEACHING THE WRONG message, says un official

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/racism/17943

The sports experience, which ought to teach respect and egalitarianism among people, has been badly marked by racism, while the caste system, deeply rooted in certain value systems, continued to victimize communities on many continents, a senior official from the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (UNHCHR) says.
UN HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL SAYS RACISM IN SPORTS IS TEACHING THE WRONG
LESSONS
New York, Oct 24 2003 6:00PM

The sports experience, which ought to teach respect and egalitarianism
among people, has been badly marked by racism, while the caste system,
deeply rooted in certain value systems, continued to victimize communities
on many continents, a senior official from the United Nations High
Commission on Human Rights (UNHCHR) said today.

Doudou Diene, the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, told a General
Assembly committee that he wished to draw its attention to two
particularly striking examples of racism and discrimination.

The first was that sports today, instead of promoting the values of
respect, equality and humanity, often showcased the racist uses of
physical violence and verbal abuse, he said.

Because of the educational, symbolic and popular dimensions of sports,
there was a high risk that this negative behaviour could intensify, rather
than lessen, a racist and discriminatory culture and mentality, Mr. Diene
said. The United Nations and governments needed to take urgent and
determined steps, along with international sports authorities, to head off
such a development.

The second major problem, the caste system in certain societies, had
profound historical roots embedded in value systems and woven into the
social fabric. These properties made caste prejudice, especially in Asia
and Africa, resilient and pervasive, he said, adding that he intended to
give that kind of discrimination a central place in a future report.

UN News Service

south africa: Boeremag planned to use SANDF bases for coup

2003-10-30

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=15&art_id=qw1067420881746B263&set_id=1

Several South African National Defence Force (SANDF) bases and their troops were identified in 2001 to help carry out a plan to overthrow the state, the Pretoria High Court heard in the Boeremag treason trial on Wednesday.

africa/global: On Climate Change and Social Change

2003-10-30

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2003-10/21canning_.cfm

The logic of capitalism that is killing the planet continues with its growth imperative, gobbling up common sense. It enables corporations to swallow the ecological crisis and regurgitate it as a PR opportunity, and as another source of profits at the expense of communities and the Earth. And thinly veiled exploits and crocodile tears from Shell, Citi, Monsanto et. al. will not save the Planet, argues Doyle Canning, the Organising Director at the Institute for Social Ecology Biotechnology Project, in a commentary for www.zmag.org

africa: E.U. is failing to halt overfishing in Africa, says WWF

2003-10-30

http://www.enn.com/news/2003-10-24/s_9745.asp

The European Union is failing to stop European fishers from plundering the waters of poor developing states, a leading green group said last Thursday. E.U. fisheries ministers are reviewing the cash-for-fishing deals signed with mostly African coastal states. Such agreements are vital for the E.U. fishing industry as fish stocks collapse in European waters.

africa: WHY FOREST ISSUES REQUIRE ATTENTION IN TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

2003-10-30

http://www.iied.org/docs/trade/trade_and_forests.pdf

Trade negotiations should recognise the legitimacy of values that can't be expressed in monetary terms, particularly in discussions on the forest sector, says this paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), which argues that sustainable forest management (SFM) - related priorities should inform countries' negotiating objectives and strategies in trade negotiations, even if forest issues do not explicitly feature in them. Trade liberalisation in both agricultural and forest products, affects competitive land use values, which influence the levels and types of forest use.

Nigeria: chevron award for good citizenship slammed

Ijaw Council for Human Rights statement

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/18062

We of the Ijaw Council for Human Rights (ICHR), committed to reclaiming the humanity of the peoples of the Ijaw and other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta wish to draw the attention of peoples of good conscience to the so called "award" of Good Corporate Citizen by the United States Secretary of State, to Chevron on October 15, 2003. This action by the United States government is not only self-opinionated, but represents another clear demonstration of contempt for the peoples of the Niger Delta in preference for oil as it attempts to deny the atrocious activities of Chevron.
FROM: http://www.wrm.org.uy/

Ijaw Council for Human Rights

PRESS STATEMENT

We of the Ijaw Council for Human Rights (ICHR), committed to reclaiming the humanity of the Peoples of the Ijaw and other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta wish to draw the attention of peoples of good conscience to the so called ?award? of Good Corporate Citizen by the United States Secretary of State, to Chevron on October 15, 2003. This action by the United States government isnot only self-opinionated, but represents another clear demonstration of contempt for the peoples of the Niger Delta in preference for oil as it attempts todeny the atrocious activities of Chevron. We at the ICHR see the so-called award as the lie of a government that orchestrates a commitment to justice,sustainable livelihood and healthy environment. We recall that Chevron's Good Corporate Citizenship has been evident in the heavy clampdown on civil protestations over its operations and the resultant brutal assault and extra-judicial murders by military personnel at its behest. Chevron deserves anaward only on Bad Corporate Citizenship over •

The brutal assault and killing of civil non-violent protesters in May 1998 at its Parabe Platformfor which it has been dragged to court in the United States for corporate irresponsibility and Third Party liability.

The extra-judicial murders of civil protesters and total destruction of Opia and Ikinya in February 1999.

Several thousands in hospitals, clinics or at home, sick because of the polluted environment, or officially sanctioned violence as the oil flowsin the Rivers of Injustice. We wish to remind the United States Government that only in August 2002, a coalition of women from Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ilaje, some in their 60sand 70s, were brutalized following several weeks ofcivil, non-violent protest in Delta and Ondo statesover Chevrons destruction, over the years, of forest and mangroves, pollution from its gas flares,neglect of the communities in the areas of social infrastructure and intimidation of the local population with soldiers, naval and police guards. The estimated more than $90million investmentby Chevron since 1992 on its partners in the areasof education, health, infrastructure, developmentand income and employment-generating projects are further statistics of impoverishment even as it is a minute fraction of the several billions of dollars drilled from the bowels of the Niger Delta. The action of the United States Government is hypocritical and self-serving.

Patterson Ogon
Founding Director
October 20, 2003

Senegal: The dying reptile skin trade

2003-10-30

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3222153.stm

Trade in belts, shoes, and ladies bags made out of reptile skin is no longer a lucrative business in Senegal. The international treaty banning all exports of such items has meant a serious downturn for vendors in the craft market in the capital, Dakar.

south africa: Earthlife fuming over waste

2003-10-30

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_1433108,00.html

Environmental activist group Earthlife Africa has accused the department of minerals and energy of having a public participation process designed to "delay and distort" public engagement around the country's radioactive waste policy.

zambia: Conservation Farming Proves Popular With Farmers

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310280771.html

Efforts to encourage farmers in Zambia to adopt alternative farming methods have paid off, and small-scale farmers in some areas are reporting record productivity. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the bumper crops may be attributed to a steady move away from conventional tillage methods to conservation farming (CF).

africa: RED RIBBON Media awards for HIV reporting

CALL FOR ENTRIES

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/18042

We are calling on journalists who report on HIV and AIDS to submit their entries to the inaugural, annual HIV/AIDS Red Ribbon Media Award for Excellence in Journalism. The Award aims to encourage the development of a core of high-level journalists and other media professionals to produce information and communication materials in the printed and electronic media for general consumption and advocacy.
THE
HIV/AIDS
RED RIBBON Media
AWARD for EXCELLENCE
2003

CALL FOR ENTRIES!!

We are calling on journalists who report on HIV and AIDS to submit their
entries to the inaugural, annual HIV/AIDS Red Ribbon Media Award for
Excellence in Journalism.

The Award aims to encourage the development of a core of high-level
journalists and other media professionals to produce information and
communication materials in the printed and electronic media for general
consumption and advocacy.

The Award is given each year on the 1st December to commemorate the World
Aids Day.

The Award is open to entries from the following countries: Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Comoros,
Mauritius, Seychelles, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana,
Madagascar and Mozambique. Entries must have been published or
broadcasted in the general between the 1st December 2002 and the 15th
November 2003

For more information on how to participate please call: phone/fax + (254-
20) 522182

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 15th NOVEMBER 2003

Visit our Website
http://www.aids-africa.org
E-mail: info@aids-africa.org

for downloadable application form

africa: So who's more important than whom?

2003-10-30

http://h2odev.law.harvard.edu/ezuckerman/introduction.html

On April 7, 2003, the New York Times carried a story on a massacre in the Democratic Republic of Congo in which up to 966 non-combatant civilians were slaughtered by warring factions in the east of the country. The story, authored by the Associated Press, ran on page A6 and took up less than a full column of newsprint. Amid the flurry of Iraq war coverage many English-language newspapers made no mention of the Congo massacres. It seems unlikely that the New York Times would give similarly cursory treatment to a massacre of 966 civilians in France, Britain, South Korea or Israel. This disparity leaves us with a question: Is Iraq more important than the Congo?

ethiopia: government/press trade punches on press bill

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/17974

Ethiopia's Minister of Information Bereket Simon has described the critics of the new draft press law introduced by his Ministry in April as being among other things "ridiculous" and "more Catholic than the Pope". Ato Kifle Mulat, the President of Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA), responded that many Ethiopian private journalists face imprisonment and fines and as a result were forced to flee the country and live in exile to "save their necks." The two were making their presentations during the opening of the International Roundtable on Media Law Reform in the Horn of Africa.
* International Roundtable on Media Law Reform in the Horn of Africa Opened
Here
* Bereket calls CPJ, IFJ criticisms on draft press law "ridiculous"

By Emrakeb Assefa

Ethiopia's Minister of Information Bereket Simon described yesterday the
critics of the new draft press law introduced by his Ministry in April as
being among other things "ridiculous" and "more Catholic than the Pope" in a
sweeping generalization. Ato Kifle Mulat, the President of Ethiopian Free
Press Journalists Association (EFJA), for his part stated that many
Ethiopian private journalists face imprisonment and fines and as a result
were forced to flee the country and live in exile to "save their necks."

The two were making their presentations during the opening of the
International Roundtable on Media Law Reform in the Horn of Africa. The
Information Minister dismissed the EFJA as "more Catholic than the pope" by
opposing the restriction of the cross ownership of media outlets in the
draft press law.

"It remains a mystery to this day as to how the EFJA, which claims to be an
advocate for the rights of journalists and pluralism in the media adores the
idea of cross media ownership. Every time we come across this position of
the EFJA surprisingly enough, we find them to be more Catholic than the
pope," he said. Nine publishers along with other private journalists are
currently opposing the draft law provision that limits cross ownership of
media outlets, saying that it will work against media density and expansion.
Media experts estimate that the country, with 70 million people, has no more
than 40,000 copies of newspapers being circulated daily. Bereket said that
since 1993, about 650 licenses had been issued. Currently, there are about
82 private weekly newspapers, and 32 private monthly magazines in Ethiopia,
the minister said.

However, EFJA president refuted the minister's claim that the private media
has grown in the past eleven years. Stating that there has been a sharp
decline in number of publications in Ethiopia, Kifle said that within the
second year of the enforcement of the press proclamation, the number of
press publications that were issued reached 287 but at present the number is
not more than 80.

He also cited repeated harassments, fines, and imprisonments of private
journalists as having contributed to the sharp decline in private media
outlets. He mentioned that from 1993-1998, some 127 free press journalists
have been imprisoned for not less than three months while 23 had been
sentenced to jail terms ranging from 3 months to three years. Nineteen have
been sentenced to fines ranging from 300 birr to 20,000 birr. A total of 35
private journalists were forced to flee the country. The high courts in
Addis Ababa have until last week been looking into charges instituted
against 46 free press journalists, he said.

The International Roundtable, which will close tomorrow, is being held with
the aim of creating regional collaboration among the media in the Horn, Mr.
Kwame Karikari, the director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA),
one of the organizers said. The Horn is the only region in Africa that
hardly has any private and independent broadcasting media and where the
private press operates under very restrictive environment, he added.

The minister also used the occasion to lambast international organizations
that made repeated criticisms and voiced strong opposition to the draft law,
calling their stance "ridiculous."

"To our utter dismay, there were several instances where our country had
been barraged by unwarranted criticisms and accusations" from international
partners, he said. He added that for the CPJ and IFJ to accuse his
government of violating the Ethiopian constitution was "ridiculous" because
none of them "had ever read the draft press law at that time." He pointed
out that the draft law was prepared only in Amharic at the beginning and,
therefore, the government should not be accused on the basis of "hearsay and
hastily prepared and deliberately distorted translation of the draft press
law." He said, "Such irresponsible attitudes and acts of some international
associations does not in any way help to cultivate a free press which in the
Ethiopian context is already suffering from lack of professionalism and is
in the process of choking itself with a heavy dose of hate politics."

Speaking on the draft press law, Kifle Mulat stated the position of EFJA
which calls for the law to be withdrawn or completely redrafted by a
committee of legal and press experts and put to public discussion before it
is sent to the Parliament.

The meeting was organized by International Media Support (IMS) and EFJA in
collaboration with MFWA, and Article 19. Yesterday, representatives from
Somalia, Somaliland, Southern Sudan and Ethiopia made the national
experiences report on the media situation within their respective countries.

Article 19, an international organization working for freedom of the media,
has published a document criticizing the draft press law and has made
specific recommendations. It recommended that the scope of the draft
proclamation should be restricted to large-scale, periodical print media
outlets, and that the draft should not impose restrictions on who may
practice journalism and it should not require individual journalists to
register.

It also recommended that the licensing system for the media should either be
abolished altogether or substantially reformed to bring it into line with
the standards noted above. It said the exceptions to the right to access
information held by public authorities should be reviewed to ensure that
they are clear and narrow, and that all exceptions are subject to a harm
test and public interest override.

Consideration should be given to removing all content restrictions from the
draft Proclamation. If these restrictions are retained, they should be
carefully reviewed to ensure that they are appropriately narrow and clear.

Consideration should be given to removing the provisions relating to the
establishment of the Press Council altogether from the draft Proclamation.
If the idea of a statutory Press Council is retained, it should benefit from
effective guarantees against political interference, including in relation
to the manner in which members are appointed.

Article 26, granting prosecutors the power to suspend media outlets, should
be removed from the draft Proclamation, it recommended in conclusion.

The regime of sanctions under the draft Proclamation should be reconsidered
with a view to removing the possibility of imprisonment for all but the most
serious, repeated abuses.

**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility
of EFJA**

kenya: investigative journalist awarded 2003 Natali Prize Gold Medal

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/18043

Ken Opala from Kenya, an investigative journalist who reported on the inhumane and "horrid lives" of death row convicts, has scooped the gold medal in the 2003 Natali Prize - one of the world's leading awards for journalists. Ken Opala is also the winner of the regional prize for Africa. He and other top-class journalists from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America were honoured by the International Federation of Journalists and the European Commission at a special prize giving ceremony held at the International Press Centre Résidence Palace, in Brussels on 24 October 2003.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

PRESS RELEASE - INTERNATIONAL

28 October 2003

Kenyan investigative journalist awarded 2003 Natali Prize Gold Medal

SOURCE: International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Brussels

(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is a 24 October 2003 IFJ media release:

Africa Retains Gold Medal at World Journalism Awards

Ken Opala from Kenya, an investigative journalist who reported on the inhumane
and "horrid lives" of death row convicts, has scooped the gold medal in the 2003
Natali Prize - one of the world's leading awards for journalists. Ken Opala is
also the winner of the regional prize for Africa.

He and other top-class journalists from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East
and Latin America were honoured by the International Federation of Journalists
and the European Commission at a special prize giving ceremony held at the
International Press Centre Résidence Palace, in Brussels on 24 October 2003.

Each winner of the Natali Prize, which recognizes excellence in reporting on
human rights, democracy and development, receives 10 000 Euro and a trophy.
"Each of the winners have contributed something special to the journalistic
community through their work, very often under extremely dangerous conditions,"
said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary.

The Natali Prize, which is awarded to print and/or on-line journalists who have
demonstrated a striking insight and particular dedication to the reporting of
human rights issues within the context of development, was established in 1992
to promote quality journalism and to commemorate the dedication of former
Vice-President of the European Commission, Lorenzo Natali. Since 1999 the prize
has been administered by the IFJ, the world's largest organisation of
journalists, which represents 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries.

The Prizes were presented by Neil Kinnock, Vice-President of the European
Commission. "This prize recognizes and rewards excellence in human rights
reporting, demonstrating the quality of journalists and the significance of what
they write," said Kinnock.

The 2003 Natali Gold Medal Winner:

Ken OPALA (Kenya) for a series of articles on the death penalty, all published
in Daily Nation

In the regional category of Africa the 2003 Natali Prize goes to:
Ken Opala (Kenya)

Commendations:

Jessica BEZUIDENHOUT & Mzilikazi WA AFRIKA (South Africa), for their
investigation into South Africa's first forestry privatisation deals, published
in The Sunday Times

Dorothy OTIENO (Kenya), for a series of articles on female genital mutilation,
all published in East African Standard

In the regional category of The Arab World, Iran and Israel the 2003 Natali
Prize goes to:

Walid BATRAWI (Palestine), for his article "Media-less Reforms vs. Reform-less
Media", published on-line at Arab Media Internet Network and in Al-Ayyam Daily

Commendations:

Jennifer PETERSON (Palestine), for her article "Strangling Qalqilya", published
in Palestine Report

Atef SAAD (Palestine), for his article "Teachers Rescue Classes, Despite
Checkpoints", published in Palestine Report

In the regional category of Asia and the Pacific the 2003 Natali Prize goes to:

Massoud ANSARI (Pakistan), for his article "The Great Repatriation Scam",
published in Newsline

Commendations:

Sergei DUVANOV (Kazakhstan), for his articles "I Do Not Believe", "Silence of
the Lambs" and "Billion - The Account, But Not That", published in SolDat and
on-line at Eurasia and KUB

Muzamil JALEEL (India), for his series on the human costs of the Kashmir
conflict, published in The Indian Express, The Observer, The Telegraph and The
Guardian

In the regional category of Europe the 2003 Natali Prize goes to:

Sofia BRANCO (Portugal), for her investigation on the possible practice of
female genital mutilation within the Guinea community in Portugal, published in
Público

Commendations:

Rolf BAUERDICK (Germany), for his report "Von wie wenig kann man leben? -
Müllmenschen in Oradea/Rumänien", published in Brigitte-Magazin

Sandra CAMPS OCAÑA (Spain), for her report "Retrato de las ONG", published in El
País Semanal

In the regional category of Latin America and the Caribbean the 2003 Natali
Prize goes to:

José F. HOYOS ESTRADA (Colombia), for his report "¿Qué puedo hacer por
Colombia?", published in Semana

Commendations:

Daniela ARBEX (Brazil), for her series "Cova 312" on the discovery of the grave
of Milton Soares de Castro - a militant politician who disappeared 35 years ago
under the Brazilian dictatorship - published in Tribuna de Minas

Klester CAVALCANTI (Brazil), for his article "Viúvas da terra", published in
Revista Terra

The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries.

For further information, contact the IFJ, International Press Centre, Residence
Palace, Block C, 155 Rue de la Loi, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium, tel: +322 235 2200
or +322 235 22 01, fax: +322 235 22 19, e-mail: safety@ifj.org, Internet:
http://www.ifj.org/

The information contained in this press release is the sole responsibility of
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malawi: police beat journalists

2003-10-30

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/54528/?PHPSESSID=14a01abfb0383a81a4ec20dab921c301

Officers of the Malawi Police Service beat up six journalists on 18 October for attempting to take photographs of a scuffle between police and a motorist at a police roadblock on Zalewa road, between Blantyre and Mwanza districts.

Mauritania: concern over seizure of print-runs of four weekly newspapers

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/18040

The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, has written to the Mauritania authorities protesting the seizure of the print-runs of four weekly newspapers. According to reports, during the week of 12 to 18 October, the government banned or seized the print-runs of four weekly newspapers: Le Calame; Le Journal du Jeudi; Le Sahara; and Essahiva.
To: IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: World Association of Newspapers (WAN), peterawhitehead@yahoo.co.uk

The Right Honourable Lemrabott Sidi Mahmud Ould Sheikh Ahmed
Minister of Interior, Post and Telecommunications
Nouakchott, Islamic Republic of Mauritania
C/o Permanent Representative to UN
Email: mauritania@un.int

27 October 2003

Dear Minister,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World
Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express
our serious concern at the seizure of the print-runs of four weekly newspapers.

According to reports, during the week of 12 to 18 October, your ministry banned
or seized the print-runs of four weekly newspapers: Le Calame; Le Journal du
Jeudi; Le Sahara; and Essahiva. The ministry provided no explanation for its
actions, although it has frequently invoked Act 91-023 of the Law on Press
Freedom to censure publications perceived to be opposed to the government.
Article 11 stipulates that: 'The circulation, dissemination or sale of
newspapers or periodicals likely to undermine the principle of Islam or the
image of the state, to harm the public good, to compromise public order and
security, whatever the language in which it is written, may be banned by an
order from the Ministry of Interior.'

We are concerned that the seizure of Le Calame, Le Journal du Jeudi, Le Sahara,
and Essahiva is an attempt to silence those who might criticise the government
in the run-up to the 7 November presidential election, for which official
campaigning began on 22 October.

We respectfully remind you that the seizure and banning of publications is a
clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by
numerous international agreements, including the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration states: 'Everyone has the right to freedom
of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media, regardless of frontiers.'

We respectfully call on you to ensure that Le Calame, Le Journal du Jeudi, Le
Sahara, Essahiva and all other publications are permitted to publish without
state interference. We urge you to ensure that in future your ministry fully
respects international standards of press freedom.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Seok Hyun Hong
President
World Association of Newspapers

Gloria Brown Anderson
President
World Editors Forum

**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility of
.WAN**

nigeria: LOW rating ON PRESS FREEDOM

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/18059

The much vaunted respect for the freedom of the press in Nigeria did not make much impression on the World Press Freedom ranking of countries recently released by the Paris, France - based Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The country was ranked 103rd of 166 countries. The ranking, which is the second by the group, listed North Korea at 166, as the worst violator of press freedom. Cuba was ranked second to the worst at 165 while China was near the bottom at 161.
MEDIA IN NIGERIA #02 - 41 (27 OCTOBER 2003)

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= = = = =
MEDIA IN NIGERIA is a weekly publication on developments within and
affecting the media/communication/freedom of expression sector in Nigeria.

It is an initiative of the Institute for Media and Society (IMS), a
non-profit,
non-governmental organization based in Lagos, Nigeria.
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NEWS

MEDIA-GENERAL
-NAWOJ ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE
-PRESIDENCY RAISES PANEL ON INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
-NIGERIA RATED LOW ON PRESS FREEDOM

PRINT MEDIA
-NPAN AT 40, HONOURS VETERAN JOURNALISTS, PUBLISHERS
-ABIA TO REVIVE MEDIA HOUSE
-BPE UNVEILS MARCH DEADLINE FOR SALE OF DAILY TIMES

BROADCAST MEDIA
-NBC TO ASSIST IN LOCAL PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT
-AIT FACES $25 MILLION SUIT OVER NON-TRANSMISSION OF ALL - AFRICA GAMES

INFOTECH
-ECONET CHANGES NAME, LOGO
-NITEL COUNTS LOSES ON INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC
-MTN INTRODUCES PER SECOND BILLING
-NITEL WORRIES OVER N90M COJA DEBT

ADVERTISING
-MAY NZERIBE HEADS APCON


THE ARTS
-OBASANJO OFFERS THEATRE'S MANAGEMENT TO ARTISTES
-DONS DEPLORE POOR BOOK CULTURE



MEDIA GENERAL

NAWOJ ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE

Members of the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) have
elected a new set of leaders to pilot its affairs. The election was the
highlight of the delegates' conference held recently in Minna, Niger State.

Although the identities of the new leaders were not clear as at press time,
reports indicated that a faction of the union may not have accepted the
outcome of the conference and was headed for the law court to challenge it.

The continued existence of NAWOJ as an affiliate of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) has become controversial since the order banning beat
associations and cartels within the journalism profession in Nigeria.

Meanwhile journalists in Kogi state, north-central Nigeria, have protested
the attempt by the Kogi State House of Assembly to deny press interviews to
journalists covering the assembly. Yusuf Haruna, the House's information
committee chairman, drew the ire of journalists covering the assembly when
he warned his colleagues against granting press interviews without clearance
from him. His comment that the journalists were sponsored to write against
the House, did not go down well with the newsmen who then staged a walkout
from the assembly. They have demanded a public apology as condition to
return to the House.

PRESIDENCY RAISES PANEL ON INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Disturbed by uncoordinated response to the barrage of criticisms, especially
in the wake of the controversial deregulation of the downstream of the oil
industry, President Olusegun Obasanjo has set up a presidential committee on
information management. The committee, which is expected to manage such
crisis in future, comprises members drawn from the presidency, the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Information & National Orientation
Ministry and Chief Executives of Federal Govt-owned media houses. Minister
of Information and National Orientation is to co-ordinate the affairs of the
committee.

At the maiden meeting of the committee held at Radio House, Abuja, Chikelu
sued for a harmonious process of information dissemination in order to avoid
contradictions in selling government.

NIGERIA RATED LOW ON PRESS FREEDOM

The much vaunted respect for the freedom of the press in Nigeria, did not
make much impression on the World Press Freedom ranking of countries
recently released by the Paris, France - based Reporters Without Borders
(RSF). The country was ranked 103rd of 166 countries. The ranking, which
is the second by the group, listed North Korea at 166, as the worst violator
of press freedom. Cuba was ranked second to the worst at 165 while China was
near the bottom at 161.

For European countries, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway were
adjudged as having the freest press, in that order.

PRINT MEDIA

NPAN AT 40, HONOURS VETERAN JOURNALISTS, PUBLISHERS

Several media personalities were honoured by the Newspapers Proprietors
Association of Nigeria, NPAN, as part of activities marking the 40th
anniversary of the organisation.

Among those honoured in appreciation of their contributions to the growth of
the industry are the publisher of The Guardian Newspapers, Alex Ibru; the
publisher of Vanguard, Sam Amuka Pemu; Champion's Publisher, Emmanuel
Iwuanyanwu; Publisher of The Monitor, Azeez Arise-Kola Alao; Post Express'
Publisher, Sonny Odogun and Oriwu, Sun publisher, Monzor Olowosajo.

Others honoured are former governor of Ogun State, Segun Osoba; former
governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande, Henry Odukomaya, Felix Adenaike and
Dan Agbese.

The awardees collected their honours at an impressive ceremony, which took
place October 24, at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The celebration also featured a seminar that examined the state of media
practice in Nigeria.

In his reminiscence on the fortune of the organisation which came into
existence on December 16, 1960, the President, Ray Ekpu, said NPAN has
witnessed tremendous growth in membership, which increased from seven in
1960 to fifty in 2003.

He however lamented that the huge advertisement debt owed media
establishments by advertising agencies, and the prohibitive cost of
newsprint were threatening the survival of most members as they can barely
pay staff salaries.

Ekpu warned that the organisation might be forced to publish the names of
debtor advert agencies, even as he called on the Heads of Advertising
Sectoral Groups (HASG) to redress the dominance of the Association of
Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria (AAPN) by facilitating equitable
representation of all sectoral groups.

ABIA TO REVIVE MEDIA HOUSE

The government of Abia State, South-east Nigeria, is to revive its newspaper
corporation, shut since June. Orji Uzor Kalu, the state governor told
journalists in Umuahia, the state capital, that the administration has
decided to offer the newspaper a financial lifeline to enable it resume
operation.

He, however, said that the corporation which would now operate on a
commercial basis, is expected to be self - sustaining and generate income
for the state government.

The governor had in June, ordered the closure of the Abia newspaper
corporation, publishers of The Ambassador, on grounds of insolvency.

BPE UNVEILS MARCH DEADLINE FOR SALE OF DAILY TIMES

Daily Times of Nigeria Plc, DTN, publishers of The Daily Times newspaper is
to be privatized before the end of the first quarter of 2004. In a revised
privatization schedule released by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE,
DTN is grouped among public companies in the short-term privatization agenda
of the Bureau.

According to Julius Bala, Director General of the Bureau, other companies
scheduled for sale in the short term are Afribank Nigeria Plc, the Nigerian
Security Printing and Minting Company, Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria,
ALSCON, among others.

Previous attempt to privatize the oldest surviving newspaper through a
public offer failed as shares of the company were grossly under-subscribed.




BROADCAST MEDIA

NBC TO ASSIST IN LOCAL PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT

Worried by the preponderance of foreign programmes by Nigerian broadcast
stations, the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, is to assist stations
with programmes development to improve local content. NBC Director General,
Silas Yisa told The Punch, that the organisation was already packaging
credible alternative programmes similar to what obtains on the satellite
channels.

"We have licensed some indigenous companies who will package the Nigerian
original programmes. This is expected to be turned out in the first quarter
of next year", he declared.

In another development, the NBC boss disclosed that the commission was at
the verge of providing solution to the over-bearing attitude of the Nigerian
Television Authority, NTA, on the broadcast landscape. He said a Bill,
which is currently before the National Assembly, has provisions that will
subject the NTA to the full control of the commission. Yisa lamented that
it had been difficult regulating the activities of the NTA because both the
commission and the station enjoyed an equal status as parastatals of the
Ministry of Information. All that is expected to change with the passing of
the Bill.

AIT FACES $25 MILLION SUIT OVER NON-TRANSMISSION OF 8TH ALL AFRICA GAMES

The African Independent Television, AIT, has been sued for $25 million by
viewers in Los Angeles, United States, for its failure to beam live signals
of the just concluded 8th All Africa Games to viewers across the globe as
promised.

The Chairman, Daar Communications Limited, owners of AIT, Raymond Dokpesi
who disclosed this in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, blamed the station's
predicament on the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, which denied AIT
access to clean feed after it paid N3 million to COJA, the games organizing
committee, to transmit the event. "I may have to face the consequence of
other people's deficiency in handling matters", Dokpesi lamented.

Inspite of the suit, which marks a baptism of fire for the station on the
global stage, Dokpesi is convinced that the foray of the station into
international broadcasting was a step in the right direction. AIT
International was commissioned recently at a colourful ceremony in New York,
United States, where President Olusegun Obasanjo was guest of honour.

Dokpesi says he expects the journey to be rough but express confidence in
his organisation's ability to overcome obstacles on its way to becoming the
authentic voice of Africa.

INFOTECH

ECONET CHANGES NAME, LOGO

Following recent change in the ownership structure of Econet Wireless of
Nigeria with the acquisition of 50 + 1 equity stake in the company by South
Africa's Vodacom, a change in the company's name and logo is expected soon,
to reflect the new ownership.

Bolaji Balogun, the company's Chief Marketing Officer said at a forum in
Lagos that popular globe in the outfit's logo will soon give way for another
type of logo. He said the company was undergoing a change that would shoot
it to the top of the market.

Balogun said that with the arrival of Vodacom, the company would dominate
the Nigeria market.

NITEL COUNTS LOSES ON INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

The Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL, has lost $136 million
revenue from its international traffic services in the last two years.

Rein Zwolsman, Chief Executive Officer, who disclosed this in Abuja said
that from an average annual income of $80 million from international traffic
in the past, the company now barely rakes $12 million a year, in the last
two years.

He attributed the decline to competition from other networks that use
cheaper channel such as Voice Over Internet Protocol to carry international
traffic.

To reverse the trend, Zwolsman indicated that the company may reduce tariff
on international calls by 50 percent. NITEL is believed to be determined to
take advantage of its investment in SAT - 3 cable to reduce tariff for
international calls.

MTN INTRODUCES PER SECOND BILLING

Nigeria's leading Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) provider, MTN
Nigeria Communication Limited has finally bowed to the agitation of its
subscribers when it announced a major review of its billing system, which
gives subscribers the option of being charged per second.

In the tariffs reductions announced by the company's top management staff
led by Chief Executive Officer, Adrian Wood, in Lagos, subscribers on MTN's
Pay As You Go (PAYG) will pay a tariff of N39 per minute peak time while off
peak-call would be charged at N36 per minute.

The current tariffs stand at N50 per minute for peak periods and N40 per
minute for off-peak periods irrespective of the terminating network.

The switch to per second billing is believed to be the company's reaction to
competition from the Second National Operator (SNO), Globacom which
introduced the per second billing system for its mobile network early last
month. Its 80k per second tariff that was being adopted by MTN appears to
be the industry benchmark.

However, Wood told journalists that the tariffs reduction were a result of
strong and stable financial performance of the company in the last two
years. The view was echoed by Afam Edozie, MTN's Chief Marketing Officer,
who says the company "became profitable a little earlier than expected".

MTN's switch to per second billing system leaves Econet Wireless Nigeria and
M-Tel as the two GSM companies, which are yet to embrace the system.

The industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has
directed operators in the industry to implement per second billing.

Meanwhile, MTN has asked for tax exemption on equipment valued at about $60
million, which it claim will be installed to begin per second billing. It
is also asking for a waiver on the 2.5 percent of its yearly revenue to NCC.

NITEL WORRIES OVER N90M COJA DEBT

The management of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) is
determined to recover the debt of N90m owed it for services provided during
the recently concluded 8th All Africa Games, from the games organizing
committee, COJA.

Although NITEL was not the official telecoms partner to COJA, it was drafted
to provide certain telecommunications services following the failure of
Globacom Limited to put in place some specific facilities.

NITEL, through the intervention of the presidency, had installed for the
games, a switch which has a capacity for 1,000 direct exchange lines as well
as fibre optic facilities for the uplink of broadcast signals.

Since the curtains were drawn on the games, NITEL officials have been
visiting COJA secretariat for payment without luck.

Tayo Ekundayo, NITEL's Deputy General Manager, Public Relations however told
Punch that the company would employ every means to recover the money from
COJA.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, have announced that the
Sale of 20 percent of the company's equity through the initial public offer
on the Nigerian Stock Exchange would soon commence. Julius Bala, Director
General, BPE said the sale which has suffered several postponements will
commence before the end of the first quarter of 2004.

ADVERTISING

MAY NZERIBE HEADS APCON

A leading advertising practitioner, May Nzeribe, has been appointed chairman
of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). He succeeds
Olu Falomo whose tenure expired recently.

He tops the list of 20 representatives of the sectoral groups appointed to
the board of APCON. They include representatives of the National
Universities Commission, Consumer Protection Council, Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria, National Board of Technical Education, Outdoor
Advertising Association of Nigeria, Association of Advertising Practitioners
of Nigeria, Advertisers Association of Nigeria, the Newspapers Proprietors'
Association of Nigeria, the National Council of Women's Societies and the
Ministries of Health and Information and National Orientation. No date has
been fixed for the inauguration of the council.

Meanwhile the proposed collaboration between APCON and the National Agency
for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on the vetting of food
and drug products has been confirmed to elicit commendation from
stakeholders. Sesan Oyebode, Chief Executive Officer of Novitas, a
marketing Communication outfit lauded the initiative. He called on the
agencies to disregard advertisement of unapproved drugs, food and other
regulated products.



THE ARTS

OBASANJO OFFERS NATIONAL THEATRE'S MANAGEMENT TO ARTISTES

President Olusegun Obasanjo has offered the Association of Nigeria Theatre
Arts Practitioners (ANTP) concessionary management of the government-owned
National Arts Theatre in Lagos.

The president who spoke while receiving a delegation of ANTP at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the association would be accorded priority
should they indicate interest in running the complex.

He told the ANTP delegation that rather than auction the monument, the
government would explore other avenues of running it without subsidy.

"We are not selling the National Arts Theatre but we want to run it in a way
that can reduce government subsidies on its maintenance".

The President equally solicited for the association's assistance as a major
player in developing the Nigerian Film Corporation in Jos, Plateau State.
He regretted that the 32-year-old Corporation has failed to perform, adding
that the government was willing to cede 51 percent equity holding in the
corporation.

The ANTP delegation in turn, solicited the administration's assistance in
developing its N500 million film village in Lagos.

DONS DEPLORE POOR BOOK CULTURE

Stakeholders in the Nigerian educational sector have identified government
neglect of the country's library industry as a major factor responsible for
the poor book culture in the country.

Speaking in Lagos, at a ceremony to mark the 70th birthday of Professor
Adebimpe Ike, wife of renowned author, Professor Chukwuemeka Ike, the
Director of Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi frowned at government's
attitude to Library development. "They have not done well. Infact one of
the biggest challenges this country has, is the failure of the Library
System". Utomi said the country's poor reading culture was responsible for
its continuing backwardness.

Speaking in the same vein, Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike regretted that previous
commitments by government to book development were never translated into
concrete action. Instead, book development and reading culture, he said,
had taken a back seat as the people concern themselves with the endless task
of making money.

He, however, disclosed that the Nigerian Book Foundation (NBF), which he
heads, would soon be revitalized to leapfrog the process of book
development.

-----ENDS----


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senegal: Radio France International correspondent ordered to leave country

2003-10-30

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/54480/

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed that Senegalese authorities have refused to lift an October 6 expulsion order against Sophie Malibeaux, correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI). At the time, the order was temporarily reversed, but Malibeaux has again been ordered to leave the country.

Southern Africa: Journalists Find They Are the Main Story

2003-10-30

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=20845

The media in Southern Africa is in the spotlight. News reports and publications are resounding with stories of media oppression, threats to press freedom as well as sensational headlines around accusations of plagiarism and unethical journalism.

Zimbabwe: Court remands Zim media chiefs

2003-10-30

http://zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=7863

A Zimbabwean magistrate's court on Wednesday placed four directors of the independent newspaper The Daily News on remand, quashing a defence bid to have the charges against them dropped. The four are facing charges of contempt of court and publishing the newspaper, a harsh critic of the government of President Robert Mugabe, without a licence.

ZIMBABWE: Four Daily News executives charged

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37493

The chief executive and three directors of the Daily News, an independent Zimbabwean newspaper critical of the government, turned themselves into the police on Monday and were charged for publishing without a license.

ANGOLA: Widespread small arms continue to cause concern

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37511

The widespread availability of small arms among Angolan civilians could pose a threat to holding peaceful national elections, tentatively scheduled for 2005, a senior opposition UNITA official said on Tuesday.

burundi/sudan: new signatories to land mine ban treaty

2003-10-30

http://www.icbl.org/news/2003/414.php

Burundi and Sudan, both mine-affected countries, recently ratified the Mine Ban Treaty. Burundi submitted its ratification instrument to the United Nations on 22 October and Sudan completed its ratification on 13 October 2003. Now Somalia (which does not have a functioning government) is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa that is neither a State Party nor a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty. Ethiopia is the only remaining signatory in the region.

Burundi: Final talks set to begin

2003-10-30

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3223471.stm

The government of Burundi and the country's largest rebel group are due to resume talks in the South African capital, Pretoria, on Wednesday. A transitional government delegation are meeting leaders from the main rebel group, the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) to iron out what is being billed as a final agreement.

BURUNDI: Parliament approves power-sharing deal

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37426

Burundi's Parliament has approved the power sharing agreement signed on 8 October between the transitional government and the country's largest rebel group, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces de defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) led by Pierre Nkurunziza, the Burundian news agency, ABP, reported.
Related Link:
* Opposition leader released
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37473

car: Bozize lifts seven-month-old curfew

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37498

Central African Republic leader Francois Bozize has lifted a curfew that has been in force since 15 March, when he seized power from President Ange-Felix Patasse, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported.

drc/rwanda: Kigali dismisses Amnesty report on its presence in Congo

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37477

The recent report by human rights advocacy group Amnesty International that Rwanda still has troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was "based on unfounded allegations, speculation and innuendo", the Rwandan Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Monday. "We categorically reject insinuations by Amnesty International, some NGOs and journalists that we still have forces in the South and North Kivu and even in Ituri region," the ministry said.

DRC: UN panel on plunder of resources publishes final report

2003-10-30

http://www0.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8706&Cr=democratic&Cr1=congo

One hundred and twenty five companies and individuals have been listed in a report for having contributed directly or indirectly to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A United Nations committee investigating the plunder of gems and minerals in the DRC said: "Illegal exploitation remains one of the main sources of funding for groups involved in perpetuating conflict." The DRC has reserves of gems, cobalt, copper, gold, timber, uranium and coltan, a component for electronic chips in cell phones and laptop computers.

gambia: army takes to farming

2003-10-30

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3208922.stm

Africa's many coups have led some countries on the continent to devise other ways of engaging their armed forces. The aim is to make the military more productive and relevant to society, instead of toppling elected governments. In The Gambia, the army men and women are being provided with various skills including farming.

Ivory Coast: Obasanjo, Kufuor expected in Abidjan

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37537

The presidents of Nigeria and Ghana were expected to visit Cote d'Ivoire on Thursday for talks with President Laurent Gbagbo on urgent moves to jump-start the country's stalled peace process, diplomatic sources said.

kenya: Massive Famine Stalking Northern Kenya

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310270587.html

It's now official: A severe famine will hit Northern Kenya in the next few weeks sparking off a food crisis of unprecedented proportions in the region. The disaster is likely to displace thousands and trigger mass migration into urban centres. Unless Government and relief organisations step in to forestall the disaster, thousands of livestock will die and hundreds of pastoralist families will stare starvation in the face.

LIBERIA: Bryant backs down over rejected LURD nominees

2003-10-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37495

Liberia's transitional leader, Gyude Bryant, has agreed to review some of the nominees for senior government appointments that he rejected last week, the speaker of Parliament, George Dweh, said. This follows a threat by LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy) to pull out of Bryant's broad-based government, in protest at Bryant's rejection of three LURD nominees.

liberia: rural reign of terror

2003-10-30

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3224177.stm

Many Liberian families are living in appalling conditions at the mercy of rebels and fighters who backed former President Charles Taylor. In the capital, the deployment of peacekeepers and the installation of an interim government has brought calm. But outside Monrovia, armed gangs are terrorising civilians.

Sudan: Different visions of peace

2003-10-30

http://www.africa-confidential.com/

Africa Confidential reports that Colin Powell told the Sudanese National Islamic Front government during a visit to Kenya that it would stay on the US 'terrorist list' until it expelled Hamas and Islamic Jihad, resulting in the following comment circulating on the streets of Nairobi: "If you sign, you get the White House. If you don't, you get Guantánamo Bay!" Meanwhile, the expected signing of a partial Sudan peace agreement during the United States Secretary of State's trip was replaced by the two sides agreeing to agree later.

Building Digital Opportunities programme: an assessment

2003-10-30

http://www.gersterconsulting.ch/docs/Synthesis_report.pdf

The Building Digital Opportunities programme (BDO), which aims to identify and help remove some of the key barriers to poverty-focused ICT for development, has been received with an overall positive appreciation, providing important ICT-focused support to development and poverty reduction, says a new study.

Database on Eastern Africa ICT best practices

2003-10-30

http://www.kenya-wsis.org

Are you involved in an ICT initiative in Eastern Africa? The Kenya Civil Society WSIS Caucus with support from International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has established a database, http://www.kenya-wsis.org, to collate ICT initiatives in Eastern Africa to identify Eastern Africa ICT best practices.
Greetings from ALIN-EA, Please help to circulating this as widely as
possible.

Are you involved in an ICT initiative in Eastern Africa? The Kenya Civil
Society WSIS Caucus with support from International Development Research
Centre (IDRC) has established a database<http://www.kenya-wsis.org>.) to
collate ICT initiatives in Eastern Africa to identify Eastern Africa ICT
best practices.

You are welcome to add your initiative(s) into the database. However, if you
are unable to do so, due to poor connectivity, you can send us a summary of
the initiative through the post, e-mail or fax and we will do this for you.
The Information should include: Name and Contact of the Organization and the
initiative, When, how and why it was started, Goal and objectives of the
initiative, Target groups, Summary of key activities/achievements, Summary
of impacts, Lessons learnt and a contact person

Regards.


Catherine Njuguna
Information Officer


Arid Lands Information Network-Eastern Africa (Kenya CS WSIS Secretariat)
P.O. Box 10098, 00100 Nairobi G.P.O., KENYA.
AAYMCA Building, Along State House Crescent, Off State House Avenue.
Tel +254 20/2715299/2713540/2719413 Fax +254 20 2718003

HOW MUCH TIME DOES ONLINE TEACHING TAKE?

2003-10-30

http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v7n3/v7n3_lazarus.asp.

One of the perceived barriers to increased faculty involvement in online instruction is that it involves more time than traditional face-to-face courses, reports the SANTEC October 2003 Information Update. A study of three asynchronous online courses tried to determine the amount of time needed to teach them in terms of reading and responding to emails; reading, participating in, and grading online discussions; and grading assignments.

NEPAD Meeting Agrees to Link African Countries

2003-10-30

http://allafrica.com/stories/200310270897.html

A regional summit for the New Partnership for the African Development (NEPAD) brought together Heads of State in the Eastern Africa region on 29-30 October 2003. The meeting focused on ways to link countries in the region, including through science and technology.

NIGERIA GOES SURFING WITH WHEELS

2003-10-30

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3128776.stm

In Nigeria, the Internet may soon no longer be a phenomenon exclusive to urban communities. Using VSAT satellite communication systems, a government campaign plans to send buses from village to village, inviting people to use the Internet aboard.

NEWSLETTER OF THE NETWORK FOR EQUITY IN HEALTH IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

2003-10-30

http://www.equinetafrica.org/newsletter/subscribe.php

The Equinet Newsletter is the newsletter of the Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa. The Newsletter is delivered by e-mail twice a month and includes the following sections: Editorial, Equity and health general, Resource allocation, Public-private subsidies, Household poverty, WTO, economic and social policy, Human resources, Human rights and health, Research and Policy, Popular participation / governance and health, SADC News, Useful Resources, Letters and Comments, and Jobs and Announcements. Subscription is free.

Talk to Her: A Dialogue to Action among Young Women in ICT

2003-10-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/enewsl/17971

From October 24 until November 21st 2003, young women from across the globe will connect in an electronic forum to discuss strategies for integration of gender dimensions and empowerment of young women and girls at all levels of the ICT for development field. Their goals will be to identify challenges, prioritize needs for support and uncover strategies for building communities of learning, that will allow young women to begin or advance their engagement with ICTs.


********************************************
For more info and to sign up, please visit:
http://groups.takingitglobal.org/ycdogender
********************************************

>From October 24 until November 21st 2003, young women from
across the globe will connect in an electronic forum to
discuss strategies for integration of gender dimensions
and empowerment of young women and girls at all levels of
the ICT for development field.
Their goals will be to identify challenges, prioritize needs
for support and uncover strategies for building communities
of learning, that will allow young women to begin or advance
their engagement with ICTs.

Background documents and case studies will supplement the
discussions by summarizing the involvement of young women and
girls in policy processes such as the World Summit on the
Information Society, and by examining the existing global and
regional communities available to young women in ICT for
development.

*~*~*~*~* Discussion Themes *~*~*~*~*

§ Pre-conference: Introductions
(24-31 October)

Participants will be encouraged to introduce themselves, their
perspectives on information communication technologies, and
their experiences in using ICT for development. Participants
will also be presented during this time with a background on
the WSIS process and the Action Plan of Youth Creating Digital
Opportunities.

§ Week 1: Supporting young women involved in ICT4D policy-making
(1 - 7 November)

Discussions will focus on why/how young women choose to (or not to)
participate in ICT4D policy processes. Case studies of the WSIS
and CSW Youth Caucus, will be used to explore what
effective participation in decision-making means for young women
and how it might be fostered.

§ Week 2: Supporting young women involved in ICT4D projects
(8 - 14 November)

Guided by pointed questions, participants will be encouraged to
a) share stories of specific ICT4D initiatives led by young women
and girls, and b) identify strategies for enabling young women
and girls to act as leaders in ICT4D at the grassroots level.
This discussion should touch on the design of support mechanisms
(e.g. internships, mentorships, training, recognition, and
financing) which take the specific needs of young women into account.

§ Week 3: Community and conclusions
(15 - 21 November)

While there have been many initiatives to empower young women and
girls in the field of ICT4D, there has been little visible effort
on a continuous basis to enable these young women act as a community
of learning, supporting each other's ideas and encouraging the
involvement of new girls and young women. This week will help to
assess how a structured community might emerge within the overall
YCDO framework, enabling the continuity of young women's work in the
field.

***************************************************
For more info and to sign up, please visit:
http://groups.takingitglobal.org/ycdogender
or email Maja Andjelkovic, at mandjelkovic@iisd.ca
****************************************************

This online discussion is facilitated by
Youth Creating Digital Opportunities (YCDO),
a coalition of organizations committed to
enabling young people to achieve their full
potential in the field of information
communication technologies.

The YCDO Community gathers hundreds of
young people in a variety of contexts, including
the online space at http://www.ycdo.net

Call for Applications: Access to Learning Award

2003-10-30

http://www.thefundingsite.co.za/RFPs/detail.asp?ID=23

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is accepting applications for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award for 2004. The award is given annually to a public library or similar organisation outside the United States that has shown a commitment to offering to the public free access to information technology through an existing innovative program. The award includes a grant of up to $1 million. The application can be downloaded on the CLIR Web site http://www.clir.org./fellowships/gates/gates.html

Call for Nominations: 2004 Gates Award for Global Health

2003-10-30

http://www.globalhealth.org/news/article/3500

Nominations for the 2004 Gates Award for Global Health are now being accepted. Any organisation from any country in the world that has had a systematic and lasting impact on global health may be nominated for the Gates Award. Nominations must be received by December 5, 2003. For more information or to submit a nomination, visit the Global Health Council’s website: http://www.globalhealth.org

Call for tenders: Centres of Expertise in ICT Policy in Africa

2003-10-30

http://www.catia.ws/tenders.htm

Tenders are invited to establish and develop two Centres of Expertise in ICT Policy in Africa: one Centre located in and working on behalf of stakeholders in East and Southern Africa; one Centre located in and working on behalf of West and Central Africa. The Centres will play a leading role in developing the capacity of African stakeholders to contribute effectively to international decision-making on information and communications technology, products and services (ICTs) and on the role of ICTs in development; and in building multi-stakeholder national policymaking capacity in African countries.

CS Mott Foundation to focus more on Aids and ethnic relations in SA

2003-10-30

http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=401

The CS Mott Foundation's Board of Trustees recently decided to continue the Foundation's Civil Society programme in South Africa in years to come. The programme focuses on three themes: strengthening the non-profit sector and philanthropy; promoting rights, responsibilities and participation; and improving race and ethnic relations with HIV/Aids as a cross-cutting theme.
The Foundation is to further stress the cross-cutting theme of HIV/Aids over all three grant making areas, and it will also intensify its work in the area of race and ethnic relations.

Ethiopia: EU gives Ethiopia $440m

2003-10-30

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1437502,00.html

The European Union is to fund 3.8 billion birrs ($440m) worth of development projects over the next five years, State Minister for Finance and Economic Development Mulu Ketsela said on Wednesday.

Nelson Mandela launches global Aids fundraising drive

2003-10-30

http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=404

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela, has launched a global fundraising campaign for HIV/Aids in Africa, Independent Online reports. The campaign is dubbed "46664 - give one minute of your life to stop Aids" and was launched in London on Tuesday. 46664 was Mandela's prison number during his incarceration on Robben Island. The campaign will use global telephone networks and the Internet to raise funds and awareness of the impact of Aids in Africa.

The Funding Site

2003-10-30

http://www.thefundingsite.co.za/RFPs/

The Funding Site provides a searchable online database of prospective donors and a comprehensive range of information, training, advertising and marketing services to the South African non-profit and Development Community. It also aims to provide a comprehensive educational, networking and marketing opportunity for non-profits so that they are able to expand and prosper in all areas.

Call for Papers: Rhetoric and Democracy

About an African Athens, 7-11 June 2004

2003-10-30

http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/rhetoricafrika/conferences/call2004.htm

From 7th to the 11th of June 2004, the Association for Rhetoric and Communication in Southern Africa will host its Sixth Biennial Symposium in Cape Town, South Africa. The Association invites papers and paper proposals that reflect the themes of Debate in Africa and/or the public controversies which appear at the intersection of Democracy and Science. Deadline for Proposals: 31 November 2003.

mango 2004 Financial Management Training Programme Published

2003-10-30

http://www.mango.org.uk/training/calendar.asp

Mango’s 2004 Programme of Finance Training is now available and can be viewed in full on our website at: http://www.mango.org.uk/training/calendar.asp The 2004 programme, delivered at regional locations around the world, includes a range of one to 10-day practical courses tailored to the needs of programme and finance staff in the NGO sector. Full course details and calendar are available from our website or by contacting Barbara Johnstone at bjohnstone@mango.org.uk

Meeting: free and open source software for Africa

Cape Town, 12-16 January 2004

2003-10-30

http://idlelo.uwc.ac.za/

Organised by the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), the African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources (AVOIR) project at the University of the Western Cape and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the conference will address the challenges and opportunities of the creation and use of free / open source software and open content and their development potential for Africa. The conference has both strategic and practical objectives, bringing together participants from government, education, business and civil society together with the developer community.

Online event: Connectivity in low-resource environments

27 October - 21 November 2003

2003-10-30

http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/SS2_connectivity.htm

Starting October 27, DOT-COM and InterAction are hosting a month long discussion examining the practical approaches to bringing ICT connectivity to poor, rural and other un and under-served communities.

burundi: Radio Producer

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

2003-10-30

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/FB3231E972E2DDD4C1256DC2003A170D

The Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) is seeking a dynamic Burundi Radio Producer with extensive experience in community radio.

Somalia: Radio Producer

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

2003-10-30

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/res.nsf/wDocs/4C9F5324A442EF8BC1256DC2003A7B33

The Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) provides a specialised news and information service designed to enhance the capacity of the international community to understand, respond to and avert humanitarian emergencies. In 2002, IRIN launched its Radio project, designed to strengthen universal access to impartial news and information, especially among conflict-affected and other vulnerable populations, through a cooperative partnership with community radio stations.

south africa: Internship

2003-10-30

http://www2.womensnet.org.za/jobs/show.cfm?id=1251

The Community Agency for Social Enquiry, a leading South African research NGO, invites applications for our 2004 Internship Programme. The Programme is a six-month internship aimed at young graduates who are planning a career in research and are committed to development in South Africa.

Fahamu