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2003: The way it could have been...

Patrick Burnett

2003-12-18

United States President George W. Bush, other leaders of the G8 group of industrialised countries and political leaders in Africa deserve congratulations for their courage in leading a genuine attempt to deal honestly and respectfully with the problems facing Africa in 2003.

The pace was set when George W. Bush touched down in Dakar, Senegal earlier this year. Following a visit to Goree Island, which acted as a transit camp for Africans during the slave trade, Bush experienced a road to Damascus moment. With tears in his eyes, he said the experience had for the first time helped him to grasp the enormous damage caused by slavery. Clearly his country had benefited in a grossly immoral way and therefore it was logical that reparations should be made for this blotch in the history of his country. He immediately offered reparations – 'apologies are not enough', he said.

What was even more shocking, said the president, was that his country continued to support policies that were difficult to justify  - in fact, they added insult to injury and continued to build on the injustices of the past. He admitted that the US and Western powers systematically undermined the African liberation movements by slaughtering leaders such as Patrice Lumumba, supporting terrorist movements in DRC, Angola, Mozambique and elsewhere. This newfound commitment to Africa would require serious financial bankrolling, announced Bush, and as a result the war on Iraq would end forthwith to prevent resources being diverted from Africa. Even this would not be enough, however, and he had personally ordered the scrapping of his $400-billion defence budget, which would be diverted towards peaceful activities, rather than killing fields. Following a nightmare about the havoc $400-billion dollars worth of guns would cause, he was no longer convinced that the military-industrial complex held the solution to the world's problems. The US militarisation of the African continent through the establishment of forward bases in the war against terror would be scrapped. Africa needed less, not more, militarisation, he said. The USA would immediately ratify the Rome Treaty for the International Criminal Court: 'There can be no excuse for impunity for those guilty of crimes against humanity.'  

The cynical have argued that Bush's announcement was forced upon him by massive and unprecedented popular pressure from across Africa. Whatever the case, Bush's announcement was the culmination of a groundswell of change that nobody could have predicted at the beginning of 2003. South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki announced that he had given up golf. Golf, he said, was an elitist game and an environmentally damaging one at that, which did not befit the image of a president who stood for the people and with the people. Moreover, Mbeki, along with other New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) architects, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, could now see that Nepad was indeed an imperialistic tool (as some ultra-leftists had previously stated). Nepad, if implemented in its current form, would work to serve the interests of the West and further impoverish the African people. The project would have to be reworked in favour of a genuine consultative programme that placed people before profits.

With global and continental leadership in line, seemingly intractable problems moved towards quick resolution. A host of undemocratic and dictatorial African leaders were either summarily removed by bloodless peoples' coups, or fled office after seeing the writing on the wall. Where there are gaps, the African Union has transformed itself from a toothless organisation and firmly laid down the law when required. As we end 2003, genuine people's democracies are sweeping across Africa.

This revolution could not take place in and of itself and needed to be accompanied by radical structural changes. One of these changes involved the onerous debt burden facing many African countries, long acknowledged as a serious obstruction to the development of Africa and responsible for diverting funds away from health, education and the social services. With a new moral fervour evident globally, The Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was scrapped as a complete failure in 2003. In its place illegal debt was immediately eliminated without any unfair terms or conditions. Africa's development of rich industrialised countries through the repayment of debt has therefore ended.

A significant victory of 2003 was the establishment of the Commission on International Financial Institutions (CIFI), which announced that the World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund and World Bank were undemocratic institutions who had failed to function in the interests of the majority of the world population. The commission recommended – and these recommendations were subsequently adopted – that the IFI's be scrapped and replaced by truly representative, democratic institutions designed to operate in the interests of all the people of the world. Investigations into possible prosecutions regarding the harmful policies of the IFI's over the last 50 years and the damaging effects of their Structural Adjustment Policies and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers on Africa are ongoing. There was widespread agreement for the need to distinguish between investment and recurrent expenditure: money spent on education, social welfare and health were vital investments, the returns on which could only be measured over decades. A massive programme of investment has been put in place for 2004. Given the failure of privatisation of services over the last decade, governments were encouraged to nationalise social services, including power, water, health services, etc. This has sparked a vibrant public debate across the region about whether the same approach should be taken with production of other socially necessary products.

The ending of double-speak and spin over the issue of HIV/AIDS is another welcome development that took place in 2003. 'Treat all the People Now!', long seen as a distant dream, has become reality. The year began gloomily as countries failed to meet their commitments to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria, then promised more money and failed again to deliver. But the new political climate and unprecedented action by civil society organisations mean that the fund is now topped up and dispensing money in a way that has seen major victories in the war against the epidemic. Treatment is now approaching 100 percent. Furthermore, the control of the medical industry by a handful of enormously powerful and unaccountable multi-national pharmaceutical companies was beaten back in a serious of battles in which the people stood up and demanded their right to be treated.

Another important area with regards Africa that deserves mentioning here is that of unequal terms of trade, long regarded as a sticking point in the development of the continent. In September, Africa stood up to the industrialised countries at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun, Mexico, over unfair trade and refused to allow further onerous conditions to be imposed on them. The result was a humbled United States and European Union. Both finally agreed that outrageous subsidies which would hypothetically speaking allow their dairy herds to take round the world vacation trips while people in certain parts of the world starved, served nobody's interests and were an utter embarrassment to their moral standing, or lack thereof.  U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellig declared that industrialised countries had long been 'spoilers' and pledged to work towards terms of trade that benefited Africa.

It has been a truly memorable year. There have been major victories leading to decreased militarisation, the spreading of democracy, treatment for those with HIV/AIDS and equitable terms of trade. The benefits in terms of Africa's social and economic indicators are already being felt. Significantly, international legal mechanisms have also been set in place to ensure that never again will Africa, or any other part of the world, be allowed to occupy a position at the bottom of the global development index. No longer will certain power brokers be allowed to glibly take the moral high ground with one hand, while continuing a self-enrichment exercise of plunder and looting with another. Africa can now enter 2004 knowing that, in contrast to a year ago, it will not have to confront the battery of unjust and exploitative policies that kept it in subjection for so long.

* Please send comments on this editorial - and other events in Africa - to editor@pambazuka.org

Pambazuka News Festive Break

2003-12-18

The Pambazuka News staff wish all our subscribers warm greetings and best wishes for the season and the New Year. This will be our last edition for 2003 and we will return with our next edition scheduled for 08 January 2004. Thanks for all your support during 2003, and particularly to those who have made donations to Pambazuka. Keep them rolling in!

Pambazuka Newsfeed

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2003-12-18

Would you like Pambazuka News headlines to be displayed on your website? Visit: http://www.pambazuka.org/newsfeed.php You can choose headlines from any or all of the Pambazuka News categories, and there is also a choice of format and style. Email editor@pambazuka.org for more information.

Anonymous

2003-12-18

Whew! Thank you. Have scrolled and browsed accordingly. So much happening on the continent. However, I was struck by the absence of newsbites on the Sudan, Ghana, Lesotho and Botswana. PZ REPLIES: Thanks for the email - I hope that you have subsequently found stories in the areas you mention. We do our best, but can't cover every single country every single week.

Augusto Paulo da Silva

2003-12-18

http://www.guineaspora.org/

I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and let's keep developing our collaboration and co-operation. It was born in Lisbon in last September, an organisation called GUINEÁSPORA, the "Diaspora " from Guinea-Bissau. We have been able to organise a first meeting bringing Guineans from Africa, Europe, and Latin America (Brazil). Our site is www.guineaspora.org

Olugbemiga Ekundayo

2003-12-18

The underlying problem in Africa is the need for a fundamental paradigm shift. There has been so much mantra for "Poverty Reduction" the emphasis being "poverty" that it has all been internalised by governments and societies in Africa. The paradigm needs to shift into thinking "Prosperity". The reduction of poverty does not necessarily mean people are prosperous or that the country becomes prosperous. With prosperity naturally go development and progress. With poverty, well ... you get what you have now. African minds need to shift into this mode and we will see that we do not and have never really needed "help" from anyone but ourselves. We can, with this kind of mindset, begin to really utilize our own resources to build wealth for our peoples and nations in Africa. We have the brains to make this happen, we only need to blink and the current hypnotic illusions represented by the IMF and other structures as minions of western hegemony would be broken.

Pauline Morris

2003-12-18

I find your newsletter most informative. Congratulations.

Agricultural Research and Poverty Reduction

Edited by Shantanu Mathur and Douglas Pachico

2003-12-18

http://www.ciat.cgiar.org/index.html#poverty

This book presents a set of case studies that cover various dimensions of the research/poverty relationship, such as the role of gender and of dialogue with policy makers. And it presents empirical evidence from a wide range of contexts, involving different regions, agroecosystems, crops, and types of technologies.

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volume 29 Number 4/December 2003

2003-12-18

This issue includes:
* NGOs and the Constitutional Debate in Zimbabwe: from Inclusion to Exclusion by Sara Rich Dorman;
* The Politics of Decentralisation and Donor Funding in South Africa's Rural Water Sector by Mary Galvin and Adam Habib;
* Globalisation and Africa's Economic Recovery: a Case Study of the European Union-South Africa Post-Apartheid Trading Regime by Richard Gibb; and
* André Brink and the Implications of Tragedy for Apartheid South Africa by Isidore Diala.
Volume 29 Number 4/December 2003 of Journal of Southern African Studies is now available on the Taylor & Francis web site at http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com

To unsubscribe from this alert please visit: http://www.tandf.co.uk/sara .

This issue contains:

Land from the Ancestors: Popular Religious Pilgrimage along the South Africa-Lesotho Border p. 0
David B. Coplan

Editorial p. 821


State of the Discipline: Science, Culture and Identity in South African Archaeology, 1870-2003 p. 823
Nick Shepherd

NGOs and the Constitutional Debate in Zimbabwe: from Inclusion to Exclusion p. 845
Sara Rich Dorman

The Politics of Decentralisation and Donor Funding in South Africa's Rural Water Sector p. 865
Mary Galvin, Adam Habib

Globalisation and Africa's Economic Recovery: a Case Study of the European Union-South Africa Post-Apartheid Trading Regime p. 885
Richard Gibb

André Brink and the Implications of Tragedy for Apartheid South Africa p. 903
Isidore Diala

Malevolent Traditions: Hostel Violence and the Procreational Geography of Apartheid p. 921
Glen S. Elder

Gendering Commonality: African Men and the 1883 Commission on Native Law and Custom p. 937
Natasha Erlank

Friedrich Jeppe: Mapping the Transvaal c. 1850-1899 p. 955
Jane Carruthers

Book Reviews p. 995


Erratum p. 1019




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Media Under Siege - A report on the coverage of the 2002 Presidential and Mayoral Elections in Zimbabwe

Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe

2003-12-18

The book focuses on how the media covered the 2002 Presidential and Mayoral elections. It depicts the struggle to suffocate the truth and the efforts by the private media to get it heard. This translated to a media war- and ultimately Zimbabweans witnessed a monumental battle by Government to coerce the electorate to vote for the ruling party. An informed electorate will not vote for corrupt and incompetent government- and certainly not for one that undermines their constitutional rights. At the time of the 2002 elections the crisis afflicting the national economy was a source of increasing hardship for most of the population, politically motivated state sanctioned violence became a plague across the nation, and laws guaranteeing democratic practice were trampled underfoot by a government determined to retain control of power. Please send orders and enquiries to the Project Coordinator, MMPZ, 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park, Harare, Tel/fax: +263 4 703702, E-mail: monitors@mweb.co.zw

Pleasure through reading in Zambia

2003-12-18

http://www.bellagiopublishingnetwork.org/news/readZam.htm

The "Pleasure through Reading" project uses television programmes to stimulate and promote reading in Zambia. The project is being promoted by Window Images-Media in Development in the light of growing concern that reading habits in Zambia were rapidly falling and that most Zambians ranging from school going children to adults do not read for pleasure. The organisers hoped that through “Pleasure Through Reading” a broad cross-section of people would find the programme not only interesting and educative but also challenging and motivating to the extent of taking up reading.

Re-examining Liberation in Namibia

Henning Melber (ed.)

2003-12-18

The emerging trends in Namibia’s political culture offer reason for concern. The different chapters in this stock- taking volume suggest in different ways that the long struggle for national liberation and human rights has not been followed by a process towards genuine democracy and tolerance.
Henning Melber (ed.)
Re-examining Liberation in Namibia
Political Culture since Independence
ISBN: 91-7106-516-4, 187 pp, 200 SEK (20 Euro)
Published by the Nordic Africa Institute Oct 2003
Keywords: Namibia, Independence, Liberation, Political Culture, Reconciliation, Post-colonialism, Human Rights

The emerging trends in Namibias's political culture offer reason for concern. The different chapters in this stock taking volume suggest in different ways that the long struggle for national liberation and human rights has not been followed by a process towards genuine democracy and tolerance.

An introductory chapter examines the consolidation of political power and control by the former liberation movement SWAPO. Other chapters offer case studies on SWAPO’s ideology prior to Independence, a comparison of constitutional developments in Namibia and Zimbabwe, an overview on minority rights and policies concerning indigenous people and a case study on cultural policy with regard to music. Analyses also cover the issue
of the SWAPO "ex-detainees", a critical reading of the Namibian President's biography and an exploration of the institutionalised public memory. The book ends with an essay challenging the limited tolerance currently existing in post-colonial Namibia.

The contributors are mainly from Namibia or Southern Africa and have a long-term commitment to the struggle for national liberation and democracy. The editor, Henning Melber, had joined SWAPO in 1974. He was Director of the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek between 1992 and 2000 and has been Research Director at The Nordic Africa Institute since then.

Contents:

Henning Melber
Limits to Liberation. An Introduction to Namibia’s Postcolonial Political Culture

William Heuva
Voices in the Liberation Struggle: Discourse and Ideology in the SWAPO Exile Media

Sufian Hemed Bukurura
Between Liberation Struggle and Constitutionalism: Namibia and Zimbabwe

Clement Daniels
The Struggle for Indigenous People's Rights

John S. Saul/Colin Leys
Truth, Reconciliation, Amnesia: The "ex-Detainees'" Fight for Justice

Christopher Saunders
Liberation and Democracy: A Critical Reading of Sam Nujoma's 'Autobiography'

Reinhart Kössler
Public Memory, Reconciliation and the Aftermath of War: A Preliminary Framework with Special Reference to Namibia

Minette Mans
State, Politics and Culture: The Case of Music

Andre du Pisani
Liberation and Tolerance

Orders: orders@nai.uu.se or order online : http://www.nai.uu.se/webbshop/ShopGB

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Structural Stability in an African Context

Robert Kappel , Andreas Mehler and Henning Melber with a comment by Anders Danielson

2003-12-18

Structural Stability is a particular focus for reconceptualising developmental strategy and development aid and has provoked unforeseen responses in the course of a recent, mainly German debate. This debate began late in 2000 when a number of prominent German scholars in African Studies initiated a policy dialogue through a widely circulated and publicly discussed "Afrika Memorandum" centred on the notion of structural stability. Its arguments are relevant not only to a German audience but offer stimulating and thought-provoking inputs into the debate in the wider European context on bilateral and multilateral relations with Africa. This Discussion Paper presents the revised contributions to a Consultative Workshop on Structural Stability in an African Context that took place at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala on 31 March and 1 April 2003.
New publication:


Robert Kappel , Andreas Mehler and Henning Melber with a comment by Anders Danielson:

Structural Stability in an African Context
Discussion Paper No 24, 55 pp Published: Dec 2003 by the Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 91-7106-521-0 Price: 100 SEK/ 10 EURO

Keywords: Crisis, Development aid, Economic and social development, Economic aspects, NePAD, Partnership

The publications is available both as "hard copy" and electronically (the electronic version is free of charge)
at the Nordic Africa Institute's website http://www.nai.uu.se/webbshop/ShopGB/index.html

Direct link to the pdf-file is:
http://130.238.24.99/webbshop/epubl/dp/dp24.pdf


Description

Structural Stability is a particular focus for reconceptualising developmental strategy and development aid and has provoked unfore-seen responses in the course of a recent, mainly German debate. This debate began late in 2000 when a number of prominent German scholars in African Studies initiated a policy dialogue through a widely circulated and publicly discussed "Afrika Memorandum" centred on the notion of structural stability. Its arguments are relevant not only to a German audience but offer stimulating and thought-provoking inputs into the debate in the wider European context on bilateral and multilateral relations with Africa.
This Discussion Paper presents the revised contributions to a Consultative Workshop on Structural Stability in an African Context that took place at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala on 31 March and 1 April 2003.

Dr. Anders Danielson teaches in the Department of Economics, Lund University.
Dr. Robert Kappel is Professor of Economics at the Institute for African Studies, University of Leipzig.
Dr. Andreas Mehler is Director of the Institute for African Studies in Hamburg.
Dr. Henning Melber is Research Director at the Nordic Africa Institute.

Contents:

Preface

Robert Kappel
Economic Aspects of the African Crisis
Low-Level Equilibria, Traps and Structural Instability

Anders Danielson
Comments on Robert Kappel

Andreas Mehler
"Structural Stability"-A Leitmotiv for African Policies?
Background and Ambition

Henning Melber
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NePAD)
A Step Towards Structural Stability?

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The Battle for Zimbabwe: Launch

Geoff Hill

2003-12-18

http://www.iss.co.za/SEMINARS/031203book.htm

In 2001, Steve Connolly, MD of New Holland Publishers, asked Geoff Hill to interview ordinary Zimbabweans and find out what was really happening in the country. Over the past two years, Geoff sought the views of more than a thousand people -- mostly black -- in Zimbabwe and among the three million exiles now living in South Africa, Botswana and the UK. Geoff spoke to people inside the ruling ZANU-PF party; victims of the Matebeleland massacres of the mid-80s; opposition figures; Mugabe's childhood friends; people who had been tortured and some who had committed acts of torture and murder for both ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC. What emerged was a picture of a country that had gone astray. The resultant book, “The battle for Zimbabwe” looks at what went wrong in Zimbabwe, how to avoid the same thing happening in South Africa and what the world could do to bring Zimbabwe back into the fold.

ANGOLA: Ex-girl soldiers hidden behind a veil of fear and denial

2003-12-18

How many young girls were used by Angola's warring parties during its 27-year war is anyone's guess. Denial - by both sides - and fear of discrimination and stigma among former girl soldiers continue to stand in the way of any effort to come up with precise figures. Both the government and the former rebel group, UNITA, have in the past denied recruiting child soldiers. However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has claimed that minors were widely used by both sides during the conflict. The refusal to acknowledge the role played by child soldiers, especially girls, during Angola's hostilities has complicated efforts by aid groups to address the problem.
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

ANGOLA: Ex-girl soldiers hidden behind a veil of fear and denial

[This article is part of an IRIN web special on the issue of child soldiers published today. In addition to this story, the web special includes a special report on the issue of child soldiers, other country-specific features, background documents and links to resources available for further reading on the Internet. To access the web special please go to: ]www.IRINnews.org/webspecials/childsoldiers/]

JOHANNESBURG, 12 December (IRIN) - How many young girls were used by Angola's warring parties during its 27-year war is anyone's guess. Denial - by both sides - and fear of discrimination and stigma among former girl soldiers continue to stand in the way of any effort to come up with precise figures.

Both the government and the former rebel group, UNITA, have in the past denied recruiting child soldiers. However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has claimed that minors were widely used by both sides during the conflict. The exact number remains a contentious issue, but conservative estimates put the number of children who bore arms for UNITA at 6,000. HRW has noted that the actual figure was probably much higher.

The refusal to acknowledge the role played by child soldiers, especially girls, during Angola's hostilities has complicated efforts by aid groups to address the problem.

Christian Children's Fund (CCF) in Angola is one of the few NGOs that have attempted to tackle the needs of children who participated in the war, but it says it has had to broaden the scope of its project to include all children, not only child soldiers.

The CCF director in Angola, Vivi Stavrou, told IRIN: "Our programmes targeting children in Angola have a broad focus. We are interested in the impact war has had on all children, especially since the majority of children have in some way or the other been victims of civil war. We would hope that within these programmes the needs of so-called 'child soldiers' will be identified and addressed."

HRW uses the definition of a child soldier adopted at a UN Children's Fund-backed international symposium in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1997. According to that definition, a child soldier is "any person under 18 years of age, who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to, cooks, porters, messengers, and those accompanying such groups, other than purely as family members".

While research into boy soldiers has received attention, very little has been reported on the plight of girls, who were often used by UNITA as cooks, domestics, and porters.

There have also been reports that women and girls were given to UNITA commanders and visitors and forced into sexual relations. Other girls were forced into marriages with UNITA combatants. HRW contends that refusals were met with punishment, and attempts to escape often meant death.

A report released soon after Angola's April 2002 ceasefire by the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), noted that girls aged as young as 13 were used as porters, camp followers and concubines by UNITA. "Indeed, girls were often required to render sexual services and the majority are abducted for the primary purpose of serving as 'wives' to the male soldiers."

HRW said girls were often the victims of sexual abuse by government soldiers in the field, and occasionally were obliged to provide services. However, the rights group was unable to document the use of girls as soldiers by government forces.

Stavrou explained that the stigma associated with the abuse women and girls suffered during war has made it difficult to formulate programmes targeting this vulnerable group.

"It is a lot more difficult to determine just how many girls had been forced into marriage with soldiers," she said. "Often young women are afraid to reveal their involvement in the war, for fear that they will be discriminated against by community members.

"Often research is gathered from word of mouth, and when these former girl soldiers are approached they shy away from questions which probe their past lives. It would seem they would rather let it go."

She noted that girls who may have participated as active combatants with UNITA also confronted severe challenges when reintegrating into family and society.

According to Stavrou, many a young girl who had seen combat may have had to conceal the role she played, and adopt the subservient roles that custom demands. "For fear of total rejection by her husband's family, [she] must pretend to be the gentle, soft-spoken and submissive woman that her civilian counterpart is."

In an attempt to shed light on the role of women and girls during the war, CCF has commissioned research into the issue to provide a basis for interventions.

"We expect the research to take some time, given the constraints, but the results are likely to produce a clearer picture of what is needed, and how the aid community can assist," Stavrou said.

Many of the young women in demobilisation camps at the end of the war highlighted the need for education, HRW noted following a series of interviews in 2002. "Currently attending classes run by adults in the camps, they hoped to resettle in their home communities and return to primary school," HRW said.


[ENDS]

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Cameroon: Cameroon celebrates end of sex ban

2003-12-18

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3325281.stm

Couples in Cameroon are in a frisky mood following the end of a two-month strike during which women refused to have sex with their husbands. The 6,000 women in the north-west of the country were protesting against the destruction of crops by cattle.

DRC: UNICEF launches "All Girls to School" campaign

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38451

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday launched a national campaign to promote education of all girls. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, speaking at the "All Girls to School" campaign launch in the capital, Kinshasa, underlined the importance of educating children, especially girls, to national development.

Kenya: Creating a safe space for girls and young women

2003-12-18

http://www.comminit.com/pdskdv92003/sld-8643.html

Established in June 2002, the Binti Pamoja Centre is designed to create a safe space for girls and young women to discuss reproductive health issues and to address problems such as gender discrimination, domestic abuse, and rape. Located in the low-income area of Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya, the Centre uses group discussion, art, and photography to enable young participants to speak out about - and, ultimately, effect social change related to - difficult issues.

Kenya: Debate rages over new marriage bill

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312160765.html

A New Domestic Relations Bill under debate in parliament is generating intense debate, with a section of the public accusing the government of trying to interfere with their freedom in order to garner support from women in the 2006 elections. The Bill proposes that, for a man to marry a second wife, he must get the consent of the first wife and approval from district councils.

Kenya: Girls' education in Nairobi's informal settlements

2003-12-18

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/gender/links/1003nairobi.htm

Sixty per cent of Nairobi’s two million inhabitants live in informal settlements. Kibera, home to around 700,000 people, is the largest of these. It is very overcrowded, and littered with rubbish. As it is an illegal settlement, the government provides no basic services. In the poorest areas of Nairobi, Kenya, the demands of parents have encouraged the new government to abolish fees in public schools. An Oxfam programme has also recognised that gender equitable education means more than access, and is attempting to address the specific problems which girls face.

Uganda: LRA War Breaking Women's Backs

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312160551.html

It is the third day of a peace building and conflict management workshop at Gulu teacher's centre. Most of the participants are women who belong to the Grassroots Women for Development (GWARD), an NGO in Gulu. Others are members of the Uganda Media Women's Association (UMWA). The meeting is mainly focusing on health in the internally displaced people's camps, women and children's rights in the camps and nationalising the war in the north.

ZAMBIA: Getting girls back into school

2003-12-18

Zambian girls are defying traditional barriers, teenage pregnancy and the risk of HIV infection to go back to school to finish their education. They are doing this despite the findings of a new report that girls in sub-Saharan Africa face the highest school drop-out rate in the world, with up to 83 percent of all girls who no longer attend school living in the region. But "The State of the World's Children", released last Thursday by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) also lists the Programme for the Advancement of Girls' Education (PAGE), a collaboration between the Zambian government and UNICEF, as an example of the type of action required by governments and the international community to reverse the trend.
ZAMBIA: Getting girls back into school

JOHANNESBURG, 11 December (PLUSNEWS) - Zambian girls are defying traditional barriers, teenage pregnancy and the risk of HIV infection to go back to school to finish their education.

They are doing this despite the findings of a new report that girls in sub-Saharan Africa face the highest school drop-out rate in the world, with up to 83 percent of all girls who no longer attend school living in the region.

"The State of the World's Children", released on Thursday by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), found that the number of girls in sub-Saharan Africa who had left school before completing their education rose from 20 million in 1990 to 24 million in 2002.

But the report also lists the Programme for the Advancement of Girls' Education (PAGE), a collaboration between the Zambian government and UNICEF, as an example of the type of action required by governments and the international community to reverse the trend.

The project's interventions "have been so successful that what was a pilot project in the mid-1990's has now been extended all over the country."

According to UNICEF education project officer Margaret Akinware, there are about 1,300 PAGE schools operating in Zambia's 72 districts. "Next year, the government will incorporate the PAGE best practices into all primary schools."

Bringing girls back into the classroom has been an uphill battle. A situation analysis conducted before the project started in 1996 revealed that many girls were being kept at home to help with domestic chores, or care for their terminally parents.

"When you combine this with the high teenage pregnancies and HIV-infection rates, as well as the girls' fear of being sexually abused on their way to school or in school, you realise how great the odds are," Audrey Mwansa, manager of the ministry of health's equity and gender unit, told PlusNews.

One of the PAGE interventions has been to introduce single-sex classes. "This is the one that girls themselves have said helped them stay in school longer, because they are not bullied or made to feel inferior by gender-insensitive teachers," Akinware noted.

The success of the project could also be partly attributed to the involvement of families and community leaders. PAGE coordinators enlisted local headmen to become advocates of the campaign to increase girls' access to education. "This really helped a lot - in fact, in some areas, these headsmen are now spearheading the initiative," Mwansa said.

Using the PAGE "Family Pack", parents were also encouraged to support the campaign by permitting their daughters to do their homework after school. Regular school visits, with parents sitting in on lessons, were another feature of the programme.

Mwansa admitted that cultural practices remained a major obstacle. "As much as you talk about it and get people involved, at the end of the day people will revert to their traditional patterns."

Initiation ceremonies were a case in point. Once girls reached puberty, they were withdrawn from schools and isolated in order to be taught about "womanhood".

"There is nothing wrong with this, but the problem arises when they get back and don't want to return to school - all they want to do is get married so they can become a woman," Akinware explained.

PAGE staff have been working with community members involved in the initiation ceremony to create awareness around safer sexual practices and the need for girls to continue with their education.

"What we ask is, why can't you shift the ceremony to the school holiday period, and when telling them about womanhood, make sure you are arming them with accurate knowledge?" Akinware said.

The country's "re-entry policy" had made the implementation of PAGE "much easier" when dealing with young mothers, Mwansa pointed out. When girls fell pregnant, schools were now compelled to allow them back into class.

"We literally pursue them and bring them to school, and even make special arrangements for special classes if they feel shy and ashamed."

"We try and make them and their families realise that the benefits of education are not just for them, but for their children and the rest of the country," Mwansa said.

"We stand no chance of substantially reducing poverty, child mortality, HIV/AIDS and other diseases if we do not ensure that all girls and boys can exercise their right to a basic education," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said in a statement. "In daily life, knowledge makes the crucial difference."

To access the report:
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/embargoed_sowc04.pdf


[ENDS]

IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

[This Item is Delivered to the "PlusNews" HIV/AIDS Service of the UN's IRIN
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of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
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Africa/Global: Globalisation a mixed blessing for human rights

2003-12-18

http://www.unu.edu/news/NR-HumanRights03.html

Globalization has been a mixed blessing for human rights around the world, undermining the economic power of national governments but strengthening a sense of world community, according to a new analysis from the United Nations University. The Globalization of Human Rights report says progress on social and economic human rights is being undermined by the growing power of the global marketplace and the erosion of the ability of national governments to protect citizens from economic fluctuations. At the same time, however, globalization is fostering a greater sense of world community and international solidarity, leading to, for example, unprecedented collective interventions in internal national conflicts on compassionate humanitarian grounds.

Africa/global: The ICC - An end to impunity?

2003-12-18

http://www.crimesofwar.org/icc_magazine/index.html

"The International Criminal Court came into being on July 1, 2002. To its supporters, the new court represents nothing less than a milestone in the evolution of global justice. The court’s opponents also portray it in highly dramatic terms. The Bush administration says it is so concerned that the court may launch politically motivated prosecutions of U.S. citizens that it has started a worldwide drive to secure immunity agreements from other countries, withholding military aid from many of those who refuse. Yet in the immediate future, the court’s impact may be much less than its supporters and critics believe. The setting up of the International Criminal Court presents the odd spectacle of an event of enormous symbolic resonance, whose practical effects are likely to remain fairly modest, at least for some time to come." The Crimes of War Project December magazine features the International Criminal Court. You can read the full magazine by clicking on the URL provided.

ANGOLA: Dos Santos at the helm

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38470

Long-standing president Jose Eduardo dos Santos is once again firmly established at the helm of Angola's ruling MPLA after he was elected without opposition to the party's presidency. The congress, which ended last week, voted in Dos Santos by acclamation, paving the way for him to run again in national elections he has said will not be held before 2005. "Dos Santos is very firmly in the saddle," said Herman van der Linde, consultant at South Africa-based Executive Research Associates.

Central African Republic: New premier forms government

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38416

Newly appointed Central African Republic (CAR) Prime Minister Celestin Le Roi Gaoumbale has formed a new transitional government to replace the one of Abel Goumba who was dismissed last Thursday and has since been appointed Vice-President, the minister for communication and government spokesman, Parfait Mbay, announced on Friday on state-owned Radio Centrafrique. The new government comprises 28 ministers, including two women and six military officers.

Congo: Impunity major obstacle to human rights, says NGO

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38376

Impunity is a major obstacle to human rights in the Republic of Congo (ROC), the NGO l'Association panafricaine Thomas Sankara (APTS) said on Wednesday in a report published in the capital, Brazzaville. According to the report, the Congolese people, having decided in favour of multipartyism, wished to live in a political system founded on the primacy of the law and respect for human rights. However, the establishment of such a state was being prevented by the ever-growing culture of impunity.

Gambia: Opposition leader returned to jail after bail revoked

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38408

Gambia's firebrand opposition leader Lamine Waa Juwara, who is awaiting trial on sedition charges, has been re-arrested after his bail order was revoked by a judge.

Kenya: Draft Constitution Splits the Nation

2003-12-18

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=21551

Under Kenya’s current constitution, drafted during the colonial era, the president enjoys extensive powers. To reduce these powers - which have sometimes been abused - some Kenyans have called for the current process of constitutional review to allow for the post of Prime Minister. But, others disagree. "There are those around the president who are enjoying power because of their close ties with him. They are opposed to the completion of the constitution review process," says Njeru Gathangu, chairperson of Citizens for Justice, a Nairobi-based pressure group which has been lobbying for a new constitution.

MADAGASCAR: Former president sentenced to five years in prison

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38475

The authorities in Madagascar remained tight-lipped on Wednesday over whether the government would seek to extradite Didier Ratsiraka from France after a court had sentenced the former president to five years in prison for his role in last year's political crisis. Ratsiraka, who fled the country at the height of the political upheaval, did not appear in court at Monday's hearing.

South Africa: As inequalities grow, the poor question the power of the ballot

2003-12-18

The vote is still new to most of South Africa’s blacks, but after just a decade of democracy many of the poorest among them are already unconvinced of its power to deliver better standards of living. Veronica Rasi, a domestic worker in Cape Town says she has refused to register for next year’s elections because the government has not delivered on its promises. “What’s the use of voting – it hasn’t brought me any benefits. The ANC and the other political parties only know us when they need our votes – otherwise we don’t see them.”
REPOSTED FROM:http://www.globalpolicy.org/

As Inequalities Grow,
South Africa’s Poor Question The Power Of The Ballot
By Mohammed Allie*
Panos
November 2003

The vote is still new to most of South Africa’s blacks, but after just a decade of democracy many of the poorest among them are already unconvinced of its power to deliver better standards of living. Veronica Rasi, a domestic worker in Cape Town says she has refused to register for next year’s elections because the government has not delivered on its promises. “What’s the use of voting – it hasn’t brought me any benefits. The ANC and the other political parties only know us when they need our votes – otherwise we don’t see them.”

While the African National Congress-led government has improved people’s access to health, education and land, one hard fact remains: South Africa is still one of the most unequal societies in the world, despite the introduction of democracy in 1994. If anything, poverty has worsened. A government audit of how far it has lived up to its responsibility to its citizens and redressed apartheid’s injustices, concludes that “two economies persist in one country”.

President Thabo Mbeki, in his November Letter from the President on the ANC Today website, writes: “We have made the point in the past that a defining feature of our country is that we have two economies, one belonging to the developed world and the other to the underdeveloped world.” Those in the “underdeveloped world”, he adds, “do not have the skills required by the modern economy and society”.

In an effort to accelerate the redistribution of wealth, the government is promoting a black business class through its new Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act. The Act, passed in September, encompasses a raft of legislation, including those advancing the transfer of skills and capital from whites to blacks in major industries.

But Terry Crawford-Browne, spokesperson for Economists Allied for Arms Reduction, which is fighting to overturn the government’s purchase of over $5 billion of arms from European countries, is not impressed with those who have benefited from previous black empowerment legislation, especially those who were leading figures in the liberation struggle. “The politically well-connected have used their contacts for personal enrichment and have little regard for the majority. It is tragic… how quickly the new elite forgot where we’ve come from.”

When the ANC-led government first came to power, it introduced an ambitious Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) which promised to deliver social services and infrastructure to communities that were previously marginalised by apartheid. Social grants were no longer allocated on a racial basis, free health care was made available to women and children, and new health clinics were built. The government also provided piped water supplies to seven million people and redistributed 1.8 million hectares to landless blacks since 1994. But according to government figures, unemployment has risen from less than 20% in 1996 to 30% in 2003, and the number of households living below the poverty line ($60 per month) increased from 28% in 1995 to 33% in 1999.

Margaret Legum, an economist with the South Africa New Economics Network, a Cape Town-based think tank, says: “The ANC, with its roots deep in egalitarian political values, was joyfully elected to promote redistributive development. It promised economics that would match the political miracle to benefit everyone.” - “But the government’s review of the past ten years shows that even more people now live in destitution than in 1994, that redistribution of access to utilities is undermined by poverty, that utilities are privatised to foreign companies and that at the top, galactic incomes are earned.”

Legum believes the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy which replaced the RDP in 1996 militates against redistribution. The thrust of GEAR is to create work for all job-seekers by liberalising the economy; to redistribute income and opportunities for the poor; and to make health, education and other services available to all. But it aims to improve economic growth by lowering restrictions on capital movement to and from South Africa, and by lifting protections on local companies so that global corporations can compete with local companies as equals.

Critics of GEAR say the government assumes that economic growth in the private sector will produce an economic elite who in turn will share the government’s vision of developing what Mbeki calls the “underdeveloped” economy. But this has not yet happened. Legum says one problem the poor face is lack of political choice. “While the Communist Party and the unions stick with the ANC, and the ANC with GEAR, it is hard to see any other political channel. The other political parties are worse in this respect,” says Legum.

ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama protests at this criticism: “We are the party that represents the poor – proof of that is the fact that two thirds of the electorate voted for us at the last election.”

Patrick Craven, spokesperson for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), says although COSATU remains committed to its alliance with the ANC, it will always campaign for policies which defend and advance the interests of workers and the poor. “That is why COSATU has consistently opposed policies such as GEAR, which damaged those interests.”

Steven Friedman of the Centre for Policy Studies at the University of Witwatersrand, writing in a paper titled Equity in the Age of Informality, believes GEAR’s policies are the solution to South Africa’s inequality. But he says the poor must find a way to articulate their concerns and demands. “The demands of black professional and business classes for greater racial equity compete with those of the coalition of trade unions and other civil society organisations who champion the poor. “While poverty is not ignored, the preoccupation of the more affluent black groups tend to take precedence.”

This was shown recently when the government decided last year to privatise the parastatal Iron and Steel Corporation, with an anticipated 3,000 job losses – despite strong union protests. Particularly vulnerable are the over 1.7 million South Africans who work in the informal sector. With few resources and no union membership, they have been unable to articulate their interests effectively in the new democracy.

But there is a growing movement of non-governmental organisations which is representing and organising poor people, including the Anti-Eviction Campaign, the Landless People’s Forum and the Rural Development and Services Network. Fonky Goboza, spokesperson for the Anti-eviction Campaign, says they plan to highlight their plight at next year’s elections by not voting or by rolling out a programme of mass action. Says Veronica Rasi: “I think if we demonstrate and show the government that we are unhappy, maybe they will listen.”

*About the Author: Mohammed Allie is a South African freelance journalist and Cape Town correspondent for the BBC's African Service.

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SWAZILAND: Opposition rethinks boycott strategy

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38478

Swaziland's banned political parties and pro-democracy groups are conceding they may have harmed their cause by boycotting recent parliamentary elections. "If you are in the wilderness, you need all opportunities to be heard. All platforms, even government bodies, must be utilised," Ntombi Nkosi, president of the women's league of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), told IRIN.

Zimbabwe: Mbeki to wage quiet diplomacy in Harare

2003-12-18

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=311243

President Thabo Mbeki was due in Harare this week on his Mission Impossible - to try to find a solution to Zimbabwe's growing crisis. The precise nature of his mission is unclear. A senior South African official said he would try to place "back on track" talks between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Africa/Global: Respect for rights of migrants essential

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312170851.html

On International Migrants' Day, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says that respect for the rights of all migrants is an essential component of good migration management. With globalization, trade liberalization, economic integration and the widening gap between rich and poor nations creating ever greater migration pressures, IOM believes that successful migration management only exists when it fully respects the human rights of migrants.

Africa: UN Bids to Lift Aids Blame From Refugees

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312150640.html

Host communities blame refugees for the spread of HIV/AIDS, according to a survey by the UNHCR. "Such sentiments are held not only by local people, but by politicians, some media and even humanitarian workers," said the UNHCR commissioner, also noting the direct correlation between the increase in the number of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, and hostility towards refugees. However, evidence suggests that HIV infection rates among refugees are lower than those in host communities.

ANGOLA-SOUTH AFRICA: Refugee agreement to be signed with Pretoria

2003-12-18

A voluntary repatriation agreement for Angolan refugees in South Africa was due to be signed in Pretoria on Sunday, allowing the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to prepare for the 13,000-strong community to return home. South Africa becomes the sixth and last country in the region to sign a tripartite agreement with the Angolan government and UNHCR. It joins Africa's largest repatriation programme, which will return 450,000 Angolans who had fled the country's civil war over the next two years.
ANGOLA-SOUTH AFRICA: Refugee agreement to be signed with Pretoria

JOHANNESBURG, 12 December (IRIN) - A voluntary repatriation agreement for Angolan refugees in South Africa will be signed in Pretoria on Sunday, allowing the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to prepare for the 13,000-strong community to return home.

South Africa becomes the sixth and last country in the region to sign a tripartite agreement with the Angolan government and UNHCR. It joins Africa's largest repatriation programme, which will return 450,000 Angolans who had fled the country's civil war over the next two years.

But the refugee population in South Africa presents a challenge, UNHCR Special Envoy for Angolan Repatriation, Kallu Kalumiya, told IRIN. The majority are young, male and relatively well educated, and may not rush to take advantage of organised repatriation.

Kalumiya said the signing of the tripartite agreement would not mean the refugees automatically lost their right to asylum. UNHCR would first have to conclude that conditions in Angola had improved significantly, which would probably not be until after free and fair elections were held in 2005.

With UNHCR's assistance, 45,000 Angolans have been repatriated since June 2003. A further 25,000 have made it home under their own steam, receiving assistance inside Angola from UNHCR and the World Food Programme. Before UNHCR began its repatriation programme, 80,000 to 100,000 refugees had trekked home since the war ended in 2002.

"Next year will be the make or break year in terms of numbers. Now that procedures and systems are in place, we want to repatriate 140,000 Angolans voluntarily. Most of the camps will begin to empty, and we will round off the process in 2005," Kalumiya said.

Although acknowledging that significant problems remained for returning refugees - from the presence of an estimated 10 million land mines, to the lack of social services and weak government structures - "the fundamentals for a successful repatriation are present," he said.

These include a durable peace process - with the exception of fighting in the oil-rich Cabinda enclave - a "dramatic improvement in the humanitarian situation", and an "equally impressive improvement in human rights conditions".

"Life is gradually returning to the countryside - Angola is literally a country on the move," Kalumiya noted.

The vast majority of Angolan refugees, some 400,000, are in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

[ENDS]

IRIN-SA
Tel: +27 11 880-4633
Fax: +27 11 447-5472
Email: IRIN-SA@irin.org.za

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
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of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web:
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Botswana/Namibia: Controversy over deportation of Caprivians

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38447

The Botswana government has denied claims by a Namibian human rights NGO that a group of Caprivian "refugees" were "abducted" from Botswana to face high treason charges in Namibia. Presidential press secretary Jeff Ramsay told IRIN on Tuesday that the group of eight Caprivians were "de facto illegal aliens" and had been lawfully deported to Namibia on 13 December.

Central African Republic: UN allowed to use Oubangui for refugee repatriation

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38450&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will repatriate refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) using the Oubangui river which, besides serving as the border between the two countries, has been closed to human traffic since September, a senior UNHCR official said on Monday.

DRC/Rwanda: 300 refugees return from South Kivu

2003-12-18

Some 300 Rwandan refugees, among them nine former combatants, have returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), state-owned Radio Rwanda reported on Sunday. After nearly eight years in exile, the returnees cited poor living conditions in the DRC jungles as one of the major reasons for their return home.
DRC-RWANDA: 300 refugees return from South Kivu

KIGALI, 15 December (IRIN) - Some 300 Rwandan refugees, among them nine former combatants, have returned from the from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), state-owned Radio Rwanda reported on Sunday.

After nearly eight years in exile, the returnees cited poor living conditions in the DRC jungles as one of the major reasons for their return home.

The radio reported that the returnees included 88 women, 40 men and 163 children who had been living Shabunda, Bunyakili and Mwenga areas in the eastern province of South Kivu.

"The returnees will stay in Nyagatare camp in Cyagungu province, pending their return to their ancestral homes," the radio quoted an official of the Rwanda Refugee Repatriation Commission as saying.

The nine former combatants would be taken to a camp in the northwestern province of Ruhengeri for either demobilisation or reintegration into the current government forces.

The recent return of a Hutu militia commander, Maj-Gen Paul Rwarakabije, seems to have accelerated the return of more refugees from the Congo, according to an official of the repatriation commission.

The commission estimates that at least 700 refugees, including 156 former combatants, have returned home in the last two months.

On arrival at a transit camp, the returnees are issued with a standard repatriation package by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, consisting of a three-month food ration and basic non-food items such as jerry cans, kitchen utensils, blankets, soap and plastic sheeting.
[ENDS]

[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: Irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.irinnews.org . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
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Ethiopia: UN refugee agency evacuates staff from Gambella

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38460

The UN refugee agency has evacuated its non-essential staff from western Ethiopia after violence that left an estimated 30 people dead and dozens injured. UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said the local hospital had been “overwhelmed” after a weekend of fighting in Gambella, 800 km west of Addis Ababa.

MOZAMBIQUE-RWANDA: Governments and UNHCR sign agreement on refugee repatriation

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38391&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=MOZAMBIQUE-RWANDA

The governments of Rwanda and Mozambique and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed a tripartite agreement on the voluntary repatriation of an estimated 900 Rwandan refugees in Mozambique. Most of the Rwandan refugees in Mozambique are women and children. Under the agreement, Rwanda will ensure the security of the refugees, while UNHCR would provide support for travel as well as help with initial resettlement for the returnees.

South Africa: Skills, Experience of Refugees Go to Waste

2003-12-18

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=21501

South Africa appears to receive the cream of African refugees seeking safe new homes, but their skills and experience go to waste, says a survey released last Thursday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. One-third of the 90,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa have some form of tertiary education. Two-thirds have a secondary certificate or equivalent and the same proportion had skilled jobs before coming to South Africa.

Sudan: Darfur MPs urge international intervention

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38417

Members of Sudan's National Assembly from Darfur have appealed for international intervention to stop killings and displacement in the region. "There has to be a quick international intervention to protect civilians because they are dying - nearly 50 to 100 a week," one MP told IRIN. Fighting in Darfur between Arab militias and rebel groups, which escalated in March this year, has driven an estimated 670,000 people from their homes.

Sudan: Feature on displacement in Darfur

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38412

Intisar is 12 years old. She has never been to school. She used to leave peacefully on a farm with her mother and 14 siblings in rural Kass, southern Darfur, but then nomad militias arrived and started grazing their camels on her family’s land. Fighting in Darfur between Arab militias and rebel groups, which escalated in March this year, has driven an estimated 670,000 people from their homes, 70,000 of whom have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad.

Africa/Global: 95 countries sign U.N. anti-corruption convention

2003-12-18

http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=95197

Ninety-five countries signed the U.N. Convention against Corruption over a three-day conference in Mexico, a top Mexican Foreign Ministry official said last Thursday at the close of the gathering. The convention will enter into force once 30 governments have ratified it. Kenya, with a new government, was the first to sign and ratify. When the convention was opened for signatures last Wednesday, Kenya, the United States, Mexico, Italy, Paraguay, Japan, Mauritius, Kuwait and Sierra Leone were the first signers.

Africa: Corruption costs in the trillions

2003-12-18

http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=95184

The cost of corruption represents five percent of the world economy - or more than 1.5 trillion dollars a year, according to World Bank figures published at a UN conference on corruption. Daniel Kaufman, director of global governance at the World Bank Institute told reporters on Wednesday that the figures were an approximate calculation - since corruption was largely clandestine - yet "realistic".

Kenya: Kenyans discover that corruption is a hard habit to kick

2003-12-18

http://www.transparency.org/cgi-bin/dcn-read.pl?citID=95213

The illegal gains allegedly generated by Goldenberg International could have paid for universal primary education in Kenya for a decade. So one expert witness claimed at a public inquiry that has driven home to Kenyans the price they have paid for mismanagement. Goldenberg was set up at the turn of the 1990s, allegedly as a vehicle to access pre-shipment financing and state compensation for gold and jewellery exports.

Kenya: Kenya’s Filthy Rich Civil Servants

2003-12-18

http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/1701.cfm

Corruption does not only mean the illegal looting of public funds. It can also include exorbitant salaries paid to the political leadership and the civil service, argues Dagi Kimani from The East African in an article for World Press Review. "As Kenyans this year launch a concerted war against corruption, which in governance is taken basically to mean the privatisation of public funds through illegal means, they will also have to fight extremely hard to stop the looting of public coffers in legal ways. This must be so because, in what looks like a conspiracy by the top echelons of the political leadership and the civil service, the salaries of top public servants are being pushed to obscene levels, even as lower cadres are perennially told that the exchequer does not have enough tax shillings to throw them a lifeline of single-digit percentage wage increase," the article says.

Kenya: Tracking Moi's corruption

2003-12-18

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3518046,00.html

Investigators tracking the plunder of Kenya's resources during the regime of former President Daniel arap Moi have discovered that between $1 billion and $4 billion were shipped abroad illegally. The man leading the investigation said Wednesday that the goal of the probe was to retrieve as much as possible. "We have reached a stage where the Kenyan people have a right to know that this is an issue that we are taking extremely seriously, and to which we are applying the very best resources available,'' John Githongo, permanent presidential secretary for ethics and governance, told The Associated Press.

Uganda: World Bank Inflated Costs of Karuma Hydropower

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312160080.html

A proposed hydropower project at Karuma falls was inflated by $200 million. Norpak, a Norwegian company, is developing the Karuma project. Karuma is competing with Bujagali for World Bank's approval. Subsequently, the World Bank lined up Bujagali - which is now dogged by bribery allegations.

ZIMBABWE: Greener pastures create passport to corruption

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38443

Zimbabweans trying to leave the country in search of economic opportunities are having to deal with government officials whom they allege are turning their plight into profit, IRIN has learnt. Rising incidents of graft by public officials has coincided with Zimbabwe's worsening economic conditions, according to the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI). It ranked Zimbabwe as among the world's most corrupt countries in a report released in October.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe's Swiss jaunt costs millions

2003-12-18

http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/2003/12/14/news/news01.asp

Robert Mugabe squandered millions last week in a desperate bid to address the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) after being denied the opportunity at the Commonwealth summit in Nigeria. Mugabe and his cronies lived it up at one of the city's plushest hotels - La Réserve, a spa on the shores of Lake Geneva. According to The Times of London, rooms at La Réserve start at £380 a night, with the presidential suite costing £4 500.

Africa/Global: Responding to the mainstream - The IMF and the World Bank

2003-12-18

http://www.50years.org/action/s28/responses.html

Earlier this year a critic of the movement for global economic justice wrote a letter with several challenging questions that were sent to the email listserv of Mobilisation for Global Justice. The series of questions and answers available through the URL provided are based on the response composed by Soren Ambrose, Senior Policy Analyst with the 50 Years Is Enough Network. Questions relate to the austerity packages of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and cash crops.

Africa: China Cancels Africa's Debts

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312170547.html

Beijing has fulfilled its commitment to Africa by cancelling 31 African countries' debts totalling US $1.27 billion. During the second China-Africa trade summit held this week in Ethiopia, China said it would provide enhanced support for Africa, without any political discrimination. Both African and Chinese delegates agreed that there was vast potential for growth in trade between China and Africa, and that this was vital for Africa's development.

Africa: Developed Countries hold the keys to revival of trade talks

2003-12-18

The EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy concurred to the broad assumptions that the failure of Cancun was like an accident, which involved 148 cars on their way to a wedding. In explaining the accident, he forgot to mention (although casualty levels still not clear) that some of the victims escaped unhurt and they stood aside instead of helping those who were hurt. Among those who escaped unhurt, some were wearing helmets and others were putting on life jackets. Those who were hurt, most of them wore ordinary clothing and had no any other form of protection. But all of them still need to go to the wedding. And those who escaped unhurt should not just stand aside and assume that those hurt will uplift themselves. The unhurt must do something to ensure that everyone goes to the wedding where there is plenty of food and drink. Unfortunately, we are seeing a situation where the law of the jungle is being applied: survival of the fittest and elimination of the unfit, yet all of them want to celebrate together at the wedding. This is the stark reality that we find developed and developing countries in after the collapse of trade talks in Cancun, says this editorial from the Seatini Bulletin.
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Editorial: Developed Countries hold the keys to revival of trade talks
Rangarirai Machemedze

The EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy concurred to the broad assumptions that the failure of Cancun was like an accident, which involved 148 cars on their way to a wedding. In explaining the accident, he forgot to mention (although casualty levels still not clear) that some of the victims escaped unhurt and they stood aside instead of helping those who were hurt. Among those who escaped unhurt, some were wearing helmets and others were putting on life jackets. Those who were hurt, most of them wore ordinary clothing and had no any other form of protection.

But all of them still need to go to the wedding. And those who escaped unhurt should not just stand aside and assume that those hurt will uplift themselves. The unhurt must do something to ensure that everyone goes to the wedding where there is plenty of food and drink. Unfortunately, we are seeing a situation where the law of the jungle is being applied: survival of the fittest and elimination of the unfit, yet all of them want to celebrate together at the wedding.

This is the stark reality that we find developed and developing countries in after the collapse of trade talks in Cancun. At the informal heads-of-delegation meeting on 14 October, it was agreed that the Chairman of the WTO general Council, Perez del Castillo and Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, would conduct consultations with members, starting with agriculture, the cotton initiative, non-agriculture market access, and the Singapore Issues.

The aim of these consultations is to find common ground on the four areas with the WTO members, which could allow the restart of negotiations in 2004. However, reports coming from Geneva suggest that positions on the four issues are still the same as to those prior Cancun.

To make matters worse the consultations are being held with the same pre-Cancun method for which they have been so severely criticised: informal, undocumented small group or country-by-country consultations where nobody knows who is meeting with whom and when and what has been talked about. From time to time, Perez del Castillo will then convene informal, undocumented Heads of Delegation meetings on the result of these consultations.

Right after the collapse in Cancun, most of the blame was put on the US and the EU that they were responsible for the breakdown, while the two big trading blocks blamed others, especially the G20 Group of middle-income countries, and the ACP countries. As the EU Trade Commissioner (Lamy) has already indicated, they are now adopting a strategy that aims at shifting the responsibility of reviving the talks towards developing countries, avoiding their own responsibility. The EU must adjust their negotiating scope and mandate and must show a willingness to engage in fair and just trade practices. As long as they continue to subsidise their farmers to that frightening level of US$1 billion per day then they should forget about engaging developing countries.

Actually, the developing countries were the first to show their willingness to continue negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda. Now, all parties, even the US, have signaled their willingness to restart negotiations as soon as possible and this is the positive step that they should carry through until they come to a common understanding with the rest of the developing world.

The EU has stated publicly in various occasions that it is not going to undertake any initiative to revive the talks. It is well known that the EU is still in its process of reflection as regards its commercial policy in general and its positions within the WTO in specific. However, the Geneva-based delegates from developing countries interpret this posture as one suggesting that the EU wants them to make an initial offer that would bring the EU back to the negotiating table. Thus, by acting in this way, the EU aims to make developing countries feel responsible for the failure in Cancun and force a concession that would present a solution to the stalemate.

And we think otherwise. The developed countries hold the keys to the revival of talks.

Prior to and during Cancun, developing countries were pressuring the developed countries, particularly the US and the EU to eliminate all forms of subsidies that they were giving to their farmers. They (developed countries) did not listen and of course there was no progress. And now positions are still the same between the developed and developing countries. The developing countries have got practical and heart rending reasons as to why subsidies should be eliminated. And unless this is done then of course there should not be any reason for negotiations to continue. This is the reason why we say the developed countries have the keys to kick start the process again.

Two weeks prior to Cancun developed countries closed ranks and conceded that for sure there was a need to agree to the worthy cause of developing countries on TRIPs and Public Health as mandated by the Doha Declaration. Whether this was a misjudgment (on their part) thinking that this could sway the position of developing countries on Agriculture and Singapore issues into theirs is debatable. But what they did is commendable although the solution is temporary.

Now after Cancun, why the same can't be done on these four issues? It is clear how agriculture subsidies are hurting the livelihoods of the poor in the developing world. It is also clear how cotton subsidies by the US have impoverished poor farmers in central and western Africa. It is also very much clear how the New Issues will surrender the sovereign power of nation states to the dictates of Transnational Corporations.

When the US and the EU developed their industries, they did so under a protective kind of system which was never open to abuse by other countries. Today they have pressurized developing countries to open their economies to the rest of the world while they are still protecting theirs.

The first article in this Bulletin shows to a large extent the different positions that countries were taking on non-agricultural market access. The US and EC, stated strongly that they wanted a non-linear formula with a single coefficient to be applied by both developing and developed country members undertaking tariff cuts. In this regard, newly acceded WTO members should also undertake more liberalisation in this area.

On the other hand, many developing countries conveyed their opposition to, and unhappiness with the approach of the developed countries for a non-linear formula with a single coefficient to be applied by all. Several made clear that they could not accept the application of a non-linear formula in making tariff reductions.

The same concept that the developed countries used in the Harbinson Text on Agriculture is more or what they are attempting to apply. Deep tariff cuts will only mean accelerated market access for developed country members' products to the developing world. As alluded to earlier, protection of the different sectors should be the priority of developing countries like what their counterparts did when they were developing their industries.

On the Singapore issues the Chairman suggested that the members could perhaps agree to launch negotiations for transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation at the SOM on 15 December and then subsequently discuss their respective modalities. On the issue of investment and competition rules, he proposed that members could perhaps agree to re-start the clarification process on the modalities. This could then lead to several options, including adoption of a plurilateral agreement, which gives the opportunity of opting in or out of such an agreement.

His suggestion really is meaningless to the developing countries. In Cancun Developing countries took the position that negotiations on the New issues should not start unless there is explicit consensus as the language of the Doha Declaration says. There is no explicit consensus. As the Brazilian Foreign Minister, Amorim in the third article in this Bulletin rightly puts it “you cannot ignore - you cannot just, nowadays, write a paper, put your preferred option, ignore the opinion of 80 countries and then think that it will go. That does not happen any more. That is no longer how the world is made up, fortunately.”

If real negotiations are to take place, the WTO must first listen to the concerns of their members particularly on the process of negotiations itself. The developed countries, moreover, must wake up and listen to the concerns of their unequal counterparts. There is now doubt whether sufficient progress will be made before the 15 December General Council Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) for an agreed outcome.

Still the developed countries must open the doors of the crushed cars, because they have the keys, such that everyone will go to the wedding and eat the same food and have the same drinks.

Rangarirai Machemedze is a Senior Analyst with SEATINI

More...

Africa: Issues and options in the post-Cancun world

2003-12-18

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twninfo99.htm

At Cancun, developing countries were better able to organise themselves and articulate their interests, but the question on how to proceed on various issues in open. The proposals from all sides should reflect what is in the best interests of development of developing countries. This paper from the Third World Network examines key issues after Cancun. "We should not be distracted by the blame game as to who caused Cancun to fail, and not be affected by any hints or accusations that developing countries were responsible and will now suffer for it. What is important is to examine what are the best options on substantive and process issues that will be in the interest of developing countries and to put these positions forward."

Benin: Benin needs more funding for human development, says report

2003-12-18

http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html

Benin should allocate at least 5 per cent of its GDP for social priorities to promote human development and progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a new UNDP report by a team of national experts. The Benin National Human Development Report 2003, launched recently in Cotonou, the capital, focuses on financing for human development and finds that public spending on social priorities -- including basic education and health care, nutrition and water supply and sanitation – is inadequate.

Kenya: Fair trade crafts preserve culture and livelihoods

2003-12-18

http://www.lwr.org/handcraft/mdcu.html

In the shade of an acacia tree, a cluster of Kenyan women work busily, weaving baskets from sisal plant fibres. Their children are learning in a nearby schoolhouse. The school fees are paid by the money the mothers make from selling their baskets. Mary Masika, a widowed mother of seven, learned to weave sisal baskets from her mother. Now her weaving group is a part of the Machakos District Cooperative Union (MDCU), a union of artisan groups that market their products through the LWR Handcraft Project.

Namibia: Ramatex On Rack Again

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312170352.html

Malaysian-run textile factory Ramatex is once again being accused of unfair labour practices - this time by several hundred of its Asian workers. Filipino workers feel so strongly about their working conditions that they have sent an appeal to their government through its South African embassy. A petition signed by nearly 700 employees cites poor wages, cramped living conditions and health concerns as their most pressing grievances.

Southern Africa: A review of regional strategies addressing poverty

2003-12-18

http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0000637/index.php

Strategies that governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have pursued over the last three to four decades have all sought to raise not only the Human Development Index but bring about comprehensive development as well. These strategies started with national development plans and inward looking import substitutions and protectionist policies. This review from the Malawi Economic Justice Network provides an overview of the process, outcomes and content, within the region's socio-political context, examining the pathways that were available to different stakeholders for engagement in the process, and how this participation and strategies are reflected in the policy outcomes. The paper further endeavours to catalyse thinking in analysing how the relationship between the conception and practice of the 'popular' Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers to previous initiatives such as the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), the advent of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), let alone the new opportunities offered for poverty reduction in Africa.

Africa/Global: How medical giants hoodwink journals

2003-12-18

http://news.hst.org.za/view.php3?id=20031211

Pharmaceutical giants hire ghostwriters to produce articles - then put doctors' names on them. Hundreds of articles in medical journals claiming to be written by academics or doctors have been penned by ghostwriters in the pay of drug companies, an Observer inquiry reveals. The journals, bibles of the profession, have huge influence on which drugs doctors prescribe and the treatment hospitals provide. But The Observer has uncovered evidence that many articles written by so-called independent academics may have been penned by writers working for agencies which receive huge sums from drug companies to plug their products.

Africa: Africa isn't dying of AIDS?

2003-12-18

An article by South African author and journalist Riaan Malan arguing that horrific HIV/AIDS figures are computer-generated estimates that appear grotesquely exaggerated when set against population statistics has kicked up debate about the severity of Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis. Malan argues that it is time to question some of the claims made by the Aids lobby, arguing that their authority comes from computer-generated estimates that are far from accurate. "Give them their head, and they will commandeer all resources to fight just one disease. Who knows, they may defeat Aids, but what if we wake up five years hence to discover that the problem has been blown up out of all proportion by unsound estimates, causing upwards of $20 billion to be wasted?" In response, Malan was accused by one subscriber to a popular South Africa discussion list of playing a game that is an "intellectually, politically and morally dishonest" one. For the original article, visit http://www.lewrockwell.com/spectator/spec192.html To track the debate, join Debate: SA discussion list at http://lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/debate

Africa: Hiv/Aids - The growing epidemic

2003-12-18

http://www.eldis.org/fulltext/BennellHIVAfrica.pdf

This paper argues that there is surprisingly very little good quality information available that would enable the levels and thus trends in national HIV prevalence rates to be accurately monitored. Population based surveys are the only reliable indicator of the levels of HIV infection among men and women according to age, location and socio-economic background. And yet, there is virtually no population-based survey data in most of the high-prevalence countries, including Botswana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland.

Africa: Hope for better malaria vaccine

2003-12-18

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3322085.stm

Human trials of a new type of malaria vaccine are planned for next year after encouraging results in mice. Oxford University scientists are using a combination of techniques to boost the effectiveness of their vaccine, which will be tested on volunteers. Research published on Tuesday revealed that their formula, carried into the body on a virus, produced a strong immune response in mice. No fully effective malaria vaccine has yet been produced by scientists.

CAR: UN agency identifies sites for HIV/AIDS centres

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=2853&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun identification of 16 sites for construction of HIV/AIDS detection-prevention-treatment centres across the Central African Republic, an official told IRIN on Friday. Funding for the programme would come from the HIV/AIDS Global Fund, the UNDP resident representative, Stan Nkwain, said. "This is a legitimate ambition given the extent to which HIV/AIDS is ravaging the population," he said.

CONGO: With 29 dead, Brazzaville says Ebola outbreak is 'stabilizing'

2003-12-18

The health ministry of the Republic of Congo reported last Thursday that the current Ebola acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome outbreak in the country's northwestern Cuvette Ouest Department was stabilising, with 29 deaths among 42 registered cases to date. According to Damaze Bozongo, director-general of the health ministry, since 2 December, no further deaths had been registered in either Mbomo or Mbanza, two villages that were among the worst-affected in Cuvette Ouest, 800 km north of the capital, Brazzaville.
CONGO: With 29 dead, Brazzaville says Ebola outbreak is ''stabilizing''

NAIROBI, 12 December (IRIN) - The health ministry of the Republic of Congo reported on Thursday that the current Ebola acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome outbreak in the country's northwestern Cuvette Ouest Department was stabilising, with 29 deaths among 42 registered cases to date.

According to Damaze Bozongo, director-general of the health ministry, since 2 December, no further deaths had been registered in either Mbomo or Mbanza, two villages that were among the worst-affected in Cuvette Ouest, 800 km north of the capital, Brazzaville.

The World Health Organization (WHO) meanwhile reported that other suspect cases were still under investigation, while 47 people who came into contact with infected individuals were being monitored. It added that surveillance and social mobilisation activities were also continuing.

WHO said the current outbreak originated in Mbanza, some 15 km from Mbomo, when a family consumed a dead wild boar they had found in the forest, with the first death occurring on 16 October.

On 14 November, the Congolese Ministry of Health, together with WHO, confirmed that the outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome in Mbomo District was, in fact, the Ebola virus.

On 5 June 2003, the last outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome, which was determined to have been the Ebola virus, was declared over by the health ministry. According to WHO, 128 people of 143 confirmed cases died during that epidemic, which ensued following the handling and consumption of dead gorillas.

[For more information on the Ebola virus, go to ]www.cdc.gov]
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Côte d’Ivoire/Senegal: Warning about complacency over HIV/AIDS

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38458

West Africa’s HIV-AIDS pandemic has often been overshadowed by the higher infection rates in southern Africa. But the WHO’s latest global HIV-AIDS update warns strongly against complacency. WHO points out that while infection rates have remained broadly stable in Sahelian countries like Mali, The Gambia and Niger, which all have prevalence rates of less than two per cent, the figures are markedly less optimistic in Cote d’Ivoire, where adult prevalence rates have been estimated at between 10 and 12 percent.

Nigeria: Health sector ranked amongst world's worst

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312160363.html

The 46th National Council on Health meeting taking place in Yenagoa has heard that Nigeria's health system ranked among the worst in the world. The Minister of Health, Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, said in his address that the health situation had recorded appreciable improvement in the early 1990s but had then nose-dived to an all-time low. "Nigeria's overall health system performance was ranked 187 among the 191 member states by the World Health Organisation while most of the country's disease burden is due to preventable diseases."

Nigeria: Parliament to discuss polio vaccine controversy

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312170705.html

Nigeria's House of Representatives will hold a public hearing next week on allegations that polio vaccines used in a recent nationwide vaccination campaign contained elements that could cause infertility and HIV/AIDS. Aminu Safana, chairman of the Committee on Health and Human Services of the lower house of the federal parliament, said in a statement on Wednesday that the hearing had been set for next Monday. Polio vaccination has faced widespread resistance in the staunchly Muslim north, where groups of Islamic fundamentalists have alleged that the vaccination programme was part of a plot by western countries to reduce the population of Muslims by spreading infertility and the HIV/AIDS virus.

Sudan: Bicycle teams are key in controlling malaria outbreak

2003-12-18

http://www.msf.org/countries/page.cfm?articleid=CCE08E72-AFC8-457B-937921E37C9E6FFC

Over the past five months, 49,262 people in the Bahr-el-Ghazal province of south Sudan have been treated for malaria by Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) medical teams that are using bicycles to get to areas that have been isolated by recent severe floods. A total of 71,006 people have been treated in the area - including 800 severe cases - when figures from the fixed facilities are included.

Zambia: Rains Bring "Preventable" Outbreak of Cholera

2003-12-18

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=21585

Six people have died from cholera and another 165 are reported to be in a serious condition as the disease sweeps through Zambia's capital, Lusaka. It appears that local authorities have been caught flat-footed by the outbreak. They are now engaged in a frantic bid to contain the disease, which is transmitted through contaminated water and food. Cholera typically occurs in Zambia during the country's rainy season.

Zimbabwe: Hospitals Turn Patients Away As Strike Begins to Bite

2003-12-18

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=21521

The strike by medical doctors and nurses in Zimbabwe is crippling the public health sector, at a time when the poor cannot afford high fees that private hospitals charge. Monica Ngwere, an asthmatic patient from Shurugwi in central Zimbabwe, was last week turned away from Parirenyatwa Referral Hospital in the capital, Harare.

ETHIOPIA: New partnership aims to combat child mortality

2003-12-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38463

Almost half a million children in Ethiopia are dying each year from easily preventable diseases, international health officials revealed on Tuesday. Ethiopia has the sixth largest number of children dying annually – with only India, Nigeria, China, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo faring worse.

Gambia: Measles Vaccination Drive Reaches 90 Percent of Children

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312170420.html

A nationwide campaign to vaccinate 750,000 children against measles in The Gambia has been a resounding success, health officials said on Wednesday. "We are very glad with the response we got. We are still compiling the figures, but at least 90 percent of our target was attained," Robert Nimson, deputy manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), told IRIN.

Kenya: Staff union branches to negotiate pay

2003-12-18

http://allafrica.com/stories/200312120225.html

The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has allowed its branches to negotiate with their university councils over a pay stand-off but insisted only national officials would call off the strike. The union said the strike - now in its second month - could only be called off after members were satisfied over "new sala