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Featured in this issue

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/25973

* Editorial: Everjoice Win loves international days of “this and that”. World Aids Day, she writes, would have provided much needed light relief for most women.
* Comment and Analysis: UN resolutions on Darfur continue to be ‘weak and meaningless’, states Eva Dadrian
- Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa must challenge global apartheid, argues Titus Alexander
- Tributes to Dennis Brutus on the occasion of his 80th birthday
* 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence: News and events
* Honouring Sylvia Tamale - Ugandan activist for women's rights
* Letters: Is Pan-Africanism the answer?
* Pan-African Postcard: Defeating HIV/AIDS calls for unified action, writes Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
* Conflict and Emergencies: Tensions escalate between DRC and Rwanda
* Women and Gender: Securing gender rights in DRC key to lasting peace
* Elections and Governance: Ghana goes to the polls on December 7
* HIV/AIDS: Remember the caregivers on World Aids day, writes Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda
* Land and Land Rights: Finding common ground for tackling land reform in Namibia

Discovering Women and Girls on World AIDS Day 2004

Everjoice J. Win

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/25972

I love international days of this and that. They are such grand occasions for leaders to remember some long forgotten agenda. The charitable among us hope that occasions such as World AIDS day are a sign of things to come. The cynical like me, gnash our teeth as we see the insincere, the hypocritical and the couldn’t-care-less-on-a-good- day-types abuse the spaces that are created. As the world celebrates World AIDS day this year, focusing on women and girls with the slogan, “have you heard me today?” we shall be treated to serious theatrics from coast to coast. We shall be subjected to Kings, Presidents, Ministers and others with power, exhorting women to do more, be involved.

Steven Lewis, God bless his soul, has tried his best to raise awareness of governments about what HIV means to women. From the simple fact that women are more vulnerable to infection, to that we are virtually “conscripted” labour when it comes to home-based care, the man has used everything from cajoling language to the outrageously sounding right wing lingo. My favourite was his assertion at the Bangkok conference in July that if only African governments knew the kinds of problems women have, they would be “howling from the roof-tops”. With all due respect to the UN Secretary General’s envoy, nobody is going to howl from any place except this year on World AIDS day. Beyond that, if you hear much more than a squeak, we as women will be extremely lucky.

There are many reasons why our heads of state and government are neither outraged, nor even see the urgency of the implications of AIDS for women. Lets start with a basic truth that nobody might have cared to mention. Women are not really autonomous human beings with feelings, rights and therefore entitlements. So when we come up with slogans such as, “Did you hear me today?” for World AIDS day, the starting point is problematic. You hear a person. You are obliged to pay attention to what a citizen has to say – if you are a leader. Women have no personhood where I come from. In my language we are called, “madzimai”, (Mothers), vanhukadzi, (female persons – note the pre-qualification). In Ndebele they are called, “abesintwana”, (those who are like children). Word play you might say, but the implications go deeper than that. If a girl gets raped, and the rapist is from the same place and is known, he will be asked if he wants to marry the girl. All he has to do is argue his undying lust and how it over-took him. And for a few hundred dollars, she is his. When a mature woman wants to get married, she doesn’t even have to be in the same room where the negotiations, (yes the haggling over the price of her uterus, just like in a Lagos market), take place. The brothers, father and uncles, and the occasional auntie will do the haggling. They will determine the value of her uterus, of her labour, or however they wish to aggregate it. They get the loot. Woe-betide her if she ever does anything to warrant the return of this money – like refusing to have sex with her buyer. Or refusing to bear yet another child, even if she knows it will endanger her health. And should she die before she has fulfilled the objectives for which the money was paid, the family must provide a substitute wife – her younger sister, or a niece. And some silly person will ask, “without her consent?” Consent is sought from feeling and thinking beings. No sane African leader is about to argue for a review of customary laws and beliefs of this nature. Why should they? It gives them power over the women in their own lives.

Asking “did you hear me today?” assumes the woman has a right to speak to begin with. Can anybody remind me of instances where women’s voices have mattered? In the family so-called “heads of households” views are what matter. Religious leaders remind us about this every time we go to prayers. In the classroom girls sit at the back, put down by cutting remarks from the teacher, “ah Anna, what can you tell us? Haven’t you found a husband yet?” The media hardly quote opinions of nobodies – like women and girls, unless they have done something extraordinary. Researchers tell us that our experiences are “anecdotal evidence”, meaning they are less valid. Once the question is asked, “but is this scientifically proven?” we are silent and silenced. Never daring to speak up again. Only those whose analysis fits in a pie chart, can be quantified and quoted by academics, matter. As someone eulogized a dead woman in Eritrea, “She was such a good woman, she hardly spoke above a whisper”. Who doesn’t want to be remembered as a good person.

We will hear fiery speeches from leaders telling us to change our behaviours and protect ourselves from HIV. Good idea. If only we could be protected from the leaders’ behaviour, that would be even better. Young women in Swaziland need to be protected from their monarch who lines them up each year for a free peep show. If only our leaders would stop testing young women for virginity and exposing them to predators who are looking for virgins to cure their HIV. And oh really if only all our Presidents and Ministers stuck to their first or only wives – wouldn’t that be something to talk about on World AIDS day? I don’t expect any discussion of these issues. These are our private African lives, and our traditions. Don’t anybody dare question them.

This year we will hear leaders telling women to get more involved. They will urge women to support governments by providing (more) home-based care, more, more and more. Haven’t we done enough surely? Who do hospitals release patients to, and tell them, “There is nothing more we can do. Take him home and do your best”. Armed with a packet of pain-killers, two bandages, a bottle of detergent and a plastic bucket the home carer carries her patient back. Ready to give what they call in AIDS speak, “comprehensive care and treatment”? Poor rural women walk up to five kilometres each day, taking care of sick community members. In some cases they have to give them their own meagre provisions, a little gruel here, an old blanket there. All of this without much support from anyone. The occasional NGO will train them in home care, dish out some more bars of soap, and once in a blue moon give a little financial token of appreciation. Certainly our Presidents are not going to howl from any roof-top because this is what poor black women have always done. It is our African-ness they will say. We shall celebrate these women’s burdens as a reflection of our African resilience and resourcefulness.

Ask those of us who have never stood at a bus stop for two minutes to do what these women do and see how we wilt in the sun. Ask them to just sit in a doctor’s room for 15 minutes and the nurse will not hear the end of it – violation of our rights, no way to treat people like us, you think we have time to waste. But village-women? Ah those have a lot of staying power. They persevere against all odds. They have cornered the market on suffering and selflessness. Maybe we should give these women some kind of merit badges? Mr. Kofi Annan, donations please. And when the women have done all the caring for everyone, nobody is there to care for them. If she’s married she will be sent back to her natal family, so that “your own people can see what to do, you cant die in our home”. Her own people equally have no time, inclination or resources to take care of her.

After the banners have come down and the media has moved to the next flavour of the week, international donors and governments will still continue with their gospel of “less government”, and more privatisation. Since the 1970s African governments have groaned under the weight of Structural Adjustment programmes. AIDS is not going to change macro economic orthodoxy. Simply because some nameless and faceless women are having problems is no reason to depart from market fundamentals. No howling from that quarter either Mr. Lewis.

All of these issues are not really new, nor is there a dearth of research or women’s voices. The problem is the world and its leadership does not want to listen because it is not convenient to change the “natural” order of things that we have created.

The bright side of all this is that the World AIDS day speeches will provide much needed light relief in many women’s lives – if one doesn’t get into a coma from anger of course. The good thing about HIV and AIDS is that no matter how much one can speak with a forked tongue the truth is always hanging down like a dirty petticoat. There will be collective laughter when some well known philanderers stand up and tell us all about safe sex. Young girls will titter into their bras watching the local sugar-daddies delivering the Secretary General’s speech with earnest faces. There will be serious ga ga ga, and slapping of each others’ palms at the water well when the village women deconstruct those insincere speeches from women in leadership who normally don’t believe in this “women’s rights business”. But maybe one should not be so cynical. Be grateful for small mercies, my Methodist upbringing reminds me. It is good for women’s rights to be finally “discovered”. Even if the discovery is a century late, and billions of dollars short.

* World Aids Day was on 1 December. Everjoice J. Win is International Women’s Rights Coordinator with Action Aid. She writes in her personal capacity.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

>>>>>See the HIV/AIDS section for 'Remember the caregivers on World Aids day' by Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda

**Sudan: UN resolutions continue to be 'weak and meaningless'

Eva Dadrian

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/25961

For the past two weeks, the intensified violence in Darfur, Western Sudan, the restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid to 1.4 million people, and the expulsion of senior aid officials from two of the most renowned international humanitarian organisations are the dire result of the past and present failure of the United Nations Security Council, the United States, the international community and the African states.

By refusing to act on the extensive documented evidence of the atrocities, war crimes and human right abuses committed against the black African civilian population of Darfur, the United Nations Security Council has dried its crocodile tears on the empty slogan of “Never Again” that it proclaimed six months ago when commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, and turned its back on the people of Darfur. None of its resolutions on Darfur has made any impact on Khartoum in stopping the violence and the ethnic cleansing in the region. In addition, the United Nations has not put any pressure on Khartoum to fulfil its commitments stipulated in the Joint Communiqué jointly signed with the UN Secretary General in July 2004, regarding the “immediate disarming of the Janjaweed and other armed outlaw groups”.

Have we forgotten the Resolution on the armed conflict in Darfur adopted by more than 100 African human rights organisations during the 34th Session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, at Banjul (Gambia)? That was only a year ago, in November 2003.

It is true that collective decision-making is all very well but what do you do when the culprit is part of the collective? When Sudan, for example, sits on the African Union's Peace and Security Council as it debates alleged atrocities by Sudan government-backed militias and then comes to frustrate the efforts of that same Peace and Security Council to monitor the cease-fire in Darfur?

Could it be possible that because we, Africans, do not agree with the policies of Washington, London or Paris, we are ready to sacrifice the lives of our own people and hence reject any human rights resolution condemning an African state? This is exactly what happened at the UN General Assembly in Nairobi ten days ago. A draft resolution which could have denounced the killings and the ethnic cleansing that is still taking place in Darfur was frustrated by developing countries including almost all Islamic and African states. Is Africa saying to Sudan “Maalesh (never mind, in Arabic) - do not “fully and unconditionally respect your obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights as well as other regional and international human rights treaties to which you, Sudan are a State Party”.

The African Summit held in Tripoli (Libya) in October 2004 was claimed to be 'an important step to settle the crisis peacefully' and part of “relentless efforts” to settle the Darfur crisis in order to introduce the best model in facing other African problems. “Global support will be more effective and useful than threatening sanctions." It is said that it is Khartoum's legitimate right to solve its internal crises and no one can contest the Sudanese government's prerogative to deal with issues pertaining to its national security. Yet, time and again, the Sudanese government has proved its inability to finding a peaceful solution to the Darfur problem. Khartoum has made many promises to international visitors, to African leaders, to the UN, but has delivered nothing. It has failed - one would even say “refused” - to rein in the Janjaweed militias that it has unleashed against the black African population of Darfur. It has systematically stopped and restricted the humanitarian efforts. It has expelled aid workers. It has bombed and killed its own citizens. It has blocked all regional and international mediation efforts to solve the crisis.

Whenever confronted with real facts on the ground, the Sudanese government officials are always prompt to deny, reject, accuse, condemn and blame others, yet they have not found a proper answer to the Darfur crisis. When last July, the UN Security Council passed a first resolution condemning the atrocities perpetrated against the people of Darfur, Khartoum was angry. Later in September, the Sudanese vice-president was fuming when the UN Security Council passed yet another resolution on the violence in Darfur. As extraordinary as it may appear, Khartoum is always “right” while the African Union, the United Nations, the international community, the humanitarian organisations, the media and the people of Darfur are always “wrong”.

The Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail says that the African Union (AU) has not fulfilled its commitment towards Darfur, particularly regarding the expansion of forces it promised to send to help in monitoring the ceasefire and protecting civilians. Yet, only a few weeks ago, Khartoum not only imposed “restrictions” on the African Union troops, but also was refusing to allow the same AU troops to fly into Darfur. The Sudanese government's onslaught on the AU does not stop there. Nageeb al-Khair Abdel-Wahab, State Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan, has labelled the recent AU report on the renewed clashes in Darfur as “unfair and imbalanced” whereas the report holds all the warring parties - the government, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) - responsible for violating the security and humanitarian protocols signed in Abuja, Nigeria (October 21 to November 10, 2004).

Though western mediators acknowledge that the issues in Darfur “need to be worked out” they fail to understand that these are not “manageable” disputes that can be handled “as they arise”. Time and again, analysts have made it clear that the issues at stake, not only in Darfur or in the South, but in Sudan in its entirety, are related to “structural” matters and to how Sudan can be governed and not who is to govern Sudan. The viable solution to be found needs to be “proactive” and long term so to avoid the recurrence of the problems. A “reactive” and short-term solution would only solve the problem “temporarily”. Sudan has been mis-governed since independence by interest groups and political ideologues that are today trying to keep their hegemony despite and against all common sense. Whether it comes under internal pressure from opposition parties or it concedes to pressure from the international community, Khartoum's position in dealing with its problems is unlikely to change. The government of Hassan El Beshir is determined to maintain its hold on power at any cost and force its policies on the Sudanese people by all means, except national dialogue. Let's be serious. Khartoum is not interested in global support.

Human rights activists, observers, analysts and US officials have all condemned the extremely weak and meaningless United Nations Security Council resolution (Nairobi). Now, Khartoum and the militias it has armed have “carte blanche” to continue their vicious treatment of the black African people of Darfur with impunity. They can kill, burn, rape, displace people, usurp their land and propagate racial hatred in the province.

* Eva Dadrian is an independent broadcaster and Political and Country Risk Analyst for print and broadcast media, who currently works as a consultant for Arab African Affairs (London) and writes on a regular basis for AFRICA ANALYSIS (London), for Al Ahram HEBDO Echos Economiques and Al Ahram WEEKLY (Cairo) and contributes to Africa Service BBC WS (London).

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Commission for Africa must challenge global apartheid

Titus Alexander

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/25928

Tony Blair's Commission for Africa will have little effect unless it tackles global apartheid. So long as global rules are made by a minority, any progress in Africa could be wiped out overnight by changes in currency, trading conditions or security as a result of decisions or neglect by the world's most powerful bodies. Unless Africans have an equal and effective voice in global decision-making, the Commission's work will be forgotten.

All other questions are window dressing.

This Commission would not be necessary if rich countries had been committed to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, founded 1958; the UN Programme for Action for African Economic Recovery and Development initiated in 1986; the Global Coalition for Africa founded in 1990, or the UN Initiative for Africa, launched in 1996. Indeed, the Commission could save money simply by updating the UN Action Plan for African, published in 1991.

The treatment of Africa and its position in global decision-making is in some respects worse than the treatment of the majority in South Africa under apartheid. Although the West condemns racism, and includes Africans and people of African descent at the highest levels of governance, the structures of global decision-making systematically prevent Africa from having an effective say in the economic and political rules which govern their affairs. As a result, African states are often treated like Bantustans, clients of Western powers, and the needs of their people are neglected.

One example of minority rule in global governance is the UN Security Council: 80% of the permanent members are white, representing less than 10% of the world population, and 60% are European. As a result, the Security Council has failed to protect Africans from the scourge of war.

The International Community would not have tolerated genocide in Rwanda if Africa had had a veto in the Security Council. The World Bank and IMF would have done more about aids, debt, famine or declining currencies and commodity prices if Africa had the same votes compared to the US. Nor would Africa have faced steep tariff barriers and dumping if it had the same clout in the WTO as Europe. The G8 would not have let Africa get into its current state if it had been a member.

How the major powers and institutions of global governance allocate and implement budgets, appoint top officials and influence national policies can encourage corruption and make it impossible for citizens to hold governments to account. As the Commission says, transparency can be a powerful mechanism both for enhancing overall delivery by government and the participation of excluded groups. But few global institutions or Africa Desks in the foreign ministries of the rich world are open and transparent.

Giving African nations an equitable and effective say in the major institutions of global governance would address one of the central questions raised by the Commission: if Africa had a veto on the Security Council, IMF, World Bank, WTO, and Bank of International Settlements, it would quickly become a domestic issue for rich countries. They would soon find the political will to make a lasting commitment to Africa's development.

If the Commission is serious about enabling Africa to solve its problems, it will:
- Review Africa's representation on the major institutions of international decision-making
- Advocate equitable representation and powers for Africa in these bodies
- Draw up principles of transparency, accountability, democracy and equitable decision-making for all institutions of global governance, as advocated by the One World Trust.

There are opportunities for reform. This week a UN High-Level Panel will recommend fairer representation for Africa and other Developing Countries on the UN Security Council.

The G8 member states have the power to propose a new global settlement on the basis of our common humanity, in which international decision-making is based on equity, transparency, democracy and accountability. If it does so, the issues facing Africa will remain the common concern of the world. If it does not, the Blair report will join the Pearson Report, the Brandt Report and many other reports in the footnotes of history, as business as usual resumes.

* Titus Alexander is founder of Charter 99 and author of "Unravelling Global Apartheid" (Polity Press/Blackwell, 1996)

* If you agree with these arguments, tell the Commission and give them specific examples about the way in which global apartheid and Africa's position in international decision-making causes harm or hinders progress. If you disagree, join the dialogue at Pambazuka News! Send your comments to editor@pambazuka.org

The Commission is holding a series of meetings with Africans throughout the Continent, starting this week, on 1 December, in Dakar, Senegal. Commissioners will also travel to Nairobi (6 Dec); Douala (8 Dec); Lusaka (10 Dec) and Alexandria (14 Dec). These meetings will enable representatives from every African country to comment on the Commission's work, and allow Commissioners to collect new material for their report. The meetings are being organised in partnership with LEAD International http://www.lead.org/; AMREF www.amref.org/speakforafrica.htm and the Southern African Regional Poverty Network www.sarpn.org.za

The Commission on Africa is also inviting comments on a consultation document, available at:
http://www.commissionforafrica.org/getting_involved/consultationdocument.htm

Prepare comments in the form of a brief summary followed by up to 750 words.
Where your submission relates to a particular thematic section of the document, please indicate this in the summary.

Submissions should be sent to the Secretariat to the Commission for Africa by e-mail: Africa_Secretariat@dfid.gov.uk

Mark the Subject 'Submission October-December Consultation' followed by your name or the name of your organisation. http://www.commissionforafrica.org/getting_involved/GettingInvolved.htm

* If you or your organisation has made a submission to the Commission for Africa, please send your contribution to Pambazuka News and we will include it in the newsletter. Send to editor@pambazuka.org

Tributes to Dennis Brutus on the occasion of his 80th birthday

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/25952

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

We in South Africa needed the support of the international community in our efforts to end the vicious system of racial oppression called apartheid.

We had to have eloquent advocates to tell the world our story and persuade it to come to our assistance. Today we are free and democratic striving to be non-racial and non-sexist. We won a spectacular victory over the awfulness of apartheid a victory that is unthinkable without the support of the international community referred to earlier.

We had none more articulate and with all the credibility and integrity so indispensable than Dennis Brutus to plead our cause. He was quite outstanding and we South Africans owe an immense debt of gratitude.

I join many, many of our compatriots and our friends in the international community as we salute him when he celebrates his 80th birthday. Many happy returns and God's richest blessings broer! Thank you for having been such a stalwart. We owe much to you.

God bless you.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Fatima Meer, Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

Denis, we thank you for your 80 glamorous years, a considerable part of them spent leading us in our fight against the injustices that was and still is unleashed upon us. We know your disappointments and we salute you and applaud you for bringing them to our notice. I hope you are spared some score more years to correct the ways that still remain. I am with you in the fight that still remains and I need your commitment and your energy and your integrity. Live on wonderful soldier, live on for South Africa, for all those who continue to be oppressed and deprived and impoverished throughout the world. Live on Denis in spirit, if not in body. Live on, dearest compatriot.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Sean Jacobs, New York University, New York

Vir Dennis Brutus. Waar ek vandaan kom is jy nou al 'n wyse ou man, maar jy laat die laaities moeg lyk. Regte Suid-Afrikaners eer jou.

>>>>>>>>>>

Trevor Ngwane, Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, Johannesburg

unkonka wefusi
umakad' ebona
inkunzi emidwayidwayi
okudala beyidwanguza
yehlula izinhlamvu zamaphoyisa ezomoya
yehlula amaBhunu esiqhingini
igagu umlom' omnandi
umlomo ishoba lokuziphungela
mfoka Bhaduza uthembeni na?
ngoba ozakweni bomzabalazo
sebephenduke amambuka
badla izambane likampondo
kodwa indima singakayiphethi
elikaMthaniya kaNdaba lisaphethwe zinyoni
mana njalo qabane lamaqabane
nwele zimhlophe
isina muva liyabukwa
oMandela bagiya bakushiya enkundleni
kanti baphosisile umgidi awukapheli
umzabalazo usaqhubeka
ithemba alisobe labulala
Dennis Brutus
uyiqhawe lamaqhawe
uyingonyama
mana njalo
ukhule uze ukhokhobe
ubambelele ngezindonga

>>>>>>>>>>>

Center for Economic Justice, Washington/Alburquerque/Johannesburg

What makes Dennis Brutus so unique as an activist and as a human being, is that he has been an inspiration and a source of spiritual strength to so many of us worldwide who are struggling to make the world a just place, including all of us at the Center for Economic Justice. Struggling for justice and humanity is hard work; it is full of setbacks, heartbreak, and loss. It is precisely at the hardest points in our struggle that we think of Dennis. We are inspired by how he keeps doing the most important work in the world with a smile and with kind words for everyone. We are amazed at how strong his spirit is after everything that he has seen and suffered through, especially the betrayal of the hopes of the South African people by persons he had always regarded as comrades. We love you, Dennis!

>>>>>>>>>>

Dale Mckinley, Anti-Privatisation Forum, Johannesburg

Comrade Dennis - 80 years young and still going strong, still fanning the flames of resistance, still sharing your words of wisdom and creativity and still a revolutionary. You have taken the words of Che and put them into your heart and into practice - "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine". You are a true comrade.

>>>>>>>>>>

Firoze Manji, Fahamu, Oxford

Dennis - is it really 80 years? How much we have gained in those years, and sadly how much have we lost. But the best was that those years produced fighters such as you who have held up the flag in Africa and for Africa. You are an example to us all. Keep fighting - onwards to the next 80 years!

>>>>>>>>>>

Jann Turner, Johannesburg

I would love to wish Dennis Brutus a happy birthday. Sunday the 28th of November happens to be a very important day for me too - I turn 40. I'm exactly half his age and I would be proud to accomplish half of what he has done in his life in my own time on this earth.

>>>>>>>>>>

Bill Fletcher, TransAfrica Forum, Washington

Dennis Brutus stands as a tribune of the dispossessed. His willingness to speak out on all cases of injustice, and side with the oppressed makes him the type of person we all wish to emulate. His perseverance, dedication and eloquence have made him not only a hero for the South African freedom struggle, but for all those who struggle for social justice.

>>>>>>>>>>

Njoki Njoroge Njehu & Soren Ambrose, Washington & Nairobi

We offer our heartfelt 80th Birthday greetings to Dennis Brutus. We celebrate you - friend, leader, courageous, poet, internationalist, outrageous, inspirational, unbowed, joyful, unrelenting, always responsive, committed, dignified, revolutionary, fighter for freedom and justice, stalwart for solidarity, and much more. Dennis Brutus, PRESENTE!

We celebrated Dennis' 75th Birthday in Seattle, a few days before the historic collapse of the WTO Ministerial - what a wonderful Birthday present for Dennis?! We are delighted and proud to say that the 50 Years Is Enough Network has already co-hosted, not one but two celebrations, of Dennis' 80th birthday. Both occasions doubled as fundraisers, as Dennis continues to multi-task and to do everything in his power -- including just having a birthday -- to support and build the movements for global justice, and in particular the 50 Years Is Enough Network. Dennis has a created a legacy to be proud of, that is inspiring, and a catalyst for creating that "other possible world."

As we prepare to move back to Africa, we are proud to call Dennis our great friend, a true Mzalendo (combatant/patriot in Kiswahili) for justice, and a brother in the struggle for true liberation for Africa and the world. Where there is struggle, there you will find Dennis. So Dennis, we invite you to Kenya to celebrate your 81st Birthday with those in the struggles there - we will organize appropriate fora for the celebration. Happy Birthday Dennis! And a happy celebration to all those able to be with him as he appropriately marks the occasion in South Africa. Many, many, happy returns. We love you, Dennis! Viva Dennis Viva!!

>>>>>>>>>>

HIV/AIDS: 'Together we can do something about it'

Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/25962

Yesterday was World Aids Day. The previous week and the rest of this week is being used to focus global attention on the pandemic and what we all, rulers and subjects, victims and carers, local, national, regional and international actors can do to fight the scourge. Africa, as the continent with the largest number of infected people is rightly getting a lot of attention. 25 million people (almost half of the global total) across this continent are living with the killer disease which has not even peaked in some of the worst affected countries like Botswana, who have an almost 40% infection rate. The gender impact of the disease, the class burden and demographic distribution is even more devastating, with at least one in six children affected. Meanwhile the daily death rate is mounting.

Whatever one's view of statistics, its uses and abuses, the stark truth is that our peoples are dying and dying in great numbers and doomed to die in greater numbers and we have to (and can) do something, something very drastic, to arrest the situation. There is no point arguing about how the disease arrived or quarrel with the apocalyptic scenarios. While the arguments may be useful to historians of science and medicine and academics they do not address the problems at hand. Our people are dying.

The sad truth is that the situation is not hopeless; it is reversible. While there may not be a cure there is enough progress in science research and medicine to stem the rise, prolong the lives of infected people and provide even more information on various preventive measures. What is making Africa and Africans more vulnerable than other peoples is a combination of ignorance and poverty. The situation is not limited to Africans on the continent. There are alarming reports about the rapid spread of the disease among Africans in the diaspora, especially African-Americans and in particular African-American women.

It is not all bad news across Africa. A country like Uganda has a deserved image globally as a country which has shown openness and innovative local and national leadership in confronting the disease. But even Uganda's positive record for many years risks being undermined by complacency. If you have a winning formula why change it? This may be contributing to an atmosphere one concerned HIV/Aids activist described thus: “One hundred percent HIV/Aids awareness, Zero % Sex education.”

People who know enough (and some believe know too much ) about the disease take whatever care they can but in some sections of the population the law of diminishing returns may be setting in and even fatalistic attitudes (‘this thing will kill all of us’) may substantively drive the deadly curve up again. Thus more concerted efforts need to be continuously embarked upon to warn people that HIV/ADS remains real. Until there is a cure or effective vaccine everybody is still vulnerable. The fear about Uganda's continuing success in confronting the disease centres around more creative communication methods with vulnerable social groups (especially in rural areas, women and the Youth), prospects for universal access to cheap (if not free) anti retriovirals and relentless educational campaigns. There is also an unnecessary dilution of the message in the secondary argument imported from the neo-con religious right in America and other fundamentalists across the world about ‘abstention’ . The argument is not either or but effective education on all forms of preventive measures and safe sex including the active but culturally sensitive promotion of the use of condoms.

Many other African countries are unfortunately in various stages of denial. While every country now has one form of national campaign strategy or the other the full impact of the threat posed by HIV/AIDS is not generally appreciated, therefore the fundamental lifestyle and behavioural changes needed are not being addressed systematically. For instance, in many countries in the West African region the use of condoms is still resisted for many reasons including convenience, reactionary cultural attitudes and general ignorance.

Talking to educated people (who should, theoretically, know better) many of them in NGOs, academia, media, public institutions and local elite in their communities I discover an alarming mountain of ignorant complacency. Some of them have inverted tired racist arguments about the origins of AIDS by concluding that as long as they do not mess around with white partners they are safe! Yet I look in the newspapers and see death notices of many big people and the not so big who died ‘after a long illness’ or ‘heart attack’ or ‘high blood pressure’ or ‘pneumonia’ or ‘malaria’ or ‘short illness’ or ‘hypertension’ and my mind races back to similar coded messages in Uganda many years ago. And I wonder if all of these deaths are due to the stated public reasons or could be AIDS-related complications.

It took many years for even countries that are Uganda's neighbours to come out about HIV/AIDS. Kenya for instance thought admitting HIV/AIDS may affect its tourism trade. Actually, not so long ago a prominent politician who shall remain nameless died almost certainly of Aids-related illness. But both the public and high level political burial could not disclose the reason even though media speculation went close enough to suggest this was the case. Even in Uganda public disclosure about ‘big people’ is not common. There are many issues involved including stigma against the widows left behind, orphaned children and the right to privacy of affected peoples both living, dying and the dead.

The first task in confronting the disease is combating the mass ignorance that still surrounds the disease and associated social stigma that makes it extremely difficult for people suffering and living with the disease to admit it and seek necessary treatment. This will require both public and community leadership to raise general awareness that can turn the disease away from ‘death sentence’ to ‘can live longer’ hope. The second task is the poverty that makes poorer and marginalised peoples (especially Women, Youth and the majority of our peoples in rural areas) more vulnerable in terms of access to information and anti retriovirals and prevention programs. But addressing poverty and access issues alone will not deal with the problem fully. Even the relatively rich who have the money or middle classes who have easier access to the available medicines need the power that existing knowledge and available technology can afford them to appreciate that they need not ‘die of ignorance’. HIV/AIDS is real, knows no social boundaries and threatens all of us but together we can all do something about it.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Free Roy Bennett campaign

2004-12-02

http://www.freeroybennett.com/

The Free Roy Bennett website provides downloadable factsheets; petitions; emailing facilities to easily enable people to contact their friends with information about Roy; collected articles about what Roy, his family and employees have endured for the past few years; and images which record some of those events. The website has been designed to give people as much opportunity as possible to participate in the campaign to free Roy; in particular, by helping to spread the word and by collecting petition signatures.

Is Pan- Africanism a solution?

John S. Metzger

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/25947

“What makes African countries vulnerable to continuing manipulation by former colonial powers is their essentially unviable nature built as they were to serve foreign interests and mostly lacking in organic linkages and legitimacy among the peoples forcibly brought together in these artificial states. But more than the economic linkages, in many countries security and intelligence networks help in retaining metropolitan hold."

This paragraph is the more troubling of several in the ‘New Robes and Old- Fashioned Imperialism’ (Pambazuka News 184, Pan-African Postcard). The situation in the Cote d'Ivoire is nothing made new...it is only a continuation of a struggle never fulfilled.

Let the author make a case for an Africa of "Tribal States" or a Federation of Kingdoms...something without borders drawn in the 1800s.....born of Ancient Kingdoms...many of which imploded and would have been decimated by disease, starvation and infighting.

The fact is that the map was drawn, colonies were bought, traded, carved up and out, and a nationalist wave brought the winds of change that gave us the AU of today.

For many nations to survive they must quickly grasp that the age of Capital States, Dakar, Abidjan, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Dar Es Salaam, Accra, among others has come and gone, well going.

African nations one and all must stand and identify their national interests and find a way to carry internal development out that actually results in an equitable sharing.

The map of Europe, and the Map of the United States are not dissimilar, peoples and regions vastly different were melded together and a Nation created. Many suffered civil and regional wars for decades but a national mission was evident through each creation, and destruction of these societies.

I have lived and worked in former English and French colonies. It is the NATION, separated from the tit of the former master(s) that must be developed. Economic power in all of these countries are based on relationships with former colonial families or business interests. Success and business development are guided by their own societies who still feel that SUCCESS can only be associated with an affinity for French, Arab, English or Portuguese culture, no matter how subtle.

Nkrumah is surely rolling in his grave, but would have found his Pan-Africanism still at a loss to unite peoples so divided by the most mundane questions of language, skin colour (shades of brown), or regional feuds left unsettled for 2 centuries. Dr. Abdul-Raheem might also offer a picture of a region or country that went without contact with actual or vestigial contacts to former colonial powers. Is Pan- Africanism a solution when so many states are as colonial as their mates in history?

Thanks

Awod Abdalla Mohamed

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/25888

Bitter Fruit

Achmat Dangor

2004-12-02

http://www.africanreviewofbooks.com/

"South Africa has slid gently out of the media limelight over the past ten years. Apartheid ensured the country was always in the news, despite the regime’s best intentions. Then the transition from Afrikaner-dominated parliament to parliament of the people kept us enthralled for a good few years. But now South Africa’s trials and tribulations are not substantially different from many other countries. In fact, it has become almost mundane, ordinary. It is this struggle "to learn to become ordinary" that lies at the heart of Achmat Dangor’s latest novel, Bitter Fruit, which was named as one of the five titles on the prestigious Booker prize short list for 2004." - From a review by Richard Bartlett, African Review of Books. Visit the website to read the full review.

Dog Eat Dog

Niq Mhlongo

2004-12-02

http://www.kalahari.net/BK/product.asp?sku=27717663&format=detail&toolbar=mweb

Dingz was an average Wits student – struggling with money, partying with his friends, picking up girls, skipping lectures, making up elaborate excuses for missing exams. A bright, articulate guy, Dingz and his circle of friends sit around drinking and discussing current affairs - Aids, racism, South African politics and history – in between some hair-raising adventures, like being kidnapped by taxi-drivers, contracting gonorrhoea or trying to fake a death certificate. A constant backdrop is the subtle and not-so-subtle racism of the university, which threatens to exclude him financially.

Realising Democracy and Legitimacy in Southern Africa

Kenneth Good

2004-12-02

http://www.africanbookscollective.com/

This volume interrogates the structures of social change, civil society, the working classes and ruling and competing elites in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. It considers positive and negative examples of accountable, open and ethical government and the arguments that are presented to explain the distinctions, which have emerged between Botswana and its neighbours.

The Purple Violet of Oshaantu

Neshani Andreas

2004-12-02

http://www.weaverpresszimbabwe.com/lit/litframeset.htm?violets.htm

Mee Ali is lucky; her marriage to Michael is a happy one. Unfortunately, for her friend Kauna, marriage brings more pain than pleasure. Her husband Shange is a violent man, and the bruises he leaves on his wife’s body and soul are living proof of his brutality. Although the other villagers of Oshaantu are aware of her situation, no one except Mee Ali does anything to intervene. Kauna’s story, as told by Mee Ali, reveals the value and strength of friendship between women, and how their sense of community goes far beyond a mutual adherence to customs and tradition.

**DRC: Securing gender rights key to lasting peace

Jeanbonheur Kongolo

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/25929

The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been marked by almost unimaginable atrocities - with sexual assault being a major part of the violence. According to the UN, gang rape has been so systematic and brutal that doctors in the DRC are now classifying wounds inflicted by rapists as combat injuries. Up to one in three Congolese women in conflict-affected areas have been raped and detailed reports from Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), among others, show the awful ramifications of the widespread sexual violence.

Despite the dedicated work of many Congolese NGOs and international groups, the issue of sexual assault and domestic violence remains a serous problem in the peace-process. HRW points out that while there have been rhetorical denunciations against impunity and calls for accountability, there has been no effective effort to address them. Additionally, attitudes towards rape and women in the DRC have further undermined efforts, with USAID reporting that at least one member of the transitional government dismissed rape as a women's issue and another said that rape was normal behaviour of soldiers who had been in the forest without women for a long time.

Rape, of course, is not a women's issue. Masculinity is one of the most powerful contexts within which sexual assault occurs, argues Christopher Kilmartin in Sexual Assault in Context, yet it is often left unaddressed. Because rape is usually understood as a violent and isolated act that happens to women, (for example, the girl was walking alone at night and was raped) the fact that men, power, and sexual desire are connected with sexual violence can then be safely ignored. Yet, if the fundamental relationship between male and female is one of rule, sexual desire becomes intertwined with power.

In the DRC the connection between men and women is unfortunately usually one of sexualized power. Women's position in Congolese society is totally subordinate to men - one example being that women cannot refuse sex in a marriage or demand a condom be used, even when their partner is known to be HIV positive and sleeping with other women. Polygamy, domestic abuse and marital rape are prevalent, with all considered acceptable and sometimes even normal.

In conflict, gender relations often become polarized. Militarized masculinity becomes the dominant option for men, argues Stefan Dudink and Dubravka Zarkov in Beyond Victims and Villains: Gender and Armed Conflict. Men are expected to take up arms and to fight, while in turn, stereotypical archetypes of femininity, such as the mother of the nation, and the rape victim, reinforce subordinate women's roles, thereby justifying male dominance. In a militarized society, men feel entitled to power and have the means to take it.

The use of rape as a weapon of war in DRC is a clear manifestation of a sense of entitlement coupled with the perceived roles of women and men and the violence that become acceptable in war. Because little attention is paid to how conflict and gender shape the often-violent relationship between men and women in the DRC, men can, therefore, focus on public sphere politics such as peace negotiations while women are left to deal with private sphere issues such as domestic abuse and sexual assault.

It is important to keep in mind, however, that militarized masculinity and men do not have to be synonymous. As Remy Masamba, a Congolese member of civil society, said, the situation is not hopeless. There are no hopeless situations only men who despair. Gender identities are fluid and change with time. The destructive relationship that many men have with women in the DRC today can be altered.

If lasting peace is to be secured in the DRC, gender issues need to be considered in a holistic way. While recognizing that men are not exclusively violent and women are not exclusively peaceful, more consideration is needed on how masculinities and femininities intersect and ways to build programs that foster a positive relationship between them. The African Union, the UN, and African and international civil society must work towards this goal. Only then can true peace be built in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

* Jeanbonheur Kongolo is Co-ordinator of Africa Journalists Commission on Human Rights

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa/Global: Curbing gender violence through legislation

2004-12-02

http://www.unog.ch/news2/documents/newsen/hc04046e.htm

"States have an obligation to protect women’s rights, provide justice for victims and hold perpetrators accountable. Inadequate legislation must be reformed and existing legal protection must be implemented effectively. This necessitates more than rhetorical commitment: it requires resources to improve access to justice, to train and sensitize judges, legal professionals and law enforcement officials at all levels, to provide shelter and legal assistance to victims, and to launch effective public awareness campaigns." - Louise Arbour, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Africa: A tribute to older women

Help Age Press Release

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/25897

In line with this year’s theme for World AIDS Day – Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS – HelpAge International pays tribute to the millions of older women around Africa playing a significant albeit widely ignored role in managing the pandemic. In line with the traditional role of women as care givers, older women are coming out of retirement to tend to their adult children ailing from AIDS and the increasing number of AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children.
HelpAge International Press Release for World AIDS Day



Older Women and HIV/AIDS



30th November 2004 – In line with this year’s theme for World AIDS Day – Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS – HelpAge International pays tribute to the millions of older women around Africa playing a significant albeit widely ignored role in managing the pandemic.



In line with the traditional role of women as care givers, older women are coming out of retirement to tend to their adult children ailing from AIDS and the increasing number of AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children. It is taken for granted that grandmothers are available to care for the sick, yet they remain ignored in programmes and campaigns aimed at eradicating the disease. Many of these older women therefore, receive no training in home-based care. Lack of knowledge about how the disease is transmitted sees them handle the sick without protection in the form of gloves. Some of them feel that to use gloves to handle their own children is tantamount to rejection of their own flesh and blood.



In some cases older women have been physically abused or chased away under suspicion of witchcraft linked to the deaths of many young people from AIDS.



Older women are among the poorest of the poor since culture does not allow women to own property or to inherit it when their husbands pass away. The care roles they undertake therefore push them further into poverty; in addition they receive little or no support from community members who shun them for being in contact with the sick. This leads to isolation of older women who have to bear the emotional burden of AIDS on their own. Due to lack of knowledge, they exhaust their meagre resources in an endless and fruitless pursuit of a cure for AIDS. This may take the form of consulting traditional healers under the belief that their children have been be-witched. Older women who have been through the resultant financial stress are unable to adequately provide for orphans left under their care. Consequently, many drop out of school due to lack of fees, not to mention the lack of food they experience.



HelpAge International calls for older women to be included in strategies, programmes and policies designed to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis. To ignore them and the vital role they play is to weaken the community survival and coping mechanisms needed to manage the impact of the pandemic. Older women, comprising the bulk of older carers, need education on how to protect themselves from infection as well as how to take care of the sick.



HelpAge International undertakes advocacy at regional and international fora to lobby for recognition of the role of older people in the fight against the disease. Support programmes for those caring for AIDS victims and orphans must be initiated. Often we hear of programmes designed to support AIDS orphans; this support should be extended to older women taking care of them.



------------------------------------------

HelpAge International is a global network of not-for-profit organisations working to improve the quality of lives of disadvantaged older people worldwide.



-ENDS-­



For more information, please contact: HelpAge International, Africa Regional Development Centre

Tel: +254-020-4446991/4449407/4444289; Fax: +254-020-4441052, Nairobi, Kenya;

Email: helpage@helpage.co.ke

Congo: Women raise their voices against violence

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44393

Hundreds of Congolese women appealed to their government on Saturday for better protection against gender-based violence, a persistent problem despite the end of years of fighting in the country. "In recent years, young men have taken pleasure in flirting with immoral values," Micheline Ngoulou, who heads the Congolese Association Against Violence Against Women, said. "They used [the] period of chaos to inflict violence against those who are most vulnerable: women."

Namibia: Gender hopes dashed

2004-12-02

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26456

In the aftermath of this month’s general elections, gender imbalances in government still pose a challenge in Namibia. As expected, Namibia’s minister for lands and resettlement – Hifikepunye Pohamba – swept to an easy victory in last week’s presidential poll, while the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) maintained its parliamentary majority in the legislative vote. But, hopes that Namibia would reach a target set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) of having women gain 30 percent of parliamentary seats by 2005 were dashed.

Sierra Leone: Women and girls: From combat to community

2004-12-02

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16699

This paper examines the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) programme that took place when conflict ceased in Sierra Leone. While these programmes effectively reached out to male combatants, they largely ignored women's roles and experiences of conflict. This paper explores women and girls' unique experiences of conflict, and assesses how a gender perspective can improve formal disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) programmes.

Uganda: Monitoring gender issues and the ICC

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/25874

Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) is an international women's NGO that monitors the International Criminal Court (ICC) from a gender perspective. They have just conducted a mission to Uganda following the Ugandan government's referral of the situation in Northern Uganda to the ICC. "In order to effectively perform its role as the gender watch of the ICC, WIGJ's objectives of the mission were broadly to meet with, speak to and consult with women victims and survivors of the conflict, meet with local NGOs and CBOs, meet with the local cultural, religious and district leadership, and ascertain their analysis of the conflict, their assessment of the impact and consequences of the conflict on the lives of people in the region generally and women and girls in particular, and to get an overview of their perspective on the referral of the situation in Northern Uganda to the ICC."
Press Release
By the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, in collaboration with
Isis-WICCE and Ugandan Women Activists

November 23, 2004

A five member International Team comprising of Sara Sharratt (Costa Rica),
Gabriella Mischkowski (Germany), Betty Murungi (Kenya), Brigid Inder
(Executive Director, New Zealand) and Vahida Nainar (Chairperson, India),
all members of The Hague based international women's human rights
organization, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) along with three
members of the Kampala based women's organization, Isis-WICCE including Ruth
Ochieng (Executive Director), Jessica Nkuuhe and Elizabeth Ngororano, and
accompanied by Veronica Bichetero, Commissioner at the Uganda Human Rights
Commission visited the conflict ridden region of Northern Uganda. The
all-women team visited the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Lira and Soroti for
the past seven days.

Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ) is an international women's
NGO that monitors the International Criminal Court (ICC) from a gender
perspective. The present mission came about following the Ugandan
government's referral of the situation in Northern Uganda to the ICC. In
order to effectively perform its role as the gender watch of the ICC, WIGJ's
objectives of the mission were broadly to meet with, speak to and consult
with women victims and survivors of the conflict, meet with local NGOs and
CBOs, meet with the local cultural, religious and district leadership, and
ascertain their analysis of the conflict, their assessment of the impact and
consequences of the conflict on the lives of people in the region generally
and women and girls in particular, and to get an overview of their
perspective on the referral of the situation in Northern Uganda to the ICC.
The team successfully met its objectives thanks to the efforts of local
organizers and the women members of Parliament - Honourable Jane Akwero
Odwong from Kitgum, Honourable Margaret Ateng Otim from Lira and Honourable
Alice Alaso from Soroti, who accompanied the team in each of the district.

The visit afforded the team an insight into the complex nature of the
conflict in the affected regions. It is clear that while the Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) commits most of the violations and crimes, the team
also heard testimonies of similar violations and crimes by the Ugandan army
(the UPDF) as well as violations by the Karamajong raiders, particularly in
the north eastern districts of the country. There have been a wide range of
crimes committed during the course of the past 18 years that continue to be
committed, particularly against women, girls and children. These crimes
include abductions, killings, mutilations, rape, torture, sexual slavery,
enslavement and other forms of sexual violence. The conflict has forced over
one million people in the region to live in camps for Internally Displaced
People (IDP).

Generally speaking, people we spoke to had very little awareness about the
Ugandan government's referral of the Northern Uganda situation to the ICC.
On being informed, almost all of them prioritized the need for peace to
return to the region first before the ICC process takes place. Some viewed
the ICC's investigations as potentially hampering the on-going peace talks
and contradicting the prevalent amnesty laws. However, it is important to
note that none of them ruled out the possibility of administering a process
of justice, including through the ICC once peace was established. This view
was emphatic among women and other direct victims and survivors of the
conflict. There was greater support for the ICC investigations among women
and people in the Lango and Teso regions of Northern Uganda.

The religious, cultural and some NGO leaders spoke about the need to look
into other forms of redress and conflict resolutions that would be
appropriate for the Acholi regions. They expressed concern about the
retributive nature of justice in the formal justice mechanisms and favoured
the reformative nature of the traditional systems of justice. The
traditional Acholi system of justice is premised upon the offender owning up
to the crimes committed, forgiveness by the victims, compensation provided
to the victims by the offenders' clan and the ultimate experience of remorse
and shame by the offender. At the same time, it was clear that the
traditional system of justice has not been in practice for decades and very
few in the region were aware of this system or how it worked. Moreover, none
could explain how this system would provide justice to women victims of
sexual violence. This system of justice would also not work in the
non-Acholi regions of Lango and Teso.

In addition to speaking to people, the team visited several IDP camps, a
rehabilitation centre and sites where the 'Night Commuters' go to feel safe.
The conditions in the camps and the provision of support services were
grossly inadequate. Most camps experience water shortage, inadequate
sanitation facilities, inadequate health facilities and no facilities for
any kind of counseling to recover from trauma. There seems to be no state
policy in place to rehabilitate the people living in IDP camps. People
living in the camps continue to live in fear of attacks from the LRA or
Karamajongs or random attacks by the UPDF. Women and children venturing out
of the camps in search of food, water, firewood or other means of livelihood
continue to be targets of the LRA attacks.

The sight of children swarming as 'Night Commuters' to safe spaces and
shelters in hospitals and other spaces managed by international NGOs was
heart wrenching. The team witnessed that often these children walk on their
own to these places with no escorts. Violence against girl children
continues unabatedly, including within the shelters. The team heard of
instances where men grab young girl night commuters as they walk to the safe
sites and rape them. The sites are not often well-guarded leaving children
vulnerable to further attacks. The team also watched children reading for
their exams in these sites under terrible conditions and inadequate light.

The situation of returning child mothers is particularly appalling. These
are children who endured the worst crimes of abduction, sexual slavery,
torture, rape and enslavement. These children often come back with children
of their own and are in no position to care for them. Some of them return as
HIV positive, disabled or inflicted with other kinds of health ailments. The
suffering they endured during their captivity leave all of them scarred and
in need of long term counseling in order for them to exist normally in their
communities. There are no adequate rehabilitation centers that could provide
them with services of trauma counseling, health facilities and means to
continue education and/or with income generating skills. Poverty often
forces some girls to leave their children with their elderly parents and
venture out to sell themselves to survive. Similar testimonies were heard
about women too. The lack of acceptance of these child mothers by their
society and communities and the humiliation they face when called 'Kony's
wives' or 'rebel killers' are a form of continued violence. Clearly Uganda
has lost two generations in this conflict.

Most of the women, victims and survivors we spoke to identified the Ugandan
state and local authorities' failure to protect and provide them with
security as the cause for their sufferings. They viewed that the Ugandan
state should provide them with compensation and make necessary provision to
economically, physically and psychologically rehabilitate them.

It seems that neither the Ugandan state nor the International Criminal Court
cared to consult with or raise awareness about the ICC among the people of
Northern Uganda. As a result, misconceptions and misinformation abound about
the period from which the ICC would begin investigations, the potential
conflict between amnesty laws and the ICC, the limited sense of justice for
the community if only a few top leaders are tried by the ICC, the offender
being unfairly better off in custody at the ICC than in Uganda or the bush,
the possibility of the ICC prosecuting children and the possibility of
reparations for victims. None of the people we spoke to had seen or met any
ICC officials in the field, leading some to term the ICC's investigation as
an 'undercover' operation.

Following our visit to the districts and our findings as above, we make the
following recommendations:

To the Government of Uganda
. Provide adequate security to the people of Northern Uganda and protect
them from attacks from the LRA and the Karamajongs and protect children from
being abducted
. Identify and punish the offenders within the army that have committed
grave crimes and violations of civilians in Northern Uganda
. Improve and increase the provision of support services like water,
sanitation, rehabilitation centers, health centers and schools around the
IDP camps and in the sites securing the night commuters
. Introduce a comprehensive policy to physically, economically and
psychologically rehabilitate the people of Northern Uganda and provide
adequate resources to implement the policy
. Pay special attention to the needs of child abductees and returning child
mothers.
. Provide compensation for those affected in the conflict including those
killed and injured and those who were subjected to gross sexual violence
. Sensitize the people of Uganda, particularly those in the north, about the
ICC referral and their investigations
. Bring the pending Ugandan ICC Bill in full compliance with the Rome
Statute of the ICC with particular attention to its retroactive
applicability since 1986 and inclusion of all its gender mandates
nationally.

To the ICC
. Transparency in the conduct with people and groups of Northern Uganda
. Reach out to the people and women of Northern Uganda with information,
including in their native languages about the ICC, its functions and its
operation in Northern Uganda.
. Ensure that the operations in the field are conducted in a manner that is
sensitive and respectful of the mass poverty in the region, of the local
culture and particularly of the needs of women, victims and survivors of the
conflict.
. Ensure that the violations committed against women during the conflict are
included within the investigations and prosecutions of the ICC.
. Remain mindful of the views and perspective of the people of Northern
Uganda about the referral, and review the timing of the investigation in an
assessment of whether any investigation at the current time would serve the
overall interests of justice.

Vahida Nainar
Chair, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Brigid Inder
Executive Director, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Betty Murungi
Board Member, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Sara Sharratt
Member of Advisory Council, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Gabriella Mischkowski
Member of Advisory Council, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice

Honourable Jane Akwero Odwong,
MP Kitgum District

Honourable Margaret Otim Ateng
MP, Lira District

Honourable Alice Alaso
MP, Soroti District

Veronica Bichetero
Commissioner, Uganda Human Rights Commisssion

Ruth Ochieng
Director, Isis-WICCE/ Member, Women Initiatives for Gender Justice

Jessica Nkuuhe
Associate Director, Isis-WICCE

Elizabeth Ngororano
Board Member, Isis-WICCE

Africa/Global: Food as a human right

2004-12-02

http://www.hrea.org/learn/guides/food.html

Food and water are essential elements that all human beings must have access to in order to live. Access to "the minimum essential food which is sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe" as well as "sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water" are considered human rights. Hunger, malnutrition and starvation are global problems. Governments are responsible for providing access to adequate food to eliminate hunger, malnutrition and starvation. The right to food is directly addressed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. See this feature on the web page of Human Rights Education Associates for more information.

Africa: US plans sanctions for countries who support ICC

2004-12-02

http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/98570/1/

A US bill scheduled for approval contains a controversial amendment that will impose further sanctions on countries that have ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) treaty. The amendment would prohibit assistance for countries that have refused to sign a "bilateral immunity agreement" to shield US citizens and certain foreign nationals from transfer to the ICC for investigation or prosecution for atrocities or genocide. The funds affected include support for anti-terrorism activities, peace building, democratization and counter-drug initiatives.

Diego Garcia: A Crime Against Humanity?

2004-12-02

http://www.minorityrights.org/features/features_diegogarcia.htm

For the islanders of Diego Garcia, the actions of the British government in removing them from their island homes in the 1960s are a painful memory, daily re-awakened in their struggle for a better life and justice. To many who hear their story, the deportation of the Chagossians to make way for a US military base, ironically known to Americans as 'Camp Justice', was a dreadful abuse of power and violation of rights. Justice now seems a long way off for the islanders whose claims of a right to return to their Indian Ocean homes. But as the islanders and their counsel prepare to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights, rights lawyers and human rights advocates are looking again at the circumstances of their removal, and have begun to discuss whether it should be labelled as a 'crime against humanity'.

South Africa: Court throws out apartheid cases

2004-12-02

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4053493.stm

A New York court has thrown out legal cases against more than 30 companies, accused of having illegally aided the apartheid-era South African Government. The class-action lawsuits targeted firms including computer giant IBM and banking giant Citigroup. According to the plaintiffs, groups and individuals who suffered under apartheid, the companies supplied oil, money and technology to South Africa.

South Africa: SA blocks UN human rights proposals on Sudan/Zimbabwe

2004-12-02

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=2313512

South Africa has succeeded in killing off two United Nations resolutions condemning widespread rights abuses in Sudan and Zimbabwe, ignoring European Union and American protests. The UN General Assembly's Third Committee, which covers human rights, blocked the proposed resolutions by adopting so-called "no-action motions" filed by SA on behalf of an African group of nations.

Tanzania: Uphold international justice, official says

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44378

International justice systems must be retained for effective prosecution of perpetrators of serious crimes, an official of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said last Thursday. ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Jallow said international courts such as the ICTR, the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone have proven viable in ensuring the prosecution of people bearing the greatest responsibility for crimes. He was speaking at the beginning of a three-day colloquium of prosecutors in Arusha, Tanzania, which is also the headquarters of the Rwanda tribunal.

Zimbabwe: Placard demonstrations planned for human rights day

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/25893

Civil society organisations from the surrounding countries to Zimbabwe will be holding peaceful placard demonstrations in front of the Zimbabwean Embassies on 10 December 2004 to mark International Human Rights Day. The demonstrations are part of a series of civil society events aimed at putting an end to ongoing human rights violations and the closure of civic space in Zimbabwe. They will provide opportunities for civil society activists, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and citizens of Africa to show solidarity towards their Zimbabwean brothers and sisters and to advocate for the repeal and progressive amendment of existing and planned repressive legislation in Zimbabwe, including the proposed NGO Bill.
MEDIA STATEMENT
For immediate release



CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS TO HOLD SOLIDARITY PLACARD DEMONSTRATIONS AT ZIMBABWEAN EMBASSIES IN SADC COUNTRIES ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY



29 November 2004; Johannesburg, South Africa – Civil society organisations from the surrounding countries to Zimbabwe will be holding peaceful placard demonstrations in front of the Zimbabwean Embassies on 10 December 2004 to mark International Human Rights Day.



The demonstrations are part of a series of civil society events aimed at putting an end to ongoing human rights violations and the closure of civic space in Zimbabwe. They will provide opportunities for civil society activists, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and citizens of Africa to show solidarity towards their Zimbabwean brothers and sisters and to advocate for the repeal and progressive amendment of existing and planned repressive legislation in Zimbabwe, including the proposed NGO Bill.



Subsequent to the demonstrations, civil society organisations from the region will be organising a Zimbabwe Solidarity Rally (ZSR) on 14 February 2005 in which thousands of people and organisations will march to the main border posts of Zimbabwe in the neighbouring countries of Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia. The Rally, originally planned for 10 December 2004, has been rescheduled on account of the huge expression of interest from civil society in the SADC region, which calls for additional time to plan the activities. Rescheduling the march will allow for a broader inclusion of civil society members and individuals, a greater impact and a stronger coalition in solidarity.



Ends



For more information on these events, please contact Amnesty International South Africa (AISA) on +27 12 320 8155 (campaigns@amnesty.org.za ) or CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation on +27 11 833 5959 (cswatch@civicus.org)

Zimbabwe: Political intolerance continues

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/25923

Incidents occurring in Zimbabwe in the month of September continue to reflect a lack of political tolerance, according to a political violence report from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. The report said political victimization was relatively high around the opposition MDC's 5th year anniversary celebrations on 11 and 12 September 2004. The month of September also saw a rise in the number of displacements. The cases of displacements recorded in September were the highest since the beginning of the year and are attributed to farm evictions.
ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM
POLITICAL VIOLENCE REPORT
SEPTEMBER 2004
29 November 2004
A report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum

OVERVIEW

Incidents occurring in Zimbabwe in the month of September continue to reflect lack of political tolerance. The Human Rights Forum commends the Vice President for his stance against violence and hopes that his words will be put into action. The Human Rights Forum condemns any form of political violence against any Zimbabwean no matter what their political affiliation may be.
Political victimization was relatively high around the opposition MDC’s 5th year anniversary celebrations on 11 and 12 September 2004. In Kwekwe, it is alleged that around 8:00am on Saturday, ZANU PF supporters at Globe and Phoenix ground attacked Blessing Chebundo MDC MP for Kwekwe and other MDC supporters. The MDC supporters were reportedly preparing for the beginning of the party’s 5th year anniversary celebrations at the ground. It is reported that more than 200 ZANU PF supporters attacked the MDC supporters. Four of the MDC supporters were reportedly seriously injured during the attack. They were taken to hospital. Police in Harare reportedly confirmed their knowledge of the incident. The Forum urges the police to bring to book all those responsible for incidents of this nature.
In Glen view EK, SR, LC, TC, FM, DM and RM reported that they attended the MDC 5th year anniversary celebrations in Highfield. Since then they claim that they are being victimised by ZANU PF supporters who allegedly spotted them on their way back from the anniversary. They report that they are being threatened with eviction, burning of property, physical abuse and sometimes with unspecified action. They claim that they are now living in fear due to these threats and are looking to relocate.
The month of September also saw a rise in the number of displacements. The cases of displacements recorded in September are the highest since the beginning of the year. This can be attributed to the current farm evictions and also the MDC 5th anniversary celebrations mentioned above. On 2/09/2004, the Member In Charge of Norton police, Mr. Makuku, the District Administrator, Mr. Mushaninga, riot police and national service youths evicted Porta Farm dwellers despite a High Court Order granting the residents temporary relief from eviction until a lasting solution to their accommodation problems was found. The residents at Porta Farm were initially moved to the farm in October 1991, when the Queen of England visited Zimbabwe for the CHOGM summit. They were allegedly evicted from Mbare, Kugomba in Borrowdale, VID and Epworth. Porta Farm was originally supposed to be a temporary settlement with those who had been moved there apparently believing they were to be moved to a more permanent place of residence within three months. Fourteen years on, the residents have not yet been resettled.
LM alleges that on the day of the incident, riot police, Mr. Makuku, the Member in Charge of Norton Police Station and Mr. Mushaninga the District Administrator arrived at Porta Farm in 11 small cars and 12 lorries. It is further alleged that the member in charge addressed the people telling them that they had come prepared to evict them and he is said to have asked the people whether they were also prepared for the eviction. LM claims that two of the Porta Farm residents, WC and MJ handed a High Court Order and affidavit to the Member in Charge. The High Court Order granted the residents temporary relief to stay at Porta Farm until the issue of their resettlement was resolved amicably. The Member in Charge purportedly charged that the documents were fake and refused to look at them. He is alleged to have said that these delaying tactics were not going to work with the police and ordered the demolishing team to start doing the work for which they had come. It is further alleged that the demolishing team comprised of about 30, some of whom were said to be wearing dreadlocks, which we believe are prohibited for police officers.
The team reportedly had different tools for demolishing, which included picks, shovels and iron bars. When they demolished the first house people around apparently started to scream. It is alleged that the police fired shots in the air and one of the policeman is alleged to have deliberately aimed, shot and shattered the windows of another house. LM claims that the shooting started a fire, which burnt a whole house and the nearby grass wall. The property is said to have belonged to GM. It is purported that another house belonging to BZ was also destroyed along with a solar panel. Occupied and unoccupied houses were said to have been demolished, including one from which a sleeping infant was rescued unconscious and requiring medical attention.
The demolishing team then reportedly proceeded to one L's house who challenged the team on why they were destroying houses. LM alleges that one of the team members picked up a brick and hit him on the face. L reportedly cried out in pain but the team allegedly started to assault him. He was only rescued when some of the Porta Farm residents came to intervene on his behalf. LM claims that the riot police came in firing teargas indiscriminately and also firing several shots in the air. The local office of Amnesty International was alerted to what was transpiring at Porta Farm and two officers went there to observe. On arrival they alleged that they were accused by the police of addressing a meeting and causing commotion. They were arrested and charged with inciting violence.
The Non-Governmental Organizations Bill (NGO Bill), which was gazetted on 20 August 2004, was the centre of numerous demonstrations in the month of September leading to many arrests. The NGO Bill, among other repressive measures, seeks to ban any form of foreign funding for local NGOs involved in issues of governance. The Bill states, “No local Non-Governmental Organization shall receive any foreign funding or donation to carry out activities involving or including issues of governance” . Issues of governance are defined in the Bill as including, “the promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues” . It is not surprising, therefore, that this Bill was the subject of many demonstrations by civil society in the month of September.
It is reported that 52 WOZA women were arrested between Chegutu and Selous at the 65KM peg Bulawayo-Harare highway for organising a demonstration without police notification. The women had announced they were marching from Bulawayo to Harare to demonstrate against the NGO Bill. It appears that when the police approached the women, they allegedly misled the police saying they were church members. They were however reportedly searched and found in possession of demonstration materials, which included banners and pamphlets. The women were taken into custody at Kadoma and Chegutu police stations and detained for 3 days. It is claimed that they appeared in Court but the magistrate refused to press charges due to lack of evidence. Jenni Williams, the only activist not arrested in Chegutu, was later reportedly arrested in Harare on 29/09/2004 with the other 8 women who had joined the demonstration in Harare at Africa Unity Square including a 4 month old baby They were said to be praying in Africa Unity Square after having successfully completed the march against the NGO Bill. They are being charged under s19 (1) (a)(i) of POSA chapter 11:17 for involvement in a “gathering conducing to riot disorder or intolerance” The alleged accusations are that the women unlawfully marched to Africa Unity Square from Harare show grounds chanting anti-government slogans and threatening to march to the Parliament of Zimbabwe on Monday 4 October 2004. They are due to appear in court on 13 October 2004.
The NCA National Advocacy Vice Chairperson, Maddock Chivasa, ZINASU President, Philani Zamchiya, ZINASU Organising Secretary, Steve Mutsarurwa and 41 other NCA activists were arrested after the NCA organised a demonstration against the NGO Bill. The demonstrators reportedly staged sporadic protests as they ran through the streets, waving banners and chanting slogans denouncing the proposed law. Many were reportedly thrown into police trucks and driven away to Avondale Police Station where they were detained until 20:00hrs and released without being charged. It is reported that as the demonstrators set to march peacefully to Parliament through Nelson Mandela Avenue, riot police details wielding truncheons and teargas canisters descended on them. The demonstrators were allegedly brutally assaulted by the police in a show of unwarranted use of force. Seven of the demonstrators were reportedly seriously injured and had to receive medical attention in a private hospital in Harare.
The Forum deplores the heavy-handed manner with which the police in Zimbabwe are quashing demonstrations. The Forum further urges the police to adhere to the United Nations (UN) Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, which states, “Law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty”. The use of force must be proportional “to the legitimate objective to be achieved. ”

Contact zimelectionchallenges@yahoo.com for more details.

Zimbabwe: Rights groups slam Britain's cricket tour

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44424

Civil rights activists have joined a chorus of disapproval over a decision by the English cricket team to go ahead with a controversial tour to Zimbabwe which began at the weekend. Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the National Constitutional Commission, told IRIN on Tuesday that the visit was a "victory" for President Robert Mugabe's government, and would "embolden" the government to "continue with repressive policies" against its perceived opponents.

Global/Africa: How does poverty affect migration choice?

2004-12-02

http://www.migrationdrc.org/publications/working_papers/WP-T3.pdf

This paper takes a sustainable livelihoods approach to understanding the relationship between migration and poverty, and it explores the effects of poverty on people's decision and ability to migrate. The paper argues that poverty and vulnerability have two conflicting effects on migration: by providing incentives to migrate, either as a strategy for livelihood diversification or out of destitution; but also by reducing the ability to migrate because the transfer costs involved, in terms of financial, human, physical and social capital, are too high.

Ivory Coast/Liberia: Ivorian refugees start trickling home, says UNHCR

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44408

The flood of refugees fleeing Cote d’Ivoire into north-eastern Liberia since early November trickled to a halt for the first time last weekend, with a few even returning home as tension eased. UN officials in Cote d'Ivoire confirmed that small groups of refugees had returned home. The UNHCR said the arrival of the refugees had not caused problems with the local population. People were working side-by-side on farms and helping each other with child care.

Kenya: Tensions rise as government fails to address internal displacement

2004-12-02

http://www.db.idpproject.org/Sites/IdpProjectDb/idpSurvey.nsf/wCountriesb/Kenya

When the KANU government was voted out in December 2002 after almost 40 years in power, around 350,000 remaining internally displaced people (IDPs) regained hopes of returning to the land they had been forced to flee during the 1990s. However, the new government has not lived up to expectations that it would resolve the causes of displacement and resettle or compensate the IDPs.

Somalia: Internally displaced Somalis face uncertain future

2004-12-02

http://www.db.idpproject.org/Sites/IdpProjectDb/idpSurvey.nsf/wCountriesb/Somalia

As Somalia’s new government prepares to return and restore order after years of state collapse, the country’s 400,000 internally displaced people remain in a highly precarious situation, according to a new report by the Global IDP Project. Most of the displaced, some 250,000, live in the capital, Mogadishu, the most dangerous place in the country.

**Ghana: Elections 2005

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/25955

Ghana is still experiencing some shocks in its political economy in the country’s attempt to deal with its post-military, prolonged authoritarian past. "While alternation of power is seen to have helped in the consolidation of the democratic process, there are fears that severe security problems triggered by lack of access to resources might create further security challenges," says an article in the journal Democracy & Development: Journal of West African Affairs, published by the The Centre for Democracy and Development, a non-governmental organisation which aims to promote the values of democracy, peace & human rights in Africa and in the West African sub-region. Published last year and based on a study in 2002, the article makes for interesting reading ahead of Ghana's election next week. The study also concludes that:

- Government policies to redress poverty and other socio-economic concerns have just reached the implementation stages. Progress made so far is commendable, but challenges remain.

- The internal threats that Ghana has to confront are potentially dangerous. Many of them have to do with who lost power, who has gained power and who is wielding power. In dealing with them, Government has to adopt an institutional approach that does not paint its actions as patently partisan.

- The threat from the neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire given the recent crisis is by far the most critical facing the country.

>>>>> For the full article, visit http://www.cdd.org.uk/pdf/ghana.pdf

NEWS: ELECTIONS 2005

President John Kufuor is on course to win a second term as the opposition candidate struggles to emerge as his own man, analysts said last Friday. Kufuor, of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), will face his main rival John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and other minor candidates on 7 December. If no-one wins more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a run-off but most commentators think that unlikely.

>>>>>For the full article, visit http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44383

COMMENTARY: ELECTIONS 2005
Quassy Adjapawn
Politics in Ghana has come a long way. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, and his Convention People’s Party in 1957 achieved the symbolic status of making Ghana the first black African colony to gain independence and subsequently became the first independent African member of the British Commonwealth. Ghana became the symbol of African liberation and as such attracted an inordinate amount of attention from the West.

Since then Ghana has suffered a series of coup d'tats, amongst them the 1966 military takeover led by General Kotoka and in 1972, Colonel Acheampong’s overthrow of the second republic. The year 1978 marked a palace coup to restructure the military regime and in 1979, there was a coup by junior military officers led by Jerry Rawlings. Rawlings staged another coup in 1981 to overthrow the constitutional People’s National Party (PNP) government in the third republic.

>>>>>Click on the link below to read the full article.
GHANA: ELECTIONS 2005
Quassy Adjapawn
Politics in Ghana has come a long way. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, and his Convention People’s Party in 1957 achieved the symbolic status of making Ghana the first black African colony to gain independence and subsequently became the first independent African member of the British Commonwealth. Ghana became the symbol of African liberation and as such attracted an inordinate amount of attention from the West.

Since then Ghana has suffered a series of coup d'tats, amongst them the 1966 military takeover led by General Kotoka and in 1972, Colonel Acheampong’s overthrow of the second republic. The year 1978 marked a palace coup to restructure the military regime and in 1979, there was a coup by junior military officers led by Jerry Rawlings. Rawlings staged another coup in 1981 to overthrow the constitutional People’s National Party (PNP) government in the third republic.

The political history of Ghana reveals that coup d'tats are ethnic based. Dr Kwame Nkrumah's government was toppled by a predominantly opposing ethnic group which also got ousted in a similar manner by another opposing group. This has also been a trend in the numerous takeovers by military regimes.

On the 7th of December, Ghanaians will decide again through the ballot box who will steer the affairs of the nation for the next four years. The ultimate question that can be posed to Ghanaians is: “What does this upcoming election mean to them, taking into consideration the crisis in the West African region and the continent at large?”

The main participating parties contesting in the upcoming elections on the 7th of December include: the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Peoples National Convention (PNC) and several other minor parties. The expectations of the people are that, either one of the two major parties: the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by the incumbent president John Kufuor or the National Democratic Congress (NDC) led by Prof. Atta Mills could win.

Historically, politics in Ghana had been described in some circles as driven along ethnic lines where the electorate votes according to their descent and not on the aspirations of the candidate. Though this assertion may hold water to some extent, the last two elections have proved otherwise. However, some pessimists say if effort is not made at addressing the issue, Ghana will gradually drift to a situation where the nation states will give way to ethnic states, thus defying the spirit of nationalism and patriotism that Nkrumah and his compatriots fought indefatigably to build.
Events in Ghana do not take place in isolation from Africa as a whole or from the regional destabilisation in West Africa. Africa is an incredibly rich continent but remains the home of the poorest people on earth. 340 million Africans, about half of the population of the continent, live on less than $1.00 a day and the infant mortality rate is 140 per 1000. The average life expectancy is 54 years. At the close of the year 2000, Africans with HIV/AIDS accounted for 70% of the cases recorded in the world.
Ghana itself is ranked at 131st position out of 177 countries in the Human Development Index scale. Birth and death rates are 24.9 and 10.67 per population of thousand respectively. The infant mortality rate is 52.22 deaths per population of thousand and the life expectancy is only 56.3 years. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is 3.1 percent.
The situations in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast where conflicts have taken lives and destroyed statehood should act as a reproach to opponents of democracy who might want to resort to the less democratic tendencies of Ghana’s history. Citizens of Ghana, politicians and ethnic elites should also learn from the current show of people's power in Ukraine where voters have poured on to the streets to express anger at irregularities in the recent vote count. Should the upcoming voting in Ghana be deemed unfair, it is up to the people to rise and demand a change.

Political clashes between party activists are causing tensions in Ghana. Freedom of speech and association are parts of Ghanaian culture and as such political maturity should be exercised in this crucial hour in order not to cause tempers to flare. The outcome of a politically unstable nation is poverty, and a country which is thrown into disarray and scattered with refugees.

* Quassy Adjapawn is with the School of Professional Development and Leadership, Peace Studies, University of New England. His research interests centre on ethnic conflicts in Northern Ghana, particularly the conflict-poverty nexus, recovery, reconstruction and reconciliation, peace processes, peacekeeping, peacemaking and peace building, non-violence and non-violent action. (qadjapaw@une.edu.au)

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: ACP Seeks Its Own Parliament

2004-12-02

http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=26444

Parliamentarians from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries agreed this week on setting up a joint 'parliament' to improve internal cohesion and to gain influence with the European Union, World Trade Organisation and other bodies. The ACP parliament could get going as early as April next year if national parliaments approve.

Ethiopia: Government acts against opposition abuse

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44434

The Ethiopian government is taking steps to prevent any abuses of opposition political supporters and has contacted all regions in the country to stress that forthcoming elections should be held in a fair and democratic manner, a spokesman told IRIN. "This is the period of preparation for the election," Zemedkun Teckle said on Tuesday. "Let me assure you, one commitment of the government is to ensure free and fair elections."

Mozambique: Heavy rain, low turnout overshadow poll

2004-12-02

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02319817.htm

Heavy rains and low turnout cast a shadow over Thursday's second day of Mozambican elections for a successor to President Joaquim Chissano as foreign observers complained they were denied full access to the polling process. National Electoral Commission head Arao Lithure took the unusual step of making a live address on state radio and television to urge Mozambicans to vote, saying they had a right to help determine their country's destiny.

Somalia: New interim federal cabinet named

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44450

The interim prime minister of Somalia, Ali Muhammad Gedi, on Wednesday named a partial-government of 27 ministers who immediately took oath of office at a ceremony attended by President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Gedi's director of communications, Hussein Jabiri, told IRIN that the full government would consist of 31 ministers, 31 vice-ministers and five state ministers.

South Africa: Public spat between ANC and Cosatu

2004-12-02

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=332&fArticleId=2328930

The recent aspersions cast on prominent leaders of our movement like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi reveal the inability of our movement to accept criticism and constructively engage with dissenting views, writes Cosatu's Tony Ehrenreich. "In many respects it is enlightening that differences within the tripartite alliance are made public, because it is in this way that the many members of the alliance are able to evaluate for themselves what lies behind the disfunctioning of the alliance."

Zimbabwe: Another Election Chance

2004-12-02

http://www.icg.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=3142

A collective effort is needed on behalf of all role-players in order to grasp the opportunity offered by the March 2005 elections in Zimbabwe to end the crisis currently gripping the country, according to a new International Crisis Group report. The report encouraged the African Union to maintain a watchful eye on the human rights situation before the 2005 parliamentary elections, including by sending a team of experts by 1 January 2005 to assess the electoral environment, and support implementation of the SADC principles and guidelines by the Zimbabwe government. For its part the international community should support the efforts of African states and institutions to achieve free and fair parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe in 2005. The ICG report also recommended to the Movement for Democratic Change that it decide to contest the parliamentary elections, even if it is not possible to obtain at this stage absolute guarantees that they will be conducted in a fully free and fair manner.

Africa: TI urges NEPAD leaders to ratify AU Anti-Corruption Convention

2004-12-02

http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.11.22.ti_urges_nepad_leaders.html

As the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSIGC) of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) opened its meeting last week in Algiers, Algeria, Transparency International (TI), the leading non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting corruption worldwide, called on leaders attending the Algiers meeting to ratify the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. TI also called on these leaders to ratify the UN Convention against Corruption as a vital global counterpart to the AU convention, particularly with regards to mutual legal assistance and asset recovery.

DRC: Presidential aide resigns over graft allegations

2004-12-02

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=115918&src=dcn

A top aide to Congolese President Joseph Kabila resigned Monday after being cited in an investigation into embezzlement of state funds that saw six ministers suspended. Evariste Boshaa, Kabila's chief of Cabinet, resigned to protest the inquiry, Kabila's spokesman, Kasongo Kudura said. Kadura referred to an inquiry launched by parliament into allegation of suspected corruption in several government firms.

Malawi: President and predecessor meet to ease political tension

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44403

Talks are underway in Malawi aimed at easing tensions between President Bingu wa Mutharika and his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi. Analysts say one of the main reasons for the divisions in the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party has been Mutharika's tough stance against graft, which has seen six UDF officials arrested on charges of corruption and fraud since he took office in May.

Nigeria: President comes clean to fight corruption crackdown

2004-12-02

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=115903&src=pub

Nigeria sought to draw a line under decades of corruption last week when President Olusegun Obasanjo declared his private income, disclosing that he makes £140,000 a month from a chicken farm. Mr Obasanjo, the first Nigerian leader to declare his assets, told a bemused nation that his farm in Otta state yields annual profits approaching £1.7 million. The president's spokesman, said his declaration was part of a government campaign to clean up Nigeria.

Uganda: Donors concerned over corruption, says envoy

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44411

A representative of Uganda's donor countries said on Monday they were increasingly concerned about rampant corruption and the need to embrace a level political playing field in the country. "Development partners are getting increasingly concerned about an apparent lack of political will to fight corruption," the Netherlands Ambassador Yoka Brandt told a two-day meeting of top law and order officials in the capital, Kampala.

Africa/Global: Development Gateway: biased, unaccountable and overpriced?

2004-12-02

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd%5b126%5d=x-126-73029

A study prepared for the Bretton Woods Project has found that the Development Gateway, an internet portal on development issues initiated by the World Bank, presents a biased picture of development debates, lacks independence and is inefficient when compared with other similar initiatives. The Gateway seeks to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction through knowledge and resource sharing. Initially conceived and designed by the World Bank, it commenced operations as an independent not-for-profit organisation in July 2001.

Africa: Band aid condemned

2004-12-02

http://www.wdm.org.uk/lyrics/index.htm

The World Development Movement (WDM) has condemned the lyrics of the Band Aid 20 single “Do They Know It's Christmas?” as promoting a negative and inaccurate picture of Africa and its problems. "Such images are patronising and out of date but worst of all they present a misleading impression of why Africa is poor and discourage people from taking action. African poverty is not an unfortunate accident of geography and climate. It is largely the result of damaging policies such as free trade forced on Africa by rich countries," said the WDM.

Africa: Foreign ‘Aid’ and Less Developed Countries

2004-12-02

http://www.datelinehealth-africa.net/betav1.0/editorial/editorial.asp

In “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” John Perkins, author and self-proclaimed “Economic Hit Man” offers a courageous, candid and uncommon perspective about “international intrigue at the highest levels” in respect of foreign aids/loans to less developed countries. According to Perkins, Developed Countries (DCs) in general with United States as leader, train and use special professionals - economists, bankers, engineers, etc., - to be ‘economic hit men’. The ultimate goal “is to bring strategically important LDCs under the control of DC governments, World Bank and other DC-dominated ‘aid’ agencies.

Kenya: Red tape delays Kenya's dream of free trade in EAC

2004-12-02

http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2281

Procedural bureaucracy is delaying Kenya's dream of establishing a free trade agreement with its neighbours, Uganda and Tanzania. Regional Co-operation Minister John Koech told members of the East Africa Business Council (EABC): "Kenya will ratify the treaty as soon as possible. There is no foot dragging on the part of the government. It is just a procedural issue. The parliamentary procedures are to blame." Kenya remains the only EAC member that has not yet ratified the Customs Union Protocol.

Zambia: 'We demand total debt cancellation'

2004-12-02

http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2290

"It is very clear that the colossal debt stock of the world's impoverished countries - to which category Zambia belongs - owed to the industrialised nations, including those debts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are beyond repayment. Indeed the harsh effects of this huge debt-overhang has not spared Zambia. Our nations have, through further policies of the IMF and the World Bank, been condemned to perpetual debt repayment when it is clear that this is unsustainable. The creditor nations together with the agents of neo-liberal policies - the IMF and World Bank - do not care that the little resources that our poor nations may generate for any little possible investment towards improving health, education and other key social sectors is instead perpetually diverted towards debt repayment. But for how long will this continue?" - From The Post, Zambia.

**Who Cares for the Care-Givers? Responding to the voices of women

Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/25926

Yesterday, the world celebrated International World AIDS Day, with the appropriate theme “Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS”. The vulnerability and risk of women and girls to infection, the horrifying statistics of the increasing orphan care issues; the daily cry of greater access to health care, treatment and nutrition for people living with HIV & AIDS are the main stories of the day.

What is rarely seen, said and adequately responded to are the needs and rights of the care givers. With what resources do these mostly elderly women and girls provide support and care to the infected and affected family members and friends? Where do they derive their daily strength to nurture, to love and to support our sick and dying? What nourishes their spirit as they wake up every day and respond to the call to serve humanity? Who actually cares for the care-givers?

In November, UNIFEM had the opportunity to meet and discuss with women in the poor rural community of Butula, Busia district, in a community dialogue organized by Hon Prof. Christine Mango, a Kenyan M.P. We also had an opportunity to visit a mother’s center in urban Mathare slums, organized by Esther Mwaura of Groots Kenya. We met with the women, the grandmothers, the girls, the orphans, the traders and the community elders. We spent a good time exchanging ideas and stories with the community care givers. Stories of caring amidst poverty and marginalisation were constant, whether in the poor urban slums or in the rural poor villages of Kenya. In the face of deepening poverty, women are finding themselves having to take up greater responsibilities for care. With little support these poor women take care of their fellow poor who cannot access health care services and other basic needs.

The women remain committed to provide their best for their loved ones. They feel their contribution is not valued. They are taken for granted, that they will always be there. One caregiver in Mathare gave an ironic laugh while discussing sanitation and hygiene. “I buy water from my place with my own money and carry it more than a kilometer to wash my patient because water is more expensive at her place” she quipped. “At times I bring some fruit and something to eat, but the patient is always asking for medicine and I cannot provide. When I have no money and cannot bring water or food, I actually avoid the visit,” she said, almost choking with emotion as she revealed the pain of care giving amidst poverty.

In Butula, Nekesa, a 60 year old grandmother talked of the many orphans she is having to take care of. Children have been chased away from their land and their homes by their uncles and aunties so that they can grab the property. “The poor orphans have nowhere to go… they look up to me to provide a roof over their heads as well as feeding them,” she lamented about the increasing number of young girls heading households, who look up to her for counseling and support.

The challenges of protecting young orphan girls who are often pulled out of school and made to work for the hosting family are great. One family felt that the orphaned girl who was raped by one of her guardians and infected with HIV/AIDS should be moved to another family as she was likely to cause the family to be stigmatized. Some of the women talked of the heavy burden of caring for their daughters when they are brought back ill from their marital homes and requested more food relief and farm implements to enable them to provide the necessary nutrition.

“How can I look after my daughter and her children when she was my sole provider before this illness incapacitated her? These funds we hear for the constituency on AIDS must prioritise elderly women like me who have little options,” grandmother Nekesa said as she advocated for targeted support. The Member of Parliament Hon. Prof. Mang’o appreciated the great work done by the community care givers and urged the government and community members to take responsibility in supporting those affected by HIV/AIDS.

As we celebrate World AIDS day, we must all remember to value and support the care-givers. They need a helping hand. They are an extension of the outreach of health and community services. Increased gender budgeting and resource allocation to HIV/AIDS in all sectoral programmes is one of the practical ways of mitigating the long-term impact of HIV/AIDS. It is a sure way of meeting the women caregivers half way. If the children are able to go to school, the health care services are accessible and affordable, and food security at household level is guaranteed, the care-givers will have a better day. If the legal system protects the deceased’s estates and property is not grabbed from the bereaved children and widows and widowers, and if the household capacity to generate income is facilitated, African women and girls will indeed continue with zeal to care and nurture.

Poverty in Africa will continue unless we address the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is already reversing some of the gains made in education, in health, on women’s human rights, as the Beijing +10 review is telling us. It will be a hard struggle for the continent to reach the Millennium Development Goals unless substantive progress is made on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Improving the lives of women and men demands listening and taking action on the experiences such as shared with us in Butula and Mathare of Kenya.

* Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda is the Regional Programme Director for the United Nations Development Fund for Women in East and Horn of Africa. (nyaradzai.gumbonzvanda@undp.org)

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Aids epidemic update 2004

2004-12-02

http://www.unaids.org/wad2004/EPIupdate2004_html_en/epi04_00_en.htm

The annual AIDS epidemic update reports on the latest developments in the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. With maps and regional summaries, the 2004 edition provides the most recent estimates of the epidemic’s scope and human toll, explores new trends in the epidemic’s evolution, and features a special section on women and AIDS.

Africa: Antibiotic halves HIV/Aids deaths

2004-12-02

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4021887.stm

Giving Africa's HIV-positive children a cheap antibiotic could nearly halve the death rate, research shows. The Medical Research Council trial in Zambia was stopped early when it became obvious how effective daily co-trimoxazole treatment was. The World Health Organization and Unicef are altering their drug advice in line with the Lancet study.

Africa: Care for people dying of AIDS

2004-12-02

http://www.id21.org/health/h5rh2g1.html

What care do sufferers of AIDS receive in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)? If their lives cannot be saved, are their last days made as comfortable as possible? As more funding is made available for the care of terminally-ill AIDS patients, it is important to look at the level of care currently available. King's College London, together with the US Office of National AIDS Policy, conducted a survey across 14 SSA countries to discover the end-of-life care AIDS patients are currently receiving.

Africa: Health worker scarcity highlighted

2004-12-02

http://www.plusnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=4181

A new study to be published in the Lancet has, for the first time, quantified the dangerous scarcity of healthcare workers in countries with climbing rates of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. The report, 'Human Resources for Health: Overcoming the Crisis', says health workers from developing countries are lured by better salaries and safer working conditions in urban areas or richer countries, creating the so-called "brain-drain".

Africa: Health, the private sector and the United Nations

2004-12-02

http://www.eldis.org/ds/docdisplay.cfm?doc=DOC16730 &resource=healthsystems

This brief examines the policy implications of increased activity between the UN and the corporate sector, specifically focusing on the increased collaboration between the corporate sector and the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and UNFPA. The brief also explores the major global health-related public-private partnerships (GHPPPs) which operate primarily outside the UN, such as the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunisation (GAVI). The brief concludes that, although guidelines and procedures to address public-private interactions (PPIs) have been developed within UN agencies, they are inadequate to ensure UN integrity.

Africa: Mobilising community organisations against AIDS

2004-12-02

http://www.sidaction.org/accescommun/index_en.php/

In its work supporting NGOs in developing countries, Together Against AIDS/AIDS-ACTION has witnessed the mobilization of community-based organizations around providing care, support and access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS. Yet, their contribution to the struggle against the pandemic remains virtually unknown. Together Against AIDS conducted a mapping survey throughout Africa from January to April 2004 that underscores what community groups - specifically PLWHAs groups - are doing in the realm of access to treatment, with respect to the World Health Organization's stated goal of placing 3 million people on ARV therapy between now and 2005.

Africa: Promoting child development and growth

2004-12-02

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16775

Success in reducing childhood mortality requires more than the availability of adequate health services with well-trained personnel. As families have the major responsibility for caring for their children, success requires a partnership between health workers and families, with support from their communities. Published by the World Health Organization (WHO), this report presents the evidence for twelve family and community practices identified as being of key importance in providing good home-care for the child.

Africa: World Aids Day rally protests outside WB/IMF offices

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/25957

Africa Action marked World AIDS Day by co-sponsoring a major rally outside the World Bank and IMF to condemn policies that undermine the fight against HIV/AIDS for women and girls in Africa and throughout the global South. This year’s World AIDS Day theme focuses on the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls around the world. At this morning’s rally, Marie Clarke Brill of Africa Action said, "In Africa and increasingly around the world, AIDS has a woman’s face. If we are to turn the tide of this pandemic, we need to promote strategies that will address the gender inequalities that leave women and girls most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Instead, the policies of the World Bank and IMF continue to undermine women’s health in Africa and around the world."
Africa Action Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan 202-546 7961

Africa Action’s World AIDS Day Events Highlight Impact on Women

Rally at World Bank/IMF Condemns Policies that Undermine Fight against
HIV/AIDS; Documentary Screening Reveals Gender Inequalities that Fuel
Pandemic

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 (Washington, DC) - Africa Action today
marked World AIDS Day by co-sponsoring a major rally & die-in outside
the World Bank and IMF to condemn policies that undermine the fight
against HIV/AIDS for women and girls in Africa and throughout the global
South. This year’s World AIDS Day theme focuses on the disproportionate
impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls around the world.

At this morning’s rally, Marie Clarke Brill of Africa Action said, "In
Africa and increasingly around the world, AIDS has a woman’s face. If we
are to turn the tide of this pandemic, we need to promote strategies
that will address the gender inequalities that leave women and girls
most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Instead, the policies of the World Bank and
IMF continue to undermine women’s health in Africa and around the world."

Africa Action’s Executive Director Salih Booker said this morning,
"Women in Africa are fighting not only a virus and systemic
discrimination, but these powerful international financial institutions
that define their economic realities. While Africa faces the worst
health crisis in human history, the World Bank and IMF continue to
insist that African countries prioritize repayments of illegitimate
debts over spending on HIV/AIDS programs."

At the rally, dozens of women and girls dressed in red formed a human
chain in the shape of a women’s symbol to dramatize the disproportionate
impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls globally. Latest UN figures reveal
that the number of women living with HIV/AIDS continues to increase in
every region of the world. In Africa, almost 60% of those living with
HIV/AIDS are women.

This evening, Africa Action will co-host a screening of "In Women’s
Hands", a documentary film that explores the impact of HIV/AIDS on women
and talks about the pursuit of microbicides to help women protect
themselves from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Africa
Action notes that continued research into female-controlled HIV/AIDS
prevention methods such as microbicides is crucial to giving women
control over their sexual health and to fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic
globally.

This morning’s rally and die-in was co-sponsored by ActionAid
International USA, 50 Years is Enough Network, Global AIDS Alliance,
Global Justice, Jubilee USA Network, Nicaragua Network, Religious
Working Group on the IMF/World Bank, Student Global AIDS Campaign and
United Methodist General Board of Church and Society.

For more resources on the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa and the
structural obstacles that undermine African efforts to respond to this
pandemic, see http://www.africaaction.org

Kenya: HIV/AIDS prevalence down to seven percent, says government

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44435

The national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Kenya has dropped from 14 percent four years ago to about seven percent and the level of public awareness of the disease has risen to an estimated 90 percent across the country, the government said on Wednesday. "HIV/AIDS is now an established epidemic in Kenya," a statement issued by the Ministry of Health to mark World AIDS Day 2004, said. "It is a declared national disaster and all efforts are being directed to evoking the necessary response to containing it."

Southern Africa: HIV/AIDS May be Undermining Democracy

2004-12-02

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26449

The figures speak volumes. Between 1999 and 2003 almost 1.5 million of about 20 million registered voters in South Africa were removed from the voters’ roll because they had died – most, it appears, from AIDS-related diseases. The impact of the HIV pandemic on electoral processes was illustrated in a report issued this week by a Pretoria-based think-tank, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa).

Swaziland: In Swaziland, HIV Hides in Plain Sight

2004-12-02

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26504

Read the obituaries in Swaziland, and you will discover that many people here die from unspecified "lingering illnesses". Attend funerals, and you may hear that tuberculosis, dysentery, diarrhea – even flu – are also proving surprisingly lethal. Virtually no-one, it seems, is dying of AIDS. This is despite the fact that an HIV prevalence of 38.8 percent has given Swaziland the highest AIDS infection rate in the world.

Uganda: Learning from failed health reform

2004-12-02

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/329 /7475/1173

Health reforms based on market principles have been introduced widely in both developed and developing countries over the past 20 years. In developing countries, international donors have insisted on health reform as a precondition of providing external aid. The reform packages that have been introduced have been strikingly similar across countries as wide apart as Uganda, Bolivia, and Russia. Uganda embarked on market based health reforms in 1994. These reforms have not only failed to improve health services and the health of the population but have arguably been the key factor behind their deterioration. What can we learn from Uganda's experience?

Africa: A commonwealth teacher recruitment protocol?

2004-12-02

http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/docdisplay.cfm?doc=DOC15891&resource=f1educ

This Commonwealth Secretariat document provides the full text of the Commonwealth teacher recruitment Protocol, adopted by Ministers of Education on September 1st, 2004. The Protocol aims to balance the rights of teachers to migrate internationally, on a temporary or permanent basis, against the need to protect the integrity of national education systems, and to prevent the exploitation of the scarce human resources of poor countries. Starting by outlining the background and purpose of the Protocol, the document states that a number of Commonwealth member countries have been concerned at the loss of scarce professionals as a result of targeted recruitment programmes, a problem that has caused particular difficulties for small states.

Rwanda: The challenges of educational reconstruction

2004-12-02

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16700

The Rwandan curriculum has been the subject of much controversy, with Rwandan history still not taught in schools and the difficulty of developing a peace education programme in the country. Despite challenges faced after the war, the Rwandan government prioritised the education sector development after the war, and budgetary allocations have increased. This is according to a UNESCO study that documents the management strategies in the education sector in Rwanda since 1994.

Uganda/Zambia: Keeping schools HIV/AIDS free

2004-12-02

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/UNID/CAF500DB9C45D031C1256F5C003D5730?OpenDocument

The heads of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and World Vision have joined forces to urge a massive increase in donor funds for school feeding - a largely untapped yet effective way to attract children to school and stem HIV/AIDS infections among the young. There is growing evidence linking the level of education to a stable or lower incidence of HIV. For instance, research shows that AIDS spreads twice as fast among uneducated girls in Zambia, while young rural Ugandans with a secondary education are three times less likely to be HIV-positive than those with no education.

West Africa: The impact of HIV on education

2004-12-02

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16785

HIV/AIDS infection among teachers in West African countries results in higher mortality rates, an increase in early retirements and lower productivity. These factors exacerbate problems of access, equity, efficiency and management, according to a paper from the HIV/AIDS Impact on Education Clearinghouse. This paper examines the literature on how HIV/AIDS has impacted teachers and other education personnel in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d`Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. It focuses on the areas of: prevalence; impact on professional lives of teachers; impact of teacher infection on schools; impact of teacher infection on students; infection of administrative personnel; responses from teachers; and responses from management.

16 Days for Africa to Say No to Gender Violence

Mary Wandia

2004-12-02

http://allafrica.com/stories/200411301794.html

This year's Campaign on Violence Against Women has found encouragement in the African Union's Protocol on the Rights of Women. While 31 countries have signed the Protocol, only five have ratified (Comoros, Rwanda, Libya, Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho). While Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have signed the protocol, their presidents are yet to ratify it. The violation of women's rights in East Africa is largely born out of the unequal power relations between women and men. Poverty and conflict fuel ritual murder, gang rape, trafficking in women and girls and mistreatment of widows, among others.

Center for Domestic Violence Prevention programme for 2004

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/25951

The Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEODVIP) in Uganda has a full schedule of events for 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women. Email cedovip@raisingvoices.org for a detailed programme.

Honouring Sylvia Tamale

Outstanding contributor to the advancement of women's rights

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/25976

Dr Sylvia Tamale, the first woman Dean at The Faculty of Law at Makerere University, Uganda, will be honored on Thursday 2nd December by the women's movement in Uganda for her outstanding contribution to the advancement of women's rights in Africa. 'We want to pay tribute to her courage and commitment, and for her unstinting refusal to shy away from controversial rights issues' said Jessica Nkuuhe of Isis-WICCE one of the co organisers of the event. Dr Tamale, has recently been subjected to a hateful media campaign in Uganda for her outspoken support for the rights of sexual minorities and in particular the gay and lesbian communities.

'Her message is very simple,' says Stella Mukasa, Chair of Akina Mama wa Afrika, 'Those of us who promote human rights, should promote the human rights of all. We cannot pick and choose who amongst us has rights and who does not. This principled stand is what has sparked this ugly media and public backlash. Well, now is the time for us to come out in support of Dr Tamale and for the work that she does.'

Dr Tamale is a human rights defender and activist, academic, writer and grassroots mobiliser who has influenced critical thinking at national and international levels. She is one of Africa's leading feminist scholars. Her book 'When hens Begin To Crow; Gender and Parliamentary Politics in Uganda' published in 1999 has been recognised internationally as a landmark piece. Her keen and sharp analysis, puts her at the cutting edge of human rights discourse.. In July 2003, Dr Tamale was awarded the University of Minnesota Distinguished Leadership award for Internationals.

'Dr Tamale is the source of inspiration for so many young women and men. We had an idea of the contribution she has made. But nothing prepared us for the number of people who have come forward and want to be a part of this event, all as a direct result of Sylvia's influence on their lives. It has been truly an honor for us to organise this.' Commented Solome Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe of The Uganda Women's Network.

Messages of goodwill have been sent from around the world from friends, colleagues and well wishers.

We salute this wonderful daughter of the African soil.

Sarah Mukasa Akina Mama wa Afrika

Messages of congratulations

Equality Now

It is with a deep sense of pride and appreciation that we at Equality Now write to salute you on this day. Congratulations and thanks Sylvia, for the tremendous and courageous work you have done to promote the rights of women and other marginalized groups. It has been a great honor to be associated with you over the years. Your insight and analysis has greatly contributed to the work of Equality Now.

We wish you every success in your post as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at Makerere University. We look forward to working with you in future. Yours in sisterhood and solidarity

Faiza Mohammed and all at Equality Now


African Women's Development Fund Sylvia,

Thank you for being the brave, courageous, beautiful, powerful role model you are. With women like you on the African continent, we know there is hope for our generation. On behalf of the African Women's Development Fund, I send you best wishes on this special occasion. In a personal capacity, I am proud to call you my sister, my friend and colleague. At AWDF, we often talk about the women who quietly toil away to ensure that women craft and live new identities. They do this through community organising, advocacy or creating knowledge and sharing it with others. Most of this work is done away from the glare of publicity and public acclaim. We call them `Women of Substance'. Sylvia Tamale, you are indeed a Woman of Substance. We are proud of you and we celebrate with you.

Fond regards always

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Executive Director, African Women's Development Fund


African Women's Development Fund, Ghana, and President, Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID). Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Executive Director African Women's Development Fund Aviation House, Aviation Road PMB CT 89 Cantonments, Accra, Ghana Tel: + 23321 780476 Fax: + 23321 782502 Email: Bisi@awdf.org Website: www.awdf.org


African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET)

The African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) is a pan- African network working towards African Women's development, equality and other human rights, would like to join the Ugandan women's movement in celebrating the achievement of one of our most dynamic and fearless feminist intellectual activists and theorists---the appointment of Dr Sylvia Tamale as the new Dean of the Faculty of Law at Makerere University. We salute Dr Tamale for her work in the service of African women's autonomy, choice and freedom. We salute her too for the rigour with which she approaches this work----making her the first woman Dean of the Faculty of Law in Makerere University's history. We are sure she will take the faculty and the students it serves, both male and female----in new and positive directions. We wish her strength in her new role. And we assure her of our solidarity and support, always.

Warm Regards Lynn Muthoni Wanyeki, Director

Fahamu and the Pambazuka News Team

We take great pride in being able to include these messages of congratulations and to pay tribute to the courage and commitment to the fight for the emancipation of women

Firoze Manji, Fahamu

Oxfam public dialogue on the African women's rights protocol

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/16days/25953

On 30 November 2004, to mark the occasion of World AIDS Day and its intersection with the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women, Oxfam Great Britain facilitated a Public Dialogue on the African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, at our offices in Pretoria. Given the fact that the themes respectively are: Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS – ‘Have you heard me today?’ and For the Health of Women, For the Health of the World: No More Violence - the focus of the event was on Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS within the framework of the Women’s Protocol.
Report on World AIDS Day Public Dialogue on the African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

On 30 November 2004, to mark the occasion of World AIDS Day and its intersection with the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women, Oxfam Great Britain facilitated a Public Dialogue on the African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, at our offices in Pretoria. Given the fact that the themes respectively are: Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS – ‘Have you heard me today?’ and For the Health of Women, For the Health of the World: No More Violence - the focus of the event was on Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS within the framework of the Women’s Protocol.

The Women’s Protocol is significant in three ways; first, it reinforces attention on women rights that other international and regional instruments have elaborated, eg CEDAW, the Dakar Plat form for Action and the Beijing Platform for Action. Secondly it is the first instrument in International law to explicitly put women’s sexual and reproductive rights to medical abortion when pregnancy results from rape or incest or when the continuation of pregnancy endangers the health of a mother and to call for the legal prohibition of female genital mutilation. Thirdly, it is the first time in Africa that there is an instrument developed by Africans for women in Africa.

Penny Plowman, a gender consultant, facilitated the event. After welcoming the participants and introducing the panel, Judith Flick, the Oxfam Global Lead on HIV/AIDS and Regional Director for Southern Africa gave a brief introduction of the work that Oxfam does in the context of HIV/AIDS and gender – and established the importance of the AU Women’s Protocol within that framework.

Joe Malahlela, a Member of Parliament and Member of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services spoke to the South African government’s position on the AU Women’s Protocol. He stressed the importance of civil society as an active part of democracy that plays a vital role in letting parliamentarians know what is expected of them - ‘You have a right to make your call be heard’.
He alerted to the reservations the South African government has to the AU women’s protocol:
Ÿ Article 4 j) in regards to death penalty it should not be applied to pregnant and nursing women. That contravenes the South African constitution as death penalty was abolished.
Ÿ Article6 d) it requires marriages to be registered. This contravenes the customary law ion South Africa, as customary marriages are not required to be registered.
Ÿ Article 6h) referring to the nationality of children in cases where the nationality where one of the parents is a foreign national the children are not automatically South African nationals if they pose a threat to the national security interests.
Parliament has ratified the AU women’s protocol the only step left is to deposit it at the African Union Secretariat. Discussions following his presentation surrounded the need for an analysis of country dynamics in each instance where the Protocol will be adopted - specifically with regards to conflicting domestic laws within a country eg the instance of sharia law in West Africa and the gross human rights abuses that occur against women, even though sharia law is bound by a broader constitution.

Emelda Boikanyo, an independent gender consultant spoke to the uniqueness of the AU Women’s Protocol – unlike other international gender instruments, it tackles the issues of African Women, head on. The expectation on the protocol is that it is translated into laws that are implementable and translates into concrete support of women in protecting their rights. Emelda stressed the importance of fora of this nature to brainstorm instruments and tools in support of effective implementation of the AU Women’s Protocol. In looking specifically at the AU Women’s Protocol, the following issues were raised:
· Stigma and discrimination eg. HIV positive women who are given the death penalty because they have chosen not to breastfeed.
· A separate point related to the need to go beyond family planning and education and being able to make an informed decision about whether to have a pregnancy – highlighted in the article on Choice on termination of Pregnancy.
· Another article in the Protocol highlights the right to be informed of your partners status – it was noted that firstly, this infringes on the rights of both partners, but more importantly, in the case of women, disclosure leads to extreme violence.
· The issue of language discourse was another key issue raised: the Protocol asks member states to distribute this information so that women can understand these rights – the message, however, gets lost in translation. In addition, information, education and communication materials need to be made available in indigenous languages.

Sisonke Msimang, the Gender Advisor to UNAIDS in the Southern Africa region, looked at the broader mapping of why the Women’s Protocol was needed. She highlighted a number of important issues, but also a number of problems.
· At some point, there was a debate of gender not being an African concept, and this Protocol is important because its genesis is in Africa. It has also been a very significant step because it was a political action out of concern for women’s rights in Africa – taken be very conservative African leaders.
· The preamble on the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights clearly has a pre-occupation with the need to protect traditional values, which is something we can all stand behind; however it left too much scope for the shifting in promoting and protecting the rights of women – women’s activists felt the need to specifically define and protect the rights of women, and justified the need for a women’s protocol as a supplement to the charter. The problem though, is that the Charter is based in the fact that the law needs to protect women – which works well in the public arena eg courts, but how do we ensure that women’s rights are protected in the private domain eg, at home and behind closed doors. In addition, the Charter did not cover the way HIV/AIDS was eroding women’s rights.
· On the positive side, the Protocol highlights the protection for vulnerable groups eg widows.
· A gap in the Women’s Protocol is that is does not go far enough in articulating sexual rights (very specifically, choices on sex – when, where, with whom, etc) and choice on Termination of pregnancy.
· This value of this Protocol is that it can be used as a monitoring and evaluation tool to hold government’s accountable and to push governments to implement laws in support of protection of women’s

The debate that followed the two presentations looked at the following issues:
· What was the process of consultation around the Au Women’s Protocol? Whose document is it, and who decided what should go into it and what should be left out. This followed into a debate about gender and traditional values, and certain groups of women feeling as though other women did not have a right to talk on their behalf in claiming that Female Genital Mutilation, amongst other issues, was a human rights abuse.
· The following point highlighted concern around the implementation of the Protocol. It was noted that African governments are great are ratifying protocol’s, but are not very good at domesticating it. Laws may be amended to comply with the provisions of a particular protocol, but the weakness is in the implementation that makes a difference in the daily lives of women. The concern was around what the AU Women’s protocol is going to achieve that will make it different from CEDAW, Beijing, etc.
· An issue of accountability of Government’s was raised: in South Africa, to get things done, we have to exhaust all our channels – how is the Protocol going to differ? How is it linked to gender machinery like the CGE? It was responded that accountability becomes a challenge when a document like the AU Women’s Protocol, has no timeframes. The extent of how gender machinery like CGE can be linked in will depend purely on the extent to which civil society chooses to tap into this.

Prudence Mabele, Executive Director of the Positive Women’s Network highlighted the concerns experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS. She looked at:
· The gaps that we are currently experiencing in relation to statistics on how many women are on ARV’s, how many have dropped off the programme, how many have died from ARV’s;
· The issue of virginity testing and the pressure it put on young women – and the change of transmission mode through anal sex.
· Condom usage and negotiation thereof.
· Socio-ecocnomic and social impacts surrounding HIV/AIDS eg. Housing, poverty, welfare, etc
· Stigma and Discrimination
· Lesbians and oral STDs and transmission

Judith Flick summarised the need to work on various levels with the Women’s protocol – one element being ensuring that it is ratified, and the second level of working hand-in-hand with activists in ensuring implementation. In addition, she raised the issue of the slow speed of behavioural change in relation to the high speed at which the virus is mutating (medical science).

ENDS.

Seminar to mark 16 days in Ghana highlights gender inequities

2004-12-02

http://allafrica.com/stories/200411300743.html

Participants at a seminar organized by the Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre have blamed the high numbers of women living with HIV/AIDS on gender inequities and the lack of adequate legislations on women's rights. The seminar, organized to mark this year's 16 Days of Activism Against Violence, beginning from the 25th of November 2004, drew participation from a large section of civil society, including NGOs, rights advocates, gender activists, and the media. It was under the theme " Gender Violence and HIV/AIDS."

Stopping domestic violence online chat

2004-12-02

http://www.movingideas.org/dv_chat.html

Moving Ideas and Amnesty International USA teamed up to host an online chat on domestic violence in the lead up to the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Visit this web page to read the transcript and find out more about fighting gender violence.

The voice of a survivor: World AIDS Day and 16 days of activism

2004-12-02

http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?2,40,5,532

"I am 22 years old. I have one baby boy, who is 6 years old. Some people don't understand what life really is, but I understand it clearly. Life is about what you know and what you want and what you want to do to get the things you want. In life you experience many things, including painful things. And if you experience painful things you mostly gain and learn a lot. I feel so sorry for people who haven't experienced any pain, because they get hurt easily and by small things." This is part of a life story published on the website of the Centre for Civil Society at the University of Natal to mark the 16 Days of Activism against violence against women and children and World AIDS Day. Read the full story by clicking on the link provided.

Kenya: Africa should take climate change seriously

2004-12-02

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4051699.stm

Wangari Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, says African governments should do more about climate change. Professor Maathai, also Kenya's deputy environment minister, was speaking to African journalists at the United Nations Environment Programme HQ in Nairobi. She said climate change mattered, and the Kyoto Protocol on how to limit its effects must be taken seriously by all.

Kenya: No to GM trees

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/25876

Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement trains women to set up their own tree nurseries. "We make them independent people who can take care of their environment by themselves," says Maathai. As well as tree planting, Maathai is African Co-President of Jubilee 2000 and is campaigning for the cancellation of Third World Debt.
SOURCE: W R M B U L L E T I N 88
November 2004 - English edition

WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT
MOVIMIENTO MUNDIAL POR LOS BOSQUES

International Secretariat
Maldonado 1858; Montevideo, Uruguay
E-Mail: wrm@wrm.org.uy
Web page: http://www.wrm.org.uy
Editor: Ricardo Carrere

Wangari Maathai and Florence Wambugu have dramatically opposing approaches
to tree planting in Kenya. Maathai's approach is anti-colonialist and
empowers the people planting trees. Wambugu's is neo-colonialist and makes
the people planting trees dependent on biotechnology.

Wangari Maathai is this year's Nobel Prize winner. Her Green Belt Movement
trains women to set up their own tree nurseries. "We make them independent
people who can take care of their environment by themselves," says
Maathai. As well as tree planting, Maathai is African Co-President of
Jubilee 2000 and is campaigning for the cancellation of Third World Debt.

Florence Wambugu is the founder of A Harvest Biotechnology Foundation
International. Until 2002, she was the director of the International
Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA).

In 1997, ISAAA started a "Tree Biotechnology Project". The project is a
partnership between the Kenyan Forest Department, the Kenyan Forestry
Research Institute and Mondi Forests, South Africa's pulp and paper giant.
Funding for the project comes from the UK's Gatsby Foundation.

Mondi supplied hybrid clonal eucalyptus trees for the project, a cross
between Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus camaldulensis. The Tree
Biotechnology Project planted the clonal trees in trial plots to see which
grew best in Kenya's soils and climate. The project set up a nursery at
Karura, near Nairobi, which now produces more than one million tree
cuttings a year to be delivered to farmers.

ISAAA is pro-genetic modification. "Commercialized GM crops continue to
deliver significant economic, environmental, and social benefits to both
small and large farmers in developing and industrial countries," writes
ISAAA's chair Clive James. Florence Wambugu previously worked for Monsanto
on a GM virus-resistant sweet potato project. ISAAA's funders include
Bayer CropScience, Monsanto, Syngenta, Pioneer Hi-Bred and the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Past and present
board members include representatives from Monsanto, Syngenta and the
AusBiotech Alliance.

ISAAA's statements about its tree planting project (as well as the word
"Biotechnology" in the project's title) hint at genetic modification.
ISAAA states that Mondi's "genetically superior Eucalyptus" grows faster
and "the hybrid is drought- and cold-tolerant." The project "aims to
provide superior clonal material to both rural and urban communities in
Kenya".

In a July 2004 article, EcoTerra accused Florence Wambugu of using the
project to import genetically modified trees from South Africa into Kenya.
In the UK, the Guardian reported that "GM eucalyptus is to replace the
country's forest cover."

ISAAA denies that the trees are genetically modified. "The project does
not involve transgenic trees, it involves genetically enhanced trees,
which are the result of traditional breeding programmes at Mondi Forests,"
ISAAA's Catherine Ngamau told me.

Peter Gardiner, Mondi Forests' Natural Resource Manager denies that Mondi
has ever produced GM trees. "We don't deploy any GMO material in the
research, on a research plot or commercially anywhere. We haven't done it
anywhere. There's no intention to do that," Gardiner told me.

Flic Blakeway was one of Mondi's forestry scientists that Florence Wambugu
met when she visited Mondi's nurseries in South Africa. Blakeway
co-authored a paper presented at the 1997 World Forestry Congress in
Turkey, which describes how scientists in Mondi's laboratories had started
"preliminary work" on GM trees, including "the transformation of
eucalyptus leaf and cell cultures using Agrobacterium mediated
procedures." Blakeway's paper reported that the experiments did not
produce any GM trees.

Although I've found no evidence to back EcoTerra's claim that Mondi and
Florence Wambugu have sneaked GM eucalyptus trees into Kenya, ISAAA's Tree
Biotechnology Project is not immune to problems.

Fast growing eucalyptus trees cause streams and ponds to dry up and the
water table to drop in the areas they are planted. One of the Kikuyu names
for eucalyptus is munyua maai, which means the "drinker of water". Little
or nothing will grow under the trees.

In 1995 in a presentation at the UN Women's conference in Beijing, Wangari
Maathai explained that during the colonial era, "species of trees like the
eucalyptus, black wattle and conifer trees replaced indigenous species not
only on farmlands but also in forest areas." As a result, she continued,
"farmlands have lost water and certain crops like bananas, sugarcanes and
local species of arrow roots no longer thrive on the drier farmlands to
give food security to the local communities."

Then there's the Blue Gum Chalcid, a tiny black insect which is
threatening Kenya's eucalyptus trees. Affected trees are useless for
timber or poles. In November 2004, the Daily Nation reported that the pest
could threaten up to 40 per cent of Kenya's plantations. Eston Mutitu of
the Kenya Forestry Research Institute commented that the worst affected
trees are those produced though biotechnology such as through ISAAA's
project.

"We are now experiencing exotic pests attacking exotic trees. It seems we
are getting the bad side of incorporating the exotic trees," Mutitu told
Biosafety News in April 2004.

Three years ago, at a conference in South Africa, Wangari Maathai said,
"We are trying to stop the current government from expanding the
plantations. The government sees indigenous forests as useless." It seems
that no one from the Kenyan government, ISAAA or Mondi was listening.
Perhaps they will pay attention now that the problems caused by planting
eucalyptus trees are becoming all too apparent.

By: Chris Lang, e-mail: chrislang@t-online.de

South Africa: Earthlife to fight pebble bed reactor approval

2004-12-02

http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2285

Environmental group Earthlife Africa will go to court on Monday as part of the group's legal battle against power utility Eskom's proposed pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), with the court case aimed at upholding South Africa's environmental rights, Earthlife said in a statement. The Legal Resources Centre will be representing Earthlife Africa in the case. The authorisation of Eskom's proposed PBMR will come under judicial scrutiny on November 29, 2004 and November 30, 2004 when a full bench of the Cape Town High Court considers whether the authorisation of the plant given on 25 June, 2003 was unlawful.

Uganda: Ugandan NGO Responds on Bujagali claims

2004-12-02

http://www.irn.org/programs/finance/index.asp?id=sebastianmallaby/041124nape.html

In several recent publications, including his recently published book The World’s Banker and an article in Foreign Policy entitled "NGOs: Fighting Poverty, Hurting the Poor," author Sebastian Mallaby identified the Ugandan NGO, National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE), as an example of NGOs that do more harm than good for development. NAPE was instrumental in halting the proposed Bujagali Dam, a project found to be an economically poor deal for the government, as well as having social and environmental costs. In this interview with the International Rivers Network, NAPE's Frank Muramuzi responds to Mallaby.

Africa: Pastoralism under threat as a way of life

2004-12-02

http://www.minorityrights.org/news_detail.asp?ID=323

Pastoralism, a distinct African culture, form of livestock production and nomadic way of life, may vanish forever in its traditional form without urgent action to address the needs of pastoralist peoples in eastern Africa and the Horn. As pastoralists gather this weekend for Kenyan Pastoralist Week, this is the stark message of a new Minority Rights Group report, 'Pastoralism on the Margin', which warns that the essential foundations of this unique and ancient way of life have been all but eroded in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The demise of pastoralism, largely due to competing interests over land and failure to acknowledge and protect pastoralist rights, would be 'a human rights tragedy and a major loss to Africa's and humanity's cultural heritage', stated MRG.

Kenya: Africa commission to hear case of Endorois pastoralists

2004-12-02

http://www.minorityrights.org/news_detail.asp?ID=316

The African Commission is due to hear a legal case brought by the Endorois, a Kenyan pastoralist community, at an admissibility hearing scheduled to take place in Dakar in early December. In a significant development in the struggle for rights of the Endorois pastoralists, in June 2004, the Commission accepted a call by rights groups to enact 'Provisional Measures' to prevent irreparable harm to the community and their lands as a result of mining activities. The Commission made an urgent appeal to President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, urging him to ensure 'no further issuance of the alleged mining concessions'. The case is likely to coincide with Kenyan 'pastoralist week' during which communities will raise rights issues and threats to their future cultural survival.

Namibia: Finding common ground for fast-tracking land reform

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/land/25907

On paper all Namibian parties agree on one issue: the country’s need to address the land reform process.

This seems to indicate that there is a strong likelihood that the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), which is expected to win the 15 and 16 November general elections, will enjoy nationwide support to redress the country’s land-ownership issue.

Swapo has been in power since 1990 after it won the pre-independence elections held under the United Nations aegis after more than two decades of armed struggle against apartheid South Africa. Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990.

Swapo started addressing the legacy of over 100 years of occupation, first by Germany followed by South Africa, which is manifested by uneven distribution of farm land, in 1992 when it held a consultative conference on land attended by representatives of all Namibian communities.

It is in line with the resolutions adopted at the consultative conference that Swapo subsequently shaped its Land Reform policy passed in parliament. This has seen the acquisition of numerous derelict farms to resettle a number of communities.

In 1994, the government has also allocated N$20 million (at the current exchange rate, one US$ buys N$6.02) annually to acquire land to resettle the landless, a figure which has since grown to N$50 million per year.

This resulted in the buying of some 846,583 hectares on which 6,256 families were resettled. Swapo has promised to increase the number to over 6,436 families within the next five years.

Furthermore, Swapo also intends to increase from N$50 million to N$100 million per annum to acquire yet more land.

The opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) agrees that the land issue has to be addressed, and that “everybody is in favour”.

However, party spokesperson Johan de Waal added that, “there has to be a set of criteria for resettlement and land expropriation.”

He accused government of using an ad hoc criterion to expropriate land, with a result that commercial farmers are stopping farming, creating serious problems to the economy.

Because Namibia’s farms are located in semi-arid land and this requires know-how and financial capacity to explore, the DTA believes government should allocate resources for the education and training of resettled families, lest the farming land becomes unproductive in the long run.

In its manifesto, Swapo promises to do just that – to couple the resettlement programme with training and capacity building in order to promote sustainable land use.

For its part, the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) says it would “definitely support” any land reform policy that takes into account several key aspects.

These include the repossession of land owned by the absentee landlords, using legal mechanisms to repossess underdeveloped and under-utilised land, and buying 2,500-3,500 hectares of commercial farms which have been a problem in the past years because of the “willing seller and willing buyer” system.

NUDO feels that not so many farmers have been willing to sell, and thus there should be a fast-track programme geared at distribution and resettlement.

Arnold Tjihuiko, NUDO director of elections, said that his party recognises that the “land issue is very crucial and so it has to be tackled sooner than later.”

“Let us do it early while there is time to do this,” said Tjihuiko, adding that otherwise there could be potential for problems in the long run.

To offset any unproductiveness arising from resettlement of peasant farmers with lack of capacity or resources to farm, NUDO believes resettled peasant farmers should be assisted “to get access to training, credit and markets in order to maintain farm productivity.”

Even the Republican Party, which is mainly white-dominated with about 70 per cent of its executive white (although it claims to be broad-based) agrees land resettlement is important, and it is “definitely in favour of land reform.”

Perhaps, realising it has little chance of winning the election, the RP has been urging Swapo to “urgently come up with a final and sustainable land reform plan which will benefit all of Namibia’s inhabitants.”

They say such a plan should enshrine the very principle of “willing buyer, willing seller” which is contested by other parties because it has not been forthcoming in getting farmers to sell; it should not be applied as a punitive measure or a political football; and crucially landowners should have the right of appeal in a higher court when expropriation occurs and a dispute arises.

Namibians claim there are a lot of farms belonging to absentee landlords, and cases of farmers owning more than one farm up to 10, as well as under-utilised land that government should expropriate and resettle farmers in them.

Now what remains to be seen is whether after the noise and frenzy of the elections all the parties will still remain committed to addressing the land issue. (SARDC)

* SOURCE: Southern African News Features offers a reliable source of regional information and analysis on the Southern African Development Community, and is provided as a service to the SADC region. This article may be reproduced with credit to the author and publisher. SANF is produced by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC), which has monitored regional developments since 1985. http://www.sardc.net/Editorial/Newsfeature/04981104.htm

South Africa: Land reform requires 'big spending'

2004-12-02

http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#2300

The government’s land reform programme requires big spending, close to R2-billion a year. But the total budget for the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs was less than R2-billion this year. A massive R13-billion is needed next year to meet President Thabo Mbeki’s restitution deadline at the end of next year, where land or cash compensation is given to communities dispossessed during the apartheid years.

Africa: Community Media for Sustainable Development Roundtable issues declaration

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/25881

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has released the Declaration of Marrakesh, a document elaborated by participants to the first Roundtable on Community Media for Sustainable Development held on November 21, in Marrakesh, Morocco. The purpose of the Roundtable was to facilitate an open dialogue among key stakeholders in the communications and development sectors concerning the achievement and monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals. Discussions focused on Community Radio in Africa, with contributions and insights from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Community Media for Sustainable Development Roundtable issues declaration

Montreal, November 22, 2004. The World Association of Community Radio
Broadcasters (AMARC) has released today the Declaration of Marrakesh, a
document elaborated by participants to the first Roundtable on Community
Media for Sustainable Development held on November 21, in Marrakesh,
Morocco.

The purpose of the Roundtable was to facilitate an open dialogue among
key stakeholders in the communications and development sectors
concerning the achievement and monitoring of the Millennium Development
Goals. Discussions focused on Community Radio in Africa, with
contributions and insights from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.
AMARCs initiative to create a Task Force leading to the constitution of
a Development Fund for Community Radio in Africa was one of the main
topics examined during the meeting


The Roundtable also served as a preparation meeting for the second phase
of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to be held on
November 2005, in Tunisia.

______________________________________________________________________


Closing Declaration of the Round Table on

Community Media and Sustainable Development


Marrakesh, 21 November 2004


We, community media practitioners and stakeholders, meeting in
Marrakesh, the 21 November 2004, at the first Round Table on Community
Media and Sustainable Development;



Recognising that Community Media, that is media which are independent,
community-driven and civil society based, have a particular role to play
in enabling access and participation for all to information and
communications, especially the poorest and most marginalized
communities;



Noting growing recognition of the crucial contribution that community
media can make to the achievement of the goals of the Millennium
Declaration and that Community Media can be vital enablers of
information, voice, and capacities for dialogue;



Recognising that legal, regulatory and policy frameworks that protect
and enhance community media are especially critical for ensuring
vulnerable groups access to information;



Call on Governments to ensure that legal frameworks for community media
are non-discriminatory and provide for equitable allocation of
frequencies through transparent and accountable mechanisms;



Call for targets to be established for the opening up of broadcast
licensing to allow for the operation of community broadcasting where
this is not currently permitted;



Insist that spectrum planning and regulation should ensure sufficient
spectrum and channel capacity, and appropriate technical standards, for
community media to develop in both the analogue and digital environment;



Call for a donorcivil society partnership to invest in and support
community-driven information and communication initiatives, using
traditional media and new ICTs including projects that make provision
for the poorest communities, for cultural and linguistic diversity and
for the equal participation of women and girls;



Propose that this should include:



* Engagement of community media expertise in planning for media
and ICT investment around development,

* inclusion of a community media element in all ICT investment,

* establishment of a Development Fund for Community Radio in
Africa,

* encouragement of national level funds for community media
support;



And agree to establish a Task Force on Funding and Resourcing Community
Media to take forward these proposals and to evaluate their
implementation.

Africa: Resonance of broken promises

2004-12-02

http://africa.rights.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=he_1&x=28603

Freedom of expression and the freedom of journalists to exercise their profession rocketed to the top of the agenda at a conference on the role of the media in the information society, taking place in Marrakech, Morocco. But the question of the media boycotting a subsequent conference to be held in Tunisia - a country that violates free speech - seemed to have been defused. Controversy at the Marrakech conference centred around whether Tunisia would respect principles agreed by global governments at last year’s United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

DRC: Three journalists detained for 24 hours in Kinshasa

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/25889

On 26 November 2004, in the early evening, Delly Bonsange, Rackys Bokela and Jean-Marie Basa Ndjakolo, journalists with the newspapers "Alerte Plus", "Le Collecteur" and "Flash Info", respectively, were arrested by three judicial police inspectors and detained at the Kinshasa/Gombe High Court, where they spent the night. The journalists were released on 27 November, and were ordered to reappear before the court on 30 November. (French version available through the link provided)
IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT - DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

29 November 2004

Three journalists detained for 24 hours in Kinshasa

SOURCE: Journaliste en danger (JED), Kinshasa

(JED/IFEX) - On 26 November 2004, in the early evening, Delly Bonsange,
Rackys Bokela and Jean-Marie Basa Ndjakolo, journalists with the newspapers
"Alerte Plus", "Le Collecteur" and "Flash Info", respectively, were arrested
by three judicial police inspectors and detained at the Kinshasa/Gombe High
Court, where they spent the night. The journalists were released on 27
November, at around 2:00 p.m. (local time), and were ordered to reappear
before the court on 30 November.

No official reason was given for the journalists' arrest. On 27 November, a
JED representative was able to meet with them in their place of detention.
The journalists said police inspectors questioned them on two separate
occasions. They were asked to reveal their sources for a story implicating
Culture and Arts Minister Christophe Muzungu in a financial scandal at the
national electrical company (Société nationale d'électricité, SNEL) during
the time when Muzungu was a member of the SNEL's board of directors. The
president's cabinet secretary was also implicated in the scandal.

Bonsange told JED that he and the two other journalists were arrested on 26
November at Muzungu's office. Bonsange said they had an appointment to meet
with the minister in order to review information in their possession about a
story involving the the misappropriation of some US$3 million in "special
premiums for debt recovery." On 25 November, the national energy minister
and SNEL president were dismissed over the scandal.

Upon their arrival at Muzungu's office, the journalists were met by the
minister's communications adviser, who informed them that they could not
meet with the minister. When asked by JED to explain his version of the
facts, the communications adviser said, "The three journalists claimed that,
with the information in their possession, they had the ability to have the
minister dismissed from the government." Angered by what he considered to be
threats and a blackmail attempt, Muzungu met with the journalists and,
according to them, allegedly said, "We are the ones in power. I can kill you
and dispose of your bodies." Muzungu's communications adviser denied this
version of events, however, claiming the journalists used threats and
blackmail "in a shameful attempt to extort money from the minister."

"Le Collecteur" and "Flash Info" have only been published sporadically in
recent months.

For further information, contact D. M'Baya Tshimanga, president, Journaliste
en danger (JED), B.P. 633 Kinshasa 1, Democratic Republic of Congo, tel.
+243 814 035821, +243 9898 0760, +243 99 96 353, fax: +243 88 01 625,
e-mail: direction@jed-afcentre.org, Internet: http://www.jed-afrique.org

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of JED.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit JED.
_________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________

ALERTE - RÉPUBLIQUE DÉMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO

Le 29 novembre 2004

Trois journalistes interpellés pendant 24 heures à Kinshasa

SOURCE: Journaliste en danger (JED), Kinshasa

(JED/IFEX) - Delly Bonsange, Rackys Bokela et Jean-Marie Basa Ndjakolo,
respectivement journalistes à "Alerte Plus", "Le Collecteur" et "Flash
Info", ont été interpellés par trois inspecteurs de la police judiciaire, le
26 novembre 2004, en début de soirée, et conduits à la brigade criminelle du
Tribunal de Grande Instance de Kinshasa/Gombe où ils ont passé la nuit. Ils
ont été libérés le 27 novembre vers 14h00 (heure locale) avec injonction de
se présenter à nouveau le 30 novembre.

Le motif officiel de cette interpellation n'est pas connu. Mais selon les
trois journalistes, que JED a pu rencontrer sur leur lieu de détention, le
27 novembre dans l'avant-midi, ils ont été entendus sur procès verbal à deux
reprises. Les inspecteurs judiciaires voulaient connaître la source des
informations faisant état de l'implication du ministre de la Culture et des
Arts, Christophe Muzungu, à l'époque où il était membre du conseil
d'administration de la Société nationale d'électricité (SNEL, entreprise
publique congolaise), dans le scandale financier au sein de cette entreprise
impliquant un ministre et le directeur de cabinet du Président de la
République.

Bonsange a dit à JED qu'ils ont été interpellés, le 26 novembre, au cabinet
du ministre de la Culture et des Arts alors qu'ils y sont allés après avoir
pris rendez-vous avec le Ministre pour vérifier des informations en leur
possession en rapport avec le détournement, au titre de "primes spéciales
pour recouvrement d'une créance", de plus de 3 millions de $US qui a coûté,
le 25 novembre, leurs postes au ministre de l'Energie et au
Président-délégué général de la SNEL.

Arrivés sur place, les journalistes ont été reçus par le Conseiller en
communication du Ministre, qui n'aurait pas voulu les laisser rencontrer ce
dernier. C'est alors que, selon le Conseiller en communication que JED a pu
joindre au téléphone, "les trois journalistes auraient déclaré qu'ils
avaient le pouvoir, avec les informations en leur possession, de faire
révoquer du gouvernement le Ministre". Furieux à cause de ces propos
considérés comme des menaces et chantages, le ministre Muzungu est venu à la
rencontre des journalistes et leur aurait dit : "C'est nous qui avons le
pouvoir. Je peux vous tuer et vous jeter n'importe où". Le Conseiller en
communication de Muzungu a rejeté ces propos, considérant, pour sa part, que
ce sont les trois journalistes qui ont usé des menaces et chantages "dans le
but inavoué de soutirer de l'argent au Ministre".

Les journaux "Le Collecteur" et "Flash Info" ne paraissent quasiment plus
depuis de longs mois.

Pour tout renseignement complémentaire, veuillez contacter D. M'Baya
Tshimanga, président, Journaliste en danger (JED), B.P. 633 Kinshasa 1,
République démocratique du Congo, tél: +243 814 035821, +243 9898 0760, +243
99 96 353, téléc: +243 88 01 625, courrier électronique:
direction@jed-afcentre.org, Internet: http://www.jed-afrique.org

JED est responsable de toute information contenue dans cette alerte. En
citant cette information, prière de bien vouloir l'attribuer à JED.
_______________________________________________________________
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Ivory Coast: President Gbagbo urged to bring order to state-owned media

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/25882

Reporters Without Borders has welcomed a statement from Ivorian president, Laurent Gbagbo, condemning the ransacking of opposition and independent newspaper offices on 4 November and the opening of an investigation to punish those responsible. But the worldwide press freedom organisation called on him to go further to ensure these newspapers can circulate freely again and to restore order within the state-owed media.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

PRESS RELEASE/UPDATE - CÔTE D'IVOIRE

26 November 2004

President Gbagbo urged to assist opposition press, bring order to
state-owned media

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

**Updates IFEX alerts of 11, 8 and 5 November, 28 and 27 October 2004**

(RSF/IFEX) - The following is an RSF statement:

President urged to aid recovery of opposition press and bring order to
state-owned media

Reporters Without Borders has welcomed a statement from Ivorian president,
Laurent Gbagbo, condemning the ransacking of opposition and independent
newspaper offices on 4 November and the opening of an investigation to
punish those responsible. But the worldwide press freedom organisation
called on him to go further to ensure these newspapers can circulate freely
again and to restore order within the state-owed media.

"While it is shameful for this condemnation to come three weeks after the
event, we hail Laurent Gbagbo's apparent desire to see justice for dailies
24 Heures, Le Patriote, Le Nouveau Réveil, Le Jour, Le Front, Le Libéral
nouveau and all newspapers silenced by the extremists," Reporters Without
Borders said.

"We hope that these investigations will be thorough and that those
responsible, whoever they may be, will be genuinely punished". But it added
that to be consistent, the Ivorian authorities should also establish
professionalism within the state-owned media and guarantee that gagged
publications go back on sale at newsstands.

"Once it has received assurances from the head of state in person there
should be no reason for distributor Edi Presse to refuse to deliver them,"
it added.

A final statement from the council of ministers' meeting on 25 November,
read on television by the government's spokesman, said that the head of
state condemned the destruction of opposition party headquarters and "the
wrecking of some newspaper offices, violence against individuals,
particularly foreigners, women and children."

"Such acts should not go unpunished," said the statement, adding that
President Gbagbo had announced that investigations were "under way" to find
those responsible for acts of destruction, pillage and physical assaults.

A wave of exceptional violence was unleashed against press freedom on 4
November, the same day that Ivorian armed forces launched an offensive
against positions of former rebels in the north of the country.
Pro-government militia ransacked some opposition newspapers, gagging part of
the press, sabotaged FM broadcasts by Radio France Internationale (RFI), BBC
and Africa N°1 and ousted the director-general of Radiotélévision ivoirienne
(RTI) for a pro-government figure.

The state-owned media that enjoy a virtual monopoly in the economic capital,
Abidjan, then turned themselves into propagandists for the president's
party, and "Young Patriots" called for an anti-French uprising, putting out
doom-laden and extremist news.

Journalists who could not work for their gagged newspapers were forced to
live in hiding, more or less, before managing to publish a combined free
issue, distributed unofficially on 22 November, thanks to a return to calm
in the economic capital. Private distributor Edi Presse, however, still
refused to distribute the papers, citing "constant threats to destroy your
dailies and to ransack offices." It also argued that other newspaper sellers
and other partners" feared "their activities could be endangered" as a
result. Le Patriote, Le Jour, 24 Heures, Ivoire Matin, Le Libéral nouveau,
Le Nouveau Réveil and Le Front produced a further joint issue on 26
November, with a cover price, but still using an alternative distribution
system.

FM broadcasts of RFI and BBC mysteriously returned to Abidjan on 24
November. Moreover, there was a noticeable change of tone on the airwaves of
state-owned RTI and Radio Côte d'Ivoire, which broadcast regular messages
aimed at restoring calm.

For further information, contact Leonard Vincent at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: africa@rsf.org, Internet: http://www.rsf.org

The information contained in this press release/update is the sole
responsibility of RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit RSF.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts email: alerts@ifex.org general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
_________________________________________________________________

Nigeria: BBC correspondent banned by Borno state government

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/25880

On 24 November 2004, the Borno state government in northern Nigeria declared the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) Hausa Service correspondent, Alhaji Adamu Mato, a "persona non grata" and banned him from continuing to report from the state following allegations of "incorrect" reporting about the region. The government has banned the correspondent from the state's Government House in Maiduguri and all government institutions, ministries and parastatals, in addition to public functions.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT - NIGERIA

25 November 2004

BBC correspondent banned by Borno state government

SOURCE: Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Lagos

(MRA/IFEX) - On 24 November 2004, the Borno state government in northern
Nigeria declared the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) Hausa Service
correspondent, Alhaji Adamu Mato, a "persona non grata" and banned him from
continuing to report from the state following allegations of "incorrect"
reporting about the region. The government has banned the correspondent from
the state's Government House in Maiduguri and all government institutions,
ministries and parastatals, in addition to public functions.

The ban on Mato was outlined in a statement issued by the state commissioner
for information, Alhaji Mohammed Al-Amin Kamselem. The commissioner said the
order to restrict the correspondent from working in the state was the result
of a resolution passed by the State House of Assembly on 20 November, urging
the government to "urgently replace Mato in the interest of the people and
objective journalistic reporting."

The resolution, according to Kamselem's statement, called on the executive
arm of government to, "in the interim disallow the affected correspondent
from having access to any of the government institutions or public
functions," to prevent the recurrence of subjective reporting by the BBC. It
claimed that Mato's reporting could destabilise the democracy that Nigerian
citizens have fought to build and sustain.

Kamselem said that, despite the ban, a replacement would be accepted by the
state government as it had no grudge against the BBC as an organisation or
any of its affiliates.

All of the state's security agencies have been informed of the order against
the correspondent and advised to take any necessary action in the event of a
breach of the ban.

For further information, contact Ayode Longe, Media Rights Agenda, 10
Agboola Aina Street, off Amore Street, Ikeja, P.O. Box 52113, Ikoyi, Lagos,
Nigeria, tel: +234 1 493 6033, fax: +234 1 493 0831, e-mail:
pubs@mediarightsagenda.org, Internet: http://www.internews.org/mra

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of MRA.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit MRA.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Suite 403, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts e-mail: alerts@ifex.org general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
_________________________________________________________________

Tanzania: "Dira" newspaper will remain closed despite High Court Ruling

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/25910

On November 24 2004, the High Court of Tanzania, in Zanzibar, delivered its ruling on the long awaited case launched by the 'Dira' newspaper management team to challenge the Act used to close the only independent weekly in the Isles. According to sources from Zanzibar, the paper will remain closed because the High Court ruling has discovered that it violated registration procedures. "The result is zero-zero," Sports Editor of the then Dira newspaper, who is also BBC Kiswahili Correspondent in Zanzibar, Ally Saleh, told the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Tanzania in a telephone interview soon after the High Court's ruling.
Alert Update

November 24, 2004

"Dira" newspaper will remain closed despite High Court Ruling



* The following is an update of MISA Alerts issued between November 24, 25 and December 9, 2003. See www.misa.org for more information



On November 24 2004, the High Court of Tanzania, in Zanzibar, delivered its ruling on the long awaited case launched by the 'Dira' newspaper management team to challenge the Act used to close the only independent weekly in the Isles.



According to sources from Zanzibar, the paper will remain closed because the High Court ruling has discovered that it violated registration procedures.



"The result is zero-zero," Sports Editor of the then Dira newspaper, who is also BBC Kiswahili Correspondent in Zanzibar, Ally Saleh, told the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Tanzania in a telephone interview soon after the High Court's ruling.



According to Saleh, the High Court Judge, Mshibe Ali Bakari, indicated that both ‘Dira’ and the government violated rules and laws in the operation and subsequent closure of the newspaper. While the minister responsible for information exercised too much power to close the paper, the publication operated illegally in the island as it violated registration procedures.



Saleh said that the paper’s management committee will meet to discuss the possibility of taking the case to the Court of Appeal because they are confident that their publication was legally registered and was operating according to the rules and principles guiding newspapers in the semi-autonomous island.



"The issue of registration has never been raised during our operation. It was raised today by the High Court. We must sit down and chart a way forward to take the matter to the Court of Appeal," he said.



The newspaper is challenging the government's closure imposed in 2003 for allegedly contravening journalism ethics .



The publication under its Managing Editor, Mr. Ali Mohamed Nabwa, the former press secretary to the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, the late Dr. Omar Ali Juma, argued that the closure was aimed at muzzling the paper from disseminating information to the public. It has been argued that the Minister had not acted fairly on the matter, and, in fact, the action had political motives.



BACKGROUND



On November 24 2003, the Zanzibar government suspended "Dira", which is published by the Zanzibar International Media Company (ZIMCO). The government alleged that the newspaper had violated "professional ethics".



Salum Juma Othman, the minister of state in the Chief Minister's Office, said that, under the suspension, the company was not allowed to publish, circulate or republish any previous issues of the newspaper in any part of the United Republic of Tanzania until further notice.



The minister said he was suspending the paper in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under subsection (1) of Section 30 of the Zanzibar Registration of Newsagents, Newspapers and Books Acts no. 5 of 1988.





On November 28 2003, however, the Zanzibar government banned "Dira" for allegedly continuing to violate "professional ethics". On 28 November, Othman said that the government had decided to ban the newspaper because it has allegedly been fomenting hatred between the government and the public.





Ends

Lesotho: Abuse of child domestic workers uncovered

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44442

The preliminary findings of a study on child domestic workers in Lesotho, forced onto the job market by poverty and HIV/AIDS, has uncovered the sometimes "highly abusive nature" of their relationship with employers. Commissioned by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Youth Sport and Recreation, the survey "revealed the serious challenges imposed upon children, as they become more and more reliant on various forms of labour to sustain their poverty- and HIV/AIDS-stricken families," a UNICEF statement said.

South Africa: The BIG discussion: Social security in post-apartheid SA

2004-12-02

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16691

In 2000 a South African government committee recommended the introduction of a basic income grant (BIG), consisting of a grant of R100 per month for every South African citizen, regardless of age or income level. The idea of basic income emerged as a response to the crisis of welfare states, and yet was relevant to South Africa even though it has never been a welfare state, because the problem of mass structural unemployment it faces has some similarity to the structural problems in Northern welfare states. Extreme poverty and inequality, insufficient administrative capacity, and the existence of a relatively well-developed social assistance system further accelerated demand for the BIG, making South Africa one of the first countries in the world to consider it as a policy alternative This paper produced by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) attempts to explain the dynamics of the political process that led to the BIG being raised to the level of a 'policy alternative', that is, an option being seriously considered for government action; and explores the eventual consequences of the campaign for a BIG to be introduced.

Zimbabwe: NGO de-registration stalls aid for 90,000 kids

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44401

An international NGO involved in a school feeding programme has had to leave Zimbabwe because the authorities refused to renew its registration and work permits for expatriate staff. International aid agencies and NGOs must register with the government and have their activities vetted and approved.

Africa Diaspora film festival

2004-12-02

http://www.nyadff.org/ADFFabout.html

"Welcome to the world of the Contemporary African Diaspora Film Festival. In our reality, people from diverse races, nationalities and backgrounds come together to enjoy important cinematic works of creativity, intellectual expansion, identity, and equality. In this world there are no boundaries around people because they are embraced in a universal understanding of humanity. This is the element of commonality that weaves through this annual event of images from the African Diaspora." This festival runs from 26 November to 12 December in New York. Visit the website for more information.

Africa Educational Trust 2 year part-time course

2004-12-02

http://www.afford-uk.org/services/events/viewevents/index.asp?id=1124,0,3,0,0,0

The Africa Education Trust is developing a training course to empower African Women involved in community or refugee organisations across England. The course will enable African women to conduct action research into the needs of their community. It will train them to present and articulate their findings and use them to articulate on behalf of African and refugee women at the community, regional and national level.

African diaspora demand dual citizenship

2004-12-02

http://allafrica.com/stories/200411220109.html

Africans in the diaspora who are determined to return to their birth places in Africa, including Nigeria, have demanded the provision of dual citizenship from African leaders as a pre-condition for them to return to the continent.

Sierra Leone radio programmes available on the web

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/diaspora/25950

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) has just made available three of its widely popular radio programs via the World Wide Web. Search for Common Ground-Sierra Leone’s Talking Drum Studio programs Atunda Ayenda, Common Ground News Feature, and Paliment Bol At can now be heard in Krio at www.talkingdrumstudio.org . The new site was created in an effort to reach the Sierra Leonean Diaspora and others with an interest in Sierra Leone.
PRESS RELEASE December 1st, 2004
New Website Launch
www.talkingdrumstudio.org



Listeners worldwide can now tune in to popular radio programs

produced and broadcast in Sierra Leone!

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) has just made available three of its widely popular radio programs via the World Wide Web. Search for Common Ground-Sierra Leone’s Talking Drum Studio programs Atunda Ayenda, Common Ground News Feature, and Paliment Bol At can now be heard in Krio at www.talkingdrumstudio.org . The new site was created in an effort to reach the Sierra Leonean Diaspora and others with an interest in Sierra Leone.

SFCG uses media as a tool for peace building and for promoting common ground approaches to contentious issues. In Sierra Leone, SFCG established Talking Drum Studio in 2000 to stimulate national dialogue around critical issues. SFCG produces its radio programs using multi-ethnic teams of journalists and producers. The programs are then aired on various government, private, and community radio stations throughout Sierra Leone.

A description of the three programs follows:

SFCG-Sierra Leone launched Atunda Ayenda (which means “Lost and Found”) in 2001. The radio soap opera has become the country’s most popular radio program. With over 700 episodes produced, you can follow the characters as episodes deal with issues of corruption, decentralization, the security situation, youth, HIV/AIDS, and other relevant issues of national importance. In Sierra Leone Atunda Ayenda is aired Monday-Friday for 15 minutes each day, with a 30-minute review program on Saturdays.

Common Ground News Feature presents conflict issues from around the country and creates a public forum where those issues are discussed, to assist in the peace building, reconciliation, and reconstruction processes. SFCG-Sierra Leone staff conduct interviews on key issues getting opinions from individuals and groups, and provide balanced information on the topics. The show airs throughout Sierra Leone twice weekly on 18 radio stations.

The Independent Radio Network--a coalition of 10 radio stations--produces Paliment Bol At, a program that aims to improve government-civil society relations and increase government accountability. The program features dialogue between government officials and their communities, and informs citizens of their roles and responsibilities. Paliment Bol At focuses on issues of corruption to hold members of Parliament, and other elected officials, accountable to the public. Paliment Bol At is particularly important in an emerging democracy such as Sierra Leone.

Search for Common Ground is an international non-governmental organization that works to transform the way the world deals with conflict: away from adversarial approaches, toward cooperative solutions. With programs in or with Angola, Belgium, Burundi, DR Congo, Greece, Indonesia, Iran, Liberia, Macedonia, Middle East, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States, its range of methods for peacebuilding includes community organizing, mediation/facilitation training, radio/TV programming, journalism, sports, drama, and music.

FURTHER INFORMATION
Susan Koscis, Communications Director
Search for Common Ground
skoscis@sfcg.org
Telephone: (202) 777-2215

Africa: Leaders urged to follow through on landmine commitments

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/25862

The tremendous progress in banning antipersonnel mines must not mask the reality that governments are not doing nearly enough to help landmine survivors and get mines out of the ground quickly, campaigners said on the eve of the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World. “Failure to fully address the needs and rights of the ever-growing number of landmine survivors could undercut the remarkable achievements of decreased landmine use, production, trade and stockpiling of the weapon”, said Ms. Jody Williams, co-laureate with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. “Governments must renew and even expand their political and financial commitments if our joint effort to eradicate antipersonnel mines is to succeed,” she added.
International Campaign to Ban Landmines Press Statement



Leaders urged: follow through your commitments

to a mine-free world



(Nairobi, 26 Nov 2004) The tremendous progress in banning antipersonnel mines must not mask the reality that governments are not doing nearly enough to help landmine survivors and get mines out of the ground quickly, campaigners said today on the eve of the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World.



“Failure to fully address the needs and rights of the ever-growing number of landmine survivors could undercut the remarkable achievements of decreased landmine use, production, trade and stockpiling of the weapon”, said Ms. Jody Williams, co-laureate with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. “Governments must renew and even expand their political and financial commitments if our joint effort to eradicate antipersonnel mines is to succeed,” she added.



The Summit is the first review conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, or Ottawa Convention. Gaps in the provision of assistance to survivors and the slow pace of mine clearance are two weak spots in an otherwise encouraging performance, the ICBL noted. The marked drop in the use of antipersonnel mines worldwide since the Mine Ban Treaty came into effect five years ago was welcomed as one of its great achievements.



The week-long conference, to be hosted by Kenya and held under the auspices of the United Nations, opens on 29 November. The ICBL’s 350-plus delegation of landmine survivors, researchers and lobbyists from 80 countries will join more than 500 government diplomats, United Nations representatives and others to review the Treaty’s achievements and adopt an Action Plan for the critical period ahead.



“Increased and sustained support from national governments and international donors is desperately needed for healthcare and disability sectors in mine-affected countries”, said Ms. Sheree Bailey of Handicap International and Landmine Monitor’s Victim Assistance Research Coordinator.



“Donor countries should boost their contributions and mine-affected countries should ensure that resources are used in the smartest possible way so that the 10-year deadline for removal of emplaced mines is met,” added Mr Mohammed Shohab Hakimi, who chairs the Campaign’s working group on mine action.



The ICBL’s authoritative Landmine Monitor Report found inadequacies in at least one aspect of survivor assistance in about 80 percent of the 65 countries with new mine casualties last year. Even when services exist, mine survivors struggle to gain access to them when they are too far away or are prohibitively expensive.



There are between 300,000 and 400,000 landmine survivors in at least 121 countries. Funding for victim assistance has dropped in recent years in contrast to a heartening increase in funding for mine action. The provision of assistance for survivors is a unique feature of the Mine Ban Treaty.



“Finding ways to earn a living is still the number one priority for survivors in mine-affected communities”, said Mr Tun Channareth, ICBL Ambassador and landmine survivor from Cambodia, as he urged government and other donors to ensure that survivors and their communities have access to income generating skills and opportunities, housing, education and health.



“The promise of a mine-free world is now within reach and we will keep up the pressure on governments to deliver”, said Ms Liz Bernstein, Coordinator of the ICBL.



More: www.icbl.org/nairobisummit/media



CONTACTS



Sue Wixley, tel: + 254 (0) 735 337 396 and Nancy Ingram, tel: + 254 (0) 735 475 200
Simona Beltrami, tel: + 254 (0) 735 550 259 (incl. Espanõl)
Sylvie Brigot, tel: 254 (0)733 366 056 (Français)
Email: media@sign-icbl.org
29 Nov - 3 Dec: ICBL Office at Nairobi Summit venue, tel: + 254 (0) 20 622 884

DRC/Rwanda: DRC to send troops to border

2004-12-02

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4052487.stm

The Democratic Republic of Congo says it is sending thousands of troops to the border with Rwanda in response to heightened tension in the region. A spokesman for President Joseph Kabila says more than 6,000 troops will be deployed within the next two weeks. It follows unconfirmed reports that Rwandan troops crossed into DR Congo. Rwanda has repeated warnings that it is prepared to take military action against Rwandan Hutu rebels based across the border.

DRC/Uganda: Kampala deploys troops along border with Congo

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44455

The Ugandan army announced on Wednesday it had deployed troops along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following reports of renewed activity by Ugandan insurgent groups based in eastern Congo. "We have made [a] precautionary deployment," Maj Shaban Bantariza, the army spokesman, told IRIN on Wednesday, "especially in areas we think are possible crossing points for some negative elements."

Equatorial Guinea: How Britain was told of coup plan

2004-12-02

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1361299,00.html

Britain was given a full outline of an illegal coup plot in a vital oil-rich African state, including the dates, details of arms shipments and key players, several months before the putsch was launched, according to confidential documents obtained by The UK Observer. But, despite Britain's clear obligations under international law, Jack Straw, who was personally told of the plans at the end of January, failed to warn the government of Equatorial Guinea.

Ivory Coast: Shades of Rwanda?

2004-12-02

http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/1986.cfm

The troubles in the Ivory Coast cast a long shadow over the 10th Summit of French-speaking countries (La Francophonie), which took place last week in the city of Ouagadougou, the capital of neighboring Burkina Faso. The summit leaders signed a resolution demanding that all sides in the conflict adhere to the terms of the French-brokered peace accord reached in January 2003 and that "the Ivorian authorities put an end to the incitements to hatred and violence circulated by certain media and to assure the protection of the foreign communities living in the country." Many observers now fear that the crisis has startling similarities to the events of Rwanda ten years ago, argues this commentary from the World Press Review.

Senegal: No quick end in sight to Casamance rebellion

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44380

The road between Ziguinchor, capital of Senegal's lush southern region of Casamance, and Cap Skirring, a once booming beach resort, is only 70 kms long. But the journey takes three hours because of military roadblocks and killer pot-holes caused by two decades of strife-related neglect. The Casamance, wedged between Guinea-Bissau to the south and Gambia to the north, was once Senegal's bread basket and a tropical haven for European tourists. But for 22 years it has been the scene of an on-off separatist conflict that has displaced 50,000 people and left hundreds injured by land-mines.

Sudan: Fresh attack on North Darfur village reported

2004-12-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44472

Armed men attacked a village in the western Sudanese state of North Darfur on Tuesday forcing about 2,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to flee from their homes, the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported. "We are not sure who was behind the attack," Wyger Wentholt, MSF regional information officer told IRIN in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "What our people on the ground were told by the IDPs was that the attackers were suspected to be a pro-government militia."

Uganda: Restoring survivors hopes

2004-12-02

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/110171414798.htm

He was 8 years old. Just beginning the adventures of his life and enjoying what life offers such as playing ball with his mates. But one day, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels came and abducted him. He became a child soldier. One morning when duty called he responded and went to battle. And the young soldier now promoted to a sergeant, was thrown down by an enormous explosion that shook the ground beneath him. This is one of the stories from a new book by the Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI), “Restoring Survivors’ Hope” that unveils the dramatic life of mine survivors in northern Uganda, who have suffered the trauma of mines and war.

ICT Policy Handbook

2004-12-02

http://rights.apc.org/handbook/

Ask a typical citizen about ICT policy and s/he will probably reply with a comment like ‘what’s that?’ or ‘who cares?’ Getting involved in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy-making has not been a priority for most people, even those who are generally active in other areas of public policy. It often seems removed from our daily experience, and technically complicated. Yet new communications media are becoming so important that we cannot continue to ignore them. This book from the Association for Progressive Communications takes the mystery out of ICT policy and makes it easier to understand. Key issues are presented and explained clearly and concisely, and a basis is provided for further investigation.

ICTs used to promote exchange of indigenous knowledge

2004-12-02

http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=28548

Arid Lands Information Network – Eastern Africa (ALIN-EA) has successfully completed a one-year pilot phase of the Open Knowledge Network (OKN) East Africa project. OKN is a global initiative linking marginalized communities and facilitating information sharing through Information Communications Technologies (ICTs). It aims at promoting the creation and exchange of local content by local people in local languages. The network encourages documentation and dissemination of local knowledge beyond the precincts of community boundaries.

New fund for African community radio

2004-12-02

http://www.sabcnews.co.za/sci_tech/telecomms/0,2172,92572,00.html

African community radio may get a boost from the formation of an international task force to investigate setting up an international fund to underwrite resources for the sector, a meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco has decided. The initiative parallels global initiatives to set up a "Digital Solidarity Fund" that flowed out of last year's United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

Repressive Countries Gaining Foothold Ahead of WSIS, RSF Warns

2004-12-02

http://allafrica.com/stories/200411301333.html

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern that several countries that harshly crack down on use of the Internet are members of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), which met in Geneva from 23 to 25 November 2004, in the run-up to the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis. The organisation also noted that from 22 to 23 November, another repressive country, Syria, hosted a WSIS preparatory meeting organised to set up a "partnership to build an information society for the Arab world."

Texts aim to fight Aids in Kenya

2004-12-02

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4054475.stm

A new mobile phone text message service is joining the battle against HIV/Aids in Kenya. People will be able to text questions on the subject to a special number and receive a prompt answer for free. Subscribers will also get daily tips on how to prevent the infection and to deal with the pandemic.

Partners Uganda, an e-mail based discussion forum

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/enewsl/25885

Ugandan Network of AIDS Service Organizations (UNASO) and Health and Development Networks (HDN) would like to invite you to join the first e-mail based discussion forum on HIV/AIDS in Uganda. This eForum, entitled ‘Partners Uganda’ will be jointly managed and moderated by UNASO and HDN. By joining Partners Uganda, you can send and receive e-mails on HIV/AIDS related issues in the Ugandan context.
Invitation to Join Partners Uganda, an e-mail based discussion forum

Dear Partner in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS,

Ugandan Network of AIDS Service Organizations (UNASO) and Health and Development Networks (HDN) would like to invite you to join the first e-mail based discussion forum on HIV/AIDS in Uganda. This eForum, entitled ‘Partners Uganda’ will be jointly managed and moderated by UNASO and HDN. By joining Partners Uganda, you can send and receive e-mails on HIV/AIDS related issues in the Ugandan context.

One of the main advantages of being a member of this eForum is that you can discuss practical or policy level issues relevant to your work without having to attend meetings physically. As a member, you can input your view on policy, legislation, and strategies that you agree or disagree with, thereby enriching the debate on HIV/AIDS. In addition, you can share best practices as well as the challenges faced in your work with other members of the eForum, and you would also be able to ask questions and get feedback from experts on specific issues.

The moderators on this eForum are especially excited at the opportunity presented by the eForum to broaden the debate to members of civil society who may not be part of the decision-making process but who may nevertheless have valuable experiences and viewpoints to share with other eForum members. In addition, the eForum may be used as a vehicle for highlighting aspects of HIV/AIDS that may need special attention such as the relationship between the virus and TB, gender, disability, advocacy for children’s rights, as well as care for the elderly.

We know that there is a wealth of knowledge and information on HIV/AIDS in Uganda and we firmly believe that this eForum will aid the struggle in the fight against the virus by allowing for knowledge and experience sharing, as well as broadening the debate to as many stakeholders as possible.

Joining the eForum is easy; you simply need to send a blank email from your regular e-mail address to: join-partnersuganda@eforums.healtdev.org to start receiving emails.

We greatly look forward to your participation,

The Partners Uganda Moderation Team
partnersuganda@eforums.healthdev.org

African Guest Researchers' Scholarship Programme 2006

Nordic Africa Institute

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/25861

One important task of the Nordic Africa Institute is to establish and maintain relations with African research communities. This is inter alia carried out through a Guest Researchers' Programme, the aim of which is to provide opportunities for its participants to pursue their own research projects, thereby indirectly strengthening the academic milieux in African countries, and promoting scholarly exchange with Nordic research communities.
African Guest Researchers' Scholarship Programme 2006



THE NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE, Uppsala, Sweden



Deadline for applications: 1 April 2005



The purpose of the Programme

One important task of the Nordic Africa Institute is to stablish and maintain relations with African research communities. This is inter alia carried out through a Guest Researchers' Programme, the aim of which is to provide opportunities for its participants to pursue their own research projects, thereby indirectly strengthening the academic milieux in African countries, and promoting scholarly exchange with Nordic research communities.

Who can apply?

The African Guest Researchers' Scholarship Programme is directed at senior scholars in Africa engaged in research on/about the African continent with a proven track record of extensive postgraduate research experiences. We would especially like to encourage women to apply for these scholarships.

Applications are invited from scholars preferably with research projects related to the following current research themes at the Institute:



1. Cultural Images in and of Africa

2. Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa

3. Sexuality, Gender and Society in Africa

4. Gender and Age in African Cities

5. State Recuperation, Resource Mobilisation and Conflict

6. Post-Conflict Transition, the State and Civil Society in Africa

Applicants are requested to identify which research theme they want to be attached to.



Grants and facilities

The Guest Researcher's scholarship includes a return airfare (Economy Class), accommodation, a subsistence allowance of SEK (Swedish kronor) 250 (approx. USD 30) a day (maximum SEK 25,000 for 90 days) plus an installation grant of SEK 2,500 (approx. USD 300), a shared office and free photocopying facilities up to a maximum of 1,000 copies. Guest Researchers have access to a computer/MS Word at the office and have to do their own typing.

The maximum duration of the stay is 90 days. If the Guest Researcher spends less than three months at the Institute, the scholarship of SEK 25,000 is reduced proportionally. To be entitled to travel costs, the Guest Researcher has to stay for at least two months.

Please note that most academic institutions in the Nordic countries, including the Nordic Africa Institute, are closed or at least running at a reduced capacity during the periods 15 June-15 August and 15 December-15 January. Applicants are thus asked to avoid these periods.

The Institute's library is specialized in literature on contemporary Africa. Guest Researchers also have access to the Uppsala University Library, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Library of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Expected commitments

As a part of the exchange between the Guest Researchers and the Nordic institutions, each Guest Researcher is expected not only to give a lecture at the Institute but also to make a lecture tour to at least one other Nordic country. Train or special fare air tickets and accommodation will be provided for this trip.

The Institute also invites the Guest Researcher to write a brief presentation of his/her research work for News from the Nordic Africa Institute, an information bulletin issued three times a year. Guest Researchers who produce manuscripts during their stay at the Institute are invited to have them evaluated for publication in the Institute's regular Research Report series.

The application should contain

- a complete application form to be found on the website www.nai.uu.se

- an up-to-date curriculum vitae

- a well elaborated research proposal outlining the main features of the research topic pursued during the period in Uppsala

- copies of and/or references to the applicant's writings

- a letter of support from his/her Head of Department or other senior scholar in the same field

Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered.

Deadline

Applications for positions in 2006 must reach the Institute by 1 April, 2005. Please note that airmail from Africa may take 3 weeks (sometimes more) to reach Sweden. Selection of Guest Researchers will take place during April-May 2005.

The application should be addressed to:

The Programme Officer

The African Guest Researchers' Scholarship Programme

Nordiska Afrikainstitutet

P.O. Box 1703

SE-751 47 Uppsala, Sweden

For further information, please contact

Nina Klinge-Nygård, telephone +46 18 56 22 34;

e-mail nina.klinge-nygard@nai.uu.se or

website www.nai.uu.se

Call for papers on feminist movements and organisations

2004-12-02

http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=847

The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is calling for papers on feminist organisational strengthening and movement-building, to share with other AWID members and others around the world. They seek essays and case studies from all areas of the world; those selected will receive an honorarium of $USD1,000 to be used towards organisational strengthening activities.

Call for proposals for resource mobilisation workshops

Media Development and Diversity Agency

2004-12-02

http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=856

The Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) as part of its mandate to support the community and small commercial media in South Africa has initiated a process to develop the skills of such projects to mobilise resources from a range of organisations and structures. To this end, the Agency is now inviting proposals from individuals and organisations to design and implement resource mobilisation workshops.

New action learning research initiative

The greater role of persons with disability in their self-care

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/25863

The Disability and Rehabilitation team of WHO (WHO/DAR) and AIFO/Italy invite projects involved in disability and rehabilitation activities to be part of a multi-country action learning research initiative. Selected projects will be invited to a preliminary meeting to be held in Rome from 6 to 8 April 2005. For reading details about the initiative and for downloading the application form, click on the following link: http://www.aifo.it/english/resources/announcements.htm

WSIS Research Grants - ICT and Gender

2004-12-02

http://www.thusanang.org.za/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=846

In August 2004, the WSIS Gender Caucus launched a competitive programme of small grants to support innovative research on gender and information communications technologies, during 2004-05. A first round of small grants was made in October 2004 and a second call for proposals has now been launched.

Distance learning course on the role of the media in the Rwandan genocide

Fahamu Course Developed For UPEACE

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/25930

Applications are invited from persons living and working in Rwanda to participate in a distance learning course on ‘The role of the media in the genocide in Rwanda’.

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda provides a telling case study of two quite separate roles for media in a conflict situation. The genocide was among the most appalling catastrophes of the 20th century, and media played a significant part both internally and internationally. Prior to the genocide, radio stations and newspapers were carefully used by the conspirators to dehumanise the potential victims, Rwanda's Tutsi minority. During the genocide, radio was used by the Hutu extremist conspirators to mobilise the Hutu majority, to coordinate the killings and to ensure that the plans for extermination were faithfully executed.

While a series of terrible massacres of Tutsi were carried out and as the signs of ever-increasing violence grew, Rwanda was totally ignored by the international media. When the genocide came, the erratic media coverage largely conveyed the false notion of two ‘tribes’ of African ‘savages’ mindlessly slaughtering each other as they had done from time immemorial. As a result, there was little public pressure in the West for governments to intervene.

In this distance learning course you will study these two facets of the media role in the genocide in detail. You will see how easily the concept of free speech and free press in a local situation can be perverted for foul ends. We will ask how this dilemma could be resolved. We will explore the problem of inadequate or even distorted international coverage of crises and conflicts in areas poorly understood by Western journalists. We will consider whether this unfortunate situation can be improved in the future.

The course, developed by Fahamu for UPEACE, will be taught by Gerald Caplan, a Canadian-based public policy analyst and international coordinator of the "Remembering Rwanda" Project. He is also a public affairs commentator and author of "Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide," the report of the International Panel of Eminent Personalities To Investigate the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, appointed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). He is presently co-editing a book on the Rwandan genocide ten years later.

The course has been developed for journalists and other professionals in the field of media, students of journalism, NGO staff and policy makers, and will lead to a certificate from the University for Peace.

This course is designed to take 10 weeks using an interactive CDROM containing all materials required for the course. You will be guided in your work by a course tutor via email. You will also have an opportunity to discuss your work with fellow students via email.

The course will include a workshop in which all students, as well as the tutor come together for several days of intensive work. There will be a final short period in which students will work independently and submit a final assignment. The topic for this assignment will be determined at the workshop.

Applications are invited from suitable candidates in Rwanda to attend the first course. The distance learning course will begin on 10 January, with a workshop to be held in Butare, Rwanda, on 15-17 March.

Please note that this is a pilot run of the course and that is why it is limited to Rwandan participants. Following the first pilot, the course will be fine-tuned and will be made available at a later date for broader participation from elsewhere in Africa.

Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Have good command of written and spoken English
- Have access to a computer with a CDROM drive (PC or Mac) for at least seven hours a week
- Have an email address (access to the WWW would be an advantage)
- Be living and working in Rwanda

Application process
Applicants should submit a letter, in English, of at least 500 words explaining why this course is important in their work, and motivating why they should be selected. They should submit a summary CV of no more than one page, and provide evidence from their employer/institution that they have access to a suitable computer. Applications should be sent by email only to Fahamu to: info@fahamu.org Applications should be received by 10 December 2004.

Fees
There are 15 places available. Since it is a pilot course, fees, and costs of attending the workshop in Butare will exceptionally be met by the University for Peace.

Online course: Gender and Conflict Transformation

2004-12-02

http://www.netuni.nl/demos/genderconflict

This highly successful four-week online course from The Network University will run from January 24 till February 18, 2005. This course brings together worldwide expertise on the relationship between gender and conflict transformation. This course will empower women to become key agents in conflict transformation. The course uses a variety of interactive methods that stimulate thinking and exchange.

South Africa: MDG Campaign Manager

Civicus

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/25878

The MDG Campaign Manager will be responsible for all staff, interns and volunteers who are part of the MDG Department, as well as the management of external consultants and services. The incumbent will be required to operate to tight deadlines using independent judgement within clear parameters and to develop and implement department work plans and objectives.
CIVICUS is an international civil society movement with members in over one hundred countries. CIVICUS works with its members and a growing network of partners at the national and global levels to ensure that civil society organisations enjoy the rights to organise, speak freely and to promote the common good at all levels. CIVICUS facilitates activities to nurture the founding, growth, protection and resourcing of citizen action worldwide and especially where participatory democracy, freedom of association and expression, and other enabling conditions for civil society are threatened. Our work has developed greater urgency in the wake of current global events and we are entering a new phase of expansion.

CIVICUS, as part of its effort to strengthen unity and co-ordination of civil society’s efforts to work for greater social, economic, political and civic justice in the world, is actively supporting the emergence of a global civil society coalition that seeks to put pressure on governments to fulfill (and ideally go beyond) the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted by heads of government in September 2000. As a founding member of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, CIVICUS is seeking to strengthen its ability to support the important global mobilisation of citizens in support of these goals in 2005.

We are now seeking to fill two key positions in our MDG Campaigns Department: Campaign Manager and Senior Administrator.

MDG Campaign Manager



To lead and shape the development of CIVICUS campaign strategies regarding the MDGs generally and to support CIVICUS’ participation in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. The Campaign Manager will take an active role in the development and delivery of all CIVICUS’ MDG related work.



The MDG Campaign Manager will be responsible for all staff, interns and volunteers who are part of the MDG Department, as well as the management of external consultants and services. The incumbent will be required to operate to tight deadlines using independent judgement within clear parameters and to develop and implement department work plans and objectives. The ideal candidate should exhibit high levels of creativity and innovative problem-solving, be able to analyse, interpret and act on complex information and be able to represent CIVICUS at a senior level to a broad range of external audiences.



The MDG Campaign Manager will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of CIVICUS’ work relating to the MDG Campaign generally and support for the Global Call to Action Against Poverty specifically.



Skills & Competence:



· Innovative and creative approach to problem solving

· Able to lead on complex projects or projects involving people from several areas of the organisation and from other organisations

· Actively contribute to the overall goals and programmes of CIVICUS.

· Exercise a high degree of independent judgement in dealings with a broad range of constituencies.

· Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.

· Excellent written and oral communication skills.

· Excellent competency in English. Candidates who are additionally fluent in French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic or Portuguese are particularly encouraged to apply.



Senior Administrator



The incumbent will be responsible for administrative support to the MDG Campaign work as well as to the Global Call to Action Against Poverty.



The administrative support duties includes convening meetings of various working groups, taking minutes of meetings and individual liaison with members of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, under the direction of the MDG Campaign Manager.



Skills and competencies



· Experience of working in an internationally diverse setting

· Excellent inter-personal skills

· Excellent written and oral communication skills

· Co-ordination and project administration capability

· Good understanding of the broad content of the Millennium Development Goals

· Previous campaigning, advocacy and lobbying experience will be an advantage.

· Excellent attention to detail, able to work under pressure and multi-task.

· Excellent competency in English. Candidates who are additionally fluent in French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic or Portuguese are particularly encouraged to apply



This is a one-year contract with the possibility of renewal. Remuneration will be subject to the applicant’s qualifications and experience. Both positions will be located at CIVICUS’ international headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.



Closing Date: The application deadline for both posts is Tuesday, 7 December 2004



To apply, please submit a letter of application and a recent CV either by e-mail to Tamarie Magaisa at humanresources@civicus.org, quoting the title of the position in the subject of the email, by fax on +27 11 833 7997 or by post to CIVICUS, Human Resources, PO Box 933, Southdale, Johannesburg 2135, South Africa. For further details, see the CIVICUS website at www.civicus.org/new/jobs.asp?c=036FB9 These vacancies will be open until filled. We regret that only short listed candidates will be contacted.

South Africa: Membership Coordinator

Civicus

2004-12-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/25877

Reporting directly to the Communications Manager, and working closely with other CIVICUS departments, the Membership Coordinator is responsible for refining and implementing an effective membership strategy and plan aimed at building CIVICUS membership and citizen participation worldwide. This is a one year fixed-term position, with the possibility of extension.
CIVICUS Membership Coordinator

Johannesburg, South Africa



CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international alliance established in 1993 to nurture the foundation, growth and protection of citizen action throughout the world, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedom of association are threatened. CIVICUS is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, with over 800 members from over 100 countries.



Reporting directly to the Communications Manager, and working closely with other CIVICUS departments, the Membership Coordinator is responsible for refining and implementing an effective membership strategy and plan aimed at building CIVICUS membership and citizen participation worldwide. This is a one year fixed-term position, with the possibility of extension. Salary is negotiable and will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.



Minimum Requirements
The ideal candidate should have the following skills and experience:



At least three years experience in a similar capacity
Excellent English verbal and writing skills
Good working knowledge of Spanish
Proven ability to use MS applications (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, etc.)
Proficiency in computer-assisted research
Experience working in a culturally diverse and fast-paced environment.
Ability to work effectively independently and as part of various teams
Good interpersonal and communication skills
Proven ability to plan and think ahead, identify next steps, meet deadlines and objectives
Exceptional attention to detail


It is preferred that the candidate have:

experience of working with a civil society organisation, preferably at a regional or global level
knowledge or experience of the non-profit sector and civil society movements, particularly membership-based organisations
French language skills

Primary Responsibilities and Tasks

§ Design, implement and evaluate targeted marketing and member recruitment strategies in line with CIVICUS programme activities

§ Develop and implement practical plans for member engagement in CIVICUS programmes.

§ Facilitate member events, activities and groupings

§ Provide regular and dynamic content for the Membership section of website, the weekly e-CIVICUS newsletter and other CIVICUS publications

§ Manage the membership and contacts database, in coordination with the Membership Associate

§ Manage the CIVICUS Affinity Group of NGO Networks, a membership sub-group.

§ Inform, enable and encourage CIVICUS members to participate in ‘The Global Call to Action Against Poverty’ and other Millennium Development Goals-related programmes.



Interviews will be held during the week of 13 December 2004. The successful candidate would ideally start work on or before 1 February 2005.



To apply, please submit a letter of application and a recent CV either by e-mail to humanresources@civicus.org, quoting the title of the position in the subject of the email, by fax on +27 11 833 7997 or by post to CIVICUS, Human Resources, PO Box 933, Southdale, Johannesburg 2135, South Africa. For further details, see the CIVICUS website at www.civicus.org/new/jobs_info The application deadline is Friday, 10 December 2004. We regret that only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Fahamu