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Featured in this issue

2004-12-09

* Editorial: Poverty is a gross violation of human rights and must be abolished, argues Pierre Sané. And before you laugh out loud because you think this statement is naïve keep in mind that: "There is nothing to smile at in distress, misery, dereliction and death which march in grim parade with poverty."
* Comment and Analysis: Steve Kibble says the pushing through of the NGO Bill in Zimbabwe completes the strangling of basic freedoms, but that the love of liberty shall not be killed
- Another Africa is still possible, as the third African Social Forum prepares to meet in Zambia
- Onyekachi Wambu raises questions about Northern NGOs bandwagons in relation to diaspora, and calls for a partnership between African social movements and the diaspora
* 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence: "We do not interfere in domestic affairs" - A Ugandan woman tells how she suffered years of domestic violence
- Senegal moves closer to ratifying the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women
* Letters: Pambazuka readers rave and rage about Everjoice Win's article last week on international days of "this and that"
* Pan-African Postcard: Those calling for the head of Kofi Annan are a danger to the world, says Tajudeen Abdul Raheem in his weekly column
* Conflict and Emergency: The Equatorial Guinea coup plot raises uncomfortable questions for the UK and US governments
* Human Rights: NGOs to engage with African committee of experts on rights of the child
* Refugees and Forced Migration: The grim fate that awaits those deported to the DRC
* Elections and Governance: The latest from elections in Ghana, Mozambique and Niger
* Books and Arts: A review of 'We miss you all', described as "engaging, surprising, challenging and absolutely inspirational".

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Poverty, the next frontier in the struggle for human rights

Pierre Sané

2004-12-09

Poverty will only cease when it is recognized as a violation of human rights and, as such, abolished.

One should be aware that the striking feature of our civilization, as it globalizes around the aspiration to unprecedented prosperity, is the persistence and even increase of poverty. It is an overwhelming fact: poverty affects half the world's population. It is spreading: the vast majority of the 2 to 3 thousand million human beings who will be added to the world's population before the end of the century will be exposed to it. It is putting alarming pressure on the environment and global equilibrium. The figures are apocalyptic: 8 million children die each year because of poverty, 150 million children under the age of five suffer from extreme malnutrition, 100 million children live in the streets. Every three seconds, poverty kills a child somewhere. And our world puts up with it.

When, in 1994, 800 000 corpses of Tutsi and opposition Hutu victims of genocide in Rwanda were carried on rivers of blood through the country of a thousand hills, the world held its breath. We all felt guilty. We wished that action had been taken to prevent it. We all said, once again, "never again!". The United Nations established an International Tribunal to establish the truth and hand down justice. "We cannot bring back the dead, but the guilty shall pay. International law will prevail. Morality is safe". But what about the 8 million children who die each year from poverty-related diseases? We are well aware of these figures and they are probably under-estimated.

What, then, is the basis of the ethical double standard which leads us to accept the poverty manufactured by our society, even though it kills more surely and methodically than machetes and militias? Is there a single moral or ethical justification for this central contradiction between the equality proclaimed in the granting of rights and growing inequality in access to life-giving resources? To address this question is essential for the preservation of our own humanity.

It would seem, however, that the famous "standards of decency" are changing. Thus, the international community has set, as a priority for the millennium (Millennium Development Goals [MDGs]), to reduce by half in 15 years the number of people living in extreme poverty. This approach, however laudable in itself, does not exhaust the issue. For one thing, the intended goal will not easily be reached. But even if it were successfully achieved, the basic question would remain untouched: can persistent poverty be tolerated at all?

This problem has to be tackled from another angle. As long as we consider poverty as a quantitative, natural deficit to be made up, the political will to reduce it will not be energized. Poverty will only cease when it is recognized as a violation of human rights and, as such, abolished. This is why, and this is how.

When poverty is defined in relative terms, it is at once infinite and incurable. We are forced, at the same time, to consent to it indefinitely and to exhaust, in vain, unending resources in seeking to reduce it. This relativistic approach can only determine an arbitrary poverty line which is adopted as an artificial horizon. But such a bogus horizon remains unbearable: what do one or two dollars a day mean, and above all, what right do we have to make do with such a figure? For poverty is not a fate to be alleviated by international charity or aid. Nor does poverty reflect poor people's lack of self-reliance or their inability to compete in a free-for-all of supposedly equal opportunities. Poverty does not persist solely because of incompetent, corrupt governments that are insensitive to the fate of their population. No. Fundamentally, poverty is not a standard of living or even certain kinds of living conditions: it is at once the cause and the effect of the total or partial denial of human rights.

Of the five families of human rights - civic, political, cultural, economic and social - proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as inherent to the human person, poverty violates the fifth, always; the fourth, generally; often the third; sometimes the second, or even the first.

Reciprocally, the systematic violation of any one of these rights degenerates rapidly into poverty. As was recognized at the International Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna, in 1993, there is an organic link between poverty and violation of human rights.

And yet, human rights are indefeasible and inseparable. Their violation is a fundamental infringement of human dignity as a whole, and not a regrettable inconvenience to be endured by distant neighbours. It must therefore cease, and the imperative takes a simple form: poverty must be abolished. The claim sounds naïve, and may even bring a smile to your lips.

Condescension would, however, be misguided as well as inappropriate. There is nothing to smile at in distress, misery, dereliction and death which march in grim parade with poverty. We should, indeed, be ashamed. But the issue is also substantive: the abolition of poverty is the only fulcrum that offers the leverage to defeat poverty.

Leverage, in this case, comes from investment, national and international reforms, and policies to remedy the deficiencies of all kinds that are the backdrop to poverty. Fortunately, humanity now has the means to answer the challenge: never have we been so rich, so technically competent and so well informed. But in the absence of a fulcrum, these forces cannot act as effectively as they might.

If, however, poverty were declared to be abolished, as it should with regard to its status as a massive, systematic and continuous violation of human rights, its persistence would no longer be a regrettable feature of the nature of things. It would become a denial of justice. The burden of proof would shift. The poor, once recognized as the injured party, would acquire a right to reparation for which governments, the international community and, ultimately, each citizen would be jointly liable. A strong interest would thus be established in eliminating, as a matter of urgency, the grounds of liability, which might be expected to unleash much stronger forces than compassion, charity, or even concern for one's own security, are likely to mobilize for the benefit of others.

By endowing the poor with rights, the abolition of poverty would obviously not cause poverty to disappear overnight. It would, however, create the conditions for the cause of poverty to be enshrined as the highest of priorities and as the common interest of all - not just as a secondary concern for the enlightened or merely charitable. No more than the abolition of slavery caused the crime to vanish, no more than the abolition of domestic violence of genocide have eliminated such violations of the human conscience, the legal abolition of poverty will not, then, make poverty disappear. But it will place poverty in the conscience of humankind at the same level as those past injustices the present survival of which challenges us, shocks us, and calls us to action.

The principle of justice thus implemented and the force of law mobilized in its service are of enormous power. This, after all, is how slavery, colonialism and apartheid were ended. But while slavery and apartheid were actively struggled against, poverty dehumanizes half the planet to a chorus of utter indifference. It is, undoubtedly, the most acute moral question of the new century to understand how such massive and systematic violations, day in, day out, do not trouble the conscience of the good people who look down upon them.

While equality of rights is proclaimed, growing inequalities in the distribution of goods persists and is entrenched by unjust economic and social policies at national and global level. To deal with poverty as a violation of human rights means going beyond the idea of international justice - which is concerned with relations between states and nations - towards the creation of global justice, which applies to relations between human beings living in a global society and enjoying absolute and inalienable rights - such as the right to life - that are guaranteed by the international community.

Such rights do not belong to the citizens of states but, universally, to human beings as such, for whom they are the necessary condition of life on the planet. The obligation to denounce violations and to ensure respect, protection and effective enjoyment of rights is incumbent on all, without distinction of race, country, or creed. The principle of global justice thus establishes the conditions for a fairer distribution of the planet's resources between its inhabitants in light of certain absolute rights. Let us remember that, morally speaking, the right to property is not absolute: it follows that territorial sovereignty, which entails ownership of natural resources, cannot qualify an absolute right, such as the right to life elsewhere.

What we must note is that nearly 3 billion people receive only about 1.2% of world income, while 1 billion people in the rich countries receive 80%. An annual income transfer of 1% from one group to the other would suffice to eliminate extreme poverty. In fact, the transfer continues to operate in the opposite direction, despite efforts towards debt reduction and development aid.

At the end of the day, there is a simple choice. Not between a "pragmatic" approach, based on aid granted by the rich to the poor, and the alternative sketched here. The real choice is between the abolition of poverty and the only other way for the poor to obtain rights, which is for them to take them by force. Needless to say, the latter solution usually causes misery for all: social strife, rampant crime, mass uncontrolled migration, smuggling and trafficking are the only things to flourish. But what moral basis do we have to demand moral behaviour from people to whom we deny any opportunity to live a healthy life? What right have we to demand that they respect our rights? The sombre option will become increasingly likely if nothing is done - or too little, as tends to be the case with pragmatism, however deserving.

The options thus reduce to a single choice, which is the only one compatible with the categorical imperative to respect human rights: to abolish poverty in order to eradicate it, and to draw from this principle all the consequences that free acceptance of it implies.

No great programme will ensure the eradication of poverty. Its proclaimed abolition must, first, create rights and obligations, and thereby mobilize the true forces that can correct the state of a world plagued by poverty. By simply setting an effective and binding priority, abolition changes the ground rules and contributes to the creation of a new world. Such is the price to pay to give globalization a human face; such is also the greatest opportunity for sustainable development that we can hope to grasp.

What are the implications for NGO activity? First, I would suggest that it is imperative to develop strategies that give tangible significance to the principles of indivisibility and interdependence of human rights. The unfortunate historical separation of human rights into civil and political rights on the one hand, and economic, social and cultural rights on the other, has tended to entrench the view that poverty was beyond the scope of human rights NGOs and to farm out poverty to market forces or development processes. Campaigns for ratification of international treaties must promote treaties on social, economic, and cultural rights, national legislations must be amended accordingly, and violations of such rights must be actionable. Furthermore, in the field, research techniques must be deployed to monitor the violations suffered by victims, fulfillment of their obligations by states and international actors, and reparations for injured parties.

Ultimately, the issue is to mobilize public opinion for a universal justice that is within our grasp. Its emergence has been lengthy - very lengthy. From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the Rome Conference that established the International Criminal Court, the emergence of universal justice has been defiled by acts of barbarity that have grossly infringed human dignity. Now, however, the legal instruments are there, and, step by step, experiments and initiatives give hope. It remains to energize political will by unceasing mobilization, true thinking, the contributions of experts and support for victims and their families.

What promises does such global justice bear? Let me quote Nobel Laureate José Saramago: "Were such justice to exist, there would no longer be a single human being dying of hunger or of diseases that are curable for some but not for others. Were such justice to exist, life would no longer be, for half of humanity, the dreadful sentence it has hitherto been. And for such justice, we already have a practical code that has been laid down for fifty years in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a declaration that might profitably replace, as far as rightness of principles and clarity of objectives are concerned, the manifestos of all the political parties of the world".

Such global justice is essential in order to ensure common welfare, and therefore international peace. To ensure freedom from poverty, a fundamental human right. To give dignity to the poor and the outcasts. But to succeed in the quest for justice, every single individual must be made aware of the issues at stake and mobilized.

The world will celebrate Human Rights Day on December 10. What better day to remember the rights of the poor?

* Pierre Sané is UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, a post he has held since joining the Organization in May 2001. He is responsible for a programme of work that ranges from human rights and the fight against discrimination to philosophy, ethics of science and technology, policy-action research and international cooperation in Social Sciences. Prior to joining UNESCO he was Secretary General of Amnesty International (1992-2001). At the beginning of his career he worked in the field of regional and international development both in Africa and in Canada. He writes this article in his personal capacity and not as a representative of UNESCO.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

* International Human Rights Day takes place on December 10.

>>>>>Human Rights Links:

http://www.ohchr.org/english/events/hrd2004.htm
http://www.un.org/av/special/hrday/
http://www.hri.ca/index.aspx
http://www.hrweb.org/
http://www.derechos.net/
http://www.hrw.org/
http://www.amnesty.org/

*Zimbabwe: Goodbye to the last freedom

Steve Kibble

2004-12-09

The railroading through Parliament in November 2004 of the NGO Bill means that the government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) has now completed its strangling of three basic freedoms. Freedom of association has now joined freedom of information (the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act - AIPPA - shut down the only independent daily newspaper) and freedom of assembly (the Public Order and Safety Act - POSA - makes any gathering subject to police permission and scrutiny) in the oxygen tent in line with the GOZ strategy of shutting down all independent voices and democratic spaces. By contrast, the government sponsored Youth Militias (Green Bombers) operate with impunity.

ZANU-PF's strategy for survival and retention of their ill-gotten assets is a holistic strategy of repression with mutually reinforcing elements. Increased militarisation sees military and security sectors immune from the law and occupying increasingly prominent positions in the intelligence, provincial administrations and electoral authorities. Secondly the regime has used its presidential powers to amend the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act allowing police to detain without formal charges opponents of the regime, supposedly to counter corruption. Thirdly the judiciary is almost completely compliant, as shown in its confirming most of the contentious legislation. The neutralising of the judiciary has important knock-on effects in areas like press and media freedom and intimidation, information starvation, freedom of the opposition to assemble and be heard, politicisation of the police, further land 'resettlement', human rights violations, show trials of the opposition, politicisation of governmental-controlled food aid, public order and the like.

The NGO Act bans foreign funding for political governance, human rights and anti-corruption work and effectively proscribes international NGOs from carrying out such work. It makes registration of NGOs subject to arbitrary authority under a government-controlled NGO Council and provides severe penalties including shutting down NGOs and imprisoning staff for contravention of the Act. Very wide-ranging definitions leave much to ministerial dictate and arbitrary decision-making from both formal and informal government structures.

It is unclear how much the Act will affect the churches in Zimbabwe; government assurances that they will be fine if they stick to 'religious matters' contrast with the police closing down meetings held in churches to discuss the Act. The Act went through despite its running contrary not just to the Zimbabwean constitution, but also to several regional and international rights conventions that Harare has signed up to, and despite its likely economic impact given the numbers employed in the NGO sector and its effect on foreign exchange and tourism (what is left of it).

The NGO Act, the Electoral Amendment Act as well as legislation to provide payments to collaborators (non-combatant forces in the 1970s liberation war) are all in the context of the forthcoming parliamentary elections. These are set for March 2005 although the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is currently suspending participation until the conditions for a free and fair election are met, although it will be meeting in late November to review this. The combined legislation will severely limit any check on the government, make illegal non-governmental funding for civic and voter education, ensure government control of the electoral process and support from a potential opposition force of 'collaborators'.

It is widely believed that 'a dirty dozen' of NGOs already named in the newspapers and mostly operating within the human rights arena were the primary target although the bill would affect all NGOs. This would include the national Constitutional Assembly, the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Transparency International Zimbabwe.

For a local journalist, although the immediate target are indeed NGOs (foreign and national) the wider context is of control of black, particularly rural, Zimbabweans to ensure not just obedience but the impossibility of thinking any other way than in channels laid down by ZANU-PF and of destroying the MDC. A peace activist described the strategy as - 'the regime attempting a scorched earth policy in terms of social formations. While it wants to hold elections so as to appear democratic it wants to prevent thought, communication, information, and analysis.'

The act has been on the way since 2000 when the GOZ saw then the result of civil society lobbying in the rejection of the government's draft constitution in a referendum. It was given additional impetus by Zimbabwean civil society providing much of the evidence for the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights report on Zimbabwe finally submitted to the African Union to outrage from Harare at being criticised by fellow Africans (far harder to bear than from the West). The GOZ is convinced that NGOS are a front and money conduit for the MDC who are themselves a front for Tony Blair - a position hardly helped by the Blair statement in July 2004 in the UK parliament that he was working for regime change in Zimbabwe.

In fact the act could be said to be already in operation before its official date. A climate of fear and arbitrariness around NGO work has existed for some time with local ZANU-PF activists and youth militias feeling free to determine who is allowed into 'their' area whatever local governors might say. Work permits (TEPs) for outside NGO staff are being refused almost as a matter of course. To see how the proposed NGO Council would look, says a local human rights activist, we should examine the workings of the supine pro-government Media Information Council.

The Act has served its purpose of dividing and confusing civil society as to the best response to the legislation - pretending it is not happening, ignoring the plight of others and carrying on programmes as much as possible, seeking friendly 'godfathers' inside ZANU-PF, relocating and/ or shutting down in Zimbabwe. The use of repressive divide and rule tactics make the NGOs the latest in a series including the judiciary, the media, the churches and farmworkers and farmers.

Internationally and regionally the GOZ has divided or silenced critics with even the limited sanctions regime ineffectual, despite their renewal in Europe in February 2004 and in the USA. The GOZ control strategy appears to be to survive until the elections, despite the likely gap in food supplies and then to get an African 'free and fair' verdict which would take the heat off, challenge the international community to lose interest and give it a strong hand in post-election negotiations with the MDC. This would also give Mbeki a vindication of 'quiet diplomacy' even though Harare is in undoubted breach of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) electoral protocol it signed up to in Mauritius in August 2004.

Who is then standing up to the government on the NGO bill? Foreign embassies are not able or not willing to say much. NANGO, the Zimbabwe local NGO umbrella body presented a forceful case to the Parliamentary Portfolio committee examining the bill, but is unable to affect the strategy. Whilst rights-oriented Zimbabwean NGOs protest, the churches appear busy defending their own territory and interests, but not those of wider civil society. International development NGOs who are mostly Western do not wish to be painted like their governments as part of the plot to 'recolonise' Zimbabwe. Despite the brutal expulsion from Harare in October 2004 of a Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU) fact-finding and solidarity delegation to Zimbabwe, the South African government appeared keener on criticising their fellow Alliance members than the Mugabe regime. Some regional churches and NGOs have provided critical support for Zimbabweans but have been unable to persuade their governments or ruling parties to make much beyond the occasional muted criticism as happened in Botswana.

However it does appear that the confidence of the ruling party in its hold on power has run into a number of problems even if they are unlikely to result in any other electoral scenario but ZANU-PF maintaining its electoral hold including enough seats to change the constitution. Its propaganda is subject to massive public scepticism in relation to the supposedly improving economy -the public does not believe that inflation is going down in light of its own experience. Some of the first wave of settlers who seized land are in turn being thrown off their land so that the elite can have it (breeding a kind of sans culotte bitterness). Economically, the crisis of production and livelihood continues - a systematic process of de-professionalisation and de-capitalisation. A very significant proportion of professionals, such as doctors, engineers, educationalists and financial managers have sought employment elsewhere. Despite rumours of its demise, the parallel market is up and running again with the rate against £1 being roughly Zim $14,000. A much -vaunted accommodation with the IMF is no more likely than returning foreign investment. 99% of the population live with an income less than the poverty datum line, mitigated only by remittances from the 15 to 25 % of the population living outside.

The cabinet decision to expel COSATU showed the South African public its contempt for the neighbours and indeed for court orders against the expulsion. COSATU was mobilising itself and civic groups in the region to "seal entry points into Zimbabwe for four days" from December 4 to 8.

Internationally, parliamentarians were horrified by the treatment of MDC MP Roy Bennett - who physically attacked the Minister of Justice after endless taunting from him, and was sent to prison with a sentence of hard labour. The not guilty verdict in the trial of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai for treason showed how threadbare the case was, according to a lawyer observing the trial. The latter said that although there was no case to answer, the judge with a vestige of professional self-respect, but allegedly a recipient of a farm under the fast-track land reform process, prolonged the trail as long as possible so that the state could tie up Tsvangirai in a lengthy legal process.

The government appears to have little strategy or resources to deal with an expected food gap between January and March, although it has loudly proclaimed that it will be self-sufficient - to widespread disbelief - and does not need NGO or World Food Programme help. Nor does the refusal to allow in British media organisations to cover the cricket in late November show Harare in a good light.

The debate on whether free and fair elections can be held or not is critical, for the coming months. Some form of transitional administration, with international (UN, AU, SADC) support, will be needed. But how can such a transitional arrangement be brought about? In the end the whole system of neo-patrimonialism and endemic corruption presided over by the regime needs root and branch change. The authoritarian mindset has little ability to think alternatives other than repression and blame on outside conspirators. In the words of the Crisis in Zimbabwe NGO Coalition 'Slurs, verbal abuse, violence and intimidation may win arguments, but they can never reconstitute, heal or rehabilitate societies. NGOs may be closed, elections may be rigged, newspapers may be bombed and millions starved, but it will never kill the people's love for liberty.'

* Steve Kibble is Africa/Yemen Advocacy Coordinator for the Catholic Institute for International Relations.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Another Africa is still possible

Upcoming ASF meeting in Lusaka

2004-12-09

The upcoming third edition of the African Social Forum (ASF), from 10-14 December in Lusaka, Zambia, faces as one of its challenges the broadening of the forum to make it more popular than it has been up until now by enabling movements which do not appear on the African or international scene to express their voices and concerns.

"A popular Forum in 2004 would constitute an important condition for the successful organisation of the World Social Forum in Africa in 2007. This third edition would make it possible to examine the stakes of such a perspective and bring out together the visions and objectives that could be pursued for 2007," says a briefing document on the upcoming Lusaka meeting on the ASF website.

The ASF has taken place annually, since Bamako in 2002, as a prelude to the annual World Social Forum.

At the first forum in Bamako in 2002, over two hundred social movements, organizations and individuals from forty five African countries established the 'Bamako Consensus', that endorsed the Charter of the World Social Forum to build a different world.

Under the theme "Another Africa is Possible", participants undertook analyses, shared experiences and heard testimonies on wide-ranging economic, social, political and cultural matters affecting the African peoples. The ASF identified a number of recommendations and proposals for activists and networks to include in their work, and a steering committee was put in place to move the process forward.

At the second ASF meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a final statement was issued detailing how past and present economic policies implemented by African governments had failed to improve the lives of ordinary Africans. The Forum concluded that only a dynamic civil society organised in strong and active social movements "can and must challenge the neo-liberal political economy of globalization". The consensus was for the need to build a new African state and society, where public institutions and policies would guarantee cultural, economic, political and social rights for all citizens.

Following the Bamako and Addis Ababa Forums, a process of consultations have taken place around Africa to find a way of effectively exposing the current social, political and economic injustices for better government and state action. These have resulted in various regional forums designed to create a platform for interest groups of civil society to discuss issues together relating to social, political and economic justice.

The ASF has in the past faced criticism that it is dominated by wealthier NGOs at the expense of less well resourced social movements, whose members face constraints in terms of their ability to travel to and participate in such events. But the counter argument has also been made that activists need to get involved before they express disappointment at the outcomes of the meetings.

The ASF briefing document issued ahead of the upcoming Lusaka meeting explains that as a space for "discussion, reflection, mutual consolidation and democratic debate", it is important for Africa that the Forum continues to be the instrument of the growth of African social movements and of "vigilance in relation to the policies conceived and implemented on the continent".

The document also notes that the world has experienced major upheavals in the last two years, linked to American policy with regards the 'war on terror' and the war in Iraq.

"The effects of these upheavals on the African peoples are not negligible and aggravate the effects of the liberal policies implemented on the entire planet over the last twenty years. Already the aggravation of several conflicts, the growing presence of foreign military forces and the increased grip on the petroleum and mineral resources of the continent are perceptible."

As a result, the document notes that it is necessary to review the situation and that the Forum "must allow a better understanding of the new stakes and the outlining of alternatives and resistance strategies which the African social movement will try to promote for the benefit of the peoples of the continent."

Other priority areas and themes for discussion at the forum include the question of sovereignty in relation to external influences, the future of peasant farming in light of WTO and regional trade agreements and the question of Pan-Africanism.

For the first time at the ASF meeting in Zambia, a youth camp will be established where participants will be charged with developing an African youth council, an African youth communication line and a follow-up to the resolutions to the ASF council. The youth camp is intended to develop a youth movement within the ASF.

* Compiled by Patrick Burnett, Fahamu. For more detailed information, please visit http://www.africansocialforum.org/english/fsa2004.htm

THIRD WORLD NETWORK WEB SPECIAL ON ASF

Third World Network-Africa, the Accra-based advocacy organisation, will have a dedicated page on its website www.twnafrica.org to report the forthcoming African Social Forum (ASF) which starts in Lusaka, Zambia on December 10, 2004. The four-day event will bring together hundreds of activists and organisations campaigning on human rights, gender, race, the environment, trade, and many other issues. The website will present regular news and features from the African Social Forum, and will also welcome contributions and reactions. For more information, please contact Emmanuel.k.Bensah at webjournalist@twnafrica.org

* Background reading from Pambazuka News on the African Social Forum

- Living the alternative: Background to the World Social Forum and the African Social Forum
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=139
- Another Africa is possible
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=12669
- ASF condemns US aggression
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=12705
- The African Social Forum
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=11315
- Putting the ASF in order
http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=19930
- In search of deeper dialogue beyond Addis and Bamako http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=19929

Building African Self-Determination in Partnership with the Diaspora

Onyekachi Wambu

2004-12-09

As an open space that brings together social movements, civil society organisations, community based organizations, academics, activists and individuals, under the rubric 'another Africa is possible', ASF is in many ways, a living manifestation of this new fangled Pan-Africanism that has so begun to preoccupy our governments. It is a powerful new movement that can exploit the endless opportunities that exist to begin the process of real development - shifting genuine power and resources back to Africa and entrenching our autonomy and self-determination.

But as we meet to begin to chart ways forward, we must also raise questions about the identity of this Pan-Africanism that is represented this week in Lusaka, and whether in its narrowness, it is in fact ignoring a powerful partner for African development?

The diaspora - Africa's biggest 'aid' donors How wide is the definition of Pan-Africanism at the ASF? If you take African civil society, is it merely civil society in Africa, or is African identity a key factor in defining this entity? In which case space and time become relevant. Surely, the Pan-Africanism that is represented this week cannot be complete, with the old and new African diasporas (both by-products of the very globalization being critiqued this week) glaring absent.

The absence of the African diaspora in all its complexity is partially due to historic factors. Despite the massive contributions the diaspora has been making towards development in Africa, there are still very few structured partnerships with African civil society, community forums and social movements. The diaspora tends to organize itself around identity structures (involving home towns, ethnic groups, alumni associations, etc), formations frequently viewed as regressive and conservative by civil society and social movements. Instead, there has been a tendency amongst African civil society, community forums, and social movements to be more focused on Northern NGOs and agencies.

The absence is also due to a lack of awareness of the dramatic role the African diaspora plays in development. There is need for the ASF to recognise, legitimise and support the self-help efforts of African diaspora groups in contributing to development in their regions of origin in Africa. This will acknowledge the long tradition, going back to the slave trade, of self-help by the diaspora in supporting Africa's development. More recently in the post war period, working in partnership with identity based groups from their villages, home towns, ethnic groups, diaspora organisations have enabled people to take control of their lives.

We should understand the diaspora's historic and continuing contribution to Africa through the transfer of five forms of capital: social (networks, trust), intellectual (skills), political (advocacy), cultural (food, music) and financial (investment, remittances).

Remittances, one element of this diverse diaspora capital pool, has become highly visible and is beginning to form a key discourse of development, with some even calling it a 'new paradigm' of development. But it is not new. There has always been a history of internal remittances in every country, people going to the capital city or from a poorer area to a more prosperous area, or to a neighbouring country and sending money to those relatives they left behind. Globalisation has given this phenomenon a huge dimension. According to the 2004 World Bank Global Development Finance, at $93 billion, remittances now exceed the flow of aid, and are second only to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a source of external financing. In the African context, over 9 years $28 billion dollars was sent through Western Union alone to Nigeria (Earlier this year at the G8 Summit - a State Department official was quoted as saying that Nigerian diaspora sent $12 billion - this would be about 5% - 10% of GDP. The Bank of Ghana tracked $1.3 Billion between 2002 and 2003, and in Lesotho remittances represent 28.7% of GDP.

Diaspora/African Government Partnerships Increasingly there is recognition of the diaspora as Africa's biggest 'aid donors'. In recent years, some proactive governments and the diaspora have begun to meet to chart a way forward on socializing, not just remittances, but the whole range of capital the diaspora contribute. The Government of Ghana has highlighted the key role that the Ghanaian diaspora does and can play in national development. The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), the policy framework for supporting growth and poverty reduction in the short term, identifies the Ghanaian diaspora as a potential source of funds for the GPRS.

Shortly after the turn of the Millennium, the Ghanaian government also held a 'Home Coming Summit' for investment and other exchanges. The Summit was attended by 1600 members of the Ghanaian diaspora. Since then Ghanaian Embassies and foreign missions have tried to help Ghana's diaspora to direct their resources through more formal channels for national development. Examples include the 'A Dollar a month for Ghana' initiative by the High Commission in Sierra Leone, the 'Five Pounds No Balance Police' initiative by the High Commission in the United Kingdom to purchase basic tools for the Ghana Police Service.


Northern NGOs - partnership or cooption? African governments are not the only ones seeking partnerships with the diaspora. Multi-lateral and international agencies have also begun to see the diaspora, and particularly their remittances, as a 'new paradigm' of development. There is obviously no 'newness' in the paradigm of development, but what there is are recently launched attempts by various multilateral and international agencies to 'capture', 'shape', 'control' and 'regulate' remittances for their own purposes, and many times over the heads of those making the contributions. The International Development Committee (IDC), which scrutinizes the work of DFID, the UK government's department for International aid, recently produced a report 'Migration and Development: How to make migration work for poverty reduction': In an otherwise useful report - this sentence stood out and concerned us at the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD):

'(Northern) NGOs and private sector organisations have a role to play too, employing their expertise so that migrants can remit more productively, at the same time getting in at the ground floor of a good business opportunity' (p.120)

There are two parts of that sentence that are loaded. What does it mean by remit more 'productively'? And what does it mean by good business opportunity?

None of us should be against organisations assessing the global environment and seeking to avoid possible threats, whilst capitalising on opportunities. This is natural. But if in seeking to capitalise on a new opportunity, mainstream players once again co-opt and begin to take away real power from people in the developing world, as they have done in the last 30 years, then there is cause for concern.

Such concern was raised at the experts meeting - 'Bridging the Gap: International Migration and the Role of Migrants and their Remittances in Development' organized by Dutch NGO, Novib. Around 40 participants, gathered, many of them carrying out specific advocacy programmes for diaspora/migrant workers originating from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Key objectives of the meeting were to gather issues related to migrant remittances and its role as a tool in development; to formulate recommendations to improve polices and practices around remittances, including workable mechanisms to ensure inclusion of migrants diaspora in policy-making processes around this 'new paradigm' of development. AFFORD posed specific questions to the conference: * who frames the questions around remittances? Those who make the contributions or the multilateral and international agencies who see a 'new' paradigm of development? * Why are the diasporas who are central to this contribution considered 'marginalised' in discussions? * If the relationships involved in remittances are ultimately between the diasporas who remit, the host country they remit from and the homeland country they remit to, where do international NGOs and others add value to this process? * In the research that is badly needed to understand the impact of these remittances, whose capacity will be strengthened - those of the diasporas and their beneficiaries in the South or those of international agencies - who have placed themselves at the centre of this process? * Why did Novib take the lead and place itself at the centre of a conference aimed at bringing together diasporas? * In support of and empowerment of southern initiatives, how has Novib sought to build upon a similar initiative launched in Amsterdam last December by AfroNeth, a Dutch based African organisation, seeking to mobilise and connect the African diaspora in the Netherlands for development purposes in Africa? * Finally, Novib, will take forward some of the outcomes of this meeting to the corridors of power in the EU and elsewhere, why? Does this not disempower diaspora/migrant groups further?

Beyond AFFORD's questions, others were also provoked. For Peter Payoyo from the Philippine Seafarers Assistance Programme, 'the mention of an AfroNeth initiative brought to my mind the Bohol Conference which took place in the Philippines in October 2003 (co-organized by two Novib partners, the AMC and PSAP, together with other NGOs and the Philippine Ministry of Labour).' He openly wandered whether the Novib Experts Meeting would build on the accomplishments of this initiative?

Payoyo's post-conference paper ('Bridging the Gap...a Critical Synthesis') raised further questions, which I will quote at length, given the important points being addressed:

'The immediate position of Novib is furthermore to be seen in Novib's involvement in certain key policy processes that the Meeting was also appraised. Novib was notably a member of the Inter-Agency Remittances Task Force, an international steering group which was set up in the aftermath of the International Conference on Migrant Remittances held in London in October 2003. The other members of the Remittances Task Force, led by the World Bank and the UK's DFID, include the ADB, ILO, IOM, UK ONS, WSBI, CGAP, and the EU. Novib is the only agency that may be considered as "non-governmental" in the context of the composition of this Task Force. Allusion was also made to Novib's involvement in the formulation of an EU-wide 'Directive on Migration and Development' to be released in early 2005.

'There was unease. It was uneasiness about a probable self-anointed mission on the part of Novib to directly represent civil society views and positions in the EU and in the World Bank-led Task Force, as well as in the other fast-multiplying global fora on migrant remittances. This unease was not assuaged by the closing remarks of the Meeting organizer, who called on migrant organizations to unite and get their act together, and flatly denied that Novib was out to grab a space that was reserved for civil society actors, in this case, the diaspora organizations from the developing world.

'In this light, AFFORD's keen observation that Novib's forays into the arena of international remittances could lead to the further disempowerment of migrant groups must be seriously considered and reflected upon. The conceptualization of the "Expert Meeting" as well as the process of selection and exclusion involved in the invitations to Meeting have already revealed a glaring bias against migrant groups and migrant advocates who can claim no expertise in the "new" field of remittance flows, an esoteric field in international development policy that is presently defined not by Novib, and certainly not by the 'diasporas' themselves.

'In a polite gathering, there is no need to insist on something that the host chooses to avoid. So it was that AFFORD's questions, chewed or eschewed by participants who smiled through the proceedings, remained unanswered.'

Peter Payoyo is right. For AFFORD the answers to these questions are important because they go to the heart of how we should all see issues of organic development or non-development. Arguably remittances historically are a form of engagement through which diasporas have sought to respond directly to the needs of their home communities, while avoiding:

a) Their governments (at both ends), b) International/multi-lateral agencies c) And while subverting traditional development paradigms.

That diasporas choose this form of engagement is a powerful comment in itself. By voting with their feet in this way, they are registering dissatisfaction with existing models of development. Remittances are thus an implicit critique of the development models which people in the South are confronted by. Through remittances diasporas have lit a beacon about the agency and resources of ordinary people from the South.

Conclusions: Shifting power to South In recognition of the massive contributions being made by the diaspora and in the drive to more effectively socialise this contribution (particularly remittances), African governments and Pan African institutions like the African Union have begun seeking partnerships with the diaspora. More problematically, as has been pointed out above, multi-lateral and international NGOs have also begun the same process. However, allies on the ground such as civil society groups, community forums and other social movements represented at the ASF have been much slower in recognising and developing such partnerships with the diaspora. The ASF and the participants attending this week need to be challenged to understand and engage with the diaspora and the way it contributes its various forms of capital.

The diaspora has been working, has been learning and building its capacity to contribute to Africa's development. It has shaped its own priorities in response to partners on the ground in Africa, and in response to the wider context provided by governments (at both ends) and the international development sector. It has guarded its autonomy and self-determination jealously. Through its contributions it dispelled the myth that Africans don't have agency, transferred genuine resources, particularly to the rural areas, and has provided an implicit critique of mainstream development models. Its presence enables profound questions to be raised - around issues of Pan African identity, around issues of development, and around issues of partnerships which seek to shift genuine resources and power to Africa, rather than disempowering those partners.

These are issues, some of which are already at the heart of the work of ASF this week. Will the ASF finally rise to the challenge of the diaspora and how we develop new equitable partnerships for Africa's development? Will it finally anchor the civil society movement in Africa along some clear principles and recognise the importance of identity?

Another Africa is possible. But we have to be proactive and seize the opportunities.

Onyekachi Wambu Information Officer, AFFORD (Thanks to Peter Payoyo of the Philippine Seafarers Assistance Programme for permission to quote from his Paper 'Bridging the Gap: International Migration and the Role of Migrants and their Remittances in Development - a Critical Synthesis')

In defence of Kofi Annan

Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem

2004-12-09

The mild-mannered, soft-spoken UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, has been receiving the unwholesome attention of the triumphalist neo-con fundamentalists and also that of sections of what passes for 'liberal' opinion in the USA, a country that is in the grip of right wing extremism.

The ostensible reason for shooting pointed arrows at Mr Annan are the salacious but very selective revelations emanating from US investigations into the Iraqi Oil for Food programme. The allegations include corruption, diversion of food money into private coffers, fraudulent contracts and all manners of underhand activities by individuals and companies (mostly Western), and others.

These allegations are not earth shattering given what is going on with US mishandling of the Iraqi economy and its vital oil resources since they occupied the country. US companies and principally the notorious Halliburton of the US Vice President Dick Cheney are accused of similar practices. So why is the US so interested in investigating the UN in Iraq without allowing any censure of its own illegal activities in that country?

Even big Western humanitarian agencies that often keep their mouth shut in relation to powerful Western Governments (who were often their biggest Donors or protectors) were sufficiently outraged to break with their unwritten convention (of looking the other way when their governments are misbehaving) and demanded accountability from the US proconsul for Iraq, Paul Bremmer, before he handed over to their crony, Iyad Allawi and other US puppets in the Interim Government of Iraq.

Both Bremmer and the Bush administration treated the request with contempt because they believe they are above the standards of public probity they demand of everybody else, especially those governments or individuals they may not like. Since the US demands accountability from everybody else, who dares demand accountability from the US and its chosen agents? This is why the US has given itself the power to act as global law enforcer but exempts itself from the International Criminal Court. The Americans can fight wars on behalf of the UN but are not bound by UN procedures or resolutions.

The double standard stinks. The attack on the UN has taken an ironical personal turn for Mr Kofi Annan. His son is alleged to have worked for and received payments from one of the companies accused of being involved in the Iraqi gravy train. And because of this Annan's persecutors are demanding that Uncle Kofi should resign. They want him punished for a yet to be proven criminal act by his son. The logic is that because Annan Sr was in charge of the UN and these things happened under his watch he should carry the can. Yet nobody demanded the resignation of Bush for allowing the US to be attacked by not concentrating on his watch! Not even the chiefs or operatives of the various security and intelligence services that failed the country on that fateful day were compelled to resign!

The fact that Bush's family has a long history of juicy business relationship with the Bin Laden family and the obvious conflicts of interest in that was never an issue for US voters who returned Bush to power. The Enron and Halliburton scandals and the personal involvement of senior administration officials, Republican financiers and other supporters have not led to any resignations in the US government.

So why are they calling for Kofi Annan's head?

The reason is not difficult to see. Kofi Annan, like Boutros Boutros- Ghali before him, both of them pro American gentlemen, when they started out, later than sooner, discovered that the credibility of the UN and their own personal credibility demand being able to stand up to the bullies in the US who see the UN as an after-sales service complex for American misadventures. They hounded Boutros-Ghali out of office when he began to resist the US’s more brazen abuse of the UN system and their contempt for multilateral solutions.

When they were sending attack dogs at Boutrous-Ghali, Mr Annan was the master's poodle presented to the world as a 'safe pair of hands', 'moderate', 'sensible' and all the other superlatives used to dress up being 'a house Nigger'. And he seemed to play ball for many years, but over Iraq he began to grumble which became much more open during and after the last UN General Assembly when he declared the war against Iraq and the Anglo-American occupation of that country as illegal.

Consequently the Bush administration and their screaming loony sects decreed an end to his term. Some of the criticisms they are making of Annan today were the same ones many who had opposed his candidacy in 1997 put forward.

For me the biggest stain in his dull bureaucratic career at the UN will remain inaction over genocide in Rwanda which he has been doing everything to atone for in the past few years. However his Rwanda record did not matter then so why now? The answer is simple: Mr Annan is now tired of being 'a House Nigger'. For talking back to his masters they want to banish him from the palace. It is yet another abject lesson for those Africans or other developing world peoples who always want to play it safe and be on the right side of the big powers. You are nothing but a disposable towel to them. You are not any 'special friend' or 'great leader' but a convenient tool and they will get rid of you when you are no longer of service.

A defence of Annan and the UN is a correct thing to do today because those calling for his head and bashing the UN are more dangerous to our world. It is not an endorsement of all Annan and the UN did or did not do but an expression of hope that together the whole world can make the UN be of better service to humanity. It is a proclamation of a fact that is definitely lost on Bush and his gangsters that the US does not own this world. It is a shared universe in which all of us, big and small countries, rich and poor, super power and powerless, are legitimate stake holders whose interests are better served by genuine cooperation, multilateralism and respectful interdependence, than by the bullying by one super power. It is a shared world in which none of us is a tenant to the Americans.

* 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

>>>>>SOLIDARITY LETTER

(The following is the text of a petition email circulating on the Internet in support of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan)

Dear Secretary General,
We, a group of concerned young people from across the globe, have watched with dismay the attacks on the integrity and the legitimacy of the United Nations.

During these difficult and challenging times, we stand with you in solidarity against all forces that seek to destroy the organization or undermine the high office of the Secretary-General. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." We believe that you will rise to the challenge and lead the organization out even stronger.

The United Nations, today more than ever before, needs a leadership that is firm and not intimidated into giving up the integrity and independence with which a body like the UN deserves to operate. We the people need to stand up and defend the organization not only against those who are bent on destroying it, but also against those who's actions expose the organization to such critics.

We recognize that giving in to the forces currently calling for your resignation would only serve to undermine the UN as an in dependent organization and would weaken the ability of the UN as a vehicle to work for peace and justice around the world. That is why this cannot be seen as an attack on any one individual, but the UN as a whole. For the UN to continue to play its vital role and to command the respect of the world, it must maintain its credibility by ensuring that those who act in the organization's name do so transparently and with high integrity. We hope that with this full knowledge of the facts, appropriate actions shall be taken to save this essential organization unfounded damage and accusations.

We pledge to do all we can to defend the integrity of the organization in our communities and resist the systematic campaign that seeks to poison public opinion against the organization. We strongly urge you to continue to play your role without fear or favour.
In Solidarity,
Signed:

PLEASE TAKE THE FOLLOWING URGENT ACTIONS:
1. ENDORSE this letter to the UN Secretary General by responding to this with Your NAME and COUNTRY (Add organization if you want) by Sunday. PLEASE SEND IT DIRECTLY TO Maawuli@yahoo.com
2. FORWARD this email to other colleagues and POST this announcement on your organization's website and list-serves.
3. Shape PUBLIC OPINION in your community and country by raising the issue and challenging the critics. Contribute to media discussions- Radio, Print and TV etc.
4. Our US colleagues should visit the UN Association website and take action:
http://usa.unaaction.org/r.asp?aacwc=3643134305632105196772

International days of this and that (1)

Jamie R. Rogers

2004-12-09

I am a woman although some would not consider me to be. I am almost 21 and it almost never counts for anything much. I am also from "The Deep South" of the US. That is, more specifically, Alabama.

I am proud that the world has decided to recognize woman on one day (two if you count Mother's Day) of the year, so very appreciative that they can give up one year of their lives for women. But, do they? I mean, do they really stop and take notice? Sure, people like you, editors, writers, politicians, leaders of governments, they are obliged to care. What about the rest of the world? How do we make them care?

I wore my red ribbon yesterday to school and to work. Do you know how many people asked me why? Do you know how many people said, "huh?" when I told them that it was World AIDS Day? Too many. I wore the ribbon so that I could remind people, as well as myself, of the ever-growing concern for women less fortunate than myself. I wore it to remind myself to be in prayer for those I know who are plagued by the awful disease. You know, women are starting to take more notice of Breast Cancer Awareness and the pink ribbon, but could it be because they know someone who has breast cancer, or they have it themselves?

We, in America, are not as aware of the AIDS epidemic as we should be, especially with the amazing rate at which the disease is spreading throughout our country. People still have the backwards mentality to think that if someone has AIDS/ HIV then they deserve it. I want to shout "wake up!" to these narrow-minded people.

The truth is, we have not moved an inch past where Alabama was in the 1960s. We are still as racist as we were then, only now, the racism extends an ever reaching arm to homosexuals, to women, to Buddhists or people of any other religion outside of Southern Baptists, and to those living (if you can call it that) with AIDS.

Oh, I am proud to be an American. But I am prouder to be a woman. Especially when there are women like Ms. Win and the ever-courageous Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the rightful leader of Myanmar. Women of the world, wake up and MAKE your voice heard! How can you sit quietly anymore?

International days of this and that (2)

V.Mundy, Zimbabwe

2004-12-09

Delighted to read Everjoice Win's article on World Aids Day. Such fresh and frank commentary needs to be printed as a flyer and distributed around liberally. Well done Everjoice!

International days of this and that (3)

Joan Anne Nolan

2004-12-09

This article by Everjoice Win is fantastic.

Long live Dennis!

Eric Singh

2004-12-09

Thank you for the information regarding Dennis Brutus. Whether we agreed with him or not, the fact remains that Dennis is a giant who paved the way for the great strides made in the fight against apartheid sports. The fruits that we are now reaping are to a great extent the product of men like Dennis and the late George Singh and many other sports administrators who stood up to counted against the fascist regime. I can do no better than lend my support to the words expressed by the Arch and Fatima. Long may you live Dennis and everything of the best.

Summertime comes to Christmas

Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie

2004-12-09

World exclusive!

A Grateful Africa Gives Something Back Not content to take and take and take, Africa finally rewards the ever-generous Western giver with a warm-hearted gesture of her own. A pleasantly surprised world will look on in wonder and moist eyes as Africa demonstrates a capacity (yes, that's right, capacity) for compassion bordering on the downright selfless. But in these troubled times is it not right that an Africa that has so much should give a little something to those less fortunate than she?

"It is not right that Africa should simply continuously collect," said Adekunle Oduwagbemilolasoladeshe speaking from his home in Lagos, Nigeria, "after all, we also have much to give, it's time to put something back." Today, in response to an outpouring of concern in Africa, we are proud to release the song, "Do They Know It's Summertime?" in aid of victims of the cold in Britain.

"In this their moment of greatest need, we in Africa cannot walk by on the other side of the street," opined Blessings Dube in Harare, Zimbabwe, "we must show that we care, that we have warmth in our hearts. I personally don't listen to those cynics who say it's pointless giving because nothing ever changes in Britain. We have to have hope that our generosity will make a difference." The song's producers hope that "Do They Know It's Summertime?" will raise millions in aid of needy victims in Dartford. Millions of smiles, that is.
Rather than set their breathtaking song to a new tune and in order to conserve resources the record's producers suggest that the beautiful ditty be sung to the tune of another well-known song, also likely to reach number one in the pop charts. They hope that the well-known Congolese singer Papa Wemba will perform the song and perform it live to crowds in Europe.

Do They Know It's Summertime? Africa Aid

Do they know it's Summer
It's Summertime
There's a reason to be afraid
At Summertime, it's just so bright & we can't find shade
But it's their world of plenty that they're trying so hard to destroy
Throw your arms up in despair at Summertime
But just you wait there
While they fire yet more guns
At Summertime, it's hot, and you're under the sun
There's a world of funky lingo
And it's a world of shock and awe
Where the only sun that's shining is in the holiday snaps
And the smouldering shells that fall there
Create so much smoke in a plume
Well tonight just sing this song & and know your due
And there won't be any sun in England this Summertime
The biggest problems they'll have this year are rife
(Oooh) Where the sun never glows
The wind or is it snow
Do they know it's Summertime at all
(Here's to you) sitting here having such fun
(Here's to them) wondering what's like to have a sun
Do they know it's Summertime at all
Free the world, free the world, free the world
Let them know it's Summertime again
Free the world, free the world, free the world
Let them know it's Summertime again
Free the world, free the world, free the world
Let them know it's Summertime again
Free the world, free the world, free the world
Let them know it's Summertime again
Free the world, free the world, free the world
Let them know it's Summertime again

**WE MISS YOU ALL

Noerine Kaleeba with Sunanda Ray

2004-12-09

Death and pain are frequently recurring themes in this highly personal book by Noerine Kaleeba, the founding director of The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) in Uganda. Yet this is by no means a depressing book. On the contrary, it is engaging, surprising, challenging and absolutely inspirational.

The first edition of WE MISS YOU ALL was published in 1991. Noerine Kaleeba's experience of AIDS had begun five years earlier: "AIDS came to my house," she wrote, "on the afternoon of the 6th June 1986, when the British Council sent me a telex to tell me that my husband Chris was seriously ill in a hospital in England." Chris had been undertaking postgraduate studies in Hull, where Noerine was able to visit him in hospital. She was shocked by how AIDS had enfeebled and emaciated her once-handsome husband. Chris was able to return to Uganda, but a few months later he died in hospital, in severe pain, shunned and neglected by the nursing and medical staff.

After Chris's death, Noerine withdrew to her mother-in-law to grieve. Three weeks later she returned to Kampala and began meeting with a group of 16 friends who were either living with or directly affected by AIDS. These meetings led to the formation of TASO, which aimed to provide medical, practical and psychosocial support to people living with HIV/AIDS. TASO quickly established itself as an effective organisation, mobilising hundreds of volunteer counsellors and other service providers.

But TASO also went further, by pioneering an approach known as 'positive living', which enabled HIV-positive people to retain (or regain) their dignity, to improve the quality of their lives, to overcome HIV-related stigma and discrimination, to plan for the future, and even to prolong their lives. This approach - since adopted by HIV support and service organisations in many parts of the world - was a huge break-through at the time.

Under Noerine Kaleeba's leadership, TASO rapidly developed its services and expanded its outreach, achieving an international reputation for the clarity of its vision and the quality of its innovative work. But suffering and death were never far away. Of TASO's original 16 founding members, for example, 12 died of AIDS within the organisation's first year.

Leading TASO through its early years of growth and development took their toll on Noerine. In April 1995, feeling "totally burned out", she retired as Director of TASO. In the following year she joined the newly established United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), based in Geneva. She still works for UNAIDS, as the organisation's specialist in community mobilisation. In this new edition of her book, she describes - with typical, self-deprecating humour - how she has coped with the move:

"My training is in physiotherapy; my experience is in counselling and caring; my heart is in supporting people who are sick. Fighting for budgets and attending meetings and writing reports are not activities in which I excel (ask the long-suffering UNAIDS administrative staff who have to clean up after me!)."

Yet she has been a highly effective and respected spokesperson for UNAIDS at scores of international meetings throughout the world. Moreover, she is still firmly convinced of the supreme importance of the organisation's work:

"I continue to work with UNAIDS because I see it as the only hope, the only way to focus advocacy in order to provide the much needed influence."

Much has changed on the international HIV/AIDS scene since the first edition of WE MISS YOU ALL was published, over a decade ago. The most obvious change is the availability of effective antiretroviral drugs (which TASO is helping to make more accessible in Uganda). Equally important, however, is the fact that people living with HIV are increasingly viewed as important partners rather than simply as victims of the HIV pandemic. This is due, in large part, to the emergence of literally thousands of HIV/AIDS support and service organisations - many inspired by TASO - throughout the world. As a result of these and many other changes, HIV/AIDS is increasingly recognised as a preventable, manageable health condition, rather than as an inevitable fate or as a certain death sentence.

Noerine Kaleeba's book reminds us, however, of the human cost of the HIV pandemic. Uganda is regarded as one of the few 'success stories' on the international HIV/AIDS scene, having reduced HIV prevalence by two-thirds since the early 1990s. Noerine Kaleeba pays tribute to her country's achievements, but also adds:

"I have to put quotation marks around the word 'success' every time I use it, because although the statistics are impressive, it certainly doesn't feel like a success to me or to anyone I know. Too many are still dying and suffering."

In fact HIV/AIDS has continued to ravage Noerine Kaleeba's own family. Since the first edition of WE MISS YOU ALL was published in 1991, 12 of her close family members have died of AIDS. She is now responsible for looking after 14 orphans, in addition to her own four children. Most families in Uganda and many other African countries have similar stories to tell.

Unusually for an international civil servant, Noerine Kaleeba is not ashamed of personalising the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Speaking to the dignitaries gathered at the World Health Assembly in 2001, for example, she described how her own family has suffered from the exorbitantly high prices of antiretroviral drugs:

"I have four siblings who are HIV-positive, and although we had previously agreed with our family that we could not afford ARVs for any of them, the issue is being revisited now - thus placing enormous pressure on me, as I am the key breadwinner of the family!"

Yet Noerine Kaleeba's basic conviction is still one of hope, based on her faith in God, in her children, and in the friends who have supported her for nearly two decades:

"My message to all people in the world remains one of hope. Hope for a future world without HIV and AIDS. This hope will come out of a realisation that the whole population - the infected, the affected and the uninfected - need to join the fight against HIV and AIDS. ... To everyone living with HIV infection or disease the message is of hope, and the courage to fight until a cure is found. We triumph over the virus when we do not allow it to spread!"

Reviewed by Glen Williams (Series Editor, Strategies for Hope)

* WE MISS YOU ALL (second edition), by Noerine Kaleeba with Sunanda Ray. xii + 124 pp; ISBN 0 7974 2525X; published by SAfAIDS, Harare, 2002. Available from SAfAIDS: info@safaids.org.zw Telephone: +263 4 336193/4.

Democratic Transitions in East Africa

Paul J. Kaiser and F. Wafula Okumu

2004-12-09

https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%207546%204278%20X

Genocide in Rwanda, massive floods of refugees and displaced people in the Horn of Africa, violent civil wars in the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia - these are testimonies to the tremendous cost to grassroots communities when the authority and legitimacy of national political systems and leaders are called into question. The consolidation of democracy represents one tangible strategy to restore authority and legitimacy of political rule, providing the peace and security necessary for political enfranchisement and economic opportunity. This volume explores the factors that are crucial to the emergence of democratic political systems on the African continent, specifically focusing on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Impressions of Tafo

Robert Taylor

2004-12-09

http://www.friendsoftafo.org/home.htm

Friends of Tafo is a UK registered charity that aims to empower as well as help the people of Kwahu-Tafo, an impoverished rural town in Ghana, via responsible giving that generates a capacity for self-development in education, health, employment and infrastructure. Robert Taylor (photographer and FOT trustee) has recently published a book 'Impressions of Tafo' including photo portraits and interviews with Tafo's community. "This is a wonderful insight into a small but vibrant community in Ghana...I learnt so much from this beautifully presented book."  Jon Snow, Channel 4 News.

Southern Africa: The "I" Stories

2004-12-09

http://www.genderlinks.org.za

The "I" stories: speaking out on gender violence in Southern Africa is a collection of the writing of men and women who have been affected by violence – as survivors and rehabilitated perpetrators. The 17 stories from five Southern African countries are testimony to the strength and courage of the writers who, despite social and cultural norms which compound the silence surrounding gender violence, have spoken out. The stories are told simply and honestly by ordinary people in their own words. This booklet is a unique compilation of the authentic voices of those in our community who have spoken out, and who in doing so have opened the way for others to do the same. Booklet available from Gender Links (R30.00). Call Susan Tolmay on 27-11-622 2877, email admin@genderlinks.org.za or go to www.genderlinks.org.za

Africa: FGM Checks into Hospitals

2004-12-09

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2097/context/cover/

Activists working to end female genital mutilation in Africa find themselves in a bitter phase of the struggle. Now that some traditional practitioners have disavowed it, many doctors and nurses are taking up the illegal practice. And these are people that activists thought were their friends. "With activists campaigning about the unhygienic conditions in which traditional circumcisers carry out their trade, some parents are taking their daughter to the modern doctors," says Efua Dorkenoo, a Ghanaian activist against FGM. "This is actually taking people centuries back," says Millie Odhiambo, executive director of The CRADLE (also known as the Child Rights Advisory Documentation and Legal Centre).

Africa: Women's rights and the trading system

2004-12-09

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC15299

The WTO and the free trade agenda in general need to be better brought in line with the Beijing Platform for Action (BFPA), according to a paper that provides the notes of an event on 'Women's Rights and the Multilateral Trading System: the Politics of Gender Mainstreaming at the WTO'. The aim of the event was to offer some background for discussion, to raise some questions around gender and trade, to present some of the approaches from the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN), and to hear from representatives from country missions, the UN, WTO, and the international NGO community. The paper says that after 1995, many in the global women's movement have supported gender mainstreaming initiatives in order to assess and integrate gender concerns into legislation, policies and programs at all levels, but that questions arise as to whether this is working.

Egypt: Call for reform to divorce system

2004-12-09

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/International/Dec04/divorce.html

Egypt's divorce system discriminates against women and undermines their right to end a marriage, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released on World Aids Day. In October, the government established family courts but, like no-fault divorce introduced four years earlier, these have failed to tackle ongoing discrimination against women. The 62-page report, "Divorced from Justice: Women's Unequal Access to Divorce in Egypt," documents serious human rights abuses stemming from discriminatory family laws that have resulted in a divorce system that affords separate and unequal treatment to men and women.

Kenya: Women build a place of unity

2004-12-09

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/International/Dec04/brokenlives.html

There is one village in Kenya, a place the people call Umoja, that manages to stand out from the rest. There are almost no men living here. Women run the show in Umoja, which was founded about a decade ago, and that is very odd in such a patriarchal part of the world. "We are always under men," said Rebecca Lolosoli, who is the leader of the three dozen or so women who live in Umoja, which means Unity in Swahili. "The men treat us like nothing. You are there to give them children. We're like property, and we're mistreated." Umoja traces its origins not so much to political protest, however, as to acts of sexual violence against the women, reportedly by British soldiers.

Sierra Leone: Grain without pain

2004-12-09

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/ba29c47c0bc008de26b951581025ae27.htm

The women of Kawula village say they have traded in blisters for beauty and regained freshness where they were once out of breath, all thanks to machines provided by the UN refugee agency. The machines in question are not cosmetic or sport gadgets. Instead, they are rice mills donated by UNHCR as part of community empowerment projects in north-western Sierra Leone's Kambia district, one of the major areas of return for Sierra Leonean refugees who fled the country during the decade-long civil war that ended in 2002.

Zimbabwe: Tackling the impact of customs on AIDS

2004-12-09

http://womensnet.org.za/news.php?page=showcomments&id=95

Traditional practices of polygamy, virginity testing and 'kugara nhaka'(wife inheritance), inhibit women's control over their bodies and increase vulnerability to HIV infection, but activists are split on the best way to tackle the customs. The Girl Child Network (GCN) believes in empowering girls to resist virginity testing. Other advocacy groups favour tighter legislation against high-risk behaviour performed "in the name of culture". Still others believe in empowering women to make informed decisions within the context of traditional culture, given the hostility of many community leaders to attempts to tamper with custom.

Africa/Global: Millions enslaved, says Annan

2004-12-09

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12698&Cr=slave&Cr1=

Millions of men, women and children are still being bought and sold as chattels, forced into bonded labour, held as slaves for ritual or religious purposes, or trafficked across borders, often to be sold into prostitution, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message marking International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. "All these forms of slavery are abhorrent, and must be eradicated," he declared, calling on all States to ratify and implement existing conventions that fight the scourge. "Slavery offends every value that underlies the United Nations Charter, and the Organization and all its Member States must take a strong stand against it."

Africa/Global: Practical human rights guide to the WTO

2004-12-09

http://www.3dthree.org/en/complement.php?IDcomplement=36&IDcat=4&IDpage=14

The Practical Guide is unique in providing a concise and simply-worded guide to the World Trade Organization (WTO), from a human rights perspective. Importantly, the Practical Guide contains pointers for individuals and groups concerned with human rights to respond to the threats trade and trade rules can pose to the enjoyment of human rights. It describes human rights mechanisms that can be applied by people concerned to ensure that trade, trade rules or the domestic implementation of international trade rules are carried out in a way that does not have negative impacts on human rights. No prior knowledge of trade or economic issues is required to read and make good use of the Practical Guide.

Africa: More Needed to Restore Legitimacy of Commission on Human Rights

2004-12-09

A report on the future of the United Nations, ordered last year by Secretary-General Kofi Annan , accurately diagnoses the sorry state of the UN Commission on Human Rights but proposes an inadequate cure, Human Rights Watch said. Among its key findings, the report highlights that the Commission suffers a serious problem of credibility that casts doubts on the overall reputation of the United Nations. The report, entitled "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility" and prepared by an panel of eminent persons, notes that the Commission's most serious problem is that so many of its 53 member states are themselves responsible for serious human rights violations.
More Needed to Restore Legitimacy of Commission on Human Rights

(Geneva, December 2, 2004) -- A report on the future of the United
Nations, ordered last year by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and officially
released today, accurately diagnoses the sorry state of the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights but proposes an inadequate cure, Human Rights
Watch said today.

The report is on target in recognizing that gross human rights violators
seek seats on the Commission to protect themselves from criticism. But
instead of establishing membership criteria linked to a member state's
human rights record, the panel members give up the battle and recommend
expanding the Commission to include all 191 U.N. members.

Among its key findings, the report highlights that the Commission suffers
a serious problem of credibility that casts doubts on the overall
reputation of the United Nations. The report, entitled "A More Secure
World: Our Shared Responsibility" and prepared by an panel of eminent
persons, notes that the Commission's most serious problem is that so many
of its 53 member states are themselves responsible for serious human
rights violations.

"The report is on target in recognizing that gross human rights violators
seek seats on the Commission to protect themselves from criticism," said
Joanna Weschler, U.N. advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "But
instead of establishing membership criteria linked to a state's human
rights record, the panel members give up the battle and recommend
expanding the Commission to include all 191 U.N. members."

This recommendation is inconsistent with the report's own analysis. In a
section on the General Assembly, the only U.N. body with universal
membership so far, the report states that the Assembly has lost its focus
and recommends that it establish "smaller, more tightly focused
committees."

The General Assembly has hardly been a reliable defender of human rights.
Just days ago, it voted not to take any action on or even discuss several
resolutions against highly abusive states: Sudan, whose ethnic cleansing
is responsible for ongoing crimes against humanity in its western region
of Darfur, as well as Zimbabwe, and Belarus. Even the Commission with its
current membership had succeeded in criticizing Belarus earlier this year.

"There's little that a 191-member body could accomplish during a six-week
session. At best, it would be yet another talk shop," Weschler said.

Human Rights Watch has argued that governments wishing to serve on the
Commission should fulfill membership criteria and make specific rights
commitments prior to their election. In addition, the Commission on Human
Rights should become a standing body, capable of acting upon crises as
they occur rather than waiting for the six- week annual session. In its
report, the Panel recommends the creation in the unspecified future of a
Human Rights Council, which presumably would be permanent.

Among many other issues covered by the report, Human Rights Watch welcomed
the prominent place that the report gives to the recommendation that the
Security Council should stand ready to use its authority to refer cases to
the International Criminal Court.

Also of great value are recommendations made regarding the responsibility
of the United Nations to protect civilians from atrocities and mass
killings committed by their governments. Human Rights Watch supports the
five criteria of legitimacy laid out in the Panel's report, but criticized
the lack of reference to international humanitarian law as the
indispensable guiding principle of any military action. Significantly,
the report calls on the permanent members of the Security Council to
"refrain from the use of the veto in cases of genocide and large scale
human rights abuses" - a recommendation that Human Rights Watch strongly
supports.

Human Rights Watch endorsed the report's proposed definition of terrorism.
The report found that the right to resist foreign occupation does not
imply a right to target civilians and noncombatants.

"Nothing justifies deliberately attacking civilians," Weschler said.

Human Rights Watch also welcomed the report's recommendations addressing
the due process concerns related to the listing of individuals and
entities identified as supporters of al-Qaeda as well as lists created by
some other Security Council sanctions regimes.

"We have been concerned for years about the lack of due process behind the
listing and delisting of individuals and entities targeted for sanctions,"
Weschler said. "The Panel was right to press for this problem finally to
be addressed."

Human Rights Watch Press release

More...

Africa: NGOs to engage with African Committee of Experts on Rights of the Child

Carol Bower

2004-12-09

On 29th November, representatives of child rights organisations in 18 African countries met in Dakar, Senegal for a four-day workshop on the procedures of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The meeting was convened by the West African office of Save the Children (Sweden) and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA – based in the Gambia), and supported by Save the Children (Sweden) and the Ford Foundation. Its primary purpose was to inform African child rights networks about the role and functioning of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), and to build capacity to engage with this important body. I was fortunate enough to attend in my capacity as Chairperson of the ChildrenNOW Network (www.nscn.org.za).

The Workshop was a combination of expert inputs and work in small groups. Inputs from various experts included:

· the history of international child rights conventions and the UN system;
· a comparison of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC);
· the role and work of the Committee of Experts to date;
· communication procedures;
· reporting procedures;
· strategies for the ratification of the ACRWC, and implementation at national level;
· the actions that African NGOs can take to support ratification and implementation.

The Workshop came to the conclusion that a network of African NGOs to support the implementation of the ACRWC should be established. It was further agreed that we need to ensure visibility for the network, that networks at country level are very important and should be the basis of a regional network, and that some conceptualisation work needs to be done, such as a feasibility study. The IHRDA was asked to undertake preliminary activities towards setting up such a network.

Concrete activities that the Institute was asked to perform in the next 6 to 12 months, in conjunction with the Save the Children (Sweden) network, include a review of existing networks and to plan to meet again within the next twelve months. It is hoped that this meeting will take place in Addis Ababa in May 2005.

For further information, and a full report on the Workshop, contact Carol Bower (carol@rapcan.org.za) or consult the web site of the African Union (www.africa-union.org/child/home.htn)

** Carol Bower is Executive Director of Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (RAPCAN) and National Chair of the South African Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Africa: One billion children suffer from poverty, war, AIDS, Unicef says

2004-12-09

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041209/hl_afp/unicefunchildren_041209111511

More than one billion children, half of the world's population of children, suffer from poverty, violent conflict and the scourge of AIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund said in its annual report. The rights of children to a healthy and protected upbringing, as laid out in the widely-adopted 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, were regularly imperiled, due in part to the failure of governments to carry out human rights and economic reforms, UNICEF said.

Burundi: Gatumba, the United States and the ICC

2004-12-09

http://www.justicetribune.com/article_uk.php?id=2839

While the US government is stepping up pressure on states to sign bilateral agreements guaranteeing American citizens freedom from prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the conflict that divides the US from most of its Western partners has found a new forum for debate, according to a report by the International Justice Tribune, available in full on their website. While renewing the UN mandate in Burundi, the Security Council also acknowledged a UN report on the Gatumba massacre in which at least 152 Congolese Banyamulenge refugees were murdered in their transit camp at Gatumba, Burundi on August 13. In its resolution of 1 December, the Security Council "reiterated its strong condemnation of the Gatumba massacre". The US ambassador made it clear that he "supports the resolution based on the understanding that it in no way directs, encourages, or authorizes [the UN mission] to cooperate with or support the ICC".

DRC: Peacekeepers find mass grave

2004-12-09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4074953.stm

A grave containing "numerous" bodies allegedly killed by rebels has been found in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeepers say. An underground jail had also been found in a "torture camp" run by the FAPC rebels, said a UN spokesman. The rebel-run Ndrele camp was on Sunday the scene of clashes between the rebels and the UN after peacekeepers tried to investigate reports of abuses.

Nigeria/Africa: Visa office torture

Visa applications cause anger

2004-12-09

http://farafina.dbweb.ee/?article_id=129&category_id=26&issue=6

"Visa applicants are used to verbal abuse, being shoved about, being threatened with horsewhips and belt buckles and kept out in the sun or rain for hours on sluggish queues even though they arrived at the consulate at exactly the time they were told to and even though they have paid or will pay up to a hundred dollars for the torture of applying for a visa. The presumption is that the applicant is a liar, that all the documents put forward in support of the application are fakes. Occasionally you hear applicants who have been humiliated to breaking point venting their frustration on their interviewer from the direction of the cubicles, yelling like lunatics. Or you hear the terrible pleading in their voices, the readiness to endure even more humiliation, in order to meet a medical appointment or attend a daughter’s wedding or visit prospective business partners, and the sound is unbearable."

Uganda: MP's 'state torture' claim

2004-12-09

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4075919.stm

A Ugandan opposition MP has alleged that one of his staff was tortured by state security services. Driver Sam Ongiya, 26, claims he was picked up by armed men and forcefully interrogated about opposition activities. Opposition politicians fear increased harassment as Uganda prepares for democratic elections in 2006. Human rights groups report that torture by state security agencies is common in Uganda but the government maintains it is working to eliminate it.

Zimbabwe: CSOs to protest repression on Human Rights Day

2004-12-09

Civil society organisations, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, and other citizens in the SADC region are gathering in front of the Zimbabwean Embassies or High Commissions in their respective countries on International Human Rights Day to protest against the wave of repression which limits civic space and undermines civil liberties in Zimbabwe.
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS READY TO DEMONSTRATE IN SOLIDARITY WITH ZIMBABWEANS ON 10 DECEMBER 2004

8 December 2004; Johannesburg, South Africa

Civil society organisations, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, and other citizens in the SADC region are gathering in front of the Zimbabwean Embassies or High Commissions in their respective countries on International Human Rights Day to protest against the wave of repression which limits civic space and undermines civil liberties in Zimbabwe.

The demonstrators will be protesting against the draconian legislation which has been adopted by the Zimbabwean government, particularly, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and its recent amendment, the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) and the Miscellaneous Offences Act and the NGO Bill, all of which contravene Zimbabwe’s constitution and its international human rights obligations.

The scheduled solidarity event at the Zimbabwean Embassy in Zambia will be reinforced by the African Social Forum in Lusaka, which will highlight the overall declining human rights situation in Zimbabwe and enable the further participation of African civil society in such solidarity events.

All the peaceful protests throughout the participating SADC countries will take place from 11am to 1pm on the 10th December 2004. For details on how to join the demonstration in your area, 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).

-Ends-

More...

DRC: The grim fate that awaits those deported

2004-12-09

The plane lands at Ndjili airport, Kinshasa, in the dead of night - the better to avoid monitoring by journalists and human rights activists. Then the returning asylum seekers are led out onto the tarmac by their European escorts to be handed over to the Congolese authorities. Some will have suffered violence in the process of being deported or in the detention centre where they were held prior to the flight. Others will have been tied to the seats with scotch tape for the duration of the seven-hour journey. Most would have been prevented from using the toilet or eating. They are handed over to the offices of the Director-General of Migration (DGM), ostensibly the Congolese immigration service but, in reality, an arm of the government's security services. A file containing details of their claim for political asylum in Europe is also passed to the DGM. According to René Kabala Mushiya, an activist who works in Kinshasa with the National Human Rights Observatory, this is the moment when European governments abandon those who have claimed asylum in their countries to a state which violates human rights with impunity.

Ethiopia: Vital food to refugees under threat

2004-12-09

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/9ca65951ee22658ec125663300408599/cc8c8ac3a5c7630849256f64001bf43f?OpenDocument

Vital food rations for 118,000 refugees in Ethiopia may be cut by 30 percent unless international donors supply 4.2 million dollars to buy cereal, the United Nations' food agency warned. Ethiopia's refugee population is almost entirely dependent upon food aid as people are unable to farm for themselves without angering the locals, who also rely heavily on international support to feed themselves.

South Africa: Refugees unwanted in the Rainbow Nation

2004-12-09

http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/humanrights/041207sa

Since the end of apartheid a decade ago, growing numbers of refugees from across Africa have been heading towards the continent's richest and most industrialised country. No one knows how many African immigrants have settled illegally in South Africa. Estimates vary from 2 to 10 million people, or between 5 and 25 % of South Africa's population.

Sudan: Disagreements threaten future of 4 million refugees

2004-12-09

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=7291

The resettlement of four million internally displaced peoples (IDPs) and refugees into southern Sudan faces a bleak future as disagreements over land emerge days to eventual peace signing. Now organisations working in the region are urging resolution and the immediate address of serious lack of social amenities to lure potential returnees back home.

Angola: Independent electoral commission vital to poll credibility

2004-12-09

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=44562

Setting up an independent electoral commission to oversee Angola's first post-war elections was critical to the credibility of the poll, analysts said on Tuesday. "Although peace has been achieved, Angola remains politically polarised. It is vital that a new, independent commission be established to ensure that voters buy into the process - without such a body, one can expect to see numerous challenges to the eventual results," Martinho Chachiua, of the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, told IRIN.

Ghana: Kufuor heads for poll win

2004-12-09

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=71387

Ghana remained calm Wednesday as results pointed to president John Agyekum Kufuor heading for a first-round victory as the picture of the election became clearer 24 hours after polls closed. His New Patriotic Party (NPP) is also in a strong lead in the 230- member parliament. According to results from 176 constituencies in the presidential election released by the Electoral Commission Kufuor has 55.6 percent of votes with former vice president John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) polling about 42.1 percent.

Mozambique: The count continues

2004-12-09

Tabulation of votes has finally begun in all 11 provinces and at national level in Maputo, Filipe Mandlate, spokesman for the National Elections Commission (CNE) said Wednesday afternoon. Most provinces started inputting results sheets into the computers five days late and there is no chance that they will complete their work by the end of Thursday, as required by law. Processing in two provinces, Gaza and Cabo Delgado, was held up by Renamo objections, but Mandlate said these had been resolved. In Gaza, Renamo demanded that press, observers and party delegates be invited to the start of data input and that all be given the list of polling stations and there registration book numbers. Read the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin, available through the link below, for the latest on the elections. You can also visit the website of the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa for more detailed information: http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/mozambique.htm
MOZAMBIQUE POLITICAL PROCESS BULLETIN

Election e-mail special issue 20 Thursday 9 December 2004

CNE SAYS PROVINCIAL COUNT HAS FINALLY STARTED

Tabulation of votes has finally begun in all 11 provinces and at national
level in Maputo, Filipe Mandlate, spokesman for the National Elections
Commission (CNE) said Wednesday afternoon. Most provinces started inputting results sheets (editais) into the computers five days late and
there is no chance that they will complete their work by the end of today,
as required by law.

Processing in two provinces, Gaza and Cabo Delgado, was held up by Renamo
objections, but Mandlate said these had been resolved. In Gaza, Renamo
demanded that press, observers and party delegates be invited to the start
of data input and that all be given the list of polling stations and there
registration book numbers (which has never been made publicly available).

The worry in Gaza is that the original register was substantially inflated, apparently by including many register books more than once. The register was cleaned in the weeks before the election and many duplications removed. But revisions were rushed and were only finished two days before the election and observers wanted to be sure that registers were no longer included twice; without a list there was no way to check this. If a register was in the data base twice, it is possible that editais could be entered twice, which in Frelimo-voting Gaza could potentially increase the vote for Armando Guebuza.

Contrary to the report in yesterday's Bulletin, processing was delayed in
Niassa because of problems finding a suitable location for the computer,
and data input only began late Wednesday afternoon.

SOFTWARE, TABULATION & TRANSPARENCY PROBLEMS CONTINUE

STAE left the writing of the tabulation sof