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2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/26703

* EDITORIAL: Following the peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), the challenge will now be to ensure that human rights are moved to the forefront of peace implementation efforts, argues Denise Lifton.
* COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Has the World Social Forum been hijacked? Andile Mngxitama from the www.wewrite.org editorial collective takes a critical look at what’s going on in Porto Alegre.
* LETTERS: The debate on whether the slaves have left the masters house continues.
* HUMAN RIGHTS: Erica Neiglick, from Kenyan child rights organization The Cradle, writes about a legal challenge to the discriminatory Children’s Act.
* WOMEN AND GENDER: African women have been the hardest hit by market liberalization, research from the African Labour Research Network says.
* ENVIRONMENT: Multi National Corporations often trip over themselves to appear biodiversity friendly. Emmanuel O. Nuesiri’s research shows that often this is little more than greenwash.
* LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Raj Patel writes about a December conference on agrarian reform where rural-based social movements from around the world set up a school for democratic struggle against neoliberal agrarian policy.
* MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: An International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) team that visited Tunisia in preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) due for November has “found serious cause for continuing concern about the current state of freedom of expression and of civil liberties”.
* NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: Philip Emeagwali is scared that an entire generation of African children are growing up brainwashed by Hollywood. “We need to tell our children our own stories from our own perspective,” he writes.
* BOOKS AND ARTS: A new book shows how African proverbs can be motivation for personal and organizational transformation.

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Southern Sudan’s Peace Agreement: A Realistic Chance for Human Rights?

Denise Lifton

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/26702

Enormous hopes rested on the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the rebels Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) when they signed a historic comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) in Naivasha, Kenya, on Sunday, 9 January 2004. If sustained, it will mark the end of a more than two decades of war and allowing Sudan’s people to return to a civilian lifestyle with the accompanying rights and freedoms.

Supported by the international community under the auspices of the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the agreement is the outcome of an intense process of negotiations between both warring parties that gathered momentum in 2004: The peace accord signed on 26 May 2004 between the Government of Sudan and the SPLA/M was followed by a comprehensive framework agreement, the Nairobi Declaration, on 5 June 2004. On 31 December 2004, the last two protocols for a peace deal were signed - a permanent ceasefire and the implementation modalities of the protocols. Sudan now embarks on its pre-interim period of governance before the six-year interim period leading to a referendum on the South’s secession officially begins.

However, through all the joyous proclamations of peace and stability by the GoS and the SPLA/M, it is by far from sure whether this will be the beginning of a new period in Sudan’s history where human rights are respected and protected. Although the peace agreement has been a fairly smooth process since 2002 once high level delegations from both sides were involved, the longevity of the war, its underlying causes and the mistrust still evident between the two sides continue to be an impediment towards how both sides view each other and others involved in the conflict. Shifting alliances and this deep mistrust of all parties continue to pervade the atmosphere in Sudan, generating a profound lack of confidence in governance institutions and the environment in which they operate, and it will have important implications in the way a future National Unity Government will operate.

Moreover, even the official end of the north-south conflict will not necessarily bring immediate peace as potential uprisings and conflicts in the west, east, in Unity State and Upper Nile and continuing intra and inter ethnic conflict could destabilise Sudan once again. The human rights situation in the Sudan, although improved over a number of years, has sharply declined with the onset of the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan and the situation in Sudan still remains tense with a number of high and low intensity conflicts throughout the country. The consequences and implications of these conflicts upon the peace process are still an unknown factor, and there is a significant danger that they could jeopardise the peace and cause instability.

The forthcoming several months, after a comprehensive peace agreement has been signed, will impact deeply on the stability of the country. This will have enormous consequences and implications for the human rights culture of the country. All parties to the conflict have committed serious human rights abuses that have been well documented.

Human Rights Trampled in One of Africa’s Longest-Running Conflicts

Civil war has characterised Sudan for all but ten years (1972-1982) since its independence in 1956. Two decades of the conflict, since its resumption with the SPLM/A in 1983, has devastated the country rich in natural and human resources, and the most heinous human rights violations have been committed. As a direct result of the fighting between north and south two million have died, three to four million have been displaced, and several million more have had their livelihoods disrupted. Sudan has consistently fallen into the lower echelons of the human and poverty indexes, where it was rated 139 out of 177 in the Human Development Index (HDI), and ranked 116/175 in the Gender-related Development Index, which measures the same achievements as the HDI but also takes into account the inequality in achievement between men and women. However, when the indicators highlighted in the Baseline Survey for Southern Sudan are taken into account these figures in reality should be much lower. This directly impacts economic, social and cultural rights of all Sudanese people – for example, the adult illiteracy rate countrywide is 41.2%, where many students are denied obtaining either a primary or secondary education due to migration, conflict and lack of governmental financial support.

In the past, the Government of Sudan has come under severe international criticism for its human rights record from the international community. Civil and political rights have been harshly repressed and the right to development in Sudan has been seriously adversely affected as a consequence of the fighting, affecting access to even the most basic of services such as education and health for the majority. Inversely, this has often led to human rights concerns as a low priority, and human rights violations were often carried out in a climate of impunity. The consequence of this has been for the international community to directly deal with alleviating suffering and responding to humanitarian needs in the short term.

Recently, the human rights situation has fluctuated according to the political atmosphere in Sudan and the Government’s flexibility. Reports from human rights organisations have stated that the human rights situation has slightly improved over the years, with fewer violations occurring within the civil and political spheres, as restrictions have been eased. Yet, this year has seen a number of simmering conflicts come to the fore, reversing the gains made in the past. The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Extra Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions on her recent visit to Sudan was “disturbed and alarmed by the gravity of the human rights abuses perpetrated in the Sudan,” and also stressed “the question of accountability as a fundamental principle in addressing violations of human rights.” Human rights violations committed particularly in the context of armed conflict is a worrying trend where security forces and militia allied to the GoS act with impunity.

Due particularly to the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan the human rights situation has steadily worsened over the past year, including war-related human rights abuses, such as killing, abduction, rape, displacement and extra-judicial executions. Human rights activists and defenders and opposition members, especially those associated with Darfur, have been detained and routinely harassed and are often held incommunicado detention without charge or trial. The international community has only recently begun to focus on the conflict, ongoing for over 20 months, and has highlighted the complete lack of accountability of human rights in Sudan. As the Government has gained a higher negative international profile as a consequence it has adversely rebounded on the rest of the country and made it more difficult for human rights activists to operate freely.

Ever since the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Sudan on Human Rights was abruptly ended in April 2003 there has been no independent monitoring of the human rights situation in Sudan. After a tense session during the 60th Session of the Committee on Human Rights in Geneva, where Sudan successfully lobbied to avoid the re-introduction of a Special Rapporteur, an independent expert on the situation of human rights with a mandate to investigate human rights in Sudan was realised and made his first trip to Sudan in mid-August. The ensuing report back to the UN will ensure that human rights ‘benchmarks’ remains a presence on the government’s agenda and that the GoS continues to be accountable for its actions, whether in a conflict or non-conflict situation.

There has been no effective promotion or protection structures functioning in the country. Human rights monitoring and work continues to remain a sensitive issue, where strict controls regulate work by non-governmental organisations. The promotion and protection of human rights in the Sudan can take on a multiplicity of activities, but presently very few national activities are ongoing to systematically address human rights violations in the country. There are few national structures in place that effectively works on promotion and protection issues. Although, particularly since the Darfur crisis began, the Government has engaged more with international partners to discuss human rights issues and to improve the human rights situation, there are still structural weaknesses, particularly with regards to functioning government institutions dealing with human rights.

>>>>>For the rest of this article, that includes a regional analysis of threats to peace, the political challenges of establishing a unity government and the building of safeguards for human rights, please click on the link below.

* Denise Lifton is a freelance consultant working on human rights in Africa. She is currently working in Sudan.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org
Southern Sudan’s Peace Agreement: A Realistic Chance for Human Rights?
By Denise Lifton

Enormous hopes rested on the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the rebels Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) when they signed a historic comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) in Naivasha, Kenya, on Sunday, 9 January 2004. If sustained, it will mark the end of a more than two decades of war and allowing Sudan’s people to return to a civilian lifestyle with the accompanying rights and freedoms.

Supported by the international community under the auspices of the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the agreement is the outcome of an intense process of negotiations between both warring parties that gathered momentum in 2004: The peace accord signed on 26 May 2004 between the Government of Sudan and the SPLA/M was followed by a comprehensive framework agreement, the Nairobi Declaration, on 5 June 2004. On 31 December 2004, the last two protocols for a peace deal were signed - a permanent ceasefire and the implementation modalities of the protocols. Sudan now embarks on its pre-interim period of governance before the six-year interim period leading to a referendum on the South’s secession officially begins.

However, through all the joyous proclamations of peace and stability by the GoS and the SPLA/M, it is by far from sure whether this will be the beginning of a new period in Sudan’s history where human rights are respected and protected. Although the peace agreement has been a fairly smooth process since 2002 once high level delegations from both sides were involved, the longevity of the war, its underlying causes and the mistrust still evident between the two sides continue to be an impediment towards how both sides view each other and others involved in the conflict. Shifting alliances and this deep mistrust of all parties continue to pervade the atmosphere in Sudan, generating a profound lack of confidence in governance institutions and the environment in which they operate, and it will have important implications in the way a future National Unity Government will operate.

Moreover, even the official end of the north-south conflict will not necessarily bring immediate peace as potential uprisings and conflicts in the west, east, in Unity State and Upper Nile and continuing intra and inter ethnic conflict could destabilise Sudan once again. The human rights situation in the Sudan, although improved over a number of years, has sharply declined with the onset of the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan and the situation in Sudan still remains tense with a number of high and low intensity conflicts throughout the country. The consequences and implications of these conflicts upon the peace process are still an unknown factor, and there is a significant danger that they could jeopardise the peace and cause instability.

The forthcoming several months, after a comprehensive peace agreement has been signed, will impact deeply on the stability of the country. This will have enormous consequences and implications for the human rights culture of the country. All parties to the conflict have committed serious human rights abuses that have been well documented.

Human Rights Trampled in One of Africa’s Longest-Running Conflicts

Civil war has characterised Sudan for all but ten years (1972-1982) since its independence in 1956. Two decades of the conflict, since its resumption with the SPLM/A in 1983, has devastated the country rich in natural and human resources, and the most heinous human rights violations have been committed. As a direct result of the fighting between north and south two million have died, three to four million have been displaced, and several million more have had their livelihoods disrupted. Sudan has consistently fallen into the lower echelons of the human and poverty indexes, where it was rated 139 out of 177 in the Human Development Index (HDI), and ranked 116/175 in the Gender-related Development Index, which measures the same achievements as the HDI but also takes into account the inequality in achievement between men and women. However, when the indicators highlighted in the Baseline Survey for Southern Sudan are taken into account these figures in reality should be much lower. This directly impacts economic, social and cultural rights of all Sudanese people – for example, the adult illiteracy rate countrywide is 41.2%, where many students are denied obtaining either a primary or secondary education due to migration, conflict and lack of governmental financial support.

In the past, the Government of Sudan has come under severe international criticism for its human rights record from the international community. Civil and political rights have been harshly repressed and the right to development in Sudan has been seriously adversely affected as a consequence of the fighting, affecting access to even the most basic of services such as education and health for the majority. Inversely, this has often led to human rights concerns as a low priority, and human rights violations were often carried out in a climate of impunity. The consequence of this has been for the international community to directly deal with alleviating suffering and responding to humanitarian needs in the short term.

Recently, the human rights situation has fluctuated according to the political atmosphere in Sudan and the Government’s flexibility. Reports from human rights organisations have stated that the human rights situation has slightly improved over the years, with fewer violations occurring within the civil and political spheres, as restrictions have been eased. Yet, this year has seen a number of simmering conflicts come to the fore, reversing the gains made in the past. The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on Extra Judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions on her recent visit to Sudan was “disturbed and alarmed by the gravity of the human rights abuses perpetrated in the Sudan,” and also stressed “the question of accountability as a fundamental principle in addressing violations of human rights.” Human rights violations committed particularly in the context of armed conflict is a worrying trend where security forces and militia allied to the GoS act with impunity.

Due particularly to the Darfur crisis in Western Sudan the human rights situation has steadily worsened over the past year, including war-related human rights abuses, such as killing, abduction, rape, displacement and extra-judicial executions. Human rights activists and defenders and opposition members, especially those associated with Darfur, have been detained and routinely harassed and are often held incommunicado detention without charge or trial. The international community has only recently begun to focus on the conflict, ongoing for over 20 months, and has highlighted the complete lack of accountability of human rights in Sudan. As the Government has gained a higher negative international profile as a consequence it has adversely rebounded on the rest of the country and made it more difficult for human rights activists to operate freely.

Ever since the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Sudan on Human Rights was abruptly ended in April 2003 there has been no independent monitoring of the human rights situation in Sudan. After a tense session during the 60th Session of the Committee on Human Rights in Geneva, where Sudan successfully lobbied to avoid the re-introduction of a Special Rapporteur, an independent expert on the situation of human rights with a mandate to investigate human rights in Sudan was realised and made his first trip to Sudan in mid-August. The ensuing report back to the UN will ensure that human rights ‘benchmarks’ remains a presence on the government’s agenda and that the GoS continues to be accountable for its actions, whether in a conflict or non-conflict situation.

There has been no effective promotion or protection structures functioning in the country. Human rights monitoring and work continues to remain a sensitive issue, where strict controls regulate work by non-governmental organisations. The promotion and protection of human rights in the Sudan can take on a multiplicity of activities, but presently very few national activities are ongoing to systematically address human rights violations in the country. There are few national structures in place that effectively works on promotion and protection issues. Although, particularly since the Darfur crisis began, the Government has engaged more with international partners to discuss human rights issues and to improve the human rights situation, there are still structural weaknesses, particularly with regards to functioning government institutions dealing with human rights.

Regional Perspective

Conflict elsewhere in the country will continue to exacerbate instability. It is important that the north-south peace process cannot be seen in isolation to the rest of the country. Potential spoilers of peace are numerous, and must be dealt with effectively. Many of these conflicts and potential hotspots could be exacerbated, with huge humanitarian and human rights consequences. Unless these are immediately dealt with, with the participation of the international community, the north-south peace could be jeopardised with new human rights abuses emerging.

North Sudan (including west and east Sudan)

There has been a lack of democratic tradition in the north, largely as a result of the history of power and governance in Sudan. There is an absence of appropriate governance institutions within the present regime. The militarisation of life in Sudan has significantly eroded the capacity of the GoS to deliver on many basic services. Significant amounts of natural resources have been diverted to the war effort. The present government has kept a tight hold on power mainly through legislative directives, imposing restrictions on an independent civil society, and a lack of reform and accountability within itself. There is a strict form of self-censorship that surrounds civil society institutions, and recently the Government passed several laws further restricting their work, such as the Press and Publications Law.

The National Intelligence and Security Services continue to implement its campaign of attacking and restricting the media and freedom of expression in Sudan. The NSA, since 11 September 2004, has resumed their policy of pre-censorship, particularly focusing on news on Darfur or the opposition party controlled by Turabi, the Popular National Congress (PNC), by reviewing and ordering the removal of articles prior to printing. This is in conflict with the presidential decree, issued on 12 August 2003, on press freedom, which officially lifted the censorship on newspapers operating under the jurisdiction of the NSA. Violence against students by security forces also remains a common practice and has increased recently.

In the north the state security apparatus takes on a myriad of forms and acts with impunity. In addition to the regular police force and the Sudan People’s Armed Forces, there is an external security force, an internal security force, a militia called the Popular Defence Forces, and a number of other semi-autonomous forces. The issue of demobilisation, disarmament, and reintegration (DDR) will become crucial in sustaining the core provisions of the CPA. The Government has implemented strict and repressive legislation, for example the National Security Forces Act, which forms the legal basis of their actions, as well as allowing for incommunicado detention for periods of six to nine months, needs to be completely overhauled. The Criminal Procedures Act 1991 strengthens the powers of law enforcement agencies without judicial review.

In the last several months the political tensions in Sudan have increased dramatically. There have been several alleged attempted coup attempts against the regime, all of which failed, and seizure of a number of weapons around Khartoum. This had given the government the opportunity of further detaining opposition members, particularly from the Popular Congress. Other main human rights concerns include: lack of accountability and impunity, particularly by the security forces; lack of independence of the judiciary; executions, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment such as amputations, arbitrary arrests and detentions, harassment of political opposition, students and NGOs, widespread displacement, restrictions on basic freedoms, including freedom of opinion, expression, association and movement.

The government has expressed its support for human rights in a variety of fora, most recently during the Human Rights session in Geneva. The lack of ratification of major human rights treaties such as the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and the Convention to End all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) signifies the GoS’ abdication of responsibility towards human rights furthered by a lack of harmonisation of domestic law with international norms and standards. Women in Sudan continue to be marginalised and discriminated against through legislation and cultural traditions that deny them the right to equal opportunities in all spheres of society. Unless there is a concerted action by the international community to keep this issue alive and continue to pressure the government, it seems extremely unlikely that at the present time the government would ratify either CEDAW or CAT. What seems more feasible is to wait for a national unity government to be established and to push the ‘SPLM side’ of government.

The West/Darfur

The Darfur region in western Sudan has been labelled by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crisis, where Sudanese troops and allied-militia have carried out a ‘scorched earth policy’ and ‘repeated crimes against humanity’ with impunity. Many human rights organisations, the UN and members of the international community have catalogued and reported an array of human rights violations perpetuated mainly by the GoS and through its armed proxy, the Janjaweed, Arab-speaking militias.
At the time of writing, over one million people have been uprooted in the conflict, and some 200,000 are refugees in Chad. Systematic human rights violations continue to occur: people are unable to return safely to their homes and harvest and the region has been subject to a scorched earth campaign in which huge areas have been burned and depopulated, and villages have been torched systematically. Most of the civilians have been driven into camps and settlements outside the larger towns, which are surrounded by the Janjaweed who continue to kill, rape, and pillage with impunity. Human rights defenders and lawyers are also targets for the security forces.

The 8 April 2004 ceasefire has already been violated numerous times, and both parties have failed to honour its provisions, intensifying the conflict and suffering for the population. It is essential that adequate documentation and monitoring of violations of attacks on civilians or crimes being perpetrated must be undertake or the UN’s declaration that they amount to crimes against humanity will continue to be empty words and perpetrators of these violations will continue to act with impunity.

The Commission of Inquiry into Darfur has proved itself to be inept: The committees on rape are hampered by lack of qualified personnel and an unclear mandate as to how they should proceed to take action against those found to have committed rape. The eight OHCHR monitors have left to take up their positions. It is unclear, at this time, what the talks between the government and rebels in Nigeria will yield. A UN resolution in September, although quite weak, called for the possibility of sanctions on the oil industry and the expansion and extension of the African Union (AU) monitoring mission, which the GoS has accepted in principle. The new UN Security Council resolution of November demanded that the government, rebel forces and other armed groups cease all violence. The conflict is also taking on a wider regional dimension with implications for the Middle East, as many Arab countries are supporting Sudan in its position that it needs more time to control and disarm the militias.

The East/Bejaland

Eastern Sudan, as like Darfur, is one of the most neglected regions of the country with humanitarian and human rights consequences. The Beja areas have equally been marginalised and exploited without adequate representation in central government, but continue to escape international attention. The Beja people’s basic grievances have as yet to be addressed, and simmering conflict could implode if either the crisis in Darfur is not politically resolved or if the CPA does not bring much needed development to their area. Periodically throughout the year, the Beja Congress has warned that they will resume taking up arms if they continue to be excluded from the peace talks. Although the GoS did acknowledge the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as a ‘political player’ because of its links with the SPLM, there has been no concerted action to resolve the issues of concern put forward either by the NDA or by the Beja Congress, nor to include them, as suggested by the NDA, in a broad-based forum representing all Sudanese political forces, in the peace talks.

The recent ongoing talks between the Government and the NDA in Cairo were postponed because of Ramadan. However, unless sensitive issues, such as a military presence in the East is resolved, the area will continue to experience tensions and instability. The lack of consensus within the NDA, particularly of the Eastern groups, will also affect the political discussions on the East. There have been recent reports of the deteriorating security situation within the area, and according to media reports the government has moved its troops along the border with Eritrea. Although instability in the East has its root causes in internal domestic matters, the conflict, like Darfur, has the potential to have widespreading ramifications for the whole of Sudan, affecting potentially the peace agreement between the GoS and the SPLM/A.

Unless the ceasefire agreement in Darfur holds, and a peace agreement is implemented, and the tensions in the east are pacified, the north-south conflict could be replaced by an east-west one. Many groups outside of the GoS-SPLM/A negotiations feel marginalised by the peace process, emphasising some of the causes that led them to conflict and that has highlighted the discrimination they have keenly felt in the past. Both parties need to commit themselves to including a peace settlement of the Darfur crisis into any comprehensive peace agreement, and the tensions that are felt in other regions of Sudan. The international community urgently needs to make more efforts to address these tensions.

Ongoing Insecurity in Southern Sudan

Instability still characterises much of Southern Sudan. The peace agreement does not encompass south-south fighting. Ethnic groups, such as the Nuer and the Dinka, continue to be involved in inter-ethnic conflict as well as intra-ethnic conflict, for example in May and June in Rumbek county and Aluakluak and Ngop payams and in Yirol county fighting had displaced an estimated 15,000 people between Dinka sections of Agar (Rumbek) and Atwot (Yirol) in Bahr el Ghazal.

Continuing clashes in the Upper Nile region, especially around Malakal, could also destabilise the south, where tens of thousands have been displaced in the Shilluk Kingdom region since early March. The fighting has already violated the peace agreement. The Civilian Monitoring Protection Team (CMPT) documented reports of villages between Malakal and Tonga along the Upper Nile that have been emptied and destroyed. Civilians within the Shilluk Kingdom are not being protected and it has been reported that the government-backed militias are pursuing the same scorched earth policy as in Darfur. Human rights abuses continue to be committed in this area.

The volatility of this region is highlighted by the continuous instability as militias formerly aligned to the GoS and the SPLM/A realign their interests. These shifting alliances will continue well up to, and possibly beyond, implementation of the CPA if the SPLM does not effectively engage with the various groups in an inclusive and participatory manner. The SPLM/A has preferred to conduct south-south reconciliation with various armed groups on a bilateral basis outside of the IGAD process. This is of some concern as continuing grievances over land, water rights and political and economic power will motivate potential spoilers to the peace. However, it is more indicative of problems in the leadership that continue to want to retain control over the political debate and its environment. Pressure will need to be applied to ensure that ‘hardliners’ within the Movement do not exert complete control over the process and sideline the more moderate wing.

The sustained lack of south-south reconciliation will have negative consequences for the stability of southern Sudan. These government-aligned militias control parts of the south, providing security around government-held garrison towns and particularly around the sensitive areas of the oilfields in Western Upper Nile. The role of the militias, how they are to be incorporated into the peace negotiations and governed needs to be fully discussed and monitored. Within the Security Framework Agreement, article 7 assumes the dismantling of all armed groups, yet it is sufficiently broad and vague in its implementation as to how this could be peacefully accomplished. It remains to be seen how the ceasefire and implementation modalities will address this issue. Part of the problem is also the proliferation of small arms in southern Sudan and demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) will be a major issue after the CPA and the adequacy of local authorities to deal with the violence, of giving impunity to the perpetrators and a lack of due process in the rule of law.

An additional source of insecurity in the south is the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which has been operating out of Eastern Equatoria, near the Ugandan border. The LRA has used southern Sudan as a base for incursions into northern Uganda, with the support of the government of Sudan. Since Kampala accused Khartoum of supporting the LRA, an agreement between the two countries under Operation Iron Fist, which allows Ugandan troops to hunt the LRA on Sudanese soil, has been extended. Although Khartoum has denied aiding the LRA, allegations continue of their support. Since support for the LRA from the GoS has dwindled, the LRA has taken to committing atrocities against the population and reconstruction efforts of southern Sudan for survival. LRA activity has currently disrupted villages in southern Sudan as they destroy, loot, kill and displace villages. The insecurity is having a profound impact on the security in southern Sudan, particularly around the areas of Juba and Jabelein, Lubanga-Tek, and Nisitu. Without engaging the LRA in peace talk, instability through its actions will continue to undermine peace within southern Sudan.

Outlook

Conflict in the north and southern disunity, plus control of the oilfields, targeting of civilians, a weak civil society, and widespread human rights abuses will all have to be resolved to ensure that there is a successful political transition through a democratisation process, including elections, protection of human rights, reconciliation with other groups and inclusiveness within the political process. Again, international support will be crucial to ensure that these issues are resolved and supported through mechanisms that uphold human rights and the rule of law.

Political Challenges of Establishing a Unity Government

For many years, the country has remained divided, and in the immediate short and medium term will continue to do so, but it will have to be prepared to make further steps over the forthcoming months, and years as stipulated in the Machakos Protocol, to tread a wary step in the direction of unity. It cannot be taken for granted that the peace agreement is going to permanently solve the north-south war, particularly now with the conflict in Darfur. It is interesting to note that both sides were brought together by pressure, and although the Nairobi Declaration commits both sides to peace, the security arrangements highlight how fragile the situation has become. Indeed it is very telling the motives of both parties when the SPLA/M chief and future vice president of Sudan, Dr. John Garang, highlighted the motives of both parties in an interview: “This peace agreement was reached, not necessarily because the parties wanted to, but because both parties were forced to … We negotiated an agreement, because we were forced to by a set of pressures. The cost of continuing the war was much higher for both sides than the cost of stopping the war, so we stopped the war.” The talks were successful because of unprecedented pressure by the international community on both parties, as well as the incentive of ‘peace benefits.’

It is laudable that both parties have stated their commitment to the core provisions within the CPA, yet it can not be underestimated that they will continue to gather and strengthen their own forces if there is a possibility that the peace collapses. The security arrangements will be crucial in this respect as the number of returnees, those in marginalized areas, and those in the south will continue to expect a sizeable SPLA force to guarantee their security.

Forming a unity government might possibly be one of the hardest provisions within the CPA to fulfil in terms of democratic principles and good governance. A history of bad governance in the north and a lack of tradition of governance from the south will mean that a unity government will initially struggle with the issues of participation, transparency and accountability if strong structures and institutions are not put in place immediately. The reality is that both north and south are completely diametrically opposed in the levels of development, infrastructure, and capacity so that it is almost necessary to have two completely different strategies and approaches. The north already has set structures in place for dealing with human rights; it has a functioning security service, judiciary and established state structures. Yet, these have over the past years been abused and weakened so that an elite centre can maintain power and control over the periphery - one of the causes of the many conflicts characterising Sudan at the moment. In the south, many structures and systems simply do not exist. Some of these will have to be ‘started from scratch’, as the SPLM turns itself into the governing authority in the south.

Post conflict Sudan must include the participation of all groups, including non-state actors. They should be able to fully partake in all sectors according to the mandate of the comprehensive peace agreement. This includes full participation in the debate on the future shaping of Sudan. Unless there is real and full participation of all groups, even those that had previously resorted to arms, it will be extremely easy once again for Sudan to re-enter into conflict. With the proliferation of small arms in the country, and in the East Africa region as a whole, and the continuing activity of those armed groups and militias that have been excluded from participating in the peace negotiations there is a real chance that Sudan could backslide into anarchy and civil war.

If, as the CPA protocols stipulate, Sudan must move towards a unity government, then these conflicts, of low and high intensity, must be dealt with as part of the problem and not as a separate issue. This must also involve the question of natural resources, specifically issues over oil, land and water. Control over oil has already exacerbated conflict in the Abyei region, one of the contested areas with a special status within the peace agreement. This conflict has led to numerous human rights violations, including forced displacement and as access to the areas remains difficult there continues to be a lack of human rights monitoring in the region. These questions, which also lie at the heart of the root causes of the conflict, need to be resolved immediately. The power and wealth sharing protocols specifies the establishment of certain commissions to provide on these areas of concern. The challenge will be to ensure proper implementation of these institutions that have only been vaguely described.

Building Safeguards for the Protection of Human Rights

The completion of the peace process does not mean that Sudan’s humanitarian and human rights problems will be overcome. There will also be new enormous obstacles within the country, such as the mass movement of the return of hundreds of thousands refugees from neighbouring countries and millions of internally displaced people (IDP) - moving mainly from the north to the south. It will become important that protection measures are established to ensure the safety and security of the population, that reconciliation mechanisms are supported, and that the rights of vulnerable people, particularly women, children, and the elderly are not violated with regard to their repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration.

The South is going to need a huge investment in infrastructure and services as it tries to rehabilitate itself in peacetime. The South has been completely devastated by years of war. It is a huge and daunting task to start reconstruction in the region. There is little in terms of infrastructure, administrative and people capacity to start effectively functioning, let alone in terms of human rights and development. The lack of education, skills, infrastructure and institutions leaves the south in an extremely difficult situation for effective self-rule. The SPLM/A is a militarised autocratic entity, with little transparency in either the way it has regulated itself or in the civilian institutions it has tried to establish, and with even less success in managing to turn itself into a civilian administration. Good governance, rule of law and democractic principles will be essential to the success of any governing authority in the South and its ability to deliver effective services to the people.

There is no entrenched human rights culture in the Sudan. War and continuing instability has made fulfilling even the most basic fundamentals of human rights a difficult task. The promotion of human rights cannot be achieved if it is not respected and protected. This is an important element if Sudan is to fulfil the democratisation process that will begin with the pre-interim, and the six-year interim period, but should really begin immediately.
In many ways, when talking about human rights in the south, and what it means to southern Sudanese, very few know and understand that they have rights let alone its implications. Human rights has been consistently violated over the past several decades where growing up within a war situation for generations has attuned people to a militarised way of life where respect for rights is not acknowledged, featured and rarely upheld. Basic civil and political rights, for example rights to liberty and security, have not been upheld or respected, and many segments of the population have been discriminated against, particularly women, children and the elderly. Women continue to be marginalised and discriminated against, are subject to customary laws and are victims of sexual and gender-based violence. Girls are often excluded from participating in education. The judicial system operates on a skeletal staff with inadequate resources and infrastructure; and police and law enforcement personnel have a lack of training, skills and knowledge on administration of justice and human rights. Prisons are overcrowded, conditions are extremely poor, and there is no training for prison staff in basic principles.

Steps will need to be taken to ensure that a successful military transition in the south is undertaken. These will need to include disengaging the armed forces, maintaining a ceasefire and demilitarising the state apparatus. It will be extremely important that the international community and its partners are able to support, monitor, advise and fund programmes that focus on these issues, particularly for demobilisation, disarming, and reintegration of soldiers from both sides.

Both parties must be held accountable for past abuses in order that a lasting peace may be sustainable. The experience of other countries who have come out of civil war and/or armed conflict, or experienced gross human rights violations throughout their history, has shown that some sort of national reconciliation mechanism has done much to reconcile the nation with its past, as in South Africa and Sierra Leone, where truth and reconciliation commissions were established. It might not necessarily be the appropriate time for Sudan to be thinking of establishing some such sort of institution in the short term, but there will be a need for some mechanism as peace settles and an institution is needed that will be able to document and address their grievances as a means to move forward.

The establishment of a national human rights commission and an independent, impartial and credible judicial process must be established so that there is respect for the rule of law. If human rights are to be made a central tenet of any peace agreement, it is important that the Government of Unity (GoU) undertakes its responsibilities to uphold, respect and protect human rights in its entirety. This means that human rights is not merely seen as a token to placate the international community, but through the implementation of the protocols the GoU’s promise to its citizens of a stable, democratic and peaceful Sudan is realised.

Commitment needed by both sides will be huge in order to tackle the lack of accountable and transparent government structures within both the GoS and the SPLM that continues to hinder development in rule of law, democracy and good governance. In the South, the continuing militarisation of these institutions also compounds the difficulties of forming civilian administrations that will effectively work on behalf of the people. Reconstruction efforts will have to promote the full integration of north and south, particularly amongst Sudanese civil society organisations. It will have to establish, develop and build connections between the north and the south through networking, capacity building and strengthening of civil society organisations and institutions. Protection and promotion principles must be integrated into all policies and programmes in order to increase the respect for human rights countrywide. This should include capacity building for both governmental and non-governmental institutions to increase their skills and knowledge and to also incorporate understanding of international human rights standards.

Other issues that will need to be undertaken include: capacity for protection issues that is lacking in both institutions, with a lack of skilled human rights officials particularly in areas out of Khartoum and in the south; the need to create specific mechanisms on protection, including the establishment of a national human rights institution, ensuring its independence from the executive and the creation of its branches countrywide; the harmonisation of domestic legislation with international norms and standards, taking into regard many discriminating laws, particularly against women with regard to Shari’a, and for the implementation of those international treaties ratified and not promulgated into national legislation; and the establishment and implementation of an Interim National Constitution will be important considering that it will also reflect the principles of the south Sudan constitution.

Any lasting peace agreement must provide fully for the protection and promotion of human rights in all segments of Sudanese society. Human rights needs to be fully guaranteed for post-conflict Sudan including: the lifting of the state of emergency; the role and laws of the security forces; prohibition of all acts of torture; discrimination against women; freedom of expression; independence of the judiciary; freedom of movement; freedom of assembly and association; protection mechanisms, such as for IDPs; rights of the child; the right to development; and the ratification of CAT and CEDAW.

United Nations (UN) and donor funding within the short term has concentrated on alleviating the humanitarian needs of the population and is focusing in the long term mainly on development and infrastructural needs. The relationship between donors and partners will be extremely important, particularly in the following months after signature. Human rights, for many donors, have not been a strategic priority, particularly as many donors will continue to concentrate on the short-term humanitarian needs of the country. The challenge is now for the international community and ‘friends’ of Sudan to keep up the pressure to ensure that there is proper and adequate implementation of the peace agreement and human rights remains a central concern throughout. Reneging by either party to the CPA will have terrible consequences for the people of Sudan and proper provision must be made for a full and independent monitoring team on the peace agreement.

* Denise Lifton is a freelance consultant working on human rights in Africa. She is currently working in Sudan. She can be contacted on: deniselifton@yahoo.co.uk

WSF: The colonisation of resistance?

Andile Mngxitama

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/26655

It’s a sign of how bad things are when even the modest proposal that everyone on planet earth gets fresh water and enough to eat is fighting talk. – Terry Eagleton

Naomi Klein aptly described the first World Social forum as “the end of the end of history”. The fall of the Berlin Wall signified the end of a utopia gone badly wrong. Thatcher and her followers were able to speak with confidence that There Is No Alternative to the barbarism of capitalism devouring the guts of most of humanity. For sometime, Fukuyama’s apocalyptic “end of history” seemed real. It became almost impossible to breathe and dream. The hegemony of global capitalism had reached maddening proportions. It is said that in 1992 Nike paid Michael Jordan to advertise its shoes, and here was the madness - he earned more than the entire East Asian industry which produces those shoes.

Then in 2001, the city of Porto Alegre, situated in Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, reverberated with a fresh call: “Another World is Possible!”. The birth of the World Social Forum was a noisy affair. The force of this new possibility stood in contrast and opposition to the rigid and soulless World Economic Forum happening at the same time on the beautiful island of Davos in Switzerland. Those who took the side of the wretched of the earth looked to Porto Alegre, and those who worship the power and logic of money turned to Davos. The battle lines were drawn. Ever since, world politics have not been the same. This year will see the fifth installment of the World Social Forum return to its base after the 2004 event was held in Mumbai, India. The WSF has come to mean many things to many people: celebration of hope, new ways of doing and thinking, and the limits of resistance to capitalism in our times.

African murmurs

The 80s saw Africa saying NO! to the devastation visited upon the continent through the killer medicine of the Structural Adjustment Projects (SAPs) of the World Bank and the IMF, which required iron-fisted men to carry out their mission – from the safe distance and sanctity of parliament and state houses – in the name of development and democracy. To achieve this madness nothing was spared; even the anti-colonial history and memory was appropriated, as was revolution and socialism. But the African NO! was simply named “food riots”; this was a resistance which did not speak for itself and the IMF quickly worked these “ food riots” into its four-staged re-colonisation strategy, revealed by Joseph Stiglitz after his sojourner as a servant of the devil.

The call for Africa’s “second liberation” was stillborn and was appropriated into a limited desire for “multi-party democracy”. Instead of freedom from the shackles of neo-colonial bondage, multi-party democracies continued the one-way traffic of African wealth to the North and domestic suburbs where the national representatives of the system reside. In the words of the African revolutionary thinker A.M. Babu:

"It is much better for the international bourgeoisie for locals to supervise their own dependency, it lessens tensions and the real master is invincible. We are busy chopping each other’s heads through military coups and the struggle for power in order simply to prove ourselves better supervisors on behalf of international capital, and to enjoy the rewards in wealth or absolute power”.

What Babu did not anticipate was the effective utilization of democratic discourses and the ideology of development to sustain the same position in the interest of global capitalism. African leaders chose to do unto themselves what global capital would otherwise do unto them. As South Africa’s ruling party (Mandela’s African National Congress) policy ideologue put it:

"We don’t oppose the WTO. We never joined the call to abolish it, or to abolish the World Bank or the IMF. Should we be out there condemning Imperialism? If you do those things, how long will you last?"

Resistance was colonized, tamed and tailored to serve the purpose of the hegemony of money. Resistance needed to liberate itself from the party, the leader, the old orthodoxies, hierarchies and empty discourses. It was the creative power of resistance and poetry of the indigenous people of Chiapas in Mexico which gave the world the beginnings of a new language – a language which found expression within the WSF. What started in Africa as a murmur now found a name – the monster was named “neo-liberalism”. The dream returned, history could be made again. Chiapas fortified the possibility of the peoples of the world to say a collective NO! and many YESES!

In the past five years, the view that there is no one answer, no one single manifesto, no pre-determined history (as the nineteenth-century Russian populist Herzen declared, “History has no libretto”) seemed both to gain ground and drive the desire to make history afresh through trial and error, rather than rely upon the certainty of yesteryears’ political fantasies. Of course, those who held old views found new energy from the emergent global peoples’ resistance – Marx, Lenin, Mao and even Stalin occasionally reared their heads. The freedom from the burden of certainty was best articulated by one of the World Social Forum’s superstars, the French small-scale farmers’ leader and bane of agri-business, José Bové. When asked whether the Seattle gathering represented a new internationalism, Bové answered:

"There are no pre-conceived ideas. Those days have gone – thank goodness – when popular movements were slotted into theoretical constructs. Seattle showed the opposite. People came together not with any worked out theory, but to take action… far too long, theories and analysis have been shuffled around, promising change. People today have lost confidence in these theories. Seattle revealed the existence of an informal worldwide network. "

The birth of the WSF is generally perceived to have carried on the spirit of the 1999 battle of Seattle. The collective NO! saw the closure of a meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) right within the belly of the beast. From there onwards the evil triad of the WTO, World Bank and IMF could only hold their meetings behind army barricades. The people of the world had won the moral high ground despite their leaders’ shameful genuflection to these institutions. The WSF gave the new resistance a space to share the new language. By and large, the forum strove to be anti-hierarchical and non-vanguardist. The WSF spoke about “space”, “reflections” and “networks of resistance”. These new discourses and praxis somehow gave expression to a movement of movements, but there were shortcomings – and deep ones, too.

If Klein was ecstatic about the first forum, by the third she was crying “highjack!”. The event had been taken over by established left-leaning political parties and the Latin American big men: Lula of Brazil, Chavez of Venezuela and the ever-presence of Castro, even in his physical absence. Perhaps the most devastating critique came from the pen of the respected radical thinker James Petras, who saw the 2002 meeting as a “tale of two forums”. One forum promoting reformism and accommodation could be found representing the established political parties, NGOs and a myriad of intellectuals, and was based in the main venue, the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC). On the other hand, there was the more radical, anti-establishment forum which occurred in hundreds of small and big meetings, circles of articulation and self-organized spontaneous conversation away from the university and media attention. Others began to argue that the WSF had become a jamboree of a motley concoction of agendas and interests, as recent greetings from one of the regular attendees shows:

"Hope you all doing well. I’m in Porto, and now joining the throngs who pretend to struggle, we the passport wielding, credit card swiping, voyager mile accumulating, cyber connected, defenders of the rights of the working class, the Dalits, the landless peoples’ rights for self-determination. I watched with glee as the internationalists were hooking up at airports, hotels, taxis. “Hi comrade, long time. Since Mumbai”. “Hi comrade, long time, since Cancun, are you going to Hong Kong. I am still struggling to get funding”. Yeaaaaa., this is the new age struggle; and I am part of it. Now that I have more time on my hands (thanks to?donor sponsored air-conditioned hotel room)…"

The biggest conceptual and organizational challenge to the WSF came from a parallel meeting, organized under the catchy name “Mumbai Resistance 2004” (MR). The critique delivered by MR 2004 was devastating (if not over-stated at times); tough questions were asked around the origins and funders of the WSF. One of the most serious charges was that the WSF is nothing but a valve and a permitted space of dissent, and does not really threaten the interest of global capital. MR 2004 pointed to the once CIA-controlled Ford Foundation as one of the main funders, and the agenda of the moderate French players, such as ATTAC and Le Monde Diplomatique, was also held up as evidence of the castrated possibilities of the WSF. MR 2004 did not mince its words: he who pays the piper plays the tune. True, more and more global South NGOs found legitimacy by association, and Northern Funders continue to determine, in particular, the African representation to the WSF. These were often the same donors who would not touch national movements and counter-hegemonic projects at a national level. Increasingly, those who have sustained and given impetus and life to the WSF find themselves outside; the Zapatistas are excluded because they are involved in armed combat, the FARC of Colombia was denied space for a press conference in 2002.

Lack of Black Voices

One of the key fault lines in the WSF activities has been the lack of a platform to build and raise the black voice and black issues. This is surprising given the fact that Brazil is home to the biggest black population outside of Africa, and racism continues to ensure that the darker you are, the lower you find yourself in the Brazilian social ladder. The lack of prominence of the black question in the global resistance, and at the WSF in particular, can be accounted for by examining the historical inequities which developed along the color line. A second factor is the historical denial of race as a legitimate area of resistance. This is partly a result of the out-dated Marxist philosophies raven with arrogant universalizing Eurocentrisms, which privileged class over any other category of exclusion.

* Andile Mngxitama is a Johannesburg based land rights activist and member of the Wewrite editorial collective. This is the introductory editorial to the latest edition of www.wewrite.org – A Journal for Black Thought. In the edition, the problem of exclusion is discussed by Radha D’ Souza and Michael Abrahams. Frank Wilderson debates the uneasy relationship between Marxism and the Black Subject, and Aziz Choudry points to how global struggles run the risk of eclipsing older struggles such as those of the indigenous peoples in places like Canada, USA and New Zealand. The promises and challenges facing the ASF are examined in a piece by Amanda Alexander and Mandisa Mbali.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

>>>>>Links to news from the WSF

- Euphoria in short supply at WSF
http://www.tni.org/archives/bello/euphoric.htm
- News and reports from the WSF
http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/eventos/10.html
- Blogside at the WSF
http://dorseynation.blogspot.com/
- Updates from the WSF
http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?2,40,5,556
- To defend water is to defend life
http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/2603.html

Join the One World Beat Music Festival 2005

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/26602

Thousands of musicians will unite in March to make a difference through their music. Together with volunteers, fans, and friends around the globe, they will raise funds to help street kids, HIV/AIDS orphans, and vulnerable children get an education in the 'Give A Child A Chance' project.
Join the One World Beat Music Festival 2005: Make A Difference
for Youth in Need in Africa, Asia, and Haiti!

One World Beat Global Music Festival 2005 is open for business,
and we are inviting you to join us!

On the first weekend of spring - March 18-27 2005 - thousands of
musicians will unite to make a difference through their music.
Together with volunteers, fans, and friends around the globe, we
will raise funds to help street kids, HIV/AIDS orphans, and vul-
nerable children get an education in our 'Give A Child A Chance'
project. And join our special help project, 'Beat the Wave',
which will provide aid to children struggling in the wake of
Asia's devastating December 2004 tsunami. See
http://www.oneworldbeat.org for details and to sign up!

You can participate as:
- musician or band
- music venue or club
- promoter
- organization or school
- sponsor or partner
- volunteer

We already have concerts in preparation in England, United
States, Canada, Australia, Thailand, Japan, Denmark, Switzer-
land, Slovakia, Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Po-
land, Nigeria, and many more countries. Musicians and volunteers
are joining us every week. One World Beat 2004 united artists in
over 180 events in 46 countries.

Latest news:
One World Beat is proud to announce a partnership with two "on
the ground" non-profit organizations, both of whom work with un-
derprivileged children, providing an education, material needs,
and hope. Our 'Give A Child A Chance' project will donate festi-
val proceeds to 'Liberation Through Education', which works in
Haiti with children in extreme poverty, and 'Outside the Dream',
which helps to provide an education in Uganda and India for
children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Please see
http://www.liberationthrougheducation.org and
http://www.outsidethedream.org for more info about these pro-
jects.

In response to the Asia earthquake/tsunami tragedy, we are also
organizing a special relief project, 'Beat the Wave', for musi-
cians who would like to contribute their talents and proceeds
from concerts to this cause specifically. For more info and to
sign up, please see http://www.oneworldbeat.org All proceeds
from donations of gigs and funds will go to Save the Children
(http://www.savethechildren.org), an international development
organization which works in 44 countries to provide relief, re-
sources, and hope to children, families, and communities in
need.

Musicians and non-profits in developing countries are asked to
contribute 25% of any profits (if concerts are done for fund-
raising purposes) to One World Beat for its designated charities
(so that there is a sense of unity and shared purpose). 75% of
any profits can stay "local", to benefit people and organiza-
tions in need in your own communities. Events for awareness-
raising only are most welcome and needed too.

Drumming Up Support: We would also like to hear from anyone in-
terested in a possible drumming event we might organize, where
drummers (and drums of all kinds) might join as one in a collec-
tive "roll" (or 200!) heard 'round the world. Please contact us
and see the website for updates.

We hope you will join us for the OWB Global Music Festival 2005!
Music making a difference... never so needed, and it's never
sounded so good!

Thanks so much, and here's Beating human-development challenges
as One!
One World Beat Team
mailto:info@oneworldbeat.org

Zimbabwe: Petition to stop violations of fundamental rights in Zimbabwe

2005-02-03

http://www.civicus.org/new/content/petition1.htm

We, members of civil society, Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and citizens of Africa, would like to express our serious concern about the continued violations of civil liberties in Zimbabwe, particularly against the freedom of opinion and expression, association and assembly. We call upon the Government of Zimbabwe to immediately cease the systematic human rights violations in the country, including all forms of intimidation, arbitrary arrests and torture of members of civil society. We advocate for the immediate repeal and/or progressive amendment of all pieces of legislation (including those mentioned before) which contravene Zimbabwe’s international human rights obligations and its Constitution.

'Our Talk' on Radio soon

Mazuba Mwiinga

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/26601

At last something is coming around the corner. You might agree with me that children have always been delicate assets of our world communities. No wonder the United Nations formed an organ looking at their plight - UNICEF. Much as a lot of things and programmes have been done to do with children, their voice has been heard from the background. Its either someone does something for them or dictates their choices. And child rights activists will tell you that this is child exploitation.

Can you now imagine listening to a child sharing his or her views independently on radio without someone putting words in their mouths? It could sound quite ambitious to some, but this is what 2005 is looking forward to on Radio Chikuni. Suggested as the best idea for Interactive Radio Instructions (IRI) Campaign Programmes for 2005 under the Education Development Centre (EDC), 'Our Talk' will be the first radio programme in Zambia to be hosted by children. As if that is not enough, this programme will be hosted not just by children but IRI or Taonga Learners.

These are children who could not go to formal schools for various reasons, among them being lack of money due to poverty, traditional beliefs, having no one willing to sponsor them and other logistical hindrances. Called Ijwi Lyesu in Tonga, the programme producers, who are children themselves, will be hosting fellow children to discuss various issues that are affecting their daily lives.

The executive producers will just be helping them identify the issues and how to present the programme. This is in an effort to give them time to share their thoughts, hopes, visions and ideas to the development of their communities. It begins on Friday 17:30hrs starting January 15, 2005. As they always say that children are the leaders of tomorrow, 'Our Talk' will be shaping and tidying the path for their ideal. As Jesus said "the brick that the builders ignored became the most sought for later. "Today's rejects are tomorrow's heroes."

You may get the story from our website http://www.chikuniradio.org

Fish farming for nutrition

John Dada

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/26630

We are just setting up a fishfarm as part of our Household Food Security program for our members. Those who are affected by HIV/AIDS are the focus of this project as it will provide source of good nutrition and income generation for them. We will appreciate expert advice on ecologically viable methods for raising catfish sustainably. Please contact John Dada, Programs Director, Fantsuam Foundation (johndada@fantsuam.com)

Fantsuam Foundation http://www.fantsuam.org/ has done groundbreaking work in Nigeria that is having a big impact in BayanLoco, Kafanchan and the surrounding villages. FF was established as one of the first rural-based ICT educational institutions in Nigeria in 2000. That year, they were awarded the first Hafkin Africa Prize for their innovative use of ICT. Part of the prize money was set aside to provide scholarships for 10 women to attend basic computer literacy courses at the school. This modest beginning has led to the establishment, in 2003, of Nigeria's first rural-based Cisco Networking Academy. The Foundation's achievements have also been featured on CNN's Global Challenges Program (December 19th, 2004).

Have the slaves left the master's house?

Oru Ntui

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/26628

I just wanted to make this observation:

The head of every state should indeed be a good leader. When this is not the case like in most Afrikan countries, then we the people should assume the responsibility of educating ourselves first and then others. We will then be talking about assuming good leadership.

The time has long past when we Afrikans should even talk about debt cancellation. Even the capitalist countries do not expect our countries to pay back these "debts". They use this argument as a control tool. They talk about cancelling parts of them depending on their mood. This is an insult! It is a total waste of time discussing this and other issues like all the other so-called accords with capitalist European institutions. We p*** on these "agreements".

In western Europe every community and political group is opposed to the privatisation of water supply and so on. But these same Europeans are putting on a hell of a lot of pressure on our Afrikan states to privatise our water and power supplies and even our agricultural companies. Imagine! No, we understand Europe just wants to control Afrika. They can package this in whatever form they like and with whatever phrases they create: "Good Governance", "Democratisation", "Fight against poverty", "Fight against corruption", but what they mean is CONTROL.

We Afrikans have to learn the lessons of the past in order to find out what our common agenda should be. We should start to think for ourselves, bear our own names, act for ourselves and "get this monkey off our backs".

Permit me to end with these two quotations:

"Blackman, set up your own table and stop eating the crumbs from another man's table, for if the crumbs seize to fall ..." - Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey

"Powerful people will never educate powerless people in what they need to take the power away from them. The aim of powerful people is to stay powerful by any means necessary! "- John Henrik Clarke

Love thy prisoners

Jeanbonheur Kongolo

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/26600

Do you believe one can become a prisoner today and a president tomorrow? It may sound impossible to many but this has already happened in the world and on the African continent. We should all change our attitude towards prisoners and treat them as normal human beings not as beasts.

In Africa we have witnessed prominent leaders serve years in prison and later come out and become presidents. The former and the first president of South Africa Nelson Mandela served a term from the early sixties to the early 90’s. In Kenya we have witnessed our own first president the late Jomo Kenyatta serve a prison term and later after we gained our independence he became the first president.

In Kenya there was once a minister for home affairs who made very harsh rules for prisoners. He denied them beds, blankets and other basic needs. In a turn of events the same minister was implicated in matters warranting him to be in prison. Finding that there were no beds and blankets he demanded these things from the store. He was reminded of the orders he had made. It was such a shame for a fat man like him suffering from high blood pressure and gout.

During the social day at the industrial area prison in Nairobi which was held on the 30th of October the Kenya Human Rights Commission chairman Maina Kiai commended the government for the reform exercises that are taking part in most of the prisons in the country. He noted that: “There is a library in the prison which is a step forward to the inmates but in the library their are no books that deal with human rights.”

A university student who is an inmate at the prison acted as the spokesperson of the inmates at the prison. He thanked the government for the reforming works that it had started in the prisons but he requested them to reduce the congestion in the prisons.

Their were shouts as the officer in charge tried to cut short the speech although the vice-president intervened and asked him to finish his speech. He continued by asking the Minister for Justice and Constitutional affairs Kiraitu Murungi and the Chief Justice Evans Gicheru to pay them a visit since they had issues they wanted to tell him.

The vice-president Hon. Moody Awori who was at the event to officially open a hall for the inmates received cheers as he stood up to present his speech. The inmates, who referred to the vice-president as ‘uncle’, stood up to listen to what he had to tell them. The vice-president thanked the non-governmental organizations that had offered material support to the prisons and said that their was a move to start the training of warders to reduce the cases of inmates being assaulted by the warders. He added that the education program in the prisons would go on uninterrupted.

Liberia: New book documents struggles of Liberian refugees and IDPs

2005-02-03

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KHII-6983E9?OpenDocument

The plight of Liberian refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) has been explored in a new book that will be launched in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Friday. "A Life Removed: Hunting for Refuge In the Modern World" by British author and journalist Rose George, focuses on what it means to suddenly be made a modern-day refugee or IDP. She researched it by talking to displaced people in Liberia and refugees in camps in Cote d'Ivoire.

SIDA Afrique Continent en Crise

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/26621

SIDA Afrique Continent en Crise is a French version of AIDS Africa Continent in Crisis.  It was launched in July 2004 at the Bangkok International AIDS Conference.  Written by Helen Jackson and published and being distributed by SAfAIDS, the book was funded by Sida with further support from UNESCO.

The book concentrates on the hardest-hit countries, exploring the driving forces behind the epidemic, impact of HIV/AIDS at different levels and policies and programmes to make a difference.

The target group consists of policy makers, planners, programme managers and professionals in health and human development.

SAfAIDS is looking for distribution partners in the French speaking countries throughout the world.  Should there be donor organisations willing to fund distribution or distribute at major conferences, SAfAIDS would welcome an opportunity to partner with them.  Organisations willing to receive bulk quantities for distribution in their countries are encouraged to get in touch with us.

For further information, kindly get in touch with:

Tayedza Nleya,
SAfAIDS Distribution Officer
P O Box A509
Avondale
Harare
Zimbabwe
Tel: 263 4 336193/4 or 307898
Fax: 263 4 336195
E-mail: tayedza@safaids.org.zw

Tools for Policy Impact: A Handbook for Researchers

2005-02-03

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16876

The Research and Policy in Development (RAPID) program at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has produced the handbook Tools for Policy Impact: A Handbook for Researchers. It presents tools for achieving policy impact that are geared towards the needs of researchers. It includes tools for research, context assessment, communication, and policy influencing. The handbook is targeted at civil society organizations, research institutes, and universities.

Understanding Organisational Sustainability through African Proverbs

2005-02-03

http://www.pactpublications.org

The book, "Understanding Organisational Sustainability through African Proverbs" has recently been released by PACT publications, Washington. It describes how insights from the wisdom contained in African proverbs can be used to understand how organisations can achieve more integrity, sustainability and impact. By rediscovering the power of African proverbs, readers are rewarded with a new and creative ways to communicate organisational improvement efforts in a language that touches people's hearts and motivates them to personal and organisational transformation. The book can be obtained from: PACT Publications by contacting Sue Bloom at sbloom@pacthq.org or by visiting http://www.pactpublications.org

Africa: African women and market liberalisation

2005-02-03

http://www.alrn.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=276

A number of African countries adopted and formulated structural adjustment policies with the assumption that the effects would be gender-neutral.  An analysis of the trends and results of the policies shows that the impact of market liberalisation has had different results on men and women. African women have been the hardest hit by economic policies and market liberalisation as these policies have further entrenched gender inequality. The joint report by the African Labour and Research Network (ALRN) examines society and gender, gender and employment distribution, trends in liberalisation of the economy and the labour market, child labour, and labour legislation per country. Countries in the publication include Namibia, South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana and Nigeria.

Africa: Gender-based violence continues to plague conflict zones

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45282

Human rights violations against women and children will continue to increase, particularly in conflict-ridden areas of Africa, unless the international community steps up its efforts to combat gender-based violence (GBV), according to UN officials. “There is no shortage of people willing to work for the cause,” Maha Muna, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Programme Manager for Governance, Peace and Security, told IRIN. “What is needed to address the escalating problem of GBV are more resources.”

Africa: Women want gender issues top of the AU agenda

2005-02-03

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Nigeria/Jan05/GenderIssues.html

Top of the recent African Summit of Presidents in Abuja, Nigeria, were issues such as health, food security and environmental degradation. But a coalition of 19 women's groups under the banner of Solidarity for African Women Rights also highlighted the needs of women. In an interview with BBC, a member of the coalition - Ms Mary Wandia - of the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) – explained women’s issues were so important. "Our main message is that we need to see a demonstration of African leaders' commitment to women's rights and a commitment to their words; that when they promise that they want to ratify the women's protocol to ensure that it comes into force they mean what they say. For now they have not done that. We're waiting for the action."

DRC: Sexual violence continues

2005-02-03

http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/story/0,12292,1402242,00.html

Two years after its war was declared officially over, a wave of sexual violence continues to sweep through the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although the violence is not on the same scale as it once was, it remains a messy, unfinished conflict which has a huge impact on civilians - particularly girls and women. At least 40,000 have been raped over the past six years, according to a recent report by Amnesty International.

Rwanda: Trial of woman genocide accused begins

2005-02-03

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Rwanda/Jan05/Trial.html

The team defending Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, the only woman so far to be indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) begins its case on Monday. Nyiramasuhuko, the former Rwandan minister of Family and Women Affairs, is charged with 11 counts including genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and rape. She has become the first woman to be charged for rape as a crime against humanity.

Sierra Leone: Having children is a deadly business

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45294

A pregnant woman is more likely to die giving birth in Sierra Leone than in any other country in the world. Health experts blame a shortage of medical staff equipped to deal with complications that can occur during labour, as well as the financial and logistical impracticalities of getting from home to a hospital. In this West African country struggling to emerge from a decade-long civil war, mothers die in 1,800 of every 100,000 live births, according to the 2005 global report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Uganda: Gay Ugandan Refused Entry To UK

2005-02-03

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/01/013105visa.htm

A gay Ugandan man has been denied a visa to enter Britain because there is a warrant for his arrest in his home country - a warrant that was issued because he is gay. Chris Stentaza had been invited to the UK by the Church of England.  Stentaza had been a teacher at an Anglican run school in Uganda but was fired and forced to go into hiding after speaking at a conference of gay Christians in Manchester 15 months ago. Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, punishable by lengthy prison terms. Stentaza was rejected for a visa by the British high commission in the Ugandan capital of Kampala based only on the fact that a warrant had been issued on charges of "crimes against nature". 

*Kenya: Court case to test child rights law

Erica Neiglick

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/26624

The principle of non-discrimination is well established all over the world. It is to be found in most international conventions as well as in many countries municipal laws. Kenya is no exception and the principle is found in Kenya’s constitution as well as in the Children Act. Kenya furthermore, has ratified several of the international conventions containing the principle. Despite this, the principle is not always adhered to in Kenya and discrimination does exist in the country. One group that is being discriminated against is children born out of wedlock. When it comes to the issue of parental responsibility, these children get less support than children born by married parents. What is important to note in this regard is that this distinction between children born out of wedlock and children born by married parents, is actually provided for in Kenya’s national laws.

According to the Children’s Act, the issue of parental responsibility, i.e. which of the parents has responsibility for the child, is determined by whether or not the parents were married at the time of the child’s birth. In cases where the parents were married, both the mother and the father shall have parental responsibility. Neither the father nor the mother shall have a superior right or claim against the other in the exercise of this responsibility. However, in cases where the parents were not married at the time of the child’s birth and have subsequently not married, the issue of responsibility towards the child is different. In these cases, the mother is the one with full parental responsibility whereas the father bears no responsibility at all. The father can acquire responsibility, however, this is optional and more importantly, it is optional to the father, it is nothing neither the mother nor the child is able to enforce on the father.

>>>>>To read the full article, please click on the link below.
The principle of non-discrimination is well established all over the world. It is to be found in most international conventions as well as in many countries municipal laws. Kenya is no exception and the principle is found in Kenya’s constitution as well as in the Children Act. Kenya furthermore, has ratified several of the international conventions containing the principle. Despite this, the principle is not always adhered to in Kenya and discrimination does exist in the country. One group that is being discriminated against is children born out of wedlock. When it comes to the issue of parental responsibility, these children get less support than children born by married parents. What is important to note in this regard is that this distinction between children born out of wedlock and children born by married parents, is actually provided for in Kenya’s national laws.

According to the Children’s Act, the issue of parental responsibility, i.e. which of the parents has responsibility for the child, is determined by whether or not the parents were married at the time of the child’s birth. In cases where the parents were married, both the mother and the father shall have parental responsibility. Neither the father nor the mother shall have a superior right or claim against the other in the exercise of this responsibility. However, in cases where the parents were not married at the time of the child’s birth and have subsequently not married, the issue of responsibility towards the child is different. In these cases, the mother is the one with full parental responsibility whereas the father bears no responsibility at all. The father can acquire responsibility, however, this is optional and more importantly, it is optional to the father, it is nothing neither the mother nor the child is able to enforce on the father.

The CRADLE is currently involved in a case challenging these provisions of the Children’s Act. A child, R, who was born out of wedlock, has through The CRADLE sued the Attorney General for discriminatory laws. It is claimed that the provision within the Children’s Act is discriminatory in itself and also that it is inconsistent with the principle of non-discrimination enshrined in the same law as well as in the Constitution. Moreover it is claimed that it is inconsistent with international law. The background of the case is that R’s mother (J) and father (S) were a couple and cohabited on the outskirts of Nairobi. J had a thriving retail business buying and selling clothes while S worked as a mechanic. J conceived and fell ill in March 2000 due to the pregnancy. Since she was unable to continue with her business, S advised her to sell it. Eventually S sold J’s stock of clothes to a friend of his but he did not give J any of the profit even though the stock was hers.

In September 2000, J gave birth to R. Initially, S was involved in the child’s upbringing. He named the child R after his mother and one week after R’s birth, he shaved off R’s hair according to the customary law of his tribe. However, after having stayed together as a family for about five months, until January 2001, S one day left for work and did not return home. After five agonizing days of waiting for S, J went to his places of work to look for him. When she got there, she was informed that S had proceeded on leave for two weeks and that he would thereafter proceed on transfer to Mombasa. J still kept visiting S’s workplace on several occasions in order to get financial assistance from him. J could do nothing else as she needed money for R’s basic needs. However, J did not succeed in her efforts of meeting S as she was always told that he was absent. In April, J finally met S and got the opportunity to talk to him. However, at that point S told J that he had no intention of coming back home. J pleaded if he could at least help with R’s basic needs such as food and clothing but S declined. He even said that there is no law in Kenya which imposes on him any responsibility over the child.

J was forced to move from their matrimonial home and had to live with different friends and relatives. She relied on menial jobs like washing clothes for people but the money was not enough to meet the basic needs for neither herself nor the child. On several occasions they went for days without food. R developed health problems for which J could not afford to pay hospital treatment nor medication. On the 14th of August 2001, J sought help from The CRADLE. She came together with R and it was obvious to The CRADLE that R, who by that time was about one year old, was in a very poor condition. She suffered from acute malnutrition, unattended curable infections and moreover, she was naked.

While going through the story of J and going through the legal issues in the case, it became apparent to The CRADLE that there is a flaw in the Kenyan laws as regards parental responsibility towards a minor born out of wedlock and that this has never been challenged. Subsequently The CRADLE took on the matter. The case is currently pending in the High Court of Kenya with the hearing date set to February 2005.

The case of R is particularly important in the sense that a successful verdict would set a crucial precedence as regards parental responsibility towards a minor born out of wedlock. Subsequently it would have far reaching consequences also for other men who have children born out of wedlock. It is therefore the hope and expectation of The CRADLE, that the High Court declares the provision on parental responsibility within the Children’s Act null and void. The High Court should do so not only in order to let the Constitution prevail but also in order to fully align Kenya’s national law and practice to the requirements of international law. As mentioned initially, the non-discrimination principle is well established internationally in both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), both of which Kenya is a state party to and provide parental responsibility for both parents, married or not.

* Erica Neiglick is a lawyer who works for The CRADLE. This article was submitted to Pambazuka News. Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: African Commission urged to toughen stance on state non-compliance

2005-02-03

http://www.minorityrights.org/news_detail.asp?ID=342

Minority Rights Group International (MRG) has raised its concerns at the 36th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, regarding the poor situation of state compliance with its recommendations and urgent action directives. The rights group congratulated the Commission’s vision and foresight in a number of extremely progressive decisions in favour of some of Africa’s most vulnerable communities. However it criticized states including Nigeria and Kenya for failing to implement such decisions and recommendations, in clear contravention of their obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Africa: Establishment of African court a top priority, Amnesty says

2005-02-03

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGIOR300022005

As African leaders met in Abuja, Nigeria, for the 4th African Union (AU) Assembly Ordinary Session, Amnesty International called on the AU Assembly and the AU Executive Council to reaffirm and strengthen their commitments to establish an effective African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Human Rights Court). During its 2nd Ordinary Session in July 2003 in Maputo, the AU Assembly decided that the African Human Rights Court "shall remain a separate and distinct institution from the Court of Justice of the African Union." However, the Assembly at its 3rd Ordinary Session in July 2004 in Addis Ababa reversed this decision, when it decided that "the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Court of Justice should be integrated into one Court". This decision has now resulted in a Draft Protocol merging the two courts.

DRC/Uganda: ICC prosecutions to begin this year

2005-02-03

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=27239

Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC), is going to be a busy man this year as far as Africa is concerned. Reports indicate that the court could begin trying those accused of perpetrating atrocities in the conflict between Uganda's government and rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) this year. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, took up arms against Kampala in 1986, saying it wanted to establish a government based on the Biblical ten commandments.

Ivory Coast: UN confirms existence of blacklist of human rights abusers

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45304

The United Nations has confirmed that it has drawn up a list of people accused of human rights abuses in Cote d'Ivoire who could eventually face trial, but UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the names would remain secret for the time being in order not to jeopardise any future legal action. Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported last week that the UN had named 95 people in a blacklist that formed a secret annex to a still unpublished UN report on human rights abuses committed during Cote d'Ivoire's two and a half-year-old civil war.

South Africa: SA to assist ICC

2005-02-03

http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=5329

South Africa said Thursday it was ready to help the International Criminal Court investigate war crimes on the continent as the tribunal tackles its first cases in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. "We are working on a memorandum of understanding as to how we can assist the ICC," Justice Director General Vusi Pikoli told reporters in Pretoria after meeting with chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Sudan: Human Rights Defenders arrested

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/26642

Front Line Defenders (http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/) is concerned for the safety of Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, human rights defender and Director of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), and Salah Mohammed Abu Alrahman, a volunteer with SUDO. According to the information received, Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam and Mr. Salah Mohammed Abu Alrahman were arrested in a small village called Kondoua (North Kordufan) on 24 January 2005.
Sudanese Human Rights Defenders Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam and Salah
Mohammed Abu Alrahman Arrested

Front Line Defenders (http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/) is concerned for the safety of Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, human rights defender and Director of the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO), and Salah Mohammed Abu Alrahman, a volunteer with SUDO.

According to the information received, Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam and Mr. Salah Mohammed Abu Alrahman were arrested in a small village called Kondoua (North Kordufan) on 24 January 2005. The men have allegedly been arrested for interrogation by the national security forces; they were reportedly being held at the security headquarter in Umrouaba city but have been transferred to Al Obeid, the capital of North Kurdofan State. At present, neither the family of Salah Mohammed Abu Alrahman nor that of Dr. Mudawi have been informed as to the purpose of the arrest.

Front Line fears that the arrest of Dr. Mudawi represents a renewed attempt on behalf of the security forces to persecute him and prevent him from carrying out his human rights activities. Dr. Mudawi spent seven months in police custody in 2004, having been charged, in connection with his human rights work, of committing offences against the state. Following the hearing of his trial on 7 August 2004, all charges against Dr. Mudawi were dropped and he was released.

Front Line is calling for the immediate release of both human rights defenders.

Swaziland: Inquest report accuses police of torture and neglect

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45278

A coroner's inquest has accused the Royal Swaziland Police Force of torture and neglect in a case that has highlighted human rights groups' concerns over the treatment of suspects in custody. Mandla Ngubeni died in June 2004 after the police interrogated him over the disappearance of R28,000 (US $4,666) from his place of employment. Coroner Magistrate Lorraine Hlope, in a report presented to Prime Minister Themba Dlamini, concluded that Ngubeni had been tortured under questioning.

Tunisia: Internal Exile Used to Silence Dissident

2005-02-03

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/02/01/tunisi10096.htm

Tunisian authorities should stop harassing journalist and former political prisoner Abdallah Zouari, and end his banishment in the remote south of the country, Human Rights Watch said. Since Zouari completed an 11-year prison sentence in 2002, authorities have sought to silence and punish him because of his outspoken criticism of government policies, notably on human rights. Zouari has been confined to a rural district in Medenine province, 500 kilometers from his family's home in suburban Tunis, jailed three times, placed under round-the-clock police surveillance and intermittently prevented from using local Internet cafés to communicate with others. Zouari has been on a hunger strike since January 23 to protest the rejection of his numerous written requests to authorities for permission to visit his family.

Africa/Global: UNHCR project to shed light on Africa-Europe transit migration

2005-02-03

http://tinyurl.com/4rd63

The phenomenon of African migration into Europe is one of the hot topics often debated in the European media. But while the headlines focus on illegal migrants and the desperate means they resort to in order to reach Europe's shores, very little attention has been paid to refugees who also risk their lives along the way. This mixed flow of people arriving in Europe raises new challenges in terms of refugee protection. In recent years, the UN refugee agency has become increasingly concerned that, in their effort to combat illegal migration, European Union countries tend to overlook the needs of the refugees mixed in with the illegal migrants.

Global/Africa: Realizing national responsibility for Internally Displaced Persons

2005-02-03

http://www.brook.edu/fp/projects/idp/20041209_mooney.htm

It is well recognized that because internally displaced persons remain within their country, they should, in accordance with established principles of international law, enjoy the protection and assistance of their own governments. Indeed, governments regularly insist that they have the primary responsibility for ensuring the security and welfare of their uprooted populations. Too often, however, they prove unable or unwilling to do so. Far greater effort therefore is needed by the international community to hold governments accountable and assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities towards IDPs.

Guinea: Forgotten people: Displaced populations in Guinea

2005-02-03

http://www.refintl.org/content/article/detail/4994?PHPSESSID=813016790c1ff141cf295f0b5a2701c4

Civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and more recently, Côte D’Ivoire have contributed to thousands of displaced people. The enormous refugee influx from neighboring countries has made Guinea host to one of the largest populations of refugees. Unfortunately, this creates a misleading view of Guinea as a peaceful haven, thus concealing significant humanitarian problems faced by displaced people. Further, there is a natural tendency for international donors to focus either on countries that have embarked on a peace process, such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, or on countries still in the midst of conflict, such as Côte D’Ivoire.

Nigeria: Plight of internally displaced Nigerians goes largely unnoticed

2005-02-03

http://www.idpproject.org/press/2005/Nigeria_Feb05.pdf

As heads of state from more than 25 African countries met in Nigeria to tackle some of the continent’s most urgent problems, another potential crisis on Nigeria’s own doorstep is being ignored. According to a new report by the Global IDP Project, resolving the situation of internal displacement in Nigeria must be a key priority. “Although the current situation of internal displacement in Nigeria may not amount to an ‘emergency’, especially when compared to other conflict-induced displacement crises in Africa, there is real potential for renewed violence that could quickly spread and cause major population movements,” said Raymond Johansen, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Sudan/Uganda: Refugees reluctant to repatriate to southern Sudan, UN agency says

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45329

Thousands of Sudanese refugees living in camps in northern Uganda are reluctant to consider repatriation for a variety of reasons, including the lack of facilities in southern Sudan, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, told IRIN. The agency reported that the refugees felt the landmark peace agreement signed in December 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya, was not inclusive of all Sudanese groups.

Zambia: Desperate refugees steal villagers' food

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45286

Hungry refugees in Zambia have resorted to looting crop fields in nearby villages in a desperate bid to gain access to food. "The situation is out of hand, with increasing reports of refugees entering surrounding villages to steal crops and livestock. More worrying is that young girls from the refugee community are being forced into prostitution. The local communities have complained to the government because they are now afraid of growing insecurity in the area," said Zambian home affairs permanent secretary, Peter Mumba.

Malawi: Political infighting could destabilise government

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45309

Political divisions in Malawi were set to deepen after a meeting at the weekend to discuss the possible expulsion of the country's president from the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) party for alleged misconduct. "The meeting is intended to fire [President Bingu wa] Mutharika for being ungrateful to a party that sponsored him to become president," UDF secretary-general Kennedy Makwangwala reportedly told Agence France Presse late on Sunday.

Mozambique: New president pledges "unrelenting fight against poverty"

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45353

Armando Guebuza was sworn in as Mozambique's new president on Wednesday, in an inauguration generally seen as ushering in a fresh, reformist agenda for the country. Fernando Goncalves, editor-in chief of Savana, an independently weekly, told IRIN he was cautiously optimistic that Guebuza could deliver. "We will judge him by his actions, but what we can say at the moment is, it is a good sign that he has identified corruption as a major problem in Mozambique."

Somalia: Government denies split over peacekeepers

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45299

A member of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, has denied reports of a split within the government over the deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops and relocation to the Somali capital, Mogadishu. "I am not aware of any such split," Aden Ibbi Abdirahman, the state minister for parliamentary relations, told IRIN on Monday. He was reacting to reports in local Somali media.

Uganda: MPs go live on television

2005-02-03

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4230701.stm

Ugandan state television and radio have started live broadcasts of parliamentary proceedings. It means MPs have been smartening up their act for the camerasIt means MPs are likely to be under much greater public scrutiny ahead of elections scheduled for next year. The next few months should also provide some lively viewing as the MP's are due to vote on many changes to the constitution including the controversial issue of whether to lift term limits on the presidency.

Zimbabwe: Cosatu kicked out for the second time

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/26678

A delegation from the International Confederation of Free Trade Union-affiliated Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) which arrived in Zimbabwe on Wednesday was immediately expelled by the country's immigration authorities. The planned 48-hour visit was intended to bring together COSATU representatives with their colleagues from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), also an ICFTU affiliate. The purpose of the visit, led by COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, was to discuss issues confronting workers in Zimbabwe and in the region in general.
LINK
- The Cosatu delegation and the March elections
http://www.sacp.org.za/umsebenzi/online/2005/RADEGE.htm
INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS

ICFTU OnLine...
018/020205

COSATU Delegation Once Again Expelled from Zimbabwe

Brussels, 2 February 2005 (ICFTU OnLine): A delegation from the
ICFTU-affiliated Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) which
arrived today in Zimbabwe was immediately expelled by the country's
immigration authorities. The planned 48-hour visit was intended to
bring together COSATU representatives with their colleagues from the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), also an ICFTU affiliate. The
purpose of the visit, led by COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi,
was to discuss issues confronting workers in Zimbabwe and in the region
in general.

Three months ago, a similar COSATU delegation was expelled from
Zimbabwe, prompting the ICFTU to bring the issue before the UN's
International Labour Organisation (ILO), as part of an ongoing case.
The latest expulsion will also be added to this case.

The Zimbabwean government continues to repress trade union activities in
the country. Representatives of the ZCTU and its affiliates are
frequently harassed, beaten arrested and mistreated by the Mugabe
regime's police.

This new expulsion of South African trade unionists comes two months
before elections for the Zimbabwean legislature, planned for 31 March.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has not yet decided
whether it will participate in the elections.

"The ICFTU is determined to support the legitimate rights of Zimbabwean
workers, in every way we can. This latest expulsion is a disgraceful
violation of these rights", said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder.

The ICFTU represents 145 million workers in 233 affiliated organisations
in 154 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a partner in Global
Unions: http://www.global-unions.org

For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2
224 0232 or +32 477 580 486.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe opponents to run in polls

2005-02-03

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4232679.stm

Zimbabwe's main opposition party has announced it will field candidates in parliamentary elections next month "with a heavy heart". The polls would not be free and fair, said the Movement for Democratic Change. "We participate under protest." The MDC had wanted the 31 March elections to be put back so that more reforms could be passed.

Africa/Global: Introducing the transparency and accountablity network

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/26603

The Transparency and Accountability Network (Tr-Ac-Net) is a not for profit tax exempt organization organized in the USA that aims to make excellence in transparency and accountability (Tr-Ac) the norm rather than the exception. The network is made up of individual professionals and organizations around the world committed to excellence in transparency and accountability and management information for relief and development. Tr-Ac-Net is a volunteer member network with country teams in South Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America and Europe. It is coordinated from New York USA and Chennai India. Tr-Ac-Net data can be accessed anywhere at any time through the use of an Internet enabled database. Tr-Ac-Net has a small budget for coordination and the maintenance of its information infrastructure.
TR-AC-NET

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY NETWORK
PEOPLE : DATABASE : RATINGS : SYSTEMS : SUPPORT

Introduction
The Transparency and Accountability Network (Tr-Ac-Net) is a not for profit tax exempt organization organized in the USA that aims to make excellence in transparency and accountability (Tr-Ac) the norm rather than the exception. The network is made up of individual professionals and organizations around the world committed to excellence in transparency and accountability and management information for relief and development..
Tr-Ac-Net is a volunteer member network with country teams in South Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America and Europe. It is coordinated from New York USA and Chennai India. Tr-Ac-Net data can be accessed anywhere at any time through the use of an Internet enabled database. Tr-Ac-Net has a small budget for coordination and the maintainance of its information infrastructure.
Over the past decade there have been a series of high profile examples of failure of transparency and accountability in corporations, in government, in the official relief and development assistance (ORDA) community and in non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Corruption is widely regarded as a prime reason why relief and development has been expensive without being effective. For example: Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing, UN oil for food, American Red Cross 9/11, President Abacha Nigeria, and so on. Organizations like Transparency International have highlighted the problem. There is a growing amount of anecdotal information about the effectiveness of small NGOs, but systemic data about relief and development performance and about small and informal organizations is not presently easily available.
It is now time to implement a practical program to improve transparency and accountability and start to make it the norm rather than the exception, and to start a process that will make more resources available to the best performing organizations in relief and development. Philanthropic donors are increasingly interested in knowing more about the outcomes and the effectiveness of programs so that better decisions can be made about the allocation of scarce resources.
The Transparency and Accountability Network (Tr-Ac-Net)
The Tr-Ac-Net initiative comprises an international network of professional individuals and organizations with a commitment to the goal of Tr-Ac excellence. Tr-Ac-Net is first and foremost: people, who are supported in their mission by; (1) a database that makes a vast amount of data easily accessible; (2) a Tr-Ac-Net Rating methodology; (3) software and systems; and, (4) expertise in improving transparency and accountability.
Transparency and accountability is the foundation for better use of scarce resources for global equitable sustainable socio-economic development. It helps level the playing field between the big and bad and powerful and the small and good and powerless. It helps get resources to people and organizations that use resources best.
Tr-Ac-Net People: People are Tr-Ac-Net's main strength. Tr-Ac-Net makes it possible for people committed to the goal of excellence in transparency and accountability everywhere to work on the problem and help fix it. Tr-Ac-Net has country teams in over twenty countries and is expanding rapidly. A small team from the West/North in the USA and East/South in India coordinates Tr-Ac-Net activities on both sides of the globe.
Tr-Ac-Net Database: Tr-Ac-Net operates an Internet enabled database system to have management information about transparency and accountability “on the record” and easily accessible everywhere. The database was started as a Wiki in 2003 and is now being upgraded to a high performance RDBMS.
Tr-Ac-Net Ratings: Tr-Ac-Net Ratings are a way to get reliable information about an organization's transparency and accountability (Tr-Ac) status and its performance. Four sets of information are used: (1) level of commitment to Tr-Ac excellence; (2) level of Tr-Ac capability; (3) the actual level of Tr-Ac in practice; and (4) practical impact on socio-economic progress. Tr-Ac-Net Ratings are “on the record” in the Tr-Ac-Net database and easily accessible and serve as a balance to self-serving promotion and public relations.
Tr-Ac-Net Systems: Tr-Ac-Net's efforts are supported by software and accountability systems that use open source code and are customizable for individual applications. They are based on the Tr-Ac E-Governance systems already deployed in offices of State Government in India.
Tr-Ac-Net Support: Tr-Ac-Net provides consulting, training and support to organizations seeking help to improve transparency and accountability.
Tr-Ac-Net encourages everyone to report and put “on the record” information about scams, rip-offs and obscene profiteering. In many cases there are patterns that can b associated with weakness in transparency and accountability, especially where large fund flows are involved.
Tr-Ac-Net also implements projects such as: (1) GIS for Community Development where Tr-Ac-Net will prepare community centric planning data to be incorporated into a GIS information database; (2) Relief and Development Fund Flow documentation where the Tr-Ac-Net system will be used as an reliable independent way of tracking fund flows, for example, the multi-billion dollar Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM); and, (3) Development Cooperation Report (DCR) preparation.
For more information, contact:
Tr-Ac-Net in New York USA (c/o Peter Burgess)
221 EAST 66TH STREET (4C), New York NY 10021
1 212 772 6918 peterbnyc@gmail.com tracnet@gmail.com

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91 44 5211 5995; krisdev@gmail.co tracnet@gmail.com

Blogs: http://Tr-Ac-Net.blogspot.com ; http://ll2b.blogspot.com

Angola: Transparency on oil money delaying donor conference

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45351

Angola has yet to provide the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with details of its windfall from high oil prices, delaying the Fund's mission to the country and raising doubt among donors about concluding an agreement any time soon. An IMF mission scheduled to come to Angola in November last year was postponed to January 2005, but would not take place before the end of February, sources in the capital, Luanda, told IRIN.

Namibia: Police probe Social Security Commission fraud

2005-02-03

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=116327&src=dcn

The Namibian Police have begun examining documentation related to corruption and fraud at the Social Security Commission (SSC) with a view to prosecuting the culprits. The Police confirmed that they had started "studying information" which emerged from a report following the Presidential commission of inquiry into the parastatal's affairs in 2002-3. If the Police decide to formulate charges against any of those accused of wrongdoing, it will be the first time since Independence that a commission of inquiry has prompted the criminal prosecution of individuals.

South Africa: High-profile corruption trial resumes

2005-02-03

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=116368&src=dcn

The corruption trial of a prominent South African businessman resumed on Tuesday with the court hearing details of his financial links to Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who has presidential aspirations. The high-profile case of Schabir Shaik on fraud and corruption charges has put Zuma on the defensive since it opened in October amid allegations that President Thabo Mbeki's deputy accepted kickbacks and bribes.

Swaziland: Driving past poverty

2005-02-03

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=27299

Said to be one of the ten most expensive cars in the world, the Maybach 62 is sleek, glamorous and – some might argue – a little out of place in a country where two thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. But if that country is Swaziland – and the person behind the wheel, so to speak, is King Mswati the Third – this argument would not stand in the way of him signing on the dotted line. The Maybach, produced by the German-American car manufacturer Daimler-Chrysler, has become the latest addition to the royal fleet – and Mswati took his first spin in the vehicle last week.

Africa/Global: Big push to woo US to Africa plan

2005-02-03

http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/story/0,15756,1403724,00.html

Britain will warn the United States this weekend that the fight against terror will be hampered by poverty in Africa as the government launches a concerted diplomatic effort to secure George Bush's support for more generous debt relief and a doubling of aid. "If the US wants to separate the extremists from those that they are trying to influence, it makes good sense to show how industrial nations can implement a Marshall Plan for developing countries," the chancellor Gordon Brown said. "US interests point to the wisdom of the international finance facility and debt relief that will show that rich countries believe that globalisation should be about social justice on a global scale."

Africa: African Debt Campaigners Demand Firm Action for Africa

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/26647

African debt campaigners meeting at the World Social Forum (WSF) in  Porto Alegre, Brazil learned with great interest of the high-profile  panel on Africa and its debt burden at the World Economic Forum, the  gathering of power elites held in Davos, Switzerland at the same time  as the WSF. The panel featured U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, South African President Thabo Mbeki, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the world's richest person, Bill Gates, and rock star Bono. "We are pleased to see Mr. Clinton, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Gates taking an interest in the struggles of African peoples," said Demba Moussa Dembele of the Forum on African Alternatives in Senegal.  "But will this meeting mean anything? We are tired of hearing noble speeches about our continent, no matter how famous the speaker."
World Social Forum:  African Debt Campaigners Demand Firm Action for Africa


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  27 JANUARY 2005


Jubilee South Africa * Solidarity Africa Network in Action (Kenya) * Forum on African Alternatives (Senegal)

African debt campaigners meeting at the World Social Forum (WSF) in  Porto Alegre, Brazil learned with great interest of the high-profile  panel on Africa and its debt burden at the World Economic Forum, the  gathering of power elites held in Davos, Switzerland at the same time  as the WSF. The panel featured U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, South African President Thabo Mbeki, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the world’s richest person, Bill Gates, and rock star Bono.

“We are pleased to see Mr. Clinton, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Gates taking an interest in the struggles of African peoples,” said Demba Moussa Dembele of the Forum on African Alternatives in Senegal.  “But will this meeting mean anything? We are tired of hearing noble speeches about our continent, no matter how famous the speaker.  Their pledges will be worse than meaningless unless fundamental changes are made in the global economic system and unless the huge debt burden that has  been forced on our people illegitimately is eliminated.  Fine words in the absence of firm action will placate some, but consign our needs to a heap of hypocritical and forgotten promises.”

Njoki Njoroge Njehu of Solidarity Action Network in Action (Kenya) added, “We are telling anyone who wishes to help Africa: We are not requesting charity; we are demanding justice.  Our continent has been exploited and abused by powerful outsiders for centuries.  After slavery and colonialism, the latest tool for imposing foreign interests on us is the lethal combination of debt and the economic conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.  We can no longer tolerate a system that demands the most impoverished continue to pay the wealthiest for the privilege o struggling to eat, to breathe, to live. We demand justice!”

Jubilee South Africa rejected the promises made for more attention to Africa.  “They have the power to do far more to change the discriminatory global economic system.  Every day they do not use that power is another day they expose their hypocrisy and participate in the abuse of Africa,” said M.P. Giyose, National Chairperson of Jubilee South Africa.  “We have no problem in agreeing with the position President Obasanjo has taken, maintaining that comprehensive debt cancellation is a prerequisite for any genuine progress in Africa. We hope that Mr. Blair learns from him.  But we would add that the cancellation will be effective only if it is done without externally-imposed conditions – the very measures that have devastated Africa.


New Voices on Globalization /  50 Years Is Enough Network: http://www.50years.org/

Africa: Food trade and food policy in sub-Saharan Africa

2005-02-03

http://www.id21.org/society/s7bcs1g2.html

Despite the publicity given to ‘reform’ of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and Doha round of trade negotiations, we are not about to see anything resembling liberal trade in agriculture. EU ‘liberalisation’ aims to sustain European production but to reshuffle the subsidies and taxes to make them less costly to the European budget and more easily defensible in the WTO, concludes research from the UK's Institute for Development Studies that reviews trade agendas and implications for food policy and food security in Africa. The research notes that patterns of agricultural trade and policy are changing rapidly. Africa is being squeezed not by formal World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations but through the rearrangement of agricultural subsidies in developed countries, changes in trade preferences and Africa’s inability to participate in setting standards. Africa faces the prospect of paying more for the cereals it imports and earning less from its agricultural exports.

Africa: G7 leaders told to 'do the deal' on debt cancellation

2005-02-03

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/debt_aid/g7_deal.htm

Every month rich country leaders delay a deal on debt cancellation, the poor pay with their lives. Last month, rich countries agreed to suspend the debt repayments of the countries devastated by the Tsunami for 12 months. Under the intense media spotlight, it was clear that rich countries could not continue to give aid with one hand only to take it back with the other hand through debt repayments. Through this step, they recognised that saving lives is more important than repaying debt. On Friday 4th February 2005 the Finance Ministers of the G7 will meet in London. These seven men have the power to make a decision which would end the crippling debt burden of the poorest countries. G7 leaders have made warm speeches about the importance of solving the debt problem. This is according to a joint ActionAid, CAFOD and Oxfam paper released ahead of the meeting.

Africa: Geldof bored with 'Mr Africa' tag

2005-02-03

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=132212620&p=y3zzy33z6

Bob Geldof is bored with visiting Africa and being called upon to raise money whenever the troubled continent faces a crisis - he would much rather be associated with his music. "I'd dearly love not to have to go there the day after tomorrow. More often than not, it bores me profoundly - the pace of change is far too slow, and Africans excuse their own complicity in exactly the same way as our politicians."

>>>>> Pambazuka News asks: "Does Africa want Bob Geldof?" Send your comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Singing a familiar song in Davos

2005-02-03

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31665496.htm

Previous promises to Africa have not always been honoured and the continent Blair once described as a "scar on the conscience of the world" waits to see if the outpouring of goodwill at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland will be any different. "There has certainly been an increase in rhetoric, and not for the first time," said Kenyan Arthur Muliro, analyst at Rome-based think-tank the Society for International Development. "Africa has been on the radar screen in this way many times before. There has been no shortage of promises, but in real terms nothing has changed."

Africa: AU leaders approve plan to supply generics

2005-02-03

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hiv.cfm#27896

African leaders at the end of the two-day African Union summit in Abuja, Nigeria, approved the development of a pharmaceutical manufacturing plan to bring "quality" generic drugs to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and polio across the continent, the AngolaPress reports. The plan will aid the production of the reduced-cost drugs in coordination with support from international groups to stem the spread of the diseases.

Africa: Global AIDS treatment efforts not on track

2005-02-03

http://www.msf.org/content/page.cfm?articleid=62168E79-1C22-4E97-8734B6F41C624CEA

The World Health Organization released its "3 by 5" progress report on January 26, 2005, at the Davos World Economic Forum congratulating itself on progress made in the drive to fight the HIV pandemic. But only 700,000 or 12% of the nearly six million people in need of antiretroviral treatment in developing countries have access to it today. Looking at these figures Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who provides ARV treatment to more than 25,000 patients in 27 countries, comes to the exact opposite conclusion. Instead of celebrating, WHO, UNAIDS, the Global Fund, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and other institutions should be sounding the alarm.

Liberia: Civil servant wage row hampers rural recovery

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45296

Nurses and doctors are refusing to return to work in the Liberian countryside because their salaries are too small and often late and the transitional government's promise to pay 18-months of salary arrears has failed to materialise. "The government cannot force us to go into the interior and work, because in the end, we will have nothing to live on," Klomah Seblee, president of the National Health Workers Association told IRIN. "We have families whose needs we have to meet."

Mozambique: Volunteers Worth Their Weight in Gold

2005-02-03

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=27221

The tall man is skeletal. Even so, it is a huge feat for him to muster up the energy to sit upright in front of his visitor – a young, vibrant woman. They sit on wooden chairs around a small table in the centre of a starkly bare room. Lying on the table are a wall clock and several packets of pills – for the time being, things that are key to the man’s survival. "Why do you have to go yourself to the hospital tomorrow?" asks the 31-year-old woman, Louisa*. The man, 51-year-old Fernando, coughs and then replies faintly, between gasps of breath, "My wife doesn’t understand Portuguese well, so it is difficult with the doctors."

South Africa: Global and local factors in health policy

2005-02-03

http://www.id21.org/health/h1tg1g1.html

The emergence of an increasingly global economy suggests that the ability of individual countries to shape their own destinies is becoming more difficult. International trends and pressures now influence national, and even local, health care policy making. Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, together with Oxford University, looked at the effect of globalisation on health issues in South Africa and assessed its influence compared to national and local forces. Political and economic developments in the international arena will inevitably influence health issues in South Africa. Institutions such as the WHO and the World Bank, together with international events such as the spread of AIDS, affect health care in the country. However local forces also play a large part in shaping the future of the South African health service.

Tanzania: Female Circumcision Fuels Spread of HIV/AIDS

2005-02-03

http://new.ippf.org/UnmanagedFrame.aspx?ID=4138&ifHeight=1500&srcIF=http://ippfnet.ippf.org/pub/IPPF_News/Classic/Default.asp

A recent survey, conducted by the Tanzania Media Women Association (TMWA) indicates that 99 per cent of 444 people interviewed, have blamed female genital mutilation (FGM) for fuelling the spread of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. The TMWA surveyed people in three Tanzanian province-like regions, which have the highest percentage of female population affected by FGM. Manyara leads the country with 81 per cent, followed by Dodoma with 67 per cent and Mara with 43 per cent.

Uganda: EU cautions over plans to use DDT to fight malaria

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45350

The European Union has cautioned Uganda against the use of an organic pollutant to control malaria, commonly known as DDT, warning that its use could pose dire consequences for exports to the European market.

Africa/Global: New minimum standards for education in emergencies

2005-02-03

http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=37697&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

As wars multiply around the globe, involving civilians to unprecedented degrees, UNESCO estimates that more than half of the 104 million children out of school live in countries touched by conflict. More than 27 million children in those countries do not have access to education. In Mozambique, some 45 per cent of primary schools were destroyed during the civil war; in Rwanda, over two-thirds of teachers either fled or were killed. The majority of refugee children who do receive education are enrolled at primary level, with only 6 per cent getting secondary schooling.

Ghana: Universities to train teachers and youth leaders in AIDS awareness

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45311

Thousands of trainee teachers and youth leaders in Ghana are to receive HIV/AIDS awareness and sensitisation training as part of a Canadian-backed initiative to tackle stigma surrounding the disease, the director of the project said. "HIV/AIDS is increasingly becoming a problem in our country but we hardly talk about sex in our communities. This course aims at prevention and creating the requisite knowledge about the condition by efforts to remove the stigma associated with it," project director Reuben Aggor told IRIN at the weekend.

Liberia: UN finds money to send expelled former combatants back to school

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45357

The United Nations said on Wednesday that it had secured enough money to pay the school fees of nearly 4,000 former Liberian combatants who were expelled from secondary schools last month because there was no money left in the rehabiliation fund to pay for their tuition. Charles Achodo, a policy advisor of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told reporters that all those ex-fighters who had been asked to leave school should be back in the classroom by the end of next week.

Sudan: Rise in school attendance expected

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/education/26645

Building on the groundswell of hope that is being felt throughout Sudan, Africa?s largest country, UNICEF is stockpiling tents and classroom materials, training teachers, building schools and assisting education officials to enroll thousands more children in the first academic year of the post-war period. Anticipating the return over the next several months of thousands of internally displaced Sudanese and Sudanese refugees who fled to other countries, UN agencies, local officials, and NGOs are preparing for increased enrolment of children in primary schools throughout the vast region of southern Sudan.
UNICEF Press release

KHARTOUM / RUMBEK, 27 January 2005 ? Building on the groundswell of hope
that is being felt throughout Sudan, Africa?s largest country, UNICEF is
stockpiling tents and classroom materials, training teachers, building
schools and assisting education officials to enroll thousands more
children in the first academic year of the post-war period.

Anticipating the return over the next several months of thousands of
internally displaced Sudanese and Sudanese refugees who fled to other
countries, UN agencies, local officials, and NGOs are preparing for
increased enrolment of children in primary schools throughout the vast
region of southern Sudan.

With a peace agreement signed on 9 January, authorities from the Sudanese
People?s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which controls much of the southern
part of the country, and from the Khartoum Government, which controls part
of the south and most of the north, have been working out modalities to
ensure that basic services, including education, are expanded.

Education authorities in southern Sudan are planning the re-opening of
schools at the end of March, after a three-month vacation period. UNICEF
is working to ensure that safe and clean teaching space is available and
classroom supplies are in place.

In the southernmost regions of Sudan ? Equatoria, Bahr el Ghazal and Upper
Nile ? UNICEF?s assistance in the construction of new classrooms is vital
to the reconstruction of the country. Over 70 schools have recently been
built in northern Bahr el Ghazal state in anticipation of large numbers of
returnees.

?The importance of education in post-conflict Sudan cannot be overstated,?
said UNICEF Representative in Khartoum, JoAnna Van Gerpen. ?With the
lowest rate of access to primary education in the world, southern Sudan
needs to build capacity for its children, and for future generations.?

The chief of UNICEF?s Operation Lifeline Sudan program, Simon Strachan,
noted that in SPLM-controlled areas, over 200,000 more children attended
primary school in 2004 than in 2003. In some districts in which UNICEF
focused its efforts, enrolment of girls increased up to 45 percent between
2003 and 2004.

Strachan noted that in addition to material assistance, UNICEF is training
school principals, teachers and community leaders in school management and
planning. ?Parents and community leaders often take the lead in building
classrooms and organizing enrolment drives when they are provided with the
supplies and the know-how,? he said. Classrooms in UNICEF-supported
schools will receive adequate supplies such as blackboard and chalk,
textbooks, exercise books, rulers and pencils.

In Juba, capital of Bahr el Jebel, additional teachers are being recruited
in anticipation of the expected surge in students whose families are
returning after years of displacement in the north or other countries.
Education authorities have indicated their willingness to integrate
teachers who fled the conflict in the south and have been living in the
northern part of the country. Displaced by long years of conflict, some
400 teachers in and around the capital, Khartoum, have indicated their
willingness to teach in communities that have been deprived of adequate
education for years.

The SPLM?s Secretariat of Education is being supported by UNICEF to expand
the numbers of schools and teachers. ?UNICEF has redirected resources to
returnee areas,? Strachan said. ?Even if we don?t know exactly where, when
or how many people will return, we are procuring education, water and
health supplies for the sake of the children.?

In the vast IDP settlements in Khartoum state, UNICEF and partners are
supporting IDP teachers to undergo an intensive course to upgrade their
English language skills. English is the language of instruction in much of
southern Sudan. They will also receive instructions on issues such as
conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS, landmines, and malaria so they can act as
educators and promote awareness of these issues among children and the
wider community.

Transportation remains a challenge in this massive country with poor
infrastructure. Most people and supplies travel by barge on the Nile
River, a slow and often risky means of returning home. While airlifting
is possible, it is expensive. A large percentage of education supplies
are flown into the SPLM areas. More supplies need to move soon in order
to be in time for the new school year.

Expectations are high among the people and communities most affected by
the war that peace will bring a better life, and in particular, an
education for their children. So far, few donors have come forward with
funds for recovery in Sudan. UNICEF has received US$ 2.1 million of the
$19.6 million it needs in 2005 to support primary school education for
children in the war-affected areas of southern Sudan.

Meanwhile, today in Geneva UNICEF launched its global appeal for children
in emergency situations, seeking some $763 million for 33 countries and
territories in crisis, including $289 million for Sudan.

South Africa/ Africa: Struggles against xenophobia in South Africa

2005-02-03

http://tinyurl.com/47b6p

Jointly chaired by the Government's Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg, the outcome of the first-ever public hearings on xenophobia held in early November 2004 will lead to a report that will be tabled before Parliament with the ultimate aim of realising some of the most pertinent recommendations made towards addressing xenophobia. Readily acknowledged as a global phenomenon, the public hearings on xenophobia gave the civil society, government agencies and communities affected by this scourge, the opportunity to voice their concerns.

South Africa: SA struggles with racist past

2005-02-03

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1654361,00.html

The murder trial of three men accused of throwing a black farm worker to the lions offers an extreme example of the plight of farm workers in a country that still has a culture of violence, human rights researchers said. Prosecutors allege that Mark Scott-Crossley, a white farmer, and two of his workers attacked Nelson Chisale with machetes last January, beat him, held him at gunpoint, tied him up and then drove him 20km to a lion reserve and threw him over the fence where he was devoured.

* Africa: Business and Biodiversity Conservation in Africa

Emmanuel O. Nuesiri

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/26679

Biodiversity ‘the total variety of life on earth’ (1) is the foundation upon which human civilizations have thrived. At present, this ‘foundation’ is at risk of being uprooted by human activities. Scientist estimate that loss of biodiversity due to human activities, has increased from a background extinction rate of 1 species per million species per year to a present day value of about 10 000 species per million species per year (2). Indicted amongst the plethora of human activities accelerating biodiversity loss are the activities of multinational business corporations hereafter referred to as MNC’s (3). It is estimated that global trade principally by MNCs in products derived from biodiversity is about one trillion dollars per annum (4). The negative impact of MNCs on biodiversity has been linked to its classical and neo-classical economic foundations, which failed to incorporate social and environmental concerns into economic decision making.

To redress this oversight and in response to the sustainable development paradigm, economists today have developed several tools for the appropriate evaluation of nature. The most prominent of these is the concept of total economic evaluation (TEV), which enables MNCs to quantitatively approximate the economic value of natural capital (5) This development has come at a time when the international community through the UN Convention on Biological Biodiversity (UNCBD) and Agenda 21, has challenged MNCs to proactively shoulder their share of the cost of conserving the planets biodiversity. It is maintained that to get business to be more responsive to biodiversity conservation, the primary drivers have to be international/national legislations coupled with pressure from civil society such as consumer boycotts (6). However, moderate voices within the business-biodiversity debate while not ruling out the need for legislation and civil society pressure, are of the opinion that the way to a more biodiversity responsive business community is through the forging of mutually profitable partnerships between the business community and the biodiversity community (7).

The negative impact of MNCs with respect to the environment is well documented in the case of the oil and gas sector due to high profile incidents including the Exxon Valdez, the Brent Spar and the Ogoni (8). This has led to a real fear in the sector of its members losing their licence to operate. The sector is thus proactively involved in initiatives presenting it as biodiversity friendly, examples include the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) business-biodiversity initiatives, the World Bank’s Business Partners for Development (BPD) initiative, the UN Global Compact initiative and the Energy Biodiversity Initiative (EBI) under the auspices of Conservation International (CI).

>>>>>For the full article, please click on the link below.
Business and Biodiversity Conservation in Africa

Biodiversity ‘the total variety of life on earth’ (1) is the foundation upon which human civilizations have thrived. At present, this ‘foundation’ is at risk of being uprooted by human activities. Scientist estimate that loss of biodiversity due to human activities, has increased from a background extinction rate of 1 species per million species per year to a present day value of about 10 000 species per million species per year (2). Indicted amongst the plethora of human activities accelerating biodiversity loss are the activities of multinational business corporations hereafter referred to as MNC’s (3). It is estimated that global trade principally by MNCs in products derived from biodiversity is about one trillion dollars per annum (4). The negative impact of MNCs on biodiversity has been linked to its classical and neo-classical economic foundations, which failed to incorporate social and environmental concerns into economic decision making.

To redress this oversight and in response to the sustainable development paradigm, economists today have developed several tools for the appropriate evaluation of nature. The most prominent of these is the concept of total economic evaluation (TEV), which enables MNCs to quantitatively approximate the economic value of natural capital (5) This development has come at a time when the international community through the UN Convention on Biological Biodiversity (UNCBD) and Agenda 21, has challenged MNCs to proactively shoulder their share of the cost of conserving the planets biodiversity. It is maintained that to get business to be more responsive to biodiversity conservation, the primary drivers have to be international/national legislations coupled with pressure from civil society such as consumer boycotts (6). However, moderate voices within the business-biodiversity debate while not ruling out the need for legislation and civil society pressure, are of the opinion that the way to a more biodiversity responsive business community is through the forging of mutually profitable partnerships between the business community and the biodiversity community (7).

The negative impact of MNCs with respect to the environment is well documented in the case of the oil and gas sector due to high profile incidents including the Exxon Valdez, the Brent Spar and the Ogoni (8). This has led to a real fear in the sector of its members losing their licence to operate. The sector is thus proactively involved in initiatives presenting it as biodiversity friendly, examples include the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) business-biodiversity initiatives, the World Bank’s Business Partners for Development (BPD) initiative, the UN Global Compact initiative and the Energy Biodiversity Initiative (EBI) under the auspices of Conservation International (CI).

While not dismissing MNCs efforts to be responsive to civil society concerns such as biodiversity conservation, it has been argued that corporate response is highly influenced by the ‘ethics of narcissus’ (9), which is an extremely high and obsessive concern for the corporate image and self-presentation, which often leaves corporate conduct completely untouched. It has also been noted that the implementation of corporate response formulated at far removed company headquarters can be inadequate at the level of the local business unit. Furthermore the lack of a comprehensive and robust global standard to assess the biodiversity friendliness of a MNC hampers universal goal setting (11). This has created room for some MNC to lay claim to being biodiversity friendly based on proactive involvement in initiatives that are no more than skin deep.

Therefore to ensure that business-biodiversity partnerships make meaningful contribution to biodiversity conservation, it is necessary to critically assess the outcomes from existing partnerships. It is in this light that this article turns a critical eye on one such partnership by the oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell in the heart of Africa. In 2000, the firm set up the Shell Gabon Biodiversity Project in the Guinea-Congolian rainforest region of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The Gabon project aims to assess and monitor biodiversity in Shell’s oilfields in Gabon. It’s executed through a five-year US$2.8 million partnership between Shell and the Smithsonian Institution Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity (SIMAB) team (12). Gabon lies on the equatorial western coast of the Congo Basin in SSA and has about 80% of its 267 000 km2 land surface area forested (16). Gabon has a population of about 1.2 million people and her population density 4.5 inhabitants/km2 is amongst the lowest in SSA. The country’s GDP per capita in 2000 was about US$4000, eight times higher than the average for SSA, making her the richest country in SSA. Gabon’s economy is heavily dependent on oil, which accounts for about 40% of her GDP and 80% of her export revenue (17).

Genesis and Achievements of the Shell Gabon Biodiversity Project

In 1996, Shell Prospecting and Development Peru (SPDP) entered into a joint venture with Mobil to undertake gas exploration activities in the Lower Urubamba watershed region in Peru. As part of a biodiversity impact mitigation strategy SPDP sought the assistance of the Smithsonian Institution Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity (SIMAB) team, who were at the time involved in biodiversity assessment exercise in Peru (13). The working relationship established between SPDP and SIMAB convinced SPDP’s parent company Royal Dutch/Shell to engage SIMAB on a long-term basis. Thus in 2000, Royal Dutch/Shell through the Shell Foundation entered into a five-year business-biodiversity partnership with SIMAB (14). The Gabon biodiversity project is the first initiative from the Shell/SIMAB partnership. The focus of the Gabon project is the Gamba Protected Forest Complex, the operational head quarters of Shell Gabon for over 40years (15).

The Gamba complex is located in South Western Gabon, it’s about 11, 320 km2 and comprises eight protected areas, 2 of which are of IUCN Category VIII status (18). Gamba is noted as a region within the Congo Basin of very high biological distinctiveness with moderate degree of threat (19). Shell/SIMAB Gabon project activities began in 2001 with the establishment of a field office and research facility in Gamba. Field based training was organised for Gabonese research collaborators and a yearlong study on arthropods was initiated. SIMAB commenced wide ranging biodiversity assessment activities in 2002. Results from activities undertaken to date validates the conclusions of the Guinea-Congolian forest expert workshop in 2001 that the Gamba Forest Complex due to limited human presence maintains a high degree of biological distinctiveness (19).

In response to increased interest from the Gamba local community and other national/international stakeholders including the Government of Gabon (GoG), the Shell/SIMAB project has organised a series of sensitisation events and tours presenting the results of their findings (14). The projects supposed achievements was also the subject of a BBC World’s Earth Report film titled ‘Oil’s Well?’ screened in Europe to coincide with the World Park’s Congress in 2003 (20). The Gabon biodiversity project has received favourable reviews from mainstream business and biodiversity conservation community. It is cited as an exemplary initiative in numerous business-biodiversity literature published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Critical Evaluation

The Gabon biodiversity project has produced a useful checklist of fauna and flora of the Gamba forest complex, however the significance of this achievement with regards to broader conservation priorities in the Guinea-Congolian forest region is questionable. The choice of Gamba complex as the starting point for the Shell/SIMAB partnership is understandable given the absence of any real challenge to doing conservation work in this area. The Gamba complex by default rather than by design has experienced very little disturbance from subsistence or commercial human exploitation. The population density of Gamba is very low and transportation facilities is about not existent. Furthermore the scale of Shell’s activities in the area is relatively small compared to the firm’s activities in its principal African oilfield in Nigeria’s Niger-Delta region (21). On a conservation priority rating drawn up at the Guinea-Congolian forest expert workshop in 2001, the Niger-Delta is way in front of the Gamba complex as an area in real need of attention to address the impact of human activity on loss of biodiversity.

Critical reading of Shell/SIMAB project documents show that at initiation of the project, the local populace of Gamba despite their limited numbers were not involved in stakeholder planning workshops for the projects. If this is about conserving the biodiversity of the Gamba complex in the long-term, the non-inclusion of the local community in the project is arguably a regrettable oversight. There is evidence that long-term conservation in remote locations such as Gamba is best assured when local inhabitants are empowered and included in the planning, design and implementation of such interventions (18). The reason for this is that specialists and experts brought in from abroad and major cities are not able to reside in these remote places for a considerable length of time. More often these would leave when significant project funding cease.

The evolution of the Shell/SIMAB Gabon biodiversity project since its inception in 2000 to date shows a particular and peculiar drive for attention seeking. There are many more biodiversity conservation initiatives of higher significance, which could have benefited immensely from resources committed to the Gabon project. While not arguing against the need for such a project documenting the biodiversity value of the Gamba complex, the scarcity of funding for conservation in areas of higher biodiversity value in Africa, opens up the Gamba project to the accusation of being an exercise underwritten by the ‘ethics of narcissus’. Perhaps this is stating the obvious, as it is known that in business-civil society initiatives, the business partners more often set the agenda and reap greater benefits (22).

* Emmanuel O. Nuesiri obtained his MPhil. in Environment and Development, from the University of Cambridge in 2002. He is presently a Clarendon scholar enrolled for a PhD at the University of Oxford. His research interests are biodiversity conservation, poverty alleviation and governance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

References
1. ICBP, (1992) Putting Biodiversity on the Map: Priority Areas for Global Conservation, Cambridge, UK: International Council for Bird Preservation
2. Botkin D. and Keller E., (2000) Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet, New York; Chichester: John Wiley & Sons
3. Korten, D., and Knight, P., (1999) ‘The Great Debate: Can Corporations be Trusted?’ People & the Planet Volume 8/3
4. ten Kate K. and Laird S. A., (2000) Biodiversity and Business: Coming to Terms with the ‘Grand Bargain’, International Affairs 76 (1): 241 - 264
5. Pearce,D. W. and Turner,K.R. (1990) Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, Simon and Schuster
6. ESRC, (1998) Report of a Workshop on Business and the Environment, [Online] http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/gec/pubs/reps/busenv.htm, [accessed 02 February 2005]; Warhurst A., (1998) Developing a Sustainable Economy: Towards a Pro-Active Research Agenda, [Online] http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/gec/pubs/reps/dssuseco.htm, [accessed 02 February 2005]
7. Grigg A., (2002) Engaging Business In Biodiversity, Paper Presented at the Global Biodiversity Forum ‘Biodiversity Plans for Business’ Workshop, Hague: Netherlands, [Online] <http://www.biodiversityeconomics.org/business/020405-02.htm> [accessed 02 February 2005]; Rose, M., (2000) Business and Biodiversity – A Mutually Profitable Partnership, Oryx 34(2): 83 – 84; Elkington, J., (1999) ‘Changing Corporate Culture’, People & the Planet, Volume 8/3 7
8. Boele R., Fabig H. and Wheeler D., (2001a) Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni 1, Sustainable Development 9: 74-86; Boele R., Fabig H. and Wheeler D., (2001b) Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni 2, Sustainable Development 9: 121-135; Lubbers E. (1998) The Brent Spar Syndrome: Shell and the Pressure Groups Scare, Telepolis [On-line Magazine] <http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/co/2469/1.html> [accessed 02 February 2005]
9. Roberts, J., (2000) Corporate Governance and the Ethics of Narcissus, Research Paper in Management Studies (WP 03/2000), Judge Institute of Management Studies, University Of Cambridge
10. Wheeler D., Rechtman R., Fabig H. and Boele R., (2001) Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni 3, Sustainable Development 9: 177-196
11. Earthwatch, (2001) Measuring Biodiversity Performance, Oxford: Earthwatch Institute Europe, available at <www.earthwatch.org/europe/publications>
12. SIMAB, (2001) Gabon Biodiversity Project Briefing Paper 1, Washington D.C.: SIMAB available at <http://www.si.edu/simab/>
13. May P. H., da Vinha V. and Zaidenweber N., (1999) Royal Dutch/Shell in Hastings M. (ed.) ‘Corporate Incentives And Environmental Decision Making: A Case Studies And Workshop Report’, Center for Global Studies-Houston Advanced Research Center (CGS-HARC), p. 79-117 available at <http://www.harc.edu/cgs.html>
14. See http://www.shellfoundation.org/biodiversity/latest.html for more details [accessed 02 February 2005]
15. Shell Gabon (2001) Report to Society on 2000 Performance: Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainable Development, Gabon: Shell Gabon
16. Grimaldi C., Becchetti-Laure M-F., Caparros A-M. and Viale M-C., (1997) Le Gabon en Poche: Guide Touristique du Gabon, Paris: Cooperation francaise; Le MUST
17. World Bank (2000) Africa Gas Initiative 6: Gabon, Washington: World Bank, available at http://www.worldbank.org/html/fpd/energy/AGI/GABON.pdf
18. Thibault M. and Blaney S., (2001) Sustainable Human Resources in a Protected Area in Southwestern Gabon, Conservation Biology 15(3): 591-595
19. WWF, (2001) Biological Priorities for Conservation in the Guinean-Congolian Forest and Freshwater Region, Washington D.C.: WWF-US/CARPO
20. See “Oil and wildlife 'can co-exist'” at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3091416.stm [accessed 02 February 2005]
21. Onduku A., (2003) The Lingering Crisis in the Niger Delta: A Field Report, Peace, Conflict and Development 3: 3, [Online Journal <http://www.peacestudiesjournal.org.uk/>]
21. Frynas J. G., (1998) Political Instability and Business: Focus on Shell in Nigeria, Third World Quarterly 19(3): 457-478
22. Ashman D, (2001) Civil Society Collaboration with Business: Bringing Empowerment Back In, World Development 29(7): 1097-1113

Africa: Climate change to hit Africa hardest

2005-02-03

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1404231,00.html

Urgent action must be taken in order to prevent Africa from bearing the brunt of global warming, a scientific conference on climate change was told. If current trends continued, temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa could rise by 2C with rainfall declining by 10%, according to Anthony Nyong, a scientist at Jos university in Nigeria. "There must be substantial and genuine reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by the principal emitters," Dr Nyong wrote in a paper presented to the conference, taking place in Exeter.

Angola: GM food aid banned

2005-02-03

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,2763,1182378,00.html

Almost 2 million Angolans could go hungry because their government has banned genetically modified food aid, the UN's food agency warned. A shipment of 19,000 tonnes of maize from the US may have to turn back because the southern African state has become concerned about the environmental risks of biotechnology.

Namibia: Opposition to new mine

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/26643

As a national human rights organization advocating inter alia the universal right to a clean and safe environment, Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) deplores plans to open yet another uranium mine in the country. “As if the danger to human life and the environment posed by the existing Rossing Uranium Mine (RUM) is not grave enough, the government is allowing yet another uranium mine in the country”, wondered NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh.
PRESS RELEASE

 NSHR OPPOSES NEW URANIUM MINE

 
As a national human rights organization advocating inter alia the universal right to a clean and safe environment, Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) deplores plans to open yet another uranium mine in the country.

 
“As if the danger to human life and the environment posed by the existing Rossing Uranium Mine (RUM) is not grave enough, the government is allowing yet another uranium mine in the country”, wondered NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh.

 

Prominent local media reports have indicated during the last four months that a new uranium mine is soon to be erected at the village of Langer Heinrich, some 280 kilometers west of Windhoek and 50 kilometers south of RUM. The village borders the Namib Naukluft Park, the country’s largest nature conservation area.

 

The new mine--owned by Paladin Resources, an Australian company--is being established under the shroud of “pumping millions into the economy”.

 

 “Our unrelenting opposition to mining activities of this nature is more than obvious. Wherever and whenever uranium mine was opened worldwide, the track record has been precisely the same. From the Pryor Mountains in Wyoming (USA), Gunnar and Lorado mine sites in Canada’s Saskatchewan Province and Deline in the Northwestern Territories (Canada) and or Prieska in the Northern Province (South Africa) to the controversial Jabiluka Uranium mine in the Northern Territory (Australia) and Rossing Uranium mine (Namibia) it has been the same story of death from cancer caused by exposure to either asbestos or excessive radiation from uranium. Why on earth should we believe that it’s going to be a different story with the proposed Langer Heinrich uranium mine?” ya Nangoloh wanted to know.

 

The Namib Naukluft Park is home to the Topnaar people, which is one of the already most marginalized indigenous minority communities in the country.

 

“We also dismiss with the contempt it deserves the impression created by the owners of Langer Heinrich mine to the effect that the principal purpose of the proposed uranium mine is to create employment for Namibians and to strengthen the country’s economic base by ‘pumping millions into the economy’. There is no doubt that both in short-term and long-term this kind of mine will have very grave environmental, physical and psychological and socio-economic consequences, including our tourism industry in the area”, warned ya Nangoloh.

 

According to scientific data a person can be exposed to uranium by inhaling dust in air or ingesting water and food. The general population is exposed to uranium primarily through food and water. The average daily intake of uranium from food ranges from 0.07 to 1.1 micrograms per day. People who live near facilities that mine or process uranium ore or enrich uranium may have increased exposure to uranium.

 

As for the bosses of the proposed Langer Heinrich uranium mine and the principals of the Namibian Government, NSHR is calling upon them to invoke the doctrine of active precautionary principle, which calls for more action than less, choosing less risky alternatives, when they are available, and to take the full responsibility for potential risks that might arise from the proposed mine.

 

“This principle must also guides all of us, national and international environmentalists and human rights defenders, to take action now as individuals and organizations to register our opposition to this potential harm to human health and environment before it occurs” ya Nangoloh appealed. 

 

Moreover, the Government has legal and constitutional incentives to apply the doctrine of active precautionary principle. In terms Article 15 of the 1992 UN-sponsored Rio Declaration on Environment and Development to which Namibia is a state party:

 

"Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

 

Whereas Article 95(l) of the Namibian Constitution stipulates:

 

“The State shall actively promote and maintain the welfare of the by adopting inter alia policies aimed at the maintenance of ecosystems, essential ecological processes and biological diversity of Namibia and utilization of living natural resources basis for the benefit of all Namibians, both present and future; in particular, the Government shall provide measures against the dumping or recycling of foreign nuclear and toxic waste on Namibia territory”.

 

Background Info on Danger Posed by Uranium

 

 Uranium can enter the body when it is inhaled or swallowed or under rare circumstances it may enter through cuts in the skin. Uranium does not absorb through the skin, and alpha particles released by uranium cannot penetrate the skin, so uranium that is outside the body is much less harmful than it would be if it were inhaled or swallowed. When uranium enters the body it can lead to cancer or kidney damage.

 

Uranium mining carries the danger of airborne radioactive dust and the release of radioactive Radon gas and its daughter products (an added danger to the already dangerous activity of all hard rock mining). As a result, without proper ventilation, uranium miners have a dramatically increased risk of later development of lung cancer and other pulmonary diseases. There is also the possible danger of groundwater contamination with the toxic chemicals used in the separation of the uranium ore.

 
In case of further enquiries, please call P. ya Nangoloh at Tel: +264 61 236 183 or  +264 61 253 447 (office hours) or Cell: +264 811 299 886

* Democracy and Its Simulacra

Raj Patel

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/land/26597

It may not come as news that the World Bank is choking the rural poor. But participants at the World Forum on Agrarian Reform in Valencia in December, learned the literal truth of it from Filipino delegates, who brought news of an all too familiar story. Last month, 14 people were killed outside the Hacienda Lusita, a sugarcane plantation in the Philippines. Among those killed were a two-year-old and a five-year-old, who suffocated on the teargas that the police fired into a crowd of protesters. The 5,000 workers at the plantation, farmworkers, and sugar-mill workers were fighting the firing of union members during wage negotiations, and demanding an increase in their wages: they want an increase of $1.78 on top of the daily gross pay of $3.39, together with medical benefits. The Labour Secretary authorized the use of force to compel the strikers to return to work, and on November 16, a convoy of armoured personnel carriers and other military vehicles rammed the picket line, following up with water-cannon, teargas and rifles. Firepower like this doesn't come without friends in high places, and the Hacienda Lustia is well stocked with them: it's owned by Corazon Cojuangco Aquino's family, she of the 1986 populist overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos.

The rural violence in the Philippines isn't an aberration. Activists from the Landless Peasant Movement in Brazil, the Bangladesh Krishok Federation and the Colombian Asociacion Nacional De Usuarios Campesinos were just some of the groups reporting rural activists being killed, routinely and frequently, simply for standing up for their rights to food, dignity and justice. The killers are the police, the military, and private militias. They take their orders from the landed elites, the plantation owners, the buyers. Who in turn constitute the government. Which in turn pari pasu walks with the World Bank.

The armed violence is not the only kind of repression available in rural areas. The chronic structural violence of the landed elites is handily maintained by the tyranny of the market. And all of this is legitimized by a "post-Washington consensus" that pretends no other destiny for the rural poor than peonage, death, or migration to the cities. This is the agrarian prophesy of neoliberalism, and it has the means to turn vision into reality.

Summer

You might be wondering what this agrarian revolution looks like. Well, it's going to take time to work it out. And democracy. The one-size-fits-all school of agrarian reform isn't one that Via Campesina are keen to replicate. There are, however, principles and mechanisms for distinguishing progressive from reactionary agrarian transformation, which can be applied in specific circumstances, the principles of Food Sovereignty as developed by Via Campesina involve "Food sovereignty is the peoples', Countries' or State Unions' right to define their agricultural and food policy, without any dumping vis-à-vis third countries, ... including prioritizing local agricultural production in order to feed the people, access of peasants and landless people to land, water, seeds, and credit; the right of farmers, peasants to produce food and the right of consumers to be able to decide what they consume, and how and by whom it is produced; the populations taking part in the agricultural policy choices and, the recognition of women farmers' rights, who play a major role in agricultural production and in food."

This last point is the litmus test of the vision for rural transformation. The agrarian reform Via Campesina advocates isn't about reconstructing some past idealized rural existence, in these rural idylls, women were uniformly exploited and no amount of nostalgia through the soft focus of "heritage" can alter that fact. Since the exploitation of women is at the very heart of agrarian capitalism, there's going to have to be some fairly heavy changes in agrarian relations. As Shalmali Guttal, from Focus on the Global South put it, "perhaps with all these changes, we don't really mean agrarian reform. What we're really saying is that we need agrarian revolution."

In South Africa, there is occasion to test these principles. Apartheid has shaped an exceptional agrarian landscape, and if there is such a thing as a classical agrarian society, South Africa isn't it. The histories of dislocation, urbanization, eviction, colonization, cultural rearticulation and conquest have left South Africa looking very different from the rest of the continent, let alone the rest of the world. Although the idiom of land for all South Africans had played a central mobilizing role in the struggle against apartheid, the government has made pitiful progress in its commitments to justice for South Africa's rural and disenfranchised poor. This is in no small part because, in the ten years since the democratic dispensation, the capture of the state by neoliberalism has been swift and almost total. From the heady days of the Freedom Charter, in which the ANC proclaimed in 1955 "All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose", the ANC let it be known in 1994 that 30% of agricultural land would be transferred within five years. The target has been pushed back a little since then: the government's current aim is to redistribute 30% of agricultural land by 2015. To do that, it would need to transfer 2.1 million hectares a year, between now and then. The prospects aren't good, it has only managed to transfer this much in the eight years since the programme started. Part of the reason for this sloth is the government's commitment to neoliberal conceptions of agrarian justice: no expropriation from those who have for generations profited from the sweat of Africans. Instead, the "willing buyer-willing seller" approach to land redistribution, in which property rights trump all other rights - is the principle of justice that guides the state. It is an almost global and certainly Pythonesque phenomenon that, when confronted with the idea of willing-seller/willing-buyer, poor people observe that they'd probably be willing to buy had they any money, but if they had money, they wouldn't be poor and landless.

In South Africa in particular, one might think that the inequities of apartheid might enter the calculus of justice in land reform. Instead, the law is being used to frustrate the process of land reform. For example when dealing with restitution claims of families evicted in 1913 with the introduction of the Native Land Act the government requires communities to submit their land claims to the state. For this the claimants need a lawyer. But since the government's legal aid system is acutely under-funded, the only public lawyers available are buried in criminal cases. Gary Howard, of the Campus Law Clinic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, one of the few places where a handful of land claims can be processed, is clear: there are precious few places with the resources and knowledge capable of addressing the land question through legal means in South Africa. In other words, the ANC's land reform programme seems to be intentionally designed to fail.

*Raj Patel is a researcher with the Land Research Action Network, co-edits the Voice of the Turtle, and works at the Centre for Civil Society, in Durban. www.landaction.org www.voiceoftheturtle.org and www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs respectively

>>>>>For the full text of this article please click on the link below.
Democracy is powerful stuff. Its weapons - dissent, voice, inclusion - are what distinguish it from the feather dusters of "participation" and "dialogue". At the World Forum on Agrarian Reform in Valencia, Spain in December 2004, rural-based social movements from around the world set up a school for democratic struggle against neoliberal agrarian policy.

Winter

It may not come as news that the World Bank is choking the rural poor. But participants at the World Forum on Agrarian Reform in Valencia in December, learned the literal truth of it from Filipino delegates, who brought news of an all too familiar story. Last month, 14 people were killed outside the Hacienda Lusita, a sugarcane plantation in the Philippines. Among those killed were a two-year-old and a five-year-old, who suffocated on the teargas that the police fired into a crowd of protesters. The 5,000 workers at the plantation, farmworkers, and sugar-mill workers were fighting the firing of union members during wage negotiations, and demanding an increase in their wages: they want an increase of $1.78 on top of the daily gross pay of $3.39, together with medical benefits. The Labour Secretary authorized the use of force to compel the strikers to return to work, and on November 16, a convoy of armoured personnel carriers and other military vehicles rammed the picket line, following up with water-cannon, teargas and rifles. Firepower like this doesn't come without friends in high places, and the Hacienda Lustia is well stocked with them: it's owned by Corazon Cojuangco Aquino's family, she of the 1986 populist overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos.

The rural violence in the Philippines isn't an aberration. Activists from the Landless Peasant Movement in Brazil, the Bangladesh Krishok Federation and the Colombian Asociacion Nacional De Usuarios Campesinos were just some of the groups reporting rural activists being killed, routinely and frequently, simply for standing up for their rights to food, dignity and justice. The killers are the police, the military, and private militias. They take their orders from the landed elites, the plantation owners, the buyers. Who in turn constitute the government. Which in turn pari pasu walks with the World Bank.

The armed violence is not the only kind of repression available in rural areas. The chronic structural violence of the landed elites is handily maintained by the tyranny of the market. And all of this is legitimized by a "post-Washington consensus" that pretends no other destiny for the rural poor than peonage, death, or migration to the cities. This is the agrarian prophesy of neoliberalism, and it has the means to turn vision into reality.

Spring

These were the issues being fought at the World Forum on Agrarian Reform. It's not without irony that the meeting happened in Spain. This is the country, after all, responsible for introducing the hacienda system of feudal landholding to Latin America and parts of South East Asia, a system, which remains largely intact to this day. Not all rural inequalities can be attributed to colonialism, of course. India, for instance, had a sophisticated and vicious system of feudal exploitation in place while Europeans were still dragging their knuckles through the Dark Ages. When they arrived, the British shaped and profited from the feudal economy, reorienting it towards market production, while leaving many structures of rural oppression largely intact. The only thing that might make one think that any of this has disappeared is wishful thinking, or a predisposition for siding with the elites. Which brings us to the World Bank.

Endemic rural violence, of which the Hacienda Lusita massacre is an instance, is fully consonant with existing World Bank rural development policy through its "corporate rural strategy". A look at the Bank's August 2003 report "Reaching the Rural Poor: a Renewed Strategy for Rural Development" tells us what this means. It opens with a 1973 quote from ex-Bank president Robert McNamara, who waxes thus: "Absolute poverty is a condition of life, so limited as to prevent realization of the potential of the genes with which one is born.. the problem is most severe in the countryside." The sentiment may be sound, but its author isn’t; it is a suitable reflection on the Bank that its flagship rural development documents reach back thirty years for inspiration in a man whose previous strategies for rural advancement involved bombing and defoliating vast tracts parts of South East Asia. But if the Bank looks for an affirming quote to the 1970s, it looks to the eighteenth century for its policy. The trade liberalization regime that it advocates is no newer than that.

What is it, then, about trade liberalization that is so conducive to development? The farmers at the World Forum on Agrarian Reform certainly had their own views. French farmer José Bové, the Asterix of the global peasant movement, put it like this, as he chained himself to the gates of the food export facility in Valencia's port: "Only 10% of agricultural production is for the world market. The rest, 90%, is distributed in local and national markets. How comes the WTO gets to determine the agricultural politics in every country, when their interests are unrepresentative?" He might have gone further. After all, before the WTO there were other agencies, and other corporations, that were doing sterling work in transforming agriculture into a mechanism for fueling urban industrial growth while quelling the restless working class in the colonial metropole with cheap, calorific but not terribly nutritious, food. Which brings us to the World Bank.

It has its own role to play in keeping a lid on class-tension. Again, looking at its rural development programme, the Bank has committed itself to "forging alliances with all stakeholders". This means forging alliances with the people like the owners of Hacienda Lusita, the people who hire the heavies. And it means "dialoguing" with the exploited. Little wonder that most independent peasant organizations want to have nothing to do with the Bank’s rural development strategy. After all, it's a strategy that is designed to squeeze the most out of the status quo, with emollient dabs of dialogue and consultation, to smooth the way. Consultation and participation, the Bank tells us, are key to its renewed vision for the future. So what does the Bank do when movements of the poor refused to be wrung any more, whose "dialogue" with the Bank involves refusing to talk any more? Well, the Bank has rather thoughtfully funded its own popular coalitions, avoiding the need to trouble its stakeholders with the inconveniences of democracy.

You might think, for example, that a group called "the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty" would involve things like a commitment to the eradication of hunger and poverty, and involve a good number of people. But the coalition decided to rename itself to "The International Land Coalition" because, frankly, it was a little embarrassing to have the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the increasingly co-opted Food and Agricultural Organisation of the UN, the World Food Programme, the European Commission and the World Bank, together with agricultural landowners and NGOs peddling policies that were deeply unpopular with large swathes of the world's rural poor. (Also, the Bank doesn't seem willing to commit itself to poverty eradication - only "poverty alleviation".)

So, ersatz democracy is the stock in trade at the International Land Coalition, the idea being that when there's a more visible, more bankrolled, glitzily artificial space for "dialogue", people will forget what proper democracy looks like, or why they fought for it in the first place. At the World Forum on Agrarian Reform, social movements from across the world weren't "dialoguing" they were arguing about what "rural development" has come to mean, and what it should actually be. The tension was between a model of industrial export-oriented agriculture that privatizes land, water and seed, and a model of rural transformation that will, finally, address centuries of feudal and capitalist exploitation in the countryside.

One of the ways that the Bank is able to push its agrarian agenda is its control over knowledge. Marcelo Resende, who used to be President of the Agrarian Reform Institute in Brazil, tells of his experience: "the World Bank presented us with a program that wanted to marketise land, and it served to divide organizations in Brazil. The Bank also tried to privatize the Amazon, one of the most important "patrimonies" of Brazil. When we talk of multilateral organisations, it's not just that the Bank is an ideological centre, which it is, but it's also a mechanism for action through other multilateral institutions. That is why we condemn the multilateral institutions that are ideologically affiliated to the World Bank. When workers go to Washington, the Bank tells them that in Brazil things are going fantastically well. They tell similar stories about Brazil elsewhere in the world. But they're not." Brazil, instead, seems to be involved in something of a counter-agrarian reform, a process of stalling over genuine social transformation that, this week, has resulted in Lula's Worker's Party being abandoned in its coalition by the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, on grounds that it has failed to deliver its promised social agenda.

The disillusionment with neoliberal politics isn't confined to Brazil. Víctor Julio Imás Ruiz from the Frente Nacionál Campesino in Paraguay put it like this "Multilateral organisations have set up the game so that land is in the hand of the multinationals that earn terrific profits that we never see. The outcome for us is poverty and violence. So, there's nothing to negotiate; it's a question of rejecting. We know what model of agriculture we want, and it's not an agricultural revolution, but a national and social revolution. The assistance we get just traps us, but it doesn't help." In fact, it's help that hurts. Kingkorn Narintarakul Na Ayutthaya of the Land Research Action Network argues that both the Global South and the Global North have been experiencing "agricultural counter-reform", with a systemic shift in rural development policy towards sophisticated neocolonial relations of dependency, authority, knowledge and patronage. Which brings us to the World Bank.

Amade Sucá, from the União Nacional de Camponeses, told how the World Bank pushed cashew export in Mozambique. "The idea was that we should export everything without processing, and the government incorporated this in their policies. Thousands of farmers and farmworkers, and processing industrial workers, lost their jobs. We worked very hard to collect all the information that we could to prove this, we have to make it clear, that this is happening, that the model is not working.... When we join forces, that's when we can fight."

And fight there was, though the weapons were unusual. Some at the Forum were keen to maintain it as a neutral space, an uncharitable explanation for this being that such a space is far more open to funding, more Bankable shall we say, than one that has taken a principled stand against neoliberalism. Some sophisticated organizing on the part of the Via Campesina international peasant movement prevented the Forum from maintaining the status quo. The weapons were weapons of democracy.

Panels were deluged with tough and unflinching questions about agrarian reform from the peasant movements who have suffered at the hands of such programmes. The conference itself was preceded by a "mistica", an internationalist sacrament to the value of rural life (though not, it must be said, necessarily a hymn to the value of tradition, the participants at the conference were more critical than that). Progressive organizers insisted, despite much resistance, that questions from the floor alternate between men and women, and that there need not be a declaration at the end of the conference, after all, democracy takes time. You can't just bring peoples' movements together and expect after four days a unanimity of vision and purpose that can be authorized without discussion with the people. So. No declaration. Plenty of different voices. Structural respect for gender, with a separate women's statement emerging from the process. A subversion of the pretensions, equivocations, and guff of which the ageing white men who convene these sorts of conferences seem overly fond. Instead, now, a space for action.

Summer

You might be wondering what this agrarian revolution looks like. Well, it's going to take time to work it out. And democracy. The one-size-fits-all school of agrarian reform isn't one that Via Campesina are keen to replicate. There are, however, principles and mechanisms for distinguishing progressive from reactionary agrarian transformation, which can be applied in specific circumstances, the principles of Food Sovereignty as developed by Via Campesina involve "Food sovereignty is the peoples', Countries' or State Unions' right to define their agricultural and food policy, without any dumping vis-à-vis third countries, ... including prioritizing local agricultural production in order to feed the people, access of peasants and landless people to land, water, seeds, and credit; the right of farmers, peasants to produce food and the right of consumers to be able to decide what they consume, and how and by whom it is produced; the populations taking part in the agricultural policy choices and, the recognition of women farmers' rights, who play a major role in agricultural production and in food."

This last point is the litmus test of the vision for rural transformation. The agrarian reform Via Campesina advocates isn't about reconstructing some past idealized rural existence, in these rural idylls, women were uniformly exploited and no amount of nostalgia through the soft focus of "heritage" can alter that fact. Since the exploitation of women is at the very heart of agrarian capitalism, there's going to have to be some fairly heavy changes in agrarian relations. As Shalmali Guttal, from Focus on the Global South put it, "perhaps with all these changes, we don't really mean agrarian reform. What we're really saying is that we need agrarian revolution."

In South Africa, there is occasion to test these principles. Apartheid has shaped an exceptional agrarian landscape, and if there is such a thing as a classical agrarian society, South Africa isn't it. The histories of dislocation, urbanization, eviction, colonization, cultural rearticulation and conquest have left South Africa looking very different from the rest of the continent, let alone the rest of the world. Although the idiom of land for all South Africans had played a central mobilizing role in the struggle against apartheid, the government has made pitiful progress in its commitments to justice for South Africa's rural and disenfranchised poor. This is in no small part because, in the ten years since the democratic dispensation, the capture of the state by neoliberalism has been swift and almost total. From the heady days of the Freedom Charter, in which the ANC proclaimed in 1955 "All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose", the ANC let it be known in 1994 that 30% of agricultural land would be transferred within five years. The target has been pushed back a little since then: the government's current aim is to redistribute 30% of agricultural land by 2015. To do that, it would need to transfer 2.1 million hectares a year, between now and then. The prospects aren't good, it has only managed to transfer this much in the eight years since the programme started. Part of the reason for this sloth is the government's commitment to neoliberal conceptions of agrarian justice: no expropriation from those who have for generations profited from the sweat of Africans. Instead, the "willing buyer-willing seller" approach to land redistribution, in which property rights trump all other rights - is the principle of justice that guides the state. It is an almost global and certainly Pythonesque phenomenon that, when confronted with the idea of willing-seller/willing-buyer, poor people observe that they'd probably be willing to buy had they any money, but if they had money, they wouldn't be poor and landless.

In South Africa in particular, one might think that the inequities of apartheid might enter the calculus of justice in land reform. Instead, the law is being used to frustrate the process of land reform. For example when dealing with restitution claims of families evicted in 1913 with the introduction of the Native Land Act the government requires communities to submit their land claims to the state. For this the claimants need a lawyer. But since the government's legal aid system is acutely under-funded, the only public lawyers available are buried in criminal cases. Gary Howard, of the Campus Law Clinic at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, one of the few places where a handful of land claims can be processed, is clear: there are precious few places with the resources and knowledge capable of addressing the land question through legal means in South Africa. In other words, the ANC's land reform programme seems to be intentionally designed to fail.

Autumn

Agrarian reform extends beyond the question of land. In South Africa, the success of the neoliberal capture of the imagination is such that the government's dismal land reform program will now only entertain criticism about its pace, not its substance. In other words, there's little if any discussion about quite what can or should be done with land that is acquired by the survivors of apartheid, only that the distribution ought to happening a little more speedily than it is. Yet there is little merit in fighting for a patch of land if there are not the mechanisms in place to nurture the jobs on the land for which South Africa's rural poor are so desperate, and for which the Landless Peoples' Movement, the South African members of Via Campesina - have been fighting.

It would seem, however, that the LPM has a new ally. The South African Communist Party have recently thrown their weight behind a comprehensive agrarian reform, in their "Red October Campaign". Although they initially seem only to be targeting white agricultural capital, this is surely an oversight on their part. The ANC's vision of agrarian reform, enshrined in the AgriBEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment for Agriculture) initiative seems to be to change the skin colour of the exploiters, but leave everything else pretty much as is. So, it seems, apartheid's economic structures will remain intact, under new management, and with a small cash settlement as a token of goodwill to those who suffered under the previous administration.

Having held aloft the Brazilian MST's example of coordinated land occupations and categorical rejection of willing-buyer/willing seller, it'll be interesting to see whether the SACP, who have remained largely silent in public about the neoliberal take-over of South Africa, will offer support for a widespread campaign of civil disobedience in the best tradition of MST activism, over the coming year. After all, the MST exists only because it has actively occupied land, not chaotically, but strategically, in defence of rights that the state has neglected for far too long. The lesson for other landless movements is clear: the poor can only negotiate from a position of strength, and that means occupation. Without it, without genuine post-colonial agrarian transformation, as the Tanzanian scholar Issa Shivji has argued, it's not yet democracy.

*Raj Patel is a researcher with the Land Research Action Network, co-edits the Voice of the Turtle, and works at the Centre for Civil Society, in Durban. www.landaction.org www.voiceoftheturtle.org and www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs respectively

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Approaches to land and water - supporting the right to development

2005-02-03

http://www.id21.org/society/r1sh1g1.html

Land and water are essential for development. Land use has major impacts on the quality and quantity of water resources and the availability of water determines possible land uses. An integrated approach to land and water is essential. Land tenure and water rights are the major mechanisms that determine resource use and management. However, existing systems do not always work together to support development.

Great Lakes: Land, Conflict and Livelihoods in the Great Lakes Region

Chris Huggins

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/land/26696

The relationship between land and conflict is intuitive. Historically, land has been significant in war in the form of a “prize” of territorial control enjoyed by the victors at the expense of the vanquished – losing groups would often be forced to flee, relinquishing their homes, fields and properties. More recently however, increased interest in conflict analysis has revealed various complex relationships between control over land (and land-based resources) and conflict. Combatants involved in conflict within states – by far the most significant kind of conflict today – often claim that unequal access to land is one of the causes of violence. During conflict, land access is affected not just for belligerents, but for entire communities, who become targets of violence due to the ethnicization of conflict. And in post-conflict situations, the land and shelter needs of returning internally displaced populations (IDPs) and refugees must be carefully managed in order to avoid dangerous disputes and further violence.

This problem is compounded in many developing countries by the challenging structural nature of land ownership, which may include demographic pressure, gross inequalities between and within communities, inadequate land administration and different conceptions of land tenure according to different land use norms. Therefore, land policies in post-conflict countries – and indeed, across the world – should consider the possible destabilizing effects that can result from inequalities and inefficiencies. In Africa as elsewhere, a key problem relates to the mismatch between customary land tenure systems, which are undergoing changes related to modernization and globalization, and state-managed systems based on western models. For this reason, the founder of ACTS, Prof. Calestous Juma, argued in 1996 that, “the way land use is governed is not simply an economic question, but also a critical aspect of the management of political affairs. It may be argued that the governance of land use is the most important political issue in most African countries.”

>>>>>To read the full article, please click on the link below.
African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)

Ecopolicy No. 14


Land, Conflict and Livelihoods in the Great Lakes Region: Testing Policies to the Limit


Chris Huggins, with Prisca Kamungi, Joan Kariuki, Herman Musahara, Johnstone Summit Oketch, and Koen Vlassenroot

(Summary: Full article at http://www.acts.or.ke/Ecopolicy%2014.pdf)

This publication looks at the relationship between land tenure, land use, and population movements, and conflict, defined here as large-scale, violent conflict. The concepts are illustrated with case studies by the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) on Rwanda, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.

The relationship between land and conflict is intuitive. Historically, land has been significant in war in the form of a “prize” of territorial control enjoyed by the victors at the expense of the vanquished – losing groups would often be forced to flee, relinquishing their homes, fields and properties. More recently however, increased interest in conflict analysis has revealed various complex relationships between control over land (and land-based resources) and conflict. Combatants involved in conflict within states – by far the most significant kind of conflict today – often claim that unequal access to land is one of the causes of violence. During conflict, land access is affected not just for belligerents, but for entire communities, who become targets of violence due to the ethnicization of conflict. And in post-conflict situations, the land and shelter needs of returning internally displaced populations (IDPs) and refugees must be carefully managed in order to avoid dangerous disputes and further violence.

This problem is compounded in many developing countries by the challenging structural nature of land ownership, which may include demographic pressure, gross inequalities between and within communities, inadequate land administration and different conceptions of land tenure according to different land use norms. Therefore, land policies in post-conflict countries – and indeed, across the world – should consider the possible destabilizing effects that can result from inequalities and inefficiencies. In Africa as elsewhere, a key problem relates to the mismatch between customary land tenure systems, which are undergoing changes related to modernization and globalization, and state-managed systems based on western models. For this reason, the founder of ACTS, Prof. Calestous Juma, argued in 1996 that, “the way land use is governed is not simply an economic question, but also a critical aspect of the management of political affairs. It may be argued that the governance of land use is the most important political issue in most African countries.”

This Ecopolicy is one of the outputs of a twelve-month research project, part of ACTS’ continuing work on the “Ecological Sources of Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa”. Since September 2003, ACTS, in collaboration with other organisations including the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), has conducted research into the issue of contested rights to land and natural resources in conflict zones, with an emphasis on areas affected by waves of outward and inward migration in Burundi, Rwanda, and Eastern DRC. Research findings will be published in various formats, including a volume to be released in early 2005.
This publication summarizes some of the findings of this latest research, and puts them into a broader context which has been developed through reference to other studies.

Evidence supports the contention that, “land issues are almost always part of the conflict, and ignoring these could lead to a non-sustainable land administration system, and even threaten the post-conflict situation in general”. The situation in any country, and indeed in different parts of single states, is unique. However, there are some general patterns that are often evident in post-conflict situations. Access to land for many people is often fundamentally altered. The most visible aspect of this is population displacement; often due to systematic ethnic cleansing. However, the direct use of force to alter patterns of land access is only one of a number of process involved. Land tenure is a system of rights and responsibilities–essentially, a social contract between people. Conflict changes social relationships in profound ways, and perceptions of mutual rights and responsibilities between individuals, social groups, and the state are altered due to changes in perceived legitimacy of institutions and obligations. In countries such as DRC, Rwanda and Burundi, the role of local leaders – both traditional and “modern” – are key to this.

External support for land administration systems in Africa often focus on titling programmes and other activities which aim to provide maximum security of tenure for commercial activities in urban areas as well as large rural farms. While there is some justification in this approach–based on the assumption that improved tenure security will lead to increased domestic and foreign investment, and hence economic growth – it should not be pursued at the expense of the rights of the rural majority. Given the threats to rural land rights – from intimidation, from “land grabbing” by non-violent means, and from sheer lack of access to information, and justice, especially for women – these should be prioritized. As stated earlier, the solution will not be found in the extension of “urban” solutions (i.e. titling) across the country, but rather a process of adaptation and melding of customary and “modern” systems.

The case studies demonstrate that the long-term social and political consequences of forced displacement and re-allocation of land belonging to those who have fled have been exacerbated by the lack of an effective legal framework for land allocation and distribution. This has led to great uncertainty about the security of tenure.
More profoundly perhaps, even those situations with a clear (if insufficient) legal framework have proven problematic, not just due to corruption, lack of enforcement capacity and lack of political will, but also due to a fundamental conceptual disconnect between state systems and customary systems. Because of this, there is a need for all activities related to land to look not just at the de jure systems, but at the de facto realities on the ground, which may differ widely across a single country.

A range of important questions remain about the nature of policy reforms necessary to address land issues in order to prevent violence, during and following conflict. The transition between “conflict” and “post-conflict” is never clear. In terms of the causes of violence, conflict may never be fully resolved; in terms of the violence itself, it may continue sporadically well past the official declaration of “peace”. Certain areas may be particularly affected, and indeed may not come under the control of the post-conflict government for months, or years. This is especially true in Africa, where remote areas are inaccessible due to lack of infrastructure. In such cases, given the long-term nature of insecurity, land issues in remote areas should not be neglected until “peace” comes. Solutions, no matter how imperfect, should be found.

Another issue of particular relevance in situations where transitional governments incorporate former belligerents, who remain divided in terms of the national vision and development objectives. A common situation involves former military or political leaders being given control of particular Ministries or institutions under the terms of a peace agreement. This leads to differing objectives in government being reflected by inter-ministerial struggles. Much more research is needed on the politics of policy-making in such difficult institutional environments, especially in terms of the role of civil society organisations, the most effective means of external support, the mechanisms for consultation and participation of local people, and the timing of policy processes in the transition from open conflict to “normal” development activities.

Finally, it is clear that despite the surge in interest in addressing land issues in post-conflict contexts, each situation is still being tackled in ad hoc ways. There is an urgent need for the UN and other agencies to develop a systematic set of guidelines and policies for post-conflict land administration and assistance for land and property issues arising due to conflict and population displacement. This has been recognized by experts in this field including UNHCR and UN-HABITAT personnel, and efforts are underway to develop such guidelines and policies. Improved convergence by donors and international development agencies on best practice in conflict-sensitive land policy design is also necessary.

* This article was submitted to Pambazuka News by the publishers. Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Kenya: The impact of agricultural reforms on food security

2005-02-03

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC10243

Kenya has become increasingly dependent on food imports, but declining incomes have limited the ability of households to buy these imported foods which has resulted in a worsened food security situation. This is according to research from the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) that looks at the impact of the liberalisation of the agricultural sector. The study recommends that Kenya reconsider increasing the use of domestic support measures allowed within the World Trade Organisation agreement on agriculture to allow adequate development of the agriculture sector.

Comoros: Authorities suspend news programme of Anjouan island's main radio station

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/26638

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has urged authorities on the autonomous island of Anjouan to allow the island's main radio station, Radio Dzialandzé Mutsamudu (RDM), to resume its daily news programme, after it was suspended "until further notice" on 13 January 2005, under the orders of the Interior and Information Ministry.
La version anglaise suit. The English version follows.

IFEX - Nouvelles de la communauté internationale de défense de la liberté
d'expression
_________________________________________________________________

ALERTE - COMORES

Le 28 janvier 2005

Les autorités d'Anjouan suspendent le journal d'information de la principale
radio de l'île

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - Le 13 janvier 2005, le ministère de l'Intérieur et de
l'Information d'Anjouan a ordonné à Radio Dzialandzé Mutsamudu (RDM),
principale station privée de l'île autonome, de suspendre son journal
d'information "jusqu'à nouvel ordre".

"Cette décision est choquante, d'autant plus que ce journal traitait
principalement de l'actualité internationale, a déclaré RSF. Suspendre ce
programme, c'est couper l'île du monde et affaiblir le pluralisme de
l'information, indispensable dans une démocratie. Nous exhortons le ministre
de l'Intérieur et de l'Information, Djanffar Salim, à permettre à la station
de reprendre au plus vite ce programme très écouté".

La récente grève dans le secteur de la santé avait déclenché un débat dans
les médias de l'île. Le ministre de la Santé, Fadhula Said Ali, s'était
d'abord exprimé à ce sujet sur la chaîne publique Radio Télévision Anjouan
(RTA). Les médecins en grève, désireux de s'expliquer sur les motifs de leur
mécontentement, s'étaient heurtés à un refus de la RTA. Ils s'étaient donc
exprimés sur l'antenne de la RDM.

Début janvier, le ministre de l'Intérieur et de l'Information, Salim, a
convoqué la direction de la RTA et le coordinateur des programmes de la RDM,
Said Ali Dacar Mgazi, venu accompagné d'un journaliste, pour obtenir des
explications. Dans un arrêté daté du 13 janvier, le ministre a interdit la
diffusion du journal de la RDM "jusqu'à nouvel ordre", lui reprochant de
produire "des programmes non conformes à ses statuts et son règlement
intérieur".

Si à sa création, en 1992, la RDM s'était positionnée comme une radio
associative et communautaire à dominante culturelle, aucune loi ne lui
interdit la diffusion de programmes d'information. Le journal de 21h00,
présenté par Tex Mohamed, ne traitait que de l'actualité internationale,
particulièrement du Moyen-Orient.

Basée à Mutsamudu, capitale de l'île d'Anjouan et deuxième plus grande ville
de l'Union des Comores, la RDM est partenaire de Radio France Internationale
(RFI). Les rares médias de l'île, qui a déclaré unilatéralement son
indépendance en 1997, essaient de survivre malgré un contrôle strict des
autorités locales et des financements faibles.

Pour tout renseignement complémentaire, veuillez contacter Marie Vabre, RSF,
5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tél: +33 1 44 83 84 84, téléc:
+33 1 45 23 11 51, courrier électronique: afrique@rsf.org, Internet:
http://www.rsf.org

RSF est responsable de toute information contenue dans cette alerte. En
citant cette information, prière de bien vouloir l'attribuer à RSF.
_______________________________________________________________
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ALERT - COMOROS

28 January 2005

Authorities suspend news programme of Anjouan island's main radio station

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has urged authorities on the autonomous island of Anjouan
to allow the island's main radio station, Radio Dzialandzé Mutsamudu (RDM),
to resume its daily news programme, after it was suspended "until further
notice" on 13 January 2005, under the orders of the Interior and Information
Ministry.

"This decision is shocking, especially since the news programme dealt mainly
with international issues," RSF said. "Suspending this programme means
cutting the island off from the rest of the world and undermining diversity
in news reporting, which is essential in a democracy," the organisation
continued. "We call on Interior and Information Minister Djanffar Salim to
allow the station to resume broadcasts of this very popular programme as
soon as possible."

The suspension stemmed from a recent strike by the island's doctors. After
Health Minister Fadhula Said Ali expressed his views on the strike on the
state-owned Radio Télévision Anjouan (RTA), the doctors wanted to respond,
but RTA refused. The doctors then turned to RDM, which allowed them to
present their side of the dispute on the air.

In early January, the interior and information minister summoned RDM
coordinator Said Ali Dacar Mgazi and an RDM journalist to a meeting with RTA
executives to seek an explanation. Shortly thereafter, on 13 January, the
minister issued his suspension order, accusing RDM of producing "programmes
that do not conform with [its own] governing statutes and regulations."

When RDM was founded as a community radio station in 1992, it focused on
cultural programming, but there is no law preventing it from broadcasting
news programmes. Its evening news programme, anchored by Tex Mohamed,
covered only international news, particularly developments in the Middle
East.

Partnered with Radio France Internationale (RFI), the radio station is based
in Mutsamudu, the capital of Anjouan, which unilaterally declared its
independence in 1997. Mutsamudu is the second largest city in what is now
the Union of Comoros. Anjouan's few media outlets struggle to survive with
little funding and despite the strict controls imposed by the island's
authorities.

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

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
_________________________________________________________________
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DRC: Journalist imprisoned

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/26640

Journalist Jose Wakadila, of the Kinshasa-based daily "La Référence Plus", was arrested by judicial police on 31 January 2005 as he was boarding a Kinshasa-bound bus and taken to the Matadi Central Prison in Bas-Congo province, western Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the prison's director, there has been a warrant for the journalist's arrest since he was convicted in absentia by a Kinshasa court, on 13 September 2004, for making "damaging allegations" and sentenced to an 11-month prison term with no parole.
The English version follows. La version anglaise suit.

IFEX - Nouvelles de la communauté internationale de défense de la liberté
d'expression
_________________________________________________________________

MISE À JOUR D'ALERTE - RÉPUBLIQUE DÉMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO

Le 1er février 2005

Un journaliste de Kinshasa est emprisonné à Matadi pour imputations
dommageables

SOURCE: Journaliste en danger (JED), Kinshasa

**Mise à jour d'une alerte de l'IFEX du 9 août 2004**

(JED/IFEX) - Jose Wakadila, journaliste au quotidien "La Référence Plus",
paraissant à Kinshasa, a été arrêté, le 31 janvier 2005, et conduit à la
Prison centrale de Matadi (chef-lieu de la province du Bas-Congo à l'ouest
de la République démocratique du Congo) par des inspecteurs de la Police
judiciaire des parquets, au moment où il embarquait dans un bus à
destination de Kinshasa.

Selon le directeur de la prison, le journaliste était, depuis le 13
septembre 2004, sous le coup d'une condamnation pour "imputations
dommageables" à 11 mois de prison ferme avec arrestation immédiate et au
paiement, solidairement avec son journal, des dommages et intérêts de
l'ordre de 600 $US prononcé, par défaut, par le Tribunal de Paix de
Kinshasa/Pont Kasa-Vubu.

L'affaire pour laquelle le journaliste est emprisonné remonte au 24 juillet,
lorsque, par une citation directe, Mvuemba Ntanda et Jacobus Tarrablanche,
président et vice-président respectivement de la Société Congolaise des
Industries de Raffinage (SOCIR), dont le siège social est à Kinshasa, ont
porté plainte pour imputations dommageables contre Wakadila et le quotidien
"La Référence Plus". Dans leur citation, les deux responsables de la SOCIR
réclamaient la condamnation "aux peines prévues" et le "paiement de la somme
de 50 000 $US de dommages et intérêts".

"La Référence Plus", sous la plume de Wakadila, avait publié, dans son
édition n° 3127 du 17 juillet, un article intitulé, "La SOCIR et la
raffinerie de Kinlao condamnées à disparaître". Dans l'article incriminé, le
journaliste affirme entre autres que : "C'est depuis des années que la SOCIR
est trahie par quelques fils du pays qui s'illustrent par une gloutonnerie
sans pareille, privilégiant ainsi leurs propres intérêts égoïstes, en lieu
et place de protéger cette société à capitaux mixtes. . . ". Il avait ajouté
que, "Comble de malheur, le mauvais sort de la SOCIR risque d'être scellé à
cause de certains congolais corrompus qui, pendant leurs mandats, ont laissé
programmer sa décadence et sa descente aux enfers en complicité avec
quelques multinationales déterminées de tout mettre en oeuvre pour rendre
cette unité de production flasque et molle, pour que le brut vert
congolais - extrêmement et hautement prisé et pleins de dérivés - ne soit
plus traité et raffiné à Kinlao/Moanda".

La SOCIR avait considéré, à l'époque, que cet article "n'a pas d'autre but
que de ternir l'image des dirigeants de la SOCIR, des actionnaires et
partenaires étrangers de cette société, ainsi que celle de son personnel".

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

JED est responsable de toute information contenue dans cette mise à jour
d'alerte. En citant cette information, prière de bien vouloir l'attribuer à
JED.
_______________________________________________________________
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tel: +1 416 515 9622 téléc: +1 416 515 7879
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site Internet: http://www.ifex.org/
_______________________________________________________________
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ALERT UPDATE - DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

1 February 2005

Journalist imprisoned for making damaging allegations

SOURCE: Journaliste en danger (JED), Kinshasa

**Updates IFEX alert of 9 August 2005**

(JED/IFEX) - Journalist Jose Wakadila, of the Kinshasa-based daily "La
Référence Plus", was arrested by judicial police on 31 January 2005 as he
was boarding a Kinshasa-bound bus and taken to the Matadi Central Prison in
Bas-Congo province, western Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the prison's director, there has been a warrant for the
journalist's arrest since he was convicted in absentia by a Kinshasa court,
on 13 September 2004, for making "damaging allegations" and sentenced to an
11-month prison term with no parole (which was to have been effective
immediately). Wakadila was also ordered, along with his newspaper, to pay
damages amounting to US$600.

The allegations in the case date back to 24 July, when Mvuemba Ntanda and
Jacobus Tarrablanche, president and vice president, respectively, of the
Kinshasa-based Congolese Refinery Industry Corporation (Société Congolaise
des Industries de Raffinage, SOCIR), filed a complaint against the
journalist and "La Référence Plus" for spreading "damaging allegations". In
their complaint, the two SOCIR directors demanded the journalist be punished
"according to the law" and ordered to pay damages of US$50,000.

On 17 July, "La Référence Plus" published an article written by Wakadila,
entitled, "SOCIR and Kinlao Refineries Doomed to Disappear", in which the
journalist stated, among other things, that SOCIR had been "betrayed by a
few of the country's sons, characterised by their unparalleled greed and
prioritisation of their own self-interest at the expense of society's. . ."

SOCIR complained that the article' sole interest was to "tarnish the image
of SOCIR's directors, shareholders and foreign partners, as well as that of
its employees."

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

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

Malawi: Journalist attacked

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/26639

On 29 January 2005, "Daily Times" reporter Collins Mtika was beaten up by supporters of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), a party that is a member of the ruling coalition. Mtika told MISA-Malawi that he was attacked when he went to cover a press conference at AFORD leader Chakufwa Chihana's house, in the northern city of Mzuzu. At the press conference, Chihana challenged a decision by certain executive members to dismiss him from the party on allegations of poor governance and fraud.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT - MALAWI

31 January 2005

Journalist attacked

SOURCE: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Windhoek

(MISA/IFEX) - On 29 January 2005, "Daily Times" reporter Collins Mtika was
beaten up by supporters of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), a party that
is a member of the ruling coalition.

Mtika told MISA-Malawi that he was attacked when he went to cover a press
conference at AFORD leader Chakufwa Chihana's house, in the northern city of
Mzuzu. At the press conference, Chihana challenged a decision by certain
executive members to dismiss him from the party on allegations of poor
governance and fraud.

Mtika alleged that Chihana's nephew Jeremiah Chihana ordered the beating,
accusing the journalist of "reporting ill about [his] leader."

"I sustained a swollen left eye and I have general body pains," Mtika said.

Meanwhile, MISA-Malawi (also known as Namisa) publicly condemned the beating
as "barbaric and retrogressive." In an interview with local media, Namisa
Chairperson Lewis Msasa demanded an apology from AFORD and asked police to
arrest the culprits.

BACKGROUND:
Chihana led the revolution that removed Malawi's first president, Hastings
Kamuzu Banda, but failed to gain the presidency.

For further information, contact Zoé Titus, Programme Manager, Media Freedom
Monitoring, MISA, Private Bag 13386 Windhoek, Namibia, tel: +264 61 232 975,
fax: +264 61 248 016, e-mail: research@misa.org, Internet:
http://www.misa.org

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

Mozambique: Journalist kidnapped, threatened with death

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/26641

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has called on the Mozambican authorities to protect Jeremias Langa, news director of the privately-owned television station Soico TV (STV). On 27 January 2005, the journalist was kidnapped at gunpoint in Maputo. He was held briefly and threatened with "the same fate as journalist Carlos Cardoso if [he] continued to talk too much." Cardoso was killed in 2000. Langa was previously attacked and threatened by armed men in October 2004.
La version française suit. The French version follows.

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT - MOZAMBIQUE

1 February 2005

Journalist kidnapped, threatened with death

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

**For further information on the Cardoso case, see IFEX alerts of 25 January
2005, 4 June and 12 May 2004, 21 November, 31 and 30 January 2003, 12 and 4
December, 12 and 4 November, 8 October, 3 September and 22 May 2002, and
others**

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has called on the Mozambican authorities to protect
Jeremias Langa, news director of the privately-owned television station
Soico TV (STV). On 27 January 2005, the journalist was kidnapped at gunpoint
in Maputo. He was held briefly and threatened with "the same fate as
journalist Carlos Cardoso if [he] continued to talk too much." Cardoso was
killed in 2000.

Langa was previously attacked and threatened by armed men in October 2004.
The police investigation into that incident was inconclusive. This latest
incident came just a few days after one of Cardoso's convicted killers was
returned to prison.

"Violence against the press and impunity for the perpetrators [of attacks]
should finally be a thing of the past. But to achieve this goal, the
Mozambican authorities must take this attack seriously rather than finding
excuses for not carrying out an immediate investigation," RSF said.

Langa said he was attacked by two unidentified "black men in their 30s" in
the Maputo suburb of Malhangalene, on the evening of 27 January. The
assailants threatened the journalist with their pistols and got into his car
with him. One of his attackers took the wheel while the other kept his gun
pointed at Langa in the back seat.

"You talk too much," said the man, pointing his gun at Langa. "You're a
journalist who talks too much. You are going to be given a lesson that will
make you shut up. You are going to die like Carlos Cardoso."

Langa told RSF that he made an effort to say nothing in reply and to keep
calm. "You are saying nothing, but you talk too much on your TV station,"
his assailants kept saying during the half hour that the abduction lasted.
They finally threw him out of the car as they passed a restaurant a few
kilometres from the city centre. Displaying their pistols one last time,
they said, "Say anything at all and you'll be killed."

In the October incident, Langa was accosted by three men, two of whom were
armed, as he approached his car after leaving his office. One of the
assailants said to him, "Journalist bastard, we'll get you!" Langa told RSF
that the police took no action at the time and, when he enquired, they told
him they had "misplaced the complaint."

Langa said he did not know the precise motives for these attacks, but
assumed his frequent on-air comments of a political nature during interviews
with Mozambican personalities on STV could expose him to reprisals.

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

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

ALERTE - MOZAMBIQUE

Le 1er février 2005

Un journaliste kidnappé et menacé de mort par des inconnus

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

**Pour des informations complémentaires sur le cas Cardoso, veuillez
consulter des alertes de l'IFEX du 25 janvier 2005, 4 juin et 12 mai 2004,
21 novembre, 31 et 30 janvier 2003, 12 et 4 décembre, 12 et 4 novembre, 8
octobre, 3 septembre et 22 mai 2002, entre autres**

(RSF/IFEX) - Jeremias Langa, directeur de l'information de la chaîne privée
du Mozambique Soico TV (STV), a été kidnappé dans sa propre voiture et
retenu sous la menace d'armes à feu par des inconnus pendant plus d'une
demi-heure, le 27 janvier 2005, dans la banlieue de Maputo. Ses agresseurs
l'ont injurié et ont menacé de lui réserver le même sort que le journaliste
assassiné Carlos Cardoso s'il continuait à "trop parler".

"Quelques jours après le retour en prison de l'un des assassins de Carlos
Cardoso, cette agression réveille de vieilles inquiétudes, a déclaré RSF. Ce
n'est pas la première fois que Jeremias Langa est attaqué. A ce jour,
l'enquête de police n'a abouti à rien", a ajouté l'organisation.

"La violence contre la presse et l'impunité des agresseurs devraient enfin
appartenir au passé. Mais pour atteindre cet objectif, les autorités du
Mozambique doivent prendre cette attaque au sérieux, plutôt que de chercher
des prétextes pour ne pas mener d'enquête rapide. Jeremias Langa doit être
protégé jusqu'à ce que ses agresseurs, y compris leur éventuel
commanditaire, aient été retrouvés", a conclu RSF.

Dans la soirée du 27 janvier, à Malhangalene, une banlieue de la capitale du
Mozambique, Langa a été attaqué par deux inconnus "de race noire, âgés de la
trentaine", selon son récit. Le menaçant avec des pistolets, les deux
agresseurs sont montés à bord de sa Toyota Corolla. L'un d'eux a pris le
volant, tandis que l'autre maintenait le journaliste sous la menace de son
arme, sur le siège arrière. "Tu parles trop, lui a asséné l'homme qui le
tenait en joue. Tu es un journaliste qui parle trop. On va te donner une
leçon qui te fera taire. Tu vas mourir comme Carlos Cardoso". Langa a
expliqué à RSF qu'il s'était efforcé de ne rien répondre et de garder son
calme. "Tu ne dis rien maintenant, alors que tu parles beaucoup dans ta
chaîne de télé", a répété l'un des inconnus pendant la demi-heure qu'a duré
le kidnapping.

Alors qu'ils passaient devant un restaurant situé à plusieurs kilomètres du
centre-ville, les deux hommes ont jeté le journaliste hors de sa voiture. En
lui montrant leurs pistolets, ils lui ont lancé : "Si tu dis quoi que ce
soit, on te tuera".

En octobre 2004, Langa avait déjà été attaqué par des inconnus après avoir
quitté son bureau. Alors qu'il se trouvait près de sa voiture, trois hommes,
dont deux étaient armés, l'ont agressé en lui lançant : "Salaud de
journaliste, on te trouvera !"

Interrogé par RSF, Langa a déploré l'inaction de la police, qui affirme que
ses services ont "perdu sa plainte". Il dit ignorer les motivations exactes
de ses agresseurs, estimant que ses interventions régulières à l'antenne de
STV lors d'interviews de personnalités mozambicaines l'exposent à
d'éventuels règlements de comptes politiques.

Pour tout renseignement complémentaire, veuillez contacter Léonard Vincent,
RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tél: +33 1 44 83 84 84,
téléc: +33 1 45 23 11 51, courrier électronique: afrique@rsf.org, Internet:
http://www.rsf.org

RSF est responsable de toute information contenue dans cette alerte. En
citant cette information, prière de bien vouloir l'attribuer à RSF.
_______________________________________________________________
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L'ÉCHANGE INTERNATIONAL DE LA LIBERTÉ D'EXPRESSION
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courrier électronique: alerts@ifex.org boîte générale: ifex@ifex.org
site Internet: http://www.ifex.org/
_______________________________________________________________

Nigeria: Newspaper publisher arrested over report on police commissioner

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/26636

On 19 January 2005, the Rivers State Police Command arrested Jerry Needam, publisher of the Port Harcourt-based weekly tabloid "National Network", for publishing reports considered negative to Rivers State Police Commissioner Sylvester Araba. A team of police officers picked up Needam, publisher of the newly established newspaper, on the morning of 19 January as he arrived at his office in Port Harcourt. Needam is also a former special assistant to the Rivers State information commissioner.
IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ACTION ALERT - NIGERIA

27 January 2005

Newspaper publisher arrested over report on police commissioner

SOURCE: Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Lagos

(MRA/IFEX) - On 19 January 2005, the Rivers State Police Command arrested
Jerry Needam, publisher of the Port Harcourt-based weekly tabloid "National
Network", for publishing reports considered negative to Rivers State Police
Commissioner Sylvester Araba.

A team of police officers picked up Needam, publisher of the newly
established newspaper, on the morning of 19 January as he arrived at his
office in Port Harcourt. Needam is also a former special assistant to the
Rivers State information commissioner.

Although the police did not provide formal reasons for his arrest, reports
quoted a senior police officer as saying that the command was angered by a
report in the newspaper portraying the commission in a bad light.

Needam and Araba had returned from Israel the week of 10 January Their trip
was sponsored by the Rivers State government for the annual pilgrimage to
the holy land. On his return, Needam published a story on the front page of
his newspaper reporting that the police commissioner "slumped while climbing
Mount Sinai." The newspaper described Araba's collapse as "mysterious" since
he had been certified as fit by doctors before embarking on the journey. The
newspaper also reported that a senior Rivers State Government House official
also collapsed in Jerusalem, while many others engaged in amorous acts in
the holy land.

Prior to Needam's arrest, the newspaper had run a promotion promising to
publish "dirty deals" embarked upon by government officials while in Israel
in the next edition.

Needam's whereabouts are unknown.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send appeals to authorities:
- calling on them to release Needam immediately and unconditionally
- urging them to respect the right of journalists to practice their
profession freely
- noting that the intimidation and harassment of journalists violates the
right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Section 39 of the 1999
Nigerian Constitution, as well as international human rights instruments to
which Nigeria is a signatory, and undermines the spirit of Nigeria's
democratic process

APPEALS TO:

Sunday Ehindero
Acting Inspector General of Police
Force Headquarters
Louis Edet House
Shehu Shagari Way
Area 11 Garki
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: +234 9 234 0633 / 234 0422
Fax: +234 9 234 0422

Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu
Hon. Minister for Information and National Orientation
Federal Ministry of Information
Radio House Garki
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: +234 9 234 6350
Mobile: +234 80 3303 0302

Chief Akinlolu Olujimi, SAN
Hon. Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice
Federal Secretariat Complex
Garki
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: +234 9 523 5194
Fax: +234 9 523 5208

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

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

The information contained in this action alert is the sole responsibility of
MRA. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
MRA.
_________________________________________________________________
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EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
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Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
_________________________________________________________________

Tunisia: Serious concerns for World Summit on the Information Society

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/26637

A joint monitoring visit to Tunisia undertaken by members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) has found serious cause for continuing concern about the current state of freedom of expression and of civil liberties in Tunisia, including gross restrictions on freedom of the press, media, publishing and the Internet. The visit, which took place from 14 to 19 January 2005, was the first of the IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group and was organised in preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a United Nations intergovernmental conference to be held in Tunis in November 2005. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate the state of freedom of expression in Tunisia and to assess the conditions for participation in the Summit.
Date: 24 January 2005
Source: International Freedom of Expression Exchange

(IFEX-TMG) - The following is an IFEX-TMG press release:

Tunisia - Serious concerns for World Summit on the Information Society

A joint monitoring visit to Tunisia undertaken by members of the
International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) has found serious
cause for continuing concern about the current state of freedom of
expression and of civil liberties in Tunisia, including gross restrictions
on freedom of the press, media, publishing and the Internet.

The visit, which took place from 14 to 19 January 2005, was the first of
the IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group and was organised in preparation for the
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), a United Nations
intergovernmental conference to be held in Tunis in November 2005. The
purpose of the visit was to evaluate the state of freedom of expression in
Tunisia and to assess the conditions for participation in the Summit.

The delegation, consisting of representatives of Egyptian Organisation for
Human Rights, International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, International
Publishers Association, Norwegian PEN, World Association of Community
Radio Broadcasters and the World Press Freedom Committee, met with
Tunisian writers, publishers and human rights organisations as well as
government officials and government-sponsored agencies.

The delegation found serious cause for continuing concern in the following
areas:

1. Blocking of websites, including news and information websites.
2. Blocking of the distribution of books and publications.
3. Restrictions on the freedom of association, including the right of
organisations to be legally established and to hold meetings.
4. Restrictions on movement of human rights activists together with police
surveillance, intimidation and interception of communications.
5. Lack of pluralism in broadcast ownership, with only one private
broadcaster.
6. Press censorship and lack of diversity of content in newspapers. 7.
Imprisonment of individuals for their opinions and media activities. 8.
Use of torture by the security services with impunity.

The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group is preparing a full report on the
current state of freedom of expression in Tunisia with recommendations for
improvement. The report, to be published at the next preparatory committee
meeting of the WSIS, will provide indicators for monitoring freedom of
expression in Tunisia in the run up to the World Summit. The WSIS
Preparatory Committee is to meet in Geneva 17-25 February 2005.

"end"

For further information, contact EOHR, tel: +20 2 363 6811/362 0467;
Norwegian PEN, tel: + 47 22479220; WiPC, tel: +44 207 253 3226; IPA, tel:
+41 22 346 30 18; AMARC, tel: +1 514 982 0351; WPFC, tel: +1 703 715 9811

[The IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group consists of Article 19, Canadian
Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), Centre for Human Rights and
Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights
(EOHR), Index on Censorship, International PEN Writers in Prison Committee
(WiPC), International Publishers Association (IPA), Journaliste en Danger
(JED), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Norwegian PEN, World
Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), World Association of
Newspapers (WAN) and the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC).]

* Globalization Not New; Look at Slave Trade

Philip Emeagwali

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/diaspora/26634

Globalization - or the ability of many people, ideas and technology to move from country to country - is not new. In Africa, it was initiated by the slave trade and given impetus by colonialism and Christian missionaries.

The early missionaries saw African culture and religion as a deadly adversary and as an evil that had to be eliminated. In 1876, a 27-year-old missionary named Mary Slessor emigrated from Scotland to spend the rest of her life in Nigeria.

For her efforts in trying to covert the people of Nigeria, Mary Slessor’s photograph appears on Scotland’s ten pound note, and her name can be found on schools, hospitals and roads in Nigeria.

The introduction to Mary Slessor’s biography titled: “White Queen of the Cannibals” is revealing:

“On the west coast of Africa is the country of Nigeria. The chief city is Calabar,” said Mother Slessor. “It is a dark country because the light of the Gospel is not shining brightly there. Black people live there. Many of these are cannibals who eat other people.”

“They're bad people, aren't they, Mother?” asked little Susan.

“Yes, they are bad, because no one has told them about Jesus, the Saviour from sin, or showed them what is right and what is wrong.”

These opening words clearly show that Mary Slessor came to Africa on a mission to indoctrinate us with Christian theology. She told us we worshipped an inferior god and that we belonged to an inferior race. She worked to expel what she described as “savagism” from our culture and heritage and to encourage European “civilization” to take root in Africa.

>>>>>Please click on the link below to read the rest of this article.
Globalization Not New; Look at Slave Trade


Globalization - or the ability of many people, ideas and technology to move from country to country - is not new. In Africa, it was initiated by the slave trade and given impetus by colonialism and Christian missionaries.

The early missionaries saw African culture and religion as a deadly adversary and as an evil that had to be eliminated. In 1876, a 27-year-old missionary named Mary Slessor emigrated from Scotland to spend the rest of her life in Nigeria.

For her efforts in trying to covert the people of Nigeria, Mary Slessor’s photograph appears on Scotland’s ten pound note, and her name can be found on schools, hospitals and roads in Nigeria.

The introduction to Mary Slessor’s biography titled: “White Queen of the Cannibals” is revealing:

“On the west coast of Africa is the country of Nigeria. The chief city is Calabar,” said Mother Slessor. “It is a dark country because the light of the Gospel is not shining brightly there. Black people live there. Many of these are cannibals who eat other people.”

“They're bad people, aren't they, Mother?” asked little Susan.

“Yes, they are bad, because no one has told them about Jesus, the Saviour from sin, or showed them what is right and what is wrong.”

These opening words clearly show that Mary Slessor came to Africa on a mission to indoctrinate us with Christian theology. She told us we worshipped an inferior god and that we belonged to an inferior race. She worked to expel what she described as “savagism” from our culture and heritage and to encourage European “civilization” to take root in Africa.

We accepted the mission schools which were established to enlighten us, without questioning the unforeseen costs of our so-called education. These mission schools plundered our children’s self-esteem by teaching them that, as Africans they were inherently “bad people.” Our children grew up not wanting to be citizens of Africa. Instead, their education fostered the colonial ideal that they would be better off becoming citizens of the colonizing nations.

I speak of the price Africans have paid for their education and “enlightenment” from personal experience. I was born “Chukwurah,” but my missionary schoolteachers insisted I drop my “heathen” name. The prefix “Chukwu” in my name is the Igbo word for “God.” Yet, somehow, the missionaries insisted that “Chukwurah” was a name befitting a godless pagan.

The Catholic Church renamed me “Philip,” and Saint Philip became my patron and protector, replacing God, after whom I was named. I have to argue that something more than a name has been lost. Something central to my heritage has been stripped away. This denial of our past is the very antithesis of a good education.

Our names represent not only our heritage, but connect us to our parents and past. As parents, the names we choose for our children reflect our dreams for their future and our perceptions of the treasures they represent to us.

My indoctrination went far deeper than just a name. The missionary school tried to teach me that saints make better role models than scientists. I was taught to write in a new language. As a result, I became literate in English but remain illiterate in Igbo - my native tongue.

I learned Latin - a dead language I would never use in the modern world - because it was the official language of the Catholic Church, which owned the schools I attended.

Today, there are more French speakers in Africa than there are in France. There are more English speakers in Nigeria than there are in the United Kingdom. There are more Portuguese speakers in Mozambique than there are in Portugal. The Organization of African Unity never approved an African language as one of its official languages.

We won the battle of decolonizing our continent, but we lost the war on decolonizing our minds.

Many acknowledge that globalization shapes the future, but few acknowledge that it shaped history, or at least the world’s perception of it. Fewer acknowledge that globalization is a two-way street.

Africa was a colony, but it is also a key contributor to many other cultures, and the cornerstone of today’s society. The world’s views tend to overshadow and dismiss the value and aspirations of colonized people.

Again, I must impart my own experiences to illustrate this point. I grew up serving as an altar boy to an Irish priest. I wanted to become a priest, but ended up becoming a scientist. Religion is based on faith, while science is based on fact and reason - and science is neutral to race. Unfortunately, scientists are not neutral to race.

Take, for example, the origin of AIDS, an international disease. According to scientific records, the first person to die from AIDS was a 25-year-old sailor named David Carr, of Manchester, England. Carr died on August 31, 1959, and because the disease that killed him was then unknown, his tissue samples were saved for future analysis.

The “unknown disease” that killed David Carr was reported in The Lancet on October 29, 1960. On July 7, 1990, The Lancet retested those old tissue samples taken from David Carr and reconfirmed that he had died of AIDS.

Based upon scientific reason, researchers should have deduced that AIDS originated in England, and that David Carr sailed to Africa where he spread the AIDS virus. Instead, the white scientific community condemned the British authors of those revealing articles for daring to propose that an Englishman was the first known AIDS patient.

If these scientists were neutral to race, their data should have led them to the conclusion that Patient Zero lived in England. If these scientists were neutral to race, they should have concluded that AIDS had spread from England to Africa, to Asia, and to America. Instead, they proposed the theory that AIDS originated in Africa.

Even history has degraded our African roots. We come to the United States and learn a history filtered through the eyes of white historians. And we learn history filtered through the eyes of Hollywood movie producers.

Some of us complained that Hollywood is sending its distorted message around this globalized world. Some of us complained that Hollywood is a cultural propaganda machine used to advance white supremacy. George Bush understood Hollywood was a propaganda machine that could be used in his war against terrorism. Shortly, after the 9/11 bombing of New York City, Bush invited Hollywood moguls to the White House and solicited their support in his war against terrorism.

Some will even argue that schools play a significant role as federal indoctrination centers used to convince children during their formative years that whites are superior to other races. Fela Kuti, who detested indoctrination, titled one of his musical albums: “Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense.”

It scares me that an entire generation of African children is growing up brainwashed by Hollywood’s interpretation and promotion of American heroes. Our children are growing up idolizing American heroes with whom they cannot personally identify.

We need to tell our children our own stories from our own perspective. We need to decolonize our thinking and examine the underlying truths in more than just movies. We need to apply the same principles to history and science, as depicted in textbooks.

Look at African science stories that were retold by European historians; they were re-centered around Europe. The earliest pioneers of science lived in Africa, but European historians relocated them to Greece.

Science and technology are gifts ancient Africa gave to our modern world. Yet, our history and science textbooks, for example, have ignored the contributions of Imhotep, the father of medicine and designer of one of the ancient pyramids.

The word “science” is derived from the Latin word “scientia” or “possession of knowledge.” We know, however, that knowledge is not the exclusive preserve of one race, but of all races. By definition, knowledge is the totality of what is known to humanity. Knowledge is a body of information and truth, and the set of principles acquired by mankind over the ages.

Knowledge is akin to a quilt, the latter consisting of several layers held together by stitched designs and comprising patches of many colors. The oldest patch on the quilt of science belongs to the African named Imhotep. He was the world’s first recorded scientist, according to the prolific American science writer Isaac Asimov. The oldest patch on the quilt of mathematics belongs to another African named Ahmes. Isaac Asimov also credited Ahmes as being the world’s first author of a mathematics textbook.

Therefore, a study of history of science is an effort to stitch together a quilt that has life, texture and color. African historians must insert the patches of information omitted from books written by European historians.

There are many examples of the mark Africans have made on world history. Americans are surprised when I tell them Africans built both Washington’s White House and Capitol. According to the US Treasury Department, 450 of the 650 workers who built the White House and the Capitol were African slaves. Because the White House and Capitol are the two most visible symbols of American democracy, it is important to inform all schoolchildren in our globalized world that these institutions are the results of the sweat and toil of mostly African workers. This must also be an acknowledgement of the debt America owes Africa.

Similarly, discussions of globalization should credit those Africans who left the continent and helped build other nations throughout the world - most nations on Earth. Africans who have made contributions in Australia, in Russia, and in Europe must be acknowledged so our children can have heroes with African roots - so they can know their own roots and be proud of them.

The enormous contributions of Africans to the development and progress of other nations has gone unacknowledged. We have yet to acknowledge, for example, that St. Augustine, who wrote the greatest spiritual autobiography of all time, called “Confessions of St. Augustine,” was an African; that three Africans became pope; that Africans have lived in Europe since the time of the Roman Empire; that Septimus Severus, an Emperor of Rome, was an African; and that the reason Beethoven was called “The Black Spaniard” was because he was a mulatto of African descent.

Why are we reluctant to acknowledge the contributions and legacies of our African ancestors? We cannot inspire our children to look toward the future without first reminding them of their ancestors’ contributions.

Look at the long struggle of African Australians, who recently became citizens with rights on their native continent. Africans have been living in Australia for 50,000 years. Yet, African Australians were granted Australian citizenship just 37 years ago, in 1967. According to CNN, African Australians were not recognized as human beings prior to 1967. They “were governed under flora and fauna laws.” African Australians were, in essence, governed by plant and animal laws. For many years, African Australians were described as the “invisible people.” In fact, the first whites to settle in Australia named it the “land empty of people.”

The contributions of Africans to Russia must be reclaimed. Russia's most celebrated author, A.S.(Aleksandr Sergeyevich) Pushkin, told us he was of African descent. Pushkin’s great-grandfather was brought to Russia as a slave. Russians proclaim Pushkin as their “national poet,” the “patriarch of Russian literature” and the “Father of the Russian language.” In essence, Pushkin is to Russia what Shakespeare is to Britain. Yet Africans who have read the complete works of Shakespeare are not likely to have read a single book by Pushkin.

I was asked to share today the story behind my supercomputer discovery. It would require several books to tell the whole story, but I will share a short one that I have never told anyone.

The journey of discovery to my supercomputer was a titanic, one-man struggle. It was like climbing Mount Everest. On many occasions I felt like giving up. Because I was traumatized by the racism I had encountered in science, I maintained a self-imposed silence on the supercomputer discovery that is my claim to fame.

I will share with you a supercomputing insight that even the experts in my field did not know then and do not know now. In the 1980s, supercomputers could perform only millions of calculations per second and, therefore, their timers were designed to measure only millions of calculations per second. But I was performing billions of calculations per second and unknowingly attempting to time it with a supercomputer timer, which was designed to measure millions of calculations per second. I assumed my timer could measure one-billionth of a second. It took me two years to realize my timer was off a thousandfold.

I was operating beyond a supercomputer’s limitations, but I did not know it. The supercomputer designers did not expect their timers to be used to measure calculations at that rate. I almost gave up because I could not time and reproduce my calculations which, in turn, meant I could not share them, two years earlier, with the world. After years of research, my supercomputer’s timer was the only thing stopping me from getting the recognition I deserved. I realized the timer was wrong, but I could not explain why. I spent two years mulling over why the timer was wrong. It took two long and lonely years to discover why I could not time my calculations. My 3.1 billion calculations per second, which were then the world’s fastest, were simply too fast for the supercomputer’s timer.

What I learned from that experience was not to quit when faced with an insurmountable obstacle – and that believing in yourself makes all the difference. I learned to take a step backward and evaluate the options: Should I go through, above, under, or around the obstacle? Quitting, I decided, was not an option. Indeed, the old saying is true: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Looking back, I learned that most limitations in life are self-imposed. You have to make things happen, not just watch things happen. To succeed, you must constantly reject complacency. I learned I could set high objectives and goals and achieve them. The secret to my success is that I am constantly striving for continuous improvements in my life and that I am never satisfied with my achievements.

The myth that a genius must have above-average intelligence is just that, a myth. Geniuses are people who learn to create their own positive reinforcements when their experiments yield negative results. Perseverance is the key.

My goal was to go beyond the known, to a territory no one had ever reached. I learned that if you want success badly enough and believe in yourself, then you can attain your goals and become anything you want in life. The greatest challenge in your life is to look deep within yourself to see the greatness that is inside you, and those around you. The history books may deprive African children of the heroes with whom they can identify, but in striving for your own goals, you can become that hero for them – and your own hero, too.

I once believed my supercomputer discovery was more important than the journey that got me there. I now understand the journey to discovery is more important than the discovery itself; that the journey also requires a belief in your own abilities. I learned that no matter how often you fall down, or how hard you fall down, what is most important is that you rise up and continue until you reach your goal.

It’s true, some heroes are never recognized, but what’s important is that they recognize themselves. It is that belief in yourself, that focus, and that inner conviction that you are on the right path, that will get you through life’s obstacles. If we can give our children pride in their past, then we can show them what they can be and give them the self-respect that will make them succeed.

* Philip Emeagwali (philip@emeagwali.com) helped give birth to the supercomputer, the technology that spawned the Internet. He won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, which has been dubbed the “Nobel Prize of Supercomputing.” [for more visit emeagwali.info]. This is a keynote speech delivered on September 18, 2004, at the Pan-African Conference on Globalization, Washington, DC USA.

* The dictatorship of debt

Yves Engler

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/diaspora/26599

Last Thursday the World Bank announced it would release $73 million in cash to Haiti's government of Gerard Latortue that was installed by foreign powers after elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced from office. For Haiti to get the World Bank cash it had to pay $52 million in outstanding arrears. Canada helped out by giving the regime a $12.7 million grant.

What's going on?

The Canadian government, like the US and the European Union, stopped providing aid to the Haitian government after accusations that the May 2000 elections were unfair. The basis for this claim was that in 10 multi-candidate contests where Lavalas gained a plurality rather than a majority of votes, according to the constitution they should have faced a second round election. Instead Lavalas' "plurality winners" simply took their seats.

Objections were raised even though the same method was used in previous elections and it was public knowledge prior to the vote that this would happen again. So, while more than 3500 other positions were judged to have been filled fairly in the same election, the Organization of American States and the US claimed electoral fraud. The opposition used this claim to justify their boycott of presidential elections later that year and to say Aristide's victory was tainted, even though no one claimed the opposition had any chance of beating the popular former priest. The "tainted" election became the excuse to divert aid money from the government to opposition "civil society" groups.

>>>>>To read the full article, please click on the link below.

Last Thursday the World Bank announced it would release $73 million in cash to Haiti's government of Gerard Latortue that was installed by foreign powers after elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced from office. For Haiti to get the World Bank cash it had to pay $52 million in outstanding arrears. Canada helped out by giving the regime a $12.7 million grant.

What's going on?

The Canadian government, like the US and the European Union, stopped providing aid to the Haitian government after accusations that the May 2000 elections were unfair. The basis for this claim was that in 10 multi-candidate contests where Lavalas gained a plurality rather than a majority of votes, according to the constitution they should have faced a second round election. Instead Lavalas' "plurality winners" simply took their seats.

Objections were raised even though the same method was used in previous elections and it was public knowledge prior to the vote that this would happen again. So, while more than 3500 other positions were judged to have been filled fairly in the same election, the Organization of American States and the US claimed electoral fraud. The opposition used this claim to justify their boycott of presidential elections later that year and to say Aristide's victory was tainted, even though no one claimed the opposition had any chance of beating the popular former priest. The "tainted" election became the excuse to divert aid money from the government to opposition "civil society" groups.

Now, however, the Canadian government has no problem giving money to a Haitian regime without the remotest pretense of democratic legitimacy.

The World Bank money now going to Haiti is mostly loans. Haitians will have to repay it even though Haitians didn't choose Latortue " the US, France and Canada did. Similarly, of the $1.2 billion in "aid" for Haiti announced at a Washington donors, conference in July, more than half is loans, which Haitians must repay.

While it's unclear how exactly all of the money on offer will be spent we do know that a number of North American companies have their eyes on the prize, so to speak. Montreal -based SNC Lavalin already has some contracts lined up. Most countries stipulate that the majority of their "aid" must be spent on domestic contractors. So Haitians will have to repay money sent to foreign companies.

A country as poor as Haiti--where there are no public schools, only intermittent electricity and little health infrastructure--should not be sending $40 million to the World Bank headquarters in Washington. But then again in 1825 Haiti never should have had to pay France $21 billion (in 2004 dollars) to compensate French slave-holders for their loss of property (now free Haitians). This debt, paid under threat of invasion and exclusion from international commerce, took Haiti 120 years to repay.

According to the Haiti Support Group, "Haiti's debt to international financial institutions and foreign governments has grown from US$302 million in 1980 to US$1.134 billion today. About 40% of this debt stems from loans to the brutal Duvalier (Papa and Baby Doc) dictators who invested precious little of it in the country. This is known as odious debt, because it was used to oppress the people, and, according to international law, this debt need not be repaid."

As the 20th century began, foreign powers, especially Germany, France and the US, repeatedly sent gunboats into Haitian waters. The most common reason for the incursions was to press Haiti to pay debts it was unable to afford. In one instance, US marines secretly entered Port-au-Prince and took the national treasure. The 1915 US invasion/occupation of Haiti was partly about forcing the country to repay its debt.

While it would be a stretch to claim that the recent invasion of Haiti occurred simply to force the country to repay its debt, it isn't a total coincidence that Haiti, like the other "failed states" Yugoslavia and Iraq, has massive "obligations" to foreign bankers.

"Failed state" may in fact be a euphemism for a country's failure to subject itself above all else to the rights of international creditors. After all, gunboat diplomacy to enforce these rights has a long, inglorious history.

* Yves Engler is author of the forthcoming book playing Left Wing: From Hockey to Politics: the making of a student activist. He's traveled extensively in Venezuela. He can be reached at: yvesengler@hotmail.com This article first appeared at http://www.counterpunch.org/ and is reproduced here with permission of the author.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Diaspora, Migration and Development in the Caribbean

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/diaspora/26598

Migration of highly skilled and educated people has depleted poor Caribbean economies of valuable human capital and has created social dislocation among families and communities, according to a paper produced by: the Canadian Foundation for the Americas.

This paper examines the developmental impact of the growth of the diasporic economy on Caribbean countries, focusing on the issues of remittances, diasporic exports, brain drain, as well as the new health and security risks associated with migration and mobile populations.

It finds that remittances have emerged to be the fastest growing and most stable source of capital flow and foreign exchange in the last decade, but questions whether remittances alone can outweigh the loss of investment in human resource development.

The paper's main conclusion states that diasporisation is likely to further peripheralise the region, and recommends that the policy dialogue should move beyond the remittances issue to take into account wider developmental concerns.

Recommendations include the negotiation of bilateral or multilateral agreements that would encompass some investment by labour importing countries. This should be complemented by regional attempts to counter "global poaching".

* This summary was compiled by Pambazuka News from the Eldis email newsletter. The full paper can be read online at the following address: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC17409

Africa/Global: Annan lobby's world to unite for Africa

2005-02-03

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=vn20050131063946768C788818

This year could be a turning point for Africa, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Sunday, urging continent-wide co-operation to resolve conflicts on the world's poorest continent at a summit of 53 African leaders. "Africa has an indispensable contribution to make in ensuring that 2005 becomes a turning point for the continent, the United Nations and the world," the Ghana-born secretary-general told the gathering of some 40 heads of state. "One key to success will be to forge an even closer relationship between the United Nations and the African Union."

Africa: Ex-UN chief warns of water wars

2005-02-03

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4227869.stm

Competition for water resources could provoke wars in Africa and the Middle East, Boutros Boutros Ghali has said. In an interview with the BBC, the former UN Secretary General urged the international community to ensure a fair division of water between nations. Mr Boutros Ghali told Radio 4's Today programme that military confrontation between the countries of the Nile basin was almost inevitable. It would only be avoided if they could share water equitably, he said.

Burundi: Rebel group says yes to negotiations

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45368

Burundi's remaining active rebel group, the Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), said on Thursday it was ready for talks with the transitional government, on condition that South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma does not act as mediator. FNL spokesman Pasteur Habimana said Zuma, who is also the facilitator of Burundi's peace process under an initiative of the Great Lakes regional heads of state, had in the past rejected FNL's proposal to hold talks with the Burundian government.

Ivory Coast: Civil war provokes ethnic conflict in southern cocoa villages

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45355

During the day, the unpaved roads connecting dozens of villages in this cocoa-growing region of southern Cote d'Ivoire are full of farmers and cocoa buyers. But at night, when the red dust has settled and the roads are deserted, the self defence committees come out to stand guard. The civil war has not entirely destroyed the tightly-knit social fabric that helped spawn Cote d'Ivoire's wealth, but it has certainly damaged it badly.

Sudan: Africa Action Rejects Conclusion of UN Report on Darfur

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/26632

US lobby group Africa Action has rejected the conclusion of a United Nations (UN) Special Commission report, which this week declares that a pattern of government-sponsored killings, displacement and other forms of violence in Darfur, Sudan, does not constitute genocide. The report, which acknowledges that abuses carried out by government and militia forces in Darfur may constitute "crimes against humanity", comes just one week after UN and African Union (AU) troops confirmed new attacks against civilians by the Sudanese Air Force, killing at least 105 people, most of these women and children.
LINK
- Report of the UN commission of enquiry
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/sudan/2005/darfurcoi.pdf
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan (202) 546-7961

Africa Action Rejects Conclusion of UN Report on Darfur

Urges Immediate Action to Address Ongoing Atrocities against Civilians;
Warns Against Shift of Focus to Debate over Tribunals while Genocide Continues

Tuesday, February 1, 2005 (Washington, DC) - Africa Action today rejected the conclusion of a United Nations (UN) Special Commission report, which this week declares that a pattern of government-sponsored killings, displacement and other forms of violence in Darfur, Sudan, does not constitute genocide. The report, which acknowledges that abuses carried out by government and militia forces in Darfur may constitute "crimes against humanity", comes just one week after UN and African Union (AU) troops confirmed new attacks against civilians by the Sudanese Air Force, killing at least 105 people, most of these women and children.

Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said this morning, "The UN Commission Report masks the truth and contradicts itself. It concludes that the Sudanese government "has not pursued a policy of genocide", while it admits that the government and its militias are responsible for widespread and systematic crimes against civilians, which "may be no less serious and heinous than genocide." In effect, it is punting to the International Criminal Court, which it says should make a determination on genocidal intent. Just as happened in Rwanda a decade ago, the international community is splitting hairs as a genocide unfolds in Africa."

Africa Action notes that the genocidal intent of the Sudanese government is clear from extensive documentary evidence gathered by human rights groups, as well as by the U.S. government in its earlier investigation. Moreover, international legal precedent holds that genocidal intent can be inferred from the context and pattern of abuses when they are systematically directed against a group. The UN report finds that "the vast majority of the victims of these violations have been from the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit" and other ethnic groups in Darfur.

Ann-Louise Colgan, Director of Policy Analysis and Communications at Africa Action, stated that, "The UN report confirms the gravity of crimes perpetrated by the government and militias in Darfur, and must make it all the more urgent for the international community to act immediately to stop the violence. As the government-sponsored killings, rapes, displacements and destruction of villages continues, the top priority must be to provide protection to the displaced and vulnerable communities of Darfur."

As the UN Report recommends that the International Criminal Court be invited to pursue the prosecution of those suspected of war crimes in Darfur, and as the U.S. proposes the creation of a new and separate tribunal in Tanzania, Colgan warned this morning, "This debate over the location and composition of a war crimes tribunal for Darfur diverts attention from the immediate priority, which must be ending the ongoing genocide. It is certainly important to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and brought to justice for their crimes, but people are still dying in Darfur at a rate estimated to be 35,000 deaths per month, and ending this violence must be the first order of business for the international community."

Booker added, "Just one week after UN ceremonies commemorated the Holocaust, the international community must respond to the ongoing crisis in Darfur with the urgency that it requires. The U.S. declared five months ago that genocide is happening in Darfur, but it has failed to live up to the obligation this carries. The UN this week has failed to act again. This is not the first time that the U.S. and the international community have failed the victims of genocide in Africa. Nor is it the first time that the government in Khartoum has pursued genocide as a preferred method of counterinsurgency."

Africa Action notes the Security Council will this week consider the UN Commission report, and will debate possible sanctions or other punitive measures. But Booker emphasizes, "International leadership is still missing to stop a genocide that has already killed 400,000 Sudanese and that still continues."

Africa Action today reiterated its call on the U.S. to do everything necessary to secure a UN Security Council Resolution invoking Chapter 7, which would authorize a multinational intervention force to stop the genocide in Darfur. Africa Action calls on the Security Council to: (1) Provide the African Union force with a Chapter 7 mandate under the UN Charter to protect the civilians of Darfur and to enforce a cease-fire; (2) Expand this force by soliciting military personnel and logistical, communications & financial support from UN member nations to form a UN peacekeeping operation to incorporate and support the AU troops under Chapter 7; (3) Enforce the no-fly zone over Darfur; (4) Impose an immediate arms embargo on the government of Sudan

The UN Commission Report released this week was requested by Secretary General Kofi Annan last October to investigate whether acts of genocide had occurred in the Darfur region of Sudan. The question of international action on the ongoing genocide in Darfur is also dealt with in Africa Action’s new "Africa Policy Outlook 2005", available at http://www.africaaction.org/

Sudan: International community condemns aerial bombardment in Darfur

2005-02-03

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=45300

Various international bodies have expressed concern about the bombing of the village of Rahad Kabolong in the western Sudanese state of North Darfur. According to African Union monitors, government aircraft bombed the village on 26 January, reportedly killing some 100 civilians, among them many women and children. The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said in a press statement released on 28 January that he was "deeply disturbed" by the attack.

Uganda: U.N. "appallingly negligent" of Uganda war

2005-02-03

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2781432.htm

Distracted by Iraq and the Asian tsunami, the United Nations is ignoring a flare-up in Uganda's 18-year-old civil conflict, an aid group said last Thursday. "The United Nations Security Council has been appallingly negligent of the conflict in Uganda, failing to pass a single resolution," said Emma Naylor, head of Oxfam in Uganda. The British-based group said the Security Council should have used a meeting on African humanitarian issues in New York last Thursday to focus on one of Africa's longest-running wars.

Africa/Global: Call centers move into Africa

2005-02-03

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/10794540.htm?1c

Susan Mina, a Kenyan who has never stepped foot out of Africa, speaks English like the haughtiest of Britons. She can also put on a fair imitation of an American accent by swallowing all her words. Still, every once in a while, some Swahili slips out of her, and that is not at all helpful as she tries to enhance Africa's role in the global explosion of outsourcing. South Africa is far ahead of the rest of the continent, with an estimated 500 call centers employing about 31,000 people.

Choosing Open Source: A Decision Making Guide for CSOs

2005-02-03

http://www.comminit.com/materials/ma2004/materials-51.html

This online document discusses the benefits of open source software for civil society and non-profit organisations. It provides an introduction to the topic, tackling questions like 'what is open source?' and 'how will it benefit my organisation?'

IEEE 3rd International Workshop on Technology for Education in Developing Countries

2005-02-03

http://ifets.massey.ac.nz/tedc2005/

The IEEE 3rd International Workshop on Technology for Education in Developing Countries (TEDC 2005) is being organised on July 6, 2005 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. TEDC2005 will take place in Conjunction with IEEE Intl Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2005). The goal of this third international workshop is to bring together researchers, and educators to discuss various issues involved in developing new techniques and on novel uses of technology for education in developing countries. The workshop will include invited papers and a panel. High quality submissions from developing countries are strongly encouraged. Submissions due: February 4, 2005

South Africa: Open source telephony slashes costs

2005-02-03

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=407&s=news

A new South African company, Open Voice, has launched into the local market with a range of low-cost telephony products, including voice over IP solutions. The reason for the low cost? Because they have turfed out the proprietary software they were developing and adopted the freely available open source Asterisk software. Asterisk is an open source telecommunications platform, designed to allow different types of IP telephony hardware, middleware and software to interface with each other consistently, while maintaining quality of service. Asterisk has become the de facto standard for voice switching and PBX functions within the open source environment.

Zanzibar: Community Wireless Connectivity Training Workshop for East and Southern Africa Mtoni, Zanzibar

21st - 25th March 2005

2005-02-03

http://www.apc.org/

You are invited to apply to participate in the following hands-on training workshop aimed at non-profit and public sector workers, as well as people from small businesses running community-style telecentre ventures. It is a priority of the workshop that participants should find opportunities for participating in the global wireless networking community, and for taking project ideas further in their communities.
To apply, please send a plain text e-mail message, with no attachments, with subject line "Wireless Workshop", and the following information to Anna Feldman anna@gn.apc.org:
* Your name and e-mail address
* Your physical address and telephone number
* Your organization's name
* A description of your role within your organization and your networking-related responsibilities within the organization
* A short description of your experience in implementing or contributing to the implementation of connectivity/electronic networking projects - how your skills and profile match those listed in this invitation
* A brief indication of how you expect to apply the skills you gain during the workshop
Deadline: 4 February 2005

Africast Newsletter

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/enewsl/26675

Stay connected with events and happenings. Register now to receive africast eNewsletters hot off the press via e-mail. And, send it to a friend. To recieve weekly summaries of major African news stories by email, go to http://www.africast.com/news.php to subscribe.

SciDev.Net's new biodiversity 'Facts and Figures' section

2005-02-03

http://www.scidev.net/biofacts

The Science and Development Network (SciDev.Net) has launched a useful online resource that provides crucial data about the current state of the world's biodiversity. This new biodiversity 'facts and figures' section includes recent estimates of extinction threats, detailed assessments on the economic and ecological value of biodiversity and provides the latest information on conservation efforts. Go to www.scidev.net/biofacts to find out more.

South Africa: Human Rights Law in Africa newsletter 2005

2005-02-03

http://www.chr.up.ac.za

Human Rights Law in Africa covers the activities of the United Nations, the African Union and its predecessor the Organization of African Unity, as well as sub-regional and other inter-governmental organizations and NGOs in the field of human rights in Africa. It also covers the national legal systems of all African countries.

South Africa: Media Toolbox

2005-02-03

http://www.mediatoolbox.co.za

media.toolbox is South Africa's longest running media and ICT eNewsletter. Now entering its seventh year of publication, media.toolbox publishes news on South African media and marketing industries, as well as on the latest technology and telecoms issues. media.toolbox - Targeted. Credible. Essential. To subscribe please email join-mtbmail@elist.co.za

Africa/Global: Advanced research fellowship programme: Call for applications 2005

2005-02-03

http://www.codesria.org

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce its 2005 Advanced Research Fellowship Programme and to invite interested scholars to submit applications for consideration for an award.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce its 2005 Advanced Research Fellowship Programme and to invite interested scholars to submit applications for consideration for an award.

Objectives: The CODESRIA Advanced Research Fellowship Programme is designed to contribute to the reinforcement and promotion of a culture of concentrated and extended reflection among African scholars. It is particularly targeted at a younger generation of post-doctoral African scholars interested in carrying out advanced research on any aspect of the African social reality. The programme is open to candidates from all disciplines of the Social Sciences and Humanities. Through the programme, support is offered to scholars interested in charting new research directions or extending on-going research to new heights, the expectation being that this will contribute immensely to enriching the state of knowledge about different aspects of the historical and contemporary experiences of Africa. Candidates are free to determine the theme on which they wish to work and to specify their preferred methodology for doing so. In identifying candidates whose applications should be supported, emphasis will be placed on the potential for their proposals to lead to the production of new/original insights.
The fellowships will be awarded to cover a period of one year, at the end of which a report of publishable quality shall be submitted for evaluation. For the year 2005, the Council will be awarding ten fellowships of a maximum value of USD10,000 each.

Eligibility: To be eligible, candidates are expected to be holders of a doctoral degree in any of the social sciences and humanities. The doctoral degree should have been obtained within five years of the date of submission of the application. Exceptionally, candidates who do not yet have doctoral degrees but who have accumulated considerable research experience will be considered for the award of a fellowship.
All applicants are required to be affiliated to an African research institution.

Requirements for Application: Candidates wishing to be considered for the award of a fellowship are requested to submit the following documents:

a)Research Proposal: A research proposal of between 10 and 15 pages which should be a clear statement of the work to be undertaken, the problematic that underpins it, the significance of the study vis-à-vis the existing literature, the methodology to be employed, implications of the methodological approach adopted for the empirical research to be undertaken and the expected output. Candidates are strongly encouraged to indicate the innovative or original dimensions which they hope their study will yield; a detailed presentation of the epistemological foundations of the research will also be considered as a distinct advantage.

b)Work Programme: The duration of each fellowship is one year, effective from the date of award. Each application should be accompanied by a detailed work programme spread over a period of 12 months beginning from the date of award of the fellowship.

c)Budget: Applicants are required to provide a detailed budget up to a maximum of USD10,000 which includes the research and dissemination costs they expect to incur throughout the duration of their fellowship. The budget should be structured to reflect the disbursement formula the Council intends to apply, which will consist in paying 50% of the fellowship amount upon signature of the award contract, 25% of the grant upon receipt of a satisfactory scientific progress report and the remaining 25% per cent upon receipt of the final revised version of the research results. In addition to the costs of fieldwork and book acquisition, candidates are encouraged to consider integrating participation in one international conference relevant to their research preoccupation in the budgetary framework of their study. (The final choice of the conference to be attended will be made in consultation with the CODESRIA Department of Training and Grants).

d)Reference Letters: Applications should be accompanied by three reference letters from scholars who are familiar with the applicants' work and are in a position to attest to their institutional affiliation. Where possible, candidates are requested to include at least one reference from a scholar based outside their countries of residence.

e)Curriculum Vitae: Each candidate should submit a detailed curriculum vitae showing clearly the candidate's research publications and participation in research network/activities. Copies of certificates obtained by candidates should be included with the applications.   

Selection Process: All applications received will be reviewed by an independent Selection Committee comprising eminent scholars. All candidates will be notified of the results of the selection process.

Deadline for the Receipt of Applications:All applications should be received not later than 30 September, 2005. Applications should be addressed to:
The Advanced Research Fellowship Programme, CODESRIA, BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, Senegal. Tel: +221- 825 9822/23 Fax: +221-824 1289

Africa/Global: CODESRIA prize for doctoral theses call for applications

2005-02-03

http://www.codesria.org

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the 2005 edition of its prize for the best three doctoral theses produced annually in Africa. This programme has been introduced with a view to promoting the research work of African doctoral students and to celebrate the performance of those among them who produce outstanding studies that are worthy of being given greater visibility than would otherwise be possible in the absence of a special initiative designed to bring them to the attention of a critical international audience.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the 2005 edition of its prize for the best three doctoral theses produced annually in Africa. This programme has been introduced with a view to promoting the research work of African doctoral students and to celebrate the performance of those among them who produce outstanding studies that are worthy of being given greater visibility than would otherwise be possible in the absence of a special initiative designed to bring them to the attention of a critical international audience.

The CODESRIA Prize for Doctoral Theses is, therefore, designed to encourage excellence in advanced post-graduate research in Africa. In determining the best theses produced, emphasis will be placed on originality, rigour, innovation and relevance. It is proposed to award three doctoral theses prizes annually. Each prize will comprise a sum of USD1000 and the publication of a suitably revised version of the selected thesis in the CODESRIA Book Series.

Eligibility: Any African student registered in a doctoral programme in an African university and who has produced a thesis in the social sciences that has been accepted after due examination is eligible to enter the competition for the award of a CODESRIA prize. To be considered, the thesis should have been submitted and successfully defended in the period between 01 June 2004 and 31 May 2005.

Procedure for Application: For the current round of competition, candidates interested in having their theses evaluated for the possible award of a prize are requested to send the following documents to the CODESRIA Secretariat by 31 July, 2005:

i) A curriculum vitae indicating educational background, publications, and on-going research interests/activities; ii) Two copies of the final version of the thesis; iii) A summary of not more than ten pages written by the author of the thesis on the content of his/her work; iv) A letter of reference written by a scholar other than the thesis supervisor and which comments on the merit of the thesis, the student's contribution to knowledge and a better understanding of African realities, the points of innovation and originality in the thesis and the candidate's potentials for further advanced research; v) A letter of support written by the supervisor of the candidate's thesis; and vi) Any other additional scientific information that would be worth bringing to the attention of the jury   Selection Procedure There will be two stages in the selection of the best three social science theses produced by African doctoral students. The first stage will involve a sub-regional selection process whereby independent juries will be requested by CODESRIA to evaluate and rank the theses submitted for consideration from the different sub-regions. The short-listed theses will then be transferred to a continental jury made up of eminent scholars who will identify the best three theses to be awarded prizes. The continental jury will reserve the right to request additional information from all short-listed candidates.

Candidates will be kept informed of the outcome of each stage of the selection process by the CODESRIA Secretariat.

Submission of Entries: All applications for consideration for the award of a prize should be submitted to:

The Prize for Doctoral Theses, CODESRIA, BP 3304, CP 18524 Dakar, Senegal.

Tel: +221-825 9822/23; Fax: +221-824 1289.

Children and Poverty: Global Trends, Local Solutions?

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/26623

UNICEF and the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) plan to hold an international conference April 25 through 27, 2005 on poverty in the global context and its effects on girls and boys. The conference in April 2005 will present analytical and policy papers that explore issues and trends related to children living in poverty by examining the concepts and measurements of poverty, as well as the actions needed to secure a protective, harmonious and stimulating environment for family upbringing.
UNICEF and the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) plan to hold an international conference April 25 through 27, 2005 on poverty in the global context and its effects on girls and boys. The conference in April 2005 will present analytical and policy papers that explore issues and trends related to children living in poverty by examining the concepts and measurements of poverty, as well as the actions needed to secure a protective, harmonious and stimulating environment for family upbringing. The conference will use as its platform the discussion launched by the 2005 State of the World's Children report. The Conference will also reflect the agenda set by the Millennium Development Goals and the Convention of the Rights of a Child (CRC). The planning and management of the Conference will be conducted by the GPIA. UNICEF will provide the grant money for the conference and participate in the Advisory Panel (see below).

The Conference General Objectives:

- To increase knowledge and promote debate on girls and boys living in poverty and global, regional and local forces affecting families.
- To highlight current trends and successful policies for child poverty reduction and how this has influenced the rights of girls and boys.
- To initiate further research in generating, compiling and analyzing trends in sex disaggregated indicators of child well-being and to draw out the implications for programs and policies of such information.
- To increase knowledge on how poverty is differentiated by gender within families and communities.
- To point to new directions in analysis and knowledge management, so that available data on the well-being of girls and boys can be successfully used to influence governments and other stakeholders working for and with children.

The Conference Specific Objectives
1. The call for analytical and policy papers on issues and trends related to children living in poverty is focused on the following subject areas:
- Definition of children living in poverty and its measurement
- Children living in poverty and Human Rights
- The role and potential of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers in addressing girls and boys poverty
- How children experience poverty
- Social exclusion, gender discrimination and nonmaterial aspects of child poverty
- Evidence of the reduction of child poverty
- Armed conflict and poverty
- HIV/AIDS and poverty
- Policy responses to child poverty

2. We welcome papers with an inter-disciplinary and cross-thematic approach aiming to integrate a gender and Human Rights perspective throughout the analysis. This will help the understanding the complex relationships among cultural, demographic, economic and political trends and their impact on girls and boys, families, communities, and children living in specific situations (e.g. orphans, handicapped, indigenous, minority, refugee, etc.). Based on the empirical information, the papers should address at least one of the three following dimensions :

A)Conceptual and Methodological Issues - Since the way poverty is defined determines the range and focus of policy interventions, the concept and measurement of children living in poverty should be at the center of the debates about methodological issues.

The papers should examine issues related to poverty measurement, statistical information, and capacity building. Researchers are encouraged to consider answering some of the following questions: How is children's experience of poverty different from that of adults? Is there any difference in how girls and boys experience poverty? How well are the poverty measures capturing children's and women's poverty? What are the ways/methodologies that capture this experience? How well are development/poverty indices, (e.g. HDI) representing child well-being? How can advancements in methodology, advocacy and policy work enhance the understanding of how poverty affects girls and boys, including the debate about the Millennium Development Goals?

B) Understanding the Determinants of Children's and Women's Well-being - What are the key determinants of poverty among children?

The papers should look at the underlying causes of poverty and cross-relationship of the determinants of poverty among girls and boys, and attempt to answer questions such as: How are changes in public expenditure affecting children's health, education and welfare? What is the connection between armed conflict and migration, and what are the effects on girls, boys, women, men and family well-being? What is the impact of migrant labor remittances and family separation on children's well-being? How are trade liberalization and capital flows affecting child labor, child poverty and health? How are certain aspects of globalization such as internationalization of certain cultural values, consumption patterns and entertainment affecting children's well-being? To what extent are changes in family size, structure and stability affecting child well-being? What are the links between recessionary adjustment policies, risk coping strategies and gender differentiated impact on HIV-AIDS transmission?

C) Effective Policies and Programs for Women and Child Well-being Based on Human Rights - The discussion about the effective and viable policies for reducing poverty among children is the key dimension of the conference.

Guided by an equitable and 'age-sensitive' approach to policy, the papers in this section can entertain some of the following questions: What are the examples of successful policies for reducing the effects of poverty among children? What are the lessons learned from present policies (including both successful and failed examples)? What are the lessons learned from PRSPs and children living in poverty? How to prevent the negative trends among children suffering from poverty? What are the entry points where intergenerational transmissions of poverty can be affected by external influence? What are the examples of childcare and family policies catering to growing immigrant populations in medium and high-income countries? How is technological progress being used to enhance child and family well-being (e.g. food and biotechnology interventions; possible links between information, communication and distance learning; the role of private investment in biotechnology research).

Advisory Panel
An Advisory Panel will make the selection of papers for the Conference. The AP will be composed of members of UNICEF, GPIA, and external recognized experts. Its function will be to ensure the orientation and quality of papers and advise on the content and organization of the Conference.

Calendar of Events
A one-page proposal should be sent to Marina Komarecki, Graduate Program in International Affairs, New School University, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10011, by e-mail at komarecm@newschool.edu by February 15, 2005.

Papers will be selected by February 15, 2005. The deadline for final paper submission is April 15, 2005. Limited funds will be available for travel expenses and subsistence for three days. The Conference will be held April 25 through 27, 2005 in New York. The organizers plan to post the papers presented at the Conference on the GPIA web site, and widely disseminate a CD ROM of selected papers.

Codesria Gender Institute, call for applications

2005-02-03

http://www.codesria.org

This year's theme for CODESRIA's Gender Institute will be Masculinities in Contemporary Africa. The theme of masculinities has recently begun to enjoy a revival in the social sciences, most often tied to discourses around identity politics, the all-pervasive youth involvement in armed conflicts, the macho culture which the environment of armed conflicts and urban violence has spurned, the global spread of an American/Americanised urban youth culture, and the social consequences of economic crises and structural adjustment The Gender Institute will also be selecting Directors for every session, external scholars, resource persons and Laureates to help in the proceedings. The deadline for the submission of applications is set for 17 May, 2005. Applications should be sent to: The CODESRIA Gender Institute, Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop X Canal IV, B.P. 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, SENEGAL. Tel. (221) 825 98 21/22/23 Fax : (221) 824 12 89

MSCISA 2005 Course Calendar

2005-02-03

http://www.mscisa.org.za/2005%20Course%20Calendar.pdf

MSCISA is pleased to announce the 2005 schedule for our sexual and reproductive health training series. Each course is led by Master Trainers and features presentations by seasoned experts from the field. Curricula are designed to combine theory and practical application of the fundamentals.

Africa/UK: Seeking Nominations to the ACORD Board of Trustees

2005-02-03

http://www.acord.org.uk

ACORD, an Africa-based development organization is seeking nominations to its Board of Trustees. We are looking for candidates who are African nationals, bilingual (French, English, or Portuguese) with an understanding of the African political/social/economic context and experience working in development. Knowledge of African NGO networks would be an asset. Although this is an unpaid position, it is an opportunity to make a contribution to the development of an African voluntary organization where the board and members are drawn from a number of countries. If you would like more information about ACORD please visit our website www.acord.org.uk or for more information about becoming a trustee contact, Betty Plewes bplewes@sympatico.ca A more detailed outline of Board duties and responsibilities is available.

Angola: World Bank Internship

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/26626

Through AFFORD's Opportunity Africa Programme, we have secured an internship with the World Bank in Luanda, Angola for 2 to 3 months – there is no deadline at the moment, but we would like the person to start as soon as possible. To be eligible for the internship, one must be an Angolan national, fluent in Portuguese and living in London. The internship will be paid and this is an opportunity that would benefit some young Angolans living in London to gain some experience in the field of international/African development. As the first step – the young Angolans attend the Opportunity Africa careers seminar on Tuesday 8 February 2005 from 6pm to 9pm at the AFFORD Offices in Vauxhall (31-33 Bondway, Vauxhall, London). The nearest tube and train station is Vauxhall (Victoria Line). Our office is opposite the new bus terminal outside Vauxhall station.

Liberia: Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

Academy for Educational Development

2005-02-03

http://216.197.119.113/jobman/publish/article_4581.shtml

The Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist must be cross-culturally adept, collaborative and team-oriented. The Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist must also have the ability to quickly orient his/herself to a complex project, and to quickly grasp the activities and impact under each of the three program components.

Nigeria: Chief of Party, Civil Society Strengthening Program

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/26664

The Chief of Party will direct the implementation and oversee all management aspects of a new five-year USAID-funded program, designed to strengthen civil society capacity to promote good governance at the federal and selected state and local levels through advocacy, awareness-building and citizen empowerment. The incumbent will serve as principal liaison with all implementing partners, the donor, and host government counterparts on all matters related to the program. Qualified candidates send resume with salary history to: Human Resources CEDPA 1400 16th Street, NW, Suite 100 Washington, DC 20036 Fax: 202-667-1900

UK/Africa: Office Manager

AFFORD

2005-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/26701

AFFORD's London Office Manager's role is to manage the effective running of AFFORD's busy office and oversee the implementation of efficient administrative and Human Resources processes and systems, in line with AFFORD's mission and strategic objectives. Our ideal candidate is friendly, flexible, adaptable, unflappable, mature and willing to support a small, dynamic team of people dedicated to mobilizing Africans in the diaspora in support of Africa's development. For a job pack please visit: http://www.sourcecoms.com/srs/candidates/ Here you will need to register, once you have done so you will see the advert.

Fahamu