Back Issues

Featured this week

2005-09-01

EDITORIAL: Capitalism has presided over some horrific genocides, notes Jacques Depelchin
COMMENT&ANALYSIS:
- Shola Oshodi discusses gender and development
- People in rich countries are being lied to about the causes of African famine, says Judith Amanthis
- Indigenous communities must be recognized in Africa, argues Angela N. Khaminwa
LETTERS: On Zimbabwe’s debt, making poverty history, in support of Chidi Anselm Odinkalu and the other side of John Garang
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem asks why Nigeria can’t get its act together
BLOGGING AFRICA: A roundup of commentary from African blogs
BOOKS AND ARTS: Chenjerai Hove says freedom of expression should also mean freedom after expression
GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY: The GCAP coalition is mobilizing for the United Nations Millennium +5 review
CONFLICTS AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news about DRC, Niger, Sudan and Zimbabwe
HUMAN RIGHTS: Remembering the slave trade and the international day of the disappeared
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: UN endorses new guidelines on property rights of displaced persons
WOMEN AND GENDER: SADC summit presents many challenges for gender equality
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: UN reform unlikely, plus links to news on Egypt, Kenya, Liberia and Nigeria
DEVELOPMENT: African civil society speaks on the road to Hong Kong
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Nestle hammered over breast milk substitutes; responding to the health workforce crisis in Chad
MEDIA: "Idiots like you will be killed one by one" Ivory Coast newspaper editor told
AND…Sections on Advocacy, Internet, Fundraising, Courses and Jobs.

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Born out of genocide; born to live off genocide

2005-09-01

Jacques Depelchin

During August, two historical events are commemorated, both of which had a major impact on the destiny of millions of people and changed the face of the world forever. The first, remembered on August 6 and 9, is the horrific nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The second, marked on August 23, reminds us of the abolition of the slave trade, a system that devastated African societies for hundreds of years. What is the nature of the system that allows for atrocities such as these and countless others? Jacques Depelchin goes to the heart of capitalism and finds a system gone mad.


Capitalism has been so genocidal that it is worthwhile to posit that it cannot do otherwise, despite attempts to humanize it. How it came about, how it has been portrayed (by friends and foes) over the centuries but especially now, reinforces the idea that it cannot be done away with. How and where it has slaughtered in massive and horrific ways should be understood as only the smallest manifestation of its genocidal nature - not just against one group of people, but against all human beings. Could it have been otherwise?

Those who are convinced that capitalism can be humanized shall argue yes. Unfortunately, the data are so skewed in their favor that to argue the opposite is as huge an obstacle as the challenge faced by the slaves who rose up against slavery in Haiti in 1791. If the above question is going to be discussed adequately, capitalism and its history must no longer be treated as if, by definition, it is immune from evil. The hypothesis is that the principles which have sustained it, propagate death. Capitalism kills everything it touches, especially when it claims to do otherwise. It has devised as many ways of killing as there are declared and undeclared worshippers.

Capitalism and how victims of genocides become killers

Self-appointed certifiers of evil can easily be blind to their own actions. For former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the death of half a million children in Iraq as a result of US imposed sanctions was considered "worth" the effort. Yet, why does it seem easier to accept the description of a Hutu machete-wielding genocider as beyond barbarism? It is as if certain epithets and words can only be linked to certain peoples. Yet, victims of genocides can easily become killers; more easily than can be imagined. In its history of always imposing its principles, rules and laws, capitalism shall eventually face the very practices it has attributed to its enemies.

As capitalism inaugurated itself, about 500 years ago, so it has continued to reproduce itself, modernizing its ways and refining how it sells itself. The current occupation of Iraq is a modernized, updated visual illustration of how Amerindians were stripped of their land and how Africans and Asians were yanked from their homes and land by what came to be known initially as The System - meaning slavery and all that grew out of it.

There is a tendency, even among the most critical voices (e.g. Howard Zinn's History of the United States), not to see the connections between what could be described as the inaugural homelessness of the Amerindians and the Africans, Hitler's lebensraum, today's homelessness in the richest countries of the Planet and the same phenomenon in the streets of Fallujah, Palestine and South Africa. At this rate, for how long will humanity be able to call Planet Earth home?

I do not claim to say anything new. Many have said it before, more eloquently, forcefully and inspiringly (e.g. Fredy Perlman, Against His-tory, Against Leviathan; Bertram Gross, Friendly Fascism). The tradition of resisting the system did not just start from 19th century Europe, as it included those who left no writings, but screamed and fought like hell against their kin predators. It has included the survivors of certified and uncertified holocausts. It must include the voices which continue to be silenced because their suffering did not register on the Richter Scale of genocidal certification, and remain stubbornly unacknowledged. Repetition, in different multiple ways, can be helpful in strengthening resistance to capitalism, in its terrorizing and/or user-friendly forms. For example, the well-known genocidal sequences of the twentieth century have been identified (and certified) in ways which, in one stroke, exempt and anonymize the real culprit from closer scrutiny.

Why ‘Never Again’ has always been applied selectively

And, if the famous ‘Never Again’ should really be stood by, it is necessary to look at capitalism with less benevolent, opportunistic eyes simply because the pillars of power today (military, economic, political, juridical, cultural and religious) have been molded by the manner in which capitalism emerged and sees itself as angelic, in triumphal colors. One of the measures (and by no means the only one) of how total the triumph has been, can be seen, most recently, in how the current US administration is forcing the nation-state signatories of environmental and international criminal laws to retreat from signed agreements, whether in Geneva, Kyoto or Rome. But then, this ignoring of international conventions and covenants is not new, as, for example, can be seen today by how the Convention Against Genocide (1948) has been ignored by the signatories.

Globalization as being portrayed today by the G8 has been sold in the same fashion over the last 500 years: through a combination of military conquests, territorial occupation, minimal social and humanitarian programs, corruption, severe and protracted punishment for those who, collectively or individually, do not submit (e.g. Haiti, Cuba, Grenada, Nicaragua, Lumumba, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu Jamal, to only mention a few).

By definition, capitalism carries within it an unrelenting need for total control not just of the market, but of everything, of life and death. There is no other morality or ethics but the triumph of the power principle "might is right". ‘Never Again’ cannot just apply to the WWII Holocaust, but must be linked to the genocidal sequences unleashed by capitalism, otherwise, ‘Never Again’ will never apply (or ever so selectively as has been the practice).

From slavery until today, the system has been regularly updated and modernized. In times of crisis, when its real nature is difficult to hide, capitalism takes on a reformist mantle as it did through the abolition of slavery, or in other transitional phases, such as from colonial rule, or from Apartheid in South Africa.

To those who argue that what we are seeing is no different from how previous empires have come and gone, one can only say that it is the first time in history that humans have mastered the capacity to instantly destroy all life on the Planet. From the end of World War II, or more precisely, since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, efforts have been made to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Those efforts have failed, are failing and shall continue to fail unless the deep, rarely acknowledged causes which led to WW I, WW II, WW III (The so-called Cold War) and WW IV (Worldwide Structural Adjustment Programs which have come full circle to the US via the attempt to do away with social security) and WW V (the current war, without end, against terror) are looked at without complacency. As of now it is possible to argue that nuclear power is to the physics world or to nature as capitalism is to economics: both are untamable.

The submission/integration to capital has now reached an unprecedented level: geographical, political, ideological, legal, cultural and religious. In an analysis of the crisis of political leadership in the DRC, Ernest Wamba dia Wamba (2005) pointed out that the state (as fashioned in Africa by capital, from colonial to post-colonial times) appears as genetically coded to be at the service of capital, regardless of geographical borders. Capital has no allegiance and can be truly described as "sans foi ni loi" (faithless and lawless), rewriting rules and laws as it spreads, facilitating its never ending expansion. All and everything is fodder to its insatiable appetite. Could it ever have been emancipatory as envisaged at one point? What can be answered with certainty is that, from how it has unfolded, humanity must extract some sort of emancipatory breathing space, while avoiding falling into the very same practices of seeking power by any means necessary.

What if evil had always been at the core of capitalism?

The process of definitively extricating ourselves from its shackles will require applying the following principles: resist its further spread through constant and systematic non-violence against all of its manifestations wherever and whenever they are seen and understood. Affirm the mortality of capital by upholding the immortality of the human.

‘Unrealistic’ will say some. When millions of human beings on earth are faced with living off less than 5 dollars a day, the only realistic position ought to strive to change it as urgently as possible; maybe under the form of ‘A Declaration Against Capital as Genocidal’ which could signal the beginning of a truth procedure toward rendering capitalism and its sustaining structures obsolete.

The genocidal nature of capital is hidden from view, in great part, because the rules for identifying a genocide are written in such a way that capital is safely disconnected from responsibility. In that process basic notions like justice lose their universal integrity because the system has become extremely adept at justifying and rationalizing the most unacceptable, the most unjustifiable crimes. The very history of the WW II Holocaust has preferred to focus on the personalization of the culprits while, at the same time, trying very hard to erase or downplay corporate responsibility. But even at the level of corporate responsibility, personalizing evil by actually naming corporations which benefited from the Holocaust is not very helpful from the perspective of determining with as much precision as possible what is responsible for the inability, reluctance and refusal to identify the most intractable source of evil.

It is obvious why capital, its history and all of the structures which have grown out of it should not be considered as the ultimate source of evil in today's world. Most people, even among those who suffer the most from capital's impact world wide, are willing to give capital the benefit of the doubt, if only on account of a list of "positive things" which are associated with capital. Yet, if given a real viable choice, most people would certainly prefer to be able to feed themselves without having to rely on charity.

The convergence and concentration, through and thanks to corporations, of military, economic, financial, political, scientific and religious power in the hands of very few individuals worldwide, is unprecedented. Sometimes it looks as if WW II never really ended, and that the fight for world supremacy was reconfigured for the benefit of the one capable of frightening the rest of the world into submission because its military arsenal had the demonstrated capacity to destroy life on Earth. This capacity is easy to understand when referring to the nuclear armament industry and militarism, but most advocates of peace on earth are not willing to confront the system which, according to them, sustains both the positive and the negative; because the unstated assumption is that capitalism, by definition, cannot be evil, cannot lead to evil behavior. Thus, such evil institutions as The Gulag cannot be associated with the US in any way, as Amnesty International found out upon publishing its latest annual report in which it compares the prison networks maintained by the US to the Soviet Gulag. Entertaining such comparisons, thoughts and hypotheses would undermine the basis upon which the triumphal histories of the so-called most advanced nations have been written.

Global capital vs. US capital to capital vs. all the peoples of the world?

Sometimes the proof that something no longer works takes several failures to be accepted, but what if capital has no way of recognizing failure? Capital can no longer impose itself through wars of conquests, even if some continue to think that owning the biggest military machine in history gives them the right to keep re-conquering the Planet, over and over.

Just recently (June 20-24), Beijing was flexing its muscles in a bid to buy one of the US oil companies, (UNOCAL). As if this was not enough of a sign of the changing times, Mr. Greenspan, Head of the US Federal Reserve Bank, has warned the Bush administration against trying punitive measures against Chinese imports because such a move would not help increase jobs in the US market. However, neither Greenspan's proposed remedy (among other things, specializing in "smart jobs" as once advocated by Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under the first Clinton Administration) will not work because, across the board, from India to China, via Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea, blue and white collar workers have become smarter and more productive than their US counterparts. Mr. Greenspan's thinking is typical of a believer in the global capitalist system, joining hands with the CEOs of IBM, Intel, financiers, bankers, etc. who look at the Chinese market as the ultimate promised land.

Is it bio-technology (life) or thanato-technology (death)?

The US ruling establishment has convinced itself and a great part of the world that its monopoly of weapons of mass destruction is the safest protection against evil, even though the 500 year build-up to this supremacy demonstrates the opposite. And the situation is getting worse. One of the most important indicators of how much more lethal capital has become, is the privatization of the US Army and the flow of profits to the corporations. This domination of the military industrial and prison complex is complimented by domination in the entertainment/sport/leisure industry (which includes the food industry, the film and advertising industries) whose combined function is to prevent the citizens from thinking, or better to have the illusion of thinking, under the sedation of the entertainment industry. Thinking outside the box is only meant for profit, for increasing consumption, not for solving social issues. Outside of the box is actually within an already prepared larger box. Empowerment within the pyramidal configuration of the existing power structure can not help but reproduce that structure when what is called for is its dissolution in favor of the sphere (as beautifully shown by Ayi Kwei Armah in his last novel KMT: In the House of Life, Per Ankh, 2002) where the emphasis is away from competition and confrontation and toward cooperation and harmony among people and with nature.

The emphasis on competition has been so severe that it has transformed, for example, the meaning of words like healing. As practiced today in the US, the health industry is not about healing, it is much more about how, as the popular phrase goes, to "make a killing" by looking for (and selling) the miracle cure or the miracle medical technical procedure. The market reigns supreme in the collective and individual minds. Its relentlessness so completely blinds those who should be served that it has acquired a life of its own as though nothing can be done to dampen or control its most destructive features. Simple, common sense understanding of the relationship between one's health and what is eaten and drunk as the best and most effective way of maintaining health is losing credibility, thanks to skilful advertising.

Primitive accumulation is no longer about separating the producers from their means of production, but about stripping human beings of their capacity to think. This divisive mechanism has been so refined, so internalized, that individuals are instinctively more concerned about the survival of the system which is killing them rather than about the survival of their bodies.

Which way forward?

A criminal running away from the crime ends up committing more and more horrendous crimes in order to cover up the previous ones, and so it has been and continues with capitalism. Since the crimes have never been acknowledged as such, runaway genocidal sequences continue and are getting worse despite ethics courses being taught in law, business and medical schools, and despite the proliferation of human rights organizations. When the G8 and their formal and informal acolytes vow to fight for Africa and make poverty history it sounded like previous pious vows about abolition. The source of poverty is greed. Capitalism thrives on greed, poverty, violence, warfare and injustice. Why not make capitalism history?

A system which has been genocidal cannot help but seek to reproduce itself through what it perceives as "having worked" even though the price is becoming less and less acceptable. Given the economic, financial and legal system, conviction will never happen and could only happen if people battle for another world on the basis of principles framed by a higher law, a law which is not framed by the dictates of capital, but by the principles of solidarity, cooperation, justice and peace with all peoples of the Planet.

Every year on August 6th and 9th, the Hibakusha (survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), along with nuclear abolitionists and supporters try to remind the world, anxiously, that no one should ever suffer what they went through. Should it not be obvious that the triumphant managers of capitalism and their millions upon millions (generation after generation) of nameless victims are generic Hibakusha, before their time, of a system gone mad.

The anxiety in the voices of the Hibakusha from Hiroshima and Nagasaki comes from wondering what will happen when they die. But one is also encouraged by the inexhaustible fidelity to what is best in humanity, exemplified by Haitians from 1791 to 1804 and through to today (2005), by survivors of the WW II Holocaust battling for Palestinians, by anti-apartheid militants who have refused to cash in on their dues because, as they saw the seamless slide from South African to global apartheid, their conscience called on them to continue in the spirit of those who, in 1791, in Haiti, faced unimaginably worst odds.

* Jacques Depelchin is Executive Director of the Ota Benga Alliance for Peace in the DRC.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Beyond Gender in the Development World

2005-09-01

Shola Oshodi

The management structure of many non-profit organisations is dominated by men and often functions as a reflection of wider inequalities in society, states Shola Oshodi. Managers – mainly men – have often paid lip service to redressing imbalances and even when programmes have been developed they have been implemented as an adjunct to other factors or programs. In this context, Oshodi calls for a more gender fair culture within the non-profit sector.


In recent times the words gender and empowerment have become more and more a part of the development discourse. Different meanings, contexts and perceptions have been ascribed to it by different people depending on which side of the divide one is on. It has become a major issue that international or transnational NGO donors have now made part of their criteria in funding other organisations and their programs. But can one really say that gender and empowerment are reflected in these organisations themselves? Can the non-profit sector successfully become engendered without empowerment?

The importance of gender and empowerment in NGO’s cannot be overemphasized. Over the years these two terminologies have, to some extent, brought about a new awareness and raised the interest and determination of people in development to deal with age-old traditions, mindsets and assumptions that have stereotyped and affected more than half of the world’s population. Although these issues are currently being dealt with, more needs to be done if the desired objective of equality and justice for all is to be achieved, especially as it relates to the nonprofit sector as an institution.

Organisational culture, according to Kelleher et al (1996), “is the pattern of shared beliefs, and values that has worked to solve important organizational problems in the past” [Grabbing the tiger by the Tail, (CCIC, 1996), P.42]. These values and beliefs include and are not limited to patriarchy, bureaucracy, work behavior, workplace politics, symbols, power and masculine principles. These values and beliefs were typical of the first set of NGO’s, which came to shape and govern the way nonprofit business is conducted today. These stem from the society in which the founders and leaders grew up. The prevailing organisational culture today is predominantly what is obtainable in the larger society, and this is patriarchal and hegemonic and seeks to promote male interest over all others. Given the above definition one can by the same token say that organisational culture has also worked against solving important organisational problems of gender and empowerment within the non-profit sector. Men occupy most of the top positions in the non-profit sector in a similar way to what can be found in the private and public sector. It is a reflection of the bureaucratic and patriarchal culture of the larger society.

The structure of organisations have also not helped matters as most of the “substructure of organisations remains essentially patriarchal: designed by men, led by men in ways comparable with men’s interest” [Grabbing the Tiger by the Tail (CCIC, 1996), p. 13]. Such structures range from the composition of the management team to board membership. Therefore, the management of non-profits - mainly by men - leaves one with a big question of how can men with mindsets and stereotypes that see women as subordinates and lesser equals actively plan and execute development programs for women. These policies or activities cannot effectively tackle issues that relate and dwell on the subordination and disempowerment of women.

Prevailing organisational culture and structure have coloured and brought about several inimical attitudes on the part of players in the non profit sectors in handling the issue of bringing a gender perspective into their organisation and work. “It is an inconvenience to some, … others nod in agreement, but postpone taking the responsibility, … yet others give in to denial that NGO’s might even perpetuate social inequalities” [Clayton Andrew, NGO’s Civil Society and the State: Building Democracy in Transitional Societies, (1996),P72]. In general, they pay lip service to gender issues in their organisation while others pay little or insignificant attention. On the whole, it has been shown that even those who have made it part of their organisation’s objective, most of the time treat it as an adjunct to other factors or programs they believe are more important.

In fact women’s movements have had to spearhead and place the issue of gender and empowerment at the forefront of the development discourse, leaving these movements with the responsibility of negotiating and bargaining with men and powerful masculine institutions. Right from the 18th century till today, the women’s movement “have organised against inequalities based on sex and demanded legal reforms aimed at removing patriarchy within the family and society” [New C, cited in Jackson and Pearson, Feminist Visions of Development, (1998, London and New York) P75]. This has been done by seeking legislative reform and through lobbying of international bodies like the UN to advocate for women’s rights.

In addition, these movements have succeeded in moving women’s interest into the public arena of politics, economics and power institutions through the reframing of issues into rights for women while at the same time advocating for women’s right to occupy positions of power in terms of political and economic decision making within the society.

If one examines NGOs, would NGO’s themselves be truthfully labeled as organisations that further the pressing issues of gender and empowerment through the setup of their own organisations? NGO’s have often allocated resources and implemented various programs to help women, but often these were actually designed and implemented by men. Furthermore, as a way of upholding the prevalent status quo between the sexes, they have sought to remove and substitute the word “women” with gender.

It is highly important that the terminology gender should be used together with the word women to make NGO's in the development circle grab the bull by the horn instead of providing them with a term under which they hide and embellish their unwillingness - intentionally or otherwise - to bring about equality and justice within the development world.

Gender issues should not only be tackled from the feminine perspective, but also from the masculine, in terms of re-educating men to change their perception of women’s role /position which should in turn bring about a change in the nature of men’s participation which would better foster the empowerment of women. Rowlands, (1998) notes that eliminating male bias and moving women out of the condition of near-universal subordination that they still currently occupy, will require cultural, economic and political changes [Afshar Haleh, Women and Empowerment (1998), P17].

Although there have been various attempts to treat gender and empowerment as separate and distinct terms in development, both are interrelated. One cannot function or successfully be achieved without the other. For some time now the focus has been on the number of women employed as against men without a correlation of the type of job/positions women are employed in or occupy in the non-profit sector. I sincerely believe that the issue of gender cannot be fully treated without empowerment. An organisation, in complying with the request on the need to ensure some sort of gender fairness, may still perpetuate bias, inequality and injustice by employing women at the lower cadre of the organization.

There is a need for development managers especially in sub-Saharan Africa to work towards transforming the formulation and execution of development policies from the way it stands now into more “feminist values of openness, fair treatment, clear lines of accountability, unity and shared responsibility and above all a commitment to people trust” [Kelleher et al, Grabbing the tiger by the Tail, (CCIC, 1996), P41]. Empowerment for women may well stem from the involvement and leadership of women at all levels rather than the inclusion of women for the sake of “number equality” as many people think or advocate. As rightly pointed out by Fowler, (1997) this would be further aided by a gender fair culture within NGO practices [Fowler Alan, Striking a Balance: A guide to Enhancing the Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations in International Development (1997, London :Earthscan), P79].

* Shola Oshodi-John is the Programme Coordinator for the Civil Liberties Organization, Nigeria’s foremost human rights and membership based organization. She has worked with international organizations and women’s groups within and outside Nigeria for the past six years with a focus on international development, gender and public policy and non-profit management.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Niger: The IMF and World Bank's invisible war on Africans

2005-09-01

Judith Amanthis

Drought and famine are not normal conditions for any group of human beings, but what is normal is people in the west being lied to about the causes, writes Judith Amanthis, who lists various IMF policies as being responsible for the food crisis in Niger.


The IMF and the World Bank, and the EU as well, are killing Africans in their thousands in Niger, Mali and throughout the Sahel region of Africa. By August this year in Niger alone, three million are threatened with death from starvation. Up to 800,000, especially children, have already died. Niger is the second most impoverished country on this earth. Starvation, according to one aid agency, is normal there.

Drought and locusts destroyed crops, it's true, but the rains were down only 11% from normal. There is some food in Niger. The problem is that large numbers of people, especially in the rural areas, are just too poor to buy it when their crops fail. Why? First, subsistence farming in Africa doesn't bring in much money, or any money. It has no western financial backers. Second, in March 2005 the Niger government, having secured Highly Indebted Poor Country status for Niger, implemented an IMF condition on further loans: it put a 19% VAT on basic grains whose price had risen by up to 89% over the past five years. Traders naturally sell to the highest bidder. In this case they sold grains to other West African countries. The free market knows no borders, colonial or otherwise.

Many of the rural people in the Sahel region are nomadic livestock farmers. In Niger the market in livestock has slumped. Farmers who would have sold cattle and other stock to bring in money to buy food are now unable to sell starving animals on a glutted market where prices have fallen by 25% over the past five years. Many villages are now almost entirely women, children and the old, because the men have gone to the urban areas or other African countries in search of food, work and money. African women and children are as usual forced onto the front line.

But the western picture of starving peasant women and their children is one-sided. In March hungry women and men in Niamey, Maradi and Tahoua came out in protest against food prices. Placards read, 'We're hungry. Help us'. So there are angry urban dwellers and workers as well, who are well-organised and prepared to risk imprisonment - the government's response to the protest, according to one source - to get what they need. The pattern is similar throughout Africa. The people's struggle to survive and pressurise their governments into acting for them rather than for the western powers gets left out of the news altogether.

One of the IMF's most shocking acts of war against Africans in Niger has been to demand another condition on aid: the sale of emergency grain reserves. Over the past five years, this policy has contributed to famines in other parts of Africa, notably Malawi in 2002 and again this year. In fact famine stalks large swathes of central Africa. The rationale? Cheap grain is not to flood the market before harvest time. For this reason, the Niger government’s ‘cheap’ grain came on the market too late and too expensive.

Long term drought and famine can never be normal for any group of human beings. What is normal is people in the west being lied to about the causes of Africans' suffering and what Africans are doing about it.

Western oil and forestry companies who have created climate change are as implicated as well. Western Europe and the US are responsible for 50% of the world's carbon emissions, and forestry multinationals are destroying the earth's 'lungs', including the great Congo River Basin forest, at 26 hectares a minute (37 football pitches). Greater heat and erratic rain in the Sahel region means the Sahara Desert is creeping south. Areas like northern Nigeria and Senegal are drying up as well. In erratic weather, locusts breed more heavily, but since the mid 1980s, the West African regional organisation, OCALAV, which was set up at independence in the early 1960s to control locust swarms and other plagues has been restructured. Its funding has been cut. African governments which have restructured entire economies to make life easier for multinationals can no longer pay for services vital to the people's survival.

These same governments - eight throughout the Sahel and West Africa - have welcomed US military personnel into their armies so that young African men can be trained to protect western imperialism in the 'war on terror'.

As for cross border and selective use of pesticides, first, it's unaffordable by African governments, and second, it's unmanageable. Inter-governmental co-operation has broken down in the age of G8 grotesqueries. Live 8 put money in western multinational and individual bank accounts, period. Killing locusts at the hopper stage, before they take flight - often across colonial borders – and devour people's crops, is essential. Whatever the pros and cons of using pesticides to control locust swarms, ordinary Africans have, over a period of hundreds of years, had control of their environment stolen from them, and with genocidal consequences.

In June this year, President Tanja of Niger met with George Bush. As well as the Sahel region’s strategic importance in the ‘war on terror’, Niger is the world’s third largest uranium exporter. A new generation nuclear arsenal is in the US pipeline and Tanja is handing Africa’s uranium to US arms manufacturers on a plate.

In early August, Tanja was vilified in the western media for denying that millions of people were starving and for complaining that only a fraction of the promised aid from the west had arrived. At the same time the UN congratulated the government of Mali for dealing better with the imminent death by starvation of millions more Africans. The argument is clear: if some African governments are efficient enough to keep the lid on wholesale famine, the problem must be down to an individual, to who holds presidential office. What wasn't mentioned was that the free food handed out by the UN and the government to people in Mali was, according to a BBC World Service report, only obtainable in one particular area if you worked for an Oxfam water development project. The reporter asked a woman who was digging a hole to conserve rain water if she was happy to be getting food. She and everyone else working with her laughed uproariously.

* This article is from Kilombo, the African Liberation Support Campaign Network's journal.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

On the margins: Indigenous as relevant

2005-09-01

Angela N. Khaminwa

In reflecting on the rights of indigenous people in Africa, Angela N. Khaminwa remembers the story of a young man taken from the Belgian Congo in 1904 and placed on display at a US zoo. Unless traditional communities are recognized as an inherent part of national identity, she warns, modern day society risks a continuation of the gawking of a century ago.


Recently, I was half-surprised to learn about Ota Benga, one of the many twisted stories that characterize attitudes that Europeans held of Africans in the early 1900s. In 1904, Ota Benga, a young Twa, was taken from then Belgian Congo to the United States by an enthusiastic explorer. Treated as sub-human and a biological curiosity, he was ‘displayed’ at the St. Louis World Fair and later placed in the Bronx Zoo in a cage together with a parrot and an orangutan.

The image of a man caged and gawked at by children and adults is painful to visualize. However, despite the cultural changes embedded in the last 100 years, it seems that this gawking still occurs, albeit in less stark forms. People behave in strange ways when they think, or are convinced, that they are more culturally (and this is almost always equated with morally) advanced than others. The view of the traditional from the modern generates narratives wrapped up in generalizations, paternalism, and prejudice. The rush to modernization inspires a collective vision of a modern culture that pushes those who can’t - or won’t - assimilate to the margins of the national milieu.

An example of this marginalized existence can be gleaned from the Twa, the community from which Benga came. Today, many Twa are forced to self-exploit by relying on the gaze of others to survive financially. “An estimated 80% of Batwa earned capital from begging. Batwa are most able to support themselves when they mold themselves into the stereotypes expected of them. To remain docile, submissive and animal-like reaffirms the social hierarchies to which other groups have assigned them” (Refugees International, 2004).

Surviving socially is also problematic. Twa negotiate prejudice daily. “Many Ugandans … will not sit or eat with Batwas or allow inter-marriage. Batwas are often banned from collecting water from wells used by other groups. … Batwas are forced to remain in the margins of public places, and when selling goods must sit on the outskirts of markets, away from other vendors” (The Defender, 2002).

These types of experiences are not unique to the Twa. To various degrees, indigenous communities are subject to bias and discrimination which affects access to social services, inhibits chances at employment, and restricts participation in politics.

This exclusion replays the story of Ota Benga. In this redux, many are the gawking (and sometimes disinterested) observers barely recognizing, valuing, or protecting cultural worth. Core claims to land and natural resources have been muffled by reframing or misrepresentation. This leads to escalating social tension that pits modern and seemingly suave communities against traditional communities viewed as ill-equipped to handle modernity.

There are numerous basic questions that come to mind when considering the conditions of indigenous people. Firstly, are current definitions of indigenity appropriate to the African context? The ILO Convention (No. 169) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
in Independent Countries defines indigenous communities as: tribal communities in independent countries whose socio-cultural conditions distinguish them and who are regulated by “customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations” and/or communities who occupied a country or region at the time of colonization or present boundaries and who retain their socio-political institutions.

The latter definition allows us to differentiate between black and non-black Africans but is an inappropriate fit in the context of minority and indigenous peoples’ rights. The former definition emerges as the most fitting for the continent (including groups such as the Pokot in Kenya and Uganda, the Barabaig pastoralists in Tanzania, the San in Southern Africa, and the Hadzabe in Ethiopia). But there are still significant levels of ambiguity surrounding the term.

Secondly, is there pressure on indigenous groups to assimilate? There appears to be tension around the idea of the wholly traditional (read historic) and the partially traditional (read contemporary) world. Despite the fact that many cultures in Africa have evolved into distinctly modern cultures, their nature is to assimilate. Social pressures focus on conformity to a generalized idea of modernity. This leads to a strong in-group dynamic which views the outsiders (the indigenous communities) and their agendas suspiciously.

Thirdly, does the action of recognizing an indigenous group jeopardize national cohesion? The hesitancy of governments to address the issue of internal difference full-force may be due to a need to promote national cohesion because it may result in giving a community additional protection and thus be perceived as politically favouring a community.

Fourthly, does recognizing a group as indigenous narrow development? Indigenous groups are entitled to certain rights under international law including access to ancestral land and attendant natural resources. (For example, the rights of the peoples concerned to the natural resources pertaining to their lands shall be specially safeguarded. These rights include the right of these peoples to participate in the use, management and conservation of these resources.) These claims may be in direct collision with government (or special interest) plans.

These questions are key points to consider, and return to, when considering indigenity on the continent.

We may not all agree in the definition of indigenous or the categorization of communities as indigenous. Regardless of what label we place on ethnic communities that maintain traditional lifestyles and livelihoods, there is no doubt that many of these communities are vulnerable to labour and sexual exploitation. Dispossession, poor access to health services and appropriate education systems, exclusion from participation in development, denial of cultural and language rights, and extinction as areas in which indigenous groups are vulnerable are some of the results (African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights, Working Group Report, 2002).

In addition, as a 2004 report by the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples’ states, “Indigenous peoples bear a disproportionate share of the social and human costs of resource-intensive and resource-extractive industries, large dams and other infrastructure projects, logging and plantations, bio-prospecting, industrial fishing and farming, and also eco-tourism…”

It is clear that they require some form of government recognition of their disenfranchised position and subsequent protection and remediation. Indigenous communities must also play a role by proactively engaging with the government, realizing that changes on their part will be necessary to avoid chronic economic marginalization and underdevelopment.

The reverberations of engagement between the old and the new will never diminish. Modernity will continue to clash with the traditional as long as life progresses. We must recognize traditional communities as a valuable cultural resource that forms an inherent part of the national identity and should be promoted and preserved. If not, we will continue to gawk, uncaring, and in the process lose our humanity.

* Angela N. Khaminwa is a consultant based in Nairobi. Her area of interest is social inclusion, coexistence, and conflict.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Nigeria! Nigeria!

2005-09-01

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem, missing in Nigeria for the last five weeks, discusses the aspirations of the continental powerhouse to African and international leadership. Despite its stated intentions, the country just doesn’t seem able to get its act together, he writes, using as examples Nigeria’s loss of the African Development Bank presidency to Rwanda and its quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.


I must begin this piece with a thousand apologies to my readers for the spasmodic and epileptic appearance of this column in the past five weeks. It would have been easier for me to advise my editors and readers that I was going to be on holiday for X number of weeks. But as a 'good African' the idea that I should be on holiday was anathematic to the cultural instinct.

Whether peasants or presidents we are programmed to work till we die even if the evidence of the work may remain scanty. If you suggest to an African that he/she should go on holiday he/she starts suspecting that you want to get rid of him or her! Annual leave and a period set aside when you throw caution to the winds and just relax are anathematic to many Africans, rich or poor, urban or rural. Our lives are a kind of permanent emergency needing constant urgent attention. Therefore we keep trying to fit in permanent work without break – as well as the numerous immediate and extended family demands on our time and endless socio-cultural, multi tasked economic coping mechanisms in addition to endless community, and village must do activities!

The other and perhaps more pressing reason has to do with the objective fact of where I have been in the past five weeks: Nigeria. Somehow the country is not synonymous with holidays! The hassle and tussle of survival in Africa's allegedly No 1 country and self-declared super power is one that will task the best spirits of the most eccentric adventurer. As regular readers of this column will know, over the past five years when I became a legal visitor to Nigeria again - after more than a decade of being 'wanted' by the various caricatures of leaders - whenever I am in Nigeria this column is never regular. All kinds of objective and subjective circumstances conspire to make this column less than regular whenever I am in the country. Hence the various editors (whose papers carry this column) have developed a kind of 'Nigerian discount' for my lapses in beating deadlines. The amazing thing is that I have written this column without failing from all kinds of places before, including blighted war torn Eastern Congo, remote places in Burkina Faso, on French keyboards in a Café where people spoke only French or local languages I did not understand; and also from newly liberated post Genocide Kigali. Nigeria is on the face of it not at war but not a peace therefore everything is a daunting obstacle race!

Yet this is a country that has proclaimed since independence from the British in 1960, its 'manifest destiny' not only to lead Africa but Black people wherever they may be in the world. The irony is that many Africans or even African countries are not disputing this putative leadership. They only wished that Nigeria were able to lead effectively. If anything stands in the way of Nigeria it is its own self-doubt and its inconsistencies that is undermining its claims to leadership.

Take the example of two out of many issues currently occupying the chatters of foreign policy minded academics, policy wonks, sections of the media and some civil society activists: Nigeria's recent loss of the Africa Development Bank (ADB) presidency to Rwanda and Nigeria's quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

The national pride was greatly hurt that 'little Rwanda', despite not having majority African support in most of the tortuous stages of the ADB presidency contest, defeated Nigeria in Tunis after a deadlock in Abuja.

A number of things counted against Nigeria, which my Nigerian friends are unwilling to come terms with. One, the country's influence does not go far beyond Abuja itself. If you bring people to Abuja you can have your way but outside of it they may change their minds. Two, Nigeria is too complacent in its diplomacy, believing that its case is 'too clear.' Three, this complacency makes its officials to believe that the country is the only selling point whoever the candidate is. Four, Obasanjo's obsession with external validation was once again proven to be pointless. He bends over backwards (often against national instinct for anti western independence) to please America in particular and the West in general yet when it matters their own geopolitical interests dictate clipping Nigeria's wings in Africa and building sub regional counter checks. Five, it is not only the West that is interested in cutting Nigeria to size. There are many seemingly friendly African countries who desire the same though they may not openly articulate this. South Africa is an obvious candidate in this category. So is Egypt, Libya, and many other pretenders to leadership of Africa. There are smaller and less resourced states who cannot make such claim but play the bigger or better resourced African states against each other, buttering their bread in all ways and most of the time going for the highest bidder. It’s a kind of cash and carry diplomacy.

Post apartheid South Africa has many reasons to be grateful and friendly towards Nigeria but it also has many reasons to check mate Nigeria's regional influence as it seeks its own economic and strategic interests on the continent. It wants business with Africa's largest market but also contests the leadership claims of Africa's sleeping giant. No amount of personal rapport between leaders and diplomatic niceties can hide these contradictions. Nigeria's folly is in believing that 'there is no problem.'

Six, and perhaps more importantly under Obasanjo, Nigeria has developed a more personalised diplomacy around 'Baba' and whatever whims catch his erratic moods. Professional, well-trained and experienced diplomats of which there are many in Nigeria's foreign ministry have been relegated to mostly onlookers or undertakers for a very interventionist and domineering presidency. It is very clear that Obasanjo believes he is his own best foreign minister in addition to being the best in everything Nigerian! The ‘Babacracy’ (or is it ‘BabaCRAZY’?) that undermines Nigeria's nascent democratic order has been extended to foreign affairs, making it impossible for anybody to have any positive influence unless Baba allows them.

There are many more reasons that Nigerians need to wake up to if they are going to realise many of their assumed and oft repeated diplomatic and strategic goals in Africa and the world. Otherwise they will forever be beaten by so called small countries backed by larger interests.

And this is where Nigeria's immediate foreign policy goal of securing one of the two anticipated African seats on the UN Security Council in the ongoing UN reform proposals also runs into serious troubles. If Nigeria has its house in order no African country would be bold enough to challenge its claim - rather they would be clamouring for the second seat. However, even in West Africa where Nigeria claims to be the sub regional power, Senegal is also in the race. If Nigeria cannot have the unanimous support of its own backyard why should it expect the unanimous endorsement of the rest of Africa?

The atmosphere is so charged that many of my Nigerian friends and comrades have lost all kinds of objectivity in assessing their situation and think I must be a traitor to be raising doubts about the country's ineffectual claims to continental leadership when it cannot even lead itself. Some even suggest that I have lost touch and I have no right to comment on Nigerian affairs because I have been away for so long from the country.

Yet what we are debating is not domestic affairs but international affairs. They need to persuade others not themselves but somehow this detail is lost in the petty nationalist jingoism that clouds these discussions. And they wonder why 'foreigners' cannot accede to their claims! If they claim that because a Nigerian lives outside of the country he or she has no right to talk about domestic politics they should at least have consistency in their own logic by being a little bit humble when discussing matters outside the borders of Nigeria. The 'foreign' Nigerians may have more to share with them by way of how others see Nigeria, which is far different from how many Nigerians see their country, its potential, place and role in both African and global affairs.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa. (tajudeen28@yahoo.com or thursdaypostcard@justiceafrica.org)

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

EPAs - Territorial conquest by other means?

Ayodele Ale, Nigeria

2005-08-29

Quite a good edition. Keep it up.

For Africa we live

Kerry Jane Gutridge

2005-08-31

I am outraged at the prospect of South Africa undertaking to assist Zimbabwe in repaying her debt.

What debt, pray?! The tyrannical platform from which the G8 contemplates Africa is tiresome and dangerous. Our Renaissance is in its infancy and as such vulnerable and requiring nurturing. Perhaps when our Northern, rich Western brethren have taken responsibility for the planetary bother they have caused we will be more interested in their self appointed role as moral prefects insulting Zimbabweans and thereby, Africans, by treating us as if we are a nation of dissident schoolchildren.

This is not Xenophobia nor misguided romanticism. It is a profound impatience with the white elephants with which we Africans perrenially contend.

The white elephants of development Anglo-Euro style, from which the last to benefit are the indigeneous people of Africa. The white elephants of projects that have fizzled out because funding has expired. The white elephants of vast economic empires spawned in Africa by adventurous captains of commerce who cannot get away with their monkey business in their countries of origin. The white elephants that emerge from generations damaged by displacements and disruptions. The white elephants of interrupted education. The white elephants of Western richness and honkie mischief. The white elephants of a consciousness that deifies sefishness. The white elephants of greed.

The dignity of President Mbeki's offer to assist our Zimbabwean family with their housekeeping is laudatory. Africa is taking responsibility for her own. Undersigning for anarchy wrenched by yet another old African dictator who has allegedly lost the plot. One can hear the moral umpires raising a toast. "Not only have the Negroes learned how to wear ties and speak English, but they are picking up the odd ethic, what? Notch up another centimetre for progress, old chap."

Fellow Africans, we cannot afford this distraction of cowtailing to the mainstream. 80% of homo sapiens live two steps from the cave whilst 20% have more surplus than they know how to use. This is a stupid fraction. The prevalence of poverty is one of humanity's singlemost unintelligent practices. It is so last century and has resulted in undiluted tragedy in our neck of the woods for too long. Poverty takes no prisoners and nowhere is this so grimly demonstrated in beloved Amai Africa.

The timing of the London bombs drew attention to the G8 conference in Scotland and Mr Blair was eloquent in his distress. To those of us who live in Africa the fuss over so few casualties was bemusing. We have no memory of CNN and BBC getting so excited over our many bleedings and dyings. In Africa we do a great line in ongoing 9/11 s and 07/07 s. The living deaths of so many of our people are seemingly far less important than the weakening of the pound.

All atrocities suck. Our condolences to the bereaved and traumatised Londoners are profound and sincere.

However, it is sometimes necessary to join the dots so frequently ignored by western propaganda machines and the irritating mindset of the powermongers whom they serve. Our priorites in Africa pertain to recovery and progress. These are challenges enough without having to pay lipservice to debates about the globe's filthy lucre or being rapped over the knuckles cos we have partied with the petty cash. Obviously accountabilty is imperative, but it is to ourselves and each other to whom we first must be accountable, not our cousins and friends from elsewhere and their many confusions. When these communities are Africa literate we will be more receptive to their prescriptions. Until then, we will thank them to be respectful of our realities and mindful of their suspect agenda regarding our peoples and resources. If, in our Northern fathers' houses there are many mansions, in our Mother's lands there are many fields. We have strong waters to harness, good crops to plant, various extinctions to halt and new songs to sing. We are waking up to lives we can love, moving beyond mere survival. We need our light to shine far into our future for the lives of our grandchildren's grandchildren are at stake.

So George Bush, IMF and Company ... Muchaneta! For the African Renaissance we are prepared to live!

For Africa we live. Nkosi, Sikelele Africa. Ishe Komberera.

In support of Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

Doreen lwanga

2005-08-31

I read with great discomfort my friend Chidi's letter that the Nigeria State Secret Service (SSS) arrested two of his professional colleagues and is currently looking for him in connection with his work challenging Charles Taylor's asylum in Nigeria ( Pambazuka News 218, We are not fugitives, Charles Taylor is). That is indeed very frightening news knowing how much Chidi means to so many of us Africans, Pan-Africanists, human rights activists and Afro-optimists. Although I have known Chidi since 1999, I had the opportunity of meeting him in January 2004 when he was Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. I took Chidi's class, which was one of my best classes in my entire graduate studies program.

Chidi is indeed an "African Child" and one of the heavy brains that Africa is so gifted to have. He is an inspiration to so many of us committed to advancing our scholarly activism for the human security of Africa. Those who know Chidi would agree that he is as well a very cordial person, whose multitude of achievements have never stopped him from being humble and accommodative of even those junior or in opposition to him. I guess that is why he now gets into trouble with a government he seeks to engage with daily but which is opposed to his work. So, I wanted to write this letter to Pambazuka News, if Chidi is reading, to let him know how much we are thinking about him through this difficult moment, as well as his family and colleagues. I would also like to call upon everyone to please send a message of support or take a moment to offer your internal support to Chidi.

On making poverty history

Tonderayi Mutyasera

2005-08-31

I was glad to come accross your website - it's getting increasingly difficult to get the truth behind the tales with all the corporate-advert-sponsored news. I would like to believe that we are of the same mind set when it comes to issues affecting our continent and there is no need to beat around. In the end we as Africans are going to have to do it ourselves and overthrow the system because we will never find justice and self determination in it. Take a look at www.asiuhuru.org, it might be of intersest. Uhuru!

Pambazuka in parts

Janice McLaughlin

2005-08-29

Thanks for the attempt to shorten the newsletter for those of us who can't download so much information.

Pambazuka in parts (2)

Abdullahi Hassan, AIDSOM

2005-08-31

First of all, thank you for your humanitarian development newsletter. Secondly, as AIDSOM we are realy grateful with your last new plan for the Pambazuka newsletter. The two parts and their schedules are highly appreciated.

The other side of John Garang

Anonymous (by request)

2005-08-29

In answer to your editorial on John Garang, I beg to differ: This account is pretty one sided, and romanticised. Garang was also a warhorse, and a warlord, who would probably not have made the transition, over time, to a post-war Sudan. It wasnt really in his interests, or within his capabilities, to do so. What experience did he have of being a peacetime political leader? Did he know any other kind of reality, other than a wartime one? Why did he not allow any other southerner to take power within the SPLA/M? Everyone knows he ruthlessly dealt with those who challenged his leadership, hence the vacuum faced now within the movement. That is not the democratic way. How many deaths - including those of southern Sudanese - can be placed at his door?

Freedom after expression

2005-09-01

Chenjerai Hove

Many years ago in my country, Zimbabwe, a writer was arrested for making some drunken remarks about the President.

'Can I have two presidents, please?' the writer had asked. The writer was simply wanting to buy two bananas from a vendor at the market, of course, with a little accompanying humour. But it so happened that the name of our president at that time was Mr Banana, and the ears of those employed to get angry on behalf of the president were within earshot. As the police officer was locking him away in a police cell, the writer asked the officer: 'Excuse me, why are you locking yourself out?'

The officer was stunned and went to report to his boss, who immediately declared the prisoner 'a bit mad' and released him without charge after a few slaps on the face.

'Words cause itches in the private parts of the republic', I once wrote in one of my long poems. After a public reading, a secret service agent came to find out what I might be meaning by that? I professed total ignorance and wondered what he understood by the two lines. He thought they meant 'the private parts of the president.' I argued that it was his own interpretation, not mine.

Writers and prison. A writer's language describes and names visible and invisible prisons. Sometimes those who think they are free, are in the most painful prisons. The idea of a president being locked up in an eternal motorcade for twenty-five years can only remind me of someone who has been in prison for life. Wordsmiths, that is, writers and journalists, are, in oppressive systems, an extremely endangered species. African governments have the illusion that writers and journalists are the government's unpaid public relations officers. And the politicians are not about to give up that illusion. We are supposed to paint the glorious and happily-ever-after banner for our country, never the sad tears and pain our governments sometimes cause us.

All we know and cling to is the knowledge that we are the public relations officers of true human hearts and consciences. As creators, we are not about to give up that principle, that eternal dream. But we know that part of our task is to paint in words the sad tears trickling down our patriotic cheeks, to write and record that we were present when such injustice and violence descended on our village, our land, our street. Politicians are in charge of making laws which put writers in prison. I have always wondered why they fear writers.

'Who elected you to speak on behalf of the public?' I have always been challenged by the politicians in my country. And they add: 'I was elected by a constituency of voters, 40 000 of them. Who elected you?' I always answered: 'My conscience elected me. You are elected for five years, I am elected for life.' Thus the relationship between a writer and a politician is established: a battle for constituencies. The politician dances to the constituency of numbers. He/she wants a full stadium to address. In the process, the politician hopes to capture the hearts and minds of the people. But the writer is not interested in numbers. He/she is of the constituency of mind. When the politician searches for the constituency of mind, he is shocked to discover that the writer/artist has already occupied that space. Hence, the anger begins.

The politician is in control of handcuffs, guns, prisons, the police, the army, parliament, institutions of violence. The writer is only in control of feeble words, words which float in the wind like butterflies, language. Words which can appear to be crushed with the hammer of political oppression, with prison. Unfortunately, words, like the free wind, and the smell of flowers, refuse to die, even after the politician's five-year development plan has run out. Political and artistic language is different. The writer fights to name things freely. The politician seeks to name things for political gain through concealing truths or distorting them.

When once I wrote the draft speech of the Minister of Information for the opening of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, she was respectful enough not to change a word. Then she phoned me later and asked me to apply for the civil servant job of director of information in her ministry. 'What would I be doing every day?' I wanted to know. 'You will write my speeches and the speeches of other ministers,' she said.

Imagine, a writer being a speech writer, writing long speeches about the current 'operation demolish poor people's dreams,' 'operation filth and dirt', 'operation follow the leader', 'operation imprisonment,' 'operation eternal life for the leader,' etc. Many senseless 'operations' aimed at destroying language and people. But the hidden purpose was more complex than that: control of my words, my vision, my dreams and aspirations. Politicians are not about to respect the freedom of language, of expression.

The current deputy minister of information in Zimbabwe says he is the 'de facto' editor of the government daily, The Herald. He cannot countenance leaving words in someone else's hands. Literature, art, by nature is subversive, not in the sense of a desire to capture state house, but in the sense of searching for that which is hidden, the echoes of the hidden, human heart and mind. It is in the language of art that identity is discovered. Our identity is the compendium of our sorrows and joys, our smiles and our wounds, the very scars on which our history is recorded. Our historical and geographical beauty and ugliness, our wisdom and its accompanying foolishness. Our conquests and defeats. The way we search for meaning in life, the illusions we cling to, our cruelty, everything. That is what art searches for, because no human being is ever a one-word answer. We are complex, and art celebrates that complexity.

In literature, words are like bullets which shoot the heart and the mind, creating all sorts of images and metaphors which explode the human imagination and the will to live a tense life full of human doubt and joy, human freedom as it flowers amongst the social and political worms that seek to kill it from inside and outside.

As writers, we have the duty to restore the proper names of things in a complex, multifaceted dialogue. Oppressive political systems believe in a social and political monologue. The head of state should not be criticised. He should be allowed to run the country through a political and social monologue until he dies. For the politician, the world is made up of numbers...how many schools he built, bridges, clinics, stadiums, computers distributed, rallies addressed, years spent in meaningless monologues in state house. No, the writer, the artist, searches for something deeper: the solitude of power, the solitude of huge crowds where everyone is, politically, just 'the masses', 'my voters', 'my constituents.'

The writer searches for the hidden meaning of things, of human experience, of possibilities and choices. As writers, we do not ask for too much: we just demand the right to name the colours of our flowers, the intimate and intricate music of our birds as they sing our sadness and joy, the turbulent and rebellious hearts of our fellows, the funereal voices of social and political oppression, the cries of the lovers in each others' deadly and joyous embraces, the celebrations of the free human soul searching for the gods and the ancestors. The imprisonment of writers is a vain attempt to put ideas in a cage so that the artist can be humiliated in the zoo of ideas without possibilities and choices. Physical imprisonment is supposed to exile us from the public. It is a form of physical and artistic torture. For, we poison the minds of the public, the youths, the women and men reduced to manipulated machines by systems which specialise in torturing ideas and the imagination. 'Your books are beautifully written,' one education officer said to me. 'But we cannot put them in schools. They are too political. If you remove the political bits, we will prescribe them for children in schools,' he said. I cannot imagine an adulterated version of any of my novels. It would be an insult to the imagination and to creativity.

Oppressive political systems thrive on feeding the people on a diet of illusions, of power, freedom, smiles, happiness, wealth to the dispossessed, victory even at the height of oppression. A writer's task is to reject all that, to continue to name things in their proper shapes and sizes, to search for real meaning and complexity of the human condition. Exile, imprisonment, silence, harassment, oppressive laws, the secret service, all those are instruments created by our governments in order to torture human bodies and free ideas.

'You can disappear anytime we want,' is the slogan that I have had to confront for many years, from the men in dark glasses and suits. But even as writers are in prison, they still search, with the intimacy of their souls and the freedom of their words and imagination, for the freedom for words, images. We have, indeed, freedom of expression. But we demand more: freedom after expression. ' In saying ''this is who I am'', in revealing oneself, the writer can help others to become aware of who they are. As a means of revealing collective identity, art should be considered an article of prime necessity, not a luxury,' shouted Uruguayan writer, Eduardo Galeano, while in exile from his cruel, beloved homeland.

*Chenjerai Hove is a leading Zimbabwean author and has several published books and poems including the aclaimed novel BONES. This article appeared on the www.newzimbabwe.com website and reproduced here with permission of the author.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

African Blog Roundup

2005-08-31

Sokari Ekine

African Bullets and Honey (http://bulletsandhoney.blogspot.com/) reports on a Times of London article on “The Love Affair Between the Maasai and the English!”.
The language of the article is blatantly racist and mimics something out of a 19thCentury travel journal through “darkest Africa” to serve the tables of Victorian Britain in the construction of race and racism!

“The Masai embodied everything the English yearned to believe about primeval Africa; they were tall and slender and handsome, noble savages who looked the part, brave to the point of foolishness, peerless hunters and trackers...The only mammalian bipeds allowed to walk through the vigorously wardened spot are the Masai, who follow their bony cattle to waterholes and salt licks, lean ruminatively on their lion-killing lotus-bladed spears, and generally pretty up the place in their red togas, muddy punk hairdos and elaborate jewellery.”

Ghanaian blogger Life of David (http://davidmends.blogspot.com/) exposes corruption and misdeeds by the British government’s Department of International Development (DFID) in which some £18million in aid to Ghana was “blown” away.

Sticking with the theme of “corruption”, Nigerian blogger Grandiose Parlour (http://grandioseparlor.blogspot.com/) reminds us that corruption in Nigeria is still alive and kicking this time in the form of Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

"…Nigeria Vice President Atiku Abubakar broke the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on December 1, 2000. This is one and a half years after becoming the Vice President of Nigeria. On that day, he and his wife, Jennifer, bought a mansion in Maryland for $ 1,750,000. The house, a two storey building was constructed in 1988. The land area is about 2.3 acres. Today, that house is valued at over two million dollars.”

The VP has since had his home in the US searched by FBI agents but of course he is already denying any wrong doing saying:

"You see, I went to the US when I was in exile, when Abacha hunted us out, when we asked him to handover to a civilian government, then I have been having a home in that place and of course my wife has been having a home in that place since 1994. So what are you talking about?”

Nothing much has changed then has it?

A refreshing story from Inside Somaliland (http://insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/) on Somali music and instruments in which she focuses on “Dararamle, a very well known Somali singer/composer in the country”. Some great pictures here as well.

Exactly one year ago 10 people died in an explosion at a Sasol petrochemical plant in Secunda, South Africa. Mzansi Afrika (http://mzansiafrika.typepad.com/mzansi_afrika/2005/08/sasol_watch.html) reminds us the multinational Sasol, has done everything in its power to hamper the enquiry into the murderous blast.

“For one thing, the petro giant has refused to make their own internal inquiry into the accident public, for another they have paid minimal compensation to the families of those killed or injured. Many of those affected by the incident were contract workers, and because they were not directly employed by Sasol, the corporation was able to avoid paying any compensation other than covering hospital bills and funeral costs.”

Africa/Global: Access to water: a woman’s right?

2005-08-30

http://www.id21.org/society/r1fa1g1.htmlhttp://www.id21.org/society/r1fa1g1.html

Having enough water for food production is a key issue in many countries. As water becomes scarce and food requirements increase, there will be a need to produce more food using less water, to protect the quality of water and the environment, particularly in Africa. To achieve this, it will be necessary to improve women's access rights to water. Research from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations looks at the issues facing poor communities, and especially women, trying to ensure access to water.

Africa/Global: Focus on women's informal employment to combat poverty and gender inequality

2005-09-01

http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/118124/1/

A new report, released by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in anticipation of the 2005 World Summit, argues for closer attention to the role of women, particularly working poor women, in the informal economy, and the impact of this on efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. UNIFEM's report, Progress of the World's Women 2005: Women, Work and Poverty, is the third publication in a biennial series first introduced in 2000 to track and measure the world's commitments to gender equality.

Africa/Global: Gender, remittances and development

2005-08-30

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC19345

This paper presents key elements for the development of a conceptual framework that will allow a better understanding of the interrelationships between migration, gender, remittances and development. It identifies the main elements that are in play and that cannot be overlooked in a gender analysis of the sending, use and impact of remittances. The framework aims to establish the basis for formulating a more adequate response to questions such as: how does the growing feminisation of migration affect remittance flows? How can remittances contribute to the achievement of gender equality? And how can remittances be mobilised to achieve sustainable development that includes women?

Africa/Global: Negative consequences of industrial tariff liberalisation on women

2005-08-30

http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC19509&Resource=f1gender

This paper assesses the implications of the current non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations for developing countries with a particular focus on the impact on women. It highlights that if the major countries get their way, tariffs on industrial products will have tremendously negative impacts on industrial development in developing countries. Effects are likely to spread across three broad areas: budgetary and financial, employment / livelihood and entrepreneurship survival and growth prospects.

Niger: Women bear the brunt of hardships and food shortages

2005-08-23

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48713

Every day, Minta, a 40 year-old mother of six, fetches water for the household, does the laundry in the river, labours on her millet farm and, if there is food, prepares the family meals before collapsing into bed, exhausted. But during this particularly difficult lean season, there is no food, and the daily grind has become even more unbearable. With her youngest child wasting away from hunger, Minta has had to walk three hours in the scorching sun on an empty stomach in the hope of getting some food aid.

Southern Africa: SADC summit presents many challenges for gender equality

2005-08-30

The Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance on August 19 welcomed the decision by leaders at the just-ended SADC summit to endorse the African Union position on gender parity in all areas of decision-making. But the alliance expressed disappointment at the failure by Heads of State to seize the first opportunity open to them following this decision to “walk the talk” by appointing a woman to one of the two top positions in the SADC secretariat despite competent women having applied. The final communiqué is also silent on the recommendation made by the Council of Ministers that the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development be elevated to a Protocol for Accelerating Gender Equality. The Alliance issued a press release following the summit, which you can read by clicking on the URL provided.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SADC Summit: Many challenges ahead for gender equality

19 August: The Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance today welcomed the decision by leaders at the just-ended SADC summit to endorse the African Union position on gender parity in all areas of decision-making.

But the alliance expressed disappointment at the failure by Heads of State to seize the first opportunity open to them following this decision to “walk the talk” by appointing a woman to one of the two top positions in the SADC secretariat despite competent women having applied.

The final communiqué is also silent on the recommendation made by the Council of Ministers that the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development be elevated to a Protocol for Accelerating Gender Equality.

Vowing to continue the campaign for a binding sub-regional instrument on gender equality, the Alliance, that comprises ten NGOs from around the region, said the outcome of the summit underscores the fact that while “many milestones have been achieved, the struggle for gender equality is still far from over.”

In a statement, the Alliance noted that the endorsement of the AU position that failed to receive the support of leaders at their summit last year means that the target of thirty percent women in decision-making contained in the SADC Declaration has now been raised to fifty percent, but no timeframe has been set for achieving this.

The Alliance, whose slogan is “50/50 by 2020”, said it would continue to lobby for incremental targets and action plans to be developed by each country, with an ultimate target of the fifty percent being achieved by 2020.

While the Alliance congratulated the new executive secretary Tomas Salmao of Mozambique and his deputy Joao Caholo of Angola on their appointment, it expressed disappointment that the regional body had failed to lead by example in ensuring gender balance within its own top decision-making structures. Only one out of the seven senior management positions in SADC is held by a woman.

The Alliance also stressed that achieving gender equality extends beyond getting women into positions of power. Many more targets are required for ensuring that gender equality is achieved in the economic, social, constitutional and legal spheres as well. This underscores the recommendation made by the Council of Ministers that leaders adopt the principle of a comprehensive Protocol for Accelerating Gender Equality that would bring together all existing international and regional targets and commitments, and enhance these where gaps have been identified.

“We are encouraged by the statement by the spokesperson of the new Chair of SADC, President Festus Mogae, that this is something on which more time and consultation is required, but that can still be considered,” said Alliance spokesperson Colleen Lowe Morna, also executive director of Gender Links. “We are also heartened by the statement made by President Mogae as he took over the Chair that during his tenure Declarations will not be allowed to gather dust and that SADC will become a more results-oriented institution.”

Pledging to continue to engage with SADC leaders as well as raise public awareness and support for a SADC Protocol on Advancing Gender Equality, with the aim of this being adopted at the 2006 summit, the Alliance commended the media, especially in Botswana, for the coverage and prominence given to issues of gender equality during the Summit.

For more information contact Colleen Lowe Morna on clmorna@mweb.co.za; or 27- (0) 82-651-6995).

(The Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance comprises: Gender Links, the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) Network, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), SAFAIDS, Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), Women in Law in Southern Africa (WLSA), CREDO, the Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU), Women in Politics Caucus, Botswana and the Women Land and Water Rights, Southern Africa.)

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Swaziland: Lack of legal status hinders the progress of women

2005-08-18

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48649

Swazi businesswomen say the floundering national economy will benefit from their entrepreneurial talents when they are no longer constrained by discriminatory laws. Gender rights activists in Swaziland often use the story of businesswoman Thandi Khumalo to illustrate the personal and economic devastation that can result from Swazi women's lack of legal status as adults in traditional law. "She was robbed of everything she owned because, by Swazi custom, she was a minor. Her male relatives cheated her of everything she had earned as a brilliant businesswoman. That is why we are placing our hopes on the new national constitution, which is supposed to guarantee equality for women," said Cynthia Khumalo, Thandi's niece and a businesswoman in the central commercial city of Manzini.

Africa: International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

2005-08-31

http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/abolition-slavetrade-day.php

The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is celebrated on 23 August of every year. The night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade in the memory of all peoples.
Related Link:
The empire pays back
http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/O/origination/reparations.html

Africa: UN panel expresses concerns over enforced disappearances

2005-08-31

http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/0/D1A81B28CBF40839C1257069004A0A6D?opendocument

On the occasion of International Day of the Disappeared (30 August), the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances issued the following message: "The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) is deeply concerned that the phenomenon of enforced disappearances persists around the world. Since its inception in 1980, the WGEID has transmitted some 50,000 individual cases of enforced disappearances to Governments of more than 90 countries."
* Related Link
Vlakplaas Commemoration of International Day of the Disappeared: August 30, 2005
http://www.khulumani.net/

Chad: All Hissène Habré’s Henchmen to be Removed

2005-08-31

The Chadian government has declared that it will remove all the accomplices of Chad’s former dictator, Hissène Habré (1982-1990), from government jobs in the central African country, Human Rights Watch said in an August press release. The Chadian government’s announcement was made in a letter from Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji to Human Rights Watch and follows a July report by Human Rights Watch naming 41 leading Habré-era figures, many accused of torture and killings, who still held key posts in Chad.
All Hissène Habré’s Henchmen to be Removed

(New York, August 24, 2005) — The Chadian government has declared that it will remove all the accomplices of Chad’s former dictator, Hissène Habré (1982-1990), from government jobs in the central African country, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Chadian government’s announcement was made in a letter from Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji to Human Rights Watch and follows a July report by Human Rights Watch naming 41 leading Habré-era figures, many accused of torture and killings, who still held key posts in Chad.

The prime minister also said that the government would quickly consider a draft law to compensate Habré’s victims and would construct a monument to honor the memory of the victims as soon as it had the funds to do so.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the government’s announcement.

“The government has taken a long step towards breaking with the Habré era by finally getting rid of these men, accused of the worst crimes,” said Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch. “We hope the government also allows their prosecution to go forward and makes good on its promise to provide recognition and compensation to Habré’s victims.”

Habré, who fled Chad on December 1, 1990, was indicted in Senegal in 2000 on charges of torture and crimes against humanity. However, Senegalese courts ruled that he could not be tried in that country, where he remains in exile. Habré now faces similar charges in Belgium, where a judge is pursuing an investigation that may lead to an extradition request.

The prime minister’s letter, dated August 18, said that the “former members of the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS) will be removed from their positions awaiting their trial. The procedure is underway. Human Rights Watch will be informed when they have all been removed. Some already have.”

Those already dismissed include the powerful director of the Judicial Police who was deputy director of national security under Habré; a surveillance chief who was the director of Habré’s dreaded political police, the DDS; and a man described by a Chadian truth commission as one of Chad’s “most feared torturers.”

The letter added that the “draft law on the reparation of victims and their heirs will be put on the agenda on the National Assembly as soon as possible.” In May, the Chadian victims’ association, the AVCRP, presented a proposal which would provide monetary compensation to victims and their families.
The government's actions in favor of Habré’s victims come as the human rights situation in Chad has taken a worrisome turn. Four journalists have recently been sentenced to prison terms in Chad for publishing information critical of the government.

Background on the Hissène Habré Case

Hissène Habré ruled the former French colony of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990 by current President Idriss Déby and fled to Senegal. His one-party regime, marked by widespread atrocities, was backed by the United States and France, which saw him as a bulwark against Libya’s Muammar el-Qaddafi. Under President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. gave covert CIA paramilitary support to help Habré take power and remained Habré’s strongest ally throughout his rule, providing his government with massive amounts of military aid. A 1992 official truth commission report accused Habré’s regime of some 40,000 political murders and systematic torture.

Habré was indicted in Senegal in February 2000 on charges of torture and crimes against humanity, but the Senegalese courts ruled that he could not be tried there. Habré’s victims then filed complaints in Belgium under that country’s now-repealed long-arm “universal jurisdiction” law, and Senegal acceded to a U.N. request to hold Habré in Senegal pending an extradition demand. A Belgian judge and police team visited Chad in 2002, where they questioned victims and Habré-era officials, visited former prisons and took custody of the files of Habré’s dreaded political police, unearthed by Human Rights Watch in 2001.

The case was not affected by the repeal of Belgium’s “universal jurisdiction” law because an investigation had already begun and several plaintiffs are Belgian citizens. The Belgian judge is continuing his investigation and it is hoped that he will indict Hissène Habré and seek his extradition.

Human Rights Watch Press release

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South Africa: Farm workers tenure rights still under threat

2005-09-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48844

The number of mainly black workers evicted from farms has increased since South Africa's democratic era began in 1994, primarily due to perceptions of political and economic risk, says a new study. According to the National Evictions Survey, conducted by the Nkuzi Development Association and Social Surveys, just under 1.7 million people were evicted from farms in the period between 1994 and the end of 2004, compared to 942,000 in the previous decade.

Zimbabwe: As of beginning of August, clean-up operation continues

2005-08-30

http://www.zlhr.org.zw/media/releases/operation_aug_05.htm

"Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) notes with grave concern that over 1500 families previously at Caledonia Transit camp, Hatcliffe Extension and Porta Farm were forcibly relocated to Hopley Farm along the Masvingo Road on the understanding that they will be allocated stands and become beneficiaries of the government’s purported “Operation Garikai”. For the past one week or more the families have gone without a decent meal, clean water and sanitary facilities, or temporary shelter; they have had to resort to using nearby bushes for purposes of relieving themselves. They have been subjected to the most dehumanising conditions in total disregard of the instructive and critical findings of the United Nations Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe." - August 05 press release from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

Egypt: Interrelationships between internal and international migration

2005-08-30

http://www.migrationdrc.org/projects/theme2/AymanReport.pdf

Migration in Egypt is strongly influenced by poverty, economic difficulties and improper socio-economic policies. Until the mid-1950s, foreigners came to Egypt but Egyptians rarely migrated abroad. Egyptian internal and international migration - especially to Libya and Jordan - should be regarded as a sort of survival migration rather than migration for development, says one of the findings of the report.

Global/Africa: International cooperation between North and South to enhance refugee protection

2005-08-30

http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/RSCworkingpaper25.pdf

The responsibility to share the financial or physical burden for global refugee protection outside of a state's immediate territorial or jurisdictional obligation to not return refugees to persecution is recognised in the Preamble to the 1951 Refugees Convention. However, given that "burden sharing" has not been formally recognised as an international legal obligation, the states in the global south, as a result of the "accident of geography" of being closer to areas of conflict or human rights-abusing regimes, have assumed responsibility for hosting the overwhelming majority of the world's refugees.

Global: Transitional settlement: Displaced populations

2005-08-30

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900SID/EVIU-6FEDQB/$FILE/Transitional_Settlement_Displaced_Populations_2005.pdf?OpenElement

For the estimated 20 million refugees and 25 million internally displaced people worldwide, well-planned settlements can help to maximise their protection and security, and support them to minimise the spread of disease, manage natural resources sustainably, and maintain good relations with their hosts until durable solutions are achieved. The result of extensive consultations with a wide range of specialist organisations, this book takes a holistic view of shelter for displaced populations, extending beyond refugee camps to consider support for all of the settlement and shelter options open to displaced people.

Global: UN endorses new guidelines on property rights of displaced persons, welcomed as restitution tool for IDPs

2005-08-30

http://www.idpproject.org/thematic/Property/reports/UN_princ_housing_prop_restitution.pdf

In a significant step forward for IDPs’ rights to restitution, the Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons were endorsed by the UN Subcommission on Human Rights at its annual session held in Geneva in August. The Principles reflect standards of international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law. They also take stock of best practices developed in previous post-conflict restitution policies and programmes. The Principles emphasise the right to restitution and envisage compensation in certain circumstances, in particular where restitution is factually impossible or when peace settlements provide for a combination of the two.

Libya: Sahara, last journey of the damned

2005-08-30

http://www.irr.org.uk/2005/august/ak000011.html

The EU is advocating the creation of refugee regional processing centres in North African countries. Foremost amongst countries being recruited to enforce European border controls is Libya. A report that first appeared in the Italian newspaper L'Espresso on 24 March 2005 looks at how Libya treats refugees and documents the grim fate awaiting those returned to Libya from Italy under a recent migration accord.

Sudan: UN refugee chief calls on world leaders to help rebuild shattered lives

2005-08-30

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=15595&Cr=Sudan&Cr1=UNHCR

Standing underneath a huge shade tree in Yari, south Sudan, António Guterres told villagers that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is doing its best to help with schools and health centres so that people who fled 21 years of civil war between southern rebels and the Khartoum Government can come home and stay home. But more international funds are needed to develop the desperately poor region, he said. He drew a clear link between development aid, economic growth and peace for a long-tortured region where even today landmines still deface the landscape and claim lives.

Africa: No UN reform likely, say directors of Africa policy think tanks

2005-09-01

http://www.sarpn.org.za/newsflash.php#3472

The South African portfolio committee on foreign affairs has heard the perspectives on reform of the United Nations from three leading South African think-tanks: the Centre for Policy Studies, the Africa Institute of South Africa and the Centre for Conflict Resolution. The heads of all three civil society organisations appeared to agree that there will not be widespread reform of the United Nations, particularly its powerful Security Council, when the UN General Assembly meets next month to discuss the issue. This is largely because of the no-compromise position taken recently by the African Union forum of foreign affairs leaders dealing with the issue of a veto for new members with permanent seats on the Security Council.

Egypt: Election rules slammed by civil society groups

2005-08-31

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48835

The issuing of rules and directives for the upcoming Egyptian presidential elections by the Presidential Election Committee (PEC) on 28 August has enraged both the judges and civil organisations hoping to supervise the poll on 7 September. According to Nasser Amin of the Arab Center for Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP), the committee has left the names of the 500 most outspoken judges off the list of those supervising the election.

Ivory Coast: Opposition rejects poll

2005-08-31

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4195958.stm

The four largest opposition parties in Ivory Coast say elections scheduled for 30 October cannot happen and have called for a transition government. They argue that it would be impossible to hold free and fair presidential elections at that time, and point out that the country is still split in two. Ivory Coast, once West Africa's richest country, has been divided between north and south for three years.

Kenya: Constitutional rift deepens

2005-08-31

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4194240.stm

Kenya's former president, Daniel arap Moi, has rejected a draft new constitution, saying it would cause animosity and mistrust among Kenyans. The proposals, to be voted on in a referendum in November, are dividing the political establishment. Five cabinet ministers have broken rank with President Mwai Kibaki, calling for a 'No' vote in the referendum.

Kenya: New Kenyan NGO Focuses on Elections

2005-08-30

Elections International is a voluntary nongovernmental organization in Kenya that strives to build peace and enhance democratic practices by empowering citizens to conduct transparent electoral processes and services. Elections International was formed this year by citizens from diverse professional backgrounds with experience as electoral officers, election observers, civic education providers, and human rights advocates. The organization’s objectives are to empower citizens to conduct and participate in free and fair elections; monitor and observe electoral processes; analyze and advocate for reforms in electoral policies and statutes; build the capacities of electoral management bodies, electoral reform organizations, political parties, legislatures, and judiciaries in matters pertaining to elections; and to build partnerships with organizations with similar objectives. For more information, contact: electint@yahoo.com (Sourced from World Movement for Democracy)

Liberia: Presidential candidates divided over what to do about Charles Taylor

2005-08-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=48807

Candidates vying to be Liberia's next head of state are divided about whether to ask for former president Charles Taylor to be transferred from exile in Nigeria to stand trial for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone. Taylor has been served 17 indictments for crimes against humanity for his involvement and support to the Revolutionary United Front rebel faction in Sierra Leone, known for hacking off hands, feet, lips and ears of civilians during the 1991-2002 civil war.

Nigeria: Charles Taylor, Impunity and Liberia Elections

2005-09-01

As campaigns for Liberia’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections kick off, African and International Organisations have called on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and African Union Chairperson President Obasanjo of Nigeria to ensure Charles Taylor does not interfere in Liberia’s democratic process from Nigeria where he is currently exiled. In a statement issued on September 01, Mr Shina Loremikan of the Coalition Against Impunity campaigning for the trial of the former Liberian leader before the UN- supported Special Court for Sierra Leone stated: “ECOWAS and President Obasanjo must ensure that Charles Taylor does not, cannot and is unable to distort Liberia’s electoral process and results.”
Press Statement Issued 1st September 2005

Liberian Elections and Charles Taylor:
As Campaigns for Liberia’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections kick off, African and International Organisations Call on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and African Union Chairperson President Obasanjo of Nigeria to Ensure Charles Taylor Does Not Interfere in Liberia’s Democratic Process from Nigeria where he is currently exiled.


In a statement issued today, Mr Shina Loremikan of the Coalition Against Impunity campaigning for the trial of the former Liberian leader before the UN- supported Special Court for Sierra Leone stated “ECOWAS and President Obasanjo must ensure that Charles Taylor does not, cannot and is unable to distort Liberia’s electoral process and results.”

He continued, “It is bad enough that Taylor who is wanted by Interpol for crimes against Sierra Leonean, Liberian and other West African citizens is being sheltered from justice by the government of President Obasanjo. All indications are that he has the freedom to influence affairs in Liberia from Nigeria. President Obasanjo must guarantee that Taylor does not have any opportunity to affect the outcome of the Liberian elections”.

“Liberia is the epicentre of instability in West Africa and Taylor is the Chief Architect of this instability,” added Chima Ubani of the Civil Liberties Organisation. “The elections in Liberia are a crucial opportunity for Liberians to stabilise their country and by extension neighbouring West African countries”.

“ECOWAS cannot afford further conflict. Charles Taylor is responsible for launching 15 years of conflict which has affected four countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote D' Ivoire and Liberia, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions” emphasised Zainab Bangura founder of Campaign for Good Governance and currently Director of National Accountability Group in Sierra Leone. She noted further that “the Presidents of Guinea and Sierra L