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2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/29841

EDITORIAL: Nearly ten years after the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa the guns and intimidation of the Nigerian authorities still can’t kill his ideas, says Nigerian writer Ike Okonta
COMMENT&ANALYSIS
- Writer and filmmaker Carol Chehade explores genocide in the DRC and what it means for our common humanity
- Pambazuka News Q&A article: Jacob Lenka of the Transformation Resource Centre in Lesotho talks about displacement as a result of a World Bank water project
- Election observer Peter Hurst finds the democratic spirit alive and well in Somaliland
- Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni is on track for his next term, writes Ronald Elly Wanda
LETTERS: How does one get beyond intellectual analysis and practically move Africa forward?
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: The Khartoum Hilton isn’t the same place it was 11 years ago, Tajudeen Abdul Raheem discovered on a recent visit
BLOGGING AFRICA: Egyptian blogger, Baheyya, tells Mubarak his time is up
BOOKS AND ARTS: Pambazuka News reviews ‘Composing a new song: Stories of empowerment from Africa’
GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY: The road to Hong Kong Pambazuka News feature series; 40 million set to watch GCAP Standing Tall Against Poverty concerts across Africa
CONFLICT&EMERGENCIES: Economic reform is needed in rich countries if famine is to end in Africa, says a new paper
HUMAN RIGHTS: Who cares about human rights abuses in Kenya’s Export Processing Zones?
REFUGEES&FORCED MIGRATION: As long as Europe refuses to address the causes of poverty, African refugees will continue to storm Ceuta and Melilla, Thabo Mbeki stated in his latest ANC Today column
ELECTIONS&GOVERNANCE: Ex-footballer George Weah in the lead as Liberian poll results trickle in
WOMEN AND GENDER: What the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa says on trafficking in women and children; French version of closing statement of women’s rights conference
DEVELOPMENT: Trade unions from across Africa call for action on China textiles crisis
HEALTH&HIV/AIDS: Mental health and the MDGs; Nigeria Aids orphans crisis and South African anger over vitamin salesman
EDUCATION: No school fees for kids in Burundi, but what happens to quality?
ENVIRONMENT: There should be full public participation in the GM debate, says a PANOS report
INTERNET&TECHNOLOGY: There’s talk of a $100 computer for the developing world, but blog site www.knowprose.com says its complete hype
JOBS: Pambazuka News seeks East Africa regional correspondent. Visit http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29827 for full details.

Pambazuka News wins awards!

* PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy

Pambazuka News was recognized as on of the top 10 individuals, organizations and companies 'who are changing the world of Internet and politics.' Visit http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29839 for more information.

* Pambazuka News wins Highway Africa non-profit category

Pambazuka News has won the non-profit category of the sixth annual Highway Africa awards for the innovative use of new media. The awards are given annually at the Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown, South Africa, to recognize and promote the creative, innovative and appropriate use of new media technology in Africa. The judges had this to say about Pambazuka News: "This site was exceptional and clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the entrants and is world-class in terms of its rich content and excellent design."

Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa and the struggle for justice in Nigeria

Ike Okonta

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/29803

It’s nearly ten years after Nigerian activist and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) were hanged on the morning of 10 November, 1995. Present day Nigeria faces fresh protests in Saro-Wiwa’s stomping ground of the Niger Delta over authoritarian rule and the plunder of the environment by big oil companies. Ike Okonta writes that despite a strategy of state intimidation to suppress the demands of the Ogoni people, the words of Ken Saro-Wiwa live on and are firmly embedded in the political soil of the Niger Delta. (See below for French version).


In life, Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian writer and minority rights activist, was an elemental force. Like the sun that illuminates all that it touches, Saro-Wiwa’s work beamed a powerful searchlight on the crummy corners of the Nigerian state, illuminating the sordid acts of injustice and oppression that have been visited on the poor and the powerless in the country since it was cobbled together by imperial Britain in 1914.

It was a light that the wealthy and powerful found discomforting, and they resolved to extinguish it. Ken Saro-Wiwa was saying things they did not want to hear, even if all of it was true. Even more worrying, he had mobilized his people, the Ogoni, a small ethnic group in Nigeria’s Niger Delta where Royal/Dutch Shell and several other transnational companies had been producing oil for four decades without giving them any of the proceeds, to stand up and insist that enough was enough.

This was in the early 1990s. Ken Saro-Wiwa had written a small pamphlet in 1990 in which he spelled out the grievances of the Ogoni against the Nigerian state and Shell that was exploiting several oil fields in the area and had subjected the farmlands and fishing rivers of local people to devastation. Saro-Wiwa also spelled out how these grievances might be ameliorated, informed by a regime of rights that have been observed only in the breach since the turn of the 20th century. The Ogoni had been reduced to subjects by the British with the advent of colonial rule, an unhappy state of affairs that had been perpetuated by subsequent Nigerian governing elites. They wanted to reclaim their rights as citizens.

This pamphlet, which has since attained iconic status in the international environmental and human rights community, is the Ogoni Bill of Rights. A few months after it was published, Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni worthies banded together and established the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), a grassroots political organization they planned to use as a vehicle to achieve all the demands and goals in the Ogoni Bill of Rights.

MOSOP was a run-away success from the onset. The organization was ingeniously structured, taping into the age-old republican norms of the six federating Ogoni clans and embedding itself in all hamlets, villages, and towns in the Ogoni nation. MOSOP was not just an ethnic movement. It combined the civic and communal, encouraging women, youth, workers organizations and self-help groups to form their own branches that were then affiliated with the umbrella organization. Ken Saro-Wiwa, the guiding genius of MOSOP, was appointed its spokesman by popular acclaim.

On January 4, 1993, MOSOP and the Ogoni people marked the United Nations day of the world’s indigenous peoples with a peaceful march that saw 300,000 children, women and men in the streets of Bori and other Ogoni towns and villages singing songs of protest. The Nigerian subsidiary of Shell was declared persona non grata and its workers in Ogoni were peacefully expelled from the oil fields. The Nigerian military government was also asked to account for the 30 billion dollars worth of oil taken from the Ogoni oil fields since 1958, and to recognize the demand of the people for a measure of political and economic autonomy within the Nigerian federation.

This was the beginning of MOSOP and Ken Saro-Wiwa’s travails. Nigeria’s political elites had since the oil boom of the early 1970s, considered the oil fields of the Niger delta as a private fief, for them to do with as they saw fit. A raft of decrees and laws had been passed taking over the oil-bearing land of local communities in the area and transferring it to the central government in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Shell and the other oil companies had been encouraged to barge into this land to mine oil without paying adequate compensation to the rightful owners. Billions of dollars had poured into the coffers of these elites and their accomplices in Shell while the Ogoni, the Ijaw and the other minority groups pined away in poverty and neglect, denied such basic amenities as water, power, roads, schools, and hospitals.

Ken Saro-Wiwa threatened this cozy arrangement between Nigeria’s corrupt power elite and the oil companies, and they determined to do away with him. Beginning in mid 1993, a special military task force was established by the military government, and with the active cooperation of senior Shell Nigeria officials, proceeded on a campaign of terror, mayhem, and mass murder in Ogoniland. MOSOP elements were identified, isolated, and murdered or maimed. Women were raped. Homes were looted and razed to the ground. In all, 102 Ogoni villages were plundered and their inhabitants either murdered or driven out into the forests.

In May 1994 Saro-Wiwa was arrested by the government on trumped up charges of murder. Several other MOSOP members were detained along with him. After a judicially flawed trial that was widely condemned by human rights groups and opinion leaders world-wide, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP leaders were hanged in a Nigerian prison in the morning of 10 November, 1995.

In November 2005 it will be ten years since Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni Eight were murdered in cold blood by the Nigerian military junta and dumped into unmarked graves. Their intent was to remove the writer and activist from political contention in the Niger delta, and also rid Shell of its most powerful critic. But Saro-Wiwa dead has become even more of a potent force in the burgeoning campaign for minority rights, corporate social responsibility, and environmental protection than when he was alive. He has joined the eternal greats beautified by their selfless service to humanity, even at the cost of their lives.

All over the world preparations are being made to mark the tenth anniversary of Saro-Wiwa’s passing. Several non governmental organizations in Nigeria are banding together to establish a writers resort for the late writer who gave African literature such classics as ‘Soza-boy: A Novel in Rotten English’, ‘On a Darkling Plain’, and ‘A Forest of Flowers’. A memorial statute of Saro-Wiwa will be erected in London by a group of environmental and human rights groups. San Francisco will offer a musical concert and fundraiser on behalf of the Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation, recently established by the late writer’s son, Ken Wiwa Jnr.

Still, the present Nigerian government, and the oil companies to which it is in hock, are working feverishly to undermine the legacies of this moral and political giant, in the Niger delta and elsewhere in the country. A fresh wave of communal and civic unrest is sweeping through the delta as youth, women and communal leaders join their counterparts in other parts of the country to demand an end to authoritarian rule and the regime of impunity that has enabled the transnational oil companies to plunder the resources of local people and despoil their environment.

The government took delivery of yet another batch of fast attack boats from the United States in early September and has deployed them to the delta, ostensibly to check the activities of oil smugglers. But local activists say there has been a marked increase in military deployments in the region of recent, coinciding with the mass mobilisation of civic and political groups in the delta to frustrate the ruling government’s plot to perpetuate itself in office beyond 2007 when fresh presidential and local elections are due.

Niger delta leaders walked out of a conference convened by the central government in February to work out a new federal framework and an acceptable formula for sharing the oil revenue when their demand for twenty percent of oil receipts was rejected. They also refused to back a covert plan that would have enabled the President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to alter the provisions of the constitution and continue in office when his term expires in May 2007.

The increased military presence in the region, and the recent spate of detention of local leaders, is President Obasanjo’s way of retaliating against those in the region he now characterises as ‘subversive elements’. It is, however, unlikely, that these strong-arm methods will suppress the clamour for democratic accountability, self-representation, and proper consideration for the environment in the region. Saro-Wiwa was hanged in order that Shell might return to its oil wells in Ogoni. But the Ogoni have refused to back down, and the oil company is still persona non grata in the area twelve years after it was peacefully expelled from the Ogoni oil fields. The present wave of military intimidation will not achieve the result Nigeria's authoritarian leaders desire: unchecked plunder of the oil wealth of the delta communities. Saro-Wiwa's words have embedded firmly in the political soil of the Niger Delta.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was a writer and a man of ideas. He believed that the written word was potent, and that good ideas would endure no matter the travails and obstacles placed on their path. Saro-Wiwa was right. Ten years after he was brutally cut down, his word and ideas are as potent as when he first uttered them in the early 1990s.

* Dr Ike Okonta is a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. He's co-author of ‘Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights and Oil’ (Verso: London, 2003). He writes a weekly column for the Lagos daily, ThisDay.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Remember Saro-Wiwa
http://www.remembersarowiwa.com

Remember Saro-Wiwa is a coalition of organisations and individuals encompassing the arts and literature, human rights and environmental and development issues. Remember Saro-Wiwa is working with Ken Saro-Wiwa's family and the Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation (based in Toronto, Canada). Visit http://www.remembersarowiwa.com for a list of planned events and partner organisations.

Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa: Book titles resissued
http://www.africanbookscollective.com/

To coincide with the ten-year anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and in association with the Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa coalition, African Books Collective is reissuing some of his best known works. Visit the ABC website at http://www.africanbookscollective.com/ to browse the titles.

À la mémoire de Ken Saro-Wiwa et la lutte pour la justice au Nigeria
Dr. Ike Okonta

Ça fait presque dix ans que Ken Saro-Wiwa, activiste et écrivain nigérian, et huit autres membres du Mouvement pour la Survie du Peuple Ogoni (MOSOP) ont été pendus au matin du 10 novembre, 1995. Aujourd’hui, le Nigeria doit faire face à de nouvelles manifestations dans le delta du Niger, le territoire fréquenté surtout par Saro-Wiwa, à cause de lu régime autoritaire et du pillage de l’environnement commis par les grandes sociétés pétrolières. Ike Okonta écrit que, malgré la stratégie d’intimidation qu’emploie l’état pour supprimer les demandes du peuple Ogoni, les mots de Ken Saro-Wiwa vivent toujours et sont solidement enracinés dans le sol politique du delta nigérian.

Vivant, Ken Saro-Wiwa, écrivain nigérian et défenseur des droits des peuples minoritaires, était une force élémentaire. Comme le soleil, qui illumine tout ce qu’il touche, l’œuvre de Ken Saro-Wiwa était une torche qui a exposé les coins minables de l’état nigérian, illuminant les actes sordides d’injustice et d’oppression qui ont été commis contre les pauvres et les impuissants dans le pays depuis son origine, origine d’ailleurs mal organisé par les Britanniques quand ils ont pris possession du pays en 1914.

C’était une lumière qui a troublé les riches et les puissants, et donc ils ont résolu de l’éteindre. Ken Saro-Wiwa disait des choses qu’ils ne voulaient pas entendre, même si tout était vrai. Encore plus troublant, il avait mobilisé son peuple, les Ogoni, un petit groupe ethnique dans la région du delta nigérien du Nigeria, où Royal/Dutch Shell et plusieurs autres sociétés transnationales produisaient du pétrole déjà depuis quatre décennies sans leur en donner aucun revenu, à se mettre debout et à insister que cela en était assez.

Nous sommes au début des années 90. Ken Saro-Wiwa avait écrit un court pamphlet en 1990 dans lequel il a énoncé les plaintes des Ogoni contre l’état nigérian et contre Shell, qui exploitait plusieurs gisements de pétrole dans la région et qui avait dévasté les terrains agriculteurs et les rivières utilisés par le peuple local. Saro-Wiwa a aussi articulé les moyens par lesquels ces plaintes pourraient être améliorées, informé par un régime de droits qui ont été observés seulement dans leur infraction depuis le début du 20e siècle. Les Ogoni avaient été réduits à des sujets par les Britanniques sous la règne coloniale, un état malheureux qu’avaient perpétué les élites nigérians après leur appropriation du pouvoir gouvernemental. Les Ogoni voulaient reprendre leurs droits comme citoyens.

Ce pamphlet, qui a depuis atteint un statut iconique parmi les communautés internationales qui défendent l’environnement et les droits humains, est le Bill of Rights des Ogoni. Quelques mois après sa publication, Ken Saro-Wiwa et d’autres notables Ogoni se sont groupés ensemble et ont établi le Mouvement pour la Survie du Peuple Ogoni (MOSOP), une organisation politique au niveau de la base dont ils voulaient profiter afin d’accomplir toutes les demandes et tous les buts annoncés dans le Bill of Rights Ogoni.

MOSOP était un succès éclatant depuis son origine. L’organisation était structurée de façon brillante, tirant profit comme il l’a fait des normes républicaines et anciennes des six clans fédérants des Ogoni, et s’enracinant dans tous les hameaux, tous les villages, et toutes les villes de la nation Ogoni. MOSOP n’était pas seulement un mouvement ethnique. C’était un mélange des éléments civiques et communautaires, et a encouragé des femmes, des jeunes, des organisations d’ouvriers, et des groupes d’entraide à former leurs propres branches qui étaient associées, à l’époque, avec l’organisation centrale. MOSOP a nommé Ken Saro-Wiwa, son génie conducteur, comme porte-parole à cause de sa renommée populaire.

Le 4 janvier 1993, MOSOP et le peuple Ogoni ont observé le jour reconnu par l’ONU comme celui des peuples indigènes avec une manifestation paisible, une action qui a inspiré 300,000 enfants, femmes, et hommes à marcher dans les rues de Bori et celles d’autres villages, tout en chantant des chansons de protestation. On a déclara la filiale nigérienne de Shell persona non grata, et on a expulsé ses ouvriers postés à Ogoni des gisements de pétrole de façon paisible. On a demandé aussi au gouvernement militaire du Nigeria de rendre compte des 30 milliards de dollars de pétrole puisé des gisements de pétrole Ogonis depuis 1958, et de reconnaître la demande du peuple d’une mesure d’autonomie politique et économique dans la fédération nigériane.

Ceci était le début du travail pénible pour MOSOP et pour Ken Saro-Wiwa. Depuis la forte hausse du pétrole du début des années 70, les élites politiques du Nigeria avaient considéré les gisements de pétrole du delta nigérien comme un fief privé, dont elles pouvaient se servir comme elles voulaient. Elles avaient approuvé un tas de décrets et de lois qui ont pris possession des terres qui avaient appartenu à des communautés locales, terres qui étaient riches en pétrole, et elles ont transféré l’administration de ces terres au gouvernement central à Abuja, la capitale du Nigeria. Ces élites avaient encouragé Shell et les autres sociétés pétrolières à s’installer dans ces terres et à en exploiter le pétrole, sans les obliger de payer une compensation adéquate aux propriétaires légitimes du pétrole. Les coffrets des élites et de leurs accomplisses à Shell débordaient des milliards de dollars, tandis que les Ogoni, les Ijaw, et les autres groupes minoritaires languissaient dans la pauvreté et l’oubli, privés des nécessités fondamentales telles l’eau, l’électricité, les autoroutes, les écoles, et les hôpitaux.

Ken Saro-Wiwa a menacé ce rapport intime entre les élites puissantes et corrompues et les sociétés pétrolières, et donc elles ont déterminé de se débarrasser de lui. Vers le milieu de 1993, un corps expéditionnaire a été établi par le gouvernement militaire pour ce but singulier, et, avec la collaboration active de la part des officiaux les plus haut placés de Shell Nigeria, ce corps a procédé à une campagne de terreur, de chaos, et de meurtre en masse dans le pays des Ogoni. Des éléments de MOSOP étaient identifiés, isolés, et assassinés ou mutilés. Des femmes, violées. Des maisons, pillées et détruites. En somme, 102 villages Ogoni ont été pillés et leurs habitants ont été assassinés ou chassés dans la forêt.

En mai 1994, le gouvernement a arrêté Ken Saro-Wiwa et l’a accusé de meurtre, une accusation inventée de toutes pièces. Le gouvernement a retenu, en plus, plusieurs autres membres de MOSOP. Après un procès plein de défauts judiciaires qui a mérité la condamnation de nombreux groupes défenseurs des droits humains et des chefs d’opinion à travers le monde, Ken Saro-Wiwa a été pendu avec huit autres dirigeants de MOSOP dans une prison nigériane au matin du 10 novembre, 1995.

Ça fera, en novembre 2005, dix ans depuis l’assassinat de Ken Saro-Wiwa et les Huit Ogoni, tués avec sang-froid par le junta militaire du Nigeria et jetés dans des tombeaux anonymes. Leur intention, c’était d’enlever l’écrivain et l’activiste du conflit politique du delta du Niger, et aussi de se débarrasser du critique le plus fort de Shell. Cependant, mort, Saro-Wiwa est devenu une force encore plus puissante dans la campagne croissante pour les droits des peuples minoritaires, la responsabilité des grandes sociétés envers la population nigériane, et la protection de l’environnement, encore plus puissant qu’il ne l’a été quand il était vivant. Il s’est joint avec ces grands immortels dont le service désintéressé envers l’humanité, même au prix de leurs vies, les rend beaux.

Partout dans le monde, les préparations se font pour observer le dixième anniversaire de la mort de Saro-Wiwa. Plusieurs organisations non gouvernementales au Nigeria s’unissent afin d’établir un ressort pour les écrivains en l’honneur de l’écrivain décédé qui a légué à la littérature africaine des œuvres classiques telles « Soza-boy : A Novel in Rotten English », « On a Darkling Plain », et « A Forest of Flowers ». Une statue sera érigée en sa mémoire à Londres par un groupe d’associations qui soutiennent les droits humains et la protection environnementale. San Francisco offrira un concert musical et un projet organisé pour collectionner des fonds au nom de la Fondation Ken Saro-Wiwa, établie récemment par le fils de l’écrivain décédé, Ken Wiwa Jr.

Quand même, le gouvernement nigérian actuel, et les sociétés pétrolières envers lesquelles il est au clou, travaillent infatigablement à saper les legs à ce géant politique et moral, dans le delta du Niger et autre part dans le pays. Une nouvelle vague d’agitation communautaire et civile prend possession du delta comme des jeunes, des femmes, et des chefs communautaires s’unissent avec leurs semblables dans des autres parties du pays afin de demander une terminaison du règne autoritaire et du régime d’impunité qui a permis aux sociétés pétrolières transnationales de piller les ressources et de spolier l’environnement du peuple local.

Le gouvernement a accueilli, vers le début de septembre, la livraison d’encore un groupe de bateaux d’attaque rapide de la part des États-Unis, et les a déployés au delta, avec la prétention de suivre les activités des contrebandiers de pétrole. Pourtant, des activistes locales remarquent que, récemment, il y a eu un croissement signifiant dans les déploiements militaires dans la région, ce qui coïncide avec la mobilisation en masse des groupes civiques et politiques dans le delta, qui ont pour but de frustrer le complot de la part du gouvernement régnant de se maintenir au-delà de 2007, la date des nouvelles élections locales et présidentielles.

En février, les chefs du delta du Niger ont quitté une conférence organisée par le gouvernement central qui avait pour but d’esquisser un nouveau cadre pour le gouvernement fédéral et une formule acceptable pour le partage des revenus pétroliers. Leur demande de vingt pourcent des revenus était rejetée. Ils ont refusé, d’ailleurs, de soutenir un plan secret qui aurait permis au président, Olusegun Obasanjo, de changer les provisions de la constitution et de rester au pouvoir quand son terme se termine en mai 2007.

La présence croissante des forces militaires dans la région, et le nombre de retentions des chefs locaux dans des temps récents, ce sont les moyens par lesquels le président Obasanjo se venge de ceux dans la région qu’il caractérise maintenant comme « des éléments subversifs ». Il est, pourtant, peu probable que ces méthodes de force supprimeront la clameur pour la transparence démocratique, l’autoreprésentation, et une considération adéquate pour l’environnement dans la région. On a pendu Saro-Wiwa afin de permettre à Shell de retourner aux puits pétroliers dans le pays des Ogoni. Mais les Ogoni ont refusé de céder, et la société pétrolière est toujours persona non grata dans la région douze ans après son expulsion paisible des gisements de pétrole Ogonis. La vague actuelle d’intimidation militaire n’atteindra pas le résultat que souhaitent les chefs autoritaires du Nigeria, c’est-à-dire le pillage sans bornes de la richesse pétrolière des communautés du delta. Les mots de Saro-Wiwa sont fermement enracinés dans le sol politique du delta du Niger.

Ken Saro-Wiwa était un écrivain et un homme d’idées. Il croyait que l’écriture était puissante, et que les idées justes endureraient malgré toutes les difficultés et tous les obstacles mis sur leur chemin. Saro-Wiwa avait raison. Dix ans après sa mort brutale, ses mots et ses idées sont aussi puissants que la première fois qu’il les a articulés au début des années 90.

*Le Dr. Ike Okonto est Junior Research Fellow dans le département de politique et de relations internationales à l’université d’Oxford. C’est le coauteur de Where Vultures Feast : Shell, Oil, and Human Rights (Verso : Londres, 2003). Il écrit une rubrique chaque semaine pour le journal de Lagos, « ThisDay ».

*Veuillez envoyer des commentaires à editor@pambazuka.org

Remember Saro-Wiwa
http://www.remembersarowiwa.com

« Remember Saro-Wiwa » (« À la mémoire de Saro-Wiwa ») est une coalition d’organisations et d’individus qui englobe les arts et la littérature, les droits humains, et les questions de l’environnement et du développement international. Remember Saro-Wiwa travaille avec la famille de Saro-Wiwa et la Fondation Ken Saro-Wiwa (basée à Toronto, Canada). Visitez http://www.remembersarowiwa.com pour une liste des événements prévus et des organisations partenaires.

À la mémoire de Ken Saro-Wiwa : Ses livres réimprimés
http://www.africanbookscollective.com

Pour coïncider avec le dixième anniversaire de l’exécution de Ken Saro-Wiwa, et en association avec la coalition « Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa », African Books Collective vous offre des nouvelles éditions de ses œuvres les mieux connues. Veuillez visiter le site web ABC à http://www.aficanbookscollective.com pour une liste de tous les titres.

Pambazuka is grateful to Sara Gibson (Yale University) who has translated this article on behalf of Translations for Progress.

DRC: The seamless borders of genocide

Carol Chehade

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/29835

Carole Chehade explores genocide - “the crime that has no name" - in the DRC and what it means for our common global humanity. The reason why the suffering in the DRC has been ignored, she writes, is because it “takes more African genocides to equal one atrocity visited on a non-African nation”. Genocide in the DRC then is a result of the world’s corruption, greed and bigotry, which unless dealt with will destroy humanity.


If numbers really drove the genocide ratings, then one would think 3.4 million dead and 2.25 million displaced would be numbers that shouldn’t be ignored. Instead, the conflict in the DRC is viewed as another “tribal” clash in Africa, rather than what it really is: an international battle with many governments and multi-national companies contributing heavily to genocide, without ever getting their own fingerprints on the crime scene.

The area that is experiencing the most conflict is in the Kivu province, located on the Eastern side of the country. Like many African nations, the DRC is an ethnically rich and diverse melting pot. This ethnic diversity is not the primary reason for the war, simply because ethnic and racial conflict has never been powerful enough alone to drive genocide. The genocide in the DRC has roots in corrupt domestic and international leaders, greedy business interests, the DRC’s rich natural resources, conflict in neighboring countries and the artificial nip and tuck of colonialism.

The DRC’s history is largely shaped by genocidal forces. The precursor to the current genocide in the DRC is trumped by an even bigger one spread by Belgium’s King Leopold II. Leopold’s murderous reign wiped out over half the population of what was ironically known as the Congo Free State. Like most oppressors, Leopold fabricated the positive reputation of being dubbed the King Builder because he constructed so many buildings in Belgium. The bigger the genocide, the wealthier the nation becomes that perpetuated the transgression from the shadows. The Belgians eventually left, relinquishing their political rights to the people whose bones were sucked to the marrow by the vacuumed mouth of colonialism.

When the DRC gained independence in 1960, the west competed against the Soviets to shape the DRC into western political ideals. The US helped overthrow Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1960 because they feared he’d align himself with the Soviets. Instead, they backed Mobuto Sese Seko who helped CIA operatives dispose of Lumumba. When the Cold War ended, the west left many African nations, whose loyalties they bought for their own ends, with leaders who sold out their countries in exchange for perceived rewards.

During Mobutu’s era, anti-government alliances spread through the Kivu province. With growing anti-government rebellion, an influx of Rwandan refugees came into the DRC whom, in turn, were followed by hunters who were fresh from the Rwandan genocide. These hunters were known as the Hutus, who quickly created their own militia, known as the Interahamwe.

The DRC also had animosity against another Tutsi population, known as the Banyamulenge, who immigrated into the DRC hundreds of years ago. The Banyamulenge have a reputation as being successful citizens of the DRC who supported Mobutu. Because the Banyamulenge were a wealthy enclave, Mobutu returned the support but later relinquished the citizenship of all of the Banyamulenge, leaving them without protection. Mobutu’s shifting loyalties also drove him to openly support the Rwandan Hutus during the height of their extermination of Tutsis.

The brutal Mobuto regime outgrew the control of its American sponsors and, as a result, Mobuto was overthrown and replaced by Laurent Kabila in 1997. The honeymoon between Kabila and the US was short lived as the DRC fell deeper into the brewing conflict that exploded into a civil war that has cost millions of lives. Kabila quickly learned the limits of playing too many sides when he was assassinated in 2001. After the assassination, he was replaced by his son Joseph Kabila.


The unnatural deaths of the Congolese are inadvertently made possible by natural resources such as coltan. It is not oil that makes the DRC wealthy, but its diverse reserves which include a resource we use everyday in our technology-based society. Upon processing, coltan becomes a material which stores electrical charge. This hard to find commodity is found in the eastern region, which is coincidentally the heart of the conflict. Ironically we use coltan to help drive our information age, yet are clueless as to what human sacrifices help us get that information. This means the computers and cell phones we use are powered by the blood of genocide.

Incidents of rape in the DRC are amongst the most grotesque in the world. One of the most disturbing cases, which I have ever heard of, was the forcing of young men to rape their own mothers. The psychological chain of events that follows something this horrendous damages the sanctity of family, which in turn destroys a nation. I can enumerate even more brutalities, but are we so numb that the only way we feel for the victims of genocide is if they stand naked on the auction blocks of the world desperately trying to convince us of which atrocity is gory enough for us to finally act? The sophisticated wealthy class of internationals would be horrified if their wives, mothers and daughters were visited by armies of men waiting to rip apart the womb of one of their women.

The DRC’s genocide is a prime example of how many players it takes for a crime against humanity to occur. Wealthy businessmen from all corners of the world have all taken their turn in raping the voluptuous natural resources of the DRC until genocide screams out that there is nothing more left to ravage.

Although some of the world’s worst events are visiting the African continent with a vengeance, let us not conceit ourselves into allowing our subconscious racism to equate barbaric acts of genocide with African nations. My concern is not to argue whether Africans are more or less incorruptible; my argument is more concerned with where we, as a world community, place our concern.

Exterminating Africans has been the status quo for centuries. All African countries combined still are not enough to compete for world attention as one nation is in the Gulf. The US Constitution once called African Americans 3/5 of a person. Evidentially, that belief was never removed from our human constitution because it takes more African genocides to equal one atrocity visited on a non-African nation.

If we are to judge the worldwide exploitation by the powerful, then sadly the DRC is a logical result of our world’s corruption, greed, and bigotry, which blatantly takes without replacing. As a result, the most discriminated people on earth are reminding us that cause and effect is paid by those who have nothing to give but their lives.

Before the term genocide was coined in 1944 by scholar Raphael Lemkin, the Holocaust was recognized as "a crime that has no name." Part of the challenge of being able to do battle against any enemy is to call it forth by name. After the Holocaust, the world community rallied around the phrase, “Never again.” Yet “never again” has happened again and again.

Because genocide’s aim is to kill humanity, even the perpetuator will die. The seamless border of genocide means that this African World War will touch us across oceans and continents. Our interconnectedness means that since Africa was the cradle of humanity, then it will also become the death of humanity if we do not rise in its defense, which really means in our defense.

* Carol Chehade is a writer and filmmaker who runs a non-profit organization. She can be reached at www.onenewearth.com

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Lesotho Highlands Water Project: A dam fine mess

Question and Answer article

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/29836

In September, while the World Bank and International Monetary Fund prepared for meetings in Washington, 500 people marched in Maseru, Lesotho to protest the effect of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) on their livelihoods. One of the World Bank’s biggest projects in Africa, the LHWP pipes scarce water to South Africa and has been touted as a major development boost for the tiny mountain kingdom. But while South Africa benefits from the water, the project has been dogged by controversy, including the displacement of thousands of people. Now there is the possibility that new phases of the dam development could cause further hardship. Pambazuka News interviewed Jacob Lenka of the Lesotho NGO Transformation Resource Centre, which works with affected communities to enable them to express their needs and monitors the resettlement process.


PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What exactly is the plight of those people who have been displaced by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP)? How many people are involved?

JACOB LENKA: The plight of the Lesotho communities affected by LHWP is that they were not sufficiently consulted when the Project began. Of critical importance is that the communities were not compensated with land for land, they only received cash compensation. These communities are used to production from the soil. They were not again told about their rights vis-a-vis the Project; their right to water and development. The phase 1A has affected about 27,000 people while phase1B has displaced about 370 households, excluding those other people who have been affected in different ways than by displacement.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Apparently part of the development treaty was that people displaced by the project should be taken care of and that "the standard of living of all people affected by the implementation of Phase 1B should not be compromised and where possible improved'”. Why hasn't this been met? Who is responsible for the failure?

JACOB LENKA: Yes, the following articles within the Treaty talk about the improved standard of life for the affected: article 7(para.18); article 15 and LHDA order of 1986, section 44(2). Yes, the communities have been compensated for the property lost to the project, but as said above compensation was not sufficient. The have not been compensated with land, and they do not have rights to water and development, at least, these communities have not been made aware of these rights. After resettlement they can no longer send their children to school; they cannot feed and send their children to clinics; they were able to do these things before resettlement. This is real poverty and disempowerment. They also have not been trained and provided with sustainable training that would help them beyond compensation. The compensation that comes to them often comes late.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What is public sentiment in Lesotho about the LHWP? How do people feel about water being sold to South Africa while they suffer from drought and food shortages? And what is the level of awareness about those who have been displaced and their plight?

JACOB LENKA: Many people here are farmers. They will certainly want to have water for food production as well as water for drinking. Studies show that Lesotho will be water stressed in the next 25 years. Communities want water for irrigation. They want phase 2 to include component of development through water on the Lesotho side.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: More dams are going to be built as part of the project. What is the anticipated effect of any new dams on resident communities?

JACOB LENKA: The level of awareness amongst the affected communities is high. They have already formed their own civic organization; it is called Survivors of Lesotho Dams (SOLD). However, this level of consciousness does not translate into stoppage of the building of more them in Lesotho. The advice of the communities already affected to those who would be affected by phase 2 is that the latter should demand all compensation and resettlement packages before work starts, because once the work has started, the many promises are lost; the authorities often renege on these promises.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What lessons does the Lesotho Highlands Water Project hold for the rest of Africa?

JACOB LENKA: TRC is working on a booklet with partners. The booklet will reflect the experiences of TRC field workers as they were monitoring the Project. These experiences will be lessons for affected communities world-wide, the dam financiers and the NGOs. One lesson that Lesotho has stolen the show about is the prosecution of international companies that were involved in corruption in the Lesotho dams. Perhaps this will be a lesson for Africa in terms of what a small state can do to the giants.

* Interview conducted by email. Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Somaliland: The desire for democracy

Peter Hurst

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/29834

In 1991, the Somaliland region decided to unilaterally secede from its parent country Somalia after that country disintegrated into a stateless state ruled by competing warlords and their armies. Since then Somaliland, in the north-west, has held three elections, the latest being on September 29, when 800,000 of Somaliland's estimated 3.5-million people went to the polls. The international community has refused Somaliland's quest for recognition up until now. Election observer Peter Hurst asks if a clearly demonstrated desire for democracy will change the attitude of the international community.


The first notable feature of Hargeisa, the Somaliland capital, is the vast number of blue plastic bags littering the fields outside the airport. They are the by-product of the Somalis’ pastime of chewing qat, a mild stimulant plant. Roadside vendors sell bunches for $1.50 a bag and customers then discard the packaging. It is one of the smaller problems Somaliland has to deal with on its way to becoming a functioning state.

The drive into Hargeisa town centre reveals slightly larger ones. The three sets of traffic lights, looking out of place beside the ragged roads, don’t work even in the long afternoon rush hour, as there is no electricity.

Somaliland, an autonomous region to the north of Somalia, proclaimed itself independent in 1991 after three years of civil war to the south had resulted in the collapse of any functioning state. It has since built institutions and tried to deal with crime and unemployment – all without regressing into dictatorship or anarchy.

Somaliland can now claim to have another feature of a functioning and democratic state, in sharp contrast to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu: on 29 September 2005 it held parliamentary elections, the first in Somalia since before the 1969 coup that brought the dictator Siad Barre to power. Around 800,000 voters went to the country’s 985 polling stations to elect 82 members of parliament from the 246 candidates on offer. It was the culmination of a gradual process: after a 2001 constitutional referendum, 2002 municipal elections, a 2003 presidential election, Somaliland will now have a legislature to balance the leadership of the president, Dahir Riyale Kahin.

There is a two-week delay between the vote and the announcement of the results. The outcome could be a surprise. The president’s Democratic United National Party (Udub) is facing a serious challenge from its main rival KULMIYE. If KULMIYE (Solidarity) fails to win outright, it may form a majority coalition with the Justice & Welfare Party (Ucid). The first reported results, based on a counting of 105 ballot-boxes in Hargeisa, indicate its likelihood: KULMIYE won 40.71% of the votes, Ucid 29%, and Udub 30.25%. An opposition coalition would make Somaliland one of the few African countries where representatives of different parties lead the executive and legislature.

At the same time, all parties are new to the political field and the differences between them are not readily apparent. Most Somalilanders who are asked say they will vote for the president’s party to ensure stability, or for a particular candidate because of clan allegiance. No one mentions policies.

The world’s blind eye

Somaliland’s limited resources are evident in the election’s rudimentary facilities. It is equally striking - although the point is contested by analysts alleging a “rigged” election -that poverty has not destroyed quality of engagement. The main anomaly has been the lack of a voter registering. Somaliland’s investment in its institutions of state has not stretched to a census, any form of citizen registration, or the issuing of passports.

One result is that a Somalilander can vote in any polling station in the country, whether or not he or she lives in or has visited the area. The consequences include a large incidence of attempted multiple voting, though the citizens whose previously inked finger shows up under the ultra-violet light monitor do not look too upset. The good spirits extend to the many disappointed underage voters (wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the logos 2 Pac, 50 Cents and Falluja) who are turned away from polling-places.

In the region of Odweyne, to the east of Hargeisa, ballots and electoral material were not distributed until early evening on the day before the election. Soon after, heavy rain turned the dirt road to mud and left election officials stuck. In some case, material did not reach its destination until election day itself, restricting the time available for voting.

Another major issue has been the lack of a secret ballot. High levels of illiteracy have meant that many voters cannot read the ballot-paper and are not confident using pens to mark their “X”. Their only option is to announce their choice to the local chairperson, who marks the paper, folds it up and hands it to the voter to place in the ballot-box.

Despite these problems, the overriding impression to this observer was that Somaliland’s electoral process has been transparent, with little fraudulent intent, and full of a great enthusiasm for democracy. In an Odweyne polling-station, the first person in the queue was a 70-year-old man who had walked to the station by foot and had been waiting outside since 7pm the previous evening. Everywhere the queues were long and the voters appeared happy.

The problems surrounding the election must be seen in light of the fact that Somaliland has not received anything like the financial or logistical support given to the elections in Afghanistan or Iraq; neither does it have the same levels of disruption through violence. The international community has been of little help in Somaliland’s reconstruction: it still denies Somaliland international recognition, and instead supports a peace process for Somalia which has survived repeated setbacks but is yet to achieve definitive results.

True, the US issued a statement welcoming the election and praising its conduct, and the possibility of some recognition of Somaliland’s existence and integrity cannot be discounted. But it would take only a small fraction of the money invested in Afghanistan and Iraq to improve Somaliland’s democratic record. This small east African land has, after all, succeeded through its own efforts in cultivating the very democratic spirit that the US and its partners have struggled to induce in the Middle East. Will they now pay attention to Somaliland?

* This article first appeared on the web site of http://www.opendemocracy.net, which aims to pioneer a new type of independent media based on exchange and participation. Peter Hurst works as a public policy researcher in London. He was monitoring the elections in Somaliland with the Catholic Institute of International Relations (CIIR) and has previously monitored elections with the OSCE in the Balkans and Eurasia. The election monitoring team was facilitated jointly by Dr Steve Kibble and Dr Adan Abokor of CIIR.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Uganda: From one party to multi-party and beyond

Ronald Elly Wanda

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/29837

Referendums are the indulgence of governments who are confident that they will not loose. Such was the July referendum in Uganda, writes Ronald Elly Wanda, who says that the vote served as notice of President Yoweri Museveni’s candidacy for the impending 2006 elections. Wanda expresses concern at the undemocratic nature of Ugandan politics.


Since the dawn of political thought the question “who should rule?” has been a recurrent issue of argument and debate. More recently in East Africa, the referendum held on 28th of July in Uganda rekindles this interest. In the referendum the Ugandan electorate were asked to choose whether the state adopts a multiparty political system or continues with the existing mono (movement) arrangement. The result, as expected by the government was an overwhelming yes. According to the Electoral Commission chairman Dr Badru Kiggundu, 92.5% balloted yes whilst only 7.5% objected to altering the system. Understandably, without more ado, the opposition camp fittingly cited that the outcome was partly due to the fact that a large number of the 8.5 million electors stayed away from the 17000 polling stations.

As far as referendums are concerned, it is fair to say that governments tend to utilize them only when they are confident that they are in a strong position to win them. For instance in Britain, Tony Blair indefinitely postponed a planed referendum on the EU constitution, fearing defeat after it was clear that the French and Dutch nationals had rejected it. Five years ago Museveni, unlike Blair, knew that he would win when he petitioned Ugandans with the first referendum. As expected voters at that time again “overwhelmingly” rejected multi-party politics in favour of continuing with the President’s "no-party" system, the electoral commission then reported that 91% of voters favoured retaining the National Resistance Movement as the country's political system.

The purposes of the referendum for movementism in 2000 were as much the same as the now concluded referendum on multipartism. Only the ranks have been changed and the referendum question reversed. Thus they were a mere quantitative and not qualitative exercise; their real intentions designed to systematically marketise the “Kisanja project” (Museveni’s third term campaign) in time for the March 2006 presidential elections. Although the National Resistance Movement-Organisation (NRM-O) government would have Ugandans believe that the referendums were a result of yielding democracy, the reality is that external factors played a far more significant role. Furthermore, neither referendum had anything to do with enhancing the democratic franchise, in spite of the fact that the methodology employed (referendum) and the apparatus used (ballot vote) replicated a commotion in a liberal democratic system.

Democracy

Today only a few people in Uganda would admit to thinking that democracy is a bad thing. Nonetheless, the emergence of more than one recognised political grouping and the appearance of multi-party politics, as is the case now in Uganda, is not necessarily the same as democracy. There is thus a hazardous tendency to call a system ‘democratic’ simply because the incumbent government (in this case, NRM-O) says that it is.

A quick perusal of the history of democracy illustrates that it is a procedure that takes time. It also took time for a mature liberal democratic state such as England to realise democracy’s fruition. During the 17th century prior to the so called first democratic revolution, elite groups in England, regarded democracy as a threat to be overcome, and not a prospect to be encouraged. Indeed not so long ago in the 1940s the unrepentant imperialist Sir Winston Churchill when about to preside over the dissolution of the British Empire went on to confess that: “democracy was the least efficient form of government but that every other form was worse”.

In Uganda, as has been the case in almost all corners of Sub Sahara Africa, the process of democratisation has been unfairly pushed by international financial institutions (IMF, WB, WTO as well as the donor community) in order to fulfil their own agenda of “opening up Africa” to the global economy.

The result is best summed up by a key Nigerian political scientist Professor Claude Oke in 1993 when he said: “What is being fostered in Africa is a version of liberal democracy reduced to the crude simplicity of multiparty elections. This type of democracy in the least emancipatory especially in African conditions because it offers people rights they cannot exercise, voting that never amounts to choosing, freedom which is patently spurious, and political equality which disguises highly unequal power relations.” This is exactly what President Museveni is doing by reengineering the constitution to permit his third term candidacy and secondly by holding a meaningless referendum.

In order for democracy to be realised in Uganda, it must firstly be allowed to naturally evolve and secondly the law must be respected by all (including the President himself) as it is a key essential aspiration for democratic ideals. Decisions ought to be taken by the people. This means that:
- The mass of the people should have some say in what they are going to be, and not just told what they are as the July referendum did;
- This say should be genuinely theirs and also not manipulated by propaganda, misinformation and irrational fears; and that
- It should to some extent reflect their considered opinion and aspirations, as against ill informed and knee-jerk prejudice. Democracy being an evolutionary process, a democratic political culture ought to be encouraged and militarism discouraged.

Political culture

In Uganda since political independence in 1962 one finds that domestic socio-economic and political problems have been responsible in attracting military elements into usurping national political power. Indeed in the country’s last coup de tat in January of 1986, the incumbent president was seen as a political saviour whose NRM machination delivered Ugandans from a corrupt, and inept Dr Milton Obote’s UPC (Uganda People’s Congress) government. Resultantly, militarism has and continues to play a significant role in Uganda’s post –independence political culture. For instance the defence budget was $44m in 1991. It went up to $88m in 1996 and rose again to $155m in 2003. It was estimated at between $193 to $203m last year alone. According to tangible sources the cost of defence amounted to around 23% of the public administration to 20-23% of total expenditure. This is money that should have been better spent elsewhere, eradicating poverty and providing education and other rural developments.

Constitutionalism

Thus the process of democratisation in Uganda will continue being severely hindered unless the political culture of militarism is dismantled and the rule of law respected. NRM-O’s deliberate incapacitation of Article 105(2) of the 1995 Uganda constitution - that limits presidential terms to a maximum two five years, thus precluding Mr Museveni (who has been a continuous tenant of Nakasero State House since 1986) from contesting the March 2006 general elections - should serve as an indication of the President’s candidacy for the impending 2006 elections.

The Musevenisation of the Ugandan constitution should be condemned by all not only because it is undemocratic but also on the grounds that it is insincere. The long-term ramifications for Ugandans are that any future president might use this same clause to personalise constitutions to suit their individual needs- at the expense of the Ugandan mwanainchi (citizen). This is selfish and dangerous for it is the law that defines our responsibilities to the state and vice versa. Therefore it is also the law that provides for and defines the good of society. By contrast, the democratic justification of political power is essentially legalistic, being based on the legal idea of a contract.

Mr Museveni and his strategists have revised the terms of the contract (constitution) in the absence of the Uganda electorate, subsequently infringing the state/citizen contract. President Museveni’s has to a degree served Ugandans well but his quest for an extension is undemocratic and as such the preservation of the status quo sadly means that inhabitants of the “Pearl of Africa” may sadly never experience the pleasure of seeing an incumbent relinquishing political office voluntarily, thus rendering a coup inevitable.

* Ronald Elly Wanda is a political scientist based in London, United Kingdom.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Khartoum: The changing of the guard

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/29830

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem visits Khartoum for the first time in eleven years. In 1994, Sudan was at the height of Islamist rule, but now the hotel halls are filled with international NGO staff and Southern rebels struggling to change from their battle fatigues to fancy suits. There are many challenges ahead for peace in Sudan – not least of which are the expectations of the masses – and the new order will have to go beyond a change of uniform or the swapping of army camps for fancy hotels.


I was in Khartoum last week attending a conference of the regional organisation, Inter Governmental Agency on Development (IGAD), on building consensus around a peace and security strategy for the sub region. It was a follow up to a previous meeting early this year conveyed by IGAD with the support of the Addis based Inter Africa Group.

For many years IGAD has been synonymous with two of Africa's long running conflicts that have now been negotiated: Somalia and Sudan. Both have taken several years but IGAD leaders, supported by the African Union and other international actors have been very patient and persistent.

That patience paid off in the formation of a Government of National Unity for Somalia but unfortunately the government is yet to take the full reins of power in Mogadishu. The prospect for lasting peace in Somalia is also seriously in doubt given the increasing consolidation of self-rule in Somaliland.

However the Sudan negotiations, through Machakos and Naivasha, culminated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army / Movement (SPLA/M) and the Government of Sudan and the inauguration of a Government of National Unity with power sharing between the South, North and Centre and some representation for other parties.

While there is a lot of confidence that the peace may hold despite the unfortunate death of the charismatic 'strong man' of the SPLA, John Garang only three weeks after assuming office as the first vice president of Sudan, there are continuing concerns that Sudan's peace is not comprehensive enough given the continuing death and suffering in the Darfur region, where the Government of Sudan continues to aid and abet its Janjaweed militia allies in their attacks on mainly Black African Darfurians.

So both peace agreements that IGAD is justifiably proud of are not perfect. However this alone should not deny the organisation cautious optimism about its capacity to be a collective regional instrument for promoting regional integration and development and to be a forum for peaceful resolution of peace and security issues concerning the peoples of the region.

The conference was an attempt to document the often informal processes that led to the peace negotiations, reflect on the experiences and build consensus on a vision for the future. The conference can claim a modest success on this initial sharing of perspectives. The consensus document agreed after the three-day meeting - that brought together academics, think tanks, CSO activists, policy makers, diplomats, and foreign friends of IGAD –points to continuing engagement by IGAD within a framework of a people-driven and people-friendly regional integration vision.

While peace and security issues are of utmost importance, participants agreed that they are not just for inter state relations of governments or armed groups alone: The vision must be broadened to embrace human security and wider engagement of all stake holders. IGAD has to look at other aspects of regional integration that can promote wider peace in the region: regional citizenship, promotion of democratic governance, protection of human rights, informal linkages through social groups, students, women, youth, education, development of regional infrastructure, etc.

While the IGAD meeting was the reason I was in Khartoum, my main interest also included seeing for myself how the transition is shaping up - especially since the death of Comrade John Garang. The last time I was in Khartoum was 11 years ago. I had gone there to persuade the original NIF government of Dr Hassan Al Turuabi and General Omar Al Beshir to participate in the 7th Pan African Congress. They were angry with us for inviting Dr Garang and 'treating him like a head of state' when they considered him then a 'dangerous rebel'.

Arriving in Khartoum I could not help recalling the Chinese prayer 'May you live in interesting times'. If Garang was not dead I would have met him, holding court in the Khartoum Hilton, as the Vice President of the country with the same people who did not even want him at a Pan-African gathering a few years before. By coincidence it was the same hotel I was put in by the Government in 1994. Of course the atmosphere now and then were completely different.

In 1994 Sudan was at the dizzy heights of its Islamism, the NIF government reveled in its pariah status in the west and even considered it some kind of chivalry for Allah. The composition of those then milling around the Hilton was different. I remember there was a big American delegation of the Muslim-Christian Council led by Nation of Islam people, and other Islamist delegations from one country or the other across the world, all guests of the government.

But now the Hilton is dominated by: BINGOs, RINGOs, UN types, consultants, business wheeler-dealers and other assorted vultures of peace out for a grab of the peace action. But the most important residents in the hotel are the new SPLA/M elite looking every inch out of place. They reminded me of Miles Collines Hotel or Meridien in Kigali in 1994 after the defeat of genocide or the Intercontinental Hotel in Kinshasa after the exit of Mobutu.

You see the new rebel elite, recently made ministers in cities they had left several years earlier or never entered. The ones that fascinate me most are the former rebel commanders, in their new suits, usually ill-fitting because they are more used to their jungle fatigues. It is always amusing to watch these commanders trying to become civilians. Soldiers do not walk they march! So you see these big guys in their fancy suits and many of them with bulging inside pockets. There is also the problem of learning the new pecking order because you do not want to offend the new Big Men (and their few Big Women) who have become Honorable this, Excellency that, etc.

But beyond all this it was mixture of 'sadness and joy' returning to Khartoum. Sad that John Garang who had done so much to bring about this change was not there, but happy to see his colleagues continuing the struggle. Everyone I spoke to and commiserated on the death of our dear comrade left me with those comforting words "aluta continua'. They need this spirit if they are to make peace meaningful for southern Sudanese people and the generality of Sudanese.

Peace dividends must go beyond the exchange of military uniforms for smart suits; or from make-shift camps to the comfort of 5 star hotels and ministerial villas. There are just too many challenges ahead. First, there are the huge expectations of the masses that now that their 'boys' are in power their conditions will improve. This is a tricky one because the South has known only war and therefore the only industry is crude military-industrial in nature.

Two, many Southerners displaced by the war in northern cities, especially the millions in Khartoum, are hoping to escape the indignities of second class status in the north for the south where the SPLA and allies will be in charge. What work will they do? Where would they live?

Three, those remaining in Khartoum will need symbolic and practical measures that will begin to reduce their feelings of second class stature and apartheid type discrimination. How can one explain why most of the manual laborers digging around Khartoum in the many construction sites in a booming newly enriched oil country are Southerners? Why are most of the waiters, bellboys, cleaners etc in the Hilton of Negroid extraction? These are uncomfortable questions but they cannot be avoided if peace is to make sense to all these marginalized peoples.

Four, as it stands now the peace deal seem to be mainly between the north and the south with the assumption that both Beshir's wing of the NIF (a.k.a National Congress Party) and the SPLA/M will remain firmly in power both in Khartoum and Juba. So what will happen to other marginalized groups such as SPLA/M 's former allies in the NDA, rebel groups in Darfur and others that may also restart hostilities?

There are many other challenges but one vital one I have to mention is the question of a referendum due half way through the six year transition. I have no doubt in my mind that an overwhelming majority of southerners will vote for independence. Indeed one has the feeling that Dr John Garang was probably the only person left in the movement who still believed in a united 'New Sudan'. His death meant that the last ‘one nation’ Sudanese southerner has died and the road now (no longer if but when) leads to an independent Southern Sudan.

I know this conclusion is difficult to accept for many Pan Africanists but we have to ask ourselves what kind of unity we are building if citizens cannot feel or be treated equally in their own country. An optimistic half way house may arise if the Government of Sudan can demonstrate through genuine good will, real remorse and real actions during this fist phase in the transition that it has indeed changed. I am not naturally a pessimist but I have my doubts if the extremist core of this regime really wants peace in the Sudan or wish to devour their enemies in phases. It may be the case that the transitional period offers opportunity for a trial separation with a certain divorce after the referendum.

* 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

Global: International day for poverty eradication

2005-10-13

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/poverty/poverty_link3.htm

The October 17th message is: " Wherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure that these rights be respected is our solemn duty. " (F. Joseph Wresinski). The theme of the United Nations for the International day for poverty eradication 2005 is "Achieving the Millennium Development Goals - empowering the poorest of the poor." Since its creation, October 17th has been a day for those living in extreme poverty to speak out and for all citizens to consider how they can contribute to the eradication of extreme poverty. For more information follow the link.

UK/Global: Mass lobby for trade justice

2005-10-13

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/campaign/lobby

As crucial World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks approach in December, concerned citizens are invited to join a mass lobby in London on 2 November 2005 to demand that the UK government supports the call to make poverty history by delivering trade justice. The lobby is being organised by the Trade Justice Movement (TJM), in partnership with the Co-operative Bank. Another mass rally is planned for Brussels on 21 November 2005.

Adieu my brother Chima

Sonny Onyegbula

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/29846

It was with rude shock that I read of the untimely and needless death of my brother Chima Ubani. I have known Chima by reputation as the president of the students union of the University of Nigeria in 1985/86 sessions. Chima was an intelligent, committed and fearless leader. His sheer dexterity, eloquence and intelligence confounded many. Chima devoted almost all his adult life to fight for the poor and the voiceless. He was their voice and their true representative. I recall how in 1996 at the height of General Sani Abacha misrule when I went to Ikoyi prison for my normal routine of interviewing and filling applications for the release of awaiting trial prisoners who had been in prolonged detention without trial, I was surprised to see Chima who had just been brought to Ikoyi prison from one of the secret detention centers that the Abacha acolytes scattered all over Nigeria. I was delighted to take back the news to other comrades in the Civil Liberties Organisation.

As the Coordinator of the Centre for Democracy and Development, I have worked closely with Chima on other initiatives especially the CDD driven Citizens Forum for Constitutional Reform. In any initiative Chima undertook under the different fora that we collaborated, he displayed unimaginably commitment, drive and energy, which is rare to find among his peers. That Chima is no more is hard to take but we are all mere mortals and shall all meet our creator one day. Before I left Nigeria late in August I met Chima a couple of times mostly at meetings in Abuja. How could I have known that the last meeting in early August would be the last with the icon?

Like the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress said last week, I hold the Obasanjo government solely responsible for the untimely demise of Chima. The present administration has in the last six and half years of its mal-administration inflicted Nigerians with the most insensitive policies that have further impoverished the citizenry. Obasanjo and his cohorts have turned out to be uncaring despots, extremely autocratic and intolerant of other views or public opinion.

The untimely death of Chima should instead of making us weak should instead give us strength. What better legacy can we leave for the name of Chima other than to continue from where he stopped? We should use all democratic means to fight for the ideals for which he lived and died for. We should also not forget his dear wife, children and dependants. Chima was their breadwinner and now that he is gone, the civil society and all people of good will should remember to assist his family one way or the other. I will call on comrades at CLO to take the lead on this.

Adieu my brother Chima. We will never forget you.

The changing development discourse in Africa

Ladi Deborah Alabi, Nigeria

2005-10-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/29737

Prof. Issa Shivji's write up on the above topic (Pambazuka News 224) is intellectually sound but beyond intellectualism, where do we go from here?

Is it possible for Africans to look beyond the woes of the past and think practically about prospects for moving forward? Is it possible for Africans to understand that there is obviously no morality in international relations and in the politics of international sovereignty and dominance? Can Africans also understand that there is a high price to pay for both national and regional integrity as well as for power control and economic sovereignty? Can Africans see and understand that nations do not voluntarily surrender power and territorial dominace over other nations?

Perhaps these questions and the reality of the issues raised by these questions could help the African people refocus. Until then, I doubt if intellectual positions which have the effect of making us heap all the blame on the controlling nations, can practically move Africa forward.

Tribute to Chima Ubani

Dele-Israel

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/29790

Thanks for the ever informative and resourceful newsletter from your stables. It has become an invaluable link to civil society in Africa for most of us.

I will appreciate if you will use the list to bring the blogsite http://tributetochimaubani.blogspot.com which I created to pay tribute to Chima Ubani, Nigeria's formost civil rights activist who died recently in a motor accident while mobilising support for opposition to the recent fuel price hike in Nigeria.

The blog site is at http://tributetochimaubani.blogspot.com

Composing a new song: Stories of empowerment from Africa

Book Review

2005-10-10

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/29736

Edited by: Hope Chigudu
Published by Weaver Press Ltd, 2002
Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd.

‘Composing a New Song: Stories of Empowerment from Africa’ sets out to tell the stories of five African non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the processes by which they have been able to successfully empower those communities which they serve. The focus of each organization differs, but all have in common the fact that they work within communities often neglected by mainstream development. These five organizations are using tactics or methods which differ from the conventional – they are taking African principles and values and making them work for those people who need help. They are also very self-aware organizations – each taking into account not only the issues around which their work surrounds, but also the processes by which they endeavour to meet their goals. These organizations have been incredibly reflective, and offer here a view into the realm of NGOs and their management which one does not often get.

The word ‘empowerment’ represents an excellent idea and goal for development - to give power back to the people so that they may control their own development and gain access to their rights. But in many ways it is a term that has been co-opted by large donor agencies and has been tossed around as a guarantee of funding and method of right practice. Taken back into the hands of small, local organizations, some that even shun funding for fear that it may corrupt their work, empowerment can succeed, and as ‘Composing a New Song: Stories of Empowerment from Africa’ demonstrates, the principle does indeed exist in Africa.

Dr Olaseinde Arigbede of Nigeria, founder of the Coalition for Popular Development Initiatives in Nigeria (CODOPIN), writes eloquently of his personal and professional search for an organization unrestrained by the limitations imposed by donors. He also provides an interesting insight into how empowerment can really work with the methodology employed by CODOPIN, premised around the idea that people working for development must not simply be `infallible bringers of uncommon wisdom,’ but both teachers and learners.

Tomson Dube works for Zimbabwe’s Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP), and is Academic Director of Zenzele College (an institution within ORAP). His essay is an in-depth examination of the processes by which ORAP works. The organization is different from others in that it takes the concept of empowerment extremely seriously, placing in the hands of all members the responsibility to analyse their own particular situations and challenges in order to jointly make plans to meet their needs. This is then undertaken via the philosophy of ORAP, which relies on African principles found in the Ndebele language. Primarily, this is the idea of ‘zenzele,’ which means “do it yourself,” and translates into people standing on their own.

Patrick Kiirya, Director of Uganda’s Literacy and Adult Basic Education Organization (LABE), is the only Ugandan NGO to work on issues surrounding literacy. As an organization meant to support other NGOs and community based organizations (CBO), LABE works within all of the realms necessary for them to further their goals - they collaborate with government on issues surrounding policy, offer consultancy and support services for smaller organizations in the same field, and offer participatory courses to those who wish to learn how to read. They take their objectives further in linking literacy to development. They do this practically in the courses they offer, making sure that the course material is not only relevant to the lives of those studying, but also connects the process of teaching people to read to the very issues surrounding development in their community.

Emily Sikazwe is Executive Director of Zambia’s Women for Change (WFC), an organization dedicated to meeting the needs of rural women. Through their belief that one cannot know the needs of a community without living in it, WFC has animators living in the communities in which they work for 2-3 weeks out of every month. The organization has provided a number of income generating opportunities for their communities, and in addition, utilizes the knowledge of those women whom it has trained to subsequently teach other community members. Putting this power back into the hands of the women has instigated them to make further demands, not only on WFC, but on local and national government, demonstrating that with a little assistance, empowering a community to gain the skills and confidence necessary to make positive changes is indeed possible.

Leila Sheikh, Executive Director of the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA), represents an organization that has seen incredible shifts in its concentration. Beginning as an organization meant to use the media to sensitize communities on gender issues, and also lobby government for women’s rights, TAMWA, without losing their focus on awareness raising, has also created a Crisis Centre, in order to provide legal aid and counseling services to women and children who have survived violence. Evolving from a small collective that focused on media, the organization transformed into a larger association that works for women’s rights on all levels.

“Composing a New Song: Stories of Empowerment from Africa” is an important book for several reasons. Not only does it document the evolution of these five successful African organizations, it provides potential frameworks for other organizations looking to solidify their roles as organizations that truly wish to empower the communities in which they work. This collection of essays can thus be regarded as a tool for others in the field of African development, sharing many first hand experiences and lessons.

* Reviewed by: Karoline Kemp, Commonwealth of Learning Young Professionals Intern, Fahamu

The week in blogs: From Zimbabwe to Egypt

Sokari Ekine

2005-10-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/29781

Zimbabwean civic action group, Sokwanele - Sokwanele (http://www.sokwanele.com/) reminds us that the “crisis” facing Zimbabwe today is not one single issue but many. There is a severe crisis in the economy for instance, as in manufacturing, as in agriculture, in education, health care and so on. In fact just about every sector of the national life is plunged into deep crisis right now.

Health is of particular concern and while the main focus here has been on AIDS, there are in fact other health issues that have been neglected such as Sleeping Sickness spread by the tsetse fly.
This is a slow, wasting illness characterized by fever and inflammation of the lymph nodes, leading to profound lethargy that frequently ends in death; in other words, a most unpleasant way to die. However it is not just a case of “sleeping sickness as sleeping is the sickness”.

Egyptian blogger, Baheyya – Baheyya (http://baheyya.blogspot.com/) has a last word on the re-election of Mubarak - YOU ARE NOT WANTED – YOUR TIME IS UP.
“A decrepit regime faces off with a society in movement. Egyptian society is debating, organising, learning, mobilising, demanding, manoeuvring, grumbling, watching, transforming, and of course, sulking”.

Jewels in the Jungle - Jewels in the Jungle (http://jewelsnthejungle.blogspot.com) reports on diamond mining in the DRC via a photo essay in this months Foreign Policy magazine.

“A Trail of Diamonds” by photographer Kadir van Lohuizen who followed the trail of the diamond trade around the world. This trail is dirty, oft-times violent and bloody, and littered with the destroyed lives of marginalized and victimized children, young people, and adults from Africa to India who work as underpaid labourers and unpaid slaves in the mining, cutting, and polishing of billions of dollars ($$$) worth of diamonds every year.

Telegraphic Congolais - Telegraphic Congolais (http://kivu.blogspot.com/) is the only blog I know reporting from the DRC (periodically at least). Unfortunately it has not been regularly updated so its not clear who the author is (journalist, activist or both or neither). In his latest post he mentions the Goma film project which is producing a documentary “Heal My People”.

The film “documents the lives of rape survivors in the Congo as they work with medical staff and counsellors to regain their health and dignity. Documentaries like this require extreme sensitivity and one hopes that the voices of the women are presented without distortion and from an Afrocentric perspective.

Finally Mzansi Afrika - Mzanis Afrika (http://mzansiafrika.typepad.com/mzansi_afrika/) has a report on how AIDS is causing a dramatic increase in school dropouts.

“According to the report (HRW) millions of children in southern and eastern Africa are dropping out of school as a direct result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. “Other experts on this issue have made the obvious observation that the effect of Aids in the classroom will have long term consequences by dampening economic growth across the continent. One of the solutions that springs to mind would be for government to provide special grants to orphaned children who can't afford uniforms and school fees”.

Africa: Trafficking in women and children

2005-10-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/29740

As a part of the coalition supporting the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, Pambazuka News will profile various aspects of the protocol over the next six weeks. This week we will take a look at trafficking in women as it relates to the African continent. This is what the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa states:

“Article 4 – The Right to Life, Integrity and Security of the Person

2. State parties shall take appropriate and effective measures to:
g) prevent and condemn trafficking in women, prosecute the perpetrators of such trafficking and protect those women most at risk;”

Togo has seen larger numbers of traffickers selling children across the borders to Cote d`Ivoire and Nigeria, as it lies in the middle of a trucking highway, making it easy to transport people. The fact that border officials are paid little makes them more susceptible to accepting bribes, and for a small fee one can easily get a child across the border with no documentation. Many parents, desperate to earn some money or even to provide their child with a promised better-off situation, will allow their child to be taken away, and they then end up working as domestic servants or agricultural laborers.

As defined in the United Nations’ Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, trafficking is defined as “ . . . the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons . . . by improper means, such as force, abduction, fraud or coercion, for an improper purpose, like forced or coerced labor, servitude, slavery or sexual exploitation” (UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 2000).

The trafficking of women in Africa takes a number of different forms. Women are sold and kidnapped for the purposes of sexual slavery and prostitution, domestic or commercial labor and forced soldiering. Women from around Africa are being sold not only to other African countries, but are also being sent as far away as Europe, the Middle East and North America. Once enslaved in these situations, some girls and women are forced to pay off a debt – the cost of their acquisition, their accommodation, meals, medicine, etc. Generally, conditions are unsanitary, the girls and women face violence, have no access to health care or adequate nutrition and have no options to leave. The number of women and children who have been trafficked are hard to define for a number of reasons - this is an underground industry, and also a very transient one.

Many African countries are currently not meeting the standards that are upheld by the US Department of State’s Anti-Trafficking requirements, the most in-depth report on the effort of governments worldwide to prevent and prosecute traffickers and protect survivors. Some countries do not even have laws that criminalize trafficking, while many that do are not acting strongly enough to uphold them. Lack of enforcement, failure to actually punish traffickers, corruption and, in the case of forced soldiering, compliance with paramilitary governments, are all affecting the rights of women and children in relation to their safety against being trafficked. For those women and children who have survived and escaped traffickers, government protection is often weak. Some governments offer skeleton services – shelter, rehabilitation services, demobilization - but others rely solely on non-governmental organizations to provide the assistance that is their responsibility. In addition, prevention activities, such as awareness-raising sessions and anti-trafficking training are lacking, meaning that the number of women and children who are at risk of being trafficked can only grow.

That the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa has taken the step to include anti-trafficking measures is truly commendable. Governments will have to work diligently to ensure that this most basic human right is upheld.

* Written by Karoline Kemp, Commonwealth of Learning Young Professionals Intern, Fahamu

Afrique: Communiqué Final de la Conférence sur la Ratification et l’Appropriation du Protocole de l’Union Africaine à la Charte Africaine des Droits Humains et des Peuples relatif aux Droits des Femmes en Afrique

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/29843

Plus de 40 représentants de la Commission de l’Union Africaine , des gouvernements africains et du mouvement des femmes africaines se sont rassemblés à Addis-Abeba, Ethiopie, du 27 au 29 septembre 2005 en vue de discuter sur les stratégies de faire entrer en vigueur le Protocole à la Charte Africaine des Droits Humains et des Peuples relatif aux Droits des Femmes, sur la ratification universelle du Protocole, son appropriation et sa mise en œuvre. Nous affirmons que le Protocole est en effet le fondement du véritable panafricanisme dans lequel les gens se retrouvent et de la réforme constitutionnelle et judiciaire au niveau national au bénéfice de la concrétisation des droits des femmes africaines.
Communiqué Final de la Conférence sur la Ratification et l’Appropriation du Protocole de l’Union Africaine à la Charte Africaine des Droits Humains et des Peuples relatif aux Droits des Femmes en Afrique Organisée conjointement par la Commission de l’Union Africaine et le Mouvement de Solidarité pour les Droits des Femmes Africaines(SOAWR): Version Finale du 30 septembre 2005

Plus de 40 représentants de la Commission de l’Union Africaine , des gouvernements africains et du mouvement des femmes africaines se sont rassemblés à Addis-Abeba, Ethiopie, du 27 au 29 septembre 2005 en vue de discuter sur les stratégies de faire entrer en vigueur le Protocole à la Charte Africaine des Droits Humains et des Peuples relatif aux Droits des Femmes, sur la ratification universelle du Protocole, son appropriation et sa mise en œuvre. Nous affirmons que le Protocole est en effet le fondement du véritable panafricanisme dans lequel les gens se retrouvent et de la réforme constitutionnelle et judiciaire au niveau national au bénéfice de la concrétisation des droits des femmes africaines.

La vitesse avec laquelle les Etats membres ont ratifié le Protocole n’a jamais été égalée dans l’histoire des instruments semblables. Jusqu’à date, 13 Etats africains ont ratifié le Protocole. Il faut encore deux ratifications supplémentaires pour que le Protocole entre en vigueur. Nous sommes confiants que ces deux pays auront signé le Protocole d’ici la fin de l’année. Notre pression restera focalisée en vue d’assurer que le Protocole est ratifié par tous les 53 Etats membres de l’Union Africaine le plus rapidement possible. Ci-dessous un résumé des stratégies et recommandations selon les cinq domaines thématiques.

A. Ratification

Même si l’entrée en vigueur du Protocole est imminente, la campagne doit continuer afin d’assurer la ratification universelle. Ci-après les stratégies identifiées :
· Mobilisation en vue d’une plaidoirie au niveau national
· Traduction du Protocole dans les langues locales
· Réforme de la législation nationale afin qu’elle soit en ligne avec le Protocole
· Sensibilisation de tous les organes du gouvernement
· Création d’alliances entre les différents partenaires
· Inclusion du Protocole dans les processus de réforme judiciaire
· Recours à des initiatives de conscientisation basée sur la communauté
· Engagement de l’UA et de ses mécanismes spécialisés en vue de soutenir la campagne

B. La Déclaration Solennelle sur l’Egalité des Genres en Afrique, juillet 2004

Nous prenons note du fait que les mécanismes supplémentaires de responsabilité sont trouvables dans la Déclaration Solennelle sur le Genre en Afrique. La relation entre la Déclaration Solennelle et le Protocole est comparable à celle entre la Plateforme d’Action de Beijing (BPA) et la Convention pour Eliminer toutes les Formes de Discrimination contre les Femmes (CEDAW).

Nous rendons hommage à la Commission de l’Union Africaine pour avoir élaboré le projet d’un cadre de suivi et d’évaluation ainsi que celui de présentation des rapports (avec cibles et indicateurs), précisant le rôle du mouvement des femmes africaines qui doit être approuvé par une réunion des Ministres chargés du Genre et des Affaires Féminines qui se tiendra bientôt à Dakar, Sénégal, du 12 au 16 octobre 2005. Il a été proposé que les Etats africains préparent deux sortes de rapports :
Un rapport narratif complet tous les trois ans et un rapport comparatif chaque année sous forme de matrice qui répond aux cibles et indicateurs désignés. Le mouvement des femmes africaines aura connaissance des dates de présentation des rapports pour leurs Etats respectifs et il sera capable également d’accéder et de répondre aux rapports de leurs Etats à partir du site web de l’UA et de transmettre des recommandations générales et spécifiques. Le Mouvement des Femmes Africaines sera aussi capable de participer à travers les forums annuels des femmes africaines en marge des sommets de l’UA qui sont en train d’être institutionalisés.

Nous proposons les stratégies suivantes pour encourager la responsabilité dans le cadre de la Déclaration Solennelle :
· Etablir des liaisons à travers la Commission de l’UA et les organes concernés de l’UA.
· S’impliquer dans la réunion des Ministres des Affaires du Genre/ des Affaires Féminines avec pour objet « La Déclaration Solennelle » qui se tient à Dakar du 12 au 16 octobre 2005.
· Réviser et utiliser les mécanismes de suivi et d’évaluation élaborés par la Direction Femmes, Genre et Développement
· Edifier les capacités au sein des instances nationales chargées du genre afin de contrôler la mise en œuvre(y compris la recherche des ressources pour la mise en œuvre).
· Inspirer les termes de référence du mandat et des attributions du comité de l’UA chargé des femmes.
· Etablir des liens de travail entre l’ AUWC et le sous-comité genre du Conseil Economique, Social et Culturel (ECOSOCC).
· Organiser, au moment approprié avant la tenue de chaque sommet, la réunion de consultation annuelle des femmes africaines

C. Appropriation du Protocole

Nous réitérons le fait que beaucoup reste à faire pour s’assurer de la ratification universelle du Protocole, de même que son appropriation dans les Etats africains qui l’ont déjà ratifié et finalement, sa pertinence et son usage pour assurer les droits des femmes africaines au niveau national. Nous avons examiné les différents systèmes légaux qui existent en Afrique et nous constatons que les Etats africains doivent prendre l’initiative pour l’appropriation du Protocole même si rien n’empêche le mouvement des femmes africaines de le faire.

Que l’appropriation ait eu lieu ou pas, les Etats africains qui ont ratifié le Protocole seront obligés de transmettre, tous les deux ans, des rapports réguliers sur la mise en œuvre à la Commission Africaine des Droits Humains et des Peuples, ce qui permettra alors de préparer des observations, y compris des recommandations, sur lesquels les Etats africains présenteront un autre rapport après deux autres années.

Nous avons par conséquent identifié les stratégies suivantes pour faire progresser l’appropriation et la responsabilité :
· Œuvrer avec les parlements nationaux ainsi que ceux des communautés économiques régionales(CER) pour l’appropriation et l’harmonisation, spécialement sous les systèmes africains du Common Law ;
· Utilisation stratégique des événements internationaux afin d’atteindre les instances de prise de décisions des Etats et des Gouvernements ;
· Constituer des réseaux régionaux pour l’échange d’idées et des meilleures pratiques lors de la campagne ;
· Encourager les Etats membres à inclure le Protocole dans leurs processus de réforme judiciaire et particulièrement dans les processus de révision constitutionnelle ;
· Encourager les Ambassadeurs basés à Addis d’aviser les capitales nationales de la nécessité d’une ratification urgente et initier une discussion sur les démarches requises pour l’appropriation du Protocole.



D. Vulgarisation du Protocole

Il est crucial de s’assurer que les femmes africaines ont conscience du Protocole et de ses dispositions pour qu’elles soient disposées à en tirer profit. Nous proposons un nombre de stratégies pour l’Union Africaine en vue de donner leur appui dans ce processus de conscientisation, notamment par ce qui suit :

· Organiser des événements de haut niveau autour du Protocole avec une couverture médiatique nationale et internationale
· Encourager les hauts fonctionnaires des gouvernements afin qu’ils s’expriment en faveur du Protocole

Pour le mouvement des femmes, nous devons faire ce qui suit :
· Organiser des réunions régionales et nationales du mouvement des femmes africaines autour du Protocole
· Créer des alliances entre les femmes parlementaires et les regroupements parlementaires-aux niveaux régional, sous-régional et national
· Déterminer les cibles et les indicateurs clairs pour le Protocole et mener/diffuser une recherche qui montre l’écart entre les cibles et indicateurs en question et la réalité sur terrain
· Mener et diffuser une recherche autour de la couverture du Protocole et de ses dispositions au niveau des médias africains, et œuvrer avec les médias africains en se basant sur cette recherche
· Œuvrer avec les organisations médiatiques des femmes africaines, en particulier celles qui travaillent au niveau sous-régional, y compris par le partage d’information sur le Protocole et la formation sur la manière de faire cette couverture et ses dispositions
· Mener la campagne au sein des médias africains à travers le placement stratégique des contenus produits de l’intérieur, ainsi que l’usage proactif des autres opportunités 9par exemple les invitations à parler lors des interviews) et le lobbyimg pour lesdites opportunités avec les médias africains
· Assurer la couverture par les médias africains des réunions importantes (par exemple les sommets de l’UA) à travers les dialogues cyber, les communiqués de presse, les conférences de presse lors de ces réunions et l’implication du personnel approprié des médias africains dans toutes les réunions (personnes concernées des médias, les analystes, commentateurs, écrivains de colonnes de journaux)
· Assurer l’engagement avec les médias divers, particulièrement les médias communautaires (par exemple les radios communautaires) pour atteindre la base la plus large possible des femmes africaines
· Alimenter d’autres campagnes (par exemple les 16 jours d’Activisme contre la Violence Basée sur le Genre, événement organisé chaque année du 25 novembre au 10 décembre) et travail avec les principales organisations qui mènent la campagne sur les questions couvertes par le Protocole

E. Mobilisation des Ressources pour la mise en œuvre du Protocole


Il sera particulièrement important de s’assurer que les ressources adéquates sont disponibles pour la mise en œuvre du Protocole au niveau national. Nous proposons donc des stratégies suivantes en ce qui concerne la mobilisation des ressources pour la mise en œuvre du Protocole :
· Identifier les mesures non-monétaires qui peuvent être prises par les gouvernements afin de mettre en œuvre le Protocole, y compris la suppression de toutes les lois discriminatoires
· Tous les Etats doivent soutenir la nomination, d’ici mars 2006, du Rapporteur Spécial sur les Lois discriminatoires à l’égard des femmes par la Commission de l’ONU sur la Condition de la Femme (Résolution 49/3 de l’ONU)
· Identifier les voies simplifiées pour obtenir les allocations budgétaires de départ pour les Etats africains
· Identifier les obligations qui impliquent les coûts majeurs à cause des dispositions du Protocole à travers des partenariats avec les Initiatives de Budgétisation en matière du Genre au niveau national
· Elaborer des faits et des arguments pour les besoins budgétaires
· Construire des alliances au sein des composantes pertinentes de la société civile ainsi qu’avec des points d’entrée appropriés au niveau des hauts cadres et des parlements
· Promouvoir un débat public sur les exigences budgétaires (par exemple la taxation et les analyses des dépenses)

F. Contentieux et Négociation autour du Protocole

Le Protocole est un instrument légal pour la protection des droits des femmes africaines. Mais c’est un squelette légal qui a besoin d’une action de cour qui lui donne du sang et de la chair. Pour qu’il soit pertinent et important à l’échelle national, les participants ont discuté les stratégies légales devant accélérer sa mise en œuvre, y compris les règlements stratégiques des contentieux et la résolution alternative des conflits (RAC).

Le règlement stratégique des conflits inclut les tests constitutionnels de cas visant à déterminer et aborder les éléments d’ordre légal qui font obstacle à la mise en œuvre du Protocole afin d’accélérer le processus de réforme judiciaire requise pour l’appropriation et l’harmonisation. Ici les participants ont noté les nouvelles voies d’affirmation/plaidoirie des dispositions des droits humains sous la loi internationale relative aux droits humains, à savoir par : la théorie d’anticipation légitime ; le principe Bangalore ; et le principe interprétatif.

Nous avons identifié les stratégies suivantes :
· Soutenir les organisations des femmes africaines qui offrent le règlement stratégique des conflits
· Mener des activités liées au règlement stratégique des contentieux autour du Protocole et partager la jurisprudence sur le plan continental
· Soutenir tout dossier judiciaire de cour qui a un impact sur les droits des femmes, y compris une brève préparation amicus curiae
· Se servir du RAC pour faire progresser le Protocole là où cela convient
· Dispenser une formation judiciaire sur le Protocole
· Œuvrer avec les écoles de droit et les associations de barreaux sur le Protocole
· Faire une plaidoirie au sujet des nominations à la Cour Africaine
· Les Etats doivent signer la déclaration permettant aux individus et à la société civile de soumettre des cas à la Cour Africaine
· Entrer en partenariat avec la Coalition pour la Cour Africaine en ce qui concerne l’installation et la nomination, auprès de cette Cour, des juges qui sont compétents dans le domaine des droits des femmes africaines
· Accroître le nombre de nominations à la Cour Africaine d’ici le 30 novembre 2005- sur les 14 nominations reçues, quatre seulement émanent des femmes jusqu’à date.

Maintenir le soutien au Protocole

Il y a visiblement beaucoup de défis en ce qui concerne la concrétisation du Protocole. Alors que le Protocole n’est pas un « cadeau » mais concerne plutôt les droits de femmes, sa concrétisation demandera l’engagement et la créativité. Elle exigera l’édification de la puissance aux niveaux national et régional, ce qui entraîne l’expansion des zones d’action, la bonne structuration et notre information en ce qui concerne les possibilités qui existent quant à sa promotion. Il faudra également une pression consistante, stratégique et soutenue sur les Etats africains pour son entrée en vigueur, sa ratification universelle, son appropriation et sa mise en œuvre. Par conséquent, nous promettons notre engagement ferme et continu dans ces processus et nous demandons avec vigueur l’engagement de toutes les parties concernées.

Global: 1000 Women for peace not nominated

2005-10-13

http://www.1000peacewomen.org/eng/html/nominierte/index.php

This year's Nobel Peace Prize goes to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed El Baradei. The initiators of the project 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 congratulate the recipient of the prize. "Of course we are disappointed, as we had hoped very much that the 1000 women would be recognized for their untiring and courageous work in the cause of peace," said the initiator and Swiss politician Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, "but we are also proud that within less than three years we have brought attention to the outstanding work done by these women in the cause of promoting peace." In January 2005, 1000 women (representative of many thousands of such women) from more than 150 countries were nominated all together for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Global: World leaders must end gender apartheid

2005-10-13

http://www.unfpa.org

Global efforts to "make poverty history" will fail unless world leaders act now to end gender discrimination, according to The State of World Population 2005 report, released October 12 by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. The report, The Promise of Equality: Gender Equity, Reproductive Health and the Millennium Development Goals, calls upon world leaders to fulfil promises made to the world's women and young people in order to meet poverty reduction goals agreed to at the 2000 Millennium Summit and reaffirmed by last month's World Summit in New York. Investing in women and young people-who constitute the majority of the world's population-will accelerate long-term development. Failure to do so may entrench poverty for generations to come.

Liberia: Girl power takes centre stage as elections draw near

2005-10-13

http://tinyurl.com/chd3h

Liberia's first polls after 14 years of bloody civil war might see a woman elected president, in what would be a first not only for Liberia but also for Africa. And with more women than men registered to vote, they should have the final say at the ballot box October 12. It is no surprise, then, that sisters in this impoverished West African nation are in jubilant mood. "For the first time in history, women are at the forefront of the elections," said Leymah Gbowee, head of the Women In Peacebuilding Network. "Towards the end of hostilities, Liberian women protested for peace and that's when the foundation was laid for women to play a more active role." The woman leading the charge is Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, affectionately dubbed "the Iron Lady" after Britain's groundbreaking prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist with a resume boasting stints at the UN, World Bank and Citibank, wants to break a male stranglehold on power that has lasted almost 160 years.

Senegal: Economic Commission for Africa, African Union hold joint gender meeting in Senegal

2005-10-13

http://www.uneca.org

Over 30 African Ministers of Gender and Women's Affairs gathered Wednesday, October 12 in Dakar, Senegal, for a meeting of one of Africa's key groupings on women's affairs. Its core objective is advocacy for gender-sensitive policies and institutional changes at all levels. ECA and the AU have adopted a joint strategy to follow up on the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of this document and the Solemn Declaration on Gender and Development in Africa. The Dakar meeting will concentrate on defining a common national approach to this strategy, renewing membership of the CWD, and reviewing the work programme of ECA's gender division, the African Centre for Gender and Development, for 2007.

South Africa: Putting Gender Equality at the Forefront of Local Government

2005-10-13

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30591

A ground-breaking gender equality training course for local government officials has wrapped up in South Africa's financial capital, Johannesburg. "The course was the first of its kind in South Africa and the region involving gender and local government," said Colleen Lowe Morna, director of Gender Links: the non-governmental organisation headquartered in Johannesburg which organised the training. The programme was held amidst preparations for local government elections in South Africa, scheduled to be held within the next few months.

Sudan: Towards achieving the MDGs in Sudan

2005-10-13

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC13853

This Unifem publication outlines the efforts of Sudanese women and international and local partners to define a development agenda for the Sudan following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005. Compiled by a number of organisations including United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the publication highlights the involvement of women as being imperative to the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It calls for full participation of women within the peace process, community based regeneration and the reform of Sudan's constitution and legal process.

DRC: Australian mining company implicated in DRC massacre

2005-10-13

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2005/s1384238.htm

Four Corners, an Australian investigative TV programme, has revealed that an Australian mining company has been implicated in a massacre of at least 100 people. According to eyewitness accounts and investigation reports obtained by Four Corners, dozens of people, mostly innocent civilians, were summarily executed by soldiers with the logistical assistance of the Australian company. The bloodbath happened in the remote south-eastern corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kenya: In a situation like this, who cares about human rights?

2005-10-13

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/Africa/viewstory.asp?idnews=378

A World Bank loan of 30 million dollars established Kenya's first EPZ in 1990. There are now five around the country containing about 40 firms - with plans to build two more in the near future. The zones are intended to increase foreign currency earnings for the impoverished nation of almost 34 million people through exports to the United States and Europe. Almost 40,000 Kenyans, mostly women, are employed in the EPZs (up from some 26,000 in 2002), no small matter in a country where official statistics put unemployment at almost 15 percent. This success has been undermined, however, by persistent allegations of poor working conditions and human rights abuses in the zones.

Libya: Authorities should promptly provide fair trials, reform of repressive laws, says Human Rights Watch

2005-10-13

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/11/libya11860.htm

The Libyan Supreme Court's reported a decision on October 9 to retry 86 political prisoners is a hopeful sign of reform, Human Rights Watch has announced. These Muslim Brotherhood members have served seven years in prison for nonviolent activities after being convicted by a now-closed tribunal that violated fair-trial standards under Libyan and international law. "While the Libyan government had promised us that the political prisoners would be released unconditionally, their retrial is still a welcome step," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa director. "The Libyan authorities should now provide a prompt and fair trial with international observers."

South Africa: Access to energy 'a human right'

2005-10-13

http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=49&fArticleId=2941301

Energy access should be recognised as a fundamental human right, a parliamentary forum has recommended at a three-day international forum on energy legislation and sustainable development. The right to water, housing and food supplies are already recognised by the UN as a human right. "As these rights cannot be satisfied without access to modern energy services, we call for such access to be recognised as a human right and for the contents of such a right to be elaborated by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," delegates resolved.

Uganda: Challenging the death penalty

2005-10-13

http://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/ug425a.pdf

Alarmed by reports regarding the administration of the death penalty in Uganda, and aware that a petition filed in September 2003 against the death penalty, signed by 417 death row inmates, was pending before the Constitutional Court of Uganda, Networking Human Rights Defenders (FIDH), decided to send an international fact-finding mission to the country. The mandate of the mission was to inquire into the administration of the capital punishment in Uganda, including the conditions of detention on death row. The objective was also to assess the possibility of Uganda abolishing the death penalty, or adopting a moratorium on capital punishment, as a first step towards its abolition, and to issue recommendations in that regard. For the full report, follow the link.

Uganda: Human Rights Watch calls for conditional military aid to Uganda

2005-10-13

http://tinyurl.com/9e9xu

Military aid to Uganda should be tied to human rights performance in order to stem numerous human rights violations by both the military and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), says Human Rights Watch (HRW). 'It will be good for governments that give Uganda military aid of any kind, especially the United States, to tie such aid to human rights performance,' said Jemera Rone of HRW.

Africa: Is there anybody there!

2005-10-12

http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2005/at40.htm#preslet

"Ceuta and Melilla have however communicated the unequivocal message that in addition to Kananaskis, Gleneagles and Washington, Europe and the developed world rely for their welfare and the defence of their self-interest on yet another response to the appeals of the poor of Africa and the world. That response is made up of the fortress walls in Ceuta and Melilla that are being further strengthened to repel and exclude the poor of the South, the majority of humanity, from the Northern world of the European nations, which are part of the global prosperous minority. These are the countries of the North which have the wherewithal, but lack sufficient will, to end the poverty that drives thousands of Africans to walk from as far south as the Democratic Republic of Congo, across many African countries and the Sahara Desert, to reach Fortress Europe, symbolised by Ceuta and Melilla. Because the prosperous of Europe refuse, still, properly to listen to the poor of Africa, the wretched of the earth died and were injured as they battled to breach the walls of Fortress Europe at Ceuta and Melilla." - Thabo Mbeki, South African president, writing in his weekly column ANC Today.

Africa: Job creation in Africa vital to stop crisis on Morocco-Spain border – UN official

2005-10-11

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16163&Cr=West&Cr1=Africa

Voicing concern over the situation of migrants trying to cross from Morocco into Spain’s enclaves on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, a senior United Nations official in West Africa warned that what is happening there now with African youth is nothing compared with what might occur within a few years. Tens of millions of youths in West Africa lack proper employment, and their realization that their prospects are so limited in their home countries is driving ever more of them to undertake the desperate measures necessary to emigrate clandestinely to Europe or North America.

Europe/Africa: EU countries compromising global refugee protection by abandoning their responsibilities at EU borders

2005-10-11

http://net11.amnesty.se/www/aktuellt/pressnotiser/ext/doc?docid=aidoc%5Cpress/(xml-webbreportage)/326D6AA95A655317802570960052915E

European Union countries are increasingly abandoning their responsibilities to protect refugees in an effort to combat "illegal immigration", as the recent tragic events near the Spanish enclaves in North Africa show, Amnesty International has said. "Shamefully, EU Member States are shifting the burden of refugee protection to other countries which may be ill-equipped to deal with the ever increasing numbers of displaced people. In the process, international commitments to humane treatment and the principle of 'non-refoulement' are being violated. The overall effect is not only to strain the EU's own credibility, but to threaten the very integrity of the international refugee protection system, " said Dick Oosting, Director of Amnesty International's EU Office.

Liberia: Refugees rebuild lives as first post-war elections get underway

2005-10-11

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/18a1a8ed18175a8ecea9a4a82f5a22e8.htm

While Tuesday's election is a hopeful development for the 1.3 million Liberians expected to vote, reintegration remains a considerable challenge. Liberia's economy collapsed during the years of civil war, and refugees and displaced people alike face a dire situation upon return. Despite the work of the international community and of the people of Liberia to rebuild the war-torn country, it will probably take years to restore Liberia's economy. Nearly 85 per cent of Monrovians are jobless. Usually, it is women who engage in small trading activities, walking the streets of Monrovia with plates on their heads selling a few items to feed their families.

South Africa: Refugees adopt a "Wait and See" approach

2005-10-11

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=30561

Refugees and civil society groups have reacted cautiously to statements by a high-ranking South African official condemning the treatment of refugees by police. In a meeting with refugee representatives held in the commercial hub of Johannesburg, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula acknowledged that police were harassing and soliciting bribes from refugees.
However, groups which deal with refugees are waiting so see whether Mapisa-Nqakula's comments will result in real improvement of South African attitudes towards refugees, who are often the targets of abuse and exploitation.

Sudan: 90,000 refugees live in Darfur Kalam camp

2005-10-11

http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=381840

About 90,000 refugees live in Kalam camp, in Sudan`s western Darfur region, reeling under armed conflict between two rebel groups and Sudan government forces, according to a recent census released by World Vision International. It promised to continue a census of refugees in camps located in southern Darfur in order to ensure the effectiveness of its action. "The enumeration of occupants of camps is central to the evaluation of their needs for the improvement of humanitarian assistance, mainly in food and basic needs," noted a press release.

Ivory Coast: Ivorian opposition reject Gbagbo

2005-10-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4329916.stm

Ivory Coast's opposition have rejected an African Union (AU) proposal that President Laurent Gbagbo should remain in office for another year. The AU had said this would give him time to organise delayed elections which had been scheduled for October. Four opposition parties said Mr Gbagbo was responsible for the current impasse and called for a neutral leader. The Ivorian crisis began three years ago when the New Forces rebels seized the north of the country. In their meeting last week, the AU had said Mr Gbagbo should appoint a prime minister for the next year acceptable to all, to assume executive powers.

Liberia: Liberian poll results trickle in

2005-10-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4332946.stm

First official results have been declared in Liberia after the historic elections following the 14-year civil war which ended in 2003. With votes counted from a fraction of the 3,000 polling stations, one of the favourites, ex-footballer George Weah, is ahead in the presidential race. He has 27.5% of the 34,901 votes counted. Another fancied contender, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has 16.7%.

Malawi: Political crisis may jeopardise Malawi

2005-10-13

http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/120095/8/39885

Malawi's political crisis has distracted government and caused parliament to lose focus amid a hunger crisis threatening more than four million people, and could also jeopardise foreign aid, warns the British High Commissioner.

Tanzania: Pre-election violence in Zanzibar

2005-10-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4325950.stm

At least 17 opposition Civic United Front supporters have been injured, five sustaining bullet wounds, in clashes with police on Zanzibar. Witnesses said police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of people prevented from attending a CUF rally on Sunday. CUF spokesman Salim Bimani called on Zanzibar's police chief to resign. Tensions have risen as Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar prepares for elections on 30 October.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe wants senate election on November 26

2005-10-13

http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,113840,00.html

Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, has fixed a November 26 date for elections to a new house of parliament criticised by the main opposition, state television reported October 12. Mugabe had already said the election would take place late next month. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which since 2000 has posed the biggest challenge to Mugabe's quarter-century rule, has not yet decided whether it will contest the Senate elections. The MDC has said the Senate is designed to accommodate Mugabe's supporters, and the party, like many Western governments, accuses Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF of rigging elections over the past five years. Mugabe used Zanu-PF's two-thirds majority in parliament to push through constitutional amendments in August, including provision for the Senate. Fifty members of the 66-seat Senate will be elected and the remainder appointed.

Africa/Global: Making revenue disclosure effective in the extractive industries sector

2005-10-13

http://www.eldis.org/csr/extractive.htm

The revenues paid by companies in the extractive industries sector are an important source of income for many developing countries. A lack of transparency in the disclosure of these revenues persists, however, preventing real progress in combating corruption, improving governance and ultimately reducing poverty. The International Accounting Standards Board has initiated a process that will lead to the definition of new disclosure standards for the industry. A report by the Publish What You Pay Coalition highlights why such standards should require upstream extractive industry operators to disclose revenue payments on a country-by-country basis.

Africa: How corruption holds back Africa's oil industry

2005-10-12

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=118886&src=dcn

Corruption is costing Africa's oil industry billions of dollars annually, says Peter Eigen, founder and chairperson of Transparency International (TI) - a non-governmental group based in Berlin that monitors and fights graft. Oil-rich Angola, Chad, Libya, Nigeria and Sudan all fared poorly on TI's corruption perceptions index for last year. This annual rating ranks various states according on the extent to which graft is viewed as having taken hold there.

Senegal: Health corruption study makes headlines in Senegal

2005-10-11

http://web.idrc.ca/ev_en.php?ID=87470_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

In August and September 2005, a GEH-funded project investigating corruption in the Senegalese health care system had its findings published in a number of Senegalese daily newspapers, creating a storm of activity, debate, resignations and firings. Research findings revealed widespread corruption in the Senegalese health sector, and were presented to and discussed before the country's Council for Economic and Social Affairs. For the articles and preliminary analysis, visit the URL provided.

South Africa: Zuma appears in court

2005-10-12

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4329070.stm

The former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma has appeared in a Durban court facing corruption charges. Mr Zuma, who was dismissed from his government post in June, maintains he is innocent. Hundreds of supporters waved banners and blew horns outside. No details of the charges were read out and the case was adjourned until 12 November for further investigations.

Zimbabwe: World Bank says allocating funds to Harare sheer waste of resources

2005-10-12

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6H43EQ?OpenDocument

The World Bank says it may withhold financial aid to crisis-torn Zimbabwe to "set an example" saying allocating money to President Robert Mugabe's government would be a "terrible waste of funds." World Bank boss Paul Wolfowitz said on Tuesday the financial institution would be allocating funds "very, very carefully, and in the case of Zimbabwe perhaps not at all. My Africa experts say that with the kind of misgovernment that is taking place in Zimbabwe, it is not clear that development is possible at all.”

Africa: African aid to be consolidated into single action plan

2005-10-13

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1585642,00.html

All the commitments made by both donors and African countries to lift the continent out of poverty will be consolidated into one action plan and monitored on an annual basis, the Department for International Development announced. The leading Group of Eight nations have pledged universal access to HIV treatment by 2010. There has also been a commitment to set a date for the ending of export subsidies, which will give poor countries a fairer trading environment with the west. Anti-malarial drugs and treated mosquito nets will be available to 85% of Africans vulnerable to malaria by 2015. Meanwhile, African nations have pledged to undergo a review of democratic processes once every two years.

Africa: Calls for action on China over textiles squeeze

2005-10-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/29776

Trade union representatives from the clothing, textiles, footwear and leather sector from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa met in Cape Town on the 10th and 11th of October to discuss the effects of the Multi-fibre Arrangement (MFA) phase out and its effect on the future of the African textiles, clothing and leather industries. The meeting was facilitated by the International Textile Garment & Leather Workers' Federation's Africa Region (ITGLWF-Africa). The representatives concluded that the African continent has lost more than 250 000 jobs over the past few years, resulting in more than a million African family-members having lost the stable source of their livelihood.
PRESS RELEASE: CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST CHINA GROWS

11 OCTOBER 2005

PRESS RELEASE: IMMEDIATE

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE ITGLWF-AFRICA REGION

(IF FURTHER COMMENT IS REQUIRED, PLEASE CONTACT ITGLWF-AFRICA REGIONAL
SECRETARY, THABO TSHABALALA ON CELL NUMBER 083 640 8200)

OVER 250 000 JOBS LOST IN AFRICAN CLOTHING, TEXTILE AND LEATHER INDUSTRIES -
CALL FOR ACTION AGAINST CHINA GROWS

Trade union representatives from the clothing, textiles, footwear and
leather sector from Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia,
Tanzania, Nigeria, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa met
in Cape Town on the 10th and 11th of October to discuss the effects of the
Multi-fibre Arrangement (MFA) phase out and its effect on the future of the
African textiles, clothing and leather industries.

The meeting was facilitated by the International Textile Garment & Leather
Workers’ Federation’s Africa Region (ITGLWF-Africa).

The representatives concluded that the African continent has lost more than
250 000 jobs over the past few years, resulting in more than a million
African family-members having lost the stable source of their livelihood.

They noted that cheap textiles and clothing imports from China have flooded
the domestic African markets, which has seriously injured the clothing,
textile and leather sectors in Africa, and resulted in loss of precious
productive capacity, factory closures and retrenchments.

The representatives called for coordinated action by African governments to
institute temporary safeguard measures against Chinese imports of textiles
and clothing, on the basis of China’s WTO Accession Protocol.

The meeting also resolved to call for Summit in Africa on the future of the
clothing, textile and footwear industries, with strong participation by
trade unions, investors and governments, in order to develop commitments for
a common action plan to grow the industry and the welfare of its workers.

A full declaration was signed at the conclusion of the meeting. This is set
out below:


Resolution of the participants of the Trade Union Conference on “The Future
of the African Textiles and Clothing Industries”,
Held in Cape Town on 10-11 October 2005

We, representatives of workers in the clothing, textiles, footwear and
leather industries of Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia,
Nigeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe,
having met in Cape Town on 10 and 11 October 2005, at a trade union
conference on “The future of the African Clothing and Textiles Industries”:

Noting that:

There has been a significant change in the global textiles and clothing
sectors over the recent past, particularly since the beginning of 2005, due
to the expiry of the Multifibre Arrangement (MFA), and the elimination of
quotas as set out in the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC);

The continent has lost more than 250 000 jobs over the past few years, with
large numbers of job losses in Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Nigeria,
Ghana, Mauritius, Zambia, Madagascar, Tanzania, Malawi, Namibia and Kenya.
This means that more than a million African family-members have lost the
stable source of their livelihood;

Cheap textiles and clothing imports from China have flooded our domestic
markets, which has seriously injured our industries, resulted in loss of
productive capacity, factory closures and retrenchments;

Loss of export orders and the flood of imports from China have also led to
pressure on wages and working conditions of workers in textiles and clothing
companies. This pressure has led to an increase in underpayment of workers,
casualization and contract work in the industries in the region;

China’s Accession Protocol to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) provides
for safeguard measures to be taken by Governments in case of imports from
China in textiles and clothing that cause market disruption and/or injury to
the domestic market;

African countries are pressurised to reduce trade protection and support for
both infant and sensitive industries, though countries in the north and in
Asia have used trade policies as important complementary tools for
industrial development;

Governments compete for foreign direct investment through unsustainable and
socially-damaging policies such as relaxation of labour rights and offering
ever-increasing fiscal benefits, infrastructure and services; these packages
pit one African government against another in a bidding war to draw foreign
investors to their country with a net-benefit only to multinational
companies;

Foreign investors in some cases have left the country overnight, closing the
factories without offering any retrenchment benefits;

Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are increasingly created as a means to
attract new investment. These EPZs are often characterised by bad working
conditions, low wages, long working hours, forced overtime work and absence
of trade unions;

There is a lack of a common approach of the African governments with regard
to the issues of trade and investment in textiles and clothing. No
coordination among the governments takes place, and no common policies are
adopted towards investors and the attraction of investment;

The development of the industry under current trade preferences has failed
to significantly develop production along the value chain, by using cotton,
wool and other raw material production, through spinning, weaving, knitting
and design into finished goods production processes;

Trade issues are often seen as the preserve of Ministries of Trade, with
little stakeholder participation, and yet, trade agreements impact on
practically all aspects of development;

A strong dependence of our textiles and clothing industries has been
created, through the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), on the US
market and on preferential treatment, and to a lesser extent on the EU
market for some African countries through Cotonou, that utilization rates
have been rather low in the case of the EU Generalised System of Preferences
(GSP) due to strict rules of origin;

Globally, retailers procurement very often contribute to the erosion of
labour rights as they source from countries and companies with very poor
labour rights;

Buyers have substantial power to impact positively on the labour rights
violations of workers in foreign companies;

Trade preferences are likely to be eroded within a relatively short time
frame, due to negotiations on market access of non-agricultural products
(NAMA) in the WTO, including sectoral negotiations on textiles and clothing
with the aim to get zero tariffs in these sectors; And that there is no
systematic research and database on the impact of the removal of preferences
and trade agreements;

Global economic pressures require trade unions to cooperate more actively in
order to pursue the mandate of fair standards and decent work;

Cooperation of unions in the sector still needs to be strengthened to
achieve common positions and joint actions and campaigns;

The current trade in imported second-hand clothing has significant negative
effects on employment in the industry and is not the most effective way of
combating poverty.

Believing

The African clothing and textile industry can grow in output and employment
provided policies are developed to modernise the industry, strengthen the
skills of the workforce, develop capacities in product quality and
innovation.

Now Resolve:

To call on governments to put in place a comprehensive industrial and trade
policy approach aimed at coping with the impact of the Agreement on Textiles
and Clothing (ATC) in every country where the textile and clothing sector is
significant, with different and specific measures tailored to the situation
in each case and aimed at retaining and increasing employment in the sector;

To call upon governments to make better use of the inputs available on the
continent through strong beneficiation programmes and to develop a strategy
for restructuring of the industries through integration of a regional value
chain in textiles and clothing, by using the different strengths of the
different countries;

To call for coordinated action by African governments to institute temporary
safeguard measures against Chinese imports of textiles and clothing on the
basis of China’s Accession Protocol;

To address the need for training of workers to upgrade their skills and
increase productivity and to modernise the industry through improved
technology and methods that allow for innovation and efficiency;

To improve social dialogue on the future of the textiles and clothing
industries, between governments, businesses and organised labour at
national, regional and continental levels;

To ensure unions in the textile and clothing industry re-orient their
approach and build capacities in industrial and trade policy through
pro-active and innovative strategies;

To market the region as an ethical source of goods, requiring commitment
from business and governments to eliminate sweatshops, in order to capture a
share of the “Fair Trade” market;

To call on governments to promote decent work through an expansion in the
quantity (more jobs) and quality (better labour standards) of clothing and
textile employment on the continent and to work to eliminate casualisation,
job insecurity, underpayment of workers and other forms of poor labour
practices;

To gather information with regard to the impact of the ending of the MFA,
such as company closures, job losses, wages, working hours and violations of
labour legislation as well as on foreign investor profiles and incentives
Such information should be gathered by each trade union, and should be sent
to ITGLWF Africa Office, in order to create a database of information for
research and lobby work;

To call upon governments of the African Union to coordinate amongst them the
attraction of foreign investment, in order to avoid destructive competition
for investment among African countries, to avoid a race to the bottom in
terms of incentives offered to investors; to develop guidelines on
maximising the benefits of such investment (through measures such as
technology transfer agreements and training in high level skills) and to
ensure that domestic investors are not discriminated against in the
provision of incentives and facilities;

To call on SADC governments to fully implement the Charter of Fundamental
Social Rights and to ensure that effective enforcement and follow up
mechanisms are in place;

To call upon governments of the African Union to build a social floor in
Africa, including respect for and full implementation of core labour
standards in the continent and promotion of Decent Work;

To call upon governments of the African Union, in coordination with the
African Group in the WTO, to coordinate strategies on trade policies and
trade negotiations, in particular with regard to NAMA negotiations, opposing
the sectoral negotiations, and to prepare proposals that address the issue
of preference erosion in a satisfactory way. In addition, the need for
policy space has to be safeguarded and should not be undermined by
negotiations in the WTO;

To call on governments to ensure that measures are put in place to address
the negative impact of trade in imported second-hand clothing while at the
same time ensuring that our domestic industries are able to provide
affordable clothing to poor people;

To call on governments in the developed world to expand trade preferences
offered to African countries, including through improving the terms of
existing agreements and the rules of origin;

To ensure coordination among trade unions and information gathering on the
issue of smuggling of products and dumping, in order to reduce the impact of
these on the domestic market, and to ensure coordination among governments
of the African Union and the establishment of measures, and the building of
institutional capacity to eliminate all forms of illegal imports and
smuggling;

To promote an alternative development strategy such as the sustainable human
development approach adopted by the UNDP;

To lobby governments to support a Policy Coherence Initiative among
multilateral institutions, with strong ILO involvement, aimed at creating
and expanding decent work opportunities in the clothing and textile
industries on the African continent;

To undertake a major campaign to increase the rates of unionisation among
workers in the industry, to identify through a public list the names of
companies denying workers the right to join unions (including through a list
of the 10 worst employers on the continent) and to campaign in solidarity
against anti-union practices;

To campaign that multinational corporations and major global retailers
increase their sourcing from the African continent, support fair labour
standards, comply with all legal obligations and promote decent work;

To call for a Summit in Africa on the future of the clothing, textile and
footwear industries, with strong participation by trade unions, investors
and governments, in order to develop commitments for a common action plan to
grow the industry and the welfare of its workers.

Africa: EU boosts aid to Africa by $10bn

2005-10-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4335954.stm

The EU has pledged to increase its aid to Africa by $10bn (£6bn) to $30bn (£17bn) in the next five years, BBC News reports. The move comes after talks between the head of the EU's executive branch with his counterpart from the African Union in Brussels. The EU's new aid strategy would make Africa its top priority. However, it depends on EU leaders being able to agree their next long-term budget - something they have so far been unable to do.

Africa: Food aid - from reactiveness to sustainability?

2005-10-13

http://www.eldis.org/aid/index.htm

The most immediate form of assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable people is food aid. Yet, while this may be an effective short-term measure, questions are being raised about long-term sustainability, and about the role of donor countries in promoting local food security. This week the Eldis (a development, policy, practice and research website) Aid and Debt Resource Guide features papers that consider various aspects of the debate over food aid. A paper from the OECD considers the phenomenon of tying food aid, restricting its sources to a few donor countries. A paper from the All Parliamentary Group for Debt, Aid and Trade argues for the need to build agricultural capacity in Africa, so that responses to food insecurity cease to be reactive.

Africa: World Bank/IMF Losing Relevancy, South Says

2005-10-12

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30398

Developing countries have expressed strong dissatisfaction with their current "under-representation" at the World Bank and the IMF, warning that they are losing their significance. "We have a situation that a small number of countries are controlling these institutions," said Ariel Buira, director of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty Four (G24) on International Monetary Affairs and Development Secretariat in Washington.

Global: DFID's aid conditionality policy under fire

2005-10-13

http://www.eldis.org/aid

The UK's Department For International Development's new aid conditionality policy stresses that developing countries need to be equal partners in determining how aid is spent, and in setting specific goals on which aid disbursement will be conditional. A new report from Mokoro critiques the policy, arguing that the conditions are not being consistently applied or understood between countries, and lack clarity on the particular 'triggers' for aid disbursement or withdrawal.

Africa: Does mental health play a role in achieving the MDGs?

2005-10-12

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC19849

This paper from the journal PloS Medicine notes that mental health is absent from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, it cites evidence which indicates that mental health-related conditions, including depressive and anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, and schizophrenia, contribute significantly both to the number of years lived with disability and lost due to disability in developing countries. It highlights further research which shows that poor mental health is closely linked to social determinants, notably poverty and disadvantage, as well as to HIV and AIDS and poor maternal and child health.

Guinea-Bissau: More than 300 dead in cholera epidemic

2005-10-13

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49520

Deaths in the cholera epidemic raging in tiny Guinea-Bissau have passed the 300 mark, prompting authorities to ban the sale of drinks and food by street vendors as well as forbid all traditional ceremonies. The health ministry said on Wednesday that the epidemic has claimed 305 lives and stricken 19,054 people in four months. Sources in the ministry said that despite measures to halt the spread, the four-month-old epidemic was gaining ground.

Namibia: HIV/AIDS takes sustenance as well as lives

2005-10-12

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49426

HIV/AIDS is robbing subsistence farmers of the ability to grow enough food, according to a new survey conducted in northern Namibia. Out of 144 HIV-affected households in the Oshana, Oshikoto and Okavango Regions, 86 percent did not produce enough mahangu (pearl millet) and maize to meet their calorie requirements, said a report this week by the Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU).

Nigeria: Children orphaned by AIDS slipping through the cracks

2005-10-12

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49393

Five year-old Fati could barely hold back her tears. This little girl who loves going to school had just been sent home. Like the other three kids turned away at the gates on the first day of classes, Fati is HIV-positive and has been orphaned by AIDS. Her head low, her uniform not quite hiding a stomach swollen from the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs she's been taking for a year, Fati, which is not her real name, clung to Cathryn Barrera, director of Mother's Welfare Group (MWG).

Senegal: Yellow fever epidemic confirmed in interior

2005-10-12

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49489

Health authorities launched an emergency yellow fever immunisation drive in one of the most under developed regions of Senegal after officials confirmed the killer virus had claimed one life raising fears of more deaths to follow. The confirmation of a single case of yellow fever in Tambacounda last month, some 500 km east of the capital Dakar, is officially an epidemic according to World Health Organisation (WHO) classifications.

South Africa: Health workers angry over vitamin quackery

2005-10-12

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20031309

Renewed calls for Government to take action against the controversial Dr Rath Health Foundation have come from a large group of health professionals working in the Western Cape's internationally acclaimed antiretroviral programme. In a strongly worded letter to the province's health minister Pierre Uys the 199 health professionals warned that the activities of Dr Rath Health Foundation were "the largest challenges our health services have ever been confronted with". Rath and his foundation, which includes agents from the South African National Civics Organisation, has since the beginning of the year been promoting high doses of multi-vitamins as an alternative to anti-retroviral drugs which they describe as toxic.

Burundi: No school fees for primary students in Burundi, but what about quality?

2005-10-13

http://community.eldis.org/webx?14@@.eec95b5

The President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, has taken the brave step of dropping fees for primary school, thereby making access to primary education easier for many children in the country. But what about the education sector's ability to cope with a sudden increase in demand for education? Are there enough teachers? Is there enough money? And, as the student to teacher ratio will inevitably increase, what happens to the quality of education these children will receive?

Global: Ministerial round table on education for all

2005-10-13

http://tinyurl.com/dksna

More than 70 education ministers and high-ranking officials responsible for education will meet during UNESCO's General Conference in Paris (7-8 October) to explore practical ways to address Education for All challenges by building on positive examples from different parts of the world. The Round Table will be opened by Koochiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO. The case for education as a human right, tool of personal empowerment and means for cultural development will be reaffirmed.

Nigeria: Making schools a tasty experience

2005-10-13

http://www.ipsterraviva.net/Africa/viewstory.asp?idnews=382

A government programme to provide primary school children with free lunches has been launched in Nigeria, to encourage parents to educate their children - and to ensure that pupils learn effectively. While a campaign to achieve universal primary education was started in 1999, it has become clear that poverty is still resulting in the exclusion of millions of children from the West African country's education system. The prospect of free lunches can make sending children to school a more attractive proposition for poor parents. According to Ayalew Abai, country representative in Nigeria for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there is evidence to suggest that free school meals lead to increased attendance -- and better performance on the part of pupils.

Tanzania: Government bans education NGO

2005-10-13

http://tinyurl.com/8pcsl

The government of Tanzania has banned a local NGO from undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding schools claiming it had been disparaging the country's education system and teaching profession, officials have stated. The Ministry of Education and Culture issued a circular on Tuesday prohibiting the NGO, Hakielimu, from "undertaking studies and publishing any articles regarding Tanzanian schools". The circular said the decision was taken because Hakielimu had repeatedly disparaged the image of the education system and the teaching profession through the media. The ministry also accused the NGO of repeatedly failing to comply with directives given by it. In response, Hakielimu said it had done nothing wrong as it worked within the laws of the land.

Global/Africa: Millions 'will flee degradation'

2005-10-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4326666.stm

There will be as many as 50 million environmental refugees in the world in five years' time. That is the conclusion of experts at the United Nations University, who say that a new definition of "environmental refugee" is urgently needed. They believe that already environmental degradation forces as many people away from their homes as political and social unrest.

Global: Who should decide on GM crops?

2005-10-13

http://www.eldis.org/agriculture

Opinions on genetically modified crops are very much polarised, so who makes decisions on their adoption? The level of stakeholder consultation by governments varies between countries, and civil society groups may only have limited lobbying access. This Panos report on GM decision-making takes a look at the issue of genetically modified crops in five developing countries, examines the influence NGOs and the media, and argues for full public participation in the GM debate.

Kenya: Kenya wildlife haven downgraded

2005-10-13

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4331002.stm

More than 20 wildlife groups have urged Kenya's president to reverse a decision made the week of October 3 to downgrade Amboseli National Park to a game reserve. This means control of the Rift Valley wildlife haven will move from the Kenya Wildlife Service to a local authority, run by the area's Maasai community. Opponents of the change say it is an attempt to win Maasai votes ahead of next month's constitution referendum. But supporters say the Maasai will now benefit from Amboseli's revenue.

Africa/Global: Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents

2005-10-12

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542

"Blogs get people excited. Or else they disturb and worry them. Some people distrust them. Others see them as the vanguard of a new information revolution. Because they allow and encourage ordinary people to speak up, they're tremendous tools of freedom of expression. Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest." Reporters without Borders has released a handbook for Bloggers and cyber-dissidents, which is available from the link provided.

Africa: Media & Global Change

Oscar Hemer and Thomas Tufte (Eds.)

2005-10-11

http://www.comminit.com/materials/ma2005/materials-2543.html

This book presents a collection of writings from the broad field of communication for development and from closely related areas of research and practice. The editors' aim is to present "an integral reflection upon where the still-emerging field of communication for development is coming from and, particularly, where we believe it should be heading." This book aims "to integrate reflection on epistemology, theory, methodology and successful case studies in order to move the field towards a new phase, enabling media and communication practitioners to respond better to the realities of a glocalized world."

Kenya: Kenyans abroad angry over arrest of journalist

Statement by Kenyans in Scandanavia

2005-10-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/29773

The arrest of David Ochami, a Kenyan journalist, by more than 10 policemen at the premises of Kenya Times Newspaper because of an opinion article he published in the paper was significant in two ways. It was the second major arrest of a journalist since Narc took power while it also confirmed that President Mwai Kibaki is on a downward spiral towards authoritarian dictatorship that his predecessor Daniel arap Moi spent 24 years perfecting.
Kenya Socialist Web Site
www.kenyasocialist.org
mapambanokenya@gawab.com

Wednesday September 28th 2005

STATEMENT OF KENYANS IN SCANDINAVIA ON THE ARREST OF DAVID OCHAMI BY
SECURITY OFFICERS OF THE KIBAKI GOVERNMENT

Yesterday's arrest of Mr. David Ochami, a Kenyan Journalist, by more than 10
policemen at the premises of Kenya Times Newspaper because of an opinion
article he published in the paper was significant in two ways. It was the
second major arrest of a Journalist since Narc took power while it also
confirmed that President Mwai Kibaki is on a downward spiral towards
authoritarian dictatorship that his predecessor Daniel arap Moi spent 24
years perfecting.

In a typical style only rivaled by illegal activities of a gang of torturers
that were dubbed "Security Home Boys" during the climax of the Mwakenya
crackdowns in the late 80s during Moi's one party dictatorship, Ochami was
cleverly duped by his abductors who whisked him away in a convoy of cars to
his house at Pangani estate. In line with tradition, Ochami's house was then
ransacked for two hours as the Journalist was held hostage.

In a kind of Déjà vu, Kibaki's "Security Home guards" took away newspapers,
note books and an assortment of literature from Ochami's house before
embarking on a "check in-check out" of the Journalist from one police
station after another to hide his case from scrutiny. This is exactly the
same method of intimidation Moi's Boys used with zeal but which failed to
stop the struggle for political pluralism in Kenya.

What crime did Mr. Ochami commit to warrant the wanton intimidation, illegal
curtailment of basic freedoms, sheer harassment and savage violation of his
rights as a Kenyan citizen? The answer is that he published an opinion
article in The Sunday Times of 25th September 2005 titled "Coups in Africa
do not occur out of nothing".

In the article, Mr. Ochami was answering the increasingly familiar and
alarmist outbursts of Mirungi Kariuki and David Mwiraria (Kibaki's key
sycophants) who had suggested that imaginary anti-Kibaki forces (advocates
of the "No" vote in the coming referendum) were out to overthrow the Kibaki
regime.

According to Ochami's thesis, the failure of the 1982 coup attempt may have
been a disaster for Kenya because this historic failure may have prevented
the execution of pre-independence politicians like Mwai Kibaki who was, by
then, Moi's Vice President and who has effectively ended the political
aspirations of over 30 million Kenyans after his election three years ago.

The failure of the President to deliver a new Constitution within 100 days
after coming to power and his fumbling with the Bomas Draft of the
Constitution is a case in point.

Although we have our reservations as to whether the execution of former
Dictator Daniel arap Moi and his Vice President Mwai Kibaki by the 1982 coup
leaders could have prevented 24 years of ruthless dictatorship and an
extension of that dictatorship through Kibaki, we agree with Ochami's
analysis about the circumstances of coups in Africa, his parallels about the
situation in Kenya and his position that Kibaki's mistakes "Have aborted the
momentum for effective change" in Kenya. The journalist could not have put
it better!

That is, we agree with Ochami's view that the Kibaki dictatorship has
hopelessly failed Kenyans and needs to be overthrown by any democratic means
available in the field of struggle.

Ochami was simply telling the truth as it is and arresting him will not
postpone or solve the huge crisis facing Kibaki's government. There is a
crisis of leadership in Kenya and the only reason why Kibaki is still in
power is because there is no credible alternative political force that can
effectively lead workers and the youth to power. If Kibaki has started
arresting Journalists now, what will he do when he loses the referendum in
November or when he senses defeat at the 2007 General elections? Will we see
a return to detention without trial?

The alarm bells have been sounded and Kenyans should once again be on the
alert because all indications are that a new dictator in the name of Emilio
Mwai Kibaki has taken over the State machine which he is now using to arrest
Journalists doing their work at newspaper offices. For conscious Kenyan
minds, Kibaki hatoshi and the best option in the situation is for him to go
now rather than later!

After a string of failures to deliver on key election promises, this latest
arrest of yet another Journalist by marauding security officers with orders
from Kibakis "Internal security" should be the last signal that Kenyans
should return to the path of revolution, not just to overthrow Kibaki but
also to topple the system that bankrupted leaders like him are using to
trample on the rights and freedoms of Kenyan citizens with impunity.

According to Ochami, "Kenyans should be allowed to hope for a blast or blow
of holy wind from somewhere to end this mess". Our view is that there will
be no "holy wind" from anywhere to liberate Kenya from the Kibakis even if
Kenyans embrace themselves tightly in prayer with their heads upside down 24
hours a day 7 days a week.

A revolutionary Movement or Party armed with a revolutionary theory and a
clear revolutionary Program for democratic change and transformation is
urgently needed in Kenya to show the way out of the blind alleys of the
rotten capitalist class rule now tampering with Press freedom in our
country, intimidating and arresting journalists, looting the economy and
using the huge security apparatus as a powerful tool for oppression KANU
style.

We unequivocally condemn Ochami's arrest because it reduces the democratic
space needed for revolutionary activity vital for liberation in Kenya while
it also rolls backwards the democratic gains achieved through blood-shed and
loss of thousands of lives especially during the dark years of the one party
dictatorship of Moi.

In fact, Ochami's arrest is yet another warning to workers and millions of
youth in Kenya that time for revolution to overthrow the system has come
because the capitalist ruling class is the same - yesterday, today and
tomorrow. Kibaki's government is violating the Constitution, a sad reminder
that the ruling class the world over will always violate the Constitution as
long as their class interests are threatened.

Ochami was arrested because Kibaki is using an oppressive system left behind
by Moi, a system that we have repeatedly said, needs to be smashed to pave
the way for reconstruction of the Kenyan society under a new democratic
system led by workers and the youth, not pre-independence opportunists fed
by imperialism to protect foreign interests.

We condemn the Kibaki dictatorship for trying to return Kenya to the 80s
using worn out tactics that had already failed during the dictatorship of
Daniel arap Moi.

Ochami's arrest confirms the dictatorial character the Kibaki regime
continues to assume and the use of State machine to try and re-introduce
"the culture of silence and fear" that Moi planted in Kenya but which was
uprooted through struggle before Moi was himself defeated in December 2002.

We will oppose any charges brought against Ochami and dramatize his case in
the International arena in case the government goes ahead to press for bogus
charges against a conscious Journalist who was simply doing his work.
Kenyans should resist a small gang of wealth grabbers calling themselves
government to hold back a struggle that has been going on for more than 4
decades.

Ochami's article has nothing to do with "incitement" as the police put it.
In the circumstances, we demand the immediate and unconditional release of
Mr. David Ochami and a stop to the arrest and intimidation of journalists
doing their work in Kenya.

Martin Ngatia - Kenya People's Democratic Movement (KEPEDEMO Mapinduzi)
Okoth Osewe - Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance Desmond Nyamu: Kenya
Social Forum in Norway (KSF - Norway) Betty Shangazi: Muungano Ya Akina Mama
Scandinavia Omariba Kadikiye: Organization of Kenyans in Denmark (OKD)
Christopher Omondi: Association of Kenyan Students in Finland (AKSIF)

Rwanda: RSF calls for release of detained priest

2005-10-12

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15247

After visiting Rwanda from 30 September to 6 October and meeting with detained Belgian priest Guy Theunis, the former editor of the Rwandan magazine Dialogue, Reporters Without Borders insisted the charges against him were politically motivated and baseless and reiterated its call for his immediate release. The press freedom organisation also reported that Father Theunis was cheerful and in good health, and the conditions in which he was being held in Kigali's main prison were acceptable.

Tanzania: Concern over NGO suspension

MISA Tanzania statement

2005-10-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/29760

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) - Tanzania chapter is concerned about the suspension of local NGO HakiElimu for allegedly "disparaging the image of our education system and the teaching profession of our country through his media promotion of self created caricatures masquerading as teachers and pupils and has repeatedly failed to conform with directives given to him by the Ministry of Education and Culture both in writing and verbally".
MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
TANZANIA CHAPTER (MISA-TAN)
P.O. Box 78172, Phone: 2137547/8, Fax: 2137548, E-Mail:
Misatan@africaonline.co.tz,Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Ref: MT/LC.65/05
9th October 2005

STATEMENT ON THE SUSPENSION OF HAKIELIMU

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) - Tanzania chapter is
concerned on the suspension of HakiElimu to undertake its activities in
Tanzania Mainland by the Ministry of Education and Culture as indicated
in the circular referenced ED/OK/C.2/4/IV/5 of September 8, 2005.

The circular signed by Chief Education Officer of the Ministry, R. A.
Mpama orders Regional Administrative Secretaries, District Administrative
Secretaries, Executive Directors for
Districts/Towns/Municipalities/Cities, District Education Officers,
District Chief Inspectors of Schools, Principals Teachers' Training
Colleges, Head Secondary Schools in Tanzania Mainland, the Executive
Director of HakiElimu and his organization to stop from undertaking and
publishing articles/studies regarding Tanzania Schools, (preprimary,
primary, secondary both O' Level and A' Level and Teacher Education) for
allegedly "disparaging the image of our education system and the teaching
profession of our country through his media promotion of self created
caricatures masquerading as teachers and pupils and has repeatedly failed
to conform with directives given to him by the Ministry of Education and
Culture both in writing and verbally".

It directs Zonal and District Chief Inspectors of Schools to take stern
measures against any school/college, which does not adhere to these
directives.

MISA-Tanzania challenges this move and sees it as another weapon designed
to deliberately undermine the spirit of the progress made in recent years
towards advancing the course of good governance and rule of law. It is
also in gross contravention of freedom of expression as enshrined in
article 18 of Tanzanian constitution as amended in February 2005.

The action also contradicts the recent efforts by government to promote
development of its citizens through Poverty Reduction Strategy and the
Primary Education Development Strategy.

We therefore challenge the move as harsh, undemocratic and unacceptable
and a violation of the right to access information and freedom of
expression in our country. The order itself is a violation of human
rights because it intends to discourage publication of articles/studies
regarding Tanzania schools. The order did not take into consideration the
fact that education is crucial to our country thus it needs continuous
follow-ups.

MISA-Tanzania understands that HakiElimu has been assisting the
government to bring accountability to civil servants and management of
Tanzania schools. The studies and articles published by the NGO were
calculated to enhance openness and transparency in Tanzania thus
reduction of corruption.

In view of this, we join all human rights activists and Civil Society
Organizations in condemning this negative development and call for the
ministry to lift its suspension as soon as possible.


Wilhelmina Balyagati

Chairperson

MISA-Tanzania

Ends

Togo: Journalists take to the streets to protest beating of fellow reporter

2005-10-13

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49513

Journalists, human rights activists and opposition leaders took to the streets of the Togolese capital, Lome, on Wednesday to protest the recent beating of an editor of an opposition newspaper. “The government must open a serious investigation into this attack, to identify, try and punish those responsible,” Carlos Ketohou, president of Togo’s Journalists for Human Rights, said during the demonstration.

Zambia: Reporter beaten, forced to erase material from tape

2005-10-12

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/69730/?PHPSESSID=64c88deaad42fccc7a86ea201e44d1ca

On 4 October 2005, Q-FM radio reporter Wamunyima Walubita was forced to erase material from his tape recorder which documented his mistreatment by police in order to secure his release from detention. Walubita told the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia on 6 October that he was picked up by police while covering a riot by students from Evelyn Hone College, who were protesting against declining education standards at the institution.

Zambia: Role and Governance of Community Radio Stations in Zambia

2005-10-12

http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2005/thinking-1302.html

Like many African countries in the 1990s, Zambia experienced drastic political, social and economic changes. In response to these changes, Zambia embarked on a market driven economy that has seen the privatisation of most state enterprises. These changes have proliferated in the media industry as well. However, instead of privatising state media, the government liberalised the airwaves, allowing new players to enter the media terrain. This resulted in the mushrooming of many community-based radio broadcasting stations.

DRC: Rebels attack villages, kill 24, displace thousands

2005-10-12

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/NKUA-6H3K85?OpenDocument

Thousands of civilians began arriving in the town of Walungu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday following attacks on four nearby villages, in which at least 24 civilians were hacked to death. "Most of the displaced are small children and old women," Donatien Nakalonge, a local community leader in the town of Walungu in South Kivu Province, told IRIN on Tuesday. They walked 15 km from their villages of Tchindudi, Mungombe, Kanyola and Rudundu, in a valley 60 km south of the provincial capital, Bukavu.

Ivory Coast: Rebels lay out peace proposals in letter to UN chief

2005-10-13

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=49521

In a letter sent to UN chief Kofi Annan on Wednesday, Cote d’Ivoire’s rebels say it should fall to them, not President Laurent Gbagbo, to select a new prime minister to steer the war-torn country towards delayed elections. “In a few days time, when [Gbabgo] is no longer an elected president … the New Forces should have the right to select the new Prime Minister,” wrote New Forces rebel leader Guillaume Soro in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by IRIN. The letter comes on the eve of crucial talks on Cote d’Ivoire by the United Nations Security Council in New York.

Liberia: Diamonds and the threat to peace

2005-10-13

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC19854

Liberia is far from having the diamond controls required to prevent diamonds from fuelling conflict and instability, says a Global Witness paper, which demonstrates how insufficient reform of Liberia's diamond and timber industries and failure to adequately control areas rich in natural resources have resulted in their continued exploitation and threat to regional peace and security. "Despite the terms of his exile arrangements with Nigeria that forbade Charles Taylor from engaging in active communication with anyone engaged in political, illegal or governmental activities in Liberia, he continues to do so," said Global Witness.

Niger: Reform needed in rich countries to end famine

2005-10-13

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC19300

Economic growth will not materialise if people are hungry and the international community needs to emphasise the importance of agriculture in Africa and adopt strategies to build this capability rather than solely emphasising industrial growth. This is according to a paper from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Debt, Aid and Trade, which discusses some of the reasons for continued famine in Africa, with a focus on Niger. The paper says IMF policies of slashing subsidies for agricultural inputs will hinder development. Subsidy reform is another key criteria - abolishing rich-country agricultural subsidies would result in a 13 per cent rise in GDP per person in Africa, says the report. "The developed world should seriously question the impact that its own economic protectionism has on Africa's poor and recognise that they are a significant contributor to poverty and food insecurity. Developed countries must implement their own economic reform for the sake of Africa's long- term food security."

Sudan: AU force seen as target in Sudan's Darfur

2005-10-12

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L11478237.htm

African Union troops in Sudan's troubled Darfur region are in danger of being dragged into the conflict after rebels abducted and killed AU soldiers in a series of attacks targeting the neutral force. Five AU soldiers and civilian personnel were killed when rebels ambushed a convoy on Saturday, the force's first losses in more than a year working in remote Darfur.

Sudan: Darfur security situation getting worse, says expert

2005-10-12

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/72454ce2bca465ed00e53b6a935ff0d1.htm

The security situation in Sudan's war-affected western region of Darfur is getting worse and more must be done to protect civilians, the UN Secretary-General's special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Juan Mendez, said on Monday. More also needed to be done to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance and bring those responsible for atrocities before the International Criminal Court (ICC), he added.

Uganda: 'No red line' for Uganda rebels

2005-10-12

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4328650.stm

Uganda's army commander says his troops have been given unlimited access to fight Ugandan rebels based in Sudan. The move follows last week's indictment of five Lord's Resistance Army rebels by the International Criminal Court. Until now the army could not go beyond a so-called "red line", about 100km (62 miles) into Sudanese territory. The Khartoum government backed the LRA until the end of Sudan's civil war, but the rebels remain active - their latest attack was reportedly on Friday.

Africa/Global: The hype of the $100 computer

2005-10-12

http://www.knowprose.com/node/8714

The fifth annual MIT Technology Review Emerging Technology Conference kicked off with a presentation from Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab. Negroponte discussed his $100 laptop initiative, in which he is working to produce a low-cost laptop for mass distribution. But www.knowprose.com says the initiative is complete hype: "We wouldn't want to shake things up at all with open hardware. Oh no, that would shift power structures. That's what's been holding back the Simputer and similar initiatives."

Africa/Global: Top 10 Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/29839

PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy are proud to announce the results of the annual world-wide survey recognizing the top 10 individuals, organizations and companies that are impacting the world of Internet and politics. Pambazuka News made it into the top 10 after a selection process that began in July, when PoliticsOnline asked its subscribers and visitors from around the world, to nominate people, organizations and companies that are changing the world of Internet and politics.

And the winners of this year's Top 10 Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics are...

PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy are proud to announce the results of the annual world-wide survey recognizing the top 10 individuals, organizations and companies that are impacting the world of Internet and politics.

And the Winner Is---
This year’s winners of the Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics were revealed at the 6th annual Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy -- on September 28-29, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, (Paris, France). From among the Top 10, the BBC Action Network, a grassroots campaign website, was selected by a panel of experts as the number one world-changer of Internet and politics.

Selection Process
The selection process began in July, when PoliticsOnline asked its subscribers and visitors from around the world, to nominate people, organizations and companies that are changing the world of Internet and politics. The call generated hundreds of nominations, and from those, 21 were selected to compete in the final round. Selecting the top 21 proved difficult, as the integration of politics and the Internet has spread like wildfire around the globe, reflected in this year’s diverse, international nominees.

Criteria
Nominees were selected based upon the following:
•Highly effective leaders who are making outstanding e-political and e-governmental achievements
•Forward-thinking organizations that have led the way in this revolution
•Innovative ideas or strategies that have forever changed the political process

The Top 10
With the field narrowed to 21 candidates, PoliticsOnline readers and visitors were again asked to vote, with the top ten vote-getters earning the prestigious distinction of Top 10 changer of Internet and politics. There was a worldwide outpouring of votes, totaling 4,556. The following is an alphabetical listing of the Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics for 2005:

BBC Action Network
The BBC launched its new Action Network in late June. Formerly iCan, the redesign is the result of 18 months of testing the site and redeveloping in response to user needs. iCan helped citizens connect with each other through public forums and a "democracy database" packed with information on tips for grassroots campaigning and the legislative process. The new Action Network makes it even easier for users to find and connect with other like- minded people in their communities. New additions include: alerts, syndication, and a revised user interface. BBC Action Network's aim is to enhance the overwhelming feeling of empowerment users report in using the site to take responsibility for issues they care about.

Etienne Chouard
Mr. Chouard is an example of how an ordinary citizen can voice his opinion on the Internet and ultimately change international politics. A high school law teacher, Chouard set up a blog protesting the proposed EU constitution and urged others to vote against it as well. Just before the vote, his blog had gained attention across France and received over 25,000 hits per day. Despite pro-constitution support from political leaders and a huge media campaign, Mr. Chouard and his supporters triumphed when voters ultimately rejected the constitution. Mr. Chouard of course cannot be given all of the credit for the constitution's defeat, but his blog is one of the most successful examples of Internet grassroots activism.

Ciudad Politica
The Spanish-speaking Portal for Political Analysis and Information, Ciudad Politica, is an independent portal promoting the development of political science in Latin America. The portal aims at supporting the political science community and provides communication forums and creating a network among institutions, civil society and politics. Students, journalists, politicians, scholars and civil servants debate, write articles and papers in the several home page forums.

Estonia
Estonia has the most advanced information infrastructure of any formerly communist eastern European state, and on June 28, 2005, the Estonian Parliament approved Internet voting for local elections in October 2005 and national Parliamentary elections in 2007. Developed by IT services company Cybernetica for the Estonian National Electoral Committee, the Internet voting system uses the Estonian electronic ID card to identify voters. Over 50% of citizens today hold such a card and, according to the government, every Estonian citizen will have an electronic ID card by the end of 2006. Dubbed E-Stonia by some, the country has ranked near the top of the list of countries in putting the Net to practical use - ranking as high as No. 2 in Internet banking and third in e-government in a recent World Economic Forum report.

Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet
During its six-year existence, the Institute has established a national and international reputation as the premier center for the study of the Internet's effect on politics, producing practical studies that address the larger questions about the Internet and politics IPDI's staff have developed materials during that time that have helped academics, advocates, and practitioners understand the potential power of this new and evolving technology. The variety of scholars, real world political operatives and the Politics On Line Conference make them on of the most unique and comprehensive actors in the field of politics and the Internet. The Institute provides a balance of dreamers and data driven realists who tell us what we know and help push us to contemplate a variety of ideas and concepts we should get to know.

JibJab Media Inc.
JibJab's 'This Land' animation was one of the most memorable parts of the 2004 election, combining humor and the Internet to make a political splash. Over 60 million people saw the online animated skit, which poked fun at both campaigns, highlighting both the issues and the mud-slinging. With so many people watching and passing the piece around, 'This Land' engaged potential voters in a way that the news media did not, relying solely on individual Internet and e-mail communication.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
During his tenure as Brazil's President, da Silva has worked hard to take free software to Brazil's poorest citizens. One project includes opening thousands of community computer hubs where Brazilians will surf the Web, access government services, and take computing courses - all on PCs loaded with free software. Another initiative, called PC Conectado, or Connected PC, aims at helping low-income families buy their first computers and get on the Internet- once again, on PCs equipped only with free software. Da Silva is also an ardent advocate of free software based on open source code that users can study and modify. The result is that in recent years Brazil has become one of the world's most prominent battlegrounds of the Microsoft Windows versus Linux war.

Pambazuka
Pambazuka is an online newsletter promoting social change and development in Africa. It reaches over 60,000 people worldwide every week, keeping them updated on African human rights, conflict, health, environment, social welfare, development, and the Internet. The Pambazuka site promotes grassroots activism with links to fundraising organizations and petition sites, and viewers also have the option of texting their opinions to government numbers provided by Pambazuka

RedState.org
RedState.org is another excellent example of grassroots internet activism, providing a place for Republicans to not only receive news updates and read articles, but voice their own opinions as well. RedState.org describes itself as a community, where each registered user can post information on his or her own diary and interact with each other. RedState.org's popularity and innovative approach to blogging has made it a well-deserved political hotsite.

Tsunami Help Blog
The Tsunami Help Blog centralizes information and news about ongoing relief efforts for the countries affected by the December 2004 tsunami. The site provides a search resource for missing persons, a help needed/help offered posting board enabling greater organization and communication, and a database of helplines from all over the world. The site has reunited missing persons with their friends and families through posted photos and information, and proves that the Internet can increasingly be used for global relief efforts.

Full Disclosure: The BBC has been a client of PoliticsOnline for several years. The final selection of the winner was done by an independent panel of judges assembled by the World Forum on eDemocracy.


email: editor@politicsonline.com
web: http://www.PoliticsOnline.com

Africa: Governments make net grab

Podcasts available on WSIS developments

2005-10-12

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/10/wsis_podcasts/

Who should have control of the Internet? www.theregister.co.uk has released two podcasts
that deal with the power struggle over who should have control of the internet. Part one covers the shock announcement by the EU for a new body to run the Internet. Part two reflects on why others want US control removed.

Africa: Open source on the move in Africa

2005-10-12

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=635

Open source software is locally relevant, globally competitive and can make good business sense. That was the message from some of South Africa's top open source pioneers at the African Computing & Telecommunications Summit in Johannesburg on October 4, reports www.tectonic.co.za Head of the CSIR Open Source Centre, Nhlanhla Mabaso said projects such as the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), the East African Centre for Open Source Software, Africa Source and LinuxChix Africa, were advancing the development of open source in Africa.

Africa: SMS, Social Justice Style

2005-10-12

http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/738

Last weekend, a petition signed and formulated over SMS and Email was presented to over 40 representatives from the African Union Commission, African governments and the African women’s movement, which convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the Conference On The Protocol On the Rights of Women. The petition was in support of a campaign that urges African governments to ratify the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. The petition has over 3,615 signatures, 468 of which where submitted using SMS. 15 countries need to ratify the treaty in order for it to take effect. To date only 13 have signed. The organization behind the SMS petition is Fahamu (which means understanding or consciousness Swahili), an English & South African based organization that promotes the use of information communication technology to support the struggle for social justice in Africa.

Kenya: Slum turns sun into energy

2005-10-11

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4001061.stm

One thing Kenya is certainly not short of is good weather. In one of Nairobi's poorest neighbourhoods, people have started working to make the best of the free energy potential of the sun. Orders are already beginning to flood into the Kibera Community Youth Project (KCYP) for solar panels built in a small workshop in the heart of one of Africa's biggest slums.

Tunisia: Uncertainty ahead of internet summit

2005-10-12

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30527

With just six weeks to go before the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, a number of key issues remain unresolved, including the highly debated questions of Internet governance and civil society participation. The future of the Internet will now supposedly be decided at a meeting to be held in the Tunisian capital immediately prior to the Summit itself, which is taking place Nov. 16-18. Other matters also left pending will be addressed in coming weeks at meetings held in this same Swiss city, ahead of the gathering in Tunis.

Rwanda: Online Newsletter of Rwanda Development Gateway

2005-10-13

http://www.rwandagateway.org/

Looking for credible, consistent and informative news on Rwanda? Subscribe to the monthly Rwanda National Portal newsletter for the latest news articles about and on Rwanda straight from the newsrooms of the country's major media houses.

Call for abstracts/papers - Agenda journal

2005-10-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/29748

The second 2006 issue of the Agenda journal will focus on Women and Culture. It is intended that in placing a gendered lens on culture, contributions to the issue will concern a rethinking and reclaiming of what culture means to women.
Call for abstracts/papers - Agenda journal

The second 2006 issue of the Agenda journal will focus on Women and Culture.
It is intended that in placing a gendered lens on culture, contributions to
the issue will concern a rethinking and reclaiming of what culture means to
women.

We invite submissions in the following categories:
Full-length articles (4 500 - 6 000 words)
Shorter researched focus and briefings contributions ( 2 500 - 4 000 words)
Profiles and interviews (1 500 - 3000 words)
Short opinion pieces (1 500 words)

Submissions are accepted in the following formats:
Full paper
Abstract
Overview/summary of intent

Deadline: 18 October 2005

After considering all submissions, Agenda will formally brief writers whose
submissions have been accepted.

The production process for this journal will be as follows:
Formal acceptance briefing: end October/beginning November 2005
Contribution deadline: 1 February 2006
Editing processes (rewrite after review, liaison, queries): mid February to
end March

Please email submission directly to the editor, Gil Harper:
editor@agenda.org.za

Getting Community Needs into District Management Plan

2005-10-11

http://www.research-matters.net/en/ev-89040-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

The Community Voice Initiative, a project led by the Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (Tanzania) has developed several tools to facilitate the incorporation of community voice and preferences in district planning processes. A policy manual, success stories and challenges, pictures as well as a video documenting the project, are now available on-line through the URL provided.

Inviting papers on political participation in Africa

Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project

2005-10-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/29743

AfriMAP (Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project) was established by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org), in order to monitor and promote compliance by African states with the requirements of good governance, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. To foster new thinking and dynamic debate on good governance, AfriMAP is inviting papers on the theme of political participation in Africa.
Inviting papers on political participation in Africa

AfriMAP (Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project) was
established by the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org), in order to
monitor and promote compliance by African states with the requirements
of good governance, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

To foster new thinking and dynamic debate on good governance, AfriMAP
is inviting papers on the theme of political participation in Africa.
Suggestions for papers include but are not limited to: i.Citizenship;
ii.Constitution-writing processes; iii. Political parties; iv.
Post-conflict rebuilding of democratic systems; v. Women and political
participation; vi. Local mobilizations. Further details on suggested
topics are up on AfriMAP's website at www.afrimap.org

Papers are invited in English and French, with a deadline of 31st
December 2005 for submissions. Selected authors will receive a $200
honorarium and their work will be published on our website. See
www.afrimap.org or email info@afrimap.org for further details.

Municipal Services Project Podcasts

2005-10-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/29744

You can now listen to the MSP radio spots, featuring critical discussions on pressing South African municipal issues. When originally aired, these spots – available in five languages – reached an audience of 2.2 million people in South Africa, on both commercial and community radio. You can download them for your computer or MP3 player (a podcast) or you can stream these low-bandwidth files online. They can be found at: http://www.research-matters.net/en/ev-87793-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

New violations database for World Habitat Day 2005

2005-10-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/29749

On World Habitat Day, 2005, Habitat International Coalition’s Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) launched a new interactive and participatory feature on its website. It is an initiative by HLRN officers and members to build a simple database that will host basic information on the world’s most common housing and land rights violations.
HIC-HLRN launches New HRAH Violations Database for World Habitat Day 2005 -

English

On World Habitat Day, 3 October 2005, the Habitat International Coalition’s Housing and Land Rights Network Has Launched a New HRAH Violations Database


On World Habitat Day, 2005, HLRN is launching a new interactive and participatory feature on its website. It is an initiative by HLRN officers and members to build a simple database that will host basic information on the world’s most common housing and land rights the violations. The Violations Database Project (VDP) will offer a very simple method for documenting violations arising from cases of (1) forced eviction, (2) demolition, (3) confiscation and (4) privatization of public goods and services. The VDP has been created for members, but HLRN invites the general public to participate and benefit.
Please find attached below more details on the New HRAH Violations Database in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
___________________________________________________________________________________ Français


Sur le Jour Mondial pour l'Habitat le 3 octobre 2005, le Réseau des Droits à la Terre Terrain et au Logement—de la Coalition International pour l’Habitat—A Lancé une Nouvelle Base de données de Violations du DHLA



Le Jour Mondial d'Habitat, 2005, Réseau des Droits à la Terre Terrain et au Logement (HLRN) de la Coalition International pour l’Habitat (HIC) lance un nouvel service interactif et participatif sur son site Internet. Ce sera un effort par les officiers HLRN et les membres pour construire une base de données simple pour accueillir des renseignements fondamentaux sur les violations de droits à la terre et au logement les plus communes dans le monde. Le Base de données de Violations offre une méthode très simple pour documenter les violations émanant des cas (de 1) l'expulsion forcée, (2) la démolition, (3) la confiscation et (4) la privatisation de dons et de services publiques.



Veuillez trouver ci-joint au-dessous de plus de détails sur le Nouvelle Base de données de Violations du DHLA dans l'Anglais, le Français, le Portugais et l'Espagnol.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Português



No Dia Mundial de Hábitat, 3 de Outubro de 2005, a Rede dos Direitos da Terra e da Moradia—da Coalizão Internacional do Hábitat—Lançou um Novo Banco de Dados de Violações do DHMA



No Dia de Hábitat Mundial, 2005, a Rede dos Direitos da Terra e da Moradia (HLRN) da Coalizão Internacional do Hábitat (HIC) está lançando uma nova característica interativa e participativa no seu site web. Isto será um esforço por oficiais e membros da HLRN para construir um banco de dados simples para apresentar a informação básica sobre as violações dos direitos da motradia e de terra que são as mais comuns ao redor do mundo. O Banco de Dados de Violações com a oferta um método muito simples para documentar violações que resultam de casos de (1) despejos forçados, (2) demolição, (3) confisco e (4) privatização de bens e serviços públicos.



Por favor encontre atado abaixo de mais detalhes do Novo Banco de Dados de Violações do DHMA em Inglês, Francês, Português e Esp nhol.

__________________________________________________________________________________
Español


Durante el Día Mundial para el Hábitat, el 3 de octubre de 2005, la Red por el Derecho a la Vivienda y la Tierra—de la Coalición Internacional para el Hábitat—Ha Lanzado una Nueva Base de datos de Violaciones del DHVA



Durante el Día Mundial para el Hábitat, 2005, la Red por el Derecho a la Vivienda y la Tierra (HLRN) de la Coalición Internacional para el Hábitat (HIC) lanza un nuevo rasgo interactivo participativo en su sitio Web. Esto es una iniciativa por oficiales y miembros de la HLRN para construir una base de datos simple que recibirá la información sobre las violaciones del derecho a la vivienda y la tierra las más comunes en el mundo. El Base de datos de Violaciones ofrecerá un método muy simple para documentar violaciones que provienen de casos de (1) desalojos forzados, (2) demolición, (3) confiscación y (4) privatización de bienes y servicios públicos. El Base de datos de Violaciones ha sido creado para miembros, pero la HLRN también invita el gran público a participar y beneficiarse.

Por favor encuentre atado debajo de más detalles contra el Nueva Base de datos de Violaciones del DHVA en Inglés, Francés, Portugués y Español.

ICTs for Civil Society: 2nd Annual Conference and Exhibition Southern African NGO Network (SANGONet)

1-3 March 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa

2005-10-12

http://www.civicus.org/new/event_info.asp?id=258

This conference will focus specifically on a wide range of new and practical information, communication and technology (ICT) services, solutions and applications relevant to the work of civil society organisations in Southern Africa.

Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Pre-conference on Reducing Firearm-Related Mortality and Morbidity: Data to Action

31 March - 1 April, Durban, South Africa

2005-10-11

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/29742

The conference on reducing firearm related mortality and morbidity has a specific focus on data collection and linkage, policy development, and practice of researchers and practitioners in the field for reducing and preventing firearm related death and injury.
Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Pre-conference on Reducing
Firearm-Related Mortality and Morbidity: Data to Action, 31 March ­ 1 April
2006, Durban, South Africa

The conference on reducing firearm related mortality and morbidity has a
specific focus on data collection and linkage, policy development, and
practice of researchers and practitioners in the field for reducing and
preventing firearm related death and injury.

Objectives

To examine how the collection and linkage of accurate and relevant data can
assist in developing policies aimed at the prevention and reduction of
firearm-related death and injuries, giving examples of good practice in this
regard and identifying limitations and obstacles

To examine how data is translated into action to prevent firearm related
death and injury, giving examples of good practice, exploring the ways in
which the social, political and economic environment either inhibits or
facilitates the translation of data into action.

All participants need to register by sending their details to
precon2006@iss.org.za

Please note that the registration form is now also online at:
http://www.smallarmsnet.org/events/2006/precon2006.htm

Call for papers

If you are interested in submitting a paper to the Preconference please
submit a 500-word abstract in line with the theme to precon2006@iss.org.za

Reinventing Development: Lessons from Rights-based Practice and its Implications for Policymakers and Donors

9-11 November 2005, University of London

2005-10-12

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/29753

The conference seeks to gather further data on the implications and impacts of applying a rights-based approach in practice, and feed this experience into policy and donor debates and communities.
Reinventing Development: Lessons from Rights-based Practice and its Implications for Policymakers and Donors

Centre for International Human Rights, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

9-11 November 2005

Collaborating partners in the conference include:

- Centre for International Human Rights, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

- Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) at Oxford Brookes University

- International Council for Human Rights Policy, Geneva

The conference seeks to:

1) gather further data on the implications and impacts of applying a rights-based approach in practice, and

2) feed this experience into policy and donor debates and communities.

It will also coincide with the launch of an edited collection entitled, Reinventing Development? Translating Rights-based Approaches from Theory into Practice (P. Gready and J. Ensor (eds), Zed Books, London).



For further details please contact Mary Sanver Mary.Sanver@sas.ac.uk

Africa Legal Officer

INTERIGHTS

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/29844

As part of an experienced team, you will develop and implement INTERIGHTS' programme of work in Africa, assess new opportunities for the legal protection of human rights in the region and internationally, and identify potential partner organisations in the region for collaborative work. You will provide legal advice to partners, draft legal briefs in cases in which INTERIGHTS intervenes and design and implement regional projects on key human rights themes.
AFRICA LEGAL OFFICER
(Based in London with some international travel)

For over two decades, INTERIGHTS has pursued the legal protection of international human rights through strategic litigation, training, publications and institution-building. We have built an international reputation for leadership in this work and are looking for a Legal Officer with substantial experience to continue and develop our programme in Africa.

As part of an experienced team, you will develop and implement INTERIGHTS' programme of work in Africa, assess new opportunities for the legal protection of human rights in the region and internationally, and identify potential partner organisations in the region for collaborative work. You will provide legal advice to partners, draft legal briefs in cases in which INTERIGHTS intervenes and design and implement regional projects on key human rights themes.

This is a rewarding and challenging role and the successful candidate will have a sound knowledge of and excellent professional experience in the application of international human rights and comparative law in Africa. They will have a law degree from a jurisdiction within the region and a minimum of five years human rights litigation experience. Fluency in English and French is essential, and another regional language is desirable.

Salary is in accordance with skills and experience, and ranges from £25,000 - £35,000 (currently subject to review). We will assist you with relocation and provide a 5% contribution towards a pension.

Applicants are requested to send their CV with cover letter, unedited writing sample, and application form by 5 December 2005. Interviews are foreseen shortly after this date. You will find further information and application forms at www.interights.org or by contacting Juliet McDermott, INTERIGHTS, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH. Fax. +44 (0) 20 7278 4334 or jmcdermott@interights.org

INTERIGHTS is committed to equal opportunities.

Morocco: Project Manager for the Morocco Component of the Global Responsive Budgeting Programme

UNIFEM

2005-10-13

http://www.unifem.org/about/vacancy_detail.php?VacancyID=16

Under the direct supervision of the UNIFEM Program Coordinator for North Africa, based in Rabat, Morocco and in close consultation with the Morocco Ministry of Finance and Privatisation, the Project Manager will manage the Morocco Component of the Global Gender Responsive Budgeting Programme, Phase II.

Nigeria: Field Liason Specialist

International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES)

2005-10-13

http://www.ifes.org/searchable/ifes_site/jobs/Africa_PO_Nigeria.htm

IFES' current program in Nigeria builds upon work that began with transitional elections of 1998-99, under which a newly established Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ushered in a civilian administration and a new era in Nigerian politics. Over the coming 3 years, the program will seek to leverage gains in the transparency, credibility, and efficiency of the electoral process, and to extend development of the process into new areas.

Sudan: Program Manager

Cooperative Housing Foundation International (CHF)

2005-10-13

http://www.chfhq.org/content/general/detail/1987

The Program Manager will direct the implementation and oversee all management aspects of a new community-based HIV/AIDS program in South Sudan.

Uganda: Advocacy Officer

Uganda Women's Network

2005-10-13

https://www.uwonet.org

Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) is looking for dynamic, self-motivated, organised, innovative and outgoing individual to work for its focal point, the Secretariat, which is the nerve centre of the Network.

Africa: 40 million set to watch GCAP Standing Tall Against Poverty concert across Africa

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/gcap/29828

An unprecedented 15 hour-long concert with Africa's biggest musicians -organised by the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)- is set to be watched by over 40 million people in 11 African countries starting Saturday, 15 October. One week before 189 of the world's leaders met in New York for the UN World Summit (Millennium + 5), an unprecedented 15 hour-long concert with Africa's biggest musicians took place in Ghana on Saturday 3 September. The event, called "Standing Tall Against Poverty", was organised by the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).
An unprecedented 15 hour-long concert with Africa's biggest musicians -organised by the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)- is set to be watched by over 40 million people in 11 African countries starting Saturday, 15 October. One week before 189 of the world's leaders met in New York for the UN World Summit (Millennium + 5), an unprecedented 15 hour-long concert with Africa's biggest musicians took place in Ghana on Saturday 3 September. The event, called "Standing Tall Against Poverty", was organised by the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).

The 52-minute concert captures the melodic and passionate voices of Mali's Salif Keita, South Africa's Mahotella Queens, Nigeria's Daddy Showkey, Seun Kuti, Ghana's Mac Tontoh, Kenya's Eric Wainaina and Obuor. Justice Egware of the GCAP Nigerian Coalition and Kumi Naidoo, Chairperson of GCAP, also spoke briefly at the event. "This concert provides a unique platform to project a unified African voice against poverty. The campaign to eradicate poverty from Africa has all my support", said Salif Keita, leading Malian and international musician.

The quality of the performances and cause it represents has convinced over thirty African private and public television stations to waive close to US$ 600,000 in advertising and programming costs. The concert will be shown throughout Africa from Saturday 15 October onwards. Over 40 million people are set to view the concert. During the showing of the concert, viewers across Africa will be called upon to send SMS text messages in favour of trade justice to +27-82-904-3425. They will then be posted to www.gcapsms.org

Towards White Band Day III Over the last ten months, GCAP has grown to be the largest anti-poverty alliance working in over a 100 countries of the world. In Africa, this alliance works in 26 countries and is united their call for increased and better financing for development, debt cancellation, better governance and terms of trade for Africa. "Progress towards the achievement of the Millennium development goals has been awfully slow and inadequate", said Akwasi Adu Amankwa, Secretary General of Ghana TUC. "Africa's message is clear, decisive action is needed now to strike a meaningful blow against poverty. 2005 is the year all countries must abide by longstanding commitments to eradicate poverty and reform the rules of global trade that is destroying the livelihood of millions." The showing of the concert takes place as the year that was touted to be the great year of change draws to a close.

The last of the important global summits takes place two months from now in the upcoming World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Hong Kong. Changes in international trade could dramatically improve the lives of millions. The Global Call to Action Against Poverty is preparing to organise its third day of international mobilisation. This third White Band Day will happen on 10 December. African organisations are raising public awareness to make sure that the WTO protects countries' right to decide policies, protect public services, strengthens corporate accountability, ends dumping of rich countries products and rich country subsidies that keep people in poverty.

Africa: On the road to Hong Kong

2005-10-13

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/gcap/29838

Leading up to the December 2005 World Trade Organization's (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, Pambazuka News will examine some of the issues regarding the WTO as it affects Africa. In the first of this series, we examine the background to the current round of WTO summits, with a specific focus on Cancun.

Mobilization around the WTO meeting has been strong, and will continue up until December. The mobilization supports examination of and action against the potentially dangerous policies set to be discussed at the WTO meeting.

Some background on previous WTO summits may prove useful. One of the key conferences in the WTO's history, in the view of civil society organizations, was the 2003 Ministerial Conference that took place in Cancun. In 2001, WTO members assembled in Doha, Qatar, where they agreed on the Doha Development Agenda, which laid out a plan to open world markets to agricultural and manufactured goods. 2003's Cancun assembly was meant to solidify the Doha rounds, which, WTO members claimed, would provide fairer agreements to developing countries. The four main areas of their talks included agriculture, industrial goods, trade in services and a new customs code. Cancun talks collapsed, as rich countries (mainly the US and EU) could not reach agreement with poor countries (India, Brazil, China and South Africa played predominantly in this move, but were supported by the G20, an emerging coalition of countries not represented in the G8). This alliance refused to sign a proposed document, which, they felt, favored the richer WTO member nations.
On the road to Hong Kong

Leading up to the December 2005 World Trade Organization's (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, Pambazuka News will examine some of the issues regarding the WTO as it affects Africa. In the first of this series, we examine the background to the current round of WTO summits, with a specific focus on Cancun.

Mobilization around the WTO meeting has been strong, and will continue up until December. The mobilization supports examination of and action against the potentially dangerous policies set to be discussed at the WTO meeting.

Some background on previous WTO summits may prove useful. One of the key conferences in the WTO's history, in the view of civil society organizations, was the 2003 Ministerial Conference that took place in Cancun. In 2001, WTO members assembled in Doha, Qatar, where they agreed on the Doha Development Agenda, which laid out a plan to open world markets to agricultural and manufactured goods. 2003's Cancun assembly was meant to solidify the Doha rounds, which, WTO members claimed, would provide fairer agreements to developing countries. The four main areas of their talks included agriculture, industrial goods, trade in services and a new customs code. Cancun talks collapsed, as rich countries (mainly the US and EU) could not reach agreement with poor countries (India, Brazil, China and South Africa played predominantly in this move, but were supported by the G20, an emerging coalition of countries not represented in the G8). This alliance refused to sign a proposed document, which, they felt, favored the richer WTO member nations.

Agriculture was one of the key issues in Cancun, as poor countries accused the richer countries of protecting their farmers with subsidies, not available to developing nations, and then discarding their goods on poor countries at extremely low prices, serving to undermine local farmers. Subsidies, funded by taxpayers via governments, pushed down production costs and raised productivity for Western farmers, causing them to become more competitive. Not only do poorer countries have to compete locally with these cheap imports, when trying to export they come up against subsidized agricultural goods, making their products more expensive, and therefore difficult to sell.

The role of African government's at these talks occurred through the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). Many of these states came to the table with goals to not begin new talks (called the Singapore Issues), but rather to resolve existing discussions (the Doha Rounds), as they were the ones that impact these poorer nations the most.

After the collapse of the trade talks in Cancun, non-governmental and civil society organizations in the developing world applauded the fact that the poorer countries had the confidence to stand up to more powerful nations and the agreements that would inevitably prove detrimental. However, many still saw the WTO as inherently undemocratic, not transparent, unaccountable and meant only to operate for the benefit of rich, Western countries; that poorer countries were still involved in the WTO was, and still is, a contentious point for many activists.

In 2004, WTO talks in Geneva were held in an attempt to resolve those issues that were left at Cancun. Many activists saw these as ministerial declarations without a ministerial meeting – policies that were detrimental were passed in an attempt to be able to move on, and many (at least 100) of the WTO ministers were absent. The meetings saw severe strategizing, especially on the part of the US. India and Brazil were pulled into their discussions, in an attempt by the wealthier countries to pacify the G20. By neutralizing these two nations, the US could be seen as working in collaboration with poorer nations. What resulted, however, was simply the fact that Brazil and India were able to meet their own interests, and did little to lobby for those countries left behind.

In Geneva, rich governments agree to cut subsidies to their farmers for export and lower tariff barriers. However, those countries also won access to trade facilitation, or better access to markets in developing nations, particularly for industrial goods. Reactions to the agreements surrounding subsidies were mixed. It was agreed that export subsidies were to be completely eliminated, however, no end date was set, and the US and EU were not mandated to take action until the other did so. Allegedly, the talks agreed to reduce overall levels of subsidies by 20%. This is more complicated, however, in reality, as the exact terms mean that in the end, wealthy countries could potentially manage to increase their domestic subsidies. Developing countries negotiated the right to protect products that were crucial to their economies, although the wording of this agreement was, for many, far too vague. These countries were pleased with the fact that three of the four Singapore Issues were dropped, with motions including those surrounding competition policy, government procurement and investment.

This is only a brief overview of the complicated negotiations and agreements that have been reached by WTO member states over the past several years. It will be interesting to see how these movements play out at the next meeting, and Pambazuka News will be looking more closely at what is at stake for African nations in next week's edition.

Resources:

http://www.seatini.org/

http://www.tjm.org.uk/

http://www.africaaction.org/docs99/wto9909.htm

http://www.igtn.org/

* Researched and written by Karoline Kemp, Commonwealth of Learning Young Professionals Intern, Fahamu

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Overview of 2005 World Summit outcomes and commitments

2005-10-13

http://www.reformtheun.org/index.php/articles/1661

UN reform has been discussed practically since its inception in 1945. Initial suggested reforms focused on making amendments to the Charter itself. Since then, the debate has shifted to the organization of the relevant bodies. The current phase of the UN reform debate was initiated and supported by the Secretary General. In September 2005 governments came together to make some of these decisions. This 'Reform the UN' document highlights the main outcomes and commitments of the UN World Summit within the respective categories: development, peace and collective security, human rights and the rule of law, strengthening the UN.

Niger's GCAP Successes

2005-10-13

http://www.whiteband.org/News/gcapnews.2005-10-07.3822977438/en

"Civil society in Niger imposed itself as a key actor, henceforth unavoidable within the dialogue with the government," says the national GCAP Coordinator. Follow the link for a Q & A with the GCAP Coordinator in Niger, who argues that the role of GCAP is important not only to raise awareness, but because it also puts pressure on government leaders, the political community at large and the United Nations.

Fahamu