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Featured in this issue

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/31760

EDITORIAL: Can trade in the era of globalisation be ‘just’? We introduce a series of articles on the topic of trade and justice.
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Charles Abugre on plugging the leakage of Africa’s resources
- Manu Herbstein, author of ‘Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade’, reflects on the historical background to his novel and some of its contemporary implications
- A court case has been filed over “the modern equivalent of slavery" in Liberia, reports Robtel Pailey
- Can US$777 trillion ever be repaid? M.P. Giyose makes a case for reparations
- Women bear the brunt of the effects of trade liberalization, argues Jennifer Chiriga
- Water, health care and every other essential service is up for trade - with enormous implications for the lives of the poor and vulnerable. Oduor Ongwen explains
LETTERS: Pambazuka News readers want action on Darfur and reason from Mugabe
BLOGGING AFRICA: Hamas win sparks African blog debate
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem narrowly escapes road robbery in Nigeria
BOOKS AND ARTS: Review of ‘Silences in African History’ by Jacques Depelchin
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Instability in Nigeria, “barbaric” beating at Darfur talks
HUMAN RIGHTS: AU talks tough on human rights violations
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Egyptian government agrees not to deport Sudanese detainees
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Amnesty tells Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to act on Charles Taylor; No court martial for Besigye
WOMEN AND GENDER: Rwandan genocide survivor writes hope into law; MPs scrap pregnant schoolgirl ban in Zanzibar
DEVELOPMENT: 30 years later, a celebration for "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa"
CORRUPTION: Kenyan government rocked by resignation of finance minister over corruption scandal
RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA: Multiple discrimination for women from minority groups, says report
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: US abortion policy from a global perspective
EDUCATION: African UNESCO gets go ahead
ENVIRONMENT: Farmers in Mali reject GM crops
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: "The net will soon close", Zimbabwean minister warns remaining journalists; Crackdown on independent radio station
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: Following a Pambazuka News editorial on Haiti last week, news comes in that Father Gerry has been released
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Tension increases in ongoing Central African land dispute
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Blogging mentoring project starts up in Nigeria
PLUS…e-newsletters, fundraising, courses, books and arts.

* This edition was produced with the assistance of Hivos, www.hivos.nl

* What do you think of the articles in this edition? How have you used them? Have you forwarded them to friends or colleagues? Let us know by sending an email to editor@pambazuka.org We'd love to hear from you!

Pambazuka News launches French edition

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/31761

Pambazuka News launches French edition

Pambazuka News, the newsletter and website with a focus on social justice issues in Africa, recently nominated by PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy as one of the top ten websites internationally “who are changing the world of internet and politics”, is to begin publishing of a French language version of it highly popular electronic newsletter on January 31, 2006.

“The newsletter has succeeded in creating a pan-African community, uniting people working in human rights, conflict prevention, health, social welfare, environment and social justice right across the region,” said Kenyan Director of Fahamu and Editor of Pambazuka News, Firoze Manji. “But there is a significant and unfortunate gap between those working in English-speaking and French-speaking countries, and we intend to bridge that gap through producing a French language version of Pambazuka News. ... But publishing in these languages is only the first step,” he said. “In the longer term we want to publish an Arabic edition, and then look at other African languages such as Kiswahili.”

Existing Pambazuka News subscribers are asked to:

- Inform Pambazuka News if they, as existing subscribers, would also
like to receive the French version of the newsletter by sending an email
to frencheditor@pambazuka.org with ‘subscribe French edition’ in the subject line and their full name in the body of the email.

- Inform French colleagues, networks, family and friends that they can subscribe to the upcoming French version of the newsletter by sending an email to frencheditor@pambazuka.org with ‘subscribe French edition’ in the subject line.

Watch out for more information in subsequent editions!

Click on the link to read the full press release.
Pambazuka News launches French edition
Press Release: 19 January 2006
Fahamu
www.fahamu.org

Pambazuka News, the newsletter and website with a focus on social justice issues in Africa, recently nominated by PoliticsOnline and the 6th Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy as one of the top ten websites internationally “who are changing the world of internet and politics”, is to begin publishing of a French language version of it highly popular electronic newsletter on January 31, 2006.

Produced by Fahamu, Pambazuka News currently has more than18,000 subscribers and a readership estimated at 100,000 across Africa and internationally. The weekly newsletter, which is now five years old, has become the most widely known forum for debate, commentary and insightful analyses of current affairs in Africa.

“The newsletter has succeeded in creating a pan-African community, uniting people working in human rights, conflict prevention, health, social welfare, environment and social justice right across the region,” said Kenyan Director of Fahamu and Editor of Pambazuka News, Firoze Manji. “But there is a significant and unfortunate gap between those working in English-speaking and French-speaking countries, and we intend to bridge that gap through producing a French language version of Pambazuka News.”

“But publishing in these languages is only the first step,” he said. “In the longer term we want to publish an Arabic edition, and then look at other African languages such as Kiswahili.”

Early editions of the French language version of the newsletter will consist of translated commentary, analysis and snippets from the English version of the newsletter. Soon, however, staff in West Africa will be providing original French content for the French version of Pambazuka News. “It is hoped that in the future the French edition will rival its English counterpart in terms of reach and content,” said Manji.

The Pambazuka News website has also been overhauled to allow for French content to be displayed and visitors will soon be able to choose their language preference.

For further details contact:

Firoze Manji: + 44-7786-628686
Patrick Burnett: + 27 73 232 3043
Atieno Ndomo: + 254- 733 912930

[ends]

Those interested in subscribing to the French e-newsletter can do so by sending an email to editionfrancaise@pambazuka.org with ‘subscribe’ in the subject line and their full name in the body of the email. All requests for subscriptions are considered confidential and Fahamu has a strict policy of not sharing email addresses with third parties. From the beginning of February, a subscribe function will also be available from the Fahamu website.

Issued by:

Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice
www.fahamu.org

Pambazuka News website
www.pambazuka.org

Write to editor@pambazuka.org for queries.

ABOUT FAHAMU

Fahamu has a vision of the world where people organise to emancipate themselves from all forms of oppression, recognise their social responsibilities, respect each other’s differences, and realise their full potential.

Fahamu is committed to serving the needs of organisations and social movements that aspire to progressive social change and that promote and protect human rights. We believe that civil society organisations have a critical role to play in defending human rights, and that information and communications technologies can and should be harnessed for that cause. We are committed to enabling civil society organisations to use the internet to promote social justice.

Formed in 1997, Fahamu uses information and communication technologies as a tool for social change by developing supported distance learning materials for human rights and civil society organizations; innovative ways to make information and learning for change accessible; being a catalyst for critical social debate; producing social justice e-newsletters; and undertaking social policy research on Africa.

Fahamu comprises a small core of highly skilled and experienced staff based in Oxford (UK), Nairobi (Kenya) and Cape Town (South Africa). We also have an international network of Associates. Our work is also made possible through the commitment of volunteers and interns.

Pambazuka News is a project of Fahamu.

Fahamu is registered as a company limited by guarantee in the UK (4241054). Fahamu Trust is registered as a charity (1100304). Fahamu is also registered as a trust in South Africa (IT 372/01).

Fahamu’s work has been supported by the following: Article 19; Australia Aid; Commonwealth of Learning; Commonwealth Secretariat; Christian Aid; DANIDA; DFID; European Union; Ford Foundation; Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Foundation for Human Rights (South Africa); Geneva Foundation; HIVOS; International Development Research Centre, Canada; JG & VL Joffe Charitable Trust; New Field Foundation fund of the Tides Foundation; NOVIB; Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa; Oxfam GB; SIDA; Sigrid Rausing Trust; TrustAfrica; University of Oxford; University for Peace; and many individual donors.

ABOUT PAMBAZUKA NEWS

Pambazuka News means ‘awaken’ or ‘arise’ in Kiswahili. The service is published by Fahamu (www.fahamu.org) and is a weekly electronic newsletter and complementary website for social justice in Africa with a subscriber base of over 18 000. Pambazuka News is widely forwarded and reposted and it is estimated that the newsletter therefore reaches some 100,000 people on a weekly basis. This number excludes those who read the newsletter online at www.pambazuka.org or at www.allafrica.com where the newsletter appears in full each week.
Pambazuka News has:

- Supported for the campaign for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
- Produced special editions on women’s rights for broader dissemination and for lobbying at African Union meetings. One of these editions was also produced as a pamphlet and in .PDF version and entitled ‘Not Yet a Force for Freedom’. Pambazuka News acted as a platform for the news and views of the coalition campaigning for the ratification of the protocol.
- Pambazuka News has developed and hosted a petition on the Pambazuka News website in support of women’s rights. This has also involved the development of an SMS function that enables people to sign the petition by SMS and receive SMS updates about the campaign. News about the petition has been covered by VOA, BBC, Reuters, SABC, UN-IRIN and African radio and newspaper outlets in at least 20 countries.
- Supported the campaign for the Remembrance of the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide in 2004 by producing a special issue that profiled the genocide through a series of ten editorials. Pambazuka News also acted as a forum for the distribution of news and information on the commemorations.
- Produced an editorial book entitled ‘African Voices for Development and Social Justice’ profiling key editorials carried in the newsletter during 2004. The book is distributed internationally through African Books Collective.

The production of a French language version of Pambazuka News has been made possible by a grant from the New Field Foundation, a fund of the Tides Foundation.

Globalisation, trade and justice

Introducing a special issue on trade and justice

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/31753

So, can trade in the era of globalisation be ‘just’? Pambazuka News will carry a series of four special issues during 2006 that include articles designed to raise awareness and debate on issues of trade and justice. In this, the first issue, we have a range of articles that examine diverse issues related to slavery, colonialism and reparations. Other articles look at how trade impacts on women, provide pointers for civil society in their campaigning activities and examine new forms of trade injustices currently facing the continent.


It’s one the smallest states in a world were seemingly everything and everyone is globalised. That makes mountainous and landlocked Lesotho, with a population of just under two million and an unemployment rate of 50 percent, both vulnerable and dependent on the whims of market super powers to maintain its economy.

A January 1 termination of a previously little known agreement - the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) - resulted in Lesotho’s fragile textiles industry losing 13,000 jobs out of 54,000 and the closure of 10 factories. The 1970s MFA was a series of quotas set up to protect indigenous producers from import surges, but since 1995, the WTO began phasing out quotas to bring trading agreements governing textiles into line with global free trade regulations. It’s abolishment resulted in a surge of imports, mainly from China, where production costs were far lower.

In a country where one worker may be responsible for feeding, clothing and schooling a large extended family, the impact for Lesotho has been harsh. “The country is in crisis. We are in a real crisis,” said Daniel Maraisane, the General Secretary of the Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers’ Union.

The reality of the 13,000 workers in Lesotho or the 250 000 others in Africa who lost their jobs as a result of the MFA (http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991223274&Language=EN), is that all of them were part of a complex trade web linking countries of the world that no-one could have imagined a century ago, a system where justice and the interests of ordinary workers often take backstage to global trade policies dictated by global powers. Countries like Lesotho and even entire continents like Africa, frequently appear to be on the losing end of the equation.

It’s in this context that 2005 saw a cacophony of calls for ‘trade justice’, defined as a commitment to lobbying for the introduction and implementation of trade rules that work for all people, instead of benefiting those who already have the most (http://www.tjm.org.uk/about/statement.shtml). Campaigners for trade justice argue that existing trade rules are damaging to many people, especially the poor and vulnerable, the environment and social policies. They maintain that the global trading system must be rebalanced, taking into account the needs of the poor, human rights, and the environment.

But can trade in the era of globalisation be ‘just’?

The world market has long been conquered, controlled and dominated by metropolitan capital. This was not achieved by economic means alone, but also by the use of brutal force. The metropolitan countries imposed unequal treaties, demolished existing manufacturing industries, enslaved, robbed, seized by tricks, exploited, and carried out wholesale colonization. Once the conquest of the world market had been achieved, and the North had ensured its domination, and only once that had been guaranteed, did the dogma of ‘free trade’ get imposed on a world scale. Just as the industrial revolution led to massive over-production and the voracious appetite to conquer the world and seize its markets, so the more recent revolutions in micro- and bio-technology have led, in their own way, to an era of conquering the world through a massive restructuring of economies – which was what the period of structural adjustment programmes and PRSPs was all about.

And it is no surprise that ‘free trade’ is once again the banner of the neoliberals and neocons. This new voracious surge is what is currently referred to as ‘globalisaton’. It is what has led to the rich getting richer, and the poor poorer. It is what has condemned us to be consumers, not citizens, and commercially degraded every aspect of our lives. And since only a minority have the capacity to consume, the vast majority of Africa’s people are effectively disenfranchised.

Trade in the era of globalization is neither ‘free’ nor ‘just’. 'The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas…And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the US Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.' (Thomas L Friedman: The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1999, p 373)

'There is a notion gaining credence,' writes Arundhati Roy, 'that the free market breaks down national barriers, and that corporate globalization’s ultimate destination is a hippie paradise … What the free market undermines is not national sovereignty, but democracy. As the disparity between rich and poor grows, the hidden fist has its work cut out for it. Multinational corporations on the prowl for sweetheart deals that yield enormous profits cannot push through those deals and administer those projects in developing countries without the active connivance of state machinery – the police, the courts, sometimes even the army.” (Arundhati Roy: The Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire. Harper Perennial, 2004. p 37).

Leading up to the 200th commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade and the 50th anniversary of independence in Ghana – both crucial points in terms of marking Africa’s historical relationship to the rest of the world - Pambazuka News will carry a series of four special issues that include articles designed to raise awareness and debate on issues of trade and justice. In this, the first issue, we carry a range of articles that examine diverse issues related to slavery, colonialism and reparations. Other articles look at how trade impacts on women, provide pointers for civil society in their campaigning activities and examine new forms of trade injustices currently facing the continent.

- Patrick Burnett and Firoze Manji, Pambazuka News

- Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Contents list

1. A leaking ship: The role of debt, aid and trade

2005 was supposed to be a year of action for Africa, with demands for “more and better aid, debt cancellation and more just trade policies”. What happened? Charles Abugre from Christian Aid offers some insights into the demands of the last year and provides pointers on where African civil society should focus their energies in the related areas of aid, debt and trade.

Full article: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=31754

2. A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Manu Herbstein’s first novel, ‘Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, recently published in South Africa by Picador Africa, won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Best First Book Prize. Set in the late eighteenth century, it tells the story of a young woman who is captured and enslaved in the West African savannah and transported to Brazil. Here, Herbstein reflects on the historical background to his novel and some of its contemporary implications.

Full article: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=31755

3. Modern-day tyranny and slavery in Liberia

In late 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund filed an Alien Tort Claims Act case in the US District Court in California against Bridgestone, alleging "forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery" on a Firestone Plantation in Harbel, Liberia. The lawsuit states: "The Plantation workers allege, among other things, that they remain trapped by poverty and coercion on a frozen-in-time Plantation operated by Firestone in a manner identical to how the Plantation was operated when it was first opened by Firestone in 1926." Robtel Pailey investigates modern-day slavery in the "land of the free".

Full article: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=31756

4. Trade, justice and the case for reparations

Are claims for slavery reparations of US$777 trillion, as made by a 1999 African World Reparations truth commission in Accra, realistic? How does one begin to conceptualise claims for reparations in a broader historical and social context when it comes to centuries of exploitation? M.P. Giyose from Jubilee South Africa makes the case for understanding reparations as a transformation of the way the world functions, ultimately serving to restore and sustain human civilisation.

Full article: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=31757

5. Trade, gender and the search for alternatives

It is women who bear the brunt of the effects of trade liberalization on social development through a lack of access to basic social services. But, writes Jennifer Chiriga from the Alternative Information and Development Centre, one of the major impacts of trade on women is how the capitalist ethic plays into building masculinity while at the same time playing down the role that women play in society. Alternatives are in the offing, she argues.

Full article: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=31758

6. Vulnerable and poor face up to the implications of GATS

The time is fast approaching when water, health care and every other essential service become tradable - with enormous implications for the lives of the poor and vulnerable. Oduor Ongwen, the country director of SEATINI Kenya, describes the international agreement that is going to regulate trade in services, the General Agreement on Trade in services (GATS), noting that it is a “dangerous instrument for the externalisation of resources of underdeveloped countries such as those in Africa”.

Full article: http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=31759

* What do you think of the articles in this edition? How have you used them? Have you forwarded them to friends or colleagues? Let us know by sending an email to editor@pambazuka.org We'd love to hear from you!

A leaking ship: The role of debt, aid and trade

Charles Abugre

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31754

2005 was supposed to be a year of action for Africa, with demands for “more and better aid, debt cancellation and more just trade policies”. What happened? Charles Abugre from Christian Aid offers some insights into the demands of the last year and provides pointers on where African civil society should focus their energies in the related areas of aid, debt and trade.


The rationale behind the “more and better aid, debt cancellation and more just trade policies” is that these will create the conditions to ensure adequate resources to finance Africa’s development. Undoubtedly, if fully addressed, these will put more money in the hands of governments and people and ease the resource constraint. We will argue however that on their own – never mind the quality of aid, the speed of debt cancellation, the degree of market opening in the north and the end of export subsidies - these demands will not provide the resources adequate for Africa’s development.

These demands, though relevant, are slightly misplaced in their singular focus on sources of “inflows” to the total denial of the mechanisms of “outflows”. It is the balance of inflows and outflows that create the net resources for development. We will also argue that the singular focus on “inflows” entrenches the sense of Africa’s dependence and perpetuates the myth of Africa’s resource poverty and powerlessness. In addition, in focussing on trade policy per se at the exclusion of what underlies trade, we miss a fundamental explanation for government’s persistence on liberalisation – beyond the view that they are reckless, ignorant, powerless or uncaring.

More and Better Aid

Our demand that governments in the north fulfil their obligation to deliver 0.7% of the gross national products for international development is right. It is indeed a right of African countries in particular, to demand it in view of the fact this promise has been used repeatedly in the past as a bait to secure economic and social reforms in Africa. But realistically, we know it won’t be delivered. The slow pace and low volume of aid increases committed at the 2005 G8 meeting in spite of all the noise, and the subsequent threat by the US to undermine the 0.7% target itself, shows how difficult and risky it is to rely on increasing volumes of aid for Africa’s development. The explanation is simple, to the extent that traditional aid continues to depend on taxpayers in the north, its ebbs and flows will depend on the political temperature and economic performance in the north, especially Europe.

But the key problems of aid are its purpose, its governance and its impact on the psychology and accountability of our governments and elite. Official development aid is hardly ever completely altruistic or single-purpose or hardly ever completely divorced from foreign policy. Consequently, we are constantly going from opposition to one thing or the other associated with the provision of aid, e.g. tied aid, policy conditioning; human rights conditioning, policy leveraging and more recently the increasing link with the war on terror.

Regardless of the rhetoric, aid cannot be separated from foreign policy objectives and to the extent that these shift, the purpose of aid will shift. In any case why not? Why shouldn’t taxpayers in the north demand that their taxes serve values and goals they hold as dear to them? Why shouldn’t they expect their governments to account for the impact of aid, therefore put in place measures to ensure that their money delivers the purpose for which it is given.

Conditionality is an important issue for Africa largely because aid forms too large a share of budgets, therefore risks associated with aid policy are more significant for African than other continents where aid forms a minuscule proportion. Whilst it is proper to keep ensuring that the conditions associated with the provision and management of aid do not exacerbate Africa’s development problems, the real challenge is to reduce its importance to Africa’s development.

The more debilitating impact of development aid is what it does to the mentality of the African elite and to the democratisation and accountable governance process. Governments have developed the myth that their economies cannot survive without aid. In reality it is their governments and the patronage systems that maintain them which are under threat without the aid machinery.

The competition among African governments for inclusion in the club of favoured nations leads to wilful abandonment, to donors, of sovereignty won at the cost of lives in the anti-colonial struggle. The multi-donor budget support arrangement is one manifestation of this loss of sovereignty. Without a break in the aid dependency mentality Africa stands no chance of building democracy based on accountability to citizens. Worst still, the imagery that aid agencies – private and official – find necessary to deploy in order to sustain domestic political interest for aid is often an affront to the African personality and spirit, diminishes the African self-worth and perpetuates negative stereotypes. Whilst we cannot ignore aid, we should not be glorifying it.

Sometimes we in civil society contribute unconsciously to the erosion of sovereignty and the loss of self-worth. We are sometimes quick to demand or endorse “governance conditionality” where aid and debt relief is made conditional to progress in these areas. To monitor compliance often requires even greater involvement and power of donors in domestic governance. It is like saying that new forms of colonisation are acceptable on human rights grounds. This is dangerous. Yet, there are cases where human rights abuses, dictatorship and corruption are at such a level that the impact of debt relief and aid will be to strengthen repression and enrich a few than promote development. What do we do under this situation?

A solution could be based on the principle that regional political bodies are better placed to manage political problems in member states. This is the principle applied by ECOWAS, SADC and the AU in conflict resolution and peace building/keeping. This is also the principle underlying the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). We propose a Peer Trust Fund to be managed by the AU and used as the financial muscle behind the APRM. Debt relief and humanitarian funds meant for countries abusing the citizens will be paid into this Fund, to be held in trust for the country and be released by the AU as the country makes progress in the governance areas of concern. Such a mechanism will:

- Strengthen and give teeth to the AU’s desire and capacity to promote accountable and democratic governance in the region;

- Act as a muscle and an incentive for the APRM;

- Take away the excuse of creditors not to write off debts owed to Africa or withhold aid needed for humanitarian purposes but which, for reasons outlined above, cannot be channelled directly to an abusing country or to NGOs;

- Allow Africans and their political institutions to drive their own political reforms;

- End the arbitrary and selective means by which donors apply governance conditionality.
-
So what should we do about aid:

- Support our northern partners’ efforts to make their governments fulfil their part of the global compact but scale down its importance in Africa’s plan of action;

- Support the establishment of a Peer Trust Fund to assist the AU to deal with the governance issue;

- Increase domestic CSO interests and involvement in budget processes so as reduce the influence of donors on budget governance and steer budgets to deliver public services and fight corruption;

- Oppose donor-driven budget management arrangements that undermine parliamentary oversight and propose parliamentary oversight procedures that are transparent and inclusive of civil society.

Whilst these actions are necessary to improve the quality of aid and reduce its damage, they do not address the resource deficit problem per se.

Debt

The issue of debt is not so much what we demand but whom we address with what messages. First the message of ending the debt burden has been directed largely at one direction – the creditors. The message itself has been one of appealing for understanding whether based on justice or empathy. There is nothing wrong with this in as far as this appeal is coming from our northern partners directed at their publics and governments. Whatever strategies they find as feasible to exert pressure for action should be welcomed by us as long us these strategies neither diminish the African dignity nor undermines the messages coming from Africans.

But directing our energies at appealing to northern creditors suggests our lack of belief in the power of the debtor. However, the Nigerian debt relief effort, no matter how unsatisfactory, and the Argentinean debt restructuring initiative suggest that debtors do have power and can force change. In the Nigerian case, it was the threat by Parliament to withhold appropriation for debt servicing and the subsequent road show that the joint committees of parliament undertook in Europe and America to drum home their threat that forced the Paris Club to rush through a debt relief package. In Argentina’s case, an economic and political meltdown resulting from years of faithful compliance with the IMF’s conditions and faithful debt servicing, forced Argentina to impose a unilateral moratorium on debt servicing and then subsequently unilaterally discounted its debt instruments by 75%. After heaving and puffing both the IMF and the private creditors accepted their lot and Argentina’s economy rebounded.

Africa’s debt overhang of over $200bn provides the muscle for a successful collective African threat. This is the task for the African Union and we should make that forcefully clear. The cancellation of $200bn poses no threat to the global financial system but can save millions of lives. Even a threat of a collective moratorium will send the message clear and loud, especially if this threat were accompanied by an enforceable commitment to transparency and anti-corruption and the channelling of the money so saved into revamping public services. We should not celebrate divisive debt relief initiatives like the one delivered at Gleneagles although we can celebrate the victory in terms of the comprehensive principle, i.e. that all debts, including the debt stock owed to the IFIs must be cancelled.

So where do we go from here in relation to debt:

- Welcome the principle of debt stock cancellation agreed at Gleneagles and at the annual meeting of the IMF/Bank but condemn the selectivity and divisive approach;

- Develop a strategy to pressurise the AU and its member states to adopt a debtor-led strategy;

- Campaign for an International Law to regulate international debt.

Trade

The trade policy focus has been in four areas:

- Defending our domestic markets from further harmful liberalisation;

- Defending our producers – especially our farmers – from demise resulting from “dumping” of subsidised imports;

- Seeking market access without reciprocal market opening obligations;

- Promoting regional integration.

These demands are relevant and we should continue to maintain a focus on them. We should prioritise, in particular:

- The defensive interests of our people: For example, our focus on agriculture should be driven by food security and rural development objectives rather than export promotion. Not only is the latter not realistically attainable in a significant way (except traditional commodities) but detracts from what Africa’s needs are at this moment. In this sense, the key policy focus is to prevent any further market opening (liberalisation) whether this is through aid and debt deals or through multilateral negotiations. Better still, the goal should be to protect the space for flexible policy whereby countries can vary tariff policy to meet development goals, starting with consumer goods and shifting to intermediary inputs of capital goods – whilst relaxing consumer good imports – as the economy develops. It is this flexible and progressive use of tariffs that is essential as an industrialisation strategy.

- Conditions for industrialisation: This intersects with the defensive interest. The key constraining factor for industrialisation is demand - the competition from foreign consumer goods which makes it impossible for local produce to carry on producing let alone innovate. Investing in infrastructure including roads and energy will contribute to reducing transaction cost but are not, at the most constraining to industrialisation. We should not be detracted by the so-called supply-side argument that suggests that investments in infrastructure will correct for competitive pressures. The policy demand is to not give any more market access through the Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) negotiations and others whilst securing the policy space necessary to allow for flexible use of trade policy.

- Defend public services: The aggressive push embarked on by the EU and the US at the on-going talks to open up the services sector reflects the shift in the structure of these economies into services. It also reflects the increasing importance of services for profits and services as a means of gaining control of scarce natural resources such as water. Without the universal provisions of public services by the public sector, Africa stands no chance of reducing poverty, managing inequality and conflict and growing the labour force of the future. We should put in all the energy we can marshal to campaign for the universal provision of public services by the public sector, the minimisation of commercial ethos in basic services and the avoidance of market opening commitments.

- Regional markets: The key issue here is to support the AU and sub-regional trading blocks to resist the pressure to make market opening and third-party tariff concessions before the dynamics of intra-regional trade are worked out, not least in the Singapore issues. This suggests the need to postpone the market access aspects of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU and to shift energy into campaigning for a reform of Article 24 of the Regional Trade Agreements component of the WTO in order to protect the principle of less than full-reciprocity. In the interim we should back the Stop EPAs campaign’s call for a reform of the rules of origin aspects of the Everything But Arms (EBA) to make it meaningful for African LDCs.

- The Mandate of the WTO and dispute settlement: Developing countries, and Africa in particular, stand to lose with a WTO saddled with a broad rather than a narrow agenda. This is because Africa has the least capacity to defend, let alone promote their interest in multiple negotiating forums. The continent’s heavy dependency on the IFIs for resources exposes it to unilateral liberalisation pressures. Once unilateral liberalisation has been embarked upon, there is always the risk of easily committing liberalised sectors to the lock-in mechanism of the WTO. In addition, making commitments at several fronts imposes an implementation burden, the cost of which is relatively higher for poorer countries than richer ones. It is therefore in the interest of Africa to see a slimmer WTO.

However, the decision to focus on trade to the exclusion of investments is a serious limitation. In the first place, the Services Agreement and the Singapore agenda are essentially about investment. It is important to note also that underlying the market access concessions that African governments give to the north, especially in services, is an expectation of foreign direct investments and its mythical value as the solution to underdevelopment. Similarly, FDI expectations underlie the anti-inflationary macroeconomic policies of governments and debt servicing compliance.

The belief in FDI is so strong that governments have happily adopted negative taxation policies to attract foreign companies. To have a chance of developing trade and macroeconomic policies that promote development, restrain our governments from giving away market access concessions recklessly and channel attention towards domestic resources for investments, we must first effectively champion a more realistic and less jingoistic expectations associated with FDI.

So what do we do in relation to trade and investment?

- Encourage national governments to be more proactive in protecting their markets especially in the area of consumer goods, agriculture and essential public services. They will not necessarily suffer punitive action. Even if they did, their economies may still come out better-off.

- Drum home to national governments that opening markets will not necessarily bring FDI and even if it did, FDI will not necessarily bring about development. Encourage the AU to promote a critical debate on the role of FDI in Africa’s development.

- Continue the campaign for policy flexibility and an end to coerced liberalisation. This is crucial for defending Africa’s producers.

- Scale down the export focus of agriculture (market access in the north) and emphasise its food security and rural development objectives.

- Support the Stop EPAs campaign

Financing Development: Beyond aid debt relief and trade

What matters for ensuring that governments have adequate resources to finance development are net flows. This means factoring in not just inflows such as earnings from trade, or aid or remittances but also what is lost to the rest if the world. Debt servicing is one outflow. But there are several other ways in which resources are lost to the continent. Indeed, the reality of Africa is that the resources that leak out far exceed those that flow in. This is why Africa is a net exporter of capital.

And the sums are staggering. Njukumana et al estimate that between 1970 and 2000, whereas Africa received about $100bn id aid (including loans) it lost $274bn in capital flight induced by debt, trade mis-invoicing and imputed interests. Add cumulative losses due to terms of trade of non-oil producing Sub-Saharan African countries, estimated by the World Bank to be in the area of $400bn or 120% of combined GDP. Add also losses that African countries have incurred simply by opening up their markets.

Africa was made to reduce their rates of protection at a pace three times as fast the countries of the OECD. This has left the continent ridiculously open, relative to its stage of development. Christian Aid recently calculated that over the past two decades, Africa lost in income terms the equivalent of over $270bn from the negative growth effects alone of trade liberalization. This amount alone more than matches the accumulated value of grants, loans and net FDI channelled into the continent.

Add losses due to tax competition, tax evasion and tax avoidance. Taxation which has served developed countries well as a means of redistribution and source of investment capital but which has been undermined through the enforced deregulation which has promoted tax competition, tax avoidance and tax havens. As a result, whereas government revenue from taxation in developed countries average 30% of GDP between 1990 and 2000, in sub-Saharan Africa this has declined over the years to an average of 17.9% of GDP.

Losses from tax competition have largely benefited multinational corporations whilst the tax burden has been transferred to wage earners and small businesses. Some analysts suggest that African oil producers command less than 20% of the profits. The rest are lost to a complicated network of unfair trade practices. The transfer of revenues to tax havens by these corporations and rich individuals further exacerbates the revenue loss. It is estimated that at least $11.5 trillion is currently held in about 74 tax heavens – lost to tax authorities – by wealthy individuals. This does not include laundered profits of businesses which operate through tax havens to avoid tax, nor does it include money illicitly transferred abroad through corruption, drugs and money laundering. These latter elements in any case comprise a much smaller share of resources losses than is generally believed.

As is obvious from above, Africa is not as poor or as helpless as is often presented. Instead, it is a continent that leaks heavily. The task is to plug these leaks. To do so, African civil society must turn attention to addressing:

- Support for campaigns aimed at corporate transparency;

- Campaigns against tax concessions and for progressive tax policies;

- Work with relevant networks to campaign for the end to banking secrecy and tax havens;

- Follow-up on the recommendation of Africa Commission report to pursue and return stolen wealth from Africa and to put in place measures to discourage illicit transfers abroad.

Incidentally, taxation and reliance on domestic sources for financing development also provide a more conducive environment for promoting democratic accountability than the dependence on aid. We have an obligation to plug the leaks.

* Charles Abugre is currently the head of policy and advocacy at Christian Aid. He has been a development activist in Ghana and many parts of Africa and Asia. This is a shortened version of a paper presented to an Africa consultation of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, held in Harare, Zimbabwe from 7-10 November, 2005.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Manu Herbstein

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31755

Manu Herbstein’s first novel, ‘Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, recently published in South Africa by Picador Africa, won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Best First Book Prize. Set in the late eighteenth century, it tells the story of a young woman who is captured and enslaved in the West African savannah and transported to Brazil. Here, Herbstein reflects on the historical background to his novel and some of its contemporary implications.


Some forty years ago the distinguished British Professor of History, Hugh Trevor-Roper, told a BBC audience: "Perhaps in the future, there will be some African history to teach. But, at present there is none: there is only the history of the Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness…"

In 1772 or thereabouts, Ama is quietly going about her business at her home in the West African savannah. She is about to be overwhelmed by waves, tsunamis, of history, African and European history, of which she is almost entirely ignorant. Living, as she is, in a quiet, rural, pre-industrial society, we may excuse her ignorance. Given Trevor-Roper’s profession and status, his ignorance was inexcusable. Regrettably, except amongst specialists, that ignorance of African history remains widespread today.

I am not an historian. Indeed I am not any sort of academic. So I ask you to approach the potted historical background which I am going to offer you with some reserve. For one-stop access to the texts I have used you might like to look at the book’s companion web-site, www.ama.africatoday.com One further caveat: you should bear in mind that much of our knowledge of West African history is derived from European sources, which may be distorted by their unwitting ideological baggage.

Returning to my metaphor of tsunamis, what I am going to do is to describe briefly the dry land on which Ama (or Nandzi, to give her her birth-name) stands as the novel opens and then, again briefly, to describe each of the several waves of history which threaten to engulf her: the histories, if they can be separated, of Dagbon, Asante and Europe; and of gold, kola and sugar.

Human settlement in the West African Sudan

Until very recently conventional history has had it that the peopling of West Africa is, in terms of palaeontology, quite recent, beginning, perhaps, during the last ice age, a period when the Sahara was green. The recent discovery of hominid fossils in Chad may demand a major reassessment of this part of the story.

Be that as it may, the early immigration would in all likelihood have been gradual and slow and the numbers small.

Let me now slip into the historical present tense.

Over the course of many centuries the Western Sudan, the savannah country to the south of the Sahara, becomes populated. Many people live in acephalous societies, some of which, beloved of anthropologists, still exist. Ama’s people, who call themselves Bekpokpam, but are known to others as Konkomba, are one such. They develop, as one might expect, a culture which is intimately connected with their physical environment. So, to give just one example, their religious practices are concerned with protection from a sometimes hostile climate and with encouragement of fertility, both of the soil and of their womenfolk.

History is recorded, by and large, to reflect the glory of strong rulers. Since the Konkomba have no strong rulers, they preserve little of their history. What they remember, principally, is their “tsunami,” when they were overwhelmed by mounted invaders from the north.
Dagbon

The invaders call themselves Dagomba; their state is known as Dagbon.

In the 16th century or earlier, perhaps, the ancestors of the Dagomba live in the vicinity of Lake Chad. They are troubled by the depredations of the “white men from the desert,” that is, Bedouin raiders; and decide to migrate. For a generation or more they wander within the bend of the Niger River, surviving from the proceeds of occasional brigandry. In due course they settle in the vicinity of what is now the city of Tamale, in northern Ghana and towards the Togo border to the east, where they establish their capital, Yendi. This is the country of the Konkomba, some of whom submit and are absorbed by the invaders while others stubbornly retain their own separate identity.

In the early eighteenth century, through the influence of Hausa traders, Dagbon adopts Islam. The Hausa traders arrive each year, after the rains, in search of kola.
Kola
In early times, the tropical forest bars migration from the savannah down to the Atlantic coast; however the Volta River offers one way through. So we have a populated coastal strip separated from the savannah by a 200km wide belt of forest.

The natural environment of the tropical forest is a major factor in determining how, and how quickly, it is penetrated by man. The canopy of the forest is so dense that little light penetrates to the ground. The vegetation at ground level is consequently light. Adventurous hunters in search of game are the first humans to enter the forest. In due course some of them establish small settlements. The trees are enormous and closely spaced. It requires a great input of labour to clear areas for agriculture. The problems are exacerbated by the poor quality of tropical soils. After only three or four crops the nutrients are exhausted and decreasing yields force the farmer to clear new areas.

Powerful economic incentives are needed to make settlement viable. Of these there are two: kola and gold.

The kola tree is indigenous to these forests. Its seeds fall to the ground, where they may be collected. The kola “nut” is a pink and white seed about the size of a thumb. It has a mildly narcotic effect and is reputed to stave off hunger and thirst. Its economic value stems from the fact that Islam does not prohibit its use. In order to realize this value, labour is required to clear the ground beneath the kola trees, to gather the seeds and to transport them in head-loaded baskets to entrepôts beyond the northern extent of the forest. The market for kola encompasses the entire Muslim world.
Gold

From around the eighth century of our era, the kingdoms of the western Sudan, first, ancient Ghana, and then Mali and Songhai, are the most important suppliers of gold to the Mediterranean, exporting, on average, a ton of gold across the Sahara each year. West African gold makes a vital contribution to the monetization of the medieval Mediterranean economy.

School children in West Africa learn of Mansa Musa, the king of Mali who died in 1337. In making the hajj, Mansa Musa takes with him 100 camel-loads of gold and distributes so much of the precious metal in Cairo and Mecca that the bottom drops out of the market.

The trans-Saharan trade in gold reaches its peak around the end of the 17th century. In due course, the local surface deposits of gold become depleted and the Malians send exploratory missions throughout West Africa in search of new supplies. They discover a rich source in the forest of what is now the modern state of Ghana. By that time there is competition from European buyers at the coast.

The kola trade requires labour; so does the mining of gold. And so, too, does the establishment of agriculture, to support the miners and porters and the new aristocrats who are the descendants of the first settlers. Guns and powder purchased from the Europeans at the coast offer the means of obtaining that labour.

By the second half of the seventeenth century, gradual development of the forest economy has reached a level at which the establishment of a large centralized state is a viable project.
The Europeans: Portuguese, Dutch and British

During the period 1400-1600, Europe, emerging from the lethargy of the Middle Ages, witnesses the renewal of nationalism as well as the political transformation from feudalism to nation states. The exploration of the Atlantic leads to the establishment of Europe's commercial empires; and, in due course, to the industrial revolution. The Atlantic slave trade plays an important role in the growth of the European economy.

The Portuguese know that there is gold in West Africa: they aim to bypass the Saharan trade and get access to the gold through the back door. In 1482, five years before Bartholomew Diaz rounds the Cape, the Portuguese aristocrat Dom Diego d’Azambuja arrives, with several ships, at a village on the coast of what is now Ghana. His ships are laden with building materials and after negotiating with the local chief, he starts to build a brick and stone castle, which the Portuguese name Elmina. By 1486 d’Azambuja’s castle of St. George is substantially complete.

St. Georges Castle at Elmina is the oldest surviving European building in the tropics. It is a useful symbolic marker of the beginning of the process of the worldwide expansion of European power which we now call globalization.

In 1637, fifteen years before Van Riebeeck’s arrival at the Cape, the Dutch expel the Portuguese from Elmina Castle. They are to stay there for 235 years, until 1872, when, seeing neither economic nor political advantage in remaining, they sell the building, by then much extended, to the British.

I first visited Elmina Castle in 1961 or ’62. At the time it was being used as a training college for the Ghana Police Force and was not open to the public. I was living and working at Cape Coast, some 15km to the east of Elmina. One of the small colony of South African schoolteachers there, Manilal Moodley (who was later to become Zimbabwe’s first Ombudsman), was friendly with the Commander of the Police College. Mani took me with him on my first visit to the Castle. I was totally ignorant of its significance and that of the many other slave castles which line the Ghanaian coast. I have to admit that I remained in that state of ignorance for many years. I am comforted by the thought that I was not alone in this respect. My sister, the distinguished Ghanaian novelist, Ama Ata Aidoo, told me many, many years later: “I grew up in the shadow of those castles, but no one ever told me what they were or what they meant.”

The first chapter of Ama which I wrote is set in Elmina Castle and is based upon a story which the tourist guides still tell. It is now chapter 13. It had the advantage that, unlike the rest of the book, it required little research.

Asante

We return to the forest.

In the year 1700 Nana Osei Tutu establishes the Asante Confederacy, Asanteman, with Kumase as its capital. Its economy is based upon the export of kola and gold. It sells gold to the Dutch in exchange for guns. It uses the guns to expand its empire by conquest. Conquest of the surrounding states provides it with the labour it needs to mine the gold and gather and export the kola. It sells the captives in excess of its labour requirements to the Dutch and the English at the coast.

Asante imposes strict limitations upon the activities of foreign traders within its territory. The Europeans are confined to small areas around their castles and forts on the coast. The kola markets are on the north bank of the Volta River, which the Hausa traders are not permitted to cross. In order to consolidate its control of the kola trade routes, Asante invades Dagbon, first in 1744 and again in 1772. It stations a consul in Yendi, the Dagomba capital, to ensure delivery of an annual tribute. The tribute comprises so many sheep and goats, so many pieces of cotton cloth and so many of silk cloth; and 500 slaves. Asante concedes that none of the slaves will be Dagomba. So every year the Ya Na, the Dagomba ruler, sends out raiding parties to capture slaves for delivery to Kumase. Many of the captives are Konkomba. Nandzi, later to be known as Ama, is one.

The labour of slaves makes a substantial contribution to the Asante economy. However the slavery practised by the Asante differs so fundamentally from the chattel slavery of the Europeans, that it hardly makes sense to use the same word for the two practices. In Asante, slaves are absorbed into the population within a generation and became all but full citizens. Indeed Asante law encourages integration by prohibiting the public disclosure of the origins of any citizen.

By the end of the eighteenth century Asante has established political supremacy over the territories that comprise most of modern Ghana and east-central and south-eastern Cote d'Ivoire. It is a sophisticated, complex and wealthy state. It maintains large monetary reserves including its treasury's Great Chest, which when full contains some 200,000 oz., say 5 or 6 tons, of gold.
Europe and Africa

It is instructive to consider some aspects of the state of Europe at this time, the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Britain, emerging as the pre-eminent power, serves as an example.

In 1775 George III signs an order releasing from bondage the women and children, many of them younger than eight years old, who work in British coal and salt mines in conditions not much removed from slavery. The following year the British Parliament debates (and rejects) the first motion to outlaw slavery in Britain and her colonies. Another 32 years are to pass before the slave trade is outlawed and yet another 27 before the practice of slavery itself becomes illegal.

In Britain at this time, Roy Porter tells us, criminals are publicly whipped, pilloried, and hanged; until 1777 Jacobites' heads are spiked on Temple Bar. In 1800 there are some two hundred capital offences in England. Many specify death for small-scale theft such as pick-pocketing goods worth more than a shilling. The penalty for poaching is often transportation.

The British seldom bathe. Before cottons become cheap, clothes are difficult to wash; children in particular are often sewn into theirs for the duration of the winter. The use of underclothes is recent and not widespread. Chamber pots are provided in the dining-room side-boards of the wealthy, to save interrupting the conversation of the gentlemen. Food hygiene is no better than personal hygiene. The streets are full of the excrement of humans and horses. This is a world lit by candles and rush-lights.

There is not a single bathing establishment in London in 1800. By way of contrast, Thomas Astley, writing in 1745 of the ‘Gold Coast Negroes, their Persons, Character and Dress’, says: “They are very careful in washing their bodies morning and evening, and anointing them with palm-oil.”

In 1771 one hundred and seven slave ships sail from Liverpool, transporting 50,000 slaves from Africa. Colonial trade at the time amounts to one third of British commerce. In the 1780’s British slave traders top the international league, carrying more slaves from Africa than those of any other country. By 1790 British capitalists have invested some £70 million in the West Indian sugar economy, an economy which is based almost entirely on slave labour. During the 18th century British slave-traders transport a million and a half Africans. The slave trade is a vital pillar in the eighteenth century economy of the port city of Liverpool, underpinning the growth in its trade and shipping. It is not surprising that Liverpool merchants are amongst the most vocal opponents of legislation outlawing the slave trade in 1807.
Sugar and the slave trade

What was the slave trade all about? Here is one banal, if partial, explanation. In their voyages of discovery the Europeans found and took home three beverages: cocoa, coffee and tea, all of them bitter to the taste. This is what accounts for the dramatic rise in European consumption of sugar (In Britain, for example, 200,000lbs. in 1690; 5,000,000lbs. in 1760.) Add tobacco, rice and cotton, and the labour needed to cultivate these crops in the tropics, and there you have it.
Ama and the Legacy of the Slave Trade

The historian John Hunwick has written that he would “like to see slavery viewed from the perspective of the Africans who were victims of it.” But those Africans are long dead and have left hardly any documentary records of their experience. Who will speak for them?

The French historian Claude Meillassoux writes: “While the slave trade devastated the peasantry who saw their children, and especially their daughters, taken away by brigands or armed bands to be sold to dealers, it enriched the agents and traders in the towns as well as the nobility, the battle-hardened soldiers and the sycophants attached to the royal courts. By a perversion of memory, the sumptuousness of the plundering kings has left its mark on the area in its remembrance of the flourishing slave trade and the glories of the past, while the memory of their peasant victims has been effaced by their poverty.”

In Ama, I set out to recreate such a memory.

Lord Hugh Thomas, writes: “Any historian of the slave trade is conscious of a large gap in (the) picture. For the slave remains an unknown warrior, invoked by moralists on both sides of the Atlantic, recalled now in museums in one-time slave ports from Liverpool to Elmina, but all the same unspeaking, and therefore remote and elusive.”

I have attempted, in Ama, to give that unknown warrior a voice.

It is not for me to judge whether I have succeeded. The late Paul Hair, also a historian of the slave trade, believed that: “The feelings and sufferings of the slaves are partly unimaginable…Standard descriptions which concentrate on those aspects easily comprehensible to modern middle class sentiment cannot tell the whole story.” Perhaps he was right.

Four hundred years is a long time in human history as we perceive it. It is less than four hundred years since the disembarkation of Jan van Riebeck changed the course of South African history.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade lasted for four hundred years.

African slaves were sold in Lisbon as early as 1441. It was 1850 before the slave trade became illegal in Brazil and 1888 before slavery itself was finally made unlawful in that country. During those four hundred years European and American ships forcibly transported some twelve million African men, women and children to the far shores of the Atlantic. Millions more died on the journey to the coast, in the dungeons and barracoons in which they were assembled and in the course of the notorious Middle Passage.

By accident or good fortune, the Atlantic slavers by-passed South Africa: they took many slaves from Angola and some from Mozambique but none, to my knowledge from this country. We have, of course, our own story of the slave trade; but it is a different story.

I believe that Ama is an important book. In saying that, I make no claims for its literary merit: that is for others to judge. However, with the exception of perhaps two other somewhat obscure texts, both out of print, it is to the best of my knowledge the only attempt to tell this story from the point of view of an enslaved African, using the results of historical research now available to us. It is a story which should perhaps have been written by a Ghanaian. But West Africa is only now slowly beginning to emerge from a long period of collective amnesia regarding the slave trade. The damage to the psyche caused by the slave trade is buried deep in the individual and collective subconscious. One historian traces the institutionalized corruption endemic in West Africa back to practices developed during the period of the slave trade.

The situation on the other side of the Atlantic is quite different. When black pilgrims from the Americas visit the slave dungeons at Elmina and Cape Coast Castles, they are often overwhelmed by the experience and emerge tear-stained and emotionally drained. Many of them carry the pain of their families’ histories within them. It is transmitted from generation to generation. And the reason is not far to seek. From Argentina to Canada, in Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, even Venezuela and, some say, even in Cuba, the descendants of African slaves are socially and economically disadvantaged; many suffer from chronic poverty and experience discrimination in every field. In the United States, the issue of slavery is one which few whites are at ease discussing with their black compatriots and vice versa. This is just one symptom of a deep and hardly recognized malaise in that country. Until the US, and in particular its educational system, comes to terms with the fact that it was constructed on a foundation of the gross abuse of generations of unwilling African immigrants, not to speak of the genocide inflicted upon its native inhabitants, that country will not sleep easy.

And what of Europe? Every person who lives in the countries of the Atlantic rim carries within him or her, the marks of the slave trade, like some unrecognized gene. We are all the descendants of those who suffered and those who, in one way or another, benefited. The Atlantic slave trade is the bedrock upon which the mighty edifice of globalization has been constructed.

We are diminished by our failure to confront this history. So long as a single person of African descent suffers discrimination on account of his descent, all Africans are diminished, Nelson Mandela is diminished, Thabo Mbeki is diminished, John Kuffuor, President of Ghana, is diminished. And it is not only blacks, not only Africans who are diminished: all human beings are diminished, we are all diminished.

Some Englishman has had the chutzpah to establish an African Commission. Has the time not come for Africa to set up its own Commission, a Commission on the State of the African Diaspora, a Commission tasked with the identification and exposure of all discrimination against people of African descent, whatever their nationality, in all countries; and the elimination of all forms of such discrimination? Perhaps we need an international Truth and Reconciliation Commission, charged with bringing into the open the great harm the people of Europe and their descendants worldwide have inflicted on other peoples in the course of their conquest of the planet. That might achieve some sort of catharsis which might lead us to a new world based on human solidarity rather than greed, patronage and charity.

In March 2007, I predict an epidemic of dislocated shoulders amongst members of the British establishment. This will be the consequence of their attempts to pat themselves on the back in celebrating the bicentenary of legislation making the slave trade unlawful. Would it be too ambitious to aim to celebrate in 2034, two hundred years after slavery was made illegal in the British Empire, the total elimination of its psychological and material effects? My hope is that the publication of this novel, might make a small contribution to that end.

© Manu Herbstein

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Modern-day slavery in Liberia

Robtel Neajai Pailey

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31756

In late 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund filed an Alien Tort Claims Act case in the US District Court in California against Bridgestone, alleging "forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery" on a Firestone Plantation in Harbel, Liberia. The lawsuit states: "The Plantation workers allege, among other things, that they remain trapped by poverty and coercion on a frozen-in-time Plantation operated by Firestone in a manner identical to how the Plantation was operated when it was first opened by Firestone in 1926." Robtel Pailey investigates modern-day slavery in the "land of the free".


In the early 1820’s, Liberia transformed into a land of exile for repatriated American slaves. In fact, the country was a proverbial refuge from the dehumanizing, deplorable conditions of chattel slavery in the United States. So any mention of the word “plantation” should have Liberians visibly shuddering from the historical legacy that many of its descendants endured.

Ironically enough, a recent development suggests that Liberia itself has served as a breeding ground for modern day slavery disguised in the form of what some would call indentured servitude for the American corporation, Firestone. Declared Africa’s first republic in 1847, Liberia has been embroiled in an asymmetrical relationship with the rubber giant since the corporation first landed on the shores of the country in 1926. Eighty years later, human rights groups have sidestepped Firestone’s alleged abusive practices and lodged a class action suit against the American company for violations of child labour laws, cruel and unusual labour practices, and environmental degradation. Practices, they claim, are no different from the moment the plantation opened. Since 1926, Firestone has allegedly relied on forced labour, involuntary servitude, recklessness, negligence in hiring and supervision, unjust enrichment and unfair business practices.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of workers and their children at the plantation under pseudonyms, names Japanese parent company Bridgestone, Bridgestone Americas Holding, Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire and other units as defendants.

The International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF) filed the class-action suit in the name of 12 Liberian workers and their 23 children, who remain anonymous to protect themselves from retaliation. The plaintiffs are bringing their case to the US because the Liberian judicial system has been eroded in the mire of civil breakdown. “The plantation workers are stripped of rights, they are isolated, they are at the mercy of Firestone for everything from food to health care to education, they risk expulsion and certain starvation if they raise even minor complaints, and the company makes wilful use of this situation to exploit these workers as they have since 1926,” the lawsuit claims. ILRF and its allies - Liberian human rights lawyers and activists - serve as an advocacy apparatus for the health and legal rights of Firestone workers in Harbel, Liberia.

The history of Firestone in Liberia is revealing. In 1926, the company signed a concession agreement with the government of Liberia for a period of 99 years. That agreement covered one million acres of land, leased for six cents per acre for a total annual price of $60,000. Large sectors of the indigenous population were displaced to pave the way for setting up Firestone’s largest plantation in Harbel. Even in the company’s infancy, Liberians were recruited to provide forced labour to harvest and cultivate the rubber trees, after which they engaged in “tapping,” the labour-intensive act of using primitive tools to tap the raw latex out of rubber trees for export. Labourers were initially conscripted at gunpoint, and many of the descendants of those labourers serve as plaintiffs in the case against Firestone today.

Despite a surge of civil dissent and democratic outcries in 2005, Firestone signed a new 37-year agreement with the Transitional Government in Liberia to lease the land for 50 cents per acre, a “hike up” from the original leasing agreement. According to a recent report published by the Save My Future Foundation, Firestone exported 167,165 tons of rubber between 2000 and 2003. The price of rubber reaches astronomical highs today at $486 per ton. In the measurement of trade regulations at present, Firestone is receiving $81,242,190 from its production in Liberia. All of the rubber produced in Liberia is sent to the United States for processing into tires, and other materials. No processing, manufacturing, or other value added production is done in Liberia.

The level of poverty in Liberia is so astonishing that people flock to the plantation for a mere pittance. The average tapper generates $900 monthly for the company yet receives barely a tenth of that as compensation from Firestone once fees and services are deducted from wages. As a result, the tappers slog for a mere $3.19 a day. After having worked for Firestone for over 50 years, some retired plantation workers apparently collect less than $50 a month in pension earnings.

Aside from dealing with the poverty of indentured servitude, Firestone labourers must contend with health-related infirmities. The tappers expose their eyes to the potentially blinding latex, applying dangerous pesticides and fertilizers to the rubber trees. The raw latex from the rubber trees is fatal when applied to the eyes, as there have been countless reported cases of workers suffering from permanent eye damage due to exposure. They are forced to carry 75-pound buckets overflowing with the collected latex quota of the day. Unschooled about the dangers of the products they are handling, the workers know not to ask for safety equipment. Many of the tappers have severe scars and bone muscle abnormalities as a result of the tapping.

The labourers work 12-15 hour days, then must enlist the help of their families (including young children and wives) to complete a daily quota in order to ensure a weekly wage. No days off, no paid holidays, no sick leave. A shameful phenomenon in the Firestone scheme is its implied support of child labour. Most of the children are working on the plantations instead of attending school. The few that do attend go to substandard schools in dilapidated conditions. Firestone claims that it provides free education to the children of its workers, but in actuality the workers must pay an income tax automatically deducted from their monthly wages to cover the costs of so-called educational expenses.

The children and their families toil on the plantation by day, and return to the squalor of primitive living conditions at night with no electricity or running water. Firestone blames the country’s more than a decade long civil war for the breakdown of infrastructure, yet members of the Firestone clan aided and abetted the rebel leader-turned president Charles Taylor so as to avoid damage to the plantation when the war raged on. Some of Taylor’s rebel armies were even stationed at Harbel, enjoying the fruits of their fellow countrymen’s literal blood, sweat, and tears.

Miles away from the deplorable living conditions of the Liberian labour force, the company’s managerial staff benefits from the rubber wealth, luxuriating in air-conditioned bungalows and even stopping from their “backbreaking” work as overseers to play a round of golf on the erected course nearby. Mud huts and shanty huts coexist with big, immaculate looking makeshift houses. Firestone claims that the mud huts that exist on the land were created by internally displaced Liberians who flocked to the plantation during the height of civil war in the country. Yet, Firestone owns the land and retains all the responsibilities of its upkeep. Furthermore, some of the conditions existed before the civil war and were entrenched for years.

The entire scenario represents a microcosm of inequitable trade rules benefiting large Western corporations that exploit raw material within the developing world, leaving the indigenous people with environmental spills, physical ailments, and broken morale. The Firestone case in Liberia is a microcosm of American corporate takeover and a flagrant disregard of indigenous rights. It is an extension of the transatlantic slave trade, and should be exposed as such.

* A native of Buchanan, Liberia, Robtel Neajai Pailey currently serves as Assistant Editor of The Washington Informer, a Washington, D.C. based community newspaper.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

The case for reparations

M.P. Giyose

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31757

Are claims for slavery reparations of US$777 trillion, as made by a 1999 African World Reparations truth commission in Accra, realistic? How does one begin to conceptualise claims for reparations in a broader historical and social context when it comes to centuries of exploitation? M.P. Giyose from Jubilee South Africa makes the case for understanding reparations as a transformation of the way the world functions, ultimately serving to restore and sustain human civilisation.


When a victorious Roman army returned from its conquests, both before as well as after republican times, it entered the city of Rome in a triumphal march. Of course the triumph was bedecked with all manner of loot that came back as the spoils of war. Some of the best treasures forcibly taken from vanquished peoples were entered into the Roman treasury as part of the material gains of war. The conquering imperial armies of England, France and Germany in the 18th and 19th Centuries followed the old Roman tradition. This kind of “revenue” has to be distinguished clearly from what in this discussion we call reparations. By the 19th Century, European war makers had already long developed the custom of a reparations levy. A nation defeated in war was a nation to be doubly punished. At the point of signing a Peace Treaty for the purpose of ending the war, the vanquished nation was given a huge bill or levy which it had to pay the victorious party, not as a form of tribute, but rather as compensation for “losses” or “the expenditure of war” suffered by the victorious nation in the course of prosecuting the given war. With this levy the victors were supposed to repair whatever damages they had endured in war. Of course this was a purely retributive measure, oppressive in every sense. As a result the defeated nations always understood it to be a form of vengeance.

We need to disclaim altogether any connection between what we are discussing with this type of tradition. The nearest parallel we can adduce to the notion of reparations is that of damages as is defined in relevant branches of the law. Put succinctly in legal practice, the aim of damages is to restore the injured party to that position where he would have been if he had not suffered injury. And whilst this is possible in legal practice, and measurements can come close to scientific exactness, the similar process is a lot more complex in the arena of political economy. Damages carried out through history are highly rapacious at the point of commission. They carry with them extensive loss of life as well as incalculable material harm. They also carry a historical legacy that puts back a nation scores of years in time.

If we understand reparations to be a broad genus, we will also accept that it has a number of species. It is difficult, in the result, to define reparations both in terms of its general features as well as its specifics. And the problem is brought about by both the historical as well as social content in the entire process. We will therefore have to satisfy ourselves with a purely descriptive indication of reparations and proceed into our analysis in terms of both the general as well as the specific. Overall, the aim here will be to chart out an economic future for the countries of the South, in terms of a global economic model that is designed to override in mitigation the woeful history of conquest, economic plunder and financial pillage.

Global Reparations – Are They Possible?

Let us begin by delineating the entire historical and social process from which reparations are now being determined. From a purely European point of view capitalism first begins to flex its muscles in the course of the crusades, thus securing a passage for exchanges in goods through Asia Minor to the Indian sub-continent and China. This was reinforced later in the passage around the African continent. Simultaneously other tentacles spread far and wide into the Atlantic and Caribbean and later, onto the Pacific Islands. The ancient Italian City States of Venice, Florence, Genoa, etc., were thus able to make a rapid transition through feudalism onto a capitalist base. The slave trade is one of those reinforcing factors that integrated an African economy, which was at the same time being retarded together with the Caribbean Islands and the Americas. The road was now open for a transfer of wealth and power from the bankers of the Mediterranean and the Iberian peninsula to an assumption of economic power by the merchant classes in England, Holland and France.

Second, by this time the question of foreign conquest with concomitant ecological brigandage was a settled issue. Thirdly, from quite early on, the 20th Century foreign acquisitions took on a financial and industrial colouration. And it was a perfection of this process that took matters a stage further towards the end of the 20th century. The age of globalisation has been the age of subjugation strictly through the sheer power of money.

Each of these four stages of capitalist development has put to the sword, not just the liberties of other nations; it became crucial in the expropriation of their wealth. At each stage the bonds of enslavement have been taking on a variety of means, namely: the ecology, labour, trade, debt, investment. Throughout this history, the true indebtedness of Northern societies has stood in direct proportion to the changes in these means.

The question we have to pose at this stage is – how can the North discharge the settlement of so monumental a debt to Southern societies? Is such a discharge practicable? The question has to be posed quite regardless of the lies and deliberate promises given in mendacity by such ruling classes as those in the USA, when they pretended restorative programmes of upliftment to the slaves whom they took out of the plantation economy of the South. Can the North truly work out a programme of reparations for the South in the emerging economy of our times?

Let us illustrate these questions by offering two examples of claims by representative groups of people from the economic South of the world. In 1999 a truth commission deliberating under the aegis of the African World Reparations in Accra, made a demand from Northern nations for compensation over the slave trade in the amount of US$777 trillion, to be paid over 5 years. Immediate questions which arise are as follows: Who exactly is liable for this bill? What are the direct particulars of the offence? To whom are the debtors liable? Has the process for these types of reparations been able to establish the actual number of slaves that were extracted out of Africa; the actual number that died in the middle passage; the actual number that were landed in America; the actual societies from which the slaves were drawn in Africa? Are these numbers a hundred million, or ten million, or another number in between? Has there been a determination made of exact losses in labour hours from any particular nations or groups of nations in Africa? Or, is the quantum of this claim a shot in the dark?

These problems are indicated quite articulately in the second example to be cited. In a remarkable document submitted before the nations who had “discovered” a discovery which had been made 40 000 years before, the Native American Chief Guaicaipuro Cuautemoc makes a deposition that is full of scorn, sarcasm, wit and intelligence. At the height he declares: “On this basis, and applying the European formula of compound interest, we inform our ‘discoverers’ that they only owe us, as a first payment against the debt, a mass of 185,000 kilos of gold and 16 million kilos of sliver, both raised to the power of 300. This equals a figure that would need over 300 digits to put it down on paper and whose weight fully exceeds that of the planet Earth. What huge piles of gold and silver! How much would they weigh when calculated in Blood?”

This is a masterful performance. It refers to one small claim covering a short period of time in historical plunder in a particular location in America, that is, 1503 to 1660. Taken on a world scale, the claims of the countries of the South are literally both astronomical and immeasurable.

On this basis it is perhaps not too difficult to conclude that current Northern societies do not possess a capacity, in spite of their incredible wealth, to repay the debt that they owe the South. In a punitive understanding of reparations equal to that of European powers in the 19th Century, the combined capacities of all Northern societies would not be able to satisfy a pound by pound repayment of all that they owe the South. This is not only a measure of the gargantuan proportions of the Northern debt; it is an indicator of the unimaginable degree in conspicuous consumption that has become the lot of Northern societies in the last six hundred years. Clearly, a rational method has to be designed and adopted so that the scales of history should be re-weighted in a manner that would enable the sustained survival of human civilisation in terms of obligations admitted by all sides in current society.

Immediate Practical Proposals

The question of reparations therefore is definitely beyond dispute. What begins to concern us now as an immediate practical measure, is the vehicle on which we seem to depend for negotiating the reparations question. Given the fact that this matter needs to be viewed from the point of view of the whole world economy, it becomes clear that this issue can only be dealt with in terms of a systemic solution.

During our time the question of one form or another of reparations has posed itself before our policy makers. Currently, the most verbose intellectual among the nationalist tendencies on the African continent, is President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. Speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos in 2001, Mbeki pooh-poohed the very idea of projecting the question of economic development in Africa on any such notion. Now, the key thing is that there is a Thabo Mbeki in the heartbeat of every other leader in the countries of the South – save one or two exceptions. How can that crop of persons then become our agents for a reparations programme, whatever its character may be? That is why we have to fall back for the development of strategy and the discharge of tasks on this question on dynamic political movements operating both in the South as well as elsewhere in the world.

Sometimes reparations work occurs in terms of piece meal measures in favour of restorative justice. Some of these may be life and death struggles fought by rural people for land redistribution. At other times conflicts may be joined which are based on some aspects of the debt question. Important examples of this are the struggles over odious debt. These are particularly germane in Southern countries where the debt creating regimes may have been constituted by dictatorships, or at the very least, there might exist a continuing legacy from colonial rape that might compel successor democratic governments to plunge into a debt with corrective intentions. And yet at other moments restorative justice could obtain in the sphere of extending human rights in law. Politically, all these efforts need to be given support especially if they happen on the basis of a fundamental programmatic position.

In terms of advancing a systemic reparations programme, the ideas now on offer are premised on the integrative forces in the current world situation. That situation consists of three parts. We are presented with a single world political system. This under-girds one economic system that exists on the basis of, and in turn, should feed one ecological system. The three parts make one total world system. It is no longer possible therefore, for us to offer any solutions to the problems of the nations of the South, if these are segregated and can only be expressed through division. A cardinal tenet of an integrated world consists in an understanding that separation and separate means with “their own” institutions, can only lead to inequality.

Given these circumstances, measures working in favour of reparations can only be based on the building and sustaining of one world economy - not several pieces thereof. Egalitarian features within the building of the nation will actually express themselves at their very best when they work in conformity with other expressions of the same principle on a world scale. We therefore come to the conclusion that the reorganisation of the world has to occur on the basis of new social foundations – the foundations of a post-capitalist society. This is a society where the forces of equality are universal; they have become the very life force of economics, of the ecology and of politics.

Conclusion

Reparations therefore can be understood to be a means by which social life in the current nations as we know them today can be reformed. In that way they could be seen as an agent for creating “a better life” for impoverished sections of humanity. The need for reparations of this kind is most urgently felt in the countries of the South. However, in the longer view of human history, reparations cannot be viewed as purely ameliorative measures even if they are seen in terms of restorative justice. There is an inbuilt system of “diminishing returns” in this method of sustaining reparations. In the longer view of historical development, reparations should be seen as an agency for restoring and sustaining human civilisation. And in this manner they cannot be a purely national issue. They are an international phenomenon encompassing the combined fortunes of all humankind and all the fauna and flora that keep pace with us in our natural domain.

* M.P. Giyose is chairman of Jubilee South Africa

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Trade, gender and the search for alternatives

Jennifer Chiriga

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31758

It is women who bear the brunt of the effects of trade liberalization on social development through a lack of access to basic social services. But, writes Jennifer Chiriga from the Alternative Information and Development Centre, one of the major impacts of trade on women is how the capitalist ethic plays into building masculinity while at the same time playing down the role that women play in society. Alternatives are in the offing, she argues.


The defining trends of current trade and economic relations across the globe and the process through which current international economic relations are played out, and markets for products and services are increasingly being defined, all fall under the rubric of globalisation.

International trade expansion has in the last few decades been manifesting a profound transformation, with the emergence of integration of economic activity, including elimination of restrictions on the free movement across borders of capital, goods, resources, technology and services. All regions of the world are coming closer together through intensified trade, investment, financial transactions, and information technology. Unfortunately the global expansion has not affected developing regions evenly, and Africa continues to lag behind.

The main feature of globalisation is a surge in the power of global capital and reorganizing of global production through multi-national corporations that wield tremendous influence over economies. Globalisation has been quite aptly cited as “largely the game of the powerful…the strong do what they will, and the weak must surrender what they cannot protect” (Tandon, cited in Vale and Maseko, 1998).

Other defining characteristics of globalisation are a more integrated global economy with interdependencies among nations, but the benefits of which accrue to developed economies; decline in investment in production, with companies moving more towards speculative investment, which brings faster and higher profits; diminishing public sector, with the state becoming more business oriented through privatisation of state enterprises, and the phenomenal power of multinational corporations that have the clout to drive global trade and influence governments, as seen by the power of the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The WTO is not just about trade, it is about power and control of resources. Developed countries shape and control the trade regimes that affect developing countries and that lead to de-industrialisation, job losses and worsening of poverty. This is evidenced by the experience of developing countries that are undergoing IMF/World Bank enforced trade through neo-liberal structural adjustment programmes, who have been forced to liberalise their external trade, and have subsequently suffered destruction of local industries leading to massive retrenchments.

In spite of the conventional understanding about the creation of an “open” global free trade system, there is very limited “free trade”, particularly for African countries. The relevance of the WTO in the world system is that it is seen as the central institution in a centralised global economy. This has major relevance for African countries as they grapple with huge development challenges. The external orientation of African countries has led to opening up of global markets, resulting in flooding of imports and domination of foreign products e.g. agricultural produce and textiles to name a few, and this has led to massive loss of jobs in rural and urban sectors, threats to food security and abandonment of the social development project. The effects of trade liberalisation on social development is evidenced by lack of access to basic social services, a scenario in which women bear the greater burden.

Gender and trade

One of the major factors in gender inequality relates to how negative perceptions mould gender differences and how the capitalist ethic plays into building masculinity while at the same time playing down the role that women play in society where they occupy the role of secondary earners. Gender is a key determinant of vulnerability to poverty. And women, due to their disadvantaged position in the labour market, hold lower paid jobs, which require lower level of skills etc.

Although gender analysts have for a long time emphasised the negative impacts of trade liberalisation, the link between gender and trade has been tenuous, largely because perhaps gender considerations have been perceived as irrelevant and having no place at the negotiation table where trade issues are discussed. Looked at through a gender prism, trade policies have grave implications for development and well-being of women, due to impact on employment, poverty and the social burden carried by women. Although women are an important and significant constituency, trade policy in the WTO is formulated with no evidence of a gender perspective.

A study on policy links between gender and trade (Informal Working Group on Gender and Trade, 1998) emerged with a number of “reality points” that link gender and trade, and make a case for the importance of putting gender analysis at the center of trade policy:

a) Changes in social service delivery affect women to a greater extent

Trade policies and trade liberalisation can affect the ability of governments to finance social sector expenditure. The observation is that any revenue shortfalls leading to reduction of government expenditure affects social service delivery, and the burden is shifted to the households and women. The study states that in 1993 women contributed over US$11 trillion worth of household work to the world economy, and that trade policy should therefore not ignore women’s unwaged work in social reproduction. Gender planning should be built into the design of trade policies. A very important point made is that social development should be the bedrock of trade policy since women’s traditional roles do not make it easy for them to access opportunities to engage in international trade.

b) Entrenched gender inequalities in the labour market are unfavourable to women

The labour market tends to be segmented on gender lines with inequalities in income, career advancement and conditions of work. Traditionally expansion of trade is based on access to low wage labour, which is mainly female labour. Liberalisation of trade and the surge of foreign capital and transnational corporations, maintain competitiveness through minimising costs of production, especially labour costs. While one can generalise the negative effects on the labour market, for women the impact is higher – they have lower wages and less bargaining power because unions tend to be dominated by male leadership. The danger of trade liberalisation bringing more hardship for women is very real – because sub-contracting and flexible work allows corporations to avoid direct financial responsibility for workers.

c) Women have lesser access to economic resources: credit, skills, technical assistance

Institutionalised discrimination affects women’s access to land and credit from financial institutions, and therefore impacts in a very fundamental way on their role in the economy. When trade barriers are reduced and an infusion of cheaper imports come into the market, women may lose out especially when quality control becomes an issue and introduces lack of competitiveness.

One of the major gaps is that while WTO rules encompass all levels of economic development, there is no gender analysis that assesses these rules in a structured way. While there is a ready source of scientific research documenting the realities of women’s lives and how the economy impacts on them, the conceptual and policy links between gender and trade have to be given more attention and attempts to generate further analysis on the link between gender and trade policy, should raise the following questions:

- Are trade policies geared towards elimination of poverty and gender inequality?

- Do trade rules prevent government and private business from formulating gender-sensitive policies;

- Are trade policies based on competition, which ignores reproductive tasks i.e. reinforcing the masculine model of superiority.

Even as we grapple with the specific gender dimensions, trade policy should not be approached in isolation of macro level economic policy. In this context, the discussion on alternatives raises very broad issues.

Alternative strategies for development

Change is possible through a break from the mainstream model of dominant global capital. The emergence of national, regional and international forums such as the Africa Social Forum (ASF) and World Social Forum (WSF) is a sign that there is an increasing trend of organisations and social movements mobilising to reflect and exchange ideas on alternative visions and actions. The WSF was conceived as a response to the growing struggle against neo-liberalism and an alternative to the World Economic Forum where business leaders from all over the world get together to discuss the economic state of the world, and is an arena of debate, as well as an opportunity for social movements and activists from the north and south to meet and exchange ideas.

There is already a powerful discourse, which is however being undermined by concentration of wealth and anti-democratic power of powerful global corporations. Nevertheless, emergence of regionalism as an alternative, is gaining ground as a possible solution to the dislocation of Africa’s economic potential.

The questions to pose in any deliberations on alternatives are:

- how to engender the political will necessary for the regional project;

- how the geo-political concept of regionalism can be harnessed to engage and challenge the globalised system on a stronger footing;

- how Africa can turn regional integration and cooperation groupings into real frameworks for alternative models of development.

Africa already has some examples of a unique regional integration model that have roots in pan African solidarity. There is potential for strengthened regional blocs to encompass development needs of emerging economies. Regional integration has the potential to break the leverage that industrial countries have over Africa, whose governments need to realise that engaging the local with the regional and continental is the future in terms of economic development.

In response to the questions raised above, one of the key considerations is that social mobilisation of strong social movements and organisations can provide the pressure and impetus that will eventually cause a shift in the global balance of power. Social movements should be the foundation of a people-based process that promotes developmental regionalism, centred on human rights, women’s rights and social justice. Commitment should be to a unified region in which local and community-based development is the primary underpinning of national and regional development programmes.

Through strategic interdependencies we need to redirect trade to domestic and regional spaces, increase manufacturing and production and add value to our primary products. In addition the liberalisation and privatisation policies should be replaced and we should create trade and development cooperation agreements which reflect the realities and needs of the people, and which are not pre-determined or constricted by compliance with WTO terms and conditionalities.

Cooperative development would ensure, for example, that shared resources like energy, water etc, could be approached holistically for the benefit of the whole region. But as long as powerful economies like South Africa continue following a sub-imperialist agenda, it will be a lost battle. African governments must cooperate, coordinate and combine. As someone said at a workshop recently, “extroverted economies will get us nowhere".

* Jennifer Chiriga is Unit Coordinator, Globalisation and Alternatives Unit, Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), Cape Town

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Article traduit de l’anglais par Frances Chevalier et Kesini Murugesan, de l’Université du Cap, Afrique du Sud.

Vulnerable and poor face up to the implications of GATS

Oduor Ong’wen

2006-07-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31759

The time is fast approaching when water, health care and every other essential service become tradable - with enormous implications for the lives of the poor and vulnerable. Oduor Ongwen, the country director of SEATINI Kenya, describes the international agreement that is going to regulate trade in services, the General Agreement on Trade in services (GATS), noting that it is a “dangerous instrument for the externalisation of resources of underdeveloped countries such as those in Africa”.


The service industry is quickly replacing trade in goods as the motor for global economic activity. From tourism to auditing services and from transport to insurance, the frontiers for economic domination are increasingly shifting from industry - manufactures and commodities - to trade in services. Services are currently the fastest growing component of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) accounting for nearly 25% of world trade and more than 76% of FDI flows. It is for this reason that it was agreed at the launch of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations in 1986 to include trade in services in the negotiations, in the belief that this would improve the world trade system.

But liberalisation of trade in services could be an uncontrolled avenue for indiscriminate investment deregulation, privatisation of vital public services as well as giving foreign interests a foothold in Government procurement and thus a dangerous instrument for the externalisation of resources of underdeveloped countries such as those in Africa.

Externalisation of Africa’s Resources

While those in control of the commanding heights of the global economy would like to convince us that globalisation is a new phenomenon made inevitable by qualitative development of productive forces, we know better. Africa and the rest of the third world have been integrated into the global economic system since the mid 15th century. Unwillingly, Africa was part of the then dominant international trading system where its role in the international division of labour was to supply natural resources in the form of gold, ivory, cloves etc and human resources in the form of slaves to the “developed” world.

The second wave of globalization was the 1884 Berlin Conference, where the “scramble for Africa” was concluded with the continent divided amongst the leading colonial powers. The division of labour then assigned Africa the role of producing primary commodities - agricultural products, minerals, wildlife resources - for processing and manufacturing interests in the so-called “mother countries”.

Almost half a century after the formal defeat of colonialism, the division of labour not only persists, but has been revised and reinforced through corporate-led globalization. We can identify thirteen avenues for the externalization of Africa’s resources, which include, but are not limited to: Debt servicing; difference in interest rates between North and South; unfair terms of trade; corporate control of world trade; capital account liberalisation; profit repatriation by TNCs; privatization of state-owned enterprises; intellectual property rights; ecological debt; capital transfer; brain drain; immigration laws; and transfer pricing. Liberalisation of trade in services facilitates all these thirteen avenues of Africa’s resource haemorrhage.

Trade in Services

Defined in broad terms, a service is a product of human endeavour aimed at satisfying a human need, but which cannot be categorised as a good. Others have simply defined a service as “a product that cannot hit your foot.” However the General Agreement on Trade in services (GATS) does not define what constitutes a “service”; instead, a guide to the GATS lists 12 major categories covering more than 160 distinct services. These services cover the gamut from birth to death.

The above understanding of services can be misleading since in reality services can be embodied in tangible products. For instance, a magazine is a good while an advertisement appearing in the magazine is a service. Publishing of the magazine is also a service.

GATS is the first and only set of international rules to open up trade in services to competition from foreign firms. Signed in 1994, it has nothing to do with whether the service is provided efficiently or not. It is a corporate boot sale of essential services ranging from water to electricity and the media.

The Agreement, as pointed out earlier, covers twelve broad categories: communications; construction and engineering; distribution, wholesale and retail trade; education; energy; environment; financial services (including banking and insurance); health and social services; tourism and travel; sports, culture and entertainment; transport; and, in case anything is not covered by the foregoing, it comes under “other”.

But critics warn that the reach of GATS could even extend to essential services such as education and health, resulting in their commercialisation by transnational corporations (TNCs). The naked truth is that in the GATS lexicon, ‘public service’ is an aberration. Article I of GATS starts with a proclamation that the Agreement does not apply to “services provided in the exercise of governmental authority”. This would be great if it was not neutralised by the proviso that such governmental services must be supplied “neither on a commercial basis nor in competition with one or more service suppliers”.

In the real world, perhaps it is only in Cuba or Democratic Republic of Korea that there might be some public services that aren’t delivered on a commercial basis or in competition with other suppliers.

The logic and significance of GATS is easy to comprehend. All human activities are to become, in the fullness of time, profit-oriented commodities that can be invested in, bought and sold. And the Agreement makes this irreversible since it is not a finished treaty but an open-ended framework agreement that mandates “successive rounds of negotiations” with the goal of attaining “progressively higher” levels of liberalisation.

This means that what is not opened today will be dealt with tomorrow until, presumably, all services are opened to all consumers by all countries in all “modes” of delivery. Even more alarming is Article IV. It gives GATS powers to interfere, via WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), with government efforts to pass “measures” – laws, rules, regulations, procedures, administrative actions or any other forms – that are deemed to be “unnecessary barriers to trade in services”. In other words, let not your pesky national standards stand in the way of foreign corporate interests.

As an example, one of the sectors that have been presented as being of great benefit to African countries is tourism. It has been posited that with full or substantial liberalisation of tourism, African beaches, nature parks and cultural attractions would be bursting in the seams with overseas visitors, who would bring in an abundance of the “scarce yet much needed” foreign exchange. These benefits are at best exaggerated and worst non-existent. Leakages are encouraged thanks to the inordinate dominance of foreign ownership in the tourism industry. Leakage is described as a process through which part of the foreign exchange earnings generated by tourism, rather than being retained by tourist-receiving countries, is either retained by tourist-generating countries or remitted back to them. This foreign domination of the tourism sector in Africa has intensified under the GATS framework.

Liberalisation of Financial Services: Casino Economy

A typical Third World lesson in financial liberalisation could be distilled from the case of Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB). Having yielded to the pressure from International Financial Institutions (IFIs), the Uganda Government sold off this national asset to Stanbic Bank. UCB had an extensive network all over the country, catering for rural farmers, teachers and civil servants. Most of the branches operated in UCB’s own premises.

No sooner had the sale agreement been concluded than Stanbic closed down all the rural branches, sold the buildings (in the process realising more than four times what it had paid as purchase price) and repatriated the proceeds. No one cared that teachers who used to earn their salaries through the bank now had to spend a two days every month and more money to reach the nearest bank. This is done at the expense of their pupils.

A good number of WTO Members have made commitments in financial services. These cover banking, insurance, securities and capital accounts. A smaller number has made commitments regarding insurance intermediation and transfer of financial information. Fewer still have made commitment with respect to derivatives trading. African countries and China have been cautious. The following could explain the reason why.

On July 2, 1997 Thailand's currency, the baht, had to be floated. Far from being an isolated single country issue, this ignited the financial and currency crisis that was to engulf the East Asian sub-region. This crisis thrust millions of workers, small business enterprises, children and other vulnerable segments of the human race into dire poverty and desperation. The crisis quickly spread beyond the sub-region. Russia virtually succumbed to financial collapse; the Republic of South Africa had to intervene with a raise in interest rates so as to defend its currency. In quick succession, Brazil joined the ranks of crisis countries.

The crisis and its bushfire-like spread have forced certain issues into the domain of international discourse. The question arises as to what extent are the flaws inherent in the current dominant economic order responsible for the trend of slowing economic development and worsening of global income distribution. This issue informs present debate over the global financial architecture.

The debate is carried from two poles. On the one hand, is the Washington Consensus or Wall Street pole which maintains that the crisis - and indeed global economic growth generally - is best addressed by more open trade, export-led, greater deregulation, and more liberalised financial markets. According to this school of thought all that is required is a minor tune-up of the international financial system.

On other hand, is the "main street alternative" which thinks the Washington Consensus model is irreparably flawed and fundamentally bankrupt. This viewpoint contends that the issue is not one of recalibrating the model, but rather of designing a new model that is stable, equitable and pro poor.

When it comes to financial architecture, the fundamental differences between the main street alternative and the Washington Consensus become clear. The latter promotes and uses institutions it controls to impose opening up of the domestic financial markets, better accounting standards, more financial transparency and disclosure and more International Monetary Fund (IMF) surveillance.

On its part, the main street alternative maintains that while improved accounting standards, financial transparency and disclosures are necessary, there is an acute need to reduce speculation and make long term investment, giving proper regard to risk. This requires taxes on the buying and selling of currencies to reduce speculative trading, as well as requiring the investors to commit their investment to a minimum time period.

Water For Life or Profit?

A key concern is that through liberalisation schemes, water is treated like any other commodity to be sold at a profit. Yet we know that water is essential to life and nature. Indeed, water is our common heritage and a public trust. According to a report in the East African newspaper, the water provision in the port city of Dar es Salaam has not improved since it was privatised, yet the World Bank-funded British firm-Biwater has increased the charges manifold.

Today the global water industry is dominated by less than 10 companies – the leading two being French firms, Vivendi and Suez (with water revenue of US$ 11.9 and 8.84 billion respectively in 2001). In 2001, Vivendi and Suez were ranked at positions 51 and 99 respectively on the Global Fortunes 500. The two French companies are facing stiff challenge from German company, RWE, which recently purchased Thames water of UK and American Water Works of the US. RWE is ranked 53 in the Global Fortune 500 with US$ 2.8 billion water revenue in 2001. Other key players in the privatisation of water services include Bouygues (France), Bechtel (US), Severn Trent, Anglian Water and Kelda (all of UK).

Hiking of water prices is not the only concern. Most of the companies entrenched in the water sector have bad records. In 1999, the UK’s Drinking Water Inspectorate declared the Suez subsidiary, Northumbrian Water, the second worst company in terms of operational performance in England and Wales. The main reason was poor quality – high levels of iron and manganese were found in the water Northumbrian was delivering.

In the UK, five water companies – Anglian, Severn Trent, Northumbrian, Wessex, and Kelda Group – were successfully prosecuted 128 times between 1989 and 1997. On one count in August 2001, Thames Water pleaded guilty and was fined 26,600 Sterling pounds for allowing raw sewage to pollute a stream within a few metres of a residential estate.

Liberalisation and Health Care

Gradually but steadily there has been a major shift in global health strategy in recent years. Thanks to the Washington Consensus, the responsibility for health care provision has moved from the state to the “market forces.” The defining feature of this shift is many deaths from otherwise preventable and treatable diseases; resurgence of diseases that humanity thought were already conquered like tuberculosis and detention of decomposing corpses in ghettoes christened “private clinics” for lack of payments.

David Werner, the author of the renowned and best-selling book, ‘Where There Is No Doctor’, is very clear on why the public should be worried about the shift in global and national health strategies. He recalls how the celebrated concept of universal primary health care had been adopted by virtually all governments at the landmark global health conference that endorsed the Alma Alta declaration.

To advance toward ‘Health for All by the year 2000’, the Declaration promoted the principles that all people are entitled to basic health rights and that society (and thus the government) has a responsibility to ensure that the people’s health needs are met, regardless of gender, race, class, relative ability or disability. The centrepiece of the Declaration was primary health care, a comprehensive strategy that included an equitable, consumer-centred approach to health services and also addressed underlying social factors that influence health.

Hong Kong: The Last Nail

At the recently concluded WTO meeting in Hong Kong, developed countries bulldozed a framework for GATS negotiations that compels countries to negotiate a minimum number of sectors with targets and indicators. These proposals will seriously erode the current flexibilities embodied in the GATS Agreement. These flexibilities were the very reason for African countries’ agreement to the GATS during the Uruguay Round. Furthermore, these proposals would completely change the very architecture of the GATS and the approach to the negotiations as agreed in the Negotiating Guidelines.

Annex C introduces plurilateral and sectoral approaches to the negotiations, which would force African and other developing countries to enter into negotiations in certain sectors, even if they are not yet ready to do so. Sectors that have been mentioned for sectoral negotiations include energy, water (through environmental services) and health (through financial services) - all of which are crucial and sensitive in African countries. Given Africa’s level of development, selling out these sectors to the market forces would pose serious threats to affordability and accessibility to these services by the poor and vulnerable.

* Oduor Ongwen is the country director of the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (Seatini) in Kenya. Previously, he was the Executive Director of EcoNews Africa and chaired the National Council of NGOs in Kenya. He holds a masters degree in Economic Policy of Developing Countries.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Of going home, lawlessness and lame duck presidents

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/31746

Travelling through Nigeria recently, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem remembers how he was stopped by a crowd of people warning him that bandits has set up an ‘operation’ and were looting passing motorists. Abdul-Raheem assesses the state of lawlessness in Nigeria and the rule of Olusegun Obasanjo, who is moving ever closer to a third term bid and the possibility of becoming a “lame duck president with everything imploding around him”.


These days I have been spending more time in Nigeria. ‘Home', as they say, is indeed the best, but for most Nigerians it must be tough love. It is often difficult for one to say if things are getting better or if one is just getting used to it and lowering one's standards - while increasing one's tolerance levels of unfair situations and injustices on the many fronts of the multiple obstacle race that the country has become. Just when you think things are never going to get worse, Nigeria and Nigerians combine their unique capacity to find ways of digging deeper and sinking further.

The general insecurity across the country has proven so insurmountable that Nigerians seemed to have resigned themselves to it and put themselves on a permanent state of alert, hoping that lady luck, miracle prayers, or some voodoo or witchcraft or a combination of all these will see them through.

In addition to these, those who are rich buy themselves militias. Armed robbery, hired killers, political killings, and other forms of gratuitous violence are perpetrated both privately and officially by the police and other security agencies charged with public safety. The Inspector General of Police recently publicly apologised and promised to take action about a number of serving police men accused of 'hiring' their guns to gangs of armed robbers. And the Police write boldly on their vehicles ‘to protect with integrity and honesty’, either as a sick joke or as a mockery of Nigerians.

Not long ago I had a personal experience of the lawlessness. I was travelling home to Funtua, which is about 75 kilometres north of the University town of Samaru Zaria, at around 8pm. At a small town called Giwa we saw huge crowds of people lined up on the road and a row of different vehicles parked by the roadside. Everybody was shouting that we should stop. We did and we were told that 'there was an operation' ahead of us. This operation was not a security sweep or road check: armed robbers had mounted a road bloc and were taking whatever they could find from their victims. Confidently we were told the 'operation' was going to be over in about an hour. We were advised that once there were cars coming from the opposite direction it meant the road was clear. And within an hour, as we were advised, 'the road opened' and we drove home safely.

You will be forgiven for asking a number of obvious questions: Where were the police? If everybody knew where they operated and even the time and also the days (usually market days in surrounding trading towns) why were the police not doing anything about it?

Very legitimate questions but only a stranger will ask these kinds of questions in Nigeria. Everybody knows that the police and the army, if they are not doing the 'operations' themselves, are aiding and abetting the crimes because they share in the booty. It is not only their guns that they rent out - they also regularly parcel out sections of the federal highways so that these nefarious 'operations' can take place with impunity. Once they are done you will see siren blaring police vehicles rushing in at break-neck speed to the scene after their comrades in crime have bolted with the loot!

Yet this is a country in which Obasanjo and his acolytes delude themselves into believing the people have never had it so good. That is why they are orchestrating a constitutional reform that will make it possible for Obasanjo to stand for a third term like his good friend and ex-Comrade, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, in Uganda.

Obasanjo does not seem to have learnt anything from his previous experience as a military head of state, his stint in civil society as founder of Africa Leadership Forum and his horrible prison term under Abacha.

A friend who was present at a meeting between General Ibrahim Badmasi Babangida when he was head of state and General Obasanjo as a coup-plotter-turned NGO-activist narrated an interesting exchange to me that is relevant to this matter. Obasanjo had fallen into an armed robbery ambush on his way to a scheduled meeting with the smiling dictator, Babangida. Being the cautious general that he was he did not play any hero with armed robbers. He knew he was outgunned and saw no rationality in resisting so he surrendered the money he had and they let him go. They did not know and could not have cared who he was. If they had known it was Obasanjo they probably would have even killed him anyway. He became a victim like any other innocent Nigerian whose only crime was driving on the road. In narrating this experience to Babangida, citizen Obasanjo told him that he had no doubt that there was no political motivation to the crime. But if it had leaked out to the public immediately many would have jumped to the conclusion that - because Obasanjo had been openly very critical of Babangida’s policies - the government had a hand in it. Therefore he asked Babangida to take the issues of public safety and security seriously, otherwise the government was going to be held responsible for everything and anything.

It is a shame that the same Obasanjo cannot allow himself similar wisdom since he became President seven years ago.

As the tussles for power intensify at all levels of government, a spate of killings and fear of more violence has gripped the country.

By no means would all of the violence be politically motivated, but so bad are things now and so polarised has the country become that everything is blamed on Obasanjo and his government. The recent brutal murder of the wife of the 'former radical' governor of Kano State, Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi, was immediately suspected to be politically motivated because Rimi is one of the most vocal critics of Obasanjo’s third term bid. The available evidence so far from the investigations suggest that to the extent that politics was involved in the murder it had local dynamics rather than anything to do with Aso Rock. But who cares for such empirical details in a leader-centric system where the President is God?

It is not only killings that are blamed on Aso Rock. Many of those being investigated for corruption now claim that it is because they are opposed to Obasanjo's third term bid or because they are supporters of Obasanjo's estranged Deputy, Atiku Abubakar. The whole governance system is grinding to a halt so that even the good things that Obasanjo's regime has done and is doing are lost in the controversies. He is losing control of the machinery of the state and on his way to becoming a rogue President.

Yet he can retreat from the abyss and leave a more positive legacy by making a broadcast to the Nation renouncing any intention of amending the constitution to facilitate his self-succession in 2007. This will immediately drastically bring down the overheated political atmosphere of the country. It will also destabilise his many enemies who have built a coalition of convenience around anti-third term campaigns. More than that it will give him the opportunity to regain credibility for a lasting legacy in the areas of public safety, economic reform, the war against corruption and even more leverage in deciding who succeeds him. Failing this he will remain a lame duck president with everything imploding around him but travelling all over the world to fix everybody's problems without a clue on what to do about those he was allegedly elected to solve.

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

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Youth for Africa

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/31644

YFAR is an acronym for Youth For Africa Rebirth, founded in Nigeria in 2005. The purpose of this project is to bring Africans from around the world together to campaign for a new image for Africa and to bring about reforms in every area. If you would like to participate in this effort and be part of the developing team, please mail a letter of support to youthfar@yahoo.com

Global: End racism in the media

2006-02-01

http://www.survival-international.org/stampitout.php

A new campaign has been launched that aims to end the portrayal of tribal people in the press as 'primitive' and 'Stone Age'. It is being supported by prominent journalists such as BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson, the BBC's Caroline Hawley, George Monbiot, John Pilger, Sandy Gall and Christopher Booker.

Global: OHCHR mechanism

2006-02-01

http://www.ohchr.org

An NGO information and coordination mechanism (NGOIC) has been established to facilitate NGO information-sharing in the run up to the next (and final) session of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights. The dates of the Commission will be announced in the coming days on the website. All NGOs interested in joining the mechanism should contact ngoic2006@gmail.com (fax +41 22 3012000) before 13 February 2006.

A shot in the arm

Wambui Mwangi

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/31751

I've had you on my "favourites" side-bar for the longest time, and I had (bad Wambui!) not visited for some time. Thus I am doubly grateful, doubly astonished, and doubly honoured that a) you even read the thing I wrote in Kwani - I think that was the one article everyone else skipped over and b) that you were so gracious and complimentary about it.

I am as vulnerable to flattery as anyone else, but this comes at a particularly opportune time, as I was just deciding that the quality of my writing could be matched by my cat, and that the last decent idea I had was to grow dreadlocks, which didn't help my intellectual output. So thank you from my heart, really, for the shot in the arm that you have just given me, and my very best wishes.

Act now on Darfur

Arielle Wisotsky, David and Eric Messinger

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/31721

We have read your interesting article from the Pambazuka News (From Rwanda to Darfur: Lessons learned?). We are 3 high school students appalled by the genocide that is currently taking place in Darfur and the seeming indifference of our government and many people. We have resolved to act to increase awareness of this atrocity. We have created a non-profit organization called Help Darfur Now (www.helpdarfurnow.org) and are raising money and awareness for this crisis.

Bring Mugabe to reason

Louis Mendy

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/31720

Amnesty International has recently issued a public declaration inviting African heads of states to do something regarding the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

All things considered, I do think that it is high time African political leaders pulled their fingers out to help the victimized populations in that country. I find it objectionable and criminal that citizens should be evicted from their lands for mere political interests. The victims are left to starve with no potable water, suitable shelters and medical care. Even churches, and other humanitarian organizations are prevented from launching their humanitarian actions for those suffering people.

The African heads of state and the African Union are called upon to bring Mr Robert Mugabe to reason. Human rights defenders would really appreciate it if the situation in Zimbabwe was one of the main preoccupations of the African presidents and the AU. 

Pambazuka en Français

Mama Koite

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/31722

Je suis ravie que les publications de Pambazuka soit désormais en Français. Félicitations et courage.

Request for information about impact of liberalisation of services in Sub Saharan Africa

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/31743

The EPA negotiations in different regions will, or are likely to, include liberalisation of trade and investment in services. Liberalisation of services can have far reaching consequences. Since Article 5 in the GATS requires that regional agreements have to have "substantial sectoral coverage" and eliminate "substantially all discrimination", many services sectors will be included in EPAs that liberalise services, even if Art.5 allows developing countries to liberalise less than developed countries in a free trade agreement. As this is done at the end of the EPA negotiation period, this is a dangerous process because experience has shown that if liberalisation of services is done too swiftly without the necessary assessments and regulations, there might be many negative consequences.
EPA negotiations alert message, 19 January 2006

*Request for information about impact of liberalisation of services in Sub Saharan Africa*

The EPA negotiations in different regions will, or are likely to, include liberalisation of trade and investment in services. Liberalisation of services can have far reaching consequences. Since Article 5 in the GATS requires that regional agreements have to have “substantial sectoral coverage” and eliminate “substantially all discrimination”, many services sectors will be included in EPAs that liberalise services, even if Art.5 allows developing countries to liberalise less than developed countries in a free trade agreement. As this is done at the end of the EPA negotiation period, this is a dangerous process because experience has shown that if liberalisation of services is done too swiftly without the necessary assessments and regulations, there might be many negative consequences.

Civil society organisations who want to campaign on the likely impact of liberalisation of trade and investment in services, have so far had little information available. Many macro-economic studies about liberalisation of services, as well as European negotiators, argue that it will bring more efficiency, better infrastructure and thus economic growth. However, more detailed studies assessing the impact for sustainable development show that poor people get excluded (e.g. from insurance or water services), small producers cannot participate (in the supply chain) or that governments loose their room to regulate in order to avoid negative outcomes.

Many citizens in Africa have however seen the (negative) consequences of liberalisation of trade and investment in services sectors in Africa. In order to gather this information, this letter requests to all to write down what they have seen are the consequences of foreign services companies providing services, investing, or taking over local services suppliers. South African service companies have been active in Africa but also European and Asian ones.

Services include the following sub-sectors:

* Transport (by road, air, water,…)
* Telecommunication
* Electricity
* Distribution (wholesale, supermarkets and other retail shops,
trading companies)
* Water services (including distribution to citizens) and sewage
services
* Financial services (banking, insurance including health insurance,
services to support mergers and acquisitions (investment banking))
* Health services (private hospitals and health care services, etc.)
* Education services (from private kindergarten to universities)
* Tourism
* Computer services
* Building and construction
* Media and culture services

When describing the consequences of services provided by foreign companies, the following aspects could be among those included:

* *Access*: Who has access in which region and what has changed?
Which part of the population is being served? Universal access
legislation and did it work (or lobbying by companies against it)?
* *Prices*: Have prices gone down or up? Are the prices affordable
by poor people?
* *Economic consequences*: can local companies compete and survive
the foreign competition? Do local companies in the same sector
improve their services by following the example of the foreign
companies? Can local entrepreneurs, and farmers in the case of
supermarkets, supply to the foreign services companies? What are
the efficiency gains and losses? Has infrastructure improved?
* *Social consequences and human rights aspects*: Have jobs been
lost or created? Have people more or less access to basic
services? Are working conditions at foreign service companies
better or worse (e.g. temporary contracts)? Are people expelled
from where they live (e.g. for construction of foreign hotels)? Is
corruption decreasing or increasing by provision of services by
foreign companies?
* *Environment consequences*: Is there destruction of the
environment (e.g. for new buildings or roads)? More or less
efficient use of water or energy?
* *Privatisation*: Since liberalisation comes during or after
privatisation, how has the privatisation process (decision to
privatise, cost and benefits to the nation’s budget) and the
consequences been?

During the seminars and press releases by African citizens and parliamentarians in Hong Kong (WTO Conference, December 2005) some examples were given without too much detail, such as the case of closure of rural bank branches in Uganda by foreign banks, forcing teachers to close schools to get access to their salary. Who can write that story down? As well as many other experiences? Who has references to studies and research?

The aim of gathering this information is to inform policy makers and civil society about the likely impact of services liberalisation under EPAs, and the regulations and policy measures that will be necessary if EPAs liberalise services.

If you want to write down the experiences in your country about the entrance and operation of foreign services companies, please write to the following persons (preferably by e-mail or fax), _preferably before the end of February 2006_ (for the first round of write-up):

(1) Myriam Vander Stichele, Centre for Research on Multinationals (SOMO)

e-mail: myriam@somo.nl <mailto:myriam@somo.nl>

fax: + 31 20 639 13 21

address: Keizersgracht 132, NL- 1015 CW Amsterdam, The Netherlands

(2) Karin Gregow or Peter <mailto:info@econewsafrica.orgpeter> Aoga, EcoNews Africa / Forum Syd

e-mail: karin.gregow@forumsyd.org <mailto:karin.gregow@forumsyd.org>,

or email: paoga@econewsafrica.org

fax : +254 2 2725171

address: P.O Box 10332, 00100 G.P.O Nairobi, KENYA

(3) Tetteh Hormeku, Africa Trade Network/Third World Network - Africa,

e-mail: thormeku@twnafrica.org

fax: +233 21 511188, or +233 21 511189

address: 9 Ollenu Street, East Legon,P.O. Box AN19452, Accra-North, Ghana

The above persons would welcome some persons or experts from African who could join them in gathering and writing up the information that could be useful for the EPA negotiations. Please contact the above persons.

ANNEX : For your information

*/(1) Extract from the statement :/*

*African Parliamentarians Demand Ministers to Safeguard Local Markets and Peoples' Livelihoods at Hong Kong WTO Ministerial* , Press Release, 22 November 2005, Arusha, Tanzania

« Services: Africas priority is to build the capacity of our local suppliers. African Ministers must maintain our stand and insist on retaining the flexibilities in the WTO’’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The EU and US are currently pushing for aggressive liberalisation of Africa?s services sectors.

Abdirahin Abdi of the East African Legislative Assembly comments, ‘Our ministers must not be coerced to undertake a formula to open up our services sectors or to enter into plurilateral or sectoral negotiations. This will lead to undue competition in our local markets from the already developed international service providers. If we are forced to open up prematurely, foreign service providers will suffocate our young and growing services industries.’ »

Hon. Abdirahin H. Abdi, Tel: 255 744 431425 (Tanzania) or 254 722 510695 (Kenya), Email: abdirahimabdi@hotmail.com

*/(2) Extract from SEATINI website: /*

“There is a paucity of data on trade in services. This create an opportunity to create mechanisms that meet the analytic demands of the sector to evaluate impact. A threat to this is the absence of a will to either assess or create useful methods of data collection. Lack of data will hide the actual impact of the GATS on services with no hope of correcting data collection in the short to medium term....”

(http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:I8Zgwz2a6A8J:www.seatini.org/+Africa+trade+in+services&hl=nl)

Myriam Vander Stichele

SOMO

Keizersgracht 132

NL-1015 CW Amsterdam

tel. + 31 (0)20-639.12.91

e-mail: m.vander.stichele@somo.nl <mailto:m.vander.stichele@somo.nl>

www.somo.nl

The reality of China

James Hewitt

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/31709

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30110 refers to China financing construction of the Bui hydro-electric project. This project will serve primarily as a vehicle for corrupt payments by China, undermining such efforts as exist in Ghana to improve governance, particularly in the extractive industries. In the past this project was touted to EU arms manufacturers as a means to cover the financing of weapons/fighter jet purchases. China is Congo's (Brazzaville) main supplier of arms - and its main supplier of white elephant construction projects. I urge you to look into the reality of what China is trying to do.

* Silences in African History: Between the syndromes of discovery and abolition

Jacques Depelchin

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/31750

Publishers: Mkuki Na Nyota Publishers, Dar es Salaam
DISTRIBUTORS: Africa Books Collective PRICE: £20.95 or $34.95

Jacques Depelchin's book, 'Silences in African History' was becoming the victim of a reviewer's silence. What you are going to read is but an initial reaction to reading this book of many parts, that reminded me of the lyrics 'coat of many colours that my mama sewed for me'. It is a very engaging book. Many readers may understand and sympathise with me, if I plead to having been very busy; leading to a pile up of must read books, journals and papers.

That's partly the reason why it took some time to get around to reviewing this book, but the main reason is that Jacques is a complex writer, who writes in the fast disappearing cross-disciplinary radical scholarship. This is from an era when intellectuals had the guts to call imperialism its real name, instead of the understated notion of 'globalisation' that is used these days.

Oppressors and exploiters were called their real names instead of the dubious notion of 'partners in development' that is foistered on us today. The book may be inaccessible to the faint hearted as it traverses history, philosophy, literature, social sciences, humanities, cultural studies, traditions, spirituality ,religion, economics, history of science and science of history, the historical method, the dialectical method. It is both about the methodology of history and the history of methodology.

In 10 chapters, written with economy of language but full of so much information that betrays the long period of gestation of the book, it is both a critique of received wisdom and contemporary practice not only about the history of Africa but the knowledge of and about Africa. While applauding the pioneering nationalist African historians of the postcolonial period for challenging colonialist constructs and exposing imperialism packaged as knowledge, Depelchin also confronts most scathingly the reversal of the nationalist gains in contemporary times, where the pro/reproduction of knowledge about Africa has again transferred back to the metropolis and predominantly non African scholars who call themselves Africanists. They are largely outside of Africa, in western and predominantly North American universities.

They are also cohabiting with an exponentially increasing number of African scholars from Africa. The contemporary African Diaspora of technicians of knowledge in these countries is beginning to dwarf that of any single African country, including Nigeria. For instance it will be interesting to compare the ratio of African professors per head within 100 kilometres of New York to those in a similar radius of Lagos, Pretoria, Nairobi or Dar Es Salaam. It is not just the big names of our intelligentsia that have emigrated, but several generations after them - and even now future generations are aspiring to jump ship.

Historical silences meet existential silences with the same outcome: transfer of power over our history to extra continental individuals and institutions. We have to wonder what will become of peoples whose cream of intelligentsia are removed from the social base of their knowledge production.

‘Silences’ is such a wonderful cocktail of gems around so many issues and concerns across so many disciplines that one is frustrated that Depelchin has written several books in one without completing any of them. It is the kind of book that a lazy student can struggle to read and get a general grasp of many issues and bamboozle his way around term essays.

But in the hands of an inquisitive and enthusiastic reader it is both humbling and inspiring. It makes one wonder how little one knows but also challenges one to want to read more. But the theme of ‘Silences’ runs through all the chapters and gives it a coherence that its vast spectrum could have denied it. It is about how what we know is shaped by the methodology we deploy, but this methodology itself is not neutral but shaped by class and ideological interests of those in control of our lives and societies.

Intellectuals fancy themselves as being 'objective', others even see themselves as being above society, but Depelchin demystifies these fantasies in the Cabralist sense of posing the class interests that inform scholarship and how intellectuals are themselves part of the struggles they are interpreting. As partisans they make choices that determine what they see and what they refuse to see. Sometimes what they did not write about is more important than what they have written.

This book deserves wider reading. It is part of the power dynamics of scholarship about Africa that to be read and be popular, African authors or authors on Africa have to be published outside Africa and mostly in Europe and the USA. The publishers of this book, Mkuki Na Nyota, based in Dar Es Salaam, once a centre for radical scholarship and emancipatorary politics of the nationalist-developmental state, are one of the more veteran core of African publishers determined against all odds to publish about Africa in Africa, creating a space for African intellectual, cultural and political ownership of Africa.

The Director, Walter Bugoya, comes from the nationalist and liberationist tradition that have refused to surrender. If we do not patronise our own institutions and entrepreneurs how do we expect them to develop and compete favourably with the rest of the world? Depelchin has chosen not to be silenced by writing this book and he has also refused to allow African publishing to be silenced by choosing to publish in Dar Es Salaam even though he could have taken the easier option of publishing from the US where he is now based. In life there are always alternatives.

The organic intellectual in Africa or of Africa has to make the choice. The choice is either to continue to perpetuate the silencing of Africa and Africans, by only researching and publishing what is acceptable to the powers that be in academia and the ruling establishments generally or making a choice in favour of liberation scholarship.

Depelchin lays it out starkly: the choice is yours, but there is a price for standing up to tell truth to power even among academics.

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

Africa: Supranational Criminal Prosecution of Sexual Violence

2006-02-01

http://www.intersentia.be/zoekdetail.asp?pid=1250

The 1996 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Rwanda stated that during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda rape was the rule and its absence the exception. Indeed, rape and other forms of sexual violence as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, directed in particular against women, have taken place on a massive scale since time immemorial and are still rampant. This study assesses the supranational criminal prosecution of sexual violence, notably whether supranational criminal law and procedure are adequate from the perspective of victims of sexual violence.

Global: Violence against women exposed

2006-01-31

http://www.irinnews.org/broken-bodies/default.asp

‘Broken bodies — Broken Dreams: Violence Against Women Exposed’ offers a powerful testimony of the different types of gender-based violence experienced by women and girls worldwide throughout their lives, through the use of photographs, individual case studies and illustrative text. The publication is part of OCHA/IRIN’s ongoing campaign to highlight the issues of violence against women through film, text and photography.

Kenya: Radical Kenyan Asian artist to perform

2006-02-02

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310841.html

Excerpts from Migritude have aired on BBC radio, NPR, the National Radio Project, and Pacifica Radio, generating responses worldwide. Migritude was recently selected for the International Women Art Festival in Vienna in 2006. “Migritude explores global themes - heritage, war, freedom - by making intimate family treasures public. Similarly, it expresses universal experiences of colonised peoples through the journeys of my own diasporic Indian family. The sequence maps my personal transitions as a migrant: from survival to self-expression, invisibility to activism, model minority to radical artist," says Shailja. The show will be held at Carnivore's Simba Saloon on February 2 at 8pm. Shailja will also host Kenya's first ever Poetry Slam on Tuesday February 7 at Club Soundd, venue for Kwani? magazine popular Open Mic sessions.

Nigeria: The Invention & The Detainee

2006-02-02

http://www.africanbookscollective.com

This is the first formal publication of two early plays by Wole Soyinka, edited by Zodwa Motsa The Invention (1959) and The Detainee (1965). Widely regarded as Soyinka's first play, The Invention reflects the obsession with race that marked the apartheid regime, and prophetically depicts the beginnings of the crumbling of the apartheid system in the futuristic setting of Johannesburg in 1976. It expresses the concern of the African diapsora with apartheid, which was felt to be an affront to the entire race. The Detainee is a radioplay. The plot foreshadows the writer's own imprisonment and his now familiar concerns about the vagaries of African politics.

The Great Abolition Sham: The True Story of the End of the British Slave Trade

Michael Jordan

2006-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/31764

Sutton Publishing, 2005. 256 pp. GBP 11.00

It is estimated that in the 100 years between 1700 and 1810 some three million African were transported across the Atlantic by British Merchants. The Great Abolition Sham is an expose of the myths surrounding the abolition of the British slave trade. Jordan focuses on examining the role played by abolitionists and in particular that of William Wilberforce who has been accredited with leading the campaign but which Jordan insists is one of the myths.

Jordan traces the origins and development of the Anti-slavery movement and in doing so reveals the “false heroes and untruths” which have been part of the revisionist writings on the abolition. He does this by naming those involved such as William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson and examining their real contributions and level of effectiveness. In this way Jordan is able to expose the “emissions and discrepancies in the both literature and historical accounts of the process and event. For example even after the Abolition Act was passed in 1807 the transportation and use of slaves continue often with not only the explicit knowledge of the British Government but with their participation through the forced unpaid enlistment into military service.

Jordan also addresses the issue of why the abolitionist movement started in the first place and what was the impetus behind it and why at that particular time. He examines the two opposing arguments; that abolition was borne out of a moral sense that slavery was wrong and the economic imperative that slavery was no longer economically viable. The latter because slave uprisings in the Caribbean were becoming increasingly regular and the policing of the slaves was increasingly difficult and costly. The Anglican Church was another sector of British establishment whose position was not united in opposition to slavery. It too played a game “that was as devious as any engaged in by secular members of the establishment”.

He concludes that by 1814 there were over 200 local anti-slavery groups in Britain with the number rising to some 1,300 by at the “climax of emancipation fever” in 1832. However he writes that petitioning itself hardly contributed to the passing of the Act and that by 1831 the British government so emancipation as “inevitable” with the threat of violence spreading across the Caribbean Islands. The Act of 1833 was passed after the third reading and Slavery was to be replaced by a system of apprenticeship “the conditions of which were hardly generous”

Jordan presents a strong alternative account to the traditional one which tended to elevate the myth of Britain taking the moral high ground and which presented the anti-abolitionists especially Wilberforce as laudable moral guardians of the movement to end slavery. The book is informative and well researched and one that is much needed to provide a balanced account of what really took place.

Although Jordan includes a Note on Terminology, in particular the use of the word “Negro” which he uses occasionally, there is a section in the “The Three Concerned Trade” where he discusses the differences between Africans and AmerIndians, why one group was more easily enslaved than the other and their respective reactions to slavery. It is not quite clear why he feels it necessary to go into so much detail on this matter as it doesn’t really add to the focus of the book which is they “Abolition Sham”.

Nevertheless Jordan presents an account of the Abolition Movement and the factors leading to the Emancipation Act of 1833 which is credible and worthwhile contribution to the literature.

Reviewed by Sokari Ekine

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Township Music

2006-02-02

http://www.africanbookscollective.com/

This full colour, densely illustrated publication is a celebration of popular urban music in Zimbabwe, traditional and new, by Joyce Jenye Makwenda. Tracing the evolution of township music from the 1930s, the author provides an overview of this always avant-garde urban musical phenomenon, which today finds its place in the mainstream culture. She considers the traditional, contemporary and western influences which have moulded the township music of today, typified by such variants as kwela, tsabatsaba, marabi and afro-jazz.

Hamas discussion dominates the African Blogging week

Sokari Ekine

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/31724

The main conversation in the Egyptian blogosphere this past week has been the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections.

The Big Pharaoh - The Big Pharaoh (http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2006/01/hamas-asks-nations-not-to-cut-aid-gaza.html) responds to Hamas’ request for the international community not to cut aid. He writes scathingly that Hamas should “not get a penny from the international community” since without “mammon” they will not be able to maintain their social service network.

“If the international community is to respect the choice of the Palestinians, the choice of the international community should be respected as well…It's so funny that those who told countless Palestinian youth that blowing themselves up in an Israeli shopping center will earn them a place in heaven are now concerned lest the donors turn off the tap. I mean, I am so upset with Hamas, they should have more faith than this!! (sarcasm)”

Rantings of a Sandmonkey - Rantings of a Sandmonkey (http://egyptiansandmonkey.blogspot.com/2006/01/hamas-wins-palestinians-lose.html) is equally disgusted with the Hamas win. In his post, ‘Hamas wins, Palestinians loose’ he writes:

"The Palestinians have truly shot themselves in the foot this time. Given how the US and the majority of the European countries view Hamas as a terrorist organization - as they should - it's not hard to imagine them cutting off all aid to the Palestinian government completely."

He calls those who believe Hamas will become moderate now that it is in power, “delusional and not listening to what Hamas are saying” which is “death to Israel” etcetera etcetera etcetera…

One Arab World - One Arab World (http://onearabworld.blog.com/526493) has a more considered response in his post ‘Hamas won, where from here?’ He compares the Hamas win to that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

“Both evoking the emotions of a people in dire straights, benefiting from the gravitation of people in those circumstance to ideologies, and representatives of the only viable alternative to a corrupt government. Hamas builds schools, clinics, and shelters. Hamas is intertwined in the people and amongst them. More importantly though, Hamas will not bend to others will; and that image is an opportunity. As only Sharon could have pulled off Gaza only Hamas can accept it…Whatever Hamas the bad ass, accepts in terms of negotiations, the majority of the Palestinians on the ground will accept.”

He goes on to say that the old methods (presumably suicide bombs in Tel Aviv) will no longer work. Hamas is now the government so the next attack on Israel will be a declaration of war and with the settlers out of Gaza Palestinian causalities will be much higher than in previous Israeli attacks. He also factors in the forthcoming Israeli elections and the possibility of victory for Netanyahu which could mean a reoccupation of Gaza and a third intafada. All very grim.

Elsewhere in the African blogosphere:

New South African blog, African Visions and Voices - African Voices and Visions (http://africanvoicesandvisions.blogspot.com/2006/01/nana-benz.html) has a story on Togolese market women known as “Nana Benz”. The women began importing Dutch wax prints from Indonesia in the 1930s and then exporting them throughout Africa. They became so rich in the 1950s and were the only ones able to buy Mercedes Benz cars, thus the name “Nana Benz”.

I don’t know the history of the importation of Dutch wax prints but as long as I remember they have always been readily available in the markets of West Africa. And yes West African market women are probably amongst the wealthiest, most empowered and independent in the region.

Burkina Faso blog, Under the Acacias - [url=[url="http://voiceinthedesert.netfirms.com/keith/archives/2006/01/gold_in_the_mid.html]Under the acacias[/url]"]under the acacias[/url] (http://voiceinthedesert.netfirms.com/keith/archives/2006/01/gold_in_the_mid.html) is concerned over the recent expansion of gold mining in the country. Until recently gold in Burkina Faso was mined by hand and was a source of income for local communities.

“When gold was found there, a small gold town grew up, with all the accompanying problems of sickness, crime, prostitution (and therefore AIDS of course) etc. Men would hand-dig tunnels many meters deep and long, working ridiculous hours, sustained often by amphetamines and kola nuts more than food. Sometimes the tunnels would collapse, killing the men inside.”

Now mining has been taken over by Orezone (a Canadian mining company – “the company’s mission is to create wealth by discovering and mining the earth’s resources in an efficient, responsible manner” – haven’t I heard that one before?). The local hand diggers have now been replaced by company workers. Although not sad to see the hand diggers leave and the associated problems the system caused, at least they had options.

“And yet, it was one option among very few for people in this region. I would be sorry if hope was once again snatched from them with nothing to replace it. Orezone of course has its business to run, but I hope that their investment into the development of the region is more than a nominal gift of a well or food aid now and again. People's lives have been affected by the company's arrival, and it should not be that the result is that a few benefit while the vast majority of the poorest and most vulnerable are left once more with no options”.

France Watcher - France Watcher (http://www.francewatcher.org/2006/01/french_gunboat_.html) writes that French “gunboat diplomacy is back”. S/he uses France’s involvement in the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo as evidence that French foreign policy in Africa is dictated by the President and the Ministry of Defence. For example despite the presence of UN troops in Ivory Coast, the French have “their own operation”.

“The Chief of Staff of the French armed forces impudently publicly makes thinly veiled threats against the elected President of an independent sovereign state, and this is considered normal. Africans keep quite. What a shame.”

S/he concludes that French diplomacy in Africa has shown us that:

“French actions in Africa are basic, crude, and effective. You take directions from them, they support you, get you legitimized through some kind of electoral process, and demonize your enemies. You disobey them, they bomb you, demonize you, impoverish you, draw sanctions against you, and ultimately arraign you before the International Criminal Court on charges they decide on. Africans beware!”

Afrikan Eye - Afrikan Eye (http://afrikaneye.blogspot.com/2006/01/afrikan-contributions-to-civilisation.html) begins an excellent series on “Afrikan contributions to civilisation”. In this first part s/he looks at the continents contribution to astronomy and science and technology. S/he mentions, among others, the Namoratunga of Kenya:

“These Cushites have a calendar which uses the rising of seven stars or constellations to calculate a 12-month, 354-day year. The stone orientation in Namoratunga is such that it allows for accurate observation of these stars/constellations. It is assumed that these ancient Africans astronomers made their observations with the NAKED eye since no telescopes had yet been invented.”

And the Dogon of Mali:

“These West Africans people have not only plotted the orbits of stars circling Sirius but have revealed the extraordinary nature of one of its companions- Sirius B- which they claim to be one of the densest of stars in our galaxy. What is most astonishing about their revelations is that Sirius B is invisible to the unaided eye.

The Sirius B star is of deeply significant spiritual importance to the Dogon and they have thus gathered intricate and detailed knowledge of this star which is invisible to the naked eye. The Dogon say that the orbit of Sirius B around Sirius (the visible one) lasts 100 years.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: AU in the spotlight

2006-02-02

http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Opinion/opinion300120067.htm

Sudan recently hosted the Sixth Ordinary Session of the General Assembly of the African Union. While the AU is seeking to claim its place in the international arena, a lot still needs to be done. But as the Chinese have always said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The European Union was initially a coal-and-steel trading bloc; but today, it is a strong common market with 370 million consumers now footing the bills of the African Union in the peacekeeping operations in Darfur and elsewhere on our continent. What Africa needs is a sense of focus and belonging. The African Union Act, if well used, could provide for intervention in the affairs of member states on critical issues such as democratic elections.

Africa: Symposium on the African Union's Protocol on the Rights of Women

2006-02-02

http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/

Very warm greetings to you all from the Chairperson, H.E. Professor Alpha Oumar Konare, Commissioners and officials of the Commission of the African Union. I also bring my special greetings and compliments to you all - Members of the Solidarity for Women’s Rights Coalition and Ahfad University for Women here present, and the Government and people of The Sudan. I would like to start by expressing my delight and pleasure to be in Khartoum once again, this historic and beautiful city of your great country, The Sudan. Let me also register my deep gratitude and sincere appreciation for the singular honour and privilege accorded to me to deliver a keynote address at the opening session of this Symposium on the African Union’s Protocol on Women’s Rights in Africa, with a focus on the relevance of the Protocol for the Continent and its peoples.

DRC: UN investigations into allegations of sexual offences

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51347

In February 2005, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, created an office to address allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by some of MONUC's civilian and military personnel. It was the first such UN office to have been set-up as part of a peacekeeping mission. The office undertook scores of investigations but closed in November 2005 when investigations were taken over by the UN's Office for Internal Oversight in New York. The person who created and ran the office was Nicole Dahrendorf, a specialist in law and human rights. Dahrendorf is still with MONUC as an advisor. IRIN recently interviewed her.

Global: The power of pleasure

2006-02-01

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20541

This article, published by the Institute of Development Studies, explores the way that women's sexuality is represented in the context of development programmes and AIDS prevention. It claims that, although much sex takes place in encounters where women are unable to control what they want, the tendency to represent women as victims can undermine the power that women have to exercise control over their lives and their sexuality. Treating women as victims also gives the impression that they only have unsafe sex because they lack power to negotiate with male partners, ignoring the possibility of women feeling and acting upon their own desires.

Global: Evaluation of the "strategy for women and gender equality in development cooperation"

2006-01-31

http://www.norad.no/items/3589/38/8779606456/Evaluering%20av%20kvinnestrategien.pdf

This report evaluates the implementation of the Strategy for Women and Gender Equality in Development Cooperation (the Strategy), and analyses how the development cooperation system, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Norad and the embassies in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Zambia have organised their Women and Gender Equality (W&GE) efforts, and how this system interacts with and collaborates with external partners. This evaluation focuses on bilateral aid, primarily the institutional aspects, including organisation, resources, communication and decision-making.

Global: Women in the global political landscape

2006-02-01

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20782

This commentary from an editor at Eldis, the online development gateway, editor looks at women in politics across the world. With a particular focus on Liberia and Chile the entry considers the responsibilities facing female leaders and provides links for further information.

Rwanda: Survivor of horror writes hope into law

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/bvuvk

She was born a Rwandan refugee in Uganda, where her parents herded cattle. A bright and determined student, she went to class under a tree using a borrowed identity, was smuggled across borders to continue her schooling, graduated from Uganda's Makerere University and studied law on a scholarship in Australia. But inevitably, she returned to Rwanda to work. Now 42, Justine Mbabazi has become one of the new female leaders in her homeland: a lawyer who drafted Rwanda's first legislation against gender-based violence, country director of the American Bar Association, and former executive director of a legal network that brought the rights of women to the forefront of national politics and played a critical role in the debate over a new constitution, reports The Washington Post.

Zanzibar: MPs scrap schoolgirl ban

2006-02-01

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4669098.stm

A three-decade law banning pregnant girls from attending school has been scrapped by MPs in Zanzibar. Under the ban, girls under 18 who became pregnant on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian islands had to drop out of school and could not return. Women's groups had been campaigning to abolish the law saying it infringed on the girls' human rights. The BBC's Ally Saleh in Zanzibar says it has been hailed as a landmark for the predominantly Muslim archipelago.

Africa: AU rights arm slams violators

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/73x2f

The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, the human rights arm of the African Union (AU), has cited Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo for rights violations in a unusually-critical report leaked to the press but not yet formally made public. The commission criticized the Zimbabwe government of Robert Mugabe for threatening the independence of the country's judiciary, called on Ethiopia to release political prisoners, and urged Sudan to stop attacks on civilians and aid workers in Darfur and co-operate with a probe by the International Criminal Court (ICC), reports The Jurist.

DRC: 'My life doesn't belong to me anymore'

2006-02-01

http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/january/ha000024.html

Innocent Nkung, a 35-year-old asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), suffered such homophobic and political persecution that he had to flee the DRC and is now fighting to stay in the UK after his asylum claim was refused. Innocent, who has a background in campaigning on human rights issues had been arrested in the DRC a number of times between 1992 and 2005. For example, he was arrested and detained in June 2004 after taking part in a demonstration against the UN's failure to act after the Rwandan army entered the Bukavu province.

Ethiopia: Thousands arrested' in Ethiopia

2006-02-02

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4668472.stm

Ethiopia has arrested thousands of members of the Oromo ethnic group over the past three months, according to Amnesty International. The London-based human rights group said students were among those who have been rounded up since November. Amnesty said the arrests follow protest calls by the rebel Oromo Liberation Front against alleged government fraud. It warned some of the detainees may be "at risk of torture or ill-treatment" and called for their release.

Global: Assessing the effectiveness of national human rights institutions

2006-02-02

http://www.ichrp.org/paper_files/125_p_01.pdf

In 2000, the International Council published 'Performance & Legitimacy: National human rights institutions.' National institutions had multiplied during the 1990s and the report looked at what made them effective and successful. Five years later, despite unfavourable developments in the international human rights environment, the growth of national institutions is unchecked. The present report from the International Council on Human Rights revisits the issue of effectiveness and examines how national institutions might improve their performance and impact by using benchmarks and indicators to assess their work.

Kenya: Dog food offer an insult

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601311017.html

A New Zealander's offer of dog food to starving Kenyans is an insult, a Cabinet minister said yesterday. "It is an insult for somebody to think Kenya can accept food meant for animals," said Mr John Munyes, minister in charge of relief operations in the President's Office. "Such people should desist because we will be very careful in vetting the donations." Members of a local women's organization, Maendeleo ya Wanawake, said they were shocked by the report, describing it as the height of abuse to the Kenyan women and children.

Libya: Need to deepen rights reform

2006-02-01

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/25/libya12520_txt.htm

As Libya emerges from long-term international isolation, the government has taken some important steps to improve human rights, including the recent release of 14 political prisoners. But the Libyan government continues to hold political prisoners, conduct unfair trials, and severely restrict free speech and association, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today (January 25). “We welcome Libya’s first steps toward reform,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch who visited Tripoli this week to present the government with the report. “But the government has a long road to travel before it meets the international standards of human rights.”

Swaziland: Urban cleanup response to unplanned settlements

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51457

The bulldozers are set to move in to clear a string of informal urban settlements as the Swazi government and local authorities clamp down on unplanned housing. Forty homes have been earmarked for demolition in the Madonsa settlement, a tract of peri-urban land bordering the central commercial town of Manzini, 35 km east of the capital, Mbabane. A further 100 homes at Ludzidzini royal village, 20 km east of Mbabane, also face destruction. The Ludzidzini residents are to be evicted to make way for an extension of King Mswati's home, to accommodate his growing number of wives and their children. The king now has 13 wives.

Burundi: Repatriated schoolchildren easily adjust to their new school

2006-02-01

http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=43df62784

Most of the children who come back to Burundi after spending years attending classes in refugee camps in Tanzania know no other school. But policies enacted by their government mean that those returning do not feel out of place in Burundian schools. Reintegration of repatriated schoolchildren into the school system of their country of origin has been made much easier by the decision in 2000 to harmonise classes given at primary and secondary level both in camps for Burundian refugees in Tanzania and in Burundian schools.

Burundi: Repatriations below target, UN agency says

2006-01-30

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6LJ86T?OpenDocument

In Burundi, when the political situation improved, "with the successful democratic elections" that culminated in the August presidential poll, returnees increased; reaching 44,385 from July to October 2005, with a 16,000 peak in August alone. However, a drop occurred from November to December, with only 6,611 returnees in the two months. This, UNHCR said, was mainly due to the activities of the rebel Forces nationales de liberation (FNL). Poor socioeconomic conditions, particularly food shortages in some regions, also contributed to the decline.

Chad: Education and health for adolescent girls in refugee camps

2006-02-01

http://www.id21.org/education/e2wc1g1.html

More than 220,000 Sudanese from Darfur have fled the ongoing violence in their region and crossed the border into the desert of eastern Chad. Most of the refugees are now in camps; however, several thousand remain outside camps, waiting to be registered. With the crisis continuing, it is estimated that many more refugees will flee to eastern Chad. In the midst of this crisis is the education and reproductive health of adolescent girls being neglected?

Egypt: Amera concerned over Sudanese refugees

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/31749

Amera, the Africa and Middle East Refugees Assistance, has issued a statement of concern over the plight of Sudanese refugees in Egypt. "AMERA believes that the Four Freedoms Agreement (Agreement) allows any Sudanese citizen to reside in Egypt without a residence permit. Accordingly, we are concerned at the proposed deportation of a reported 654 individuals to Sudan as we do not consider this to be consistent with the terms of the Agreement. The Agreement came into force following ratification and then publication in the Official Gazette in September 2004. Accordingly, all Sudanese asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants in Egypt are de jure legal residents in the country."
8 January, 2006
Africa and Middle East Refugees Assistance Statement

A tragic event

The night of 30 December 2005 will be remembered by many. As an organization on the ground with refugees in Cairo, AMERA has seen the direct result of the events of that night on the Sudanese refugee community. It is the responsibility of AMERA and other organizations in Egypt to help the Sudanese refugee community overcome these events and to recover as best as humanly possible.

AMERA can only express its condolence and concern to the families and friends who have lost loved ones. We cannot begin to understand the agony and pain involved accompanying these events, but we hold a deep concern for all involved. AMERA is representing immediate family members of many of those killed and liaising with the UNHCR in order to ensure that their burial wishes are honored. For most, this means transfer of the bodies of loved ones back to Sudan.

Health and related concerns

Immediately after the break-up of the demonstration, there were many individuals in dire need of urgent medical treatment. AMERA staff personally transported individuals all over Cairo, 6 October, and Nasr City to public hospitals to ensure access to treatment and were able to see first hand the extent of injuries suffered. AMERA has continued to provide follow-up medical support and advocacy with regard to other social service needs.

AMERA is providing crisis counseling and has plans for long term mental health support for immediate family members of those who were killed.

Specific legal concerns

AMERA believes that the Four Freedoms Agreement (Agreement) allows any Sudanese citizen to reside in Egypt without a residence permit. Accordingly, we are concerned at the proposed deportation of a reported 654 individuals to Sudan as we do not consider this to be consistent with the terms of the Agreement. The Agreement came into force following ratification and then publication in the Official Gazette in September 2004. Accordingly, all Sudanese asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants in Egypt are de jure legal residents in the country.

The UNHCR has been given 72 hours to assess the status of those earmarked for deportation. This is not enough time and AMERA requests the UNHCR and the Egyptian government to extend this period. Indeed, AMERA considers that the UNHCR should grant interim protection to all in detention to allow them to be released and a full and proper assessment to be made of each individual’s status.

AMERA believes that the mass expulsion of aliens is illegal in international law and entirely contrary to the principle of non-refoulement. Any expulsion for a criminal offence must be prosecuted on a case-by-case basis with each individual entitled to due criminal process. If any individual is accused of constituting a threat to public order, a court of law is the only entity that can determine that accusation. Each individual must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, as enshrined in all penal codes, Article 14 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and confirmed by Article 67 of the Egyptian Constitution.

In addition to respecting the international conventions on refugee status, we urge the authorities to uphold the application of Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and not deport those individuals to a country where they will be at risk of torture.

Public information and access to legal representation

While AMERA is anxious about the lack of information on those in detention, we commend the Egyptian government for releasing most documented refugees and allowing the UNHCR access to detention centers. Moreover, we encourage both the UNHCR and the Egyptian authorities to make public any information surrounding the identities and the conditions of those in detention. Critically, we request that they have access to full legal representation.

Furthermore, confident in the independence of the Egyptian judiciary, AMERA acclaims the Attorney General, Mr. Maher Abdel Wahed, for opening-up an investigation into the matter, and encourage him to make a full and public inquiry.

Conclusion

AMERA hopes to be able to continue supporting the entire refugee population in Cairo. These are tragic events which go beyond the Sudanese community. However, our first priority is to assist those in greatest need and in this regard we would like to re-express our condolences to the families, relatives, and friends of those who lost their lives during and after the evacuation process.

Egypt: Government agrees not to deport Sudanese detainees

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/7zkc2

The Egyptian government has said that it will not deport hundreds of Sudanese detainees who lack status as refugees or asylum seekers. The detainees were arrested after a three-month sit-in protest in front of UN offices in Cairo resulted in a violent clash with Egyptian police on December 30, resulting in 27 deaths. The Sudanese protesters sought resettlement in a third country. The Ministry of Foreign Affair has said that following extensive interviews with the detainees by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, none will be deported to Sudan, and that Egypt will take steps to grant legal status to those who do not qualify for international protection. Egypt had earlier announced plans to deport 654 Sudanese refugees, but this was met with pressure from the international community, reports The Jurist.

Ivory Coast: Medical teams prepare for influx of refugees from Ivory Coast

2006-01-30

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/218926/11386138875.htm

Merlin, the British medical aid agency, is treating refugees from the Ivory Coast who have crossed the border into Liberia to flee from violence. More than 80 refugees, mostly women and children, arrived in Tuzon following fighting in the town of Guiglo, western Ivory Coast. All reported witnessing or hearing of heavy exchanges between UN troops and pro-government militia.

Liberia: UN agency helps largest batch of refugees return home since 2004

2006-01-31

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17332&Cr=Liberia&Cr1=

More than 550 refugees who fled Liberia’s brutal civil war arrived home over the past week – the largest batch since the UN refugee agency began its repatriation programme in 2004, and less than two weeks since Liberia’s newly elected president urged her countrymen to return. This latest convoy from Sierra Leone boosted the number of refugees brought home by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners since October 2004 to 6,559.

Zambia: Shortages drive refugees from camps

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/dskdt

Angolan and Congolese refugees are deserting camps in Zambia to scavenge for food in villages after they were placed on half rations due to worsening food shortages, officials reported. The exodus occurred after the World Food Programme (WFP) said food shortages in the camps had become critical. Aid workers warn supplies will run out in April reports Reuters.

Chad: Parliament votes to prolong its mandate

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51466

Chad's parliamentarians have voted to extend their own terms in office by over a year, saying the cash-strapped country cannot hold legislative elections along with the presidential poll later this year as scheduled. But opposition politicians say the law – introduced by President Idriss Deby’s cabinet – is a deliberate move by Deby to keep close allies in the government in troubled times.

Cote d’Ivoire: Annan rebukes Gbagbo for decision on National Assembly

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51429

In a strongly worded statement, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has expressed concern over a decree issued by Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo allowing parliament to remain in office beyond its official mandate. “The Secretary-General expresses his concern about the unexpected issuance of a presidential decree concerning the National Assembly,” said a statement issued on Sunday (January 30).

East Africa: Tanzania begins hunt for new community boss

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310848.html

The search for the new Secretary General of the East African Community has began as plans to admit Rwanda and Burundi into the regional body are said to have reached an advanced stage with the crucial verification process already concluded. Current Secretary General, Ugandan Nuwe Amanya Mushega, ends his term in July 2006 and, a Tanzanian national will take over the expanded Community, which by May this year is expected to have the two central African states.

Liberia: New president must act now on Taylor

2006-02-01

http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaeq4ZabnQZocjjaD3b/

Liberia’s new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, should take prompt action to ensure that former Liberian President Charles Taylor is surrendered to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Campaign Against Impunity said today (January 27) in an open letter to President Johnson-Sirleaf, who was inaugurated on January 16. The Campaign Against Impunity is a coalition of some three hundred African and international civil society groups that was formed to press for Charles Taylor’s surrender to the Special Court.

Nigeria: 2007 elections already at crucial juncture

2006-02-01

http://www.cdd.org.uk

Nigeria’s presidential, legislative and gubernatorial elections scheduled for 2007 have the potential to be a huge milestone in the history and development of democracy in the country, as they will be the first time one administration reaches its constitutionally mandated term limit and must hand over to a successor. The elections of March/April 2003 saw Nigeria clear the hurdle of two successive elected governments for the first time in its history: However current President Olusegun Obasanjo must step down in 2007, making the establishment of a successor elected administration in that year even more of a potential landmark.

Somalia: Interim Parliament prepares to meet in Baidoa

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310207.html

Preparations for a meeting of Somalia's interim parliament in Baidoa have begun, following a decision by the president and the speaker to convene the house inside Somalia for the first time since it was created in neighbouring Kenya in 2004. Francois Lonseny Fall, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for Somalia, welcomed the decision to convene parliament, describing it as "a very positive development".

South Africa: Sanco raises third term debate

2006-01-31

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A146566

South African National Civic Organisation's (Sanco's) bombshell proposal to amend SA's constitution confirms an ongoing discussion in political and business circles about whether President Thabo Mbeki should seek a third term in office. Sanco argues the two terms a president can serve denies SA the opportunity to sustain development programmes. It also says the constitutional term limit is a "foreign" concept imposed on SA and the rest of Africa. It argues for the retention of the country's "best minds" and says the constitutional term limit would "force a young president to retire".
Related Link:
* Municipal elections won't appease furious South Africans
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2006-02/02bond.cfm

Tanzania: Opposition parties say CUF sidelined them

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310851.html

Tanzanian opposition political parties are crying foul over a decision by the Civic United Front (CUF) to shut them out from the official opposition in the Union Parliament. CUF is one of the strong parties that posed a serious challenge to the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi in the 2005 general elections, winning all 19 in parliamentary seats in Zanzibar but losing all the seats on the Mainland.

Uganda: No court martial for Besigye

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310642.html

The General Court Martial (GCM) does not have powers to try civilians, the Constitutional Court in Uganda has ruled. This renders presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye's case before it null and void. Dr. Besigye with 22 co-accused was facing the GCM on charges of terrorism and illegal possession of firearms. The hearing of the case was halted however after the High Court stayed proceedings of the case.

Africa: AU and EU share responsibility for corruption fight

2006-01-31

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601230529.html

The African Union and European Union Troikas have reaffirmed what they have termed their shared responsibility for fighting corruption for the benefit of the African continent. And the executive council of the African Union has resolved to press on Zimbabwe to embrace internal dialogue as a key to resolving the country's domestic situation. The commitments were contained in a communiqué on the Africa-European Union dialogue presented to the African Union ordinary executive council meeting held in January.

Cameroon: New anti-corruption drive leaves many sceptical

2006-02-01

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=119855&src=dcn

The Cameroon government has launched a nationwide campaign to wipe out corruption, but citizens and diplomats are watching with a dubious eye this latest of several endeavours. President Paul Biya's government launched the anti-corruption drive on 18 January, two weeks after sacking two magistrates accused of graft – the first such move in Biya's 23 years in power. The wave of anti-corruption fervour began as the Cameroon leader rang in the New Year denouncing the scourge and vowing to do away with it.

Kenya: Collapsed building highlights crumbling regulation

2006-02-02

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31925

As the chances of finding more survivors in the building that collapsed earlier this week in Nairobi moved from slim to remote, poor oversight and corruption were being blamed for the disaster. "It is not just a problem of a collapsed building. It is a much wider problem of a lack of capacity to handle the huge construction industry," said Abonyo Erastus, vice chairman of the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), adding that the Nairobi City Council (NCC) had too few architects on staff to maintain building standards in the Kenyan capital.

Kenya: Living large, counting the cost of official extravagance

2006-02-01

http://www.tikenya.org/documents/living_large.pdf

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the anti corruption watchdog Transparency International- Kenya, have released a research report on wasteful government expenditure. It points out that between January 2003 and September 2004, the new NARC government in Kenya spent at least Kshs 878million in the purchase of luxury cars that were largely for the personal use of senior government officials such as ministers, assistant ministers and permanent secretaries. The report argues that "until all necessities are accessible to all members of our community, no one should live in luxury using public resources”.

Kenya: Minister quits in corruption saga

2006-02-02

http://tinyurl.com/c58fv

Kenyan Finance Minister David Mwiraria resigned on Wednesday, saying he had been wrongly linked to a multi-million dollar corruption scandal that has rocked President Mwai Kibaki's government. "In order that my name be cleared and to protect the integrity of the president, the government and our country Kenya, I hereby voluntarily step aside," Mwiraria said in a letter to Kibaki that he read to media, as reported by Reuters.

Kenya: World Bank 'toadying to the corrupt'

2006-01-31

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2015864,00.html

Sir Edward Clay, the outspoken former British envoy to Kenya, let rip at the World Bank for lending $120 million (£68 million) to President Kibaki's Government when it was embroiled in a massive corruption scandal. In a letter to Paul Wolfowitz, the President of the World Bank, Sir Edward accused the organisation of "toadying to a thoroughly corrupt administration" and said that last week's loan made a mockery of efforts to stamp out high-level looting.

Liberia: Outgoing officials make off with the furniture

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310161.html

Members of Liberia's outgoing transitional government have vacated offices to make way for elected successors, taking their computers, desks, chairs and even carpets with them, civil servants told IRIN on Monday. Ministers, their staff, and parliamentarians as well have made off with a whole gamut of government property, leaving offices bare. Some former parliamentarians meanwhile have changed the official plates on their government-assigned 4x4 Cherokee jeeps to private ones, and are cruising around the capital Monrovia to the disgust of angry residents.

Liberia: Transparency tells Johnson-Sirleaf to act on corruption

2006-01-31

http://www.transparency.org/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2006/2006_01_16_liberia

“Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s courageous commitment to attack corruption brings the possibility of stability and prosperity to Liberia,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International. “Her first months in office are crucial. Rapid and visible progress in delivering on the anti-corruption agenda will assure the people of Liberia that their future holds greater hope and opportunity. This is essential to build new trust between the people and the government, and will help put the country on a sustainable path.”

Malawi: New government system to reveal fraud

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310348.html

Malawi's recently introduced Central Payment System which some civil servants blame for delaying some important government operations has been hailed by the Government as the final solution to stem corruption and fraud in the government financial system. Controls, from the initiation of expenditures up to the point of payment have been instituted.

South Africa: Court orders seizure of Shaik assets

2006-01-31

http://tinyurl.com/cng9b

South African prosecutors won a court order on Tuesday to seize 34 million rand in assets of a former aide to ex-Deputy President Jacob Zuma following a corruption scandal that has rocked the government. Durban High Court Judge Hilary Squires also ordered Schabir Shaik to pay some of the prosecution's legal costs in the case, which saw him convicted of a "generally corrupt" relationship with Zuma last year, lawyers said, reports Reuters.

Zambia: Former president seeks AU intervention

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/93mdc

Former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba has asked the African Union to intervene to halt criminal charges filed by Zambia in the United Kingdom. Chiluba contends that as a member of the AU, Zambia is bound by an agreement that all former African heads of state facing charges stemming from their time in office will be tried in their home countries. Arrested in 2002, Chiluba is currently on trial in Zambia on charges of corruption and theft of public funds, but frustrated with the lack of progress in the trial, the government sanctioned legal proceedings against Chiluba in 2004 on charges that he defrauded the government by funneling nearly $35 million in funds acquired through an arms deal to private bank accounts in London, reports The Jurist.

Africa: 30 years later, a celebration for "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa"

2006-02-01

http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=10798&ThisURL=./eastern.asp&URLName=Eastern%20Region#

In Africa and the developing world, the 1960s were marked by intense ideological struggles and heated debates on whether Capitalism or Socialism was the best path to prosperity. No single individual was at the heart of those contestations more than Dr Walter Rodney. Born in the Caribbean, schooled in Europe and fated to work in Africa, where, while at Dar es Salaam University, he produced his influential work, "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa". A Senior Writer with the Nation Media Group attended a conference recently held to celebrate Rodney's life and legacy and writes, "many see him as the formidable bridge that linked continental Africa with its diaspora, re-connecting people to the culture from which they had been so brutally severed centuries earlier by slavery."

Africa: Growth isn't working

2006-02-02

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=219

'Growth isn't working: the uneven distribution of benefits and costs from economic growth', shows that globalisation is failing the world's poorest as their share of the benefits of growth plummet, and accelerating climate change hurts the poorest most. The report, the first in the New Economic Foundation's series of 'Re-thinking poverty' reports, reveals that the share of benefits from global economic growth reaching the world's poorest people is actually shrinking, while they continue to bear an unfair share of the costs.

Africa: More needs to be done beyond giving aid

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/8kcal

Donors must undertake far-reaching reforms to ensure that aid is improved so as to make a fully effective contribution to the fight against poverty. About 60 percent of the money donated as aid by G8 countries is phantom aid. In 2003 more than a quarter of total aid was allocated to technical assistance and paid to donor country companies and consultants for often overpriced, inappropriate goods and services that had few sustainable benefits, according to Africa Files.

Egypt: Trading diplomacy

2006-02-01

http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=3675

This week the issue of a potential US- Egyptian free trade agreement (FTA) emerged back in the spotlight. Reports coming from Washington suggest that the Bush administration has once again put on hold Egypt’s long aspired to dreams of a bilateral FTA. The reasons offered by the US administration this time, as relayed through trade diplomats and other officials, were not typical complaints over lax governmental efforts to pursue substantial economic reforms, as required by the US administration. Egypt’s slow pace of political reform — as assessed by Washington — is the sticking point now.

Global: Why aid agencies exist

2006-02-01

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20754

Rather than asking what aid agencies should be doing, this article from the Overseas Development Institute asks the question: "Why are there many and different aid organisations and not just one?" The article argues that the main role of aid agencies is to mediate between donors' and recipients' interests, or preferences, and that there would be no need for mediation when donor and recipient interests were fully convergent. The article aims to provide a cross-institutional perspective to explain the relative advantages and disadvantages of each type of agency within a single explanatory model.

Malawi: Villages get cracking to become MDG achievers

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51103

The UN Millennium Village Project is giving 11 Malawian hamlets the chance to break free from the cycle of poverty. About 55,000 people in the settlements, spread across the country, are participating in the five-year project aimed at finding practical solutions to the problems preventing countries from achieving the UN's poverty-slashing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Rather than the 2015 timeframe, the villages "intend to prove that they can achieve at least some of the MDGs in a period of five years", said Peter Kulemeka, assistant resident representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Malawi.

Mozambique: IMF blocks extra aid

2006-01-31

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/development/31592

In a repeat of a crisis a decade ago, donors now fear that the IMF is blocking aid increases to Mozambique, reports the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin. With public pressure in several European countries for increased aid, and with problems in Ethiopia and Uganda tainting these former donor darlings, donors are anxious to pump more money into Mozambique - especially as budget support. But the IMF says no - it will not allow Mozambique to accept more budget support. Instead, it wants donors to fund more projects outside the state budget - which goes directly against the policy of many donors.
MOZAMBIQUE 93
IMF BLOCKS EXTRA AID
TO MOZAMBIQUE
CARLOS CARDOSO KILLER
CONVICTED

News reports & clippings no. 93
from Joseph Hanlon
(j.hanlon@open.ac.uk)
26 January 2006
========
This is an irregular service with 3 pages of news
summaries by Joseph Hanlon, with a long attached file
with AIM articles in full for those who want more detail.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, see note at end.
========
New website under construction with back newsletters and background
documents
http://www.open.ac.uk/technology/mozambique
========

DONOR CONCERN OVER
IMF CAP ON AID INCREASES

In a repeat of a crisis a decade ago, donors now fear that the IMF is
blocking aid increases to Mozambique. With public pressure in several
European countries for increased aid, and with problems in Ethiopia and
Uganda tainting these former donor darlings, donors are anxious to pump
more money into Mozambique -- especially as budget support. But the IMF
says no -- it will not allow Mozambique to accept more budget support.
Instead, it wants donors to fund more projects outside the state budget --
which goes directly against the policy of many donors.

The issue came to a head with the shocked outcry of donors when the
government on 7 November issued its draft PARPA (Plano de Accao para a
Reducao da Pobreza Absoluta 2006-9; Mozambique's PRSP) which said aid
would increase from $889 million in 2006 to $1,044 million in 2008, but
remains constant after that. Donors were upset and said they had stressed
to the government that more money was available. But the Ministry of
Planning and Development appears to have based its figures on the IMF cap,
rather than money actually available.

The core of the debate, which has been going on for more than two decades,
is that the IMF believes that aid can be inflationary. Since inflation is
the worst possible sin, aid must be limited. But a recent study by the IMF
itself of five countries in Africa, including Mozambique, argued that
substantial aid increases can be controlled and need not be harmful (see
article below).

The issue is expressed in arcane accounting terms. Mozambique's agreement
with the IMF is set out in the 17 October 2005 "letter of intent".
Mozambique is unusual in that the IMF puts a limit on what it calls
"domestic primary deficit", which is the government's current spending and
locally financed capital spending, less government revenue (from taxes,
customs duties, etc). Government is committed to cutting this deficit from
4.5 bn new meticais ($225 million) in 2005 to 3.8 bn new meticais ($190
mn) in 2006. This is, in effect, the amount of budget support the
government is allowed to spend, yet budget support is predicted to
increase from $274 million to $308 million.

This effective IMF cap on budget support contradicts donor policy in two
ways.

One is that the IMF is putting pressure on Mozambique to tax aid spending.
If donors were to pay tax, this would count as government income and it
could be spent. Bizarrely, if donors give the same amount as additional
budget support, it cannot be spent. This is serious, because most donor
countries have laws saying that aid cannot be taxed by the aid recipient,
so there is no chance of donors paying tax.

The other issue is that the cap excludes donor funded projects. Now, many
donors are trying to reduce the number of projects outside the state
budget, and are anxious to switch from funding individual projects to
having the spending in the budget and funded by increased budget support.
Yet the IMF is pushing exactly the opposite way, saying it will accept an
increase in projects funded by donors outside the state budget, but not an
increase is donor-funded spending within the state budget.

The letter of intent is available on
http://www.imf.org/external/np/loi/2005/moz/101705.pdf
and the draft of PARPA II on
http://www.open.ac.uk/technology/mozambique/pics/d53720.pdf

IMF STUDY SAYS BIG AID
INCREASES ARE OK

An IMF study released last August says that, contrary to IMF assumptions,
low income African countries, including Mozambique, are able to manage
significant increases in aid. A big increase in aid to Mozambique did lead
to an increase in inflation, but this was brought back to a reasonable
level, the study found, both by Bank of Mozambique actions and because
fiscal expansion brought rapid GDP growth.

The study goes on to challenge one of the IMF's own most central articles
of faith by saying that it seems that periods of higher inflation actually
achieve real growth, and that this should be tolerated in order to keep
the exchange rate from depreciating.

Aid volatility is the problem, it says, and low income countries can make
good use of "significant increases in aid" if they are planned.

But it appears that the IMF team which negotiated the letter of intent
with Mozambique last year had not read the institution's own study.

The study is "The Macroeconomics of Managing Increased Aid Inflows:
Experiences of Low-Income Countries and Policy Implications, August 8,
2005" and is on
http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2005/080805a.pdf

CARDOSO KILLER
CONVICTED AGAIN --
JAILED FOR 30 YEARS

Anibal dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho") on 20 January was convicted of
leading the death squad that murdered investigative journalist Carlos
Cardoso in 2000, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was also
convicted of attempted murder of Cardoso's driver, Carlos Manjate (who has
been declared unfit to work because of the bullet wound to his head),
illegal use of firearms, membership of a criminal association, use of a
false passport, use of false names, false declarations to the legal
authorities, and two counts of car theft.

This was Anibalzinho's second trial. He "escaped" from the Maputo top
security prison in September 2002 and was tried in absentia and convicted
in January 2003. He appealed and in December 2004, after he has "escaped"
a second time, the Supreme Court ruled that he had a right to be present.
He returned to Mozambique and the trial was reopened. He made little
attempt to defend himself and was again convicted. This time he did not
appeal.

Lucinda Cruz, lawyer for the Cardoso family, warned during the trial that
Anibalzinho had been helped to escape twice from the "maximum security"
prison and that he clearly had high level protection. After the trial, she
predicted Anibalzinho would escape again "within two years". His lack of
defence and his decision not to appeal suggests that he thinks he has
other ways of avoiding serving the sentence.

Meanwhile, the New York Times in an article on 21 January, said "a host of
unanswered questions about Mr. Cardoso's death and the banking scandal
that led to it continue to overshadow the victories in the Cardoso case."

It continues "Prosecutors have made no known headway into accusations that
a son of former President Joaquim Chissano, who led Mozambique as the
scandal unfolded, had close ties to those who arranged Mr. Cardoso's
death. Nor has the government explained how the newly convicted Mr. dos
Santos - known universally as Anibalzihno, or 'Little Hannibal' - twice
managed to walk out of Maputo's maximum-security prison and flee the
country with false passports, after first being arrested in the Cardoso
inquiry almost five years ago."
The article is on
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/21/international/africa/21mozambique.html

MORE ON DONOR STUDY OF LOANS

The last newsletter contained a short article on a study by Deloitte of
the misuse of loans given by the government with donor funds to companies
controlled by Antonio Simoes -- an issue first raised by Carlos Cardoso.
Attached is a longer AIM article on the subject.

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documents
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1) Using your web browser, go to
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If you want to subscribe or unsubscribe, then next to
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Africa: Placing decent employment at the heart of the battle

2006-01-31

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20751

This chapter in the UNECA's "Economic report on Africa 2005" examines the prominent features of the poverty challenge in Africa. It outlines the analytical links between growth, employment and poverty to show that employment is a major route out of poverty. The paper also identifies the employment gaps of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) and provides recommendations for strengthening the employment intensity of the growth process and for mainstreaming employment policies in poverty reduction strategies.

Kenya: Country may miss debt relief

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601311010.html

Kenya is unlikely get to debt relief, a confidential report by the World Bank says. This follows the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) rejection of the Government's appeal, last month, to benefit from multi-lateral debt relief even if Kenya does not qualify for the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC).The report says while anti-debt activists continue to press Kenya's case, the failure to secure debt relief is politically damaging for the Government.

Namibia: Capital's townships stay dark for want of money

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310162.html

Without government support, a proposal to provide electricity to the informal settlements that ring the Namibian capital, Windhoek, is likely to be shelved because residents cannot afford the connection costs. A feasibility study commissioned by the Windhoek municipality found that income levels among the 14,000 people living in the townships were barely sustaining their most basic needs, leaving no surplus to pay for municipal services. The communities have complained about the lack of electricity, and street lighting in particular, because "dark neighbourhoods promote crime such as rape, murder and theft", a statement by the Windhoek Municipality noted.

Africa: US abortion policy from a global perspective

2006-02-01

http://www.hst.org.za/news/20041100

In 1973, the United States was part of a global trend to reform restrictive abortion laws that resulted in the unnecessary deaths and injuries of millions of women. After the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade secured the right to abortion, access to safe abortion care dramatically reduced maternal deaths and injuries. Despite this healthy trend, right-wing conservatives immediately began a crusade to undermine women's health and self-determination, promoting conservative ideology over public health interests and significantly limiting women's access to safe abortion services. While things are bad in the United States, they are much worse globally. Nearly one-quarter of all adult women in developing countries suffer illness or injury related to pregnancy and childbirth.

Africa: What are the priorities in malaria research?

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310154.html

Malaria remains a challenging prospect for researchers and health workers, but there is encouraging news to report. Malaria research, after many years on the back burner, has risen dramatically up the priority list of donors and policy makers. Much of the credit for this turnaround must go to the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM). MIM's achievements in the malaria world may indeed be a model for raising the profile of other neglected health issues.

Africa: What role do human rights abuses have in the spread of HIV/AIDS?

2006-02-01

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=35068

In the Human Rights Watch report, 'Preventing the Further Spread of HIV/AIDS: The Essential Role of Human Rights', Joseph Amon, director of HIV/AIDS research at HRW, looks at the role of human rights abuses in the spread of HIV/AIDS and "whether (the pandemic is) due to denial of the existence or extent of the epidemic, misappropriation of resources, or hostility to those individuals infected or those populations most at-risk of infection".

Angola: Progress on sleeping sickness brings new challenges

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310160.html

International medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) handed over its final sleeping sickness project in Angola to the Health Ministry last week, having successfully contained and stabilised the disease. But medical staff from both MSF and the national Institute to Combat and Control Trypanosomiasis (ICCT), which will assume responsibility for the sleeping sickness project in Caxito, in the northern province of Bengo, fear the illness could again spiral out of control if the Angolan authorities fail to manage it tightly.

Botswana: Men should be targeted in Aids fight

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310167.html

The fight against the HIV/Aids epidemic in Africa goes well beyond lab rooms and hospital wards and involves social and political issues at all levels of society, particularly male-female gender relations, said a recent United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on the role of men and HIV/Aids. Though women in areas of southern Africa are three to six times more likely to become HIV-infected than men, gender-related anti-HIV/Aids efforts need to avoid focusing solely on women, the UNDP report said.

DRC: Cholera outbreak in north Katanga could spread, says MSF

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51412

At least 770 new cases of cholera were recorded in January in villages in and around Kinkondja, northern Katanga, raising fears that the epidemic - which has already killed 34 people - could spread throughout the province, Medécins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said. "We are seeing a similar pattern to the epidemic that infected 10,000 people in Katanga in 2002 and reached all the way south to Lubumbashi," said Roman Gitenet, MSF coordinator in Katanga province, southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

East Africa: Does the private sector care about Aids?

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310871.html

The private sector in East Africa is making limited and uneven efforts to help its employees avoid contracting the virus that causes Aids, according to a new study by a Washington based think tank. About 32 per cent of companies surveyed in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda sponsor Aids-prevention activities aimed at their workers, says the study entitled, ‘Does the Private Sector Care About Aids?’

Ivory Coast: A "neglected tropical disease" on the march

2006-02-01

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31985

As illnesses go, Buruli ulcer does not receive the attention given to conditions such as AIDS or bird flu: the World Health Organisation (WHO) has even termed it a "neglected tropical disease". In the conflict-torn nation of Ivory Coast, however, matters are somewhat different. A survey issued by the National Programme for the Fight against Mycobacterial Ulcers (Programme national de lutte contre les ulcères à mycobactéries, PNUM) has shown that there were 22,000 cases of the disease in the country last year -- a marked increase against the number recorded in 1997.

Kenya: Social marketing used to promote HIV/AIDS behaviour change

2006-02-01

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=34973

Several advertising organizations are conducting social marketing campaigns in Kenya that address the country's health and social issues - including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and domestic abuse - Kenya's Nation reports. Kenya's advertising industry has developed many successful social marketing campaigns - including condom-promotion campaigns aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS - that are used throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Rwanda: Country launches condom campaign

2006-02-01

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=35000

Rwanda has launched its first nationwide condom-promotion campaign that aims to promote constant and correct condom use among all Rwandans as part of the fight against HIV/AIDS, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. The campaign also aims to reduce cultural and religious resistance to condoms and is aimed at youth, inmates, commercial sex workers, refugees, and clergy members, who generally do not support the use of contraception.

Zanzibar: The ABC without the C

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51471

Campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS often focus on the "ABC" strategy - or Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms. However, on the ultra-conservative, predominantly Muslim island of Zanzibar, the condom remains taboo and is rarely incorporated into public awareness messages.

Africa: African UNESCO gets go ahead

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/ag8ts

The African Union (AU) has backed plans to create a scientific and cultural branch modelled on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The AU council gave the proposal, from Sudan, the green light at its summit last week (21 January) in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Among its aims, the proposed African Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (AFESCO) intends to boost the continent's scientific capacity, promote international cooperation and protect African cultures, reports SciDev.

Africa: Factsheet on secondary education

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/df5qw

In one out of four African countries, half of the children enrolled at the end of primary school do not continue to the secondary level in the following year, according to the most recent factsheet produced by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). This percentage is far lower than the 85% of primary pupils who make the transition in most countries of Europe, Asia, North and South America. The factsheet “How many children in Africa reach secondary education?” gives a breakdown of the dire situation of secondary education in Africa.

Global: Feeding hungry school children

2006-02-01

http://www.id21.org/education/e5wfp1g1.html

Of the 300 million chronically hungry children in the world, a third mostly girls - do not attend school. On empty stomachs, children are easily distracted and cannot concentrate properly. Hunger impedes a child's ability to learn and achieve. School feeding programmes offer nutritional food as well as a platform for addressing the poverty, war and disease that can affect a child's health and education.

Malawi: New science plan

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/bry7d

Malawi has launched a comprehensive five-year plan intended to foster rapid industrialisation through the use of science and technology. The plan, announced on 19 January, is the first of its kind, has a budget of one billion kwachas (US$8.3 million), and places a heavy emphasis on popularising science. The money will be spent in four main areas: capacity building (US$3.5 million), promoting and popularising science (US$2.3 million), developing and commercialising research (US$1.5 million) and administration (US$1 million), reports SciDev.

Mozambique: Education boosts income and household well-being

2006-02-01

http://www.id21.org/education/e1sh1g1.html

The educational level of adults is one of the most important indicators of poverty in Mozambique. More than a decade after the agreement that ended the 16-year civil war, educational levels remain extremely low. Getting more children, and particularly girls, into primary school is a major challenge. And the challenge does not end with getting children into school: it is also important to reduce drop-out rates and ensure that more children complete primary school.

South Africa: A snapshot of adult education

2006-02-01

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20811

This article, from J. Dickson of the New Zealand Journal of Adult Learning, aims to outline the political and social context of adult education in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The author focuses on two different providers of adult education, namely C4L - Lowveld Centre for Lifelong Learning, and Mpumalanga Regional Training Trust. Both of these providers operate "under the radar" of most analyses of South African education, however, they typify something of the flexible and innovative response community based provision can make within a transitional context.

South Africa: Falling final year pass rate sign of a deeper malaise

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51105

The commotion about last year's dismal matric results has subsided, but experts warn that merely focusing on final year pass rates hides the deeper problems facing South Africa's education system. After a three percent drop in each of the last three years, the 2005 pass rate hit 68.3 percent. Although cause for concern, staggering dropout rates and the declining quality and quantity of educators point to a larger crisis.

South Africa: Rhodes grabs barred Desai

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/de8ox

Rhodes University has offered Dr Ashwin Desai -- controversially barred from seeking employment at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) -- both a short-term lecturing post in sociology and a venue for his research project on transformation in South African sport. At the same time, the heat is intensifying on UKZN vice-chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba over his role in barring Desai. In further letters to Makgoba this week, the Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa (Cafa) and the university's Combined Staff Association (Comsa) renewed their assaults on his reasons for his actions, reports the Mail and Guardian.

Swaziland: Swazis set to lose their tongue

2006-02-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51227

Educationists are concerned about the future of the Swazi language as the school examination pass rate in SiSwati as a subject continues to fall. "If the 2005 Junior Certificate examination results are any yardstick, then the SiSwati language is gradually being eroded," opined the Times of Swaziland when it reported this week that nearly a quarter of the students sitting the exam had failed the test. In contrast, 92 percent of students taking the crucial exams in 2005 passed English - a total of 10,235 students, up from 9,159 who succeeded in 2004. English is a "must pass" subject, while SiSwati is not. But this was not the reason for declining performance in SiSwati, educationalists told IRIN.

Global: Multiple discrimination for women from minority groups

2006-02-02

http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=0&i=s6cfb1g1&u=43e1bc1b

Women are discriminated against in many ways but if a woman is also a member of a minority or indigenous community, she faces multiple disadvantages. Despite some efforts, neither gender equality nor minority and indigenous rights are integral to international law or human rights. Ignoring this discrimination leads to a failure in recognising the many ways women are ill-treated. A report from the Minority Rights Group International (MRG) examines how factors such as gender, minority and indigenous status combine to affect women. The MRG encourages those working on minority and indigenous peoples’ rights to include gender issues. It also urges those working on gender equality and women's rights to include minorities and indigenous peoples within their remit.

Ivory Coast: Clouding Ivory Coast's peace

2006-01-30

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0127/p07s02-woaf.html

One key to exacerbating ethnic divisions is the concept of Ivoirité, which means the state of being a true Ivorian. The term manifests itself throughout all levels of society, and is held up by many observers as a root cause of the country's violent downward spiral from its status throughout the 1970s and '80s as the most prosperous, stable country in volatile West Africa.

Cameroon: A dam good idea, or a bad one?

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310168.html

With just months to go before construction of a hydroelectric dam gets underway along Cameroon's Lom river, environmentalists are raising concerns about the initiative. "While laudable, the Lom project in its present form could accelerate the decline in living standards of local populations," Dieudonné Thang, executive secretary of Global Village Cameroon, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the capital of Yaoundé, told the Inter Press Service.

Global: World stands at a crossroads

2006-02-01

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31833

With 60 percent of the Earth's ecosystems in trouble right now, according to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, what will the future be like in 2050? Demand for water will increase enormously between 30 and 85 percent, especially in Africa and Asia, while an increasing number of extreme events, such as hurricanes and famine, will affect many millions, warns a Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) report that looks at future world development scenarios. Humankind is pushing up against natural thresholds and increasing the likelihood of abrupt changes -- especially when there are three billion more people in 2050.

Kenya: New report warns of water catastrophe

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310804.html

Kenya's Ministry of Water and Irrigation has warned of a severe water shortage in the region unless the existing sources are protected. In a report entitled "The Draft National Water Resources Management Strategy, 2005-2007," the ministry gives a damning indictment of the management of Kenya's natural environment and its accompanying water resources over the past 30 years. The document has for the first time mapped the country's surface and ground water, its quantity, quality and availability for human and animal use.

Kenya: The effects of decentralization on the forestry sector

2006-02-01

http://tinyurl.com/994v6

Decentralisation and devolution have become dominant themes in the management of natural resources in the less developed countries. The process of decentralisation in the Kenyan forestry sector has been going on since the 1930s, and has primarily focused on administrative decentralisation whose main objective was to ensure effective management of forests by the forest department.

Mali: Farmers reject GM crops as attack on their way of life

2006-02-01

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article342135.ece

Farmers in Mali, the fourth poorest country in the world, have told their government they do not want to see genetically modified crops being grown on their land, after Africa's first "farmers' jury" debated the issue. Their verdict comes as the Mali government decides whether to allow trials of genetically modified crops to begin in the country. During the five-day meeting in Sikasso, in the south of Mali, where two thirds of the country's cotton is produced, farmers heard arguments for and against the introduction of GM technology.

Namibia: Nuclear power option considered

2006-02-01

http://www.namibian.com.na/2006/January/national/0621F9BD5.html

Government ruffled some feathers among renewable-energy advocates yesterday (January 30) when it said it had been toying with the idea of nuclear power as a potential energy source for Namibia. But Mines and Energy Permanent Secretary Joseph Iita was quick to add that to date the subject had enjoyed only minimal attention and that at present Government was only informing itself about such an option. It has, however, informed Namibia's biggest uranium mine, Roessing, that a small nuclear power plant was up for discussion.

Rwanda: NGO promotes wind energy

2006-02-01

http://www.esi-africa.com/archive/esi_3_2005/contents.php

In 1994 war and genocide in Rwanda left almost one million people displaced. Resettlement villages were constructed in the rural areas to shelter refugees and to provide the basic necessities. Rwindalectric Inc is a new non-profit organisation that has been established to assist in addressing Rwanda's energy deficit, in particular through the provision of wind energy. The organisation believes this to be the best option for the country, being an economically sound renewable resource which produces no environmentally harmful waste or emission and working well in
conjunction with existing hydropower.

Uganda: Two power stations shut as water levels drop

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310849.html

Uganda is expected to shut down the two hydroelectricity stations on the River Nile in Jinja, as water levels drop and the combined output from the complex falls to a five-year low of 170 MW. The crisis is projected to last for the next four years, until additional hydropower capacity becomes available either at Bujagali or Karuma Falls in 2010. Already, the government, the World Bank and Acres International, which jointly built the Kiira Hydropower Station, are being accused of using faulty technical calculations and ignoring warnings that it would never produce the projected power and would lead to a drop in the level of Lake Victoria.

Central Africa: Tension increases in ongoing land dispute

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310157.html

A land dispute that resulted from a river changing its course due to heavy rains some 50 years ago continues to vex neighbouring agricultural communities along the Burundi-Rwanda border. The latest incident in the Sabanerwa land dispute occurred in early January when Burundian farmers crossed to one side of the River Kanyaru in a bid to cultivate land at Sabanerwa. During the incident, Rwandan troops, accompanied by the governor of Rwanda's Butare province, massed at the riverbank to prevent Burundians from cultivating the land.

Ghana: Land rights and agricultural investment

2006-02-02

http://ideas.repec.org/p/egc/wpaper/929.html

This World Bank report examines the impact of ambiguous and contested land rights on investment and productivity in agriculture in Akwapim, Ghana, showing that individuals who hold powerful positions in a local political hierarchy have more secure tenure rights, and that as a consequence they invest more in land fertility and have substantially higher output.

DRC: Radio station suspends broadcasts due to insecurity

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310973.html

On 29 January 2006, the director of Radiotélévision LA COLOMBE (RTC) stationed in Rutshuru, North Kivu province, decided to suspend broadcasting for security reasons. On the evening of 24 January 2006, unidentified soldiers entered the RTC offices and confiscated a Pentium 2 computer, two Nokia cell phones and four dictaphones. Shortly afterwards, the same officers entered the guest house where four journalists from Goma were staying and took away their kitchen implements and luggage. Fearing for their lives, the journalists sought initial refuge in Rutshuru parish before making their way back to Goma.

Ethiopia: Internet reporter held without charge

2006-01-31

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/71924/?PHPSESSID=97fa985649afe98dceef759e9bb7e0d8

Ethiopian security forces have detained a correspondent for the US-based Web site Ethiopian Review, its publisher Elias Kifle said. Journalist Frezer Negash has been held without charge in Addis Ababa since Friday, Kifle told the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We are disturbed that Frezer Negash has joined at least 16 other journalists in jail in Ethiopia," said Ann Cooper, executive director of CPJ. "We call on Ethiopian authorities to release her immediately."

Global: Code for citizens reporters developed

2006-01-31

http://www.journalism.co.za/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3544&CAMSSID=44ffef84eb6fe64c38c927e05d389f7f

A code of practice for media organisations embracing the phenomenon of 'citizen journalism' has been launched by the British National Union of Journalists, according to a report on holdthefrontpage.co.uk. The Witness Contributors' Code of Practice outlines guidelines on issues such as accuracy and checking sources, along with payment to contributors, says an article on www.journalism.co.za

Nigeria: Getting the news electronically

2006-01-31

http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/2238.cfm

For most Nigerians, the electronic media are more accessible and affordable than print, according to available statistics. Radio is cheap and available everywhere in local languages. It takes precedence over the television because of the country’s epileptic power supply, the readership culture, literacy level, and the cost. World Press Review reports: "Given the literacy awareness skewed in favor of the South, most Northerners clutch a portable radio wherever they go to keep informed. After all, information is power."

Tanzania: Poverty and the press

2006-01-31

http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/2240.cfm

For the vast majority of Tanzanians, it is the radio that reigns supreme in providing their news. For 35 years, they have been listening to the government-owned Radio Tanzania and getting a steady diet of mostly government propaganda and anti-apartheid sermons. The coming of economic liberalization has brought the liberalization of the press, which has resulted in dozens of FM stations, 350 registered newspapers, and a dozen TV stations, reports World Press Review.

Uganda: Uganda Shoots the messenger as internet rumour mills thrive

2006-02-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200601310800.html

A few days ago, the Uganda government "revised" the accreditation for Will Ross, the BBC's correspondent in Kampala, from 12 months down to four. Freelance journalist Blake Lambert, who has reported from Uganda for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Economist, and other news outlets, has been checking the mailbox for his accreditation, but the authorities have not posted it. Information Minister James Buturo said the step was taken because foreign journalists had become a "security threat". For good measure, no foreign journalists can now travel more than 100 kilometres outside the capital without some kind of special permission.

Zimbabwe: Crackdown on independent radio station

The Open Society Institute statement

2006-02-03

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/31765

In an attempt to silence one of Zimbabwe’s last independent news outlets, six board members of the Harare-based Voice of the People radio station were charged last week with broadcasting without a license. They could face up to two years in jail. The charges came after police raided the Harare home of one of the board members, Arthur Tsunga, and kidnapped two of his household staff. The two were detained without charge for four days in an effort to coerce the executive director of VOP, John Masuku to turn himself into the police. Masuku was charged with broadcasting without a license on December 23. The board members - David Masunda, Isabella Matambanadzo, Millicent Phiri, Lawrence Chibwe, Nhlahla Ngwenya and Tsunga - are scheduled to appear in court in Harare on February 10. They will be represented by Beatrice Mtetwa, a renowned Zimbabwean human rights lawyer. The Voice of the People is one of a handful of independent news outlets in Zimbabwe, where the government exercises near-total control over the media. “Such a brazen assault on media freedom shows the bankruptcy of the Mugabe regime,” said Tawanda Mutasah, director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, part of the Soros foundations network. One of the board members facing charges, Isabella Matambanadzo, is OSISA’s coordinator for Zimbabwe.
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Sarah Miller-Davenport
(212) 548-0378/sdavenport@sorosny.org

ZIMBABWE CRACKS DOWN ON INDEPENDENT RADIO STATION
Six board members may face prison

NEW YORK, February 1—In an attempt to silence one of Zimbabwe’s last independent news outlets, six board members of the Harare-based Voice of the People radio station were charged last week with broadcasting without a license. They could face up to two years in jail.

The charges came after police raided the Harare home of one of the board members, Arthur Tsunga, and kidnapped two of his household staff. The two were detained without charge for four days in an effort to coerce the executive director of VOP, John Masuku to turn himself into the police. Masuku was charged with broadcasting without a license on December 23.

The board members—David Masunda, Isabella Matambanadzo, Millicent Phiri, Lawrence Chibwe, Nhlahla Ngwenya and Tsunga—are scheduled to appear in court in Harare on February 10. They will be represented by Beatrice Mtetwa, a renowned Zimbabwean human rights lawyer.

The Voice of the People is one of a handful of independent news outlets in Zimbabwe, where the government exercises near-total control over the media. “Such a brazen assault on media freedom shows the bankruptcy of the Mugabe regime,” said Tawanda Mutasah, director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, part of the Soros foundations network. One of the board members facing charges, Isabella Matambanadzo, is OSISA’s coordinator for Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwean government, long hostile to its critics, appears to be stepping up its campaign to strangle civil society and tighten control over human rights groups. In a particularly troubling development, on January 26, two days VOP board members were charged with violating broadcasting laws, a man claiming to work for the Zimbabwe Military Intelligence Corps visited the offices of Arthur Tsunga and said that he had orders to assassinate him. Tsunga, who is the executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, was not present at the time.

The government claims that the Voice of the People has violated a 2001 broadcasting law intended to stifle any criticism of President Robert Mugabe’s administration, believed by rights groups to be one of the most repressive in the world. In fact, the Voice of the People does not broadcast out of Zimbabwe, but via Radio Netherlands in Madagascar.

The charges are the latest in a series of government attacks on the Voice of the People, whose equipment and files were seized in a government raid on its offices on December 15. Several VOP reporters were arrested during the raid and released without charge after four days in detention.

“Faced with such repression, and ever-diminishing space for dissent, it is all the more important to defend one of the few remaining independent voices,” said Mutasah.

*********

The Open Society Institute, a private operating and grantmaking foundation, works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. OSI places high priority on protecting and improving the lives of marginalized people and communities. OSI works in over 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Zimbabwe: Warning goes out to remaining journalists

2006-01-31

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/28/international/africa/28zimbabwe.html

Zimbabwe's security minister was quoted Friday in a government-controlled newspaper as saying that "the net will soon close" on those remaining journalists whose criticism of the government threatens the nation's security. The warning from the official, Didymus Mutasa, followed the arrest this month of employees and directors of Voice of the People, a news organization based in the capital, Harare, that had broadcast uncensored reports into Zimbabwe via a shortwave transmitter in Madagascar operated by the Dutch government.

Ghana: Voting and the diaspora

2006-02-02

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=98652

“Nothing has captured and engaged the imagination of the Ghanaian political jockey lately, home and abroad, more than the current bill – Peoples Representation Amendment Bill – in front of parliament,” says an article on www.ghanaweb.com The Bill seeks to extend voting rights and exercise to Ghanaians domiciled overseas. “To those who support the amendment, this is a further demonstration of the buoying democratic dispensation in Ghana…To the opponents, the bill is pregnant with all the anxieties reminiscent of the concerns and fears. They are afraid and are keen on seeing that the right people are elected to govern the country, whose policies would not endanger their interests.”

Haiti: Father Gerry released

2006-02-02

http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_recent_news_1-30-06.htm

The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti reports that: "We have great news: Political prisoner Fr. Gerard-Jean-Juste, “Fr. Gerry” is right now on a plane in the air from Port-au-Prince to Miami. A cancer center in Florida has agreed to treat his leukemia, so he will get immediate attention for the cancer, as well as for the pneumonia he contracted this week. Fr. Gerry was granted a provisional release, which requires him to return to Haiti after the treatment to face the charges still pending against him. The current charges against him are as baseless as the other charges which have been dismissed."

Eritrea: US criticised over "bias" towards Ethiopia

2006-02-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51419

Eritrea has criticised the United States for allegedly encouraging Ethiopia to disregard the international border commission ruling that delineated the boundary between the neighbouring countries following a 1998-2000 war over their disputed frontier. A statement published by Eritrea's information ministry on Friday slammed the US for its alleged "evil attempts made to derail the verdict of the international body by creating different intriguing proposals [which] has encouraged the TPLF [Ethiopia's ruling party] regime to ignore and discard the decision of the Boundary Commission."

Great Lakes: UN adopts resolution 1653

2006-02-02

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/uganda/2006/0127greatlakes.pdf

The Global Policy Forum reports that the Security Council adopted Resolution 1653 in a ministerial-level debate on regional dimensions of peace and security in the Great Lakes region of Africa. The resolution calls on the Governments of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to disarm and demobilize militias and armed groups, especially northern Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army. The resolution also acknowledges the link between the illegal exploitation of natural resources, the illicit trade of those resources and the proliferation and trafficking of arms as key factors fuelling and exacerbating the conflicts in the Great Lakes. Resolution 1653 thus urges the countries of the region to promote lawful and transparent use of natural resources among themselves and in the region.

Ivory Coast: Fear forces workers from fields

2006-02-02

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30649700.htm

Farm workers in western Ivory Coast are leaving cocoa plantations to go to protect their villages, fearing more violence after attacks on UN peacekeepers in the region earlier this month. Some labourers had sent their wives and children, who often work alongside them on the plantations, to nearby towns for safety while they kept watch over their homes.

Nigeria: Gangs clashes on Nigeria border

2006-02-02

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4666290.stm

Rival youth gangs have clashed at Seme, the main border crossing between Benin and Nigeria, killing at least four people and setting fire to cars. The violence broke out on Monday after Benin police tried to arrest a suspected Nigerian thief. Lagos State police commissioner told the BBC that security forces from both countries had now calmed the situation.

Sudan: Beating at Darfur talks fans ethnic tensions

2006-02-02

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L01429411.htm

Three members of a rebel movement from Sudan's Darfur region have beaten up two fellow rebel delegates at peace talks in Nigeria, in what mediators called a "barbaric" attack that aggravated ethnic tensions. The attackers and their victims were delegates of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of two rebel groups talking with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital Abuja in an attempt to end three years of bloodshed in Darfur.

Sudan: Peace process a "hollow exercise", says relief consortium

2006-02-02

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/31734

The destructive armed conflict in Darfur continues unabated despite regional and international efforts to put an end to it. "At present, no negotiated political resolution of the conflict is in sight. This happens despite the political negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict under the banner of the Inter­Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur, which are currently taking place in the Nigerian capital, Abuja," says the Darfur Relief and Documentation Centre.
The Darfur Peace Process a Hollow Exercise

http://www.darfurcentre.ch/index.php?page=Accueil&action=Home&lang=en

The destructive armed conflict in Darfur continues unabated despite regional and international efforts to put an end to it. At present, no negotiated political resolution of the conflict is in sight. This happens despite the political negotiations for a peaceful settlement of the conflict under the banner of the Inter­Sudanese Peace Talks on Darfur, which are currently taking place in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. For the third consecutive month representatives of the government of Sudan and the main Darfur insurgent groups i.e. the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are meeting at the seventh round of talks to reach a negotiated political agreement that puts an end to the armed conflict in the region. The ongoing process is substantially flawed and fruitless. The previous six rounds of political negotiations that started in Addis Ababa in July 2004 under the auspices of the African Union (AU) have made very limited progress on some minor issues. The adoption of the Declaration of Principles on the Resolution of the Sudanese Conflict in Darfur in July 2005 is yet to be followed by a real break­ through in its implementation. By all accounts the progress made at the negotiations is marginal and disproportionate with the extent and magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in the region and its devastating effects on millions of civilians who are being held hostage for political bargaining. The poor results of the ongoing process should be blamed on the lack of political will on the part of the conflicting parties as well as the failure of the regional and international community to act decisively for a resolution of the conflict and to enforce the existing political arrangements. A case in point is that the Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement reached in N

Sudan: Thousands displaced by recent attacks in South Darfur

2006-02-02

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51476

An estimated 70,000 people have been displaced by recent attacks on two towns in the war-ravaged Sudanese state of South Darfur, humanitarian workers in the region said. At least 50,000 were displaced in a series of attacks on camps for internally displaced people [IDPs] in Mershing town, while more than 15,000 were displaced in separate attacks on nearby Shearia.

Uganda: Children, conflict and peace in Northern Uganda

2006-02-02

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20683

This World Vision International Resources on Child Rights report documents the impact of the war in northern Uganda, where more than 30,000 children have been abducted and forced to work as soldiers and sex slaves, and includes new information about prospects for peace. The report looks specifically at the social and economic costs of the conflict, and processes to end the conflict. It argues that the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan increases the opportunity for negotiations and multi-lateral engagement in northern Uganda.

Nigeria: Increased instability in Niger Delta

2006-02-01

http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=393

The release of four foreign oil workers on January 30 by a previously unknown militia group underscores the chronic instability in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The oil workers were kidnapped by militants at Shell's offshore EA oil rig on January 11. While the group that claimed responsibility for the kidnappings - the Movement for the Emancipation of the People of the Niger Delta - is previously unknown, it has links to prominent local leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the imprisoned leader of the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (N.D.P.V.F.). Indeed, the kidnappers initially demanded the release of Dokubo-Asari in exchange for the hostages' freedom; the kidnappers also demanded that Shell pay local communities US$1.5 billion to compensate them for the environmental pollution caused by the oil company.

Africa: Film-maker documents african free software movement

2006-01-31

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=833&s=news

David Madie is on an unusual mission: He is filming a documentary
about the African free and open source software movement and the
inspiration for the film is well-know African free software advocate
James Wire from Uganda.

Global: No luv 4 Google

2006-02-01

http://noluv4google.com/article.php?list=type&type=92

215 people have broken up with Google and pledged to boycott the search engine on February 14th. Find out why by visiting the web page.

Nigeria: Blogging mentoring project starts up

2006-02-01

http://africablogmentor.wikispaces.com/

The African Mentoring Project was created as a way of encouraging and supporting Africans who want to start blogging. Initially there will be a pilot project limited to Nigerian women. The idea for the project came from Nigerian blogger Ore who is presently working with a group of young women from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia on the Young Caucacus Women Project. Visit the URL provided to find out more.

Sudan: Archiving project turns dry-as-dust documents into bits for easy access

2006-02-01

http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/current1.html

Archives conjure up images of rows of shelves with documents gathering dust. And this is precisely the problem a Sudan archiving project had when it wanted to digitalise the archives. In Lokichoggio in northern Kenya, just over the border from southern Sudan, Daniel Large remembers that dust was the main problem, reports Balancing Act News Update. Large is the project manager of the Sudan Open Archive Pilot Project – a scheme that aims to digitally preserve the documents left by various humanitarian organisations in Sudan and to make them accessible to the public via a website.

Uganda: Reaching the rurals

2006-02-01

http://www.newvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=8&newsCategoryId=26&newsId=476315

While 80% of Uganda’s population lives in rural areas, 70% of communication services are in urban areas. Only 2% of rural people access mobile telecommunications unlike 16.6% of their urban counterparts. Only 4% of Ugandans access grid power. “It’s rather unfortunate because rural areas produce more than 80% of Uganda’s wealth,” Dr. Fredrick Tusubira of Makerere University ICT support center says in a paper titled 'Uganda: Challenges of the digital divide and telecommunications sector'.

Global: ID21 newsletters

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/enewsl/31714

In addition to an urban poverty category (www.id21.org/urban), research website ID21 has also recently launched rural development and natural resources categories, along with relevant email news alerts. If you are interested in subscribing to any of these three newsletters, you may do so by sending an email to lyris@lyris.ids.ac.uk with the message "subscribe id21UrbanNews Firstname Lastname" in the SUBJECT field and leave the BODY of the message blank. To subscribe to id21RuralNews and id21NRnews, substitute these for id21 UrbanNews in the instructions above.

South Africa: Treatment Action Campaign newsletter

2006-02-01

http://www.tac.org.za

The Treatment Action Campaign's newsletter (Equal Treatment) is now available to all organisations and individuals in South Africa working in the areas of HIV/AIDS, health, law and human rights. Parts of the newsletter are available online at www.tac.org.za If you would like to be added to the mailing list for the full hardcopy please email Claire at claire@tac.org.za Please include your organisation's name and postal address, and the name and title of the person the letter should be addressed to.

Global: Open University Fellowship Programme

2006-02-01

http://www.open.ac.uk/international-fellowships/

The OU has launched an International Fellowship Programme to support academics or administrators working in higher education and open, online or distance education. The deadline for applications is 28 February 2006.

Global: ATSE Crawford Fund Fellowship

2006-02-01

http://www.crawfordfund.org

Every two years the Crawford Fund, through the Crawford Fund Fellowship, offers an opportunity for further training of an agricultural scientist, below the age of 35, from a selected group of developing countries whose work has shown potential. The training will take place at an Australian institution and will emphasise the application of knowledge to increase agricultural production in the fellow's home country.

Global: Call for papers for the 2006 Human Rights Award

2006-02-01

http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/hracademy/2006/hraward.cfm

The Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law is pleased to announce a Call for Papers for the 2006 Human Rights Award. Candidates for the Award include those with a law degree who have demonstrated experience or interest in international human rights law. In order to participate in the competition, applicants must submit an unpublished legal article/paper written in English or Spanish solely by the candidate. The Academy will grant two Awards, one for the best article in English and the other for the best article in Spanish.

Global: International guest program for educators working for tolerance

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/31708

The Third Millennium Foundation is a private foundation located in New York City. The Foundation was founded in the year 2000 as an initiative for unlearning intolerance in the new millennium. Its work is focused on childhood education and human rights with emphasis on supporting social entrepreneurs among global youth. The foundation is particularly interested in supporting innovative organizations and young leaders that develop new approaches and methodologies that are based on collaboration and have strong potential for replication around the world.
THIRD MILLENNIUM FOUNDATION
ICTE / 25 Washington Street, 4th Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11201
Tel: 718.237.6262 Fax: 718.237.6264
www.seedsoftolerance.org


International Guest Program for Educators Working for Tolerance
2006/2007

Program Description

The Third Millennium Foundation is a private foundation located in New York City. The Foundation was founded in the year 2000 as an initiative for unlearning intolerance in the new millennium. Its work is focused on childhood education and human rights with emphasis on supporting social entrepreneurs among global youth. The foundation is particularly interested in supporting innovative organizations and young leaders that develop new approaches and methodologies that are based on collaboration and have strong potential for replication around the world.

In 2004, TMF launched the International Center for Tolerance Education (ICTE) located in Brooklyn, New York to provide a meeting place where a wide variety of people could discuss, create, implement, and reflect on initiatives that address our core areas. ICTE facilitates events, exhibitions and conferences and houses a retreat program for activists, scholars and social change leaders.

At present, TMF is seeking eligible candidates to apply for our ICTE International Guest Program. The Program invites 12-15-social change activists annually to engage in networking, professional skills training, reflection on their work, and work in consultation with staff and partner organizations. It is hoped that this opportunity gives recognition to and support for emerging leaders who are doing outstanding, innovative and courageous work to improve lives in their communities.

International Guests (IGs) will be awarded accommodation in Brooklyn, New York and fully equipped office space at ICTE for 2-3 months. This award offers individuals the following support:

• Networking with individuals and organizations i.e., UN Agencies, NGOs, non-profits, foundations, and academe working in the field of tolerance education. Efforts are also made to connect IGs to partners in their respective regions;
• Collaboration and consultation with a staff experienced in the core areas of ICTE;
• Assistance with “capacity building” and professional development;
• Participation in conferences and trainings offered at ICTE and, where relevant, around the US and;
• Opportunity to present work to ICTE community in the form of a workshop, presentation and/ or paper accompanied by audio/visual equipment.


Criteria for International Guests Working in Field of Tolerance Education

Ideal candidates would be formal and/ or informal educators dedicated to instilling the values, knowledge and skills of tolerance, nonviolence and peace in children and/ or youth. TMF seeks educators preferably, but not exclusively from the Global South and countries in the transitional world who would like to accomplish a specific project, do research, engage in networking, or would benefit from time off from work to reflect and/or further develop their work strategies and skills.

Eligible candidates must be conversant (strong speaking and comprehension skills) in English.

According to the foundation’s mission, preference will be given to young and less established leaders such as individuals who have had minimal opportunity to travel outside of their respective communities, have a desire to connect to the international community, and/ or would benefit from exposure to different professional approaches to their work.


Application Information

• Personal information: name, coordinates, gender, languages (including native tongue);
• Desired length of stay (2-3 months) and suggested time of year ;
• Curriculum vitae;
• 2 letters of recommendation (1 from a host organization, university or school and 1 from a supervisor, professor or teacher with contact information and relationship)

Responses to the following questions with a length of 1-2 paragraphs per response:

• How did you learn about this program?
• Background information about your work, including major achievements and challenges.
• What is the central problem you address in your work?
• What are your main goals for your stay through the International Guest Program?
• What are some of the outcomes you hope to foster from your stay here and how would your organization or community benefit from this experience?
• How would becoming a participant in the International Guest Program support your professional development and the work you do?

If selected, candidates will be asked to submit a more detailed proposal of their intended plan of action during their stay with ICTE.

The application submission deadline is February , 2006. Applicants may be asked to submit additional materials. Award notifications will be made by April 1, 2006.


How to Apply

Interested candidates should email or mail a complete application to:

Kathleen Freis
Education Director
Third Millennium Foundation / ICTE
25 Washington Street, 4th floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
USA
kfreis@tmf-tolerance.org
www.seedsoftolerance.org

No phone calls please. Only selected candidates will be contacted.

Global: Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Programme

Deadline: Apr 3 2006

2006-01-31

http://www.comminit.com/funding2006/fellowships2006/funding-13.html

Supports social entrepreneurs who seek to leverage technology-based solutions in the interest of humanitarian, educational, and sustainable development goals. The Reuters Foundation and other programme partners will award approximately a dozen full-time fellowships, covering all Stanford University fees and expenses. Living stipends may be available for fellows accepted from developing world countries.

Global: Scholars in Residence

Third Millennium Foundation

2006-02-01

http://www.seedsoftolerance.org/initiative_tmf_center.html

Third Millennium Foundation (TMF) is pleased to announce the opening of its application pool for its 2006 Scholars-in-Residence Program. The Scholars-in-Residence Program supports post doctoral fellows and young assistant professors from various academic disciplines to conduct research in the field of human rights and tolerance education. In its upcoming cycle 2006/07 TMF will focus its Scholar-in-Residence Program specifically on “unlearning intolerance” among children and/ or youth in formal and/ or informal educational settings that are critical to practitioners or policymakers’ work.

Southern Africa: Call for pre-proposals for grants writing workshop

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/31701

The Work and Health Programme in Southern Africa (WAHSA) is calling for the submission of pre-proposals (2 page research ideas) from researchers in the SADC region for a grants writing workshop to be held in May 2006. WAHSA is a collaborative programme to develop capacity in occupational health in Southern Africa funded by SIDA and focused on the SADC region.
WAHSA programme Action on Pesticides: Call for pre-proposals for grant writing workshop

The Work and Health Programme in Southern Africa (WAHSA) is calling for the submission of pre-proposals (2 page research ideas) from researchers in the SADC region for a grants writing workshop to be held in May 2006. WAHSA is a collaborative programme to develop capacity in occupational health in Southern Africa funded by SIDA and focused on the SADC region.

Pre-proposals are invited in the following four areas that form the priorities of the Action on Pesticides component of the WAHSA programme.

1. Surveillance for pesticide use, exposure and health impacts.
2. The effectiveness of hazard communication mechanisms (labelling and safety data sheets) for working populations
3. Risk perceptions and risk communication amongst those groups dealing with pesticides
4. Training in pesticide safety

Applications will be reviewed by a scientific committee and successful applicants invited to a 2-day grants writing workshop in May 2006. Successful applicants will be expected to interact with members of the scientific committee via email prior to the workshop so as to develop their research ideas further as preparation. At the workshop, participants will be taken through a process of turning their two-page outline into an application for funding. Researchers experienced in writing grant proposals and project officers with experience of funding agencies will share their expertise as part of the workshop.

The outputs of the workshop will be twofold:
1) Training in how to write a good grant proposal;
2) A proposal on a topic within the focus areas of the WHSA Action on Pesticides which can be submitted to funders.

Please note that WAHSA will not be funding the actual research, only the preparation of grant applications, and cannot guarantee any funding application success.

More detail on the background to the project and process are contained in the attached files, or will be posted on the WAHSA website.

WAHSA
c/o Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health
Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine,
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Private Bag X7, Congella, 4013
South Africa
Tel: 27 31 260 4507 Fax: 27 31 260 4663
Email: admin@wahsa.net
Web: www.wahsa.net

South Africa: Re-thinking the international development architecture

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/31703

The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are pleased to announce the Africa/Asia/Latin America scholarly collaborative initiative encompassing joint research, training, publishing and dissemination activities by researchers drawn from across the global South, and to call for applications for participation in the South-South comparative research seminars they are organising within the framework of the initiative.
RE-THINKING THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE SOUTH

DATES: 06 – 09 JULY, 2006

VENUE: PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are pleased to announce the Africa/Asia/Latin America scholarly collaborative initiative encompassing joint research, training, publishing and dissemination activities by researchers drawn from across the global South, and to call for applications for participation in the South-South comparative research seminars they are organising within the framework of the initiative. The theme that has been selected for the inaugural seminar is: Re-thinking the International Development Architecture: Perspectives from the South. The seminar will take place in Pretoria, South Africa, from 06 to 09 July, 2006.



Within the ambit of the APISA-CLACSO-CODESRIA collaboration, a series of activities and programmes has been scheduled for implementation over the period to the end of 2007, among them an annual comparative research seminar. The seminar is designed to serve as a research forum for the generation of fresh and original comparative insights on the diverse problems and challenges facing the countries of the South. In doing so, it is hoped also that the seminar will contribute to the revival and consolidation of cross-regional networking among Southern scholars, foster a scholarly culture of Southern cross-referencing, and contribute to a type of theory-building that is more closely attuned to the shared historical contexts and experiences of the countries and peoples of the South. The seminar will be rotated among the three continents where the lead collaborating institutions are located, namely, Africa, Asia and Latin America. This way, participants in the seminars who will also be drawn from all three continents will be exposed to the socio-historical contexts of other regions of the South as an input that will help to broaden their analytical perspectives and improve the overall quality of their scientific engagements. The inaugural seminar is to be held on the African continent, with Pretoria, South Africa, serving as the host city.





1. OBJECTIVES:



The underlying objective of the comparative research seminar is to offer participants an opportunity to transcend the limitations of received wisdom emanating from structures and processes of knowledge production and dissemination that are characterised by various degrees and layers of inequality. In doing so, it is hoped to both motivate and equip participants in the seminar with the critical theoretical and methodological perspectives that might be appropriate for gaining a full understanding of the specific situation of countries and peoples located outside the core of the international system such as it is presently structured. The main premise for this effort is the glaring inadequacy of the theories and methodologies developed in the North, and crystallised in the mainstream social sciences, to provide the required instruments for the attainment of a sound and holistic understanding of the problems confronting – and, in many cases, overwhelming the countries of the South. Through the seminar, it is hoped to be able to mobilise scholars from across the South to reflect on the alternatives that are available for overcoming the present situation. This way, the seminar will contribute to the promotion of a better knowledge and understanding of the theories and methodological approaches developed in different regions of the South as alternatives to the dominant, Northern-biased paradigms that have shaped the social sciences. It is also expected that participants will become acquainted with the local intellectual environment in the regions where different sessions of the seminar are hosted, and strengthen their comparative research capacities in the process. In sum, the seminar is structured to serve as a unique forum for enhancing a deeper understanding among Southern scholars of the history, politics, economy and culture of the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, and offer an opportunity to participants to develop long-lasting collaborative relationships with their counterparts from other Southern countries.



2. ELIGIBILITY FOR PARTICIPATION:



Scholars resident in countries of the South and who are pursuing active academic careers are eligible to apply to participate in the seminar. Each applicant should have an advanced university education and an established track record of research and publishing in any of the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities. Selection for participation will be on the basis of a competitive process. All together, 12 people will be selected for participation in the institute on the basis of four each from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The full participation costs of the selected laureates will be covered, including their travel costs (economy return air tickets), accommodation and subsistence.



3. COORDINATION:



Each seminar will be convened and coordinated by an experienced Southern scholar recognised for the versatility of his/her knowledge, acknowledged for his/her skills in applying the comparative methodology, and known either for the depth of work s/he has done in different regions of the South or for his/her capacity to draw on experiences from across the South in his/her writings. The convenor/coordinator will be responsible for establishing the comparative framework for the seminar and will work with each participant to determine his or her primary area of focus. S/he will also undertake the task of synthesising results produced by the researchers into one major publication that will be designed to serve as a major statement on the theme of the seminar.



4. THE 2006 SEMINAR:



For the 2006 session of the South-South comparative research seminar, it has been decided by APISA, CLACSO and CODESRIA to host it in Pretoria, South Africa. CODESRIA will assume overall responsibility within the tri-continental partnership for the session. The local institutional host in South Africa that will be working closely with CODESRIA in managing the seminar is the African Association of Political Science (AAPS). The seminar will run from 06 to 09 July, 2006.It is a requirement that prospective laureates should have a demonstrable working knowledge of the English language. APISA, CLACSO and CODESRIA will work together with the local host to facilitate the procurement of entry visas toSouth Africa for the prospective participants whose applications are successful. At the end of the seminar, each participant will be expected to produce a publishable article which will be considered for inclusion in the book of proceedings that will be issued.



5. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:



Every researcher wishing to be considered for selection as one of the 12 scholars to be invited to participate in the any of the comparative research seminars organised within the framework of the APISA-CLACSO-CODESRIA tri-continental partnership is required to submit an application that will comprise the following key items of documentation:


a) An outline research proposal, written in English, on the subject on which s/he would like to work. The topic selected must be related to the theme of the seminar and should have a demonstrable comparative potential. Proposals should not exceed 10 pages in length and should have a clearly defined problematic which can be followed through further research and culminate in a publishable scientific paper;



b) A covering letter, of one-page, which should indicate the motivation of the prospective researcher for wanting to participate in the seminar and explaining how they envisage that they and their institution will benefit from the programme;



c) An updated Curriculum Vitae complete with the names of the professional and personal references of the researcher, the scientific discipline(s) in which s/he is working, the nationality of the applicant, a list of recent publications, and a summary of the on-going research activities in which the applicant is involved;



d) A photocopy of the highest university degree obtained by the applicant and of the relevant pages of his/her international passport containing relevant identity data;





6. APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND DEADLINE



As the comparative research seminar will involve the participation of researchers from Africa, Asia and Latin America, it has been decided that applicants resident in Africa should submit their applications to CODESRIA, those resident in Asia to APISA and those resident in Latin America to CLACSO. The full contact details for APISA, CLACSO AND CODESRIA are reproduced below for the attention of all prospective applicants. The deadline for the receipt of applications is 15 May, 2006. Applications found to be incomplete or which arrive after the deadline will not be taken into consideration.



An independent Selection Committee charged with screening all applications received will meet shortly after the deadline for the receipt of applications. Successful applicants will be notified immediately the Selection Committee completes it work. Notification of results will be dome by e-mail, fax and post. The results of the selection exercise will also be published on the websites of APISA, CLACSO and CODESRIA.



Latin American and Caribbean applicants should send their applications to:



CLACSO,

(2006 South- South Summer Institute)

Callao 875, 3º (1023) Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
Tel: (54 11) 4811-6588 / 4814-2301; Fax: (54 11) 4812-845
E-mail: programa_sur-sur@campus.clacso.edu.ar

Website: www.clacso.org

Asian applicants should send their applications to:


APISA,

(2006 South-South Summer Institute)

Strategic Studies and International Relations Program

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, MALAYSIA

Tel: 603- 89213647; Fax: 603-89213332

E-Mail: secretariat@apisanet.org

Website: www.apisainfo.org

African applicants should send their applications to:

CODESRIA,

(2006 South-South Summer Institute),

BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, SENEGAL

Tel: (221) 825 9822: Fax: (221) 824 1289

E-mail: south.institute@codesria.sn

Website: www.codesria.org

South Africa: The CODESRIA Annual Social Science Campus

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/31700

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) has announced the fourth session of its Annual Social Science Campus, and invites applications from African scholars for participation in the programme which was initially scheduled to hold in October 2005 but was subsequently been postponed with a view to convening it at the beginning of May 2006. The Campus is conceived as an advanced research dialogue which is both multidisciplinary and intergenerational in nature. It is organised around a specific theme and up to 15 scholars, drawn from different disciplines and reflecting the different generations of African social researchers, are elected to participate in the Campus.
The CODESRIA Annual Social Science Campus

2005 Session

Second Call for Applications

Theme: African Knowledge SystemsDate: 01 – 05 May, 2006Venue: Durban, South Africa


The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the fourth session of its Annual Social Science Campus, and invites applications from African scholars for participation in the programme which was initially scheduled to hold in October 2005 but was subsequently postponed with a view to convening it at the beginning of May 2006. The Campus is conceived as an advanced research dialogue which is bothmultidisciplinary and intergenerational in nature. It is organised around a specific theme and up to 15 scholars, drawn from different disciplines and reflecting the different generations of African social researchers, are elected to participate in the Campus. This mix of participants is designed to have the added value of promoting an intensive and critical dialogue among the disciplines, as well as among different generations of African scholars for the advancement of theory, method and practice. Each Campus is planned as an intensive interactive exercise to last a period of one week.

Participation in the Campus is based primarily on the submission of a draft research paper which contains ideas for fresh, innovative work or the substantive extension of work that is already in progress and linked to the theme of the Campus. The proceedings of the Campus are managed by a designated coordinator who also takes on the responsibility for elaborating the programme of presentations and debates among the participants. Furthermore, the coordinator, working with the CODESRIA Centre for Documentation (CODICE), will be responsible for identifying core literature for use by the participants in the Campus. Scholars whose proposals are selected would be required to participate in the Campus by presenting their own papers, responding to the papers of other participants, and undertaking a critical reading/re-reading of core texts as part of an intensive multidisciplinary and inter-generational dialogue. At the close of the Campus, participants will be encouraged to revise their presentations and submit these for consideration for publication in a new series known asAnnals of the CODESRIA Annual Social Science Campus. Each publication in the series will be edited by the designated coordinator of the campus at which the papers were presented.

For the 2005 session of the Campus, the theme that has been selected is: African Knowledge Systems. This is by no means a new subject in the reflections of African thinkers. Indeed, the theme of African knowledge systems has been a self-conscious and integral part of the rise and development of African nationalism at the different stages of its evolution - from the time of the struggles for emancipation from slavery, the constitution of the black Atlantic and the rise of pan-Africanisim, through to the fight against colonial domination, the emergence of the post-colonial era and the inauguration of various experiments in self-reliance. At every stage, the question which has been posed has consisted of just how knowledge, as developed and/or appropriated by Africans on the basis of their own historical experiences, can be (better) valorised for the purpose of the realisation of various projects of emancipation. The abiding historical concern with knowledge for the purpose of self-actualisation and national liberation also underscores the contemporary pertinence of the theme at a time when Africa’s political leadership has declared itself in search of a suitable framework for the realisation of an all-round continental renaissance. After nearly three decades of unsuccessful orthodox economic reforms imposed by the international financial institutions under the guise of the so-called Washington Consensus, development thinking for the purpose of re-building the foundations of African economies appears to be at a dead-end and begs the question of alternatives that could enable the continent to turn the table of underdevelopment. Furthermore, a massive process of social re-ordering appears to be under way across Africa as various social players seek to adapt themselves to the prolonged crises of decline and decay in different parts of the continent, including the collapse of state legitimacy and central governmental authority. These developments call for a re-thinking of state, economy, culture and society in ways that depart radically from conventional wisdom. In addition, a fresh commitment to extend the boundaries of pan-Africanism appears to be in evidence with the launching of the new, bolder African Union in replacement of the Organisation of African Unity, a development that has been accompanied by pleas for a harnessing of African knowledge for the advancement of peace, stability and unity. And yet, in the face of the different changes occurring across the continent and the intellectual challenges which they pose, the inherited analytic tools derived from the European scholarly heritage by which African scholars have sought to grasp the transitions and shifts taking place in their societies, appear increasingly ill-adapted to the phenomena they are meant to capture and the environment to which they are applied. Also, the institutional context of knowledge production and dissemination, epitomised by the university, is undergoing a severe crisis of identity, mission and relevance.

Few will doubt that every society is imbued with an innate capacity to generate a dynamic world view that also serves as a framework for disciplining the kinds of knowledge which it produces in order, first, to make sense of its environment and then to master that environment according to its needs. Fewer still will disagree with the viewpoint that Africa stands a greater chance of overcoming its numerous problems through a valorisation of its own knowledge systems. In this regard, the protection of the wholeness and integrity of a knowledge system is a strategic issue of profound importance. However, there is a considerable amount of debate on what exactly constitutes the “African” in a knowledge system on the continent today and what the contemporary African knowledge system, in all its varieties, is made of after centuries of foreign direct and indirect domination, as well as the implantation of Western systems of knowledge and cognition. Related to this are the terms and conditions under which an African knowledge system might be (re-)constituted and who the bearers of such a project might be. Is it even desirable today to speak of an African knowledge system in the era of globalisation? Will not the continent be better served by a concentration of attention on the ways in which Africans appropriate knowledge produced within and outside the continent for the purpose of the advancement of African societies? Of what use is the quest for an African knowledge system if it does not have the potentiality or possibility of becoming the main organising principle around which politics, economy and society are constituted? The questions are many and the perspectives that have been expressed are diverse.

There is also no unanimity on the ways in which an African knowledge system can be valorised after decades of the socialisation of the peoples of the continent into European ways of “thinking” and “doing” in the name of “modernisation”. The project of Western “modernisation” has proceeded as though it was the only external encounter which the continent has had. And yet, exchanges which have impacted on the knowledge system have occurred between Africa and the Eastern civilisations, including a rich heritage produced in Arabic and Ajami scripts. Nevertheless, the debate on the African knowledge system has served as a useful entry point into various aspects of the African world and different elements of the African condition. It has emerged as a powerful framework for reflections on the issue of indigenous African knowledge systems and the extent to which they can be retrieved; the role and place of local languages in knowledge systems; the part played by religions and priesthoods in the making of the knowledge system; the adaptability of local languages to scientific discourse; “traditional” versus “modern” forms of knowledge generation and dissemination; different approaches to the codification, preservation and transfer of local knowledge; competing approaches to the generation and/or absorption of new knowledge, including knowledge from other societies; the growing international trade in indigenous herbal and medicinal knowledge; the theft and patenting of indigenous knowledge; the interplay of individual creativity and collective knowledge; the politics of the valorisation of indigenous knowledge within existing educational systems; the origins and role of the public/community scholar; the place of non-Europhone intellectualism in the making of an African knowledge system; and the asymmetries in the international knowledge system that work against the visibility/viability of the African knowledge system. The range of questions which are in contention is limitless and at a time when the quest for alternatives is once again on the intellectual and policy agenda, a concentrated reflection on the prospects and challenges of building/retrieving and projecting African knowledge is bound to be a useful investment.

Scholars who are already reflecting on the issue of African knowledge systems and who have innovative perspectives to share with other researchers and the wider academy are invited to submit their applications to reach the CODESRIA Secretariat not later than 31 March, 2006. Those scholars who had previously submitted their applications during 2005 for this campus are not required to re-submit again; their applications will automatically be considered with all the new ones received. In addition to a substantive proposal reflecting on-going work on this theme, interested participants should also send their current curriculum vitae. Applications should be sent to:

The CODESRIA Annual Social Science Campus,

Department of Training and Grants,

CODESRIA,

BP 3304, CP 18524

Dakar, Senegal.

Tel: +221-8259822/23

Fax:+221-8241289

E-mail: annual.campus@codesria.sn

Website: www.codesria.org

Africa: Co-Cordinator

APC-Africa-Women

2006-02-01

http://www.apcafricawomen.org

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has an opening for a co-coordinator of our APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) in Africa. As our project commitments have expanded over the past few years, we are looking to employ a co-coordinator to work with the current coordinator with a view to taking responsibility for certain work areas.

Ethiopia: Country Director

Christian Children’s Fund

2006-02-01

http://www.christianchildrensfund.org

Key responsibilities of this challenging position based in Addis Ababa will include: the provision of vision and strategic leadership for the Ethiopia programme with full operational responsibility; articulating CCF’s vision and mission; designing and implementing a strategic plan to address the causes and effects of poverty and other adverse conditions on children in the country.

Sweden: Programme Co-ordinator

The Nordic Africa Institute

2006-02-01

http://www.nai.uu.se/misc/vacancy/resprogeng.html

The theme of the programme is: Global Trade and Regional Integration: African Economies, Producers, and Living Conditions. The Programme co-ordinator shall: Develop the programme based on the programme document; Implement the programme; Develop networks of African and Nordic researchers; Conduct own research within the programme; Arrange seminars and publish research results.

UK: Advocacy and Information Officer

Working Women Worldwide

2006-02-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/31698

Women Working Worldwide is a small NGO working with an international network of worker organisations to support the rights of women workers in the global economy. We are seeking to appoint an Advocacy and Information officer to work in our office in Manchester, and in particular to support our current project "Promoting Women Workers' Rights in African Horticulture". You will work closely with our project partners in East Africa. This is an exciting opportunity to play a leading role in an innovative and highly respected organisation working for trade and social justice. Please email:camille.women-ww@mmu.ac.uk for an application pack

UK: Advocacy Manager

Progressio

2006-02-01

http://www.progressio.org.uk

As an Advocacy Manager you will act as the focal point for all advocacy work, including: coordinating, facilitating and supporting implementation of Progressio's advocacy strategy; managing the Thematic Advocacy Coordinators carrying out advocacy campaigns in relation to HIV and AIDS and sustainable environment; and taking on broader advocacy work such as aid and debt as needs arise at the organisational level.

Zambia: Country Manager

SNV

2006-02-01

http://www.snvworld.org

SNV in Zambia is contributing to poverty alleviation through strengthening of local governance processes and economic development based on sustainable use of natural resources. This occurs through facilitation of capacity building processes in local level institutions and organisations, primarily in the Western, Northwestern and Luapula provinces. The SNV Zambian programme also focuses on gender and HIV/AIDS issues. Interested candidates should email ruth@actionappointments.co.za

Fahamu