Back Issues

Featured this week

2006-04-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/33856

FEATURED: On Freedom Day in South Africa, Piers Pigou reflects on the unfinished business of truth and reconciliation
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Yveline Dévérin explains the situation of “neither war nor peace” in the Côte d’Ivoire
LETTERS: Discuss China and Africa; The Politics of Disorder in Angola
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem on living forward but understanding backwards in South Africa
BLOGGING AFRICA: Blog columnist Sokari Ekine rounds up the African blogosphere
BOOKS AND ARTS: Shailja Patel writes about Wole Soyinka, the activist
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Famine in East Africa, Bomb blasts in Egypt, fighting in Mogadishu and the latest from Sudan
HUMAN RIGHTS: Nine men detained for homosexuality in Cameroon go free
WOMEN AND GENDER: Update from the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights campaign
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Concern about Chad displacement crisis
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Analysing the election gamble in the DRC; ‘Unfreedom Day’ dawns in South Africa
DEVELOPMENT: Trade unions resist IMF and World Bank policies
CORRUPTION: Move to make corruption a crime similar to genocide
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: The Jo’burg position on women’s rights
EDUCATION: Is the international community serious about Education for All?
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Squeezing out poor farmers
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: State moves to gag media and NGOs in Kenya
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: ICTs and the challenge of gender equality
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailing Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs

* French speaking? French friends?

Read the Pambazuka News French edition by visiting http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/ Subscribe online at http://www.pambazuka.org/fr/subscribe.php or send an email to subscribe-fr@pambazuka.org with 'subscribe French edition' in the subject line. Please forward widely!

Freedom Day and the TRC: the legacy of past conflict

Piers Pigou

2006-04-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/33855

Twelve years ago on April 27, millions of South Africans flocked to the polls to take part in the first non-racial democratic election following the end of minority white rule. In the years since, and despite engaging in a truth and reconciliation process, South Africa has struggled with the legacy of the past and faces continued and in some cases widening racial divides. Piers Pigou reflects on the unfinished business of South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process.


A ten-year retrospective symposium on the legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) convened in Cape Town last week by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) highlighted a number of uncomfortable issues and concerns, both for those intent on carrying on the work of the Commission, as well as those invested in the ‘business of forgetting’.

The symposium focused on the contentious issue of TRC related prosecutions, which have recently come into the spotlight following the introduction by the National Prosecuting Authority of prosecution ‘guidelines’ for dealing with offences that emanated from conflicts of the past and which were committed before 11 May 1994.

The guidelines allow for the National Director of Public Prosecutions to indemnify perpetrators who make a full disclosure regarding involvement in these crimes, and stipulate other criteria, some of which are strikingly similar to the TRC’s amnesty conditions (relating to issues of proportionality, political motives etc), as well as others (i.e. whether or not the victim desires prosecution) that arguably distort the parameters of prosecutorial discretion.

Critics argue that the guidelines, which were introduced without any public consultation, are not only unconstitutional but clearly send out the wrong message to perpetrators. They were after all given a very generous opportunity to apply for amnesty before the TRC, but chose to eschew this, showing contempt for the process and the new government.

Shifting the justice goalposts once again at the expense of victims’ rights and ongoing needs for accountability have raised a host of significant questions. How do you build respect for a struggling criminal justice system, by further indemnifications of perpetrators of gross human rights violations? How do you rationalize to the general populace the importance of prosecuting liberation movement leaders for contemporaneous (often, white collar) crimes, yet protect those who are responsible for heinous crimes from the pre-94 era? Should, indeed can, this past be so neatly ring-fenced from legal sanction?

There is, according to some critics of the policy, a far simpler and less contentious route to follow – and that is to allow perpetrators to plead guilty and to deal with indemnities through mitigation and sentencing process. Criminal records could be subsequently expunged through Presidential pardons. This approach would at least protect the integrity of the criminal justice system.

A small vocal minority, mainly it appears from within the white community, are cynical about continuing endeavours to secure accountability for past abuses, warning that the process must be ‘even-handed’, inferring that some sort of quantitative egalitarianism is the only acceptable route to follow. Dave Steward, the CEO of the De Klerk Foundation, and former DG of De Klerk’s Presidential office, begrudgingly agreed that there should be little sympathy for those who faced prosecutions, but raised broader concerns from “his constituency” about how these issues were being handled. He pointed to the way that the TRC amnesty process had been developed and implemented, asserting that National Party and Inkatha Freedom Party interests had not been taken into account and that there was a strong perception that the process was not partial.

This justification for hostility towards the TRC is not borne out empirically, as it is possible to demonstrate both strengths and drawbacks in investigations and research regarding all the main protagonists of past conflict. A qualitative and quantitative assessment of exactly what was undertaken has yet to be undertaken, but allegations of bias and its impact on the mythical ‘national reconciliation’ agenda is frequently wheeled out as an excuse for not engaging with the Commission’s work and findings, not to mention its unfinished business.

Of course, the issues under examination were always going to be sites of contested truth and deep-seated emotion. Many of the allegations made against the Commission regarding a partisan agenda are simply unsustainable. This was true, for example, of the IFP’s claims with regards to allegations about failures to investigate the murder of IFP leaders. In spite of the IFP’s failure to respond to appeals for assistance and further information, the TRC did conduct relatively detailed investigations and used these as a basis for making findings against the ANC.

It is perhaps not surprising that all three political parties were selective in the information they chose to disclose, and what they have chosen to refute. There is yet to be a systematic evaluation in this regard, but we should not be shocked that all the parties, with varying degrees, were economical with the truth. The ANC was clearly the most forthright, providing an unprecedented amount of information and detail in its submissions, and setting out its actual and possible responsibility for a multitude of armed actions. Approximately 900 of the 1500 individuals who came before the Amnesty Committee’s public hearings were ANC affiliated, and many came forward voluntarily. This was in stark contrast to the approximately 290 security force members who applied for amnesty, most of the basis that they were facing possible prosecution as a result of the State’s investigations. The IFP actively discouraged its supporters from applying for amnesty, with the result that only 100 of so applicants came forward.

The NP and IFP leadership refused to take responsibility for violations carried out by its supporters. The NP maintained the position that the security forces were an arm of government and would therefore be the only authority that could provide detail on individual acts and incidents. Its blanket denial of responsibility for political killings, assassinations and systematic repression rang hollow for many inside and outside the Commission, especially in light of the rapid fusion between politics and security that characterized much of apartheid governance, and evidence that senior Party representatives in the State Security Council had participated in discussions on the neutralization and elimination of enemy elements.

This culture of denial also characterized the IFP’s interaction with the Commission and, of all the parties, it was most active in its non-cooperation and attempts to vilify the process and TRC personnel. This destructive and distracting non-engagement, however, did not prevent the Commission from making a series of important findings about elements that were responsible for targeting IFP members and supporters, as the IFP had themselves alleged. The Commission finding of the IFP as the primary non-state actor responsible for violence remains contested, as it is widely acknowledged that the 21,000 statements made to the TRC represent an unknown proportion of the total number of violations.

Of course, it is also possible to show that the Commission itself was remiss in a number of ways. Its failure to subject the IFP’s leadership to further questioning, its scant attention to ANC abuses in the camps, and the failure to systematically interrogate the functioning and practices of the National Security Management System, amongst many other issues, is indicative of just how much unfinished business remains. Most of the 21,000 who submitted statements to the Commission did not receive any further details regarding their cases, despite pleas for more truth and understanding. Add to this the fact that tens of thousands of eligible South Africans did not engage the TRC for one reason or another, it is evident that there is much more work to be done if South Africans are to understand what transpired and in so doing come to terms with their past, as opposed to sweeping it under the proverbial carpet.

Prosecution provides but one, albeit important, component of a range of options that can facilitate further enquiry and exposure regarding past violations. Research and inquiry can take on many other forms, with and without official sanctions and powers; a variety of methodologies can be explored that work closely with communities, victims and their families, in an effort to develop understanding not only of what happened, but the limitations associated with developing this understanding.

The TRC has made a major contribution by naming and shaming, by exposing some of the worst aspects of what occurred, and by explicitly holding political leadership responsible for the actions of its membership and supporters. The Commission had limited tolerance for what others might have claimed under the rubric of plausible deniability. Such bold statements and findings, in the circumstances of South Africa’s conflict, were arguably necessary, particularly in a context where victims from all sides of the conflict remained fundamentally disempowered.

This imbalance has not been addressed by government’s lacklustre approach to domestic reparations, and its active opposition to efforts in the American courts to hold corporations to account for their complicity in supporting the repressive actions of the apartheid regime. The South African government has spent just over R500 million on individual reparations, considerably less than what has been spent on golden handshakes for apartheid bureaucrats, or special pensions to liberation movement members. Tutu and others continue to express their disappointment at the lack of generosity the government has shown, reiterating that what the TRC had suggested (a grant of up to R23,000 per annum for six years) was more realistic. In response to those who argue against this, that “we were not in the struggle for monetary gain” (a position articulated by senior ANC government figures), Tutu angrily retorted that “it’s an insult – they should shut up!”

The reactions of South Africa’s political leaders to the TRC’s findings and their selective engagement with ongoing issues of unfinished business tell us more about their own priorities, and clearly demonstrate that there is little or no desire to meaningfully engage with the specific needs of victims, survivors and their families and related opportunities to do so.

While there is currently political consensus about the need to develop and entrench an open and democratic society in South Africa, how this is done in relation to the plethora of unfinished business regarding past conflicts remains unresolved. Understandably, we are preoccupied with contemporary challenges, although it is important, especially for those who are the primary beneficiaries of the democratic dispensation, to appreciate that current realities for many remain profoundly informed by past experience and their continuing legacies, whether social and economic, civil and political. Dealing with one set of issues does not excuse not dealing with the other.

The failure of apartheid era politicians to grasp the opportunity and accept responsibility for the violations carried out by security force members was a major disappointment for many. A few former NP members at least admitted that they could have done more, but chose to turn away. In general, however, because of the example set by their political leadership, most white South Africans did not feel the need to engage with the Commission, or assist it to achieve its objectives. This has contributed significantly to the unfinished business of racial reconciliation in South Africa.

Tutu again raised these issues at the Symposium last week, pointing out that the white community had failed to respond to the enormous generosity of the black community. Not surprisingly, he has been subsequently lambasted and attacked for being a racist by elements within the white community and their representatives in the Democratic Alliance. Once again, many in the white community have chosen not to listen or seek to understand the situation and feelings of fellow South Africans whose continuing pain and needs are palpable. They chose not to acknowledge and accept that these circumstances have a correlation with past discrimination and repression, of which they were the primary beneficiaries.

A national survey conducted by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in 2004 found that ten years into the new democracy one in five whites would rather go back to apartheid than live in the new South Africa; and in a similar poll, less than a third of former beneficiaries believed that they benefited from apartheid in the past or continue to benefit from it today. This evasion and denial of past responsibility has played itself out in resistance to any form of redress, whether it is individual reparations, affirmative action or the symbolic renaming of geographic locations. This is shocking and rightly condemned by Tutu and others, especially in a context where clearly more can be done.

The politics of South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process, as with the politics of transition, are characterized by compromise and limitations. The TRC provided an historic window of opportunity to all parties involved in the conflict to explain what had transpired from their various vantage points, in order to seek understanding, to take ownership and responsibility for what had gone wrong, and to understand the conditions and circumstances that allowed for this.

Each political party’s (and their respective constituencies) relationship with the TRC and the issues it was grappling with are inextricably linked to specific party political agendas. Differences of opinion regarding each party’s commitment to the goals of the TRC will continue to manifest, especially as the objectives of truth recovery and reconciliation inevitably extend beyond the time and spatial confines of an official commission. Despite the government’s protestations that it is addressing victims needs through its broader development agenda, other transformation processes and an increasing commitment to related heritage and memorialisation projects, the specific interests and concerns of victims as articulated through groupings such as the Khulumani Support Group continue to be largely ignored – especially with regards to further truth recovery and targeted reparations.

Political parties are keen to draw a veil over this period and further efforts to retrospectively examine the conflict. Little mention, if any is made of the huge volume of unfinished business and its implications for accountability and legitimacy. Instead, platitudes are offered in pursuit of an elite-led reconciliation agenda whose foundations appear to be perilously weak.

* Piers Pigou is Director of the South African History Archives. He was an investigator with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

The Ivorian crisis is good for business

Yveline Dévérin

2006-04-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/33854

As the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire drags on and each successive peace process ends in disappointment after disappointment, many have reached the conclusion that the situation of “neither war nor peace” prevails because it suits those who are benefiting. Yveline Dévérin makes a case for this argument, identifying the trends in the war economy of the country and the forces behind the profiteering.


The Ivorian crisis has now lasted for over three and a half years, from September 2002 to March 2006. The country is split into two zones – the governmental zone in the south, and the ‘ex-rebel’ zone in the north – separated by a ‘security zone’ which is patrolled by the United Nations Mission for Côte d’Ivoire (ONUCI) and the UN-mandated French army operation ‘Licorne’. Despite repeated attempts at mediation, the crisis persists.

For mediation to be effective, there must be the political will to make it work on both sides. In the Côte d’Ivoire, this is effectively stage-managed. Officially and publicly, political will conforms to political correctness: it would be unimaginable for the protagonists to state otherwise. Who could dare to claim they rejected peace and were content with being at war – with a situation of limbo, of ‘neither peace nor war’? There is therefore considerable dissonance between official political will and vested interests; between staged political correctness, and the economic and social interests that both sides of the conflict are actually pursuing.

The mediation process can only fulfil its mandate so long as the protagonists agree in principle about the final goal – peace, and are only divided as to the means of how to achieve it. However, the unpleasant evidence resulting from close observation of the facts indicates that in Côte d’Ivoire, it is otherwise the case: everyone is in agreement with the status quo. The situation has even been blessed locally as ‘neither peace nor war’ – which is a perfect expression of the reality. The hard truth is that the current situation suits all those who have the power to make it stop. From whatever angle you look at it, no one is interested in unblocking it.

After three years of the crisis, the overwhelming impression is, firstly, that there is extremely weak motivation on either side to achieve peace. On one side, as on the other, there is an endless offloading of responsibilities for the conflict on to others. The crisis is always ‘someone else’s fault’, that someone being – depending on the argument – France, Burkina Faso, Mali, or the whole World (an international conspiracy), or the ‘presidential entourage’. United in mutual, beautiful irresponsibility, the different sides also feign unanimous agreement that resolution of the conflict rests with the mediator. We are thus witnessing total abdication of all responsibilities by the powers that be: for each side, the conflict is the fault of another, and there must be a third-party resolution – to which each side is accordingly indifferent.

Both sides would like to see the conflict resolved to their own advantage. Delays are furthermore in the interests of both sides, as each is gradually becoming deserving of the label people in Ivorian circles are slowly daring to truthfully name: war profiteers. Not only from an economic viewpoint but also from social and political perspectives, the crisis is lining the pockets of the perpetrators.

The Economic Profiteers: ‘We’re still building, even at night’

The economic profiteers are the most visible; their spoils being all the more manifest for being ostentatious, whilst conversely, the ‘ordinary’ people are being driven to stagnation, depression and economic insecurity.

Government zone

In the government zone, right from the onset of the crisis, there has been a proliferation of luxury cars and elaborate buildings, without there even first being denunciation of the profits of those close to power. Bank accounts abroad, luxury vehicles, generous expense allowances, apartments in France, investments in cyber-cafés and petrol stations – which have multiplied in Abidjan since the crisis began – are some of the many signs of personal wealth, all the more visible, since their beneficiaries often had no assets before the crisis. The people of Abidjan, on their own initiative, have moreover coined relevant terms for this group of people who are popularly referred to as ‘patriots of the stomach’. And beyond the rhetoric of patriotism, there is a clear understanding, as in all such similar situations, that this is a classic case of a war economy, operating on the basis of various underhand deals. This flourishing war economy is epitomised by the anguished cry of one man in Abidjan: ‘We’re building in Abidjan at the moment; it’s not a crisis for everyone. We’re still building, even at night.’

Northern zone

In the northern zone, the phenomenon is less perceptible owing to the problems of access to and distribution of information. But we do know for example, that following the death of the war leader ‘Kass’ (Bamba Kassoum), during the conflicts in Bouaké in June 2004, his cyber-café was pillaged, confirming that he did at least own a cyber-café – which was not the situation in 2002! Other testimonies from the northern zone indicate that petrol stations are springing up all over the area.

Korhogo, a onetime sleepy northern town has undergone important urban change, and there has been an upsurge in activity linked to the war. Unlike Bouaké, Korhogo was not a battle zone, and was therefore not destroyed in 2002. It is far enough to the north to not be in the frontline, were conflict to resume, and it is in a prime location for trafficking between Burkina Faso and Mali.

Even though the ‘ordinary’ people are suffering from the war, they are at least finding some compensation in the new parallel economy: taxes are lower than in the southern zone, and thus, for example, there are reports that it is possible to buy motor-vehicles ‘tax-free’, imported from Burkina Faso. This gives many habitants who are have stayed in the zone access to materials to which they previously had none. By the end of 2005 some were beginning to recognise a conflict between on the one hand wanting to see the situation normalise, and on the other, fearing loss of the ‘collateral’ advantages, which, at the end of the day, are not negligible to the ordinary people.

Finally, it seems certain that the most financially influential people have invested heavily in Burkina Faso, particularly in Ouagadougou.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) has concluded meanwhile that, ‘it is clear the current situation in the west is serving the economic interests of politicians and pro-government military chiefs’, who are omnipresent in the region. One journalist expressed it thus: ‘Even the soldiers in the zones under government control are able to buy motorbikes in Bouaké.’ (L’intelligent d’Abidjan 10/3/2005).

The role of the cocoa industry

On a completely different level, the cocoa industry has supplied billions of CFA francs to the various presidential regimes. An expert report (AMIRI, Sid, GOURDON Alain, 2005) underlines that the Fund for the Regulation of Cocoa (FRC), the institution responsible for ‘the financial regulation and management of the industry’s funds’, is being used by those in power to finance the purchase of arms. The report also mentions that ‘a loan of some 10 billion CFA francs’, stipulated for ‘the war effort’ was completed in October 2003.

The boundaries between the war effort and personal enrichment have not been established very clearly. The Dakar-based Journal de l’Economie reported in November 2004 that more than 200 billion CFA francs spent every year are simply accounted for by the State under the heading ‘exceptional right to withdrawal’ (Le Journal de l’Economie, Dakar 16 November 2004). The Ivorian press meanwhile, regularly denounces irregular transactions. Funds are thus being used with complete impunity. Stakeholders in the cocoa industry are meanwhile immune from any public control procedures, and treat the monies allocated to them by the State as bribes. In September 2005, a joint IMF and World Bank investigation concluded that out of the 400 billion CFA francs allocated to the cocoa planters between 2002 and 2004, only 130 billion had been spent to the benefit of the industry. Meantime, between 1997 and 2003, the foreign multinationals (American, Dutch etc.) have seen their market share grow from 10% to 30%; the big concerns having never been so powerful or so profitable as since the war began in Côte d’Ivoire.

The Social Profiteers: To be counted amongst ‘those to be reckoned with’

Beyond the economic gains, the war – or rather the situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ – has proved for some to be a genuine social accelerator, which, moreover, is perceived as being provisional: it will only last as long as the current situation obtains. There are numerous people, in the north as well as the south, who, from being ‘nobodies’, have become important overnight, individuals to be reckoned with at a national level, whose names are suddenly cropping up everywhere.

In the southern zone, young people, who are frustrated and who are blaming society for their marginalisation ,constitute an important component of the ‘patriotic entourage’. Now suddenly, they are becoming significant, are patronising the ‘great and the good’, and are conversing with major Statesmen, at the very least indirectly, whenever there are significant developments. They occupy TV screens, even the RTI (Radio, Television Ivorienne) network itself. They are dominating the press and deciding what information is distributed, even what is published. Thus in November 2004, just before the hostilities which led to the bombardment of the French military base in Bouaké resumed, the ‘patriots’ first made the distribution of opposition newspapers very difficult through effecting commando operations to destroy opposition newspapers at newsstands. Then on the 3 November, the night before the first bombardments in the north, they finally destroyed the newspapers’ headquarters, thus demonstrating their extreme closeness of coordination with the powers that be.

In the northern zone, it is equally apparent that a band of young people has joined the rebellion, though here the phenomenon is on a smaller scale. To avoid making them visible at national, indeed at international levels, the rebellion has lent them importance at a local level. It is also worth reflecting on a particular grouping, called the ‘Dozos’, referring to the members of a brotherhood of traditional huntsmen from the north, who were, before the war, relegated to private security functions for the entire national territory. Overnight, they have resumed their primary function of local public security, and are officially recognised by the new authorities.

The assimilation of the rebellion forces into the military world is straightforward, particularly as many of the soldiers already belong, by personal name, to the brotherhood of the Dozos. What is new however is that the Dozos are being identified as a group, and discussed the world over, a phenomenon that is not insignificant, even if it entails no immediate direct material advantage.

Finally, the local chiefs of the two zones are gaining international recognition. Guilllaume Soro was until recently only a student, and his sole position of responsibility had been as head of the Ivorian student union, 1995-1998, ‘FESCI’ (The federation of students and school pupils in Côte d’Ivoire, a union created in 1990 as part of the development of a multi-party system). Now he is seeing his name published in all the world’s media, and he is summoned to speak with the elites. Soro does not simply talk on the phone to the heads of political parties, but also to heads of State. Furthermore, on the 29 December 2005, he became ‘Minister of State’, a position regarded to be number two in the government, and some are even now calling him the ‘vice-Prime-minister’. This is an honour he owes entirely to the situation of ‘neither war nor peace’, which has made him a major negotiator in the peace process.

On the same side, there is Charles Blé Goudé, who was also a student and the successor to Guillaume Soro, as head of the student union from 1998-2000. He is known as the ‘general’, the ‘youth general’, and the ‘street general’ (the ‘general of the public street’ as he detractors refer to him). He is leader of the young patriots, an inescapable personality. Charles Blé Goudé was the founder of the ‘Coordination of young patriots’ (‘COJEP’). He is regularly interviewed on international channels, and his face is known all over the world. He has debated face to face with Emmanuel Beth, the leader of the French ‘Licorne’ operation in Abidjan in 2003.

Eugène Djué, president of the ‘Patriotic Union for the total Liberation of Côte d’Ivoire’ (‘UPLTCI’) is less renowned internationally but it is nevertheless in charge of an entire section of the ‘patriotic galaxy’. The battles for influence between the different groups play themselves out as the fame of some casts a shadow over others. This is sharpened, as the stakes are often financial (there are incessant and unverifiable rumours of ‘suitcases’ being distributed by the President to some, and not others).

The war is therefore no longer merely about gains in personal wealth but also about demonstrating advancement in the social hierarchy. The same kinds of phenomena can be observed in the patriotic sphere, particularly in the west, where there has been an emergence of local war chiefs who are becoming all-powerful. This level of recognition cannot be dreamed of in peace times, even for those on the ‘winning’ side.

The Political Profiteers

Beyond the direct material and social interests, the situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ is equally beneficial from a political point of view. First of all, it provides a space for the surfacing of personal ambition: the most visible case is that of Guillaume Kigbafori Soro. Even though the name of the ‘MPCI’ has been communicated in the press since the 20 September 2002, this mysterious movement, outwardly very organised, with surprisingly well coordinated actions and equipment, remained faceless until the press conference of the 14 October (almost a month after the onset of the rebellion), when Guillaume Soro was presented as its Secretary General. Until then, he had appeared to be the likely ‘straw man’, standing in for a discreet silent partner. Little by little, he gained in statue, was recognised as a spokesperson, and invited by various media from Marcoussis, through Pretoria to Accra, Tana (Togo) and Abuja as a representative of the rebellion. He communicates with heads of States and international organisations. Gradually, he became a leading authority until when on the 28 December 2005 he became the number two in the Government of the Côte d’Ivoire.

On the presidential side, the President of the National Assembly, Mamadou Koulibaly, the President of the FPI (the ‘Ivorian Popular Front’ – President Gbagbo’s party), Pascal Affi N’Guessam, the President of the Ivorian Popular Front group at the National Assembly and Simone Gbagbo (wife of the President, Laurent Gbagobo) are all becoming important personalities in their party, thanks to the positions or actions they have taken in the debates about the conduct of the peace process. But here again, if peace comes, their positions will simply reveal themselves to be nothing more than internal rivalries.

In summary, the situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ is a kind of insurance for the protagonists on both sides: they do not have to be accountable, neither within their own camps, nor at national or international levels. As terrible as it may seem, the situation serves as a kind of guarantor for impunity. There will only be time to reckon up the balance sheet once peace has returned.

A cogent example is found in a report by Amnesty International, which amongst other things uncovered in February 2003 the execution of policemen in Bouaké during the first few days of the rebellion. The report is entitled ‘Côte d’Ivoire: A Succession of Unpunished Crimes. From the Massacre of the Police Officers in Bouaké, to the Mass Graves of Daloa, Monoko-Zohi and Man’. Its overriding concern is with the danger of impunity. The objective of the report is to demonstrate the danger of impunity through illustrating how the massacres of Yopogougon, executed by the police offices in the pay of the Ivorian Popular Front when Laurent Gbagbo seized power on the 26 October 2000, are at the root of the chain of violence, because of the impunity that surrounds them.

Amnesty International is congratulating itself because the international community has alluded to the possibilities of bringing the assumed instigators of the human rights violations committed by all the parties in the conflict to justice. It should however be clarified that even if the Côte d’Ivoire had signed the statutes of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it has not yet ratified it. Therefore, the ICC has no authority to pass judgement on these acts, unless the Security Council can get hold of the dossier under the terms of article 13(b) of the Statute of Rome relating to the creation of the ICC (Amnesty International, 2003). In the circumstances, it is thus understandable that the protagonists are in no hurry to see the situation normalised, which could permit the Côte d’Ivoire to ratify the Statutes of the ICC.

In any case, until October 2006 elections (postponed from October 2005) President Gbagbo is playing for time: he must hang on until that date because he is hoping to stay in power beyond the 30 October, the fateful date that would marks the end of his fifteen year reign.

Thus officially, in a very politically correct manner, he appears to be doing everything necessary for elections to take place on the 30 October. But in fact, everything is being done to prevent the elections being organised. External observers sometimes even have the impression that the protagonists may even be united in this perspective: no one seems to want elections, even if everyone is busy loudly proclaiming that they do. The ‘ex-rebels’ and the political parties with whom they are associated are not assured of winning them, and not only for reasons to do with the serious concerns about the conduct of the elections. Nor it is certain, by any means, that they would retain their unity if they did win, given that their unity is essentially based on opposition to Laurent Gbagbo. As for the President himself, we can quite understand why he is dragging his feet. Oumar Bongo (President of Gabon) in an interview with Jeune Afrique l’Intelligent in March 2005, first stated his ignorance about what can happen when the President’s mandate expires and then added: ‘Elections are needed so that there is a successor to Gbagbo.’ But that’s exactly the problem: Luarent Gbagbo does not want a successor!

We finally arrive at a paradoxical observation: each time the peace approaches, it is the work of the armed forces! We should not forget that the armed forces, though on different sides, are comrades in training, and live common everyday lives. They are not necessarily interested in seeing the war prolonged, if only because the controlled zones in peace time (which are not in competition with the rural militia and their holds on important traffic routes) may bring them more spoils than the hypothetical spoils of war; and because traffic passing through army check points is reduced because of the war. On several occasions, militia from the two camps have come to an agreement that points a way through to the end of the war. But each time, very quickly, the politicians have acted so that the tension is restored.

This was notably the case in July 2003 when the joint declaration of FANCI and FNCI seemed to be real ‘peace strike’ against the civil society perpetrators of the war. President’s Gbagbo’s repost was clear: ‘Just because the soldiers have ended the war does not mean the war is over. I will make a statement to the nation the day I consider the moment has come when a page has definitely been turned.’ (Agence France Presse, 10 July 2003) From August, the situation became tense again. On the 13 August, a report by the Secretary General of the UN expressed concern about ‘confirmed information’ about the rearmament of the national armed forces (FANCI) in the Côte d’Ivoire and about ‘suspicions’ of the rebels’ rearmament. The entire Ivorian press was making noises about the resumption of the fighting (APF 23 August). Then there were attempted air strikes over Abidjan (L’Inter, 25 August 2003).

This same scenario has developed, each time the armed forces attempted peace. It is caricatured in the situation which preceded the bombardment of the northern zone in November 2004. Following the Accra III agreements, the FANCI and the FNCI met three times (on the 16 August in Raviat, the 30 August in Bouaké and the 6 October in Yamoussoukro) to organise disarmament and billeting which were meant to take effect from the 15 October. But on the 4 November, the President’s planes began the bombardments of the northern zone! On the occasion of the first meeting, General Doué, who is the State’s Chief of the Army, a loyalist, had issued a caution. ‘General Doué blames the confrontations between FANCI and the “New Forces” on the politicians’ was the headline of the daily, Soir Info in the edition of the 17 August 2004, which reported the words of the General: ‘Fundamentally, we are victims of a process with which we are not associated. The politicians take no responsibility for what happens. But when it’s a question of making peace, they turn on us’.

The situation is therefore durably stuck. The protagonists all have the opportunity of working to unblock it but have no interest in doing so. For not only is the crisis simply lucrative, it is also validating, and therefore it goes on. And so long as it lasts, the mediators will come together around the table at the head of the country.

Conclusion: ‘We’ve had enough. Even the Bétés have had enough”

The ‘Ivorian crisis’ seems pointlessly destined to persist for some considerable time to come. Observers (GRIP – Groupe pour la Recherche et d’Intervention sur la Paix, International Crisis Group, and others) are unrelenting in their warnings about the unceasing threats that the conflict may resume. Only the ordinary population has an interest in returning to peace, but this group has no power to move things in that direction. In truth, the longer the problem persists, the more serious it will become. Because it is not enough for the crisis to simply come to an end. It would be pure self-delusion to imagine that one wave of the magic wand, and elections, however just and transparent, will bring about a durable peace. Because peace cannot simply be decreed, it must be lived.

The limits of this situation of perennial conflict lie within the limits of what the ordinary people are prepared to put up with. Sick of being pushed about since 2002 from city to city for meetings with the elites, and through endless 'agreements', ordinary Ivorians from both the north and the south are now protesting with the throbbing refrain: 'We have had enough'. Today, in 2006, the pitch has been raised yet another level: 'Even the Bétés have had enough' (President Gbagbo belongs to the Bété ethnic group). However the increasing internal rivalries on all sides and the vested interests of all parties leave little reason to hope for a rapid resolution of the crisis.

Little by little, the thinking is developing that this situation of ‘neither peace nor war’ is actually benefiting those who have the power to make it stop. ‘That’s to say, we are not yet out of the woods’, was the bitter conclusion of the Dernières Nouvelles d’Abidjan 25/7/2005. ‘The events and the succession of declarations this weekend alone indicate and demonstrate that the country is not yet out of the woods. And should we even dare to think, that worse still, the worst of all, may yet still be to come.’ (Le Nouveau Réveil 23/8/2005) ‘We are not yet out of the woods’ has become the new popular refrain.

* Yveline Dévérin is Lecturer in Geography, University of Toulouse-le-Mirail, France

* This article was translated from the original French version by Stephanie Kitchen. It was first published in the French edition of Pambazuka News No 5, www.pambazuka.org/fr Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Bibliography

References have been made to the West African press, particularly the Ivorian press; also to dispatches from the following agencies: Reuters, Associated Press and the Agence France Presse. The dates of the references are given within the text. Additionally, the following works and reports are cited:

AMIRI Sid, GOURDON Alain (2005): Etude diagnostic des organisations et des procédures de la filière café-cacoa de Côte d’Ivoire (‘Diagnostic study of the organisations and procedures of the coffee-cocoa industry in Côte d’Ivoire’), Cabinet ECO, Brussels, Cabinet BAA, Barcelona Report for the consideration of the Côte d’Ivoire Government on European Union financing.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (2003): Côte d’Ivoire: Une suite de crimes impunis. Du massacre des gendarmes à Bouaké aux charniers de Daloua, de Monoko-Zohi et de Man (‘Côte d’Ivoire: a succession of unpunished crimes. From the massacre of the police officers at Boauké to the mass graves of Daloua, Monoko-Zohi and Man’), 27 July 2003

AMPROU Jacky (2005): Crise ivorienne et flux régionaux de transport (‘Côte d’Ivoire and regional variations in transport’), Rapport thématique Jumbo, September 2005. Agence Française de Développement, p.18

BOUQUET Christian (2005): Géopolitique de la Côte d’Ivoire. Le désespoir de Kourouma (‘Côte d’Ivoire geopolitics. Kourouma’s despair’) Armand Colin, p.315

DEVERIN Yveline (2005): La crise ivorienne (‘The Ivorian crisis’) in VOLVEY Anne (ed), DEVERIN Yveline, HOUSSAY-HOLZSCHUCH Myriam, RODARY Estienne, SURUN Isabelle, BENNAFLA Karine L’Afrique, coll. Clefs-concours, Atlande, p.288

GRAMIZZI Claudio (2004): La paix s’éloigne de Côte d’Ivoire (‘The distant peace of the Côte d’Ivoire’), Note d’analyse, Groupe de recherche et d’information sur la paix et la sécurité [GRIP], 10 November 2004, http://www/grip.org/bdg/g4554.html

HOFNUNG Thomas (2005): Le crise on Côte d’Ivoire. Dix clés pour comprendre (‘Ten keys to understanding the Ivorian crisis’) Ed. La découverte, p.140

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP (2005): Côte d’Ivoire: The Worst May Be Yet to Come. Africa Report No. 90 –24 March 2005 http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1235&1=2

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP (2005): Côte d’Ivoire: Halfway Measures Will Not Suffice. Policy Briefing, Africa Briefing No. 33, Dakar/Brussels, 12 October 2005
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=1235&1=2

MELLET Sabine (2004): Cocoa: An Opaque Sector in African Geopolitics, No. 17
http://www.african-geopolitics.org/

SORO Guillaume (2005): Pourquoi je suis devenu un rebelled. La Côte d’Ivoire au bord du gouffre (‘Why I became a rebel. The Côte d’Ivoire at the edge of the abyss’) Hachette, p.174

Living forward, understanding backwards

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2006-04-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/33846

“How nice it would be if whites were to say ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘thank you’ to the vast majority of people in this country who have been so forgiving about the past.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu. April 27 is Freedom Day in South Africa. Tajudeen Abdul Raheem tackles the legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the country’s racist past.


Desmond Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, is a global figure recognised as a symbol of peace and racial tolerance, probably only taking second place Nelson Mandela, Madiba. Post-Apartheid Tutu, in his wonderful humour and sober combination of theological pacifism with advocacy for social justice and political change, continues to be a voice for the underprivileged not only in his home country but also across the world. He is one of the few individuals around the world without even the political power of a ward councilor, but who wield enormous influence through the moral leadership they offer built on personal integrity and consistency in their commitment to social justice. Tutu has continued to judiciously use that power to speak truth to power inside and outside of South Africa.

He will be remembered for his role as the Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. The Commission was a bold move by the post-apartheid democratic government to help the millions of individual and group victims and perpetrators of the apartheid state and its crimes to come to terms with the past through full disclosure, demonstration of remorse, willingness to atone through personal forgiveness and in some cases administrative and judicial justice and other compensation.

It was a controversial step for a nation whose past atrocities and the consequences were only too painfully glaring, practically in every aspect of life. There were many people who felt then that the main liberation movement, the African National Congress, had already given away too much to the old racist power bloc and that the TRC absolved it further. Not a few people felt that the requirement of remorse was too subjective to be meaningful. Who is to say merely saying sorry meant that the person saying it meant it?

The procedures of the TRC transfixed many across the world with details of the gross violation of people's rights that competed with well-documented Nazi atrocities.

As the TRC continued its proceedings, one could not escape the conclusion that apartheid atrocities orchestrated by the state and its functionaries in a deliberate way for several decades were being put on the same basis as excesses (though condemnable and should not be condoned) by the various anti apartheid organisations especially the armed wings of Umkonto We Sizwe , Azanian Peoples Liberation Army and others. The trial of leading icons of the struggle like Winnie Mandela received mixed reactions. This was not because people supported the crimes for which she was tried but suspected that a woman so badly treated by the apartheid state was also being judicially persecuted by a government she helped bring about because of her controversial relationship with it. The disclosures of human rights violations of the liberation movements somehow made some of the racists feel a kind of dubious vindication in that the Blacks were as bad as them.

Over the months, the TRC became not so much a centre for engineering a new social contract between South Africans in this wonderful and romantically brand new RAINBOW nation (coined by Tutu and seized upon by everyone caught up in the optimism of the times, even though the rainbow has every colour in it except Black!).

Perhaps that symbol of a rainbow nation symbolically represented the balance of power in a post apartheid South Africa where Blacks formed government but essentially are still not in power in many ways. Real economic, social and political power still resides among whites. It is not the classic neo-colonial state as we know in the rest of Africa but rather a power structure that is still very much racialised with a small new Black elite happily acting as overseers. In the face of Tutu's Commission many former leaders of the apartheid state including former President P.W. Botha were defiant and saw no reason to apologise for their crimes. People like the Afrikaner Resistance leader, Eugene TerreBlanche and his types became a symbol of the worst of the racists, determined to resist any change.

No doubt there were many white people who genuinely supported the struggle and suffered many indignities including torture and death, but the majority of apartheid's victims remain black South Africans. Also, whether a white person supported or did not support the apartheid state, they were beneficiaries of its misrule. Does that mean that all whites should feel guilty forever for the crimes of apartheid? It cannot mean that, but they should also not rob Blacks of their painful memories by attacking anybody who suggests that the past should be remembered and atoned for as a racist or someone not interested in 'moving on'.

The pacifist Tutu himself was at the receiving end of both the liberal and conservative backlash last week for saying in an interview during a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the TRC and organised by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation: “How nice it would be if whites were to say 'I'm sorry' and 'thank you' to the vast majority of people in this country who have been so forgiving about the past.” The reactions of many white south Africans including bleeding heart liberals to this statement that I have been following on the pages of the newspapers just goes to show how the past continues to weigh heavily on the present and has implications for the future. Every time historical debt is mentioned Whites tend to feel defensive and reel out their numerous contributions to the struggle. But the truth of racialised economic power in South Africa is that Whites as a group continue to be on top during and after apartheid. The fact that it is only Tutu's critique of their attitude that gets all the attention and not his frequent critique of the government for leaving behind the poor of South Africa (who are mostly Black) is itself proof if any is still needed of who is the privileged group in the new South Africa.

The voice of people like Tutu needs to be heard and acted upon. A philosopher, not frequently quoted these days, once formulated that while “...life must be lived forward it must be understood backwards”. That understanding is still very much in dispute among South Africans, even though they have made a lot of progress that many did not think possible only 15 years ago.

* 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

Global: Fight malaria!

2006-04-27

http://www.swatmalaria.org

You can play your part to fight malaria! Now you have a chance to play your part in the fight against this killer disease. Join the SWAT TEAM - the world's first on-line army with the mission to shoot down malaria!

Global: Global Action Week - "Every Child needs a Teacher”

2006-04-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/33739

Global Action Week (GAW) gets off to a kick start today, Monday 24th of April, with activities taking place internationally to advocate for free quality Education for All.

Follow the link for some of the events being held around Africa.
Angola
In Angola, the national coalition which includes SINPROF (National Teachers’ Union) are opening Global Action Week with a press conference. Members of parliament, political parties, government representatives, academics and NGOs have been invited by the coalition to visit schools of all levels in peripheral zones and urban districts. After this, a photo exhibition will demonstrate the poor conditions of those schools visited. Towards the end of GAW, a visit will be paid to one of the schools with the worst conditions to denounce the low level of investment being made in education in Angola.

Guinea
In Guinea, EI affiliate FSPE (Federation of Education Professionals Unions) will be focusing in on the issues of weak enrolment rates, male/female enrolment, HIV/AIDS in school and the poor living and working conditions of teachers. To this end and as part of the Guinean coalition, it will be organising a series of activities including an event at the Palais de Congrès in Conakry where youth representatives, government officials and donors will discuss EFA.

Morocco
The focus of activities for our colleagues in Morocco, the SNE (National Teachers’ Union), will be the Big Hearing to which a wide spectrum of participants will be invited - officials from the Ministry of Education, politicians, teachers union members, parents and students. SNE, as part of the Moroccan coalition has also been involved in the adaptation of GAW materials into Arabic, bringing officials ‘back to school’ and putting on a play for GAW.

Mozambique
In Mozambique, the ONP (National Teachers’ Organisation) is busily involved in the compilation of dossiers on teacher shortages. It is promoting efforts to bring leaders back to school in each province of the country to talk to teachers and students. Of particular interest is the fact that Mr. Jonas Mendes, a member of the ONP, spoke last Friday in Washington on the eve of the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF, on the plight of teachers across the developing world.

Rwanda
In Rwanda, SNEP (National Union of Primary Teachers) has produced information flyers on GAW which are being distributed throughout the country. The union has been in touch with the international press and has placed articles in two papers: “Ouest France” and the "Edinburgh Evening News."

http://www.ei-ie.org/globalactionweek

Global: Which Conflict websites would you recommend to a friend?

Free competition to win the new book from IDS Knowledge Services

2006-04-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/33852

Where is the first place you go online for information about Conflict issues in developing countries? The Institute of Development Studies is publishing a guide to help busy people find some of the best websites on a wide range of development issues. A Good Place to Start - IDS Knowledge Services Guide to Development Information Online is an easy-to-use, pocket sized book that recommends five websites that are "Good Places" to start your search for information on over 30 themes within development. We’d like your help in selecting the five best websites about Conflict. So give us just one nomination, in no more than 150 words, telling us what you use the website for and why you recommend it. Our editors will review the entries and select the top five websites to put into the book. If your entry is chosen then it will be credited to you and you will receive FIVE free copies of A Good Place to Start to share with your colleagues and friends. Email g.hurst@ids.ac.uk with your nominations by May 19th 2006.

Chinese harming Africa's development

Alex Weir

2006-04-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/33819

It is a little-known fact that around 1950 "Made in Japan" was synonymous with shoddy low-quality low-durability goods; The Japanese fixed that problem, as everyone knows.

Nowadays goods produced in Mainland China are very variable - some are of high quality, but many are not. China is now flooding Africa not only with consumer goods but also with industrial goods and durable consumer items. The problem arises when governments and wholesalers engineer a situation where only Chinese goods are available, for political and/or financial reasons.

Typically a Chinese soldering iron in Zimbabwe is sold with the caveat "it will break very soon and there will be no replacement or refund"; a Chinese bicycle in Zimbabwe develops all kinds of mechanical problems after a few months of modest use.

This situation is taking hard-earned foreign currency out of the hands of poor Africans in poor African countries and giving it to rich Chinese and their African and other collaborators, political and commercial. Trade in many Chinese goods is taking Africa backwards (but it is making lots of money for the few).

What is required is for an independent study of the situation, and with appropriate measures taken after the results of that study, by the Chinese Government and by African Governments. But as long as the few are feeding at the trough, there is little chance of such a sensible solution, and of course the ineffectual and corrupt UN is of little use.

Justice for who?

Percy Ngonyama

2006-04-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/33853

While I strongly believe that the likes of Charles Taylor should be brought to justice for their crimes, however the United Nations and the international community seems to be applying the law very arbitrarily.
 
Are we ever going to see George Bush, Tony Blair, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and other architects of the illegal oil war on Iraq, that, according to reputable estimates, has killed more than a hundred thousand Iraqis, also brought to book?
 
Furthermore, will the Israeli war criminals, such as Ariel Sharon, ever be brought  to justice for their crimes against defenceless Palestinians?

Pambazuka News: How old?

Anonymous

2006-04-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/33692

Is Pambazuka really 250 (years) old? If so, Happy 250th Birthday to you! if not, Happy Birthday all the same. Do continue the good work. Mostly, Pambazuka News is highly informative and partly depressive of spirit, yet it is essential that we are aware of the progress of our African family, albeit sometimes, the questionable direction of its progress. All the same it makes good fuel for prayer. I have solidly come to believe that desirable and pleasing change for the African continent can only come about with firstly initiating spiritual change. Take the physical chains off a slave and he will still act as a slave, but to teach a slave that he is a worthy human being, then he will rise as a free man. Many thanks for your continued endurance.

Pambazuka News Replies: Ummm, that would be 250 issues old, although maybe sometimes it feels like years!

The politics of disorder in Angola

Muito Obrigado

2006-04-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/33690

Great article. It should be sent to major newspapers. It should be translated into Portuguese and sent to all Angolans to read. Please write Part II and III And IV… Thank you for a job well done. I am from Angola and I know people who are both benefiting and suffering in Angola. Once again, thank you for putting in so many words what most Angolans feel but cannot express it the way you did.

Set The Truth Free: Soyinka the Activist

2006-04-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/33843

Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel Literature Laureate, shares thoughts on current hot topics of African politics, during readings and interviews this week in San Francisco's Bay Area.


It has been a busy week for Wole Soyinka. He is in San Francisco Bay Area to promote his new memoir, “You Must Set Forth At Dawn”, published this year. However, Africa’s first Nobel Literature Laureate is as well known – perhaps better known – as a political human rights activist.

At 70, the Nigerian writer who famously wrote: “The truth shall set you free but first the truth must be set free,” is still a fiery advocate for oppressed populations, from the indigenous peoples of the Niger Delta to the victims of Darfur. Most recently, he founded a new political party: the Democratic Front for Peoples’ Liberation (DFPF), that will put up candidates on a platform of pluralist democracy in Nigeria’s next elections. “I never accepted I was an exile from Nigeria,” he said on Saturday, at a reading in Berkeley. “I told myself and others I was on political sabbatical.”

Below is a selection of Soyinka’s political comments, culled from a range of readings, discussions and interviews in the Bay Area over the past 3 days. Next week’s column will focus on his thoughts about his work as an artist and writer.

Q: Are you better known for activism than for literature?

A: It’s difficult to say. Because the nature of my work – theatre – has always brought me in contact with a lot of people. Especially the living theatre – we do it in streets, offices, public places – so it is a direct creative encounter with all kinds of people.

Q: Do you feel a conflict, or tension, between being an activist and writing?

A: Most human beings, especially creative human beings, would rather be doing something other than what they are doing. But basically, you respond to what’s happening around you. So while I do not separate the two personae, there are times I do resent being pulled into the political arena.

Q: What are your thoughts on the current Nigerian government?

A: It’s an oligarchy. Almost like a Mafia kingdom.

Q: You once said that as you saw things over the years, it always seems to boil down to two questions: truth against power and power against truth.

A: Yes, and power against freedom. Power needs lies to survive, deceit, manipulation. The truth is, for me, the expression of freedom.

Q: What can you say about the conflicts over oil in Nigeria.

A: We all agree, we wish we’d never found oil. The worst developed areas in Nigeria are the oil-producing regions. And those who suffer most are the indigenous people who live in those regions.

Their farmland has been depleted. Their ponds and rivers are polluted. The very air is degraded. [The indigenous grassroots democracy movement] has brought the Federal government to the negotiating table to demand that oil revenues actually benefit them before they remit taxes to the center.

Q: One of the issues you’ve spoken about is what’s happening in Darfur. What can be done about Darfur?

A: People are still hedging the truth in. There is a brutal ethnic cleansing going on, and anodyne language is being used, by the UN, by the African Union. This is a renegade government, and the UN and AU must declare Sudan a renegade state, guilty of genocide.

Sudan is a member of both the African Union and the Arab League. It has one foot in the African world and one in the Arab world. The silence that is most deafening is that of the Arab League. We must put them on the line. The Janjaweed make no bones about the fact that they are pushing an Arabist agenda – to cleanse Darfur of African presence. This is being done in the name of Arabism. It is time for the AL to take the lead, to excommunicate the Sudanese government.

There has been a coyness about assigning primary responsibility. The primary responsibility for curbing this genocidal criminality rests with the Arab League.

Q: What is your view on the war crime tribunals in Rwanda and Sierra Leone? Do you think America’s refusal to participate, or be subject to, international war crimes courts, undermines their purpose?

A: Even if one individual identified is brought before the world tribunal, it gives hope to the victims that if they keep up the struggle, they may achieve something.

So we shouldn’t bother ourselves so much with whether the US participates or not. Just keep working towards those achievable goals.

But we have to be more imaginative and creative. It’s not enough to bring Charles Taylor or Milosevic to trial. We need to construct cages for them and tour them around the world. (Laughter) Through refugee camps, hospitals – I would be happy to offer my services with such ideas.

Q: What do you think about the resurgence of the Biafra movement happening now, and the way the Nigerian government is handling it?

A: The movement successfully paralyzed the nation for 2 days last year when it called for all Biafrans to down tools. The fact that they acted, in union, and were able to bring the country to a halt, is very significant. The success of the call, compounded with the militancy in the Niger Delta (Nigeria’s primary oil-producing region) indicates a nation on the verge of disintegration. We’re in real trouble.

Q: What can we do about the brain drain from Africa? For example, there are more doctors from Ghana in the US than there are in Ghana.

A: Develop our own nations, create more jobs, so there is the prospect of professional satisfaction for the brains who have left.

The leadership must actually invest heavily in those projects that ensure our technocrats, professionals, can return and enjoy just a little of the satisfaction they have enjoyed outside.

Q: How can reparations for slavery be channeled in ways that reach the African people, rather than corrupt governments?

A: Without even considering financial reparation, there is a restoration that can happen of a far more egalitarian relationship between Africa and the enslaving world. For example, repatriation of all artworks that were stolen during the era of slavery. A people’s art represents their humanity.

And we must understand that it was a two way process. There was also an Arab slave trade. If we talk about reparations, we cannot be silent about the internal slave trades, and the internal racisms that are still alive in many African countries.

* Listen to Wole Soyinka interviewed by Michael Krasny on the Bay Area’s KQED radio (one hour) at:
http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing.jsp?progID=RD19

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Global: IRIN Films: spotlight on neglected crises

2006-04-27

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/33857

The Darfur cirse, Northern Uganda's night commuters, civilans caught in Nepal's war, Afghanistan's heroin predicament, Angola's refugee returns, Malaria impact on Ethiopia: these are just some of the topics of recent films produced by IRIN. Typically 5-20 minutes long, they highlight key humanitarian concerns in often under-reported, poorly understood and neglected areas. The films are available free and can be viewed online as well as on CDROM.
http://www.irinnews.org/film

African Blog Roundup

Sokari Ekine

2006-04-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/33827

African Shirts (http://africanshirts.blogspot.com/2006/04/carmen-with-clicks.html) discusses the vibrancy of the South African film industry which he compares with that of the Francophone African countries and Nigeria’s Nollywood. Two of the latest films from SA are U-Carmen eKhayelitsha and Oscar winning Tsotsi.

“U-Carmen is a Xhosa language film based on Bizet's opera Carmen, and it won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival last year.” He gives credit to the SA government for supporting the industry, whilst Nigeria still operates as a kind of “one man band running around with a camcorder filming his friends putting on ridiculous American accents, and making up the script as they go along”. He says: “Genuine filmmaking knowledge would mean that international film houses can come to Nigeria to shoot films. Nigeria has a vast and varied landscape, from desert in the north to equatorial savannah in the south - who wouldn't want to film there? However, it seems Nigeria's all land and no knowledge with which to use the land. Nollywood, watch and learn.”

Agathon Rwasa (http://agathonrwasa.blogspot.com/2006/04/tutu-admits-that-his-trc-failed-to.html) comments on an address by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to participants of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee held in South Africa. He quotes Tutu as saying:

"South Africans are tremendous people and the successes of the TRC had set an international benchmark in dealing with post-conflict situations, yet it failed to meet the needs of victims or reveal the full truth in many cases…My own concern is if we'll be able to uncover the evidence (of atrocities). I have my doubts. The apartheid government was very adept at hiding and destroying evidence. Cases go on for a long time and then people are acquitted and I fear it is traumatising for the victims.”

My Hearts in Accra (http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=507) comments on a piece from the New York Times on oil, corruption and Africa which mentions 5 African countries least known for oil export: Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and the Congo Republic. All of which score low on the “Corruption perception index”. Zuckerman wonders whether it is possible to have natural resources without corruption?

“It’s possible to have natural resources and not have rampant corruption - Botswana is blessed with an abundance of diamonds and outranks many European nations on the TI index - but the nations who pull it off are the exception, not the rule. It’s a reminder that mineral wealth is a curse as much as a blessing - there are very, very few nations that go the path of Norway, rather than the path of Nigeria.”

Weichegud! ET Politics (http://weichegud.blogspot.com/2006/04/never-again-to-yet-again.html) comments on the genocide taking place in Darfur and the failure of not only the West but Africa to act. She reminds us of Rwanda and clearly the lessons have not been learned and the need for Africans to take notice of Darfur.

“You want a reason why the West doesn’t care about Darfur? Because Africans don’t care about Darfur. We pointed at the West the last time. And we are doing it again…by August 2005, an estimated 370,000 Darfuri had died. That figure hovers at about 400,000 today. Over two million have been displaced, and three million suffer from dire food shortages - all because they have dark skin. They are being persecuted by an African nation whose hubris has been augmented by an African Union and an African head of the august United Nations.”

In particularly she singles out Kofi Annan, who has in her opinion failed twice now, in Rwanda and now in Darfur.

“Yes, and I do hold Kofi Annan responsible because his tenure as Secretary General of the UN has been particularly bad for Africa. This was our one shot at this kind of high visibility leadership…We looked for moral leadership, and instead what we got was a tragically wobbly and fluctuant chief who had two, count ‘em, two genocides under his belt. Maybe after the carnage hits a million people Mr. Annan will amble back to Sudan to offer a ‘oops we did it again’ speech, the same speech he gave in Kigali on May 7, 1998.”

Freedom from Egyptians (http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2006/04/egypts-dahab-attacks-for-idiots.html) comments on the bombing of Dahab in the Sinai peninsular – the third city to be bombed.

“This is the third attack in Sinai around Egyptian national days. The 2004 Taba attacks came on October 6 (Army Day). Sharm El Sheikh’s attacks on 2005 were at the eve of July 23 (Revolution Day) and yesterday Dahab attacks took place at the eve of April 25 of 2006. The relationship between these dates and those heinous attacks in Sinai has yet to be interpreted. These three national days have political significance. The message sent here might not be Islamofacist and could hint that the perpetrators are not Islamists.”

One Arab World (http://onearabworld.blog.com/703267) also comments on the bombing with a series of real time updates, including photos of the aftermath.

Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/04/victory_for_human_rights.html) reports on the release of 9 Cameroonian men on homosexuality charges. The men were refused bail and have spent the past 12 months incarcerated having to share cells with the most violent criminals. The trial lasted exactly 10 minutes – one year in prison in Cameroon for a trial that lasted only 10 minutes is a harsh price to pay for ones’ sexuality, the freedom of which is supposedly enshrined in Cameroonian law as a country that is signature to various human rights declarations.

“Congratulations to Alice Nkom and Duga Tianji, their team of lawyers, IGLHRC and all the human rights defenders that fought so hard to achieve the release of the 9 men at great cost to themselves…Whilst we can and must celebrate this victory, the 9 men who have spent the last 12 months in the unimaginable filth and squalor of prison now have the uphill task of trying to rebuild their lives knowing that though they are free, that freedom is incomplete as they remain imprisoned in a community of hate and homophobia. The struggle continues - 4 lesbians are still in police custody and 11 female students have been expelled from school for ‘confessing’ to belonging to a ‘network of lesbians’.

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

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Update on women's rights campaign

2006-04-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/33822

Update on the Campaign on Ratification, Domestication and Popularization of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa from the Solidarity on African Women's Rights (SOAWR) campaign.

Below is the latest quarterly update (January to March 2006) that Equality Now received from SOAWR members who are working on the campaign for ratification, domestication and popularization of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa as well as other organizations that are doing work around the Protocol. Also included is information on the status of ratifications, meetings attended by SOAWR members and upcoming events.
Update on the Campaign on Ratification, Domestication and Popularization of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa from the Solidarity on African Women's Rights (SOAWR) campaign.

Below is the latest quarterly update (January to March 2006) that Equality Now received from SOAWR members who are working on the campaign for ratification, domestication and popularization of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa as well as other organizations that are doing work around the Protocol. Also included is information on the status of ratifications, meetings attended by SOAWR members and upcoming events.

First, welcome to the new members of SOAWR – FIDA-Kenya, Human Rights Law Service (HURILAW), Nigeria, and Women Direct, a regional organization based in Nairobi. SOAWR members are now 21 and a few more are expected to join it soon. The Steering Committee revised the membership criteria which have since been made available to interested groups.

Country level Updates

Burkina Faso
On 24 February 2006, the Constitutional Advisor gave a legal opinion in favour of ratification of the Protocol. He set the date of 23 March 2006 for advising on the follow up process to the Cabinet where the decree for ratification will be prepared. The delay appears to be administrative but Voix de Femmes is confident that the process is at its final stages before ratification. In the meantime, Voix de Femmes has developed different themes from the Protocol in order to start the process of sensitization and popularization so that the Protocol can be more easily incorporated into the national laws after ratification.

Ethiopia
With support from Action Aid Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) has printed the Protocol in the Amharic language and in a booklet form and has started to distribute it at sensitization workshops that it has organized. EWLA is concerned about the challenges of implementation and although Ethiopia has not yet ratified the Protocol is preparing to organize training around the Protocol for law enforcement officials. It is also working closely with the newly established Ministry for Gender with a view to advancing the ratification process.
The Gambia
The African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies holds two forums for NGOs annually preceding the Sessions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. It is now planning the first NGO Forum of the year which will take place in Banjul during 8-10 May 2006. The forum will share information about human rights violations throughout the continent and in addition will receive a progress report on the status of the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women and implications for redress of cases now that the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is being set up. Commissioner Angela Melo is expected to attend, particularly to speak about the Protocol and its relationship to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Kenya
COVAW held three meetings with the new Minister for Gender, Sport and Culture, between 9 and 27 January 2006 to sensitize him on the provisions of the Protocol and to impress on him the urgency for the country to ratify it. In addition, COVAW visited the foreign affairs ministry and spoke to a senior official in the treaties department on emerging legal issues and the procedure leading to deposit of the necessary documentation of ratification in Addis Ababa. They also held two meetings with the Attorney General, in November and December 2005, to follow up on the ratification process. On 1 February 2006, the new Gender Minister, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General signed the revised cabinet memo which stated the provisions of the Protocol and the need for Kenya to ratify it. COVAW had a follow up meeting with the Director for Gender and learned that the cabinet discussed the revised document on 7 February 2006 and approved it with reservations. The approved ratification document is now with the African Affairs Department of the Foreign Ministry for onward transmission to the African Union. COVAW has sought an appointment with the Assistant Minister in charge of this portfolio to get a further update but has not yet managed to get an appointment date. While continuing the process of ratification COVAW is also continuing with other interventions of its advocacy plan.

COVAW engaged a consultant who prepared a policy brief on the Protocol meant for parliamentarians and other key stakeholders such as judges, magistrates and lawyers and is in the process of organizing forums to disseminate the brief. For these interventions, COVAW is collaborating with ICJ-Kenya (in the case of the judges/magistrates) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in the engagement of the lawyers. The policy brief targets decision makers who are expected to influence the discussion on the Protocol in Parliament to authorize domestication. The policy brief document will be available on COVAW’s website in due course. COVAW is working on translating the simplified version of the Protocol into Kiswahili and other local languages in addition to producing fact sheets on the content of the Protocol. In the next quarter COVAW will organize sensitization forums on the Protocol targeting judicial officers and lawyers, as well as one for members of civil society that are also working on the Protocol. Any SOAWR member interested to get a copy of the policy brief and other documents can write to COVAW at info@covaw.org.ke or simply post a message to protocol@fahamu.org addressing colleagues at COVAW.

Mali
The Association des Juristes Maliennes has continued with sensitization activities around the Protocol. In collaboration with other local organizations, they participated in a meeting organized by the Italian NGO No Peace Without Justice. This meeting was held in Bamako from 21 February 2006 and came up with an action plan to ensure implementation of the Protocol. The dissemination of the contents of the Protocol through information and training of the population was also included in the plan.

Mauritius
On 6 February Loga Virahsawmy (Chair of the Media Watch Organization - Gender and Media Southern Africa MWO-GEMSA) wrote to the Hon. Rama Valayden who is the Attorney General and Minister of Human Rights of Mauritius. Ms. Virahsawmy had participated in the AU/SOAWR conference in September 2005 and had at that time informed the meeting that she had a telephone conversation with the Attorney General who had indicated then that Mauritius planned to deposit its instrument of ratification by the end of 2005. In her letter, Ms. Virahsawmy reminded the Attorney General of his earlier indications, and shared with him a quote from a keynote speech by the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Ms. Julia Joiner, that she read during a Symposium SOAWR held at the Ahfad University for Women in partnership with Sudanese organizations, in which she said:

“The entry into force of the Protocol is not an end in itself – it is part of a process which started with the drafting of the Protocol and will not end until appropriate policy and legislative measures are put in place by the 53 Member States of the African Union, to translate the provisions of the Protocol into practice at regional, national and community levels. The task ahead of us in 2006 and beyond is therefore to combine our efforts towards that ultimate goal. It is also to encourage those Member States that have not yet signed or ratified the Protocol to do so as an illustration of their commitment to gender equality and women’s rights,”

Ms. Virahsawmy concluded her letter with an appeal to the Attorney General and Minister of Human Rights to expedite the deposit of the instrument of ratification, emphasizing his commitment to combating gender violence and gender discrimination.

Mozambique
A national coalition spearheaded by Forum Mulher generated an advocacy plan to popularize the Protocol and also take government to task regarding its slow pace of domestication and implementation. Among the activities it plans to undertake are advocacy actions directed at parliament and government, production of materials for popularization of the Protocol, radio and television programmes and regular meetings among its coalition members to strengthen their campaigning interventions.

Nigeria
WRAPA did two interactive radio programmes around International Women’s Day. On 31/3/06 WRAPA participated in a one hour radio phone-in programme in one of the 3 major Nigerian languages (Hausa). The reach covered 9 states and the subject was women in power and decision-making against the backdrop of international women's day and the provisions in the Protocol on the rights of women for 30% participation of women through affirmative action. There were 2 panelists, Mr. Awwal Rafsanjani Musa, a Muslim, of northern and Hausa descent as well as a human rights activist. Saudatu Mahdi of WRAPA was the second panelist. The audience was vibrant but 11 out of the 23 callers were of the view that women have no role in decision-making. Some of the 11 were agreeable to having women in lower level decision-making positions but rejected the idea of any apex post. Most of them proffered religious reasons arguing that women have no role in public life. Seven (7) of the callers were in support of women's involvement and advocated for more energy in sensitization and advocacy for legal reforms to concretely support the inclusion of women. Another 8 callers were undecided on whether or not to allow women's inclusion but were not convinced as to whether that should happen now or whether there were adequate numbers of women available to be engaged. The overall message from this activity pointed to the need for intensified engagement with the religious and traditional institutions in Nigeria as a means of dispelling many of the misconceptions about the inclusion and role of women in public life. WRAPA will continue with the sensitization activities.

Somalia
On 23 February 2006, the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Somali Transitional Federal Government, Mr. Abdullahi Ismail Sheikh, signed all remaining 17 treaties of the African Union that Somalia had not signed since the country has been in civil war. Somalia became one of only four countries that have signed all the AU/OAU treaties. This included the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women. SOAWR members met the Minister during the opening of the AU Executive Council session at the Khartoum Summit in January 2006 and had handed him a red card for the second time (the first time was at the Abuja Summit a year ago) urging him to take action to ratify the Protocol. While SOAWR welcomes signature of the Protocol, more follow-up work needs to be done to ensure that Somalia ratifies the Protocol.

Sudan
The 5th Ordinary session of the African Union was held in Khartoum in January 2006. This presented an opportunity to mobilize Sudanese civil society organizations to join the campaign for the popularization, ratification and domestication of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa and to continue with regional advocacy thereby building on the high visibility so far realized for the campaign. For interventions in Khartoum, SOAWR sought the collaboration of SIHA (Strategic Initiative for the Horn of Africa) Network, Babiker Badri Scientific Association for Women, the Ahfad University for Women and the African Union Commission’s Women, Gender and Development Directorate. A symposium was held at the Ahfad University for Women on the Protocol and the rights of women in Islam. It brought together about a hundred participants from civil society organizations, students, media, United Nations officials and government officials. Keynote speeches were made by the Sudanese Federal Minister of Health, Dr. Tabita Butrus, and the African Union’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Ms. Julia Joiner, who both emphasized the value of the Protocol in the promotion of women’s rights (Ms. Joiner’s speech is available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/) A SOAWR member handed a red card to the minister before she left and requested her to deliver it to the President while also urging the minister to take a leadership role in Sudan’s ratification. Sudanese participants added their voice to the appeal emphasizing that the message to the President was coming from the Sudanese women gathered at the Symposium. The participants generated a declaration in support of ratification (available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/) at the end of the meeting which they later distributed widely at the summit functions (the opening of the Assembly, the first ladies conference) and was picked up by several media sources including SUNNA, the main government newsletter, and other popular newspapers like the Khartoum Monitor. As a follow-up to the activities held in Khartoum, SIHA commissioned the Sub-Saharan Informer to carry a page on its weekly releases information page about the status of ratifications and lack of ratification of the Protocol in the Horn of Africa. The Sub-Saharan Informer published the information which featured members of SIHA on 24 March and repeated it on 31 March. Prior to the Symposium, SOAWR also held consultations with Sudanese civil society organizations and had a fruitful exchange on various issues largely focused on the rights of women and the situation at Darfur. Other interventions are reported under regional advocacy.

Uganda
Akina Mama wa Afrika continued with its work around the Protocol even in the face of stiff opposition from the Church. The Uganda Episcopal Conference took out a full page advertisement in the Daily Monitor, a leading daily newspaper. In the advertisement, the Church lashed out at countries that had ratified the Protocol and urged the government of Uganda not to ratify this Protocol, claiming it was a license for abortion. The paid advertisement did not cover any other aspect other than a misinterpretation of Article 14(2) (c). The country held presidential and parliamentary elections at the beginning of March and the new parliament is expected to take office in May. Akina Mama wa Afrika is preparing to engage the new cabinet members and the parliamentarians to support ratification of the Protocol by Uganda.

The Uganda Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in collaboration with the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) held a workshop on Using International Law to Litigate Sexual and Domestic Violence Cases in Kampala from 27-29 March 2006. The workshop focused on sexual and domestic violence and considered ways in which such violence can be addressed through litigation, particularly by reference to regional and international instruments and mechanisms, of which the Protocol is one. The workshop trained 15 women’s rights lawyers, from across Uganda. Predominantly, participants were lawyers committed to taking women’s rights cases to court, with a particular interest in taking cases to regional and international bodies. This was an intensive exercise which attracted participants truly interested and motivated to work on such cases.

Regional Level Advocacy
African Union Summit
In addition to the symposium held during the summit (reported above under Sudan) and consultations held with Sudanese civil society organizations, the SOAWR team also undertook the following activities:

1) Press conference – SOAWR and its Sudanese partners held a press conference, which was well attended, and received coverage in the local papers, radio and television as well as Voice of America and Al Jazeera. The press statement is available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/

2) An advocacy package containing (a) a policy brief about the Protocol, (b) a special issue of Pambazuka and (c) a rating card (red, yellow or green as applicable) was also prepared and distributed to members of the AU Executive Council during the opening session. Some of the delegates were captured in photographs while reading their status cards. SOAWR members had the opportunity to dialogue with several of the delegates and below is the feedback received from some of them:
- Burundi – The Ambassador received the package and indicated that he will speak to his minister about ratification.
- Congo Brazzaville – the delegate indicated that the instrument is being discussed at the parliament and there was anticipation that it will be finalized soon. Equality Now’s Africa Regional Director had the opportunity to meet the Second Secretary of Congo’s Embassy in Addis and briefed him on the campaign requesting him to follow-up on his country’s ratification and that SOAWR has great expectation of Congo as it holds the chairmanship of the African Union. He promised to follow up on it.
- Central African Republic – indicated that the Parliament was reviewing the document and that the minister in charge of gender was following up on it. They expected that CAR will deposit its instrument of ratification within the year (2006).
- Republic of Guinea – the minister mentioned that the Legal Counsel of the President’s office is currently reviewing the instrument and the President is expected to sign the ratification instrument after this review is completed. She said she will inform the Gender Ministry to follow up.
- Algeria – indicated that they have a concern about the Arabic formulation of some of the articles and are discussing it with AU officials. They hoped to finalize this soon.

3) An information brief on the Protocol was also prepared for public consumption and posted at the AU-Monitor webpage that is managed by FAHAMU, a SOAWR member. For details, visit http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/

4) Following the handing over of the advocacy packages to the Ministers, SOAWR distributed a press release to the members of the media informing them of SOAWR’s intervention. The press release (available at http://www.pambazuka.org/aumonitor/) highlighted the progress made since January 2005. The number of countries that have ratified since January 2005 has more than doubled while countries labeled red (for not even signing the Protocol) have shrunk further; but emphasis was put on the need for universal ratification and implementation of the Protocol so that all African women could enjoy these rights.

Letters from Botswana and Sudan
President Fetus Mogae of Botswana sent a letter to SOAWR on 20 December 2005 (received in January 2006) in response to a letter that SOAWR’s Secretariat sent him on 28 November 2005. In his letter, President Mogae stated that although his country has not ratified the Protocol, Botswana is at the forefront of the promotion of the rights of women and pointed out that in Botswana women occupy senior positions in public office. Other measures listed included amendment to the Citizenship Act allowing women married to foreigners to pass their citizenship to their children; and an amendment to the deeds registry allowing women “whether married in community of property or not to have property transferred or ceded to the woman as if she were married out of community of property and marital power did not apply”. SOAWR’s Secretariat will write to the President to press for ratification.

On 14 March Equality Now received a letter from the government of Sudan (dated 14 February 2006) responding to a letter it sent to the President on 28 November 2005. In the letter, the government stated that although it has some reservations on certain articles of the Protocol it is considering all aspects of the Protocol in its totality with a view to ratification. SOAWR’s Secretariat will write to the Government and encourage speedy ratification. The ground work covered during the Khartoum summit and the participation of Sudanese CSO in the campaign should go a long way in helping realize Sudan’s ratification of the Protocol.

Status of ratifications

The following is the status of signatures and ratification with two additional signatories (Seychelles and Somalia). Total signatures are now 40 and there are 17 ratifications – seven more ratifications since a year ago. The Protocol entered into force on 25 November 2005, 30 days after the fifteenth ratification by Togo on 26 October 2005.

Status of signatures and ratification At March 2005 At March 2006
Total signatures 38 40
Total ratifications 10 17



RED-CARDED COUNTRIES
01) Angola 02) Botswana 03) Cameroon 04) Central Africa Republic 05) Egypt
06) Eritrea 07) Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic 08) Sao Tome & Principe
09) Sudan 10) Tunisia


YELLOW-CARDED COUNTRIES
01) Algeria 02) Burkina Faso 03) Burundi 04) Chad 05) Congo 06) Cote d’Ivoire 07) Democratic Rep. of Congo 08) Equatorial Guinea 09) Ethiopia 10) Gabon
11) Ghana 12) Guinea 13) Guinea-Bissau 14) Kenya 15) Liberia
16) Madagascar 17) Mauritius 18) Niger 19) Seychelles 20) Somalia 21) Sierra Leone 22) Swaziland 23) Tanzania 24) Uganda 25) Zambia 26) Zimbabwe

GREEN-CARDED COUNTRIES
01) Benin 02) Cape Verde 03) The Comoros 04) Djibouti 05) The Gambia
06) Lesotho 07) Libya 08) Malawi 09) Mali 10) Mauritania 11) Mozambique
12) Namibia 13) Nigeria 14) Rwanda 15) Senegal 16) South Africa 17) Togo

Meetings

Below are some of the meetings that SOAWR members attended.

1) United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
Several members of SOAWR attended the 50th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held in New York during 27 February to 10 March 2006. This year’s focus of the CSW was on two themes (i) “Enhanced participation of women in development; an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and advancement of women, taking into account inter alia , the fields of education, health and work” and (ii) “Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels”. This gave SOAWR members an opportunity to team up with the East African Sub-regional Support Initiative (EASSI) and co-convene a meeting on 3 March. The meeting entitled, “Parallel between Beijing Platforms for Action and the African Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa” looked at the AU Women’s Protocol in the context of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) and noted that the application of the Protocol was an opportunity to do away with the discriminatory laws, among other violations of women’s rights, as envisaged by the BPFA. The meeting also shared SOAWR’s campaign history, strategies that were working well for the speedy ratification of the Protocol and avenues of litigation strategies. There were about 25 participants present and several have expressed interest to learn further from SOAWR’s experience and to be kept abreast of the progress of the campaign. An Ethiopian group based in the USA also expressed specific interest to join SOAWR.

2) Meeting with Rachel Mayanja
SOAWR members also took advantage of their presence at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York to have a private meeting with Ms. Rachel Mayanja, Gender Adviser to the UN Secretary General, on 7 March 2006 at which SOAWR representatives informed her about the campaign.

3) Meeting of Experts on Social Policy
The meeting was convened by the Commission for Social Affairs at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa during 28-30 March. The meeting discussed the draft social policy framework for Africa with a view to improving the document before it is presented to the 4th Ordinary Session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission which is due to take place in Cairo during 22-27 April 2006. It was recommended that the Social Policy Framework should embrace and relate its purpose to decisions/commitments made by AU member states such as the Protocol on the Rights of Women and the Heads of State Solemn Gender Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.

Upcoming events

Africa Women’s Round Table on HIV and AIDS – This meeting is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg during 6-7 April 2006. It is a joint collaboration of four organizations: The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and Action Aid International (AAI). The meeting aims at generating a set of advocacy positions around women’s rights and HIV/AIDS. The outcome will feed into upcoming policy dialogues and processes on HIV/AIDS to ensure that African women’s concerns and proposals are taken on board. The theme of the meeting has a direct bearing on the reproductive health rights espoused in the Protocol including harmful traditional practices, marriage, women in armed conflict and on other rights such as inheritance rights. For more information contact Action Aid at www.actionaid.org

PRC/Legal Experts Meeting 10-16 April 2006 - The office of the AUC Legal Counsel is convening this meeting which will among other issues discuss the merger of the African Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The outcome of this meeting is particularly of interest to the campaign at the post ratification period as the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is seized with matters of interpretation arising from the application or implementation of the Protocol.

Campaigning in Africa: Experiences and New Frontiers is a workshop being held in Nairobi during 19-22 April by OXFAM GB. It will bring together 30 participants from Oxfam offices and several of its partners. It has the following four objectives:
1. A common understanding of the principles and practices of campaigns
2. Shared perspectives on political, social and economic trends and future scenarios in Africa from the lenses of power, inequalities and rights
3. Shared and critically examined strategies for enabling self-representation by affected constituencies and strengthening coalition based policy advocacy and public campaigning
4. Reflection on their current praxis (theory and practice) and proposed personal performance change objectives

The campaign around the Protocol will be one of the successful models to be shared and discussed at the meeting.

The First Meeting of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights – The office of the AUC Legal Counsel is convening this meeting, in Addis Ababa (12-15 June 2006), which is expected to lay down the methods of operation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights following the election of the judges during the AU Summit in Khartoum. Observers will be allowed only for the open session on the first day. Below is the list of judges that were appointed by the 6th ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly in Khartoum:
1. Ms. Sophia A.B. AKUFFO, Ghana (2-year term)
2. Mr. G.W. KANYIEHAMBA, Uganda (2-year term)
3. Mr. Bernard Makgabo NGOEPE, South Africa (2-year term)
4. Mr. Jean Emile SOMDA, Burkina Faso (2-year term)
5. Mr. Hamdi Faraj FANOUSH, Libya (4-year term)
6. Mrs. Kelello Justina MAFOSO-GUNI, Lesotho (4-year term)
7. Mr. El Hadji GUISSE, Senegal (4-year term)
8. Mr. Fatsah OUGUERGOUZ, Algeria (4-year term)
9. Mr. Modibo Tounty GUINDO, Mali (6-year term)
10. Mr. Jean MUTSINZI, Rwanda (6-year term)
11. Mr. Gérard NIYUNGEKO, Burundi (6-year term)

Aside from developing the rules of operation of the court the meeting will look into the relationship of the court to other AU organs and specially the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The 39th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights will take place from 11 to 25 May 2006 and will amongst other issues discuss the Protocol on the Rights of Women and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies will represent SOAWR at this Session and will hold an NGO Forum prior to the session.

NGO Forum at the 39th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR is due to take place in Banjul on 8-10 May 2006. The 13th African Human Rights Book Fair will also be held in tandem. For more information, contact ACDHRS- legal@acdhrs.org or training@acdhrs.org

OXFAM/SOAWR Workshop – OXFAM is convening a workshop in Johannesburg during 22-24 May 2006 in collaboration with SOAWR bringing together its partners from 10 countries (Angola, Burkina Faso, DRC, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia) with a view to accelerating the ratification of the Protocol in these countries and also expanding the number of coalition members thereby allowing for more countries to be actively engaged. SOAWR members will share their campaigning experiences and start connecting with the Oxfam staff and their country level partners.

World Social Forum 2007 will be hosted in Nairobi Kenya during 20-25 January. Aside from the main forum there will be a Feminist Dialogue that will precede the WSF, in which FEMNET and Akina Mama Wa Afrika (both SOAWR members) are part of the organising committee. Both organisations can be approached for information about the Feminist Dialogue agenda and other related information. Preparations for the Forum can be followed on a website of the Forum which will be put up in due course. There will be bi-weekly information bulletins on WSF 2007. This will be an opportunity for SOAWR to do an event and mobilize/link-up with other social movements in support of the campaign for the popularization, ratification and domestication of the Protocol.

AU Summit - The 7th Ordinary Session of the Assembly will be held on 1-2 July 2006 in Banjul. The 13th Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) will take place beforehand on 25-26 June followed by the 9th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council on 28-29 June. SOAWR members plan to undertake advocacy interventions including a public forum, press conference and launching of the AU/SOAWR book titled, “Breathing Life into the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women”.

The Women, Gender and Development Directorate of the African Union Commission is hosting a Gender Forum during 26-27 June in Banjul. The theme of the meeting is “Promoting Gender-sensitive Governance in Post-Conflict countries”. Various women’s organizations from across the continent are expected to attend. SOAWR members plan to attend as well.

Other African Union meetings that may be of interest to SOAWR members are:

2nd AU Conference of National Human Rights Institutions, 1-3 May 2006, Addis Ababa
Interim Steering Committee Meeting of the African Network on Gender Peace Building & Governance, 2-3 May 2006, Addis Ababa.
Special Session of the AU Assembly on Malaria, HIV/AIDS & TB, 2-4 May 2006, Abuja
Meeting on Human and Peoples’ Rights (9-24 May 2006, Addis Ababa) which will have three parts: (a) Brainstorming on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, (b) Consultations among AU Commission on human rights promotion and protection; and (c) the African Commission’s session in Banjul (mentioned above).

Equality Now Africa Regional Office
March 2006

Africa: Women's political participation in post-conflict governance

2006-04-26

http://www.womenwarpeace.org/issues/peaceprocess/peace_process.htm

UNIFEM takes action worldwide to facilitate women’s participation in peace processes, increase the numbers of women in post-conflict decision-making, build their political influence, and make governance processes more sensitive to gender. In preparation for the Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on Democratic Governance in Africa: Strategies for Greater Participation of Women held in December 2005 in Arusha, UNIFEM commissioned a background report to document its activities in this area. This discussion paper outlines the agency’s contributions to enhance women’s political participation and integrate a gender perspective in post-conflict governance in Africa, focusing on Burundi, Liberia, and Somalia.

Global: More women needed in global peacekeeping operations

2006-04-26

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/International/March06/womenpeaceneed.html

Describing the current low numbers of women in United Nations peacekeeping operations as “disheartening,” a United Nations-backed conference called for their number to be doubled every year for the next few years, saying this would not only improve the efficiency of peacekeeping but also its credibility.

Global: Hidden gendercide

2006-04-25

http://www.comminit.com/baseline/baseline2006/baseline-489.html

According to UN estimates, the difference between the biological norm of 100 newborn girls to every 103 newborn boys and the number of women actually living leaves millions of women 'missing'. This demographic phenomenon may be due to: selective abortion and infanticide; less food and medical attention, as compared to males; and sexual offenders, 'honour killings', and domestic violence. This sustained 'deficit' of between 100 to 200 million women implies that 1.5 to 3 million women and girls die because of their gender each year.

Global: Meet women leaders worldwide

2006-04-26

http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/131251/66/77253

Investing in women's leadership is advancing communities around the globe. Graduates of one non-profit's training programs share their stories and tell you how women's empowerment is saving lives.

Global: Promoting gender equality in new aid modalities and partnerships

2006-04-26

http://www.siyanda.org/newadditions/2006-03-28-2218-Promoting_Gender_Equality_in_N.htm

As efforts intensify to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, developed and developing countries have committed themselves to new partnerships and aid modalities. This new aid architecture is designed to align aid to nationally-determined development priorities, to pool diverse aid sources into direct support to the national budget or to particular sectors, and to ensure greater stability and predictability in aid flows. Gender equality is central to achieving the MDGs and other development goals, making it important to ensure that aid structures target and monitor progress towards gender equality goals.

Kenya: Acrimony as parliament debates sexual offences bill

2006-04-27

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604260882.html

Controversy and heated arguments marked the start of the debate on the sexual offences bill when female MPs stormed out of Parliament to protest a slur by a male colleague. The MP's contribution to the bill, which seeks tougher penalties against rape, sparked protest from female MPs while it was met with applause and foot thumping by male MPs.

Kenya: Politics and gathering water don't mix, say women activists

2006-04-26

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604250064.html

Women in Kenya's North Eastern Province (NEP) say they will not be able to play a more active role in politics unless concerted efforts are made to provide basic services in the vast and arid region. "Where is the time for politics if women there have to walk about 100 kilometres, or spend between seven and ten hours each day, to get water?" asked Sophia Abdi Noor, executive director of Womankind Kenya, a development organisation in the NEP. "Unless such basic matters are addressed, we cannot expect much in terms of women here participating in the political arena," she told IPS.

Nigeria: Modernizing small holder agriculture to ensure food security and gender empowerment

2006-04-26

http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC21404&Resource=f1gender

The study examines strategies adopted to increase agricultural growth and improve food security in Nigeria by empowering women engaged in agricultural activities. Initiatives to empower women have largely failed since they have not been supported by appropriate technologies. Women’s effective participation is further constrained by limited access to land, capital and education. Urban agriculture faces similar problems as the rural sector.

Rwanda: Fearing Africa’s young men

2006-04-26

http://tinyurl.com/gwcvn

This paper sets the case of Rwanda’s male youth within the larger context of Africa’s urbanisation and burgeoning youth population. It investigates the pervasive images of male urban youth as a menace to Africa’s development and its primary source of instability. It then turns to the Rwandan case, examining the desperate conditions its young men (and women) faced before the civil war (1990-94) and 1994 genocide, as well as their experience of it.

Tanzania: Domestic violence a serious concern, WHO

2006-04-26

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52880

Tanzania is one of several low-income countries with a high rate of domestic violence, according to a recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) on women's health and domestic violence against women. The WHO study, launched in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam by Sofia Simba, the minister for community development, gender and children, said 30 percent of victims of violence in the east African country ended up with serious injuries due to severe beating.

Cameroon: Nine men acquitted in major victory for human rights

2006-04-25

http://www.iglhrc.org

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) received word this morning (April 21) that nine men detained for homosexuality in Cameroon have been acquitted of all charges. The men had been unfairly detained in Kondegui prison for nearly a year. Today’s verdict was seen by all involved as a major victory for human rights in Cameroon

Global: Modern-day slavery still rampant

2006-04-25

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=18215&Cr=traffick&Cr1=

Human trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labor not only still exists in the 21st century, it affects most countries in the world, the United Nations reports. The report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime urges the international community to do more to protect victims and prosecute offenders. “The fact that this form of slavery still exists in the 21st century shames us all,” UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said of the report - Trafficking In Persons: Global Patterns.

Global: The limitations of universal jurisdiction

2006-04-25

http://www.globalpolicy.org/opinion/2006/03universal.htm

NYU law professor Paul Chevigny considers the pros and cons of universal jurisdiction - a legal construct that allows courts in any country to pursue high international crimes committed outside their territory by persons not their own citizens. The author identifies some weakness, especially the problem of frivolous cases and its opposite, overly-narrow jurisdiction.

Rwanda: Genocide survivors tired of ‘unrealistic promises’

2006-04-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=32950

More than a decade after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the need for compensation to victims of this tragedy continues to present difficulties for government and genocide survivors alike. Since then, a court - the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) - has been set up in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha to bring the alleged masterminds of the genocide to book, while Rwandan courts have struggled to try the huge number of persons accused of carrying out the killings. Those who survived the genocide are still awaiting reparations, however, says François Ngarambe, president of Ibuka ("Remember", in Kinyarwanda) - one of the main non-governmental organisations for genocide survivors.

Uganda: Kony denied amnesty

2006-04-25

http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/wanted/2006/0420amnesty.htm

The Ugandan Parliament has passed the Amnesty Amendment Act which excludes Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony from being eligible for amnesty. Many Members of Parliament (MPs) were opposed to the act, fearing that excluding Kony from amnesty would damage attempts at peace and begin another war in northern Uganda. MPs in favor of the act reassure that the opportunity for peace talks remains open.

Zimbabwe: Security minister repeats threats to shoot protesters

2006-04-26

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=12006

Zimbabwe State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has reiterated threats that the government will use armed soldiers and police to crush mass protests planned by the opposition for the winter. Speaking to ZimOnline at the weekend, Mutasa said no one should expect the government to "keep its security organs in the camps" in the face of opposition-instigated protests meant to oust it.

Chad: Displacement crisis looming

2006-04-25

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52946

Hunger and militia attacks in the remote border areas of eastern Chad have driven more than 11,000 Chadians to seek international assistance and stretched resources meant for Sudanese refugees, according to aid agencies. According to the UN an estimated 50,000 Chadians are displaced in eastern Chad, but until a recent wave of attacks on the government of President Idriss Deby by rebel forces nearly all the internally displaced people (IDP) had managed on assistance from friends and family.

Côte d'Ivoire: Protection and human rights of IDPs

2006-04-26

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YAOI-6P84BK?OpenDocument

"Cote d'Ivoire has been in conflict for over three years, and this is the main cause of displacement for the population," said Dr. Kälin, the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, adding that conflicts over land in rural areas, particularly in the west and the south of the country, have also caused major displacement. The conflicts seem to trap the population into displacement cycles, where each community is forced to flee one after another.

Liberia: UN sees success in resettling refugees

2006-04-25

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/04/21/liberians.reut/index.html

The United Nations said it has successfully completed a program to resettle more than 300,000 Liberians who were displaced during that country's 14-year civil war. "We consider it a success," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which plans to continue assisting and protecting refugees returning to the West African country from abroad.

Uganda: Disagreement over new government strategy

2006-04-25

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52907

Okello Abbino, who has lived in Padibe camp for displaced people in Kitgum district for nine years, has never heard of the Ugandan government’s new strategy to redevelop the war-affected region. "Let them first end the rebellion, then we can talk about development," he said. "How do we start redeveloping the region when it is not yet safe?" Coordinated under the joint country coordination and monitoring committee on northern Uganda, the new strategy was unveiled on 20 March.

Uganda: Displaced persons in the North struggle for basic needs

2006-04-26

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604250073.html

Caroline Akoko has lived for almost two years at a camp for people fleeing their homes in northern Uganda, where 18 years of war between government forces and a rebel group has caused widespread terror and destruction. "It was on a daily basis that they attacked the village," said Akoko, referring to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a shadowy, guerrilla force composed largely of children kidnapped from the surrounding area and forced to fight.

West Africa: The revolving door of internal displacement in West Africa

2006-04-26

http://tinyurl.com/ztsng

When civil war broke out in Liberia at the end of 1989 it triggered an intractable cycle of conflict and displacement that directly affected three other countries and indirectly affected several more. The violence that has ebbed and flowed between Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire - added to the separate conflicts in Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Togo - has created an extremely complex situation of displacement, both internally and across borders.

Africa: Tough questions for former heads of state

2006-04-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=32984

A public discussion with eleven former African leaders attending an African Presidential Roundtable, crowned the two-day event held at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg recently. About four hundred people -- including staff, students, invited guests and other members of the public -- filled the Wits Great Hall for an exchange of views with the ex-leaders. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Africa bureau chief Milton Nkosi moderated the proceedings, which saw the floor opened for queries to the former presidents.

DRC: List of presidential candidates finalised but still no election date

2006-04-26

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52959

President Joseph Kabila and three of his four vice-presidents are on the final list of 33 presidential candidates published by the Democratic Republic of Congo's Independent Electoral Commission, known by its French acronym CEI. However, the CEI did not announce an election date when it published the list on Saturday in an official newspaper, a move that is causing anxiety regarding the start of election campaigns. Under the country's law, campaigns should begin a day after the publication of a definite candidates' list and the campaign period must be over 30 days before the elections.

DRC: The gamble of elections

2006-04-25

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4072

Replacing the logic of guns with the logic of ballot boxes can be dangerous: former fighters may just return to the trenches if they cannot get what they want at the polls. This could soon be the case in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 25 million voters are scheduled to go to the polls in late June. One of the former rebel groups, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), has little support outside of the Congolese Hutu and Tutsi communities of the eastern Congo.

Mauritania: Political transition - assessment and horizons

2006-04-25

http://www.crisisgroup.org

The international community must press Mauritania’s leaders who seized power in a coup in August 2005 to respect their promises of democratic transition. The new strong men have made a good start in some ways but some are closely linked to the old regime and may prefer not to redress past injustices. This could fuel political tensions. Deep and controversial reforms cannot be completed quickly, but the government should at least work closely with all national political forces to take initial steps.

South Africa: 'Unfreedom Day' dawns

2006-04-27

http://voiceoftheturtle.org/raj/blog/Unfreedompress-English.pdf

On April 27th Durban will be mourning during its first "UnFreedom Day" event. Communities from throughout Durban's social movements join forces to mourn the denial of their collective rights, and to celebrate the strength that enables communities to work together, across barriers of race, during a day of cultural celebration and political action.

Tanzania: A ban on elections hand outs

2006-04-25

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4941672.stm

Tanzania has banned traditional African hospitality known by its Swahili name of "takrima" during election campaigns. Under the country's electoral law, politicians were allowed to hand out food and drink to prospective voters. But the High Court ruled in favour of three legal rights organisations that argued it was a form of corruption. The BBC's correspondent in Dar es Salaam says it is a blow to the government that legalised takrima shortly before the 2000 polls. The three High Court judges ruled unanimously that the practice should be outlawed.

Uganda: Museveni spent 50 billion on re-election

2006-04-26

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604250944.html

The Uganda National Resistance Movement spent about Shs50 billion on President Yoweri Museveni's re-election last February the director of Economic Affairs and Monitoring in the Office of the President, told a workshop on the media coverage of the general elections adding that the "commercialization of politics" was leading to "lower returns" in terms of votes. 50 billion shillings is enough to finance the (Shs10b) budget of the Mulago Hospital Complex for about five years and all the hospitals in the country for two years. NRM's main rival, the opposition Forum for Democratic Change said they spent about Shs 740 million.

Western Sahara: Annan - Time has come for direct talks

2006-04-25

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_UN_Western_Sahara.html

Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the most likely way a settlement can be reached in Western Sahara is for the Moroccan government to negotiate directly with rebels in the region. The United Nations has spent 15 years and $600 million trying to broker a peace deal between Morocco and the Frente Polisaro rebels.

Africa: Graft is a crime against humanity

2006-04-25

http://www.africafiles.org

African human rights advocates, lawyers and anti-corruption czars meeting recently in Nairobi resolved to work towards the recognition of corruption as "an international crime". Corruption, which drains Africa of about 25 per cent of the continent's official GDP, is viewed as a major cause of poverty in Africa. Advocates against corruption are trying to raise it to a criminal level alongside genocide.

Kenya: MPs demand pay rise

2006-04-26

http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,1761332,00.html

As donors launch record appeals to help feed millions of Kenyans, the country's politicians have provoked outrage by demanding a huge rise in travel expenses. MPs, whose salaries compare favourably with their European counterparts, are trying to force the government to increase their mileage allowance.

Nigeria: Millions missing from oil accounts

2006-04-26

http://tinyurl.com/lywo4

An audit of Nigeria's oil industry showed on Tuesday discrepancies amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars between what oil companies say they paid the government and what authorities say they received. The auditors stopped short of suggesting what could have happened to the cash, but their report raises questions about accounting standards and corruption in the world's eighth biggest exporter of crude oil.

South Africa: Call for Justice on apartheid corruption

2006-04-26

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=120903&src=dcn

The Institute for Security Studies and the South African National NGO Coalition are calling for the prosecution of people who plundered state resources during apartheid. The move is likely to send shock waves through South Africa's political, security and business establishment. The report, titled Apartheid Grand Corruption: Assessing the Scale of Crimes of Profit During Racist Rule in South Africa from 1976 to 1994, is likely to ruffle feathers among former SADF generals, National Party and bantustan politicians, businessmen, public servants and intelligence operatives if it is adopted by the National Anti-Corruption Forum.

Tanzania: Media owners, editors join anti-corruption drive

2006-04-26

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=120903&src=dcn

The Media Owners Association of Tanzania (MOAT) and editors from different media houses have agreed unanimously to actively take part in the anti-corruption war. In a joint statement released in Dar es Salaam , MOAT and editors who met in the city last Thursday and Friday, say corruption has become a part of the society, which has sunk into a great deal of moral decadence.

Africa: ADB to write off debts

2006-04-25

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604240544.html

The African Development Bank has said it was writing off the debt of 13 African countries including Uganda, amounting to $8.54b. Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia will all have their debt cancelled, the bank said in a statement. "This is a significant step forward in the initiatives by donor countries, both Group of Eight and others, on the issue of debt, which is to be applauded highly," according to the bank's president. The bank said the debt relief was intended to allow the 13 countries to channel resources into poverty relief, but also to stimulate economic growth and encourage governments to stay on track with reforms.

Africa: The role of China in Africa

2006-04-25

http://www.ippr.org/research/teams/project.asp?id=1864&pid=1864

Africa was the subject of unprecedented international political attention in 2005. In March, the Commission for Africa - set up by Tony Blair - published its report, Our Common Future, which provided an extremely detailed analysis of the challenges facing the continent and of the policy responses that might better help to tackle them. However, international policy makers have underestimated the extent to which China is now a major player in Africa. They have failed to fully appreciate the extent to which China’s engagement in Africa has the potential to seriously undermine some of their existing policy initiatives towards the continent.

Global: Annan's proposal for management reform meets some opposition

2006-04-25

http://tinyurl.com/gd36c

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's reform proposal for the world body that would give new responsibilities to the secretary-general is receiving sharp criticism from the Group of 77, which represents developing countries within the General Assembly. Action on the group's resolution, proposed by South Africa, could put off consideration of the changes for months and could bring about a showdown in June, when the UN must reconcile its annual budget, according to the NY Times.

Global: Highlights of the World Bank and IMF spring meetings 2006

2006-04-25

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd[126]=x-126-535552

Unusually for the World Bank - IMF meetings in Washington, much of the talk this year is focused on what is happening at the Fund. With the managing director's strategic review being considered by the board of governors, many probing questions about the Fund's role and continued relevance are being posed. Having finalised its share of the G8 debt deal, the World Bank's governors were left to discuss the controversial clean energy investment framework, while in the corridors all discussion has been about president Wolfowitz's high-profile announcements on corruption. See further details in this round up by the Bretton Woods project.

Global: Southern NGOs want greater say in agreements with EU

2006-04-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=32983

Civil society organisations from a large group of developing countries are insisting on full participation in negotiations under way with the European Union. The ongoing talks about economic partnership agreements (EPAs) are critical for long- term development, economic growth, and poverty reduction in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, according to participants at the ACP Civil Society Forum held in Brussels April 19-21.

Global: Trade unions resist World Bank and IMF policies

2006-04-25

http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991223658&Language=EN

Over the past five years, labour unions and their civil society allies in Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia have successfully organized to win important victories over the private interests that depend on IFI loans to set the conditions for corporate control over water, electric power and other basic services. This paper focuses on six such victories, starting with an analysis about how trade unions in Uruguay took the lead in organizing that country's historic referendum on water.

Global: World Bank secures enough votes for debt relief

2006-04-25

http://tinyurl.com/h2mpg

The World Bank says it has secured enough backing from member countries to proceed with $37 billion in debt relief for 17 poor countries. "We have secured the total votes necessary to enact the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative," World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said in a statement. "Countries will now be able to put more resources into programs that directly help those who need it most - the poor who need better education, better health services and greater access to clean water, for example," he added.

South Africa: COSATU warns of job losses on SA/China deal

2006-04-25

http://www.bilaterals.org/article.php3?id_article=4413

There has been a 480 % increase in clothing imports from China. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has warned government that thousands of textile workers, especially women, will soon join the unemployment queue. The labour federation says it is worried about South Africa’s trade deal with China that’s already left thousands jobless.

Africa: New hope for tackling an old scourge on malaria day

2006-04-26

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604250131.html

African children are dying of malaria at the rate of one every 30 seconds. Take a minute to try to comprehend that number – and two more die. Malaria kills an estimated million people worldwide every year, 90 percent of them in Africa. That relentless toll saps energy, money and hope from communities all over sub-Saharan Africa. "Malaria is also a major cause of anemia in children and pregnant women, low birth weight, premature birth and infant mortality," the Roll Back Malaria partnership says. "In endemic African countries, malaria accounts for 25–35 percent of all outpatient visits, 20–45 percent of hospital admissions and 15–35 percent of hospital deaths, imposing a great burden on already fragile health-care systems."

Africa: The Johannesburg Position on HIV/AIDS and Women’s and Girls’ Rights

2006-04-26

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/33800

"We stress with deep concern that in spite of the various commitments to action, the provision of resources and the promotion and protection of the human rights of African women and girls, given the devastating scale and impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic on African women and girls, there is need for renewed urgent actions, at all levels and in all sectors, to promote and protect the human rights of African women and girls."
The Johannesburg Position on HIV/AIDS and Women’s and Girls’ Rights in Africa
April 2006

We, African women including HIV positive women, women’s rights activists, feminists, scholars, professionals, community workers and policy makers from the African continent participating in the African Women’s Regional Consultation on Women’s and Rights and HIV/AIDS in Africa, in Johannesburg, South Africa, April 6-7, 2006 are:

Deeply concerned that despite various interventions aimed at prevention, care, support and treatment of HIV and AIDS, the global pandemic has had and continues to have a devastating impact on the lives of African women and girls;

Further concerned that in spite of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women and girls, governments are yet to recognise the centrality of promoting and protecting women’s and girls’ human rights in all HIV and AIDS interventions;

Mindful of the fact that the assault on women’s human rights continues through various forms of violence against women and girls, including, but not limited to: rape, marital rape, domestic violence, trafficking, harmful customary and traditional practices, violence and torture during conflict, forced marriages and early marriages. These forms of violence take place: within homes, at work, in schools, in clinics and hospitals, at police stations and many other places and they are continuing and increasing at an alarming rate fuelling HIV infections amongst women and girls;

Recognising that violence against women and girls is a key driver of increased risk and vulnerability to HIV infection among African women and girls;

Aware that unequal power relations between women and men result in the inability of many African women and girls to negotiate safe and pleasurable sex;

Acknowledging that women living in militarised communities and zones of armed conflict face peculiar and heightened risks of HIV infection as a result of violence , sexual crimes and torture perpetrated against women and girls, in war and emergency situations or as refugees and internally displaced persons, with extremely limited protection of their human rights;

Further acknowledging that women’s: low socio-economic status, lack of access to and control over empowering and emancipating resources such as land and property increases women’s and girls’ exposure to many dehumanising cultural norms, beliefs and practices that undermine women’s and girls’ emotional, spiritual and psychological well being, choices and agency, bodily integrity and self esteem and increase their vulnerability to HIV infection;

Noting with grave concern, that little investment has been made in securing women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in the context of a pandemic that robs many women of their choices related to childbearing and rearing, and the enjoyment of their full sexual rights;

Concerned that diminishing investments at the national and international level in the education of women and girls has an adverse effect on the ability of women and girls to access HIV and AIDS information, education and services that are critical for: the prevention of new infections, re-infections, for treatment and care knowledge and protection of women’s and girls’ human rights;

Further concerned that women and girls, and in particular; HIV positive women, women living with AIDS and orphaned girls, have been forced to become the backbone of the community, family based care and nursing systems; with limited knowledge and skills, without resources, remuneration or other forms of state support, further adding to their already disproportionate burden of care and support for PLWHA, in contexts of extreme poverty and inadequate state health services;

Dismayed that, notwithstanding the firm commitment to the indivisibility and interrelatedness of all human rights, and the crisis of HIV/AIDS in Africa, women’s and girls’ human rights are ignored by international financial and trade institutions-WTO, IMF, World Bank. The aforementioned institutions urge African governments to withdraw investment from health; to privatise basic services such as health and to prioritise debt repayments in the face of two major pandemics in the continent-HIV/AIDS and violence against women. These multilateral donors are yet to commit significant resources to institutionalise women’s rights as central pillars for halting the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.

Mindful of the fact that both the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Related Infectious Diseases of 2001 and the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS of 2001 are under review in 2006, presenting clear opportunities for heads of state and government to promote and protect African women’s and girls’ rights in order to mitigate the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on women and girls, and to halt the pandemic in Africa by taking action to:

Reaffirm commitments heads of state and government have made through regional and international agreements on HIV&AIDS, and women’s human rights, in particular, the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (1979); Vienna Declaration on Human Rights (1993); International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD Plan of Action (1994); Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), All the African Regional Conferences on Women; The Millennium Declaration (2000); Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003); Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (2004) amongst others;

We acknowledge that limited progress has been made in the response to AIDS at global and national levels in respect of raising resources and extending access to services;

We Stress with deep concern that in spite of the various commitments to action, the provision of resources and the promotion and protection of the human rights of African women and girls, given the devastating scale and impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic on African women and girls, there is need for renewed urgent actions, at all levels and in all sectors, to promote and protect the human rights of African women and girls.

We note with urgency that there is a critical need to move from rhetoric to action if we are to see a major change in the spread of the HIV and AIDS pandemic and its increasing and alarming feminisation.

We therefore urge all African heads of state and government and other relevant stakeholders to ensure the following:

1 Women’s and Girls’ Human Rights
African heads of state and government take all necessary measures to create a national and international community that places top priority on the development of policy, legislative and administrative environment in which the human rights of Africa women and girls, especially those living with HIV and AIDS are actively promoted, fully enjoyed and protected within and through national, regional and continental responses to violence against women and girls, and through HIV and AIDS policies, programmes and interventions.

2. Leadership and Accountability
We urge all African heads of state and government to provide the necessary leadership for the fulfilment of women’s and girl’s human rights in the context of HIV and AIDS.

We urge all African heads of state and government to bear full accountability for the commitments they have made to women’s human rights as signatories to various national, continental and global women’s and girls’ human rights and HIV and AIDS agreements.

We urge African heads of state and government to be exemplary, in both their public duties and private lives on the matter of the promotion and protection of the human rights of African women and girls.

We call upon all African heads of state and government to intensify the protection of the rights of African women and girls by enacting and implementing laws that protect women from all forms of violence that increase the legal age of marriage for young girls and that protect women’s and girls’ access to, ownership of and control over resources, including land.

African heads of state and government should create mechanisms to provide solidarity and support that enable HIV positive women and girls can meaningful and effective participate in and provide leadership, by occupying strategic positions of leadership and power, to strengthen movements of women living with HIV and AIDS so that their voices are heard loudly and clearly on issues affecting HIV positive women.

They should further address policy and legal gaps that exist with regards to discriminatory, statutory, customary and religious laws that deny women and girls their full and equal rights and increasing their vulnerability to HIV infection and burden of AIDS. These include but are not limited to enactment and implementation of laws against violence against women and girls, for land and property rights and women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive rights.

3 HIV and AIDS Programme Interventions
African heads of state and government strengthen HIV and AIDS programming by giving pivotal priority to women’s and girls’ rights in:

Prevention strategies, in particular, expand the current prevention paradigm to promote and protect women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive rights, legislate and implement interventions that protect against violence against women and girls, legislate and implement property and inheritance rights of women and girls, ensure access to appropriate and evidenced based prevention information, provide PEPs to all women and girl survivors of sexual violence and invest in fast tracked development of microbicides.

Treatment. Ensure that women and girls have access to, appropriate, free and comprehensive treatment-including but not limited to nutrition-services on HIV and AIDS. Further ensure that women and girls have an equitable share of treatment services.

Remove social and institutional barriers that prevent women and girls from accessing HIV and AIDS treatment and services, including violence they face as a result of their status

Expand PMTCT interventions beyond protecting the foetus to include comprehensive pre and post natal treatment of women.

Ensure interventions such as VCT and PMTCT do not contribute to increased risk of women and girls to stigma and violence.

Care. Invest in reducing the burden of care on women and girls through programmes that provide enhanced access to palliative care and that compensate women and girls equitably for their contribution.

Prioritise the strengthening of health services and infrastructure through adequate resources to reduce the burden of care and medical costs of HIV and AIDS on women and girls in Africa.

Ensure that women’s access to appropriate treatment and care facilities is scaled up, especially rural areas, where a majority of African women live.

Given the limited resources African governments are directing to public health care, in part because of the aid restrictions and conditionality of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, governments should take back their mandate and responsibility to provide quality, affordable public health care to its citizens so as to effectively eliminate the burden on women and girls of home based care.

Further governments should compensate women and girls for the care work they perform in respect of HIV and AIDS as this burden takes women and girls away from other forms of economically productive and income earning activities.

End the bias that currently exists in AIDS treatment programmes which, especially in the commercial sector, benefit predominately male work forces, by ensuring that HIV positive women and girls have access to treatment as citizens in their own right.

Provide sex disaggregated data clearly illustrating how women and girls are benefiting equally in care programmes and access to health facilities that are specifically designed to address women’s care and treatment requirements.

4 Resources
That all African heads of state and government increase investment and resources for the protection and promotion of women’s and girls’ rights, concerns and priorities in HIV and AIDS at the national, regional, continental and international levels through the following mechanisms:

Specific Women’s and Girls’ Resource Facility from existing global funding mechanisms targeted at ensuring that women and girls have access to and control over HIV and AIDS resources, with clear, pro-HIV positive women policy guidelines for the management and disbursement of the resources that formulates specific guidelines of the kinds of resource disaggregation.

Ensure that from this facility governments establish resources targeted at prevention mechanisms that enhance women’s human rights, such as, programmes that are aimed at preventing violence against women through:
• strengthening the role of the police force in preventing violence against women;
• the raising of consciousness among women and girls against violence
• strengthening the role of the judiciary in preventing violence against women by providing a clear legislative frame work criminalizing violence against women and girls and providing training on approaches to criminalization of violence against women in the context of HIV and AIDS;
• Ensure that special resources are availed for the protection of the rights of sex workers from violence.

Develop, at continental level, a HIV specific target within the Abuja commitment to allocating 15 per cent of national budgets on health, of which at least 50 per cent must directly address rights of African women and girls.

Ensure that all forthcoming international financing commitments on HIV and AIDS, made to global, continental and national initiatives, at a minimum channel 50 per cent of all resources to programmes that protect women and girls from rights violations, for instance, violence against women.

Targeted support for women’s organizing at local and community levels. Providing financing for the development of sustainable, viable and independent initiatives that ensure HIV positive women and girls have access to prevention, treatment, care and support that is designed specifically for their needs and requirements as citizens.

Scaling up HIV and AIDS Special Efforts and Interventions Proven to be Effective in Preventing New Infections in Women and Girls. These include universal access to Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), programmes aimed at the prevention of parent to child transmission and extending the lives of mothers (PPTCT+) and fast tracking the development of microbicides, vaccines and other new women-controlled technologies.

Ensure that resources are availed to enable women to access VCT facilities that are specifically designed to provide information and services that are appropriate to female clients with HIV and AIDS related queries of a specifically feminised nature

Ensure that there is widespread access to Post Exposure Prophylaxis for women who have been exposed to HIV transmission through acts of sexual violence and aggression

Promoting and Protecting Women’s and Girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Ensure that women in their own individual right as citizens have access to appropriate services that address their reproductive health and care needs beyond the limited frame of child birth and pregnancy, as there is increasing evidence of opportunistic infections of a reproductive health nature being witnessed in women who many not necessarily be pregnant or in child birth.

Scaling up Broad-based Women’s and Girls’ Rights Programmes. Particularly in areas known to minimize women’s and girls’ vulnerability to HIV infection, including but not limited to: prevention of violence against women and girls and promotion of women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, expanding girls’ access to education, increased access to and control over land and property and economic empowerment.

5. International Institutions of Development
We stress the need for international institutions whose policies and interventions have a strong impact on the social and economic position of African women and girls to actively advance and protect the human rights of women and girls as outlined in international norms and standards, as they are intrinsic to halting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, in all their policies and programmes.

Their policies discouraging governments from investing in social services, particularly health, and privatisation of basic services should stop to reduce the burden of care and cost for HIV/AIDS on African women and girls.

International institutions must in particular pay due heed to the rights of African women and girls living with HIV and AIDS by ensuring that they have administrative and policy procedures that respect and protect the human rights of HIV positive African women and girls.

Conclusion
We, African women are profoundly concerned and aggrieved that it has taken so long for governments to fully appreciate the centrality of African women’s rights and voices in dealing with HIV/AIDS, which is one of the greatest threats to our collective existence as a people and the continent. As African women, we demand meaningful participation and involvement in institutions and processes that shall guide the global responses to HIV and AIDS. As women of Africa, we fully commit ourselves to working with our heads of state and government and other stakeholders to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on African women and girls, the continent and the world. Women’s rights are not negotiable. The women and girls of Africa deserve more. The time to act is now!

April 7, 2006

Signed: ActionAid International, African Union, Akina mama Wa Afrika, ANERELA, AWDF, AWID, CIRDDOC Nigeria, COMESA, COVAW – Kenya, EANNASO, Empinsweni Aids Centre, EQULALITY NOW, FAMEDEV, FEMNET, FIDA – Ghana, GAMCOTRAP, Gender AIDS Forum, ICW
ICW / FOCAGIFO, INCRESE, Nigeria, MRC, Musasa Project, National Human Rights Commission – Abuja, OPIC, OSISA, Positive Women's Network, SAFAIDS, SWAA – Nigeria, SWAA - Sierra Leone, SWAA International, SWAPOL, TAC, The Women's Trust, UNIFEM, WASN, WLSA, WOLDDOF - Sierra Leone, Women in Law & Development (WILDAF), Women's Aid collective (WACOL), World YWCA - Geneva Switzerland, WSCF, YWLN

Africa: World Bank accused over malaria

2006-04-25

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4939810.stm

The World Bank has been accused of publishing false accounts and wasting money on ineffective medicines in its malaria treatment programme. A Lancet paper claims the bank faked figures, boosting the success of its malaria projects, and reneged on a pledge to invest $300-500m in Africa. It also claims the bank funded obsolete treatments - against expert advice. The bank has denied the allegations and says it is investing $500m to $1bn (£280m-£560m) over the next five years. The claims against the bank, made by 13 international public health experts headed by Amir Attaran, of Canada's University of Ottawa, centre on the financial pledges the fund made to fight malaria on the African continent and a programme in India.

Ethiopia: Government launches anti malaria plan

2006-04-26

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52952

Ethiopia has launched a five-year malaria treatment and prevention plan at cost of US $447 million in an effort to lessen the burden of the disease, one of the leading causes of illness and death in the Horn of Africa country, the country's health ministry has said. The plan is intended to provide early diagnosis and treatment services and implement mosquito control measures, including the provision of insecticide treated nets and indoor residual spraying. The funds will come from the government budget, the donor community and other partners in the health sector.

Kenya: Measles outbreak prompts emergency vaccination drive

2006-04-26

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52956

An increase in cases of measles has prompted Kenya's health ministry to embark on an emergency vaccination campaign to protect children against the disease, which has claimed the lives of 41 patients around the country over the past six months. About 1,600 cases of the disease have been reported during the same period, according to the director of medical services in the health ministry. The first phase of the vaccination campaign - scheduled to start on Saturday and last until 5 May - will target 560,000 children in 16 high-risk areas, including eight divisions in the capital, Nairobi, where 16 of the deaths have been reported.

Kenya: UK to give 370 million worth AIDs drugs

2006-04-26

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604250282.html

More than 60,000 HIV infected people in Kenya have received a major boost after Britain announced it will provide life-prolonging drugs worth millions of shillings. The Sh370 million funding will be used in buying first-line antiretroviral drugs and HIV testing kits, the Department for International Development head in Kenya has announced.

Liberia: IRIN News examines HIV/AIDS in post-war Liberia

2006-04-26

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=36789

IRIN News examined the increasing prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Liberia, which is emerging from 14 years of civil war. "HIV/AIDS is now a serious problem in Liberia," President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said recently, adding that HIV prevalence is 12% in the general population and higher among women and children. According to UNAIDS, 5.9% of Liberians were HIV-positive at the end of 2003, just after the end of the war.

South Africa: TAC stand firm on UNGASS

2006-04-26

http://www.health-e.org.za/news/article.php?uid=20031413

The Treatment Action Campaign will reject government's invitation to participate in the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS) at the end of May unless its ally, the Aids Law Project is also invited. TAC General Secretary Sipho Mthathi confirmed that a delegation from the TAC and ALP had met with Thami Mseleku, the director general of health in an effort to find a solution, after government objected to the TAC and the ALP being accredited for UNGASS.

Sudan: Malnutrition in Darfur rises

2006-04-27

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4947788.stm

Malnutrition is increasing again in Sudan's Darfur region, where increased violence and lack of funds are hampering aid efforts, the UN has said. Clinics have seen a 20% increase in severely malnourished children since January, a spokesman for the UN children's agency, Unicef, said. The surge in fighting has forced some 200,000 people to flee, bringing the total displaced to over two million. Mediators are trying to get the warring sides to reach a peace deal.

Africa: Three million teachers needed

2006-04-26

http://www.id21.org/education/e1sg1g1.html

Africa will not achieve universal primary education (UPE) until at least 2150. Progress towards it is essential. But what about the millions of new primary school graduates? Unless children are offered opportunities for secondary schooling, the economic outcomes from this education will never materialise. Forty million African children – almost half of the continent’s primary level children – are not in school; about two-thirds of these children are girls. .

Global: "Teachers and Educational Quality: Monitoring Global Needs for 2015"

2006-04-26

http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=6509_201&ID2=DO_TOPICe

Education International (EI) welcomes the UIS (UNESCO Institute for Statistics) report on teacher recruitment, which fully supports all of EI’s demands in terms of teacher training, quality of education and proper planning by governments. Education International welcomes the release of the report, which should help governments and the international community achieve the Education For All initiative by 2015, will state the EI General Secretary, Fred van Leeuwen at a press conference at the UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) today (April 26).

Global: Every child needs a teacher

2006-04-25

http://www.campaignforeducation.org/resources/resources.php

This campaign briefing paper gives policy information, facts, statistics and case studies that explain the need for more, better paid, qualified teachers in order to give every child a quality education. The paper states Global Campaign for Education positions and specific demands to governments.

Global: Expanding opportunities and building competencies for young people

2006-04-26

http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC21576&Resource=f1educ

The purpose of this report is to set forth policy options for supporting developing countries and transition economies in adapting their secondary education systems to demands arising from the successful expansion of primary education and the socioeconomic challenges presented by globalisation and the knowledge-based economy.

Global: Is the international community getting serious about EFA?

2006-04-26

http://www.id21.org/education/e1efa3g3.html

High-profile meetings in 2005 raised expectations that commitments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals would result in more aid for Education for All (EFA) programmes. But are donors ready to finally honour the EFA promises made in Dakar in 2000?

Kenya: Mother tongue education both effective and elusive

2006-04-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32958

A debate about the extent to which mother tongue schooling improves the quality of education is emerging in Kenya, with certain experts campaigning for children's mother tongue to be used as the language of instruction in schools.

Lesotho: Learning to teach - is it time for a change?

2006-04-26

http://www.id21.org/education/e3jl1g1.html

Who aspires to teach in this small southern African state? A new report examines what newly qualified teachers (NQTs) think of the training they have received and reviews how their expectations match those of the teacher trainers. It looks at whether they are content with the teacher education curriculum they are presented with and assesses how cost effective the current teacher training system is.

Togo: Suffering to succeed? Violence and abuse in schools

2006-04-26

http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC21580&Resource=f1educ

This booklet brings together the results of a research programme conducted on violence and abuse in schools in Togo. The publication describes the main forms of violence against children in schools: corporal punishment; forced labour; sexual harassment and sexual violence; and attempts to provide some understanding of the social framework within which such violence appears "normal".

Namibia: San survive millennia, but perhaps not modernity

2006-04-26

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=33014

"They have no voice, no jobs; poverty is excruciating, slavery is there -- because they work for others for nothing, like in only getting a plate of food or tombo (traditional beer). They are just suffering." This was the sobering assessment of Namibia's indigenous San community, delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Libertina Amathila last September after a visit to the north-eastern Otjozondjupa region where the majority of San live.

Nigeria: Discrimination against ‘non-indigenes’ threatens civil peace

2006-04-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=33002

The Nigerian government must take the lead in ending discrimination against millions of "non-indigenes" - citizens who cannot show that their family roots are native to the community in which they live - in part to better secure the country's increasingly fragile unity, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released recently. The 64-page report, "'They Do Not Own This Place': Government Discrimination Against 'Non-Indigenes' in Nigeria", charges that the legal division between "host" and "settler" communities - originally designed to preserve the traditions and cultural identity of most of Nigeria's more than 250 ethnic groups - has fed a growing sense of tension and conflict in many parts of the country.

Egypt: The waters of life

2006-04-25

http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/printout/0,13155,1186538,00.html

Egypt has long tapped into the Nile's power for energy and irrigation. Now, the country's southern neighbors want their fair share. Twice a year the monks and priests of the Church of Narga Selassie on Dek Island in northern Ethiopia gather to bless an urn of water scooped from the lake that surrounds them. They pray over the water for three days and ask God to sanctify it in the name of Jesus.

Ethiopia: Farmers embrace sustainable agriculture

2006-04-25

http://www.enn.com/aff.html?id=1250

Farmers in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, have announced the birth of a sustainable coffee movement. The group of 678 family farms in the Djimmah region are the first in Africa to win Rainforest Alliance Certification. The news marks the Rainforest Alliance's first coffee partnership outside Latin America, where more than 3,400 farms in ten countries already promote socially responsible and environmentally sustainable agriculture.

Global: Earth Day – April 22

2006-04-25

http://www.earthday.net/default.aspx

Founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network (EDN) promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect, interact, and impact their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies. For information and resources follow the link.

Global: The pros and cons of rising oil prices

2006-04-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32957

As oil prices reached a record high of 68 dollars a barrel last week - compared with the oil producers' targeted range of 22 to 28 dollars back in January 2005 - the United Nations remains hopeful there will be increasing demand for conservation and alternative sources for energy.

Global: World Bank urges new breed of clean energy funding

2006-04-25

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10319

The World Bank is urging its steering committee to approve a new breed of loans and grants that would go to developing countries to help them make power generation cleaner and more efficient. A report drafted for this weekend's meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at the request of Group of Eight leading nations already seems to have gained traction among some emerging countries.

Liberia: Before UN sanctions lifted, a timber industry clean-up

2006-04-25

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=32721

Liberia's newly-elected but cash-strapped government has begun to find ways that the U.N. sanctions can be lifted to allow the country to exploit its immense timber resources for the benefit of its war-ravaged people. The move follows the passing of Executive Order Number One, canceling all logging concessions effective from Feb. 2, in compliance with conditions set under the U.N.'s Security Council Resolution 1521 (passed in 2003) for the lifting of sanctions on timber exports.

Mozambique: China Eximbank to finance Mepanda Nkua Dam

2006-04-25

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604210592.html

The Mozambican government on Thursday (April 21) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) for financing the Mepanda Nkua dam and hydro-electric station on the Zambezi, in the western province of Tete. The cost of the dam, the power station, and the transmission line from Tete to Maputo is put at 2.3 billion US dollars.

Africa: Squeezing out poor farmers

2006-04-26

http://www.id21.org/urban/U6mb2g1.html

What are the factors underlying current transformation in rural-urban linkages in sub-Saharan Africa? How are livelihood strategies and farming systems changing under the impact of urban expansion? What are the consequences for access to such assets as land and water, education and skills, health, credit, transport and markets?

Global: Community priorities for water rights

2006-04-26

http://www.id21.org/nr/n6bb1g1.html

Water is becoming a scarce resource in many places. As access is threatened, communities seek to protect their rights to water. Water rights are negotiated within communities. However, they can also be negotiated between communities and others sharing water in river basins. As competition for water rises, communities of water users become involved in negotiating access to water.

Africa: Package for editors to mark World Press Freedom Day

2006-04-26

http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org/

Among the items that the World Association of Newspapers is offering to newspapers for publication on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, is a video dramatizing the theme of this year’s campaign: "Don’t Lock Up Information: Stop Jailing Journalists". The video is being offered with an array of "traditional" newspaper content that can easily be adapted for electronic media: essays, opinion pieces, infographics, editorial cartoons, public service advertisements and other materials. The package can be viewed and downloaded, free of charge, from www.worldpressfreedomday.org

Ethiopia: Two more journalists sentenced to jail on old charges

2006-04-27

http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/africa/ethiopia25apr06na.html

Two more journalists have been sentenced to jail on revived charges under Ethiopia’s 1992 press law, according to CPJ sources. Wosonseged Gebrekidan, who is already jailed on anti-state charges, was sentenced to 16 months for defamation on April 18. Freelance writer Abraham Reta was sentenced to one year and jailed the same day.

Ghana: Training Journalists in Ghana for the Information Society

2006-04-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/33767

The International Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Journalism- Penplusbytes with support from the French Embassy in Ghana and GINKS is organizing a three day training workshop for thirty journalists from most regions of Ghana working in the print, electronic and online media. The workshop is designed to serve as a knowledge sharing platform for the media to understand key issues in the Information Society, New Medias impact in the newsroom; and provide an opportunity for the media players to develop new practical skills in using specific ICTs tools in the newsroom.
Training Journalists in Ghana for the Information Society

Ghana has identified Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
as an important tool for accelerated development. Towards this end, it
designed an ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy document,
currently at its implementation stage, clearly articulates the vision
of improving the quality of life of the people of Ghana and the
modernization of the economy through the use of ICT. The main strategy
for achieving this vision is to transform Ghana into an information
and knowledge driven ICT literate nation.

This noble vision however requires that all sectors of the Ghanaian
society be trained in the use and benefits of ICT for their individual
lives. Journalists as the fourth estate of government therefore
require special attention and more intensive training in the use and
benefits of ICT for their work and national development. They also
more importantly as gatekeepers of society and watchdogs of government
need to understand policy issues surrounding ICT both at the global as
well as at the regional and national level.

There is therefore an urgent need to train Ghanaian journalists in the
area of Information and Communication Technologies. The International
Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
Journalism- Penplusbytes with support from the French Embassy in Ghana
and GINKS is organizing a three day training workshop for thirty
journalists from most regions of Ghana working in the print,
electronic and online media. The workshop is designed to serve as a
knowledge sharing platform for the media to understand key issues in
the Information Society, New Medias impact in the newsroom; and
provide an opportunity for the media players to develop new practical
skills in using specific ICTs tools in the newsroom. Participants are
expected to publish an ICT newspaper as an output of the workshop.

Kwami Ahiabenu, II the President of the International Institute for
ICT Journalism said By focusing on these issues during this practical
training workshop, we are filling an important gap in the
implementation of ICT policy in Ghana while at the same time ensuring
Journalists can learn about new technologies which they can apply in
newsroom day to day operations.

The workshop is scheduled to take place from Wednesday 26th April to
Friday 28th April at Busy Internet in Accra under the theme Training
Ghanaians Journalists for the Information Society and it is expected
to addressed by the His Excellency the French Ambassador to Ghana,
Hon. Minister of Information and The President of Ghana Journalists
Association.

Editor notes.

1. International Institute for Information and Communicating
Technologies(PenPlusBytes) www.penplusbytes.net

2. The French Embassy in Ghana www.ambafrance-gh.org

3. Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing www.ginks.org

Global: A Practical Guide to the Internet for Journalists

2006-04-24

http://www.comminit.com/materials/ma2006/materials-2750.html

This training handbook has been designed for print and broadcast journalists and journalism students in developing countries around the world, to help gain practical skills in using the internet for day-to-day journalistic assignments. It provides a step-by-step guide to understanding and utilising the many and varied aspects of the internet. The major part of the book is devoted to explaining how to search the internet.

Kenya: State moves to gag media and NGOs

2006-04-25

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604240404.html

The government of Kenya wants to control the press by imposing restrictions on media ownership. A Cabinet subcommittee charged with the responsibility of sprucing up the government's image is considering proposals for setting a ceiling on the number of shares a person may own in a media house and banning the alternative press publications as some of the strategies for dealing with a hostile press. The report also identifies NGOs as major threats to the Government's image and proposes placing them under tighter supervision, including close surveillance by the security intelligence service.

Liberia: Two reporters beaten by police

2006-04-26

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17352

Reporters Without Borders has called on the new head of the Liberia National Police, Beatrice Munah Sieh, to take energetic measures to ensure respect for the work of the press after two reporters were beaten by police officers while covering the eviction of street vendors in Monrovia on 20 April.

Zimbabwe: MISA-Zimbabwe analyses new bill

2006-04-26

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/73993/?PHPSESSID=38d457b6268600f0fddfcf2d91f047d1

On March 17 2006, MISA reported that the Government of Zimbabwe had drafted the Interception of Communications Bill 2006, which seeks to empower the chief of the Central Intelligence. In essence, the proposed law seeks to empower the chief of defence intelligence, the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept telephone, e-mail and cell phone messages.

Africa: Africa Positive, Germany

2006-04-26

http://www.africa-positive.de

German site available for articles on Africa and the African diaspora in German-speaking Europe. Table of contents, some full text articles & interviews. Africa events in Europe.

Africa: News from the Netherlands

2006-04-26

http://www.afroneth.nl

AfroNeth is a platform for African Diaspora Organizations in the Netherlands; on this platform they can enhance their participation in the Dutch society and in Africa, as well as build strong partnerships with pro-Africa development agencies.

Haiti: Country deserves better from UN

2006-04-25

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/haiti/2006/04better.htm

Peace Magazine offers a bleak assessment of the role the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has played in the Caribbean country. Under pressure from the US, France and Canada to give "uncritical assistance" to the interim government and the Haitian police, MINUSTAH has failed to uphold "either the letter or the spirit" of its mandate.

Africa: Resolution 1670

2006-04-25

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/ethindex.htm#1670

The Security Council adopted resolution 1670 extending the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) until May 15, 2006. The resolution reiterates demands outlined in resolution 1640 - mainly that Eritrea lift the restrictions imposed on UNMEE operations and that Ethiopia accept the final and binding decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission

East Africa: 11m now affected by East African droughts

2006-04-26

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/AMMF-6P7CBS?OpenDocument

The number of people affected by prolonged droughts in nine countries in East Africa has doubled since January, despite a recent week of rain. Over 11 million people across Eritrea, Djibouti, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Somaliland, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi are now in need of assistance up from an estimated 5 million in January.

Egypt: Resurgence of militant Islamists

2006-04-26

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0426/p06s01-wome.html

Three bombs spaced just minutes apart ripped through the crowded Egyptian beach resort of Dahab on Monday, killing at least 18 people and confirming the extent to which domestic terror groups have reestablished themselves after years of relative peace. It's the third time since October 2004 that Egypt's popular Sinai Peninsula beaches have been targeted. Prior to that first attack - three suicide bombs that killed 31 at Taba - Egypt had not experienced any terror attacks since 1997.

Somalia: Families displaced by renewed fighting in Mogadishu

2006-04-25

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52937

At least seven people were killed and scores wounded as rival armed groups fought on Sunday in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, displacing dozens of families. The violence erupted in Hamarweyne district in south Mogadishu when local residents opposed the setting up of a checkpoint by armed militias reportedly loyal to Mogadishu faction leader Abdi Nure Siyad, also known as "Abdi Wal". Siyad is a member of a newly created group - the Alliance for Peace and Fight Against International Terrorism - which comprises several Mogadishu-based faction leaders.

Sudan: Child soldiers return to their families in the South

2006-04-26

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52939

At least 300 child soldiers in southern Sudan have handed in their guns and uniforms and will return to their families as part of an ongoing demobilisation exercise supported by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The demobilisation at Khorfulus, near Malakal town in Upper Nile state, is considered the biggest of its kind since the signing in January 2005 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Under the agreement, both parties committed to releasing all child soldiers in their custody.

Sudan: UN dismisses bin Laden call to oppose Darfur force

2006-04-26

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24313430.htm

UN diplomats brushed aside on Monday a call by Osama bin Laden for Muslims to rise up against the West in Sudan, and vowed to go ahead with plans to send peacekeepers to the embattled Darfur region. The al Qaeda leader, in an audio tape broadcast on Al Jazeera television, said the United States and Britain, by pushing for a UN force in Darfur, were plotting to dismember Sudan. He urged his followers to rise up against them.
* Related Link
AU to stick to UN deadline on Darfur talks
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=qw1145840582763R131

Sudan: UN to vote on sanctions

2006-04-25

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4942026.stm

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution to impose sanctions against four Sudanese nationals accused of crimes in Darfur. The four include two rebel leaders, a former Sudanese airforce commander, and a leader of a pro-government militia, accused of widespread atrocities. In Darfur itself, a BBC correspondent has found evidence of continuing attacks on civilians by militias. More than 2 million people have fled three years of violence in Darfur. Last week, the top UN aid official said the humanitarian situation in Darfur was as bad as when the conflict came to the world's attention in 2004.

Uganda: Counting the cost of twenty years of war

2006-04-25

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/ugandindex.htm#cost

This report by Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU) describes the brutal impact the conflict between government forces and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has had on the civilian population in northern Uganda. The average death rate in the region amounts to 146 per week - three times higher than in Iraq - and the average annual cost of the war, $85 million.

Africa: Teaching teachers about ICTs

2006-04-26

http://www.id21.org/education/e4cj1g1.html

African teacher training institutions are doing little to train teachers how to incorporate information and communication technologies (ICTs) into their teaching practice. Teacher training institutions and schools need better resources to ensure that ICTs are properly integrated into education.

DRC: Fighting poverty through ICTs

2006-04-26

http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=4919512

In a country where the majority of the population lives below the absolute poverty level, where political crises and violence have done away with social institutions, does it make sense to invest energies in information and communication technologies (ICTs)? Canadian APC member, Alternatives, firmly believes in this opportunity.

Global: Gender Caucus in WSIS - Challenges for Gender Equality

2006-04-26

http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2005/thinking-1172.html

Media and ICTs can help women overcome isolation; allow them to network and to gain strength as political actors; enable their articulation of human rights; provide effective means to hold governments and other social actors responsible for their conduct; and help to lift them out of poverty and secure a livelihood, according to this article.

Kenya: Firm launches mobile wireless, broadband internet service

2006-04-27

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604260299.html

Africa Online Limited has introduced a mobile high-speed internet service in Kenya, making it only the second country after South Africa to have such a service. Known as InfiNet broadband, the service gives users speeds of one megabit per second, nearly 20 times that of a regular telephone connection.

Kenya: Phone call rates could reduce by 90 percent

2006-04-25

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604240919.html

Millions of Kenya's cellular phone users could soon benefit from what would become East Africa's lowest mobile phone call rates, according to a report by Business Week. Information attributed to sources in the Ministry of Information and Communications, indicates that government is in the process of harmonising and drastically lowering cellular phone call rates by nearly 90%.

Tanzania: Fixed line telephone provider reduces tarriffs

2006-04-25

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604240952.html

Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), the only fixed-line provider in the country, has substantially reduced its telephone The new tariffs enable a client to make an international call at just Tsh750/- (US$ 0.70) per minute compared to a previous rate of Tsh1,500 ($ 1.10) per minute.

Tanzania: The small farmer and the Internet

2006-04-26

http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/view/131003/1/

Tumsifu Lema, 68, is an organic farmer in Shirin Joro village in Tanzania. He grows mixed crops on his two acres of land, including vegetables, maize, sunflower and coffee, and he is constantly looking out for new organic farming techniques. Although Lema has heard of email and the Internet, he has never seen or used them. Tumsifu is among the growing number of poor farmers in Tanzania who are just starting to consider the potential benefits of ICTs.

Uganda: New software allows publishing on demand

2006-04-26

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604250044.html

It is difficult to get published in Africa. Publishers complain that few of the manuscripts they get from budding authors are worth publishing. They also blame a poor reading culture, which makes it difficult for publishing ventures to make profits due to low sales. Publish-on demand is an ideal solution to these challenges. By reducing the cost of producing books, publishers in Africa will be able to bring out more books from new writers and have the courage to experiment.

Global: Transparency International launches electronic newsletter -

2006-04-25

http://www.transparency.org/publications/newsletter/2006/april_2006

Transparency International recently launched "Transparency Watch," an e-bulletin of the global anti-corruption movement. The newsletter has been redesigned to be distributed electronically, both on their Web site and by email, on a monthly basis. Beginning in May, readers will be able to subscribe to receive "Transparency Watch" automatically via email.

Global: NGO support toolkit

2006-04-25

http://www.ngosupport.net/sw5748.asp

Full of practical information, tools and guidance, this toolkit covers a range of subject areas about supporting NGOs and CBOs working in HIV/AIDS.

Global: Women PeaceMakers Program

Call for Applications

2006-04-25

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/33770

The Women PeaceMakers program is an eight week residency for women leaders who want to document, share, and build upon their unique peacemaking stories.  Selected peacemakers will receive roundtrip airfare, housing, and a small stipend to cover expenses for the eight-week residence (September 18 – November 11, 2006) at the University of San Diego in southern California.
Women PeaceMakers Program
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
University of San Diego
California

Call for Applications

The Women PeaceMakers program is an eight week residency for women
leaders who want to document, share, and build upon their unique
peacemaking stories.  Selected peacemakers will receive roundtrip
airfare, housing, and a small stipend to cover expenses for the
eight-week residence (September 18 – November 11, 2006) at the
University of San Diego in southern California.

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice is pleased to
announce
the 2006 Women PeaceMakers Program is now accepting women
peacemaker and
peace writer applications for the Fall program.  You will find
all the
program details and the down-loadable application at
http://peace.sandiego.edu: <http://peace.sandiego.edu> <http://peace.sandiego.edu/> (click
on the
announcement at the top of the home page).  You may also go
directly to
http://peace.sandiego.edu/programs/women.html: <http://peace.sandiego.edu/programs/women.html> .

The Women PeaceMakers Program invites four women who are on the
frontlines of peacemaking and human rights activism to
participate in an
eight-week residency program to document their unique stories.
 The
residency program will take place from September 18 – November
11, 2006.

Each peacemaker will:
(1)   have assistance in documenting her development as a
peacemaker and
the work she is doing
(2)   share her vision and work with new communities
(3)   explore peace-building with other women on the frontlines of
peacemaking
(4)   take part in a two-day international conference focusing on
women’s impact on peacebuilding policies when they participate
more
equally with men in governmental, corporate, military and
peacemaking
decision-bodies
(5)   have a beautiful setting for a needed respite

Women from anywhere in the world who have assumed the
leadership role in
peace and conflict resolution with an emphasis in human rights
in their
own society or our global community are invited to apply for
this unique
residency in San Diego.  Peace Writers will help each peacemaker
document her unique peacemaking experience.

Applications are available NOW on-line ( http://peace.sandiego.edu)
Application deadline is June 2, 2006.

Nigeria: Media Skills, making a difference

Call for applications

2006-04-26

http://www.nigeriahivinfo.com

The BBC World Service Trust (WST) is running an HIV/AIDS mass media campaign in Nigeria, addressing young people between 15 and 24, encouraging them to adopt behaviours that would prevent them from HIV infection, and to reduce stigma. The campaign is using entertainment techniques to attract a wide youth audience on radio, TV and film.

Nigeria: Training on Advocacy and Fundraising for NGO and Volunteer Managers

2006-04-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/33694

The workshop content centers on Advocacy and Fundraising: The Advocacy part of the workshop is intended to be a hands-on experience focusing on designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating an advocacy for policy change campaigns.
Training on Advocacy and Fundraising for NGO and Volunteer Managers
2nd - 3rd May, 2006
Abuja, Nigeria

The workshop content centers on Advocacy and Fundraising:

The Advocacy part of the workshop is intended to be a hands-on experience
focusing on designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating an advocacy for
policy change campaigns. The topics to be learned are:
- Identifying Problems
- Policy Issues and Solutions
- Setting Advocacy Goals
- Setting SMART Objectives
- Identifying and Researching Audiences
- Developing and Delivering Advocacy Messages
- Formal and Informal Decision-Making Processes
- Building Alliances, Networks and Coalitions
- Self Development Skills; Effective Presentations
- Fund-raising for Advocacy
- Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy Efforts

The fundraising part of the workshop is intended to focus on:

Identifying Organization’s Assets
Setting Fundraising Goals
Identifying Individual and Institutional Funders
Choosing Fundraising Prospects
Building Fundraising Team
Mobilizing Fundraising Team
Developing Fundraising Plan Calendar

The meeting will be conducted in English.

Who should apply:

- Program and Project Managers
- Community Advocates
- Staff of Government Departments and Agencies
- Staff of NGOs
- Professionals Institutions, Associations and Networks involved in advocacy
- Advocacy Officers
- Research Officers
- Trainers on Advocacy
- Community mobilization and Sensitization Officers
- Public Awareness Officers

The training is subsidized and participants are to pay:
(a) International Participants: $500
(b) Nigerian Participants: N30, 000
This will to cover accommodation, feeding, registration and local transportation
from airport to hotel.

Limited funding oppurtunity is available to NGO representations.
Please contact Mrs Dayo Keshi at: afrigrowth@yahoo.com

Date Line: 25th April,2006

Please send for request for application preferably by email to:
afrigrowth@yahoo.com or visit our website for more information:
www.afrigrowthfoundation.org

Africa: Associate Professional Officers

Centre for International Forestry Research

2006-04-25

http://tinyurl.com/hywbl

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is looking for three associate professional officers to work on CIFOR research activities. This program gives promising young researchers or professionals invaluable on-the-job training under guidance by established scientists/professionals.

Global: Researchers

2006-04-24

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/33693

This is a great opportunity for two researchers well versed in African social, political, cultural and economic, pre and post independence history to work on an exciting documentary-film for broadcast in 2007. All candidates must have excellent research skills and must be able to work to tight deadlines. Both positions are voluntary but researchers will be duly credited. There may be some scope to travel to Africa in late 2006. Researchers with knowledge of Ghanaian, Sierra Leonean, Nigerian, South African, Ugandan, Kenyan and The Gambian Histories are particularly welcome. Please apply with your CV and details of your skills and experience to Michelle Akande, m.akande@virgin.net

Kenya: Journalism Advisor for HIV/AIDS Reporting

Internews Network

2006-04-25

http://tinyurl.com/ly9a9

Internews Network is currently seeking a resident advisor to lead our Local Voices health reporting project in Kenya; Local Voices is designed to support professional television and radio broadcasters in creating high-quality, locally relevant coverage of HIV/AIDS issues for their audiences.

Rwanda: Health Programme Coordinator

Save the Children UK

2006-04-25

http://tinyurl.com/f9kjj

This crucial role aims at improving access to and quality and relevance of primary healthcare services in Rwanda. Requirements include three years operational experience and a track record of success on advocacy and policy development/research in health; a sound understanding and experience of health economics; experience of work at field/community level; a degree in medicine, public health or other health related science.

South Africa: Director

The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project

2006-04-25

http://www.civicus.org/new/jobs_info.asp?id=443

The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project is a respected lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersexed organisation with a long and proud history of fighting for the political and legal rights of the LGBTI community. We are seeking a Director. She/he will, under the direction of the Board, lead a small staff complement, with a clear strategic focus and related programmes.

South Africa: Regional Director

Oxfam America

2006-04-26

http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whoweare/jobs/regional

The Regional Director will provide strategic program leadership and overall management of the Oxfam America Regional Office. He/she will also provide overall creative and administrative leadership to agency development of a long-term strategic vision and action plan for a growing regional program.

Fahamu