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Featured This Week

2006-11-23

Pambazuka News Editors

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/38527

FEATURE: During the 16 days of activism campaign to end violence against women and children, some thought needs to be given to adult sex workers, who experience violence on a number of levels. Nicole Fick explores the consequences of stigma and isolation for Sex Workers.
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- The proposition of a traditional form of justice, Mato Oput, as an alternative to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Ugandan peace process, raises many questions. Dieu-Donné WEDI DJAMBA points out that Mato Oput raises a couple of questions such as will Mato Oput apply to types of crimes such as mutilation, burning of houses, abduction, use of children soldiers and slavery, which are crimes against humanity?
- On the basis of electoral fraud charges, Jean-Pierre Bemba and his coalition have rejected the run-off presidential election results. There are fears that the country might return to war. However, professor Wamba dia Wamba argues that it is unlikely that the Democratic Republic of Congo will return to war
- Patrick Bond and Greg Ruiters comment on the global launch of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report 2006 (HDR), which was held in Cape Town recently.
PODCASTS:
* Professor Wamba dia Wamba speaks to Pambazuka News about the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo
BOOKS & ARTS: We have two poems this week, from the urban music award winner, Omékongo Dibinga, and from Akwasi Aidoo.
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Chad, DRC and Uganda
HUMAN RIGHTS: New data reveals that a Child is abused every hour in Zimbabwe
WOMEN AND GENDER: The girl child and armed conflict
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Down and out in London
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Bemba rejects poll results
DEVELOPMENT: A new fibre route to Africa
CORRUPTION: Development official caught in corruption
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Africa faces the world’s most dramatic public health crisis
EDUCATION: Catholic universities to focus more on social doctrine
ENVIRONMENT: Annan speaks out on toxic emissions
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Mujuru urges Africa to integrate infrastructure
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Al Jazeera comes to Africa
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: Rejoicing in genocide and white supremacy
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Growth expected in broadband market
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops
JOBS: Fahamu seeks Director for Education for Social Justice

What's happening in Chad?

2006-11-23

Pambazuka News Editors

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/38521

On the 17th of November 2006, Al Jazeera published an article that reported, among other things, that the “…prime minister of Chad has announced plans to send troops to its southern neighbour Central African Republic to fight rebels allegedly backed by Sudan.” english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3B1DDF97-24FD-4BAC-9EDC-019872E41D06.htm

The article further stated that “Pascal Yoadimnadji, the prime minister… also called for the ‘general mobilisation’ of Chad's people against what he called ‘a generalised war imposed by the Sudanese government.'"

Similar reports and those about relief workers being killed in Chad, abound on the internet. What Pambazuka News has not managed to cover, however, is to provide analyses of the origin of the conflict and who stands to benefit if the status quo remains in Chad. We are seeking articles that interrogate how the situation in Chad impacts on the Darfur crisis. Indeed, we need to assess how the situation impacts on the entire region.

Pambazuka News believes that such an analysis would be useful for both lay-readers and those who follow closely the political developments on the continent. It is for this reason that we are sending out this communiqué, asking any political scientists who would be willing to write an article on the current situation in Chad and its impact on the Darfur crisis, to please contact us. We welcome articles written in either French or English.
If you are interested, please contact editor@pambazuka.org

Got any spare audio or video equipment?

2006-11-23

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/38530

Pambazuka News will be at the World Social Forum in Kenya next January training women in grassroots African movements to make their own audio and video reports. But we need your help with equipment. So if you have cameras, minidisc recorders, microphones or headphones you're not using, and are willing to donate, please let us know. Your old equipment will make it possible for African women's voices to be heard. If you can help, please contact us at editor@pambazuka.org

The stigmatisation of sex workers

2006-11-23

Nicole Fick

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/38524

During the 16 days of activism campaign to end violence against women and children, some thought needs to be given to adult sex workers, who experience violence on a number of levels: from police, agency bosses, clients and on a domestic level like other women. Sex workers are isolated and stigmatised and this prevents them from being able to access the protection services of the police. It also means that law enforcement agencies often discriminate against sex workers, denying them assistance when they experience violence and crime.


Stigma can be defined as a brand, a mark of shame or a stain on one’s character. Social stigmatisation of an act entails severe disapproval from society for behaviour that is considered to be outside the bounds of social norms.

The normative message that society has traditionally given to women is that sex is only acceptable within marriage or at least within a significant relationship. [1] This message can be understood as part of society’s attempt to keep women’s sexuality controlled within the bounds of marriage. Sexual relationships that do not occur within marriage, or at least within a committed relationship, are seen as deviating from this social norm. The further a relationship is from the norm-setting nuclear family the more likely it is to be categorised as “abnormal”.

Thus, for example, unmarried heterosexual couples are still close enough to this norm to be considered nominally acceptable, while homosexual relationships fall further outside of the norm and are thus often seen as “suspect”. Sex with a stranger, as part of an economic transaction, is as far away from the norm as you can get.[2]

Selling sex is thus seen as “abnormal” and therefore morally wrong and sex workers as a group are stigmatised.[3] It is significant, however, that the resultant “whore” stigma does not only apply to sex workers and is often attached to any woman that is sexually assertive or seen as impure or unchaste.[4] Gail Pheterson speaks of the “whore” stigma as a stigma that aims to silence and degrade those that it targets, emphasising their “shameful differentness”.

This stigma also prevents women from “freely exploring, experiencing and naming their own sexuality for fear of being called a whore”.[5] The sex workers in this study spoke of their “shameful differentness” and of their own experience of feeling stigmatised.

“I don’t think anyone is born a prostitute, so I think at any given time, doesn’t matter whether she has been brought up ill treated or abused or whatever, she never actually has that image in her mind of her doing that you know... because society condemns it... you still look in the mirror and you still know that you are inevitably you are still selling your body for money... so you have got inner conflict already you know trying to lift your spirit and not breaking yourself down.”

“I know that people believe - that there’s that perception out there - that prostitutes are filthy.”

For one participant one of the main things that she finds difficult about her work is coming to understand what she does and justifying it to herself. Another participant spoke of her feelings of guilt after having been with a client and how it makes one question one’s worth as a person:

“You have all got a conscience and conscience means that you will, that after you have been with a client you obviously will feel dirty. You feel like am I worth this or whatever? Especially, especially when how the clients, some of the clients do treat you ..... You will finish a booking, sometimes when you have finished a booking you just have to get out.”

At the same time, one of the participants speaks articulately about how being involved in sex work allowed her to think more critically about this kind of stigma and how she has started to explore her own sexuality:

“I’ve come to terms with my own sexuality, I think. I’ve definitely sort of realised that it is just, well in my opinion, a physical act of pleasure. It’s OK for a woman to actually enjoy sex. There I’ve grown in leaps and bounds, but just coming from ... a conservative upbringing, you know as a woman you are brought up not to sleep around. And then you’re a slut and a whore and so on...”

Consequences of stigma

The way in which the participants quoted above speak about themselves illustrates how stigma can sometimes become internalised. Often the perceptions that others have of us can become the perceptions that we have of ourselves. Resisting the internalisation of these derogatory perceptions is difficult and it can be easier just to accept these insulting labels than to challenge them.[6]

Persons engaged in sex work are often blamed for social problems or perceived as victims.[7] Some of the myths and stereotypes that exist about sex workers are that they are dirty and spread disease, that they all come from dysfunctional families, that they all abuse drugs and alcohol, that sex work is always associated with or the cause of other crimes, or that sex workers are women that need a sexual outlet.

Participants in the study use some of these stereotypes to describe themselves when they talk about themselves as “dirty”, or when they make the assumption that sex workers come from families where they are ill treated and sexually abused. They also expressed their awareness of the condemnation of society, as well as their own feelings of guilt and self blame for doing the work they do:

“I think it’s sort of coming to understand or justifying what you do. And then sort of coming to terms with it. And forgiving yourself or you can sugarcoat it any which way you like, and justify it as much as you can, but it still is what it is, you know.”

“... many a times we feel down and... we feel broken because of the type of business we’re in...” “They just, we all just feel that we are not, we are not good enough, you know, and that makes you just let yourself go. I know I’ve let myself go... I just felt I wasn’t worthy of anybody...”

Participants in the study also spoke about experiencing feelings of guilt and self-judgment, particularly when they had just started doing sex work. A number of researchers describe this internalised stigma as one of the worst dangers that people engaged in sex work face and they assert that it is mainly stigma that causes psychological distress for sex workers.[8] One participant describes this experience as follows:

“What I really find difficult is the stigma, the stigma that gets attached to you, by society. They don’t understand why, and people... That’s the thing that I find the worst is the stigma of the work.”

Some of the psychological consequences of internalised stigma are difficulties with self-esteem, feelings of shame, despair and powerlessness.[9] A participant in the study spoke of people she works with who become depressed as a result of the stigma attached to the work and who then use drugs as a means of escape:

“Yes there is, self esteem, just because you’re in the industry, you don’t, yes this is probably the last thing that a lot of people will consider doing, okay... As we feel dirty when we have been with a client, some of my colleagues, or ex colleagues that actually went into a depression. Like in the sense of, this is not really for me and, and their way is also to cut it off, doing like abuse in order for you to escape from what you are doing...”

Research has shown that one of the main strategies employed by sex workers to cope with stigma is distancing. One of the distancing techniques used by some sex workers is to avoid referring to what they do directly, referring to it as “working” and never directly mentioning the sexual aspect of their work.[10]

This has also been our experience, with some sex workers preferring to speak of themselves as “working girls” rather than “sex workers”, thereby distancing themselves from the sexual nature of the work they do in the way that they speak about the work.

Most of the women we work with also use a pseudonym as their working name. Taking on a different name when working is another distancing strategy that allows sex workers to separate their identity when working from their private selves. A sex worker interviewed in Campbell’s study explains it in this way:

“My street name is not the name I take home with me. At home I am just an ordinary person like my name is...” [11]

Participants in this research also spoke of keeping their work identity and their home identity separate from each other.

“Ek is nie ‘n hoer nie. Hierbinne doen ek my werk. As ek buitekant toe gaan, is ek ‘n hele ‘different’ tipe mens. Ek vat nie eers ‘n man se nommer buite nie...”

[I am not a ‘whore’. I do my work here inside this place. When I go outside, I am a totally different person. I don’t even take a man’s number outside this place...]

When people are stigmatised for doing something, it is natural for them to attempt to hide the activity or the attribute for which they are being stigmatised and to attempt to pass as “normal”.[12] But hiding is not always effective as a strategy to cope with stigma. Passing for “normal” requires constant alertness to ensure that you don’t expose yourself and so can create additional anxiety and isolation. Although our experience at SWEAT shows that some sex workers are open about the work they do, many hide the nature of their work. Eleven of the seventeen participants in this research spoke about the difficulty of keeping the work they do a secret from family and friends as well as more generally in their everyday interactions. A participant in the study indicated that hiding the work she does is important to protect her children, who are still at school, from stigma.

“No one knows I do this work. First of all, it’s like, when I leave this house, it’s like I’ve got my own life outside.”

“Nobody knows in the community that I am doing this kind of a job...”

“Difficulties in my personal life, is basically the fact that we have to lie about this. And people do start asking questions. It gets a bit tough...”

“No. We don’t actually describe this work to people. You lie.”

“And some people say, what type of work do you do and then you feel a little afraid to say, no, I’m a sex worker and then you just say, I work under (name of an organisation)... Do you understand? And because you don’t want to have people looking down on you...”

Participants also spoke of their constant worry and anxiety that someone they know will find out about the work that they do:

“... hoping that your parents doesn’t find out, friends doesn’t find out, that kind of thing, you know.”

“Other things worrying me, is basically people coming in here that may know me or my family. Probably one of the main things...”

“So you’re always lying and making up excuses... ‘Where you going?’ ‘I’m going to work.’ ...especially with your friends as well, when they wanna drop you off at work. Now you have to let them drop you at the hotel. And then you have to walk, always check, not actually running yet. Hoping no one’s gonna see you.”

This was confirmed by participants in the study who spoke of their fear that a member of their family would drive past while they were standing in the road, working. Those working at agencies said that they worried about their boyfriend walking in at the agency where they work. This constant need for subterfuge can have an isolating effect on sex workers.

One participant indicated that she purposefully doesn’t initiate contact with people in order to avoid having to constantly lie or to deceive them about what she does.

“You don’t allow someone in your life. I cut most of my friends, most of my family. And of course it’s not something ... You can’t explain where you’re going, you can’t make friends when you’re in this business. There’s always lying, deceiving. And I don’t like that, that you can’t. So while you’re in this business you’re actually very cut off from the world and people. You don’t really actually make friends or allow people, as you would if you weren’t in the business. I love making friends, but you just don’t. You actually reflect being a bad friend or, but you’re not really, you just don’t know how to tell them, or you don’t want to tell them, or you think they won’t be able to handle it, so you don’t go there. You just avoid friendships at all costs.”

Participants spoke of the kinds of stresses that the hidden nature of their work also places on their personal relationships. Two participants spoke about difficulties with trust in their personal relationships:

“Yes. I guess because we’ve both been in the industry, and we know the emotional stress that it leaves behind, in the personal relationships, it kind of messes you around. Trusting-wise. That kind of thing.” “You struggle trusting men... As you should. Alsostanding behind the door as well you know... if you understand what I mean. You’re doing something that you don’t actually want other people to know. Therefore they can’t trust you 100% and therefore you won’t trust them 100% because you are deceiving them in the first place.”

Difficulties were also experienced by participants in hiding what they do from their intimate partner although, as one participant says, it is a difficult situation to cope with, whether your partner knows about the work you do or not:

“I think that every girl that works in this industry that has either families that know about it or has a partner, and if the partner knows about it, it makes it even worse. I think it makes it difficult if the partner doesn’t know about it. Because then you sort of, you’ve got to watch what you do, your times, you know the whole story. And I’ve got such empathy for them. I can imagine it’s like not easy at all. And if you have a partner that knows about it, there’s always, always little fights and tiffs and things like that.”

Sometimes hiding the work they do makes it very complicated for sex workers to manage their personal and social lives. For one participant this means planning her social life in order to keep the people in her life who know of the work she does completely separate from those who do not know:

“I don’t have any friends of the past that have stayed in my life that I’ve kept this from... Friends that don’t know are the friends that I’ve met while I’m in the industry. And that gets a bit tricky because then you have to start lying about what you do, your working hours, where you’re working, what do you do, that kind of stuff. So that’s a bit tricky. ... Try not to intermingle the friends because then everybody’s got to be on their toes and nobody really, everybody likes to relax. Say if I go out and have a braai or something I’ll only invite the friends that know, what each other do cause it’s ... more relaxed.”

Managing a life where you hide the work you do is not only stressful, but it also makes it more difficult to use normal sources of social support like family or friends if you have a problem or something that you need to talk about.[13] A participant in this study spoke of not being able to share even day-to-day difficulties with family or friends:

“In sex work even the girls downstairs in the street, some of them don’t have some people to speak to... Because obviously their family doesn’t know what they’re doing, and you can’t actually go and speak to your mother regarding what happened at work, as if you’ve got sort of a normal job... So you can’t go to your mother, oh this happened on the streets today. I’m sure she will chuck you out of your, out of the house.”

• This is an extract from a report by Nicole Fick of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce entitled “Coping with stigma, discrimination and violence: Sex Workers talk about their experiences”. The full report is available on www.sweat.org.za

• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

References

[1] Goffman, 1968; Pheterson, 1998)
[2] Augustin, 2001
[3] Alexander, 1998
[4] Pheterson, 1998
[5] Alexander, 1998: 184
[6] Erikson, Butters, McGillcuddy & Halgren, 2000
[7] Erikson et al, 2000; Pheterson, 1998
[8] Erikson et al, 2000; Vanwesenbeeck, 2001; Benoit & Millar, 2001
[9] Goffman, 1968; Moane, 2003
[10] Campbell, 2000
[11] Campbell, 2000
[12] Goffman, 1968
[13] El Bassel cited in Vanwesenbeeck, 2001

The Ugandan peace process in perspective

2006-11-23

Dieu-Donné Wedi Djamba

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38526

The proposition of a traditional form of justice, Mato Oput, as an alternative to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the Ugandan peace process, raises many questions. Dieu-Donné WEDI DJAMBA points out that the use of Mato Oput, the withdrawal of ICC warrants of arrest against the LRA leaders, and the granting of a blanket amnesty to the LRA leaders have been raised as the conditions for peace in Uganda, yet are posing a threat to the existence of this and even the ICC, whose philosophy is: “There is no justification for worse crimes.” This article is the first part of a two-part series.


The international community is very interested in the ongoing peace process in Uganda between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army, (LRA), a rebel group active in northern Uganda for the past 19 years.

This process started in July 2006 in Northern Uganda and Juba in Southern Sudan. One of the key countries observing the peace process is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Having many events in common with Uganda in the past, there are many factors linking the DRC to the ongoing Ugandan peace process, such as the shared Northeastern border between the DRC and Uganda. The LRA has one of its camps in the Karamba forest in Ituri District, northeast DRC, and many Ituri militia groups who have been involved in many human rights violations and other atrocities are still active there, with links with Uganda.

The end of the civil war in Uganda will be beneficial for the DRC as it will end any justification for the Ugandan government to violate the DRC border under the pretence of fighting the LRA rebellion. In particular, the end of the war will impact positively on the Ituri District, which has been deeply affected by the militia groups connected with Uganda.

The DRC is just emerging from a protracted war involving Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Uganda, Rwanda, Chad, during which over three million people were killed, thousands displaced, thousands still becoming refugees, many atrocities committed, and the HIV/AIDS rate increased. Many issues are outstanding, not least the accountability of the perpetrators and the issue of reparation for the victims of those atrocities.

However, the proposition of a traditional form of justice, Mato Oput [1], as an alternative to the International Criminal Court (ICC) trial, the dropping off of the warrant of arrest against the LRA leaders, the blanket amnesty promised to the LRA leaders by the Ugandan government in exchange for a peace agreement despite the warrant of arrest from the ICC pending upon them, are areas of concern for the DRC. Any outcome on these three issues in Uganda - signatory to the Rome Statute as the DRC - will have implications for the DRC, and the Ituri District.

What impact can the Ugandan peace process have in Ituri (DRC) in the perspective of transitional justice? What other issues does the Ugandan peace process raise? These are the questions I will try to respond to through this paper.

The peace process in Uganda.

The current peace process in Uganda between the Ugandan government and the LRA began in July 2006. The peace talks are taking place in Juba in Southern Sudan and led by Dr Riek Machar, the Vice President of Southern Sudan. [2]

The LRA is a rebel group led by Joseph Kony, that has fought in northern Uganda for the past 19 years. Born in the early 1960’s in Odek, a village East of Gulu, Kony is thought to be the cousin of Alice Lakwena who founded the Holy Spirit Movement in 1986. This group represented the Acholi people in northern Uganda who felt excluded from power after the overthrow of the northern leader Milton Obote by Museveni. Lakwena promised her followers immunity from the bullets of the Ugandan army, but Museveni troops defeated her movement in 1988 and she fled to Kenya. After this defeat, Kony founded his own group which has operated through the abduction of thousands of children to become fighters or sex slaves. Kony himself is thought to have at least 60 wives as he and his senior commanders take the pick of the girls they capture. [3]

According to IRIN [4], nineteen years of the conflict has condemned some two million people in northern Uganda to live in appalling conditions in huge camps within their home districts. Thousands have died during this conflict. The Kony rebel group initially claimed to be fighting to topple a government that has “marginalized” the people of the region but they quickly turned against the same people when support was not forthcoming. [5]

Indeed, Kony appears to believe that his role is to cleanse the Acholi people. He uses biblical references to explain why it is necessary to kill his own people since they - in his view - failed to support his cause. “If the Acholi don’t support us, they must be finished”, he told one abducted person.[6]

Death was not the only one punishment that Kony has afflicted on his people. Mutilation, rape, abduction, slavery and burning of houses were also among the arsenal of weapons he employed against his people. [7]

As a leader, Kony sees himself as a spirit medium and he has created an aura of fear and mysticism around himself, thus his rebels follow strict rules and rituals.[8] His LRA movement demands that Uganda be ruled according to the biblical Ten Commandments. IRIN [9] has observed that over the past 19 years, Kony and his rebel group have not controlled any territory and have rarely tried to control strategic government assets. This made fighting and arresting perpetrators a nightmare for the government until the government petitioned the ICC in The Hague to investigate and indict rebel leaders for their crimes against humanity.[10] The ICC responded and last year issued warrants of arrest for five rebel leaders: Joseph Kony, Vince Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.[11]

However, since these warrants were issued, peace talks between the LRA and Ugandan government began. A major breakthrough was made when the parties signed a ‘cessation of hostilities agreement’ whereby the LRA agreed to assemble within three weeks at designated points. Rebels in Uganda and Sudan were to go to Owiny-Ki-Bulm in Eastern Equatoria, and rebels in Congo to Ri-Kwangban in Western Equatoria.[12] The rebels would be protected by the Southern Sudanese and the Ugandan government undertook not to attack them. [13]

But the mediators who tried to broker negotiations in the war were not amused as they felt that the justice being sought by the ICC was not the immediate requirement, but a luxury that could be put aside for a while until peace was achieved. [14]

The Ugandan peace process versus the I CC

Very often, when a country wishes to move from war to peace, the search for justice may include trials in an national or international court of law as well as other non-punitive approaches. In recent years there has been a growing demand around the world for transitional mechanisms, such as truth commissions.[15] Juan E. Mendez argues that because accountability problems occur within a broad range of contexts, accountability for past abuses must be considered not only in transitions to democracy, but in seeking solutions to armed conflicts as well. [16]

However, after the ICC issued warrants of arrest against the LRA leaders, some analysts expressed concerns that these warrants effectively ended the peace efforts led by former Uganda minister Betty Bigombe. Once officially charged by the ICC with crimes against humanity, the LRA commanders cannot receive amnesty as part of any political settlement of the conflict. Bigombe herself complained that the court had “rushed too much” as a result of which “there is now no hope of getting (the LRA commanders) to surrender’’. The Roman Catholic Church, which had also helped facilitate the mediation effort, expressed fears too that a political settlement has now been made more difficult. [17]

On the other hand, Juan E. Mendez argues that the ICC warrants of arrest arehelpful for the Ugandan peace process. He told IRIN that, “when you have spoilers like the five people who have been indicted who are really not interested in peace, at some point it is important to remove them from the negotiating table so you can bargain with people who are more interested in peace. This removal, by the fact they are now under indictment, may initially be seen as an obstacle to peace, but farther down the road it may be exactly what is need to get a stable peace in northern Uganda”. [18]

History confirms the validity of Mendez’ argument. The indictment of Charles Taylor [19] was beneficial for the peace process in Liberia, and the death of Dr Jonas Savimbi [20], the ex-UNITA rebel leader, allowed the Angola government to embark on a successful peace process with another UNITA leader.

The road towards peace is sometimes very surprising indeed. A further more complicated proposal is that made by some Ugandans of using ‘Mato Oput’, the traditional form of justice, as an alternative to the ICC processes.

Still others are asking for the ICC warrants of arrest to be withdrawn and there are also those who believe the Ugandan Amnesty Commission (UAC) is good enough to deal with the case.

Thus, the three issues posited as the conditions for peace - the use of Mato Oput, the withdrawal of arrest warrants issued against LRA leaders, and the granting of a blanket amnesty to the LRA leaders, - are becoming a threat to the existence even of the ICC for which the philosophy is: “There is no justification for worse crimes.” [21]

Mato Oput

In reference to the principle of complementarity in the preamble of the ICC, which states that “The International Criminal Court shall be complementary to national criminal court jurisdiction” [22], some observers in Uganda are suggesting that the traditional Mato Oput process of reconciliation be implemented in order to deal with Kony and his commanders. [23]

To confirm this trend, one of the elders in the Internally Displaced People’s (IDPs) camp at Opit, Gulu, in northern Uganda said, “the amount of death in Acholi should not be equated to the pursuing of five LRA commanders’. The elder added that “the Acholi people have a system that is capable of delivering justice in region” [24], referring here to Mato Oput.

Indeed, in Acholi, Mato Oput means drinking the herb of the Oput tree, [25] a blinding-bitter tree [26]. The reconciliation process is called Mato Oput because it ends in a significant ceremony of reconciling the parties in conflict. Barney Afako, a Ugandan Human rights lawyer and consultant to the Amnesty Commission, argues that among the Acholi “many offenses including homicides” were traditionally resolved by reconciliation. [27] If one kills a person, the clan of the killer approaches the clan of victim for reconciliatory justice. [28]

Mato Oput is not a happy ceremony. The moods of all present express the seriousness of the occasion. The process involves the guilty acknowledging responsibility, repenting, asking for forgiveness, paying compensation and being reconciled with the victim’s family through sharing the bitter drink -Mato Oput. [29] The victim’s clan must accept the plea for forgiveness for the reconciliation to be complete. [30]

Mato Oput is to be distinguished from other ceremonies, particularly the nyono tong gweno (stepping of the egg) ceremony which is a cleansing ritual that has been adapted for the reintegration of returnees. The latter is not a reconciliation ceremony that involves any measure of accountability or admission of guilt. [31]

The accountability issue that Mato Oput addresses raises a couple of questions such as will Mato Oput apply to types of crimes such as mutilation, burning of houses, abduction, use of children soldiers and slavery, which are crimes against humanity? These are the crimes for which Kony and his senior commanders are wanted by the ICC. Similarly, will Mato Oput be a suitable alternative mechanism to the ICC? Can LRA leaders can be tried by Mato Oput after the ICC already issued warrants of arrest for them, since there is no provision allowing the ICC to drop this case?

From the above arguments, Mato Oput can be described as conciliatory justice dealing with less serious crimesresponsibility. [32]

The gross violations of human rights, such as abduction, slavery, children, and mass killing are out of its jurisdiction as is confirmed by George Omona from Koc Goma in southwestern Gulu. Omona states that “the Mato Oput did not envisage monstrous crimes against a community, like killing of hundreds of people by Kony rebels”. [33] Therefore, Mato Oput will not be appropriate way to deal with Kony and his senior commanders.

Furthermore, to be suitable as an alternative mechanism to the ICC, Mato Oput has to comply with international law standards. Indeed, Joseph Yav Katshung argues that there is a need to ‘test if this Mato Oput mechanism implies good faith. Is this effort designed to generate more truth, more justice, reparation, and genuine institutional reform? If so, it is welcome. If the objective is to evade the state and society’s legal, ethical and political obligations to their people, it should be rejected. If not, someone could say that the purpose of this Mato Oput mechanism is just to shield certain perpetrators (Kony and others). In this hypothesis, the process will violate international law and will not be in the interest of justice and society as whole.” [34]

Indeed, Alex Boraine argues that the rule of law is fundamental to the existence of a free society. It separates us from anarchy. He adds that legal prosecutions have at least three additional advantages: firstly, prosecutions in most case prevent high-ranking perpetrators from returning to positions of authority; secondly, tribunals and special courts aim to punish those who bear the greatest responsibility for human rights violations and thus assist in breaking the cycle of collective reprisals; thirdly, due process avoids summary justice.[35] Charles Villa Vincencio [36] argues that organized systems of justice based on international standards of human rights include the entrenchment of the right of all persons to a legal defense and access to courts that administer the law in an even-handed and efficient manner - even in the face of the most hideous gross violations of human rights and ruthless manifestations of crime.

However, Mato Oput as a court raises similar concerns to those expressed about the Gacaca community courts established on 30 August 1996 by the Rwandese authority in order to deal with the alleged genocidaires.[37] These concerns relate to expertise and competence. The elders in charge of Mato Oput would be expected to understand complex legal issues without the benefit of legal training or legal arguments, and they would be expected to distinguish between genuine and false testimonies. They would have to deal with the problem of evidence and witness statements despite their lack of expertise in legal matters. They would be expected to hand down heavy sentences, including life imprisonment. In addition Mato Oput would be expected to set a framework for prosecuting and sentencing people suspected of having committed crimes against humanity. If Mato Oput could not provide for fair trials, reparations, appeals, witness and victim protection and for theaccused to be allowed to be represented by defence counsel, this system would not conform to international standards of fairness. [38]

Indeed, the Dakar Declaration adopted in September 1999, following the seminar on the Right to Fair Trial in Africa organized by the Africa Commission on Human and People’s Rights stated clearly that ‘it is recognized that traditional courts are capable of playing a role in the achievement of peaceful societies and exercise authority over a significant proportion of African countries. Traditional courts are not exempted from the provisions of the African Charter relating to fair trial. [39] And Mato Oput is not an exception to this statement.


• Dieu-Donné WEDI DJAMBA is a lawyer (Advocate)at the Lubumbashi Bar association/DRC; Consultant; Assistant lecturer in the College of Law in Lubumbashi/ DRC; Human Rights Activist and Writer. Tel:+243812485222;+27738362921 ; Fax:+18016727206 Email: dieudowedi@gamil.com;dieudowedi@hotmail.com
• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org


References:

[1] Birgit brock-Utne, “Indigenous conflict resolution in Africa”, University of Oslo,< http://www,africavenir,org/publicasioal-papers/BrockUtneTradconflictResolution.pdf>,(accessed 31 October2006)
[2] IRIN, “UGANDA-SUDAN:Govt,LRA to star talks on Friday,says Machar”, <http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?reportID=5492&SelectRegion=East_Africa> (accessed 14 September 2006)
[3] BBC News,“Uganda rebel Joseph Kony”<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/432085.stm>,(accessed 7 October2005) RIN, “Uganda:Beginning of the end of northern
[4] IRIN, “Uganda:Beginning of the end of northern conflict”,<http;//www.irinnews.org/report.as?reported=55491 &selectRegion=East-Arica&Slect>(accessed 10 September 2006)
[5] IRIN ,“Justice for a lawless world?Reconciliation in a new era of international law”,<http://www.irinnews.org/webspecial/RightsAndRecon/54211.asp>,(Accessed:19 September 2006)
[6] BBC News.op.cit.
[7] CICC: “SUMMARY”< http://www.iccnow.org/?mod=northernugandasummary" >( accessed 9 September 2006)
[8] BCC New.ibid
[9] BBC news.op.cit
[10] IRIN.op.cit
[11] ICC, “Situation and Cases: Uganda”, <http://www.icc-cpi.int/pressrelease_details&id=114&l=en.html>9(accessed 8 September 2006).
[12] BBC News.op.cit.
[13] International Crisis Group; “Peace in northern Uganda?”, Africa Briefing Nº
[14] Naibi/Brussel,13October 2006, BBC News/Africa/Ugandan rebels assemble in sudan.<htt://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Africa/5334360.stm>(accessed 11October 2006).
[15] Joseph Yav Katshung,“Justice At A Glance In Uganda:Mato Oput versus ICC”, African Security Analysis Programme,ISS Pretoria <http://www.issafrica.org/static/templates/tmpl_html.php/node_id=1709&link_id=5>.(acessed 15 September 2006 )
[16] Juan E.Mandez, ‘Accountability for Past Abuses’ in HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY,Vol.19(1997),.pp256
[17] Marlise Simmons, “Court in The Hague issues Arrest Warrant for Uganda Rebels”,in the News york Times<http://www.nytimes.come/2005/10/14/international/europe/14cnd-uganda.html>(accessed 14 october 2006
[18] IRIN.op.cit.
[19] HUMAN RIGHTS NEWS: “West Africa:Taylor adictment avances justice”< http://hrw.org/english/docs/2003/06/04/liberi6126.htm,>(accessed 20 October 2006)
[20] Infonplease: “Jonas Savimbi”,< http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0901288.html>,accessed 25 October)
[21] News .<http:www.iccnow.org/?mod=newsdetail&news=407>(accessed 9 September 2006)
[22] Rome Statute.< http://www.un.org/law/icc/statute/99_corr/preamble.htm>,(accessed,10 September2006)
[23] IRIN, “UGANDA :Security has improved in the north”,<http:www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55496&SelectRegion=East_Africa>(accessed 12 September 2006)
[24] IRIN.op.cit
[25] Birgit Brock-Utne, op.cit
[26] Richar M.Kavuma, “Endangere species:live on the edge”,in The Monitor,<http://www.monitor.co.ug/specialincludes/agenda/rd04082.php> (accesed 23 October 2006)
[27] Eric Blumenson, ‘THE CHALLENGE OF A GLOBAL STANDARD OF JUSTICE:Peace,Pluralism,and Punishment at the International Criminal Court”,.<htt:/www.law.suffolk.edu/faculty/addinfo/blumenson/ICCPAPER101405.PDF>(accessed 2 October .2006)
[28] Richar M.Kavuma,op.cit,
[29] Birgit Brock-Utne,op.cit
[30] International Crisis Group.op.cit
[31] Ibid
[32] Minitor,’ ‘op.cit.
[33] Minitor, ‘ib id
[34] Joseph Yav Katshung,op.cit
[35] Alex Boraine, “Definiting Transitional Justice: Tolerance in the search for justice and peace”,in: Alex Boraine and Sue Valentine, transitional Justice and human Security, 2006,pp25-26
[36] Charles Villa-Vicencio , “Restorative justice: dealing with the past differently” in: Charles villa Vicencio&Wilhelm Verwoerd, Looking Back, Reaching Forward: Reflections on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, University of Cape Town Press,2000,pp70-71
[37] S’fiso Ngesi and Charles Villa Vicencio, “Rwanda: Balancing the Weight of History” in : Erik Doxtader and Charles Villa Vicencio ,Through Fire with Water: The Roots of Division and the Potential for Reconciliation in Africa,ABC Press Cape Town ,2003,pp20
[38] S’fiso Ngesi and Charles Villa Vicencion; in :Erik Doxtader and Charles Villa-Vicencio, op.cit.22-22
[39] Ibid.

The DRC Elections: No return to war

2006-11-23

Ernest Wamba dia Wamba

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38523

The Democratic Republic of Congo has just held its first democratic elections since the country’s independence in 1960. On the basis of electoral fraud charges, Jean-Pierre Bemba and his coalition have rejected the run-off presidential election which gave the incumbent, Joseph Kabila, 58.05 percent of the vote and Bemba 41.95 percent. But Professor Wamba dia Wamba argues that it is unlikely that the country will return to war. This is the transcript of the podcast published by Pambazuka News this week.


Prof Ernest Wamba dia Wamba is a Senator, and the vice president of the Senate Permanent Commission on Legal and Administrative Matters of the transitional administration of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Previously, he was Chairman of the Kisangani faction of the rebel group ‘Rally for Congolese Democracy’ during the Second Congo War. He is also a prominent African academic and political theorist.

Pambazuka News: It’s reported that about 25 million people registered for these elections. I believe these are the first democratic elections since the country’s independence in 1960? How important are these elections to the Congolese people?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: Congolese people saw these elections as an opportunity to express their political views, as well as an opportunity to influence the political decision as to which the direction the country should take.

Pambazuka News: It’s often said that the Sun City Agreement that led to these elections favoured the warlords over the people. Is there any element of truth in that?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: The peace negotiation mechanisms encouraged by the UN and other international agencies are structured in such a way that they favour those who have the means to threaten peace over the weak and poor. So, yes during the negotiations the warlords’ demands were given first priority. Peaceful organisations were marginalised and ignored, simply because they were viewed as powerless and therefore not a threat.

Pambazuka News: How do you see the South African role in the DRC?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: In my opinion it is based on a number of mistakes. For example, they approached the DRC situation the same way they approached the apartheid regime. They assumed that, like in apartheid South Africa, there is a mission to be solved and that there is a state. In DRC there is no mission to speak of, and further, the state is fragmented. Another thing is that the South Africans usually talk with those in power, they have no regard for those on the ground.

Pambazuka News: Would it be a fair assessment to describe the DRC as basically a state that is responsible for guaranteeing the basic physical and legal security of investors in the mining sector and other business sectors?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: In South Africa, big businesses like Anglo American impose on the society a type of economy that is based on extraction of country’s resources and of selling those resources on the international markets. The same kind of economy is envisaged for the DRC.

Pambazuka News: Jean-Pierre Bemba has been quoted as saying that he will not return to war if he loses in the elections. President Joseph Kabila has made similar promises, I believe. Do you think these are empty promises?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: Personally, I think the DRC will not go back to war. I do not see either of them going back to war.

Pambazuka News: Could you tell us about Kabila, Bemba and Joseph François Zanga’s politics?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: President Kabila is surrounded by people who are only concerned about enriching themselves. There have been a lot of allegations of corruption against some of these people. For example, there is a parliamentary report revealing that certain contracts give permission to businesses to operate in the DRC for up to 25 years without paying taxes.

Also, Kabila is known for helping himself to money from the national treasury. In addition, he is not well known for respecting the constitution. There are cases where decisions have been taken without any regard for the constitution. For instance, soldiers have been appointed to government positions, whereas the constitution states clearly that soldiers are not to occupy any governmental positions.

Bemba has been the president of the economic and financial commission, whereas he can be linked to the corrupt regime of Mobutu. However, in these elections he has been trying to get all the organisations that are not part of the transition to be included in the process. So, it can be said that he believes in the union which is based on the premise that the unity of the country concerns everybody and not just the majority of the country. This contradicts the presidential majority which views the unity of the country as concerning only the majority of the country with the president at the helm.

Zanga is not known for practical politics. Some people seem to think that his father, Mobutu, was a great statesman. Zanga exploits that and as a result his political camp mainly consists of these individuals. During the campaign, he did not have much to say about what his political plans entailed for the country. He did point out; however, that he was for foreign investments.

Pambazuka News: President Joseph Kabila did not manage to get the 51% vote needed in the first elections to avoid the presidential run-off elections. I believe that Kabila won 44.8% of the vote in first round of the July elections against Bemba’s 20%. How would you interpret these figures?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: Firstly, these figures reveal that 56% percent of the Congolese people did not vote for Kabila and so are opposed to Kabila’s governance. Secondly, most of the people who make up the 44.8% of his vote are from the East where there were lots of reports and allegations of fraud and irregularities. The point here is that the majority of Congolese people voted against Kabila.

Pambazuka News: Do you think the new government will have legitimacy and support? Do you think it will re-negotiate the business agreements it might have made with countries like South Africa?

Prof Wamba dia Wamba: There were a lot of irregularities and not enough transparency around the voting process and the elections generally. And the Congolese people have made it clear that if the new government is based on fraud, they are not going to accept it.

If Kabila wins the elections, the business agreements will remain as they are. However, if Bemba wins the elections, he has said that the business contracts will have to be re-negotiated on the basis of equal partnership and mutual understanding.

• Interview conducted by Mandisi Majavu.

• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The UNDP's wrong turn on water rights

2006-11-23

Patrick Bond and Greg Ruiters

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38529

Recently, the South Africa government hosted the global launch of the UNDP 2006 Human Development Report. Patrick Bond and Greg Ruiters argue that “…South Africa is apparently considered the UN’s ideal-type setting – and maybe deservedly so, for what might be called ‘talk left’ policies accompanied by ‘turn right’ practices: turning the tap off, that is to say.”


A fortnight ago, the global launch of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report 2006 (HDR) was in Cape Town, an appropriate choice in a diabolical way. South Africa is apparently considered the UN's ideal-type setting - and maybe deservedly so, for what might be called 'talk left' policies accompanied by 'turn right' practices: turning the water tap off for poor people.

The next day the Mail & Guardian newspaper carried an essay, 'Water is a human right', by Kemal Dervis and SA finance minister Trevor Manuel. Dervis served the World Bank from 1977-2001 before moving home to Turkey as minister for economic affairs. In 2005 he won the UN's third-highest job: UNDP chief administrator, taking over from Mark Malloch Brown (now Kofi Annan's chief of staff), whose prior job was public relations vice president at the Bank.

Manuel was chair of the board of governors of the Bank and IMF in 2000 and then ran their important Development Committee from 2001-2005. As SA finance minister he imposed - without consultation - a neoliberal economic policy in 1996, partly designed by World Bank economists using a Bank economic model whose predictions were disastrously off the mark.

The Bank, by the way, advised former SA water minister Kader Asmal in 1995 that he shouldn't provide the free water promised in the Reconstruction and Development Programme and instead needed 'a credible threat of disconnections'. By 2003, 275 000 families faced water cutoffs due to non-payment, according to former water director-general Mike Muller. In 1999 the Bank labeled its 1995 advice as 'instrumental' for the 'radical revision' of water pricing policy here.

But now Dervis and Manuel advocate water as a 'human right'. Are your bullshit detectors turned on, dear reader? As recently as mid-2003, Manuel told City Press that 'free water has not benefited the rural poor and is difficult and costly to implement'.

There are several problems. First, the UNDP's 20 liter per person daily target provides just one and a half flushes of the toilet. At least, recommend Dervis and Manuel, 'those who cannot afford to pay [should] get it for free.' They claim, 'In South Africa, the basic policy framework' along these lines 'is now in place' thanks to 'the adoption of a rights-based approach to water supply'.

In reality, although it did change from a straight neoliberal approach at the time of the 2000 municipal elections, SA's 'basic policy framework' for water pricing is still far from being rights-based. Its roots can be found in these post-apartheid decisions:

• the state drastically increased the price of municipal water since 1994, especially affecting low-income black people - e.g., in the largest 'market', Johannesburg, prices rose far higher than inflation, in part because of the onstruction of obscenely expensive Lesotho mega-dams whose raw water costs five times more than pre-dam water (conservation was not considered a serious option);

• operating subsidies from national to municipal governments were chopped during the 1990s by 85% in real terms, as one agency admitted, with especially large cuts in the national water budget that supported wretched ex-Bantustan towns;

• the much smaller municipal water subsidies together with the doubling of unemployment in the years after apartheid (thanks to Manuel's neoliberal macroeconomic GEAR policies) logically led to much higher non-payment rates for impoverished citizens, and then the disconnection of water supplies to roughly a million people per year, according to several studies;

• to deal with non-payment, the state began installing Ventilated Improved Pitlatrines ('VIPs') for poor people even in urban Johannesburg, as well as pre-paid water meters in low-income, black neighbourhoods, starting in Soweto; and

• meanwhile rural families relying on state-supplied communal water taps witnessed the breakdown of many, if not most, systems, once again because of affordability constraints that prevented the 'full cost recovery' required to keep the taps turned on.

Johannesburg Water adopted the pre-paid meter tactic shortly after the British government's 1998 banning of these same devices on grounds that self-disconnections due to poverty represent a public health threat - especially poignant for South Africa at a time of the HIV/AIDS crisis and in 2000-02 the country's worst-ever cholera outbreak. The matter is now being pursued by the Campaign Against Water Privatisation in the courts.

Then in July 2001, the world-famous 'Free Basic Water' policy was adopted, in an apparent policy U-turn. But even when implemented in the larger municipalities - for regrettably it does not exist in most smaller ones - the policy provides just six kiloliters per household per month no matter the size of the household (or number of HIV+ family members). After that relatively puny amount, the price rises to excruciating levels.

To illustrate this last point, the city where Free Basic Water policy originated, Durban, provided 6 kl/month free yet at the same time more than doubled 7+ kl/month water bills between 1997-2004. The result was the doubling of the average price of water paid by poor people: from R2 to R4/kl over that period.

What was the impact on the poorest one third of the city's water customers? Shockingly, in the city with the most acute AIDS, cholera and other water-related diseases, the poorest third of households lowered their consumption from 22 to 15 kiloliters from 1997-2004 (an extraordinary -0.55 'price elasticity', the measure economists use to study the impact of prices on consumption).

What about Durban's richest third of all households? Their cut-back was only 3 kl/month (from 35 to 32, a -0.10 elasticity). So the price increases did not have a substantial impact on rich households who waste the most water (in swimming pool evaporation or watering English-style gardens).

The HDR compares Durban water prices with four other major Third World cities and notes that from 7-20 kl/month, it is the highest priced, a third more costly than Dakar and seven times more pricey than Bangalore.

But ironically, the HDR then praises Durban in three bizarre and basically inaccurate ways:

• 'in Durban, South Africa, the lifeline tariff results in a progressive distribution of water subsidies because 98% of poor households are connected';

• 'Durban, South Africa, provides 25 litres of water a day free of charge-the lifeline or social tariff-with a steep increase above this level. This is an important part of the legislative framework for acting on the right to water';

• 'As part of a national strategy of water for all, South Africa transferred a water utility in Durban to a concession. Despite concerns about equity, there has been marked improvement in access among poor households.'

First, by no stretch of the imagination are 98% of poor households connected to Durban's water grid. Indeed there are ongoing evictions in still-proliferating shack settlements, which contain probably between 1/5th and 1/3rd of households.

Second, the 25 liters per day free of charge is an overestimate of what Durban provides larger families, for the 6 kl/month works out to those measly two flushes worth only if the family size is below eight. Women-headed households with AIDS orphans and backyard renters or room tenants are not atypical, and disputes over the small amounts of available water can be debilitating, especially at times of funerals or family events when much more water is needed.

Third, as far as a private concession goes, the UNDP HDR probably means not Durban but Dolphin Coast (since the latter is run by a French for-profit firm while Durban's managers are public sector executives who simply have a for-profit orientation). But sources as diverse as the South African government Human Sciences Research Council and New York Times report that the Dolphin Coast experiment is a failure with regard to poor people's access.

To promote 'core strategies for overcoming national inequalities in access to water', the UNDP report advocates 'establishing lifeline tariffs that provide sufficient water for basic needs free of charge or at affordable rates, as in South Africa.' But not only have municipalities sabotaged the African National Congress 2000 election manifesto promise: 'ANC-led local government will provide all residents with a free basic amount of water, electricity and other municipal services, so as to help the poor. Those who use more than the basic amounts will pay for the extra they use.' As noted, the convex shape of municipal water price tariffs negates this promise, a classic example of micro-neoliberalism.

In addition, the SA Treasury, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Department of Provincial and Local Government persistently sought for-profit partners - and some NGOs which also have a full-cost recovery mentality - to implement policy. The UNDP, World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organisation have been pushing water commercialization for years across Africa.

This is why it is amusing to read, from Dervis and Manuel: 'Too much of the policy discussion on water delivery has been dominated by a dead-end debate on privatisation versus state ownership'. They advocate 'some combination of public and private sector involvement.' These are weasel words, in view of the record of water privatisation in Africa: systematic failure.

On cross-border water transfers, the HDR notes 'the potential benefits of cooperation' by arguing that that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project 'is generating revenue for Lesotho and improved water for South Africa'. Unmentioned are the 1998 SA National Defense Force invasion of the Katse Dam site (when two dozen sleeping Basotho soldiers were killed), the massive ecological damage, the tens of thousands of peasants displaced, and the massive increase in water prices caused by this notoriously corrupt, apartheid-era sanctions-busting mega-dam scheme - or the alternative strategy (never attempted) of conservation and less uneven regional development.

In one painfully honest paragraph, however, the UNDP report concedes some problems: 'As the reforms have rolled out, they have generated a political debate over design and implementation. Some argue that the 25-litre threshold for free basic water is too low. Supplies in some areas have been erratic, forcing households to collect water from far away. Moreover, government pricing policies have led to supply cutoffs for nonpayment in some areas, raising concerns about affordability. Progress in sanitation has been less impressive than in water. There are still 16 million people- one in three South Africans-without access to basic sanitation. The absence of a consensus on an acceptable basic level of sanitation, allied to problems in generating demand, has contributed to the failure.' This is a damning indictment of post-apartheid water policy design and implementation mistakes.

It helps explain why SA witnessed nearly 6000 protests in a recent 12-month period (reported by the SA Police Services). South Africa's water wars have become world famous, as citizens' groups illegally reconnect pipes that have been cut off due to nonpayment, or destroy the hated pre-paid water meters, or dump excrement from the apartheid-era 'bucket system' of sanitation at the doors of their elected officials.

In addition, the UNDP report criticizes Johannesburg's controversial contract with Paris-based Suez, 'because delegation-the transfer of operating authority from local government to utility and from utility to third companies-can obscure accountability and delivery' and because Joburg metro is 'both utility shareholder and regulator.' Captive regulators are ubiquitous in SA, and the national government's failure to even 'name and shame' recalcitrant municipalities - as promised by then water minister Ronnie Kasrils in 2003 - is now legendary. The only serious watchdogs of the Joburg Water company have been the AntiPrivatisation Forum activists in several black townships who keep up pressure for human rights. A recent report by the APF www.apf.org.za notes the persistence of dissatisfaction regarding pre-paid meters in Soweto and Orange Farm, for example.

In its attempt to sanitise Pretoria's modified-neoliberal water policy, the UNDP HDR reports, incorrectly, that 'A minimum amount of water for drinking is now guaranteed as a legally enforceable right.' The UN officials should have made a short side-trip from Cape Town to Wallacedene. Community leader Irene Grootboom won a seminal Constitutional Court battle against government in September 2000 but her 700-member community still lacked the most essential water services years later.

In sum, the UNDP HDR and the Dervis/Manuel water-rights discourse are less absurd than SA health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang's vegetable stall at the recent Toronto AIDS conference. But given the neoliberal devils in the details, water pricing reform is still long overdue in South Africa. Without it, government's 'talk left, turn right' will continue to be met by substantial community resistance.

• Patrick Bond directs the UKZN Centre for Civil Society and Greg Ruiters directs the Municipal Services Project at Rhodes University Institute for Social and Economic Research.
• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Green Revolution in Africa

2006-11-22

Susan R. Clark

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/38473

Many in the sustainable agriculture and food systems community - farmers, scientists, and community food system leaders - are concerned about the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) initiative of the Gates and Rockefeller foundations. While the actual expenditure of the $150 million is not yet public, the announcement that they would create a second "green revolution" focused on Africa raises a lot of questions stemming from analyses of the impact of the first green revolution on poverty, hunger, and ecosystems.

From a sustainability perspective, a green-revolution approach could easily result in an increase in the use of expensive and toxic herbicides and pesticides, and encourage the development of soil-depleting, mono-cropping-for-export agriculture. The creation of agricultural systems that decrease biodiversity, increase chemical use, and depend on shipping food around the world is not in the short- or long-term interests of humanity or global ecosystems. The global warming implications of industrial agriculture - oil for production, oil for shipping, oil for processing, and massive waste at every step of the process - have been projected at 30-40% of global warming emissions by some researchers.

At a minimum, at this point in our history as a civilization, we should understand that every technical fix, magic bullet, new technology should be measured for its net impact over time on the ecological limits of the biosphere. Corporations promote the commercialization of new technologies without such measurement; governments don't evaluate long term systemic net impacts on ecological limits of the biosphere prior to approving new technologies; the market doesn't yet have a way to measure or internalize such costs.

It is entirely possible that new agricultural technologies could be developed that would meet the needs of humanity while reducing the net impact on the biosphere. Philanthropy should focus on the challenge of understanding the net impact on the biosphere of new technologies before promoting their adoption. Let's hope that the Gates/Rockefeller initiative leads the way and creates a truly green revolution that promotes sustainable agriculture and food systems in Africa.

The issue of genital mutilation

2006-11-23

Brian Schartz

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/38525

I have just read the article ‘The Second Sex’ www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/37269 by Irungu Houghton. I must confess I am shocked and amazed that 90 million women have suffered female genital mutilation. This is an issue that receives little attention in the daily newspaper that I read, the radio news programs that I listen to, and the evening news that I watch.

Query

2006-11-21

Akwasi Aidoo

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/38422

We are a developing country…You say?

That we need
Time to mature?
Unity to develop?
Discipline to compete?

Hmm…when we have
Time
Unity &
Discipline

And…before we
Mature
Develop
and
Compete

Can we
Dance?
Dream?
Struggle?

Can we resist your
folly?
With justice?

© akwasi aidoo

Welcome to the Congo

2006-11-23

Omékongo wa Dibinga

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/38522

My beloved Congo,
The joke of the African continent
The world’s gold, diamond, and coltan mine
Rwanda’s concubine

This country of mine,
Poisoned with the swine that is Western policy
Westerners and Asians exploit the riches
But live behind gated communities
With underpaid Congolese security

So they’re closing the door
On fractured Congolese faces with one hand,
While robbing her of her resources with the other
And no province is safe
Because some of our own,
Corrupted Congolese leaders,
Are involved in this race

But even they can’t keep pace
In the face of our Rwandan aggressors,
Annexing our spirit
To their sickened, stricken, sinister soul
To such an extent that to now call eastern Congo,
You must dial Rwandan area codes
While they toy with the possibility
Of introducing Rwandan currency in the east

The United Nations talks of peace
Knowing full well
That peace can only be attained
Through violence

Jean Pierre Bemba
Becoming the Congolese Prime Minister
Can only happen through violence

Child soldiers
Fighting in fear
Of retribution on their families,
Join in the spread of violence

Raping my mother country
And spilling her black coltan blood
Only continues through VIOLENCE

But when I talk to you
About Congolese genocide
With Western compliance
Your response - silence!

I know
Because I used to be just like you,
Sittin’ there smilin’
While other folks lie dyin’
Even bought my wife-to-be a diamond
And probably spilled the blood
Of a distant cousin for it
And chose to ignore it

But now I’ve visited Congolese refugee camps
To find that
There’s not even any refuge for refugees
Abandoned Congolese mothers and children
Living in tents
Made out of empty rice bags
While lice drags through their hair

And their daughters
Living in despair,
Start having babies
At 12-years-old
With 50-year-old married men
With no humility
Who pay them $.25
For their virginity
And the possibility of exchange for AIDS
While the World Bank
Gives this absentee father of a government aid

But I’m searching for a cure for both diseases
Because 4,000,000 have died in 4 years
And too many orphans are shedding tears

As they start dying in the street
At 11 years old
Because even though it’s hot on the outside,
Their inner spirits are cold
From walking around starving in a capital city
That barely has paved roads

And eating ½ a meal a day
Can’t heal that
Living on less than $1 a month
Won’t heal that
And since you only see
Israel and Palestine on the news
Y’all can’t feel that

So I’m hoping that a thousand words
Can be worth a picture
Because this image of the Congo
May not fit your stomach
But it’ll fit your fingers with diamonds,
Your ears with gold,
Your cell phones with coltan,
While newly discovered Congolese oil
Heats your house when it’s cold

But y’all still don’t give a damn
Even when I talk to you
About Congolese with polio,
Walking as if their left knee
Was glued to their left hand

See there may be a cure for measles and malaria
But there’s no medicine for misery
In a country being steered
In the wrong direction
With children dying
From all types of infection
And 12-year-old girls condemned to death
Because rich married men,
Don’t use protection
And all of their relationships
End in rejection
It’s like the entire country’s suffering
From a lethal injection

A second genocide in less than 100 years
That’s gone without mention
Along with the fact that we’ve gone 12 years
Without an election
On the Congolese street
Called the “Avenue of the Future”,
…That’s where my father was tortured
And nearly died in detention
So you’ll have to forgive me
When I say that our future looks bent in
The eyes of the people

And I’m also pissed off because,
They say, “Long live an independent Congo”,
But I don’t remember when it ever was

The international community correctly condemns Congolese corruption
By questioning where the ministers bought their cars from
But the world’s ears become deaf
When I ask where our invaders got their arms from?

This is the Congo damn it!
And ain’t none of it funny
Americans who work here
Say it’s a great place to make money
Folks with connections from Bush to Bin Laden
Steady robbin’ this country of her resources
Through Lebanese liaisons
Living in the land of internationally sanctioned genocide
Where
Pathetic US
+ Putrid UN policies
= Pesticide

Claiming that they’ve finally brokered peace
But don’t let them fool ya
’Cause up ‘til today
We’re still diggin’ up body bags in Bunia

Because their role in the Congo
Supports nothing but violence
Our continual purchase of Congolese riches
That never benefit the masses—compliance
Possible experiments with untested AIDS drugs
On unsuspecting Congolese—in the name of science
Poems like this to try to wake us all up—a simple act of defiance
All I’m asking for my beloved Congolese people—self-reliance
But when I ask you to help me heal the hurting heart of Africa,
Your response—SILENCE!

(Written in Kinshasa, 2002)

• Urban Music Award winner Omékongo Dibinga, M.A., is a motivational speaker, rapper, and poet. He is the Founder & CEO of Free Your Mind Publishing. A first generation Congolese-American, Omékongo writes and performs in English, French, Swahili, and occasionally has used Wolof. He has released 4 CDs, 2 books, and 1 DVD. He is the host of “Flava,” an international satellite hip-hop radio show in Asia, Europe, and Africa. He has performed/lectured in the United States, South Africa, England, Congo-Kinshasa, Tanzania, France, Cuba, and Canada. His work has been televised in over 130 countries. For more information, please visit www.omekongo.com
• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Review of African blogs

2006-11-22

Sokari Ekine

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/38502

'African Blogs' describes his experience in the town of Juba in Southern Sudan.

“Some people die. Some survive. When bullets went off three meters from my tent, my first instinct was to unzip the tent and peep, my second instinct was to save my life -- keep the head to the ground, [and] -- as the shooting continued… – [I decided that what I needed to do] was to take the first car/plane -- or whatever -- out of Juba the following day. The instinct for survival trumped the instinct to be an eye witness. I lived to tell the tale.

“Gunshots went off at 4 a.m. Thursday, reverberating through half of Juba, less than a kilometer from Southern Sudan's Parliament buildings. Seconds into the breakout of the gun exchange a car raced along a lane between homesteads, firing back as it drove off, and as its engine died down into the distance.”

Last week I listened to the first report on Al Jazeera’s English channel on Darfur. It was an interview with the General in charge of the AU troops who basically said his presence had minimal impact on the lives of the people he was supposed to be protecting. He had only one soldier for every two square kilometres and he needed at least 17 000 more in order to make a significant difference.

'The Sudanese Thinker' continues with a Sudan/Darfur report in which he points to an article in the UK Times describing Darfuran children dragged from mothers and shot by the Janjaweed militia.

“When the fighters came, the mothers of Jebel Maun could not protect their children. Screaming toddlers were ripped from their grasp and shot; older children who tried to save their brothers and sisters were hunted down.”

'fleur d’ Afrique' writes that she sometimes wishes she came from a different country – not the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Election results were out a few mins ago. Folks are patiently waiting for the crazy shit to start. Isn’t it sad when you actually patiently wait for things to explode? *sigh* Today I really really really hate my country. Some things can’t be undone.

“I’d still go back to live there but things will never be the same again. Call it nostalgia or whatever. There were certain things I was looking forward to experience again...won’t happen”

Since writing this piece, there have been clashes between Joseph Kabila’s forces and those of his opponent, John Pierre Bembe. The truth is that for most people like Fleur the only acceptable winner is peace and this does not seem to be happening. The leadership and opposition in the DRC, like many other countries, are selfish and think only of themselves – the people they elect to serve are the least of their concerns.

'Just Thots by a Naijaman' writes an excellent piece on Nigeria’s political mindset called “Nigeria: Snippets from our ‘nascent’ demonstration of craziness aka democracy! Where politicians leave it to God to determine all things including who is in control and indulge in sychophancy and the idol worship of those who call themselves ‘leaders’ of the nation."

“Journalist: How do you feel about your present position?
Governor Etiaba: It is the will of God.
Journalist: Why the visit to the President?
Governor Etiaba: I came to pledge loyalty to the President because he is the father of the nation.
Journalist: What is the political situation in Anambra State?
Governor Etiaba: God is in control.
Journalist: What are your priorities?
Governor Etiaba: Good governance.”

‘God’ indeed is in control of arson, political brigandage, massive looting of the treasury, circumventing the will of the people, and godfatherism. While the people groan under the burden of misgovernance, political office holders are busy pledging their ‘loyalty’ to the ‘father of the nation.’

'Ijebuman’s Diary' continues continues with the religious theme in Nigerian society. This time it is the failure of Nigeria’s politicians to follow the scriptures or be ‘Godly’ that is the source of Nigeria’s present day problems.

“Our problem is not global recession, it all started in 1977 when we used God's oil money to promote and display demons of Africa under the pretence of rich African culture, all nations of Africa brought their idols (He is referring to the Festival of Arts and Culture, Festac 77 held in Nigeria in 1977), we built a town for them called Festac town and a big theatre, the capital expenses ran into millions of dollars. God was up there, repenting he ever created us. There was no time our government ever sponsored a gospel crusade.

“The whole world has turned against us, threatening sanctions
all over, it is not that we don't have good government but the sins of our fathers will not permit them to perform, the demons we invited have taken their permanent residence here.”

'Scribbles from the Den' reviews ‘The Lion Man and Other Stories’ by Peter Vakunta. The book is a collection of short stories from the village of Bamunka in Cameroons.

“It is truly a mirror that reflects the socio-cultural life of the inhabitants of the region. It is a pointer to the worldview and value systems of the people. Each story is an entity in itself harboring a moral. The stories deal with life yesterday, today and tomorrow. They constitute a bridge between the near and the far. The book’s special merit resides in its suitability to the young and the old. High school and college students with an interest in African folklore and literature would find the collection indispensable.”

'Black Looks posts two pieces' involving Kenyan writer and academic, Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o in which he was asked to leave a hotel he was staying in San Francisco just last week. In the incident, the professor was sitting on the verandah of the hotel when an employee came up to him told him this place was for guests only and asked him to leave. The professor related the experience…

"This place is for guests of the hotel. You have to leave.”
Handling the matter calmly and intrigued by the assertion of the man, the Professor asked “How do you know that I am not a guest of the hotel?” The man continued unabated “You have to leave. This is for guests of the hotel.”
“But how do you know that I am not a guest?” the Professor asked again. “You have to leave.” “But you have not even asked me if I am staying in the hotel”
‘Okay. Are you staying at the hotel?’ The tone and demeanour was of a man who had made up his mind that the Professor could not be a guest. “Let’s us go to the reception desk,” the Professor told him. “It is not necessary,” he said. “Just leave.”

The blogosphere responded to the racist incident via comments and some took up the call to write to the management and the CEO who responded personally stating he would make a public apology and wrote:

“Prejudice still exists in America. It is real and palpable. While we’ve all witnessed superficial changes in America over the past four decades, the reality is that people 'pre-judge' each other way too much, whether it’s based upon skin color, religion, sexual orientation, age, economic status, or some other factor that makes one 'the other.'"

Unfortunately the matter did not end there, as a comment was then left anonymously by an employee which contradicted the CEO’s statement. Black Looks posts the employees comment - Black Looks

“THIS IS NOT AN INCIDENT OF RACISM. As an employee of the spoken restaurant I am appalled that this can even be considered an incident of racism. This is San Francisco, a city with the worst homelessness problem in the nation. Daily we have people from the street wander in and disrupt service. Crack addicts, prostitutes, etc. disturb people who are paying good money to eat and stay here. Constantly we have to escort disgusting trashy people from our restaurant on the embarcadero in order to ensure a sense of security amongst out guests. It does not matter whether you are black, white, pink or blue, if you come into our restaurant reeking of body odor, adorning dreadlocks, and wearing filthy clothes, you run the risk of being escorted from any fine dining establishment. Any restaurant in the state of California reserves the right to refuse service to ANYONE. Service was refused to this man based on his appearance not his race. If anyone has strong enough evidence than I to contest this statement I would like to know. We are a tolerant community and a diversely employed restaurant, how dare you try to bring down our good name for an issue that has been dead for years.”

Part of Black Looks's response, which hopefully will again be taken up by the blogosphere and mainstream media, was:

“The most significant aspects about this comment are first that he denies that racism exists yet his statement is so loaded with prejudice and discrimination, not to talk of lack of humanity. Secondly, is his more emotional reaction which is the manifestation of his attitude towards other human beings and basically boils down to making judgments about people which includes one’s skin colour and any other “visible statement of difference” because that is what this is about. It’s about not respecting and accepting difference in a land where wearing “no brand name” clothes is seen as subversive, dreadlocks as seditious and deviant and “prostitutes” the lowest of the low - he obviously has no thought on the punters who presumably are the “clean shaven, baldheaded, beardless, Tommy Hilfiger dressed white” acceptable guests in his hotel”.

The names and address of the hotel senior personnel are published on the website and it is hoped that as many people as possible will write to them expressing their disgust not only at the incident itself but the comment by one of their employees.

• Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, blacklooks.org

• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at pambazuka.org

Assessing the DRC elections

Interview with Ernest Wamba dia Wamba

2006-11-23

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/broadcasts/podcasts.php

Prominent African academic and political theorist Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba gives his analysis of the recent elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo and takes the political temperature of the mood in DRC today. The text of this interview is shown above in the Comments and Analysis section.

Africa: AFRODAD, AFRIMAP AND OXFAM Conference

2006-11-23

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

Between 20-25 participants drawn from policy advocacy coalitions and organisations working on the African Union attended a conference held on the 10-11th November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Joined by staff from the AU Commission and five African Embassies they offered comments on the preliminary findings and recommendations of research into how African Governments, the AU Commission and CSOs prepared for the January and July 2006 Summits.

Africa: AU Conference On Science And Technology

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611201598.html

The Extraordinary Conference for the African Ministers Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) will be held on 22-23 November 2006 in Cairo, Egypt, AU said on Friday (17 November 2006). The extra ordinary conference will consider recommendations to be made to the Heads of State and Government Summit in January 2007 in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.

Africa: Rough note prior 8th Ordinary AU Assembly

2006-11-23

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

Rough note prior 8th Ordinary Assembly of the African Union, January 2007, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: These comments are un-attributable but offer an accurate briefing of some of the key issues prior to the Summit.

Africa: Sudanese Govt Agrees to AU and UN Peacekeepers

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611200508.html

The Sudanese Government yesterday (17 November 2006) agreed with the United Nations, the African Union (AU) and representatives from Security Council member countries and others to allow UN peace-keepers into Darfur to complement the AU mission already there. Khartoum had previously refused a UN presence in Darfur. At present, the UN assists a 7,000-strong African Union mission (AMIS) and is currently working on a $21 million support package.

Chad/Sudan: End Militia Attacks on Civilians

2006-11-22

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/11/15/darfur14609.htm

The African Union, United Nations and key governments must immediately bolster international forces in Darfur and increase pressure on Sudan to halt the spiral of militia attacks on civilians in Darfur and Chad, Human Rights Watch said today (15 November 2006). On November 16 and 18, members of the UN Security Council, key AU member states and UN officials will meet in Addis Ababa to discuss the deteriorating regional situation, and proposals to bolster the AU mission in Darfur.

Africa: Egyptian minors sold for prostitution

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22710

"Hanadi" was a teenager when she was sold into a short-term marriage by her father. "When I was 14, my father told me I was to be married to a man from Saudi Arabia," said Hanadi, who did not want to use her real name. "Later on, I discovered that my father and the man had agreed I would stay with him for a month, until he returned home [to Saudi Arabia] at the end of the summer.”

Africa: The Girl Child and Armed Conflict

2006-11-22

http://fic.tufts.edu/downloads/Thegirlchildandarmedconflict.pdf

During armed conflict, girls are subject to widespread and, at times, systematic forms of human rights violations that have mental, emotional, spiritual, physical and material repercussions. These violations include illegal detention with or without family members, abduction and forced removal from families and homes, disappearances, torture and other inhuman treatment, forced marriage and forced child-bearing.

Africa: Women Spend 40bn Hours On Water Collection

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611170350.html

A United Nations survey carried out in 177 countries has revealed that women collecting water spend an estimated 40 billion hours. The period is equivalent to a year's labour for the entire workforce in France. The world survey conducted in 177 countries (both developed and developing) specifically shows that in Mozambique, rural Senegal and Eastern Uganda, women spend 15 to 17 hours a week collecting water.

Malawi: Limping PMTCT programme failing infants

2006-11-22

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56458

Despite being largely preventable, mother-to-child transmission of HIV accounts for 30 percent of all new infections in Malawi and is the second major mode of transmission after unprotected sex. Every year, an estimated 30,000 babies are born HIV positive.

Uganda: 60 Days of Maternity Leave

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210051.html

Susan Ssenabulya recalls with a chill the pain she went through when she had her second baby. "I became pregnant barely a year on my job in a financial institution in Kampala. I was a temporary employee and my appointment letter never mentioned anything to the effect that I was not entitled to maternity leave. I knew this was every woman's right.”

Africa: Interfaith Declaration Opposes Redefinition of Marriage

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210986.html

About 40 religious leaders of different faiths signed a declaration on marriage to be presented to Parliament and society in general on the present national debate on the subject. "We, each from our respective theologies and traditions, understand marriage to be in its essence the union of a woman and a man. Each religion has, in its distinctive way, understood marriage to have religious significance.

DRC: Supreme Court burnt amid gunshots

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56456

Part of Congo's Supreme Court was burnt on Tuesday (21 November 2006) as judges reviewed electoral fraud complaints filed by supporters of presidential contender Jean-Pierre Bemba. The session was immediately suspended. It is unclear who started the fire, but police fired shots into the air to disperse Bemba supporters demanding to enter the court building.

DRC: UN monthly human rights assessment report released

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611200073.html

The latest United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo report details evidence of mass rape committed by FARDC soldiers during the Kibirizi crisis in January 2006 and several incidents of human rights violations during the just-concluded election process.

Rwanda: Rwanda snubs call to charge Kagame

2006-11-22

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9E8B97DA-AA7F-4DB5-B556-126C98DD5EBD.htm

Rwanda has rejected calls by a French magistrate to indict Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, over his alleged involvement in the death of the country's former leader. Juvenal Habyarimana, Rawanda's former president, was killed when his plane was shot down in 1994.

Rwanda: Third Hearing of General Dallaire

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611201471.html

General Roméo Dallaire, commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1994, will testify for the third time next Monday (27 November 2006) before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Contrarily to the previous two hearings, this time the Canadian general is to testify via video-conference from the headquarters of the Canadian Army in Ottawa, according to the prosecutor's office.

Zimbabwe: Child abused every hour

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56443

A child is abused every hour in Zimbabwe, according to new data released by a group of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working to stop the suffering. "More than 8,600 cases of child abuse were reported in Zimbabwe in 2005 - that is 24 every day ... More than half of all cases reported involve sexual abuse of children," said James Elder, the United Nations' Children's Fund (Unicef) spokesman in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe: Eight years later, rights report submitted to ACHPR

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22787

For eight consecutive years, Zimbabwe deliberately refused to submit its state party report on human rights to the Banjul-based African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR). In a surprising mood, Zimbabwe tabled its human rights before commissioners, who are currently attending the 40th session of the commission in the Gambian capital.

Algeria: Sahrawi refugees to hold elections

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22800

The over hundred thousand refugees from Western Sahara living in Algerian camps are to hold municipal and national elections, starting on Wednesday (22November 2006). Voters will be able to choose between different Polisario candidates to bodies of the exiled state of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is a member of the African Union.

Botswana: 23 Namibian refugees return home

2006-11-21

http://www.gov.bw/cgi-bin/news.cgi?d=20061121&i=23_Namibian_refugees_return_home

Twenty-three Namibian refugees who arrived in Botswana in 1998 were voluntarily repatriated to Namibia early Saturday (18 November 2006) morning at the Dukwi Refugee camp. The Namibians mostly from the Caprivi region and the surrounding areas sought political asylum in Botswana in 1998 after an unpleasant political situation in the region.

Global: Down and out in London

2006-11-21

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_17382.pdf

Many rejected asylum seekers are living from hand to mouth with all avenues to a normal life blocked. Most live in abject poverty, stripped of their dignity, relying on others to subsist, sometimes going hungry and sleeping in the streets. Many appear to have given up hope of ever being able to live a normal life and some have lost the will to live.

Global: International Convention on Civil and Political Rights

2006-11-21

http://www.unhcr.org/research/RESEARCH/4552f0d82.pdf

International human rights law complements international refugee law. Refugee law does not supercede human rights law as lex specialis if the human rights norm offers more protection. Hence the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees are the primary instruments for the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers, but international human rights law and the treaty bodies established under these treaties can offer additional protection in different situations.

Global: Persons affected by natural disasters

2006-11-21

http://www.brook.edu/fp/projects/idp/2006_IASC_NaturalDisasterGuidelines.pdf

Floods, earthquakes and storms have routinely displaced tens of thousands around the world. Over the past few years, the international community's response to these catastrophes has become even swifter and more sophisticated. Until very recently, however, and in the rush to deliver life-saving aid to these people, little attention was paid to the rights of these displaced people.

Sudan: Norwegian refugee agency expelled from Darfur

2006-11-22

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=qw116414208467B235

Sudanese officials ordered the Norwegian Refugee Council to leave South Darfur state, accusing the aid agency of espionage and publishing false information. The NRC said last week it was pulling out of South Darfur because government obstruction and the suspension of its work meant it could no longer function in the region, where it helps 300 000 people. Staff were still in Darfur on Tuesday (21 November 2006).

Uganda: IDPs wait for chance to rebuild lives

2006-11-22

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22918299.htm

There are hundreds of thousands desperate to restart their lives if a peace deal between the Ugandan government and Lord's Resistance Army rebels is signed. This month the two sides renewed a landmark truce, paving the way for an end to a two-decade war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly two million. Some refugees feel confident about going home but aid agencies say the problems of resettlement are daunting.

Africa: Tight race foreseen in Mauritania poll

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22786

Although the counting is still going on in the Mauritanian legislative and municipal elections, it is already clear that two former opposition parties - Popular Progressive Alliance (PPA) and Assembly of Democratic Forces (ADF) - are said to be neck-to-neck. The two parties probably swept the polls in the country's two most popular regions.

DRC: Bemba May Ignite New Insurgency in Congo

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210161.html

Having rejected the outcome of the October 29 elections, is former warlord, Jean-Pierre Bemba, capable of mounting an insurgency that could once more destabilise the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)? This is the question that occupied the minds of Congo watchers last week as incumbent president Joseph Kabila retained his seat by 58 per cent of the vote against Bemba's 42 per cent, and the country entered a phase where military might could determine its future.

DRC: Bemba rejects poll results

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56409

Jean-Pierre Bemba, challenger to President Joseph Kabila, has rejected the provisional results of the run-off presidential poll announced by the Democratic Republic of Congo's Independent Electoral Commission. "I regret to say to our people and the international community that I cannot accept the results that are far from reflecting the truth of the election results," Bemba told a news conference on Thursday (16 November 2006) in the capital, Kinshasa.

DRC: Elections in Congo

2006-11-22

http://www.irinnews.org/DRCelection.asp

On 30 July, voters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo went to the polls in the country's first multiparty elections in 45 years. This special page provides you with an insight into one of Africa's largest countries; a place of poverty amid natural riches, haunted by conflicts but filled with life and hope.

Somalia: Puntland to adopt Islamic law

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56455

The authorities of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have agreed to adopt Shari’a law after Islamic leaders in the region recommended the move, local sources said. The announcement was made by the authority after a committee of religious leader met the leader of Puntland, Gen. Muhammed Adde Muse, and recommended that Shari’a law be adopted in the region, Sheikh Fuad Mahamud, a member of the religious leaders said on Tuesday (21 November 2006).

Nigeria: Supreme Court Assures of Speedy Hearing

2006-11-23

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611220344.html

The Supreme Court yesterday (22 November 2006) said it would decide, in two weeks, the appeal filed by 18 lawmakers from Oyo State House of Assembly, challenging the Court of Appeal's ruling, which nullified the proceedings that led to the removal of Governor Rashidi Ladoja from office.

Sierra Leone: Development Official Caught in Corruption

2006-11-23

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611220205.html

Benson Lahai, the principal development officer in the ministry of development and economic planning, has been exposed in a corruption deal. He is alleged to be duping people who want to register their Non- Governmental Organisations.

Africa: A new fibre route to Africa

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22759

A new subsea cable connecting Sri Lanka with the Maldive Islands might turn out to be the the first leg of a new Africa-Asia cable. The US$ 20 million, 850 kilometres cable owned by Sri Lanka Telecom and Dhiraagu Telecom of Maldives, is due to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2007.

Africa: Could Angola become China of Africa?

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22789

Having destroyed large part of its human and natural resources during the country's fifty years of wars is it possible for Angola to become the China of the African continent. Well, that is the assumption of Credit Guarantee, South Africa's largest insurer of company debtors.

Africa: UN Chief's Scorecard of Success And Failure

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611201653.html

Less than six weeks before he steps down as secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has come up with a political scorecard on the successes and failures of the UN's much-touted development agenda. The good news is that official development assistance (ODA) -- from rich to poor countries -- is reaching a new high, breaking through the 100-billion-dollar barrier: up from an average of about 50 to 55 billion dollars in the 1980s.

Liberia: Rapid growth as Liberia reconstructs

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22747

Liberia still is far from recovering from its vicious civil war, but economic indicators show the ruined country is heading the right way. Especially the booming construction sector is fuelling the economy, promising an economic growth of almost ten percent this year. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is extravagantly praised by her former employer, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Nigeria: Blinded Nigeria exposes great wealth

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22749

As the world's sixth largest oil exporter and a great producer for over 50 years, the vast poor majority of Nigerians often wonder where the large wealth has gone. Indeed, Nigeria's public finances and the general revenue level do not look bad at all, as top-level politicians and businessmen have revealed this week. It is just poverty that seems endless.

Africa: Dramatic Public Health Crisis

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611201034.html

While Africa confronts the world's most dramatic public health crisis, it can over time meet the challenges, given sufficient international support, according to a first-ever report to focus on the health of the 738 million people living in the United Nations health agency's African Region, released today (20 November 2006).

Africa: Research Institutions Disclose Findings

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611211057.html

Four African research institutions yesterday (20 November 2006) revealed their findings on socio-economic consequences of HIV/AIDS in the continent. The Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the Social Science and Medicine Africa Network (SOMA-Net) and the Union for African Population Studies (UAPS) disclosed their findings at an international conference held under the theme "New Insights and Policy Perspectives".

Africa: Study highlights baby deaths in Africa

2006-11-22

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=290817

Africa's infant mortality rate of 1,16-million per year placed it on a par with England's figures in the early 20th century, according to a study released on Wednesday (22 November 2006). "Opportunities for Africa's Newborns" said that half of these deaths occurred in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda. Nigeria alone had over 255 000 newborn deaths a year.

Congo: Scientists predict next Ebola outbreak

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22756

The next Ebola outbreak should be expected to occur "in northern Congo Brazzaville, towards Cameroon and the Central African Republic," according to African scientists that have closely studied the pattern of the deadly disease. They found that Ebola affect many Central African mammals besides humans and that the disease fluctuates with climate variables throughout the Gabon-Congo region, making predictions possible.

Congo: Still vulnerable to avian flu

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56428

The avian flu threat continues to hang over the Republic of Congo because, despite a ban, imported poultry and its products still appear in the country’s markets and it is on the flight path of European migratory birds. "The avian flu worries us no end because this country is already devastated by epidemics, particularly the Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever," Jean-Joseph Akouala, head of epidemiology services for the Department to Fight the Avian Flu in the Ministry of Health, told IRIN.

DRC-Zambia: Border closed after cholera outbreak

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56444

An outbreak of cholera in northern Zambia has forced the government to shut a border post with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after reported cases rose to 105 on Monday (20 November 2006). "We have closed Chiengi border post with immediate effect, in order to ensure there is no further spread of the disease.

Sudan: Moves to contain suspected avian flu in Juba

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56437

Thousands of domestic poultry have been destroyed in and around the southern Sudanese capital of Juba in an attempt to contain an avian flu threat reported in the region several months ago, officials said. Samson Kwaje, the southern Sudan information minister, said a team had been visiting homes to check poultry and destroy suspected cases.

Africa: Catholic Universities to Focus On Social Doctrine

2006-11-23

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210985.html

Catholic universities should pay more attention in all their disciplines to the Church's social doctrine, recommended participants at an international conference convoked by the Holy See. Such attention to social doctrine would allow the Gospel to penetrate deeper in the social fiber, in order to defend and promote human dignity, the common good, solidarity, and justice and peace, they stated last Friday (17 November 2006), the first day of the conference.

Africa: Commonwealth Education Ministers Meets in Cape Town

2006-11-23

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611220374.html

The 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (16CCEM) will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, on 11-14 December 2006. The theme of the Conference is 'Access to Quality Education: for the Good of All'. Held triennially, these conferences provide an opportunity for Commonwealth Education Ministers from all regions to exchange views and discuss developments in education, review progress over the past three years, and develop strategies for future work.

Africa: Project to Counter Brain Drain

2006-11-23

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611220535.html

Hewlett Packard (HP) and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Monday (20 November 2006) announced the launch of a new project "Piloting Solutions for Reversing Brain Drain into Brain Gain for Africa", which aims to help to reduce brain drain in Africa by providing grid computing technology to universities in Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

Ethiopia: Sign Language in Ethiopia Still At Infant Stage

2006-11-23

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611201593.html

The status of sign language usage, inclusive in deaf students' education package in Ethiopian, is very poor, according to a research presented at a workshop on Friday (17 November 2006) under the theme 'Inclusive education and educational problems of the deaf.'

Africa: Annan Speaks Out On Toxic Emissions

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611200289.html

Delegates from all over the world are meeting in Nairobi to discuss climatic change. Among the issues that surfaced is emissions, where the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan admitted liability for the emission of toxic agents. While addressing a press conference at the UN offices located in Gigiri on Wednesday (22 November 2006), Annan said that stakeholders have to play a major role to achieve the targeted emission reduction.

Africa: Continent lags behind in carbon market

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56395

Africa has gained least from the international carbon market, whereby industrialised nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions by helping developing countries invest in clean technologies and infrastructure, a report released on Thursday (16 November 2006) said.

Africa: The Global Water Divide

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611170284.html

Africa's poor are caught in the thick of a festering global water and sanitation crisis linked to pervasive violation of the basic human right to water by skewed power relations within and between states. In Africa, as elsewhere in the developing world, lack of clean water and toilets is taking a heavy toll on human security, and is a deadlier killer than the continent's endemic conflicts.

Global: Mixed opinions on climate conference outcome

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56430

Delegates to a United Nations conference on climate change concluded their 12-day meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, by agreeing to a review of the protocol on the reduction of greenhouse gases in 2008. The Kyoto protocol's current commitment runs out in 2012.

South Africa: World Cup airport threatens millions of birds

2006-11-21

http://www.afrol.com/articles/22701

South African environmentalists are frustrated by plans to update the Durban airport ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup. The development is said to "threaten the winter roosting sites of three million barn swallows that journey there after spending breeding months in countries across Europe and other parts of the world.”

Africa: Mujuru Urges Africa to Integrate Infrastructure

2006-11-23

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611230053.html

Africa must develop a cost-effective integrated infrastructure to allow landlocked countries access to the sea and must press ahead with creating a single market to enhance trade, Vice President Joice Mujuru said yesterday (22 November 2006).

Africa: Al Jazeera Comes to Africa

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210146.html

The latest buzz in the media community is the opening of Al Jazeera's African offices, one of them right here in Nairobi. For media professionals, there is the expectation of well paying jobs as well as an alternative customer for independent journalists working in the region.

Angola: Press Freedom at Risk

2006-11-22

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/11/13/angola14574.htm

As Angolans prepare to vote next year in the country’s first elections since 1992, the government’s new press law promises much-needed reforms but still fails to protect freedom of the press adequately, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today (16 November 2006).

DRC: Cameramen Attacked By Interior Minister's Guards

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210037.html

On 12 November 2006, Basile Kokwalet and John Kintendu, Kinshasa correspondents and cameramen for Radio France's overseas division, RFO, were attacked by guards of the minister of the interior and security, General Denis Kalume Numbi, as they attempted to interview a local pastor.

South Africa: Cape Town World Cinema announces winning films

2006-11-21

http://www.sithengi.co.za/news/stories/cape_town_world_cinema_festival_jury_announces_winning_films?section=/news&PHPSESSID=4fac08ce8d1da5502a0ba7cd78694569

The honours for Best Feature Film at this year's Cape Town World Cinema Festival have gone to the Korean film, King and the Clown, directed by Joon Ik Lee. This 16th century dramatic comedy focuses on the intrigue and drama of court life. The Jury motivated, "This story about 16th century actors in the Korean Court completely transported us as it brought old theatre forms alive.

South Africa: Racism and Anti-semitism at Media24 newsroom

Cape Town Anti-War Coalition Press Statement

2006-11-23

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/38513

The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition will be supporting a demonstration against racism and anti-semitism in the Media24 newsroom, at the offices of the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) in Darling Street on 27th November at 10:30am. The protest action is in support of a former employee from Media24's People's Post, who has laid several complaints of discrimination against the company, after being dismissed for not complying with the demands of a "white" or "coloured" target market.
Cape Town Anti-War Coalition Press Statement
2pm
23rd November 2006

The Cape Town Anti-War Coalition will be supporting a demonstration against racism and anti-semitism in the Media24 newsroom, at the offices of the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) in Darling Street on 27th November at 10:30am.

The protest action is in support of a former employee from Media24's People's Post, who has laid several complaints of discrimination against the company, after being dismissed for not complying with the demands of a "white" or "coloured" target market. The employee alleges that Media24 has continued to use racial profiling in reporting and has maintained racial divisions in the newsroom. For example, a story about a "black" jazz musician, was thrown out since the target market for one of the titles was considered to be "coloured".

CT AWC sees this case as evidence of the long standing role of the capitalists in dividing the working class. We have always said that racial divisions are artificial especially since they were promoted by the previous regime, who worked hand in glove with the capitalists.

This case clearly shows that the mainstream media is continuing to actively promote racial divides. The management of the economy (the government) may have changed but the same capitalists are still in ultimate control.

The employee reports that although he submitted a story brief on an Islamic Art Exhibition at Iziko (Bo Kaap), as well as a "Remembering Slavery", (history of slavery) exhibition at the Slave Lodge. Cape Town, a Media24 editor threw out both these pieces. She claimed the target market would "not be interested in this content," since "they all live on th e Cape Flats."

Consequently the allegation is as follows: Media24 discriminates against Islamic culture, as well as the descendents of slaves. The discrimination case is also being taken up by the employee on the grounds of anti-semitism after the employee was forced to work seven days a week thus being unable to celebrate the Jewish Sabbath from Friday sunset until the following Saturday sunset.

Bad working conditions will also be raised. The employee states that "Media24 manager Sedrick Taljaard scheduled an appointment at 4am in the morning. He also expected me to distribute Media24's community newspapers on the streets of Grassy Park, every Tuesday morning from 5am until 7:30am; to work a 14 hour day, with a production cycle from Thursday until Monday, in which I got to work at 8:30am and left at 10pm, in addition to generating copy and gathering news during the pre-production period Tuesday until Wednesday. It is unclear what time, if ever, I was expected to have off, since this obligation ate into my rest period as well as lunch".

For comment please call David on 082 425 1454 or Mo on 082 2020617

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Zimbabwe: MISA Highlights Continued Suppression of Freedoms

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210075.html

The following is a statement by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe to the 40th Ordinary Session of the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights, Banjul, The Gambia, presented by Wilbert Pfungwadzashe Mandinde (MISA-Zimbabwe Legal Officer) on November 15, 2006.

Africa: African Gender Award

2006-11-22

http://www.africangenderawards.org/aga_pres.htm

The Pan-African Centre for Gender, Peace and Development, in conjunction with its partners, has instituted the African Gender Award as a way to encourage accountability on the parity decision and on the “Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa” (SDGEA).

Global: International Ambivalence on Darfur

2006-11-21

http://apic.igc.org/newsroom/release.php?op=read&documentid=2202&type=2&issues=1024

As the Sudanese government escalates attacks against civilians in Darfur, and as it reportedly reneges on a new compromise agreement for a hybrid peacekeeping force, Africa Action urges the U.S. and other members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council to stop making concessions to Khartoum and to stand firm in the pursuit of an international peacekeeping force that can provide protection for the people of Darfur.

South Africa: Be Positive & Stay Negative

SLAM POETRY OPERATION TEAM

2006-11-22

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/38483

In recognition of the critical role that the literary, visual and performing artists can play in combating the spread of HIV\AIDS in the country and specifically in Kwazulu-Natal, which has escalating numbers of people living with HIV\AIDS, HIV\AIDS Orphans and child-headed families, the Slam Poetry Showcase, a sub-project of the Slam Poetry Operation Team (SPOT) hosts Be Positive & Stay Negative Slamjam on the 1st December 2006 from 17:00 to 20:00 at the Open Air Theatre, Drama Department –Howard College-UKZ.
PRESS STATEMENT: WORLD AIDS DAY EVENT HOSTED BY SLAM POETRY OPERATION TEAM

Issued by the SLAM POETRY OPERATION TEAM
08 November 2006

In recognition of the critical role that the literary, visual and performing artists can play in combating the spread of HIV\AIDS in the country and specifically in Kwazulu-Natal, which has escalating numbers of people living with HIV\AIDS, HIV\AIDS Orphans and child-headed families, the Slam Poetry Showcase, a sub-project of the Slam Poetry Operation Team (SPOT) hosts Be Positive & Stay Negative Slamjam on the 1st December 2006 from 17:00 to 20:00 at the Open Air Theatre, Drama Department –Howard College-UKZ.

The event is aimed at using the spoken word to highlight the escalation of the scourge of HIV\AIDS in the province and to promote pro-active measures towards combating the spread disease and also explore ways of ameliorating the conditions of people living with HIV\AIDS and of offering support and care to families affected by the disease. It will feature Spoken Word and Hip Hop performances by Miracle, Bullet, Blaq Hitla, Uninvited Guests, and Slam Poetry Show by Leo Jansen, Soul Ink, Ayanda, Perfect Stranger, and Neftali Dread. Donation (Admission fee) is R10, 00. Proceeds will be donated to an organization dealing with issues of children affected by HIV\AIDS.

The SlamJam will address various aspects of the fight against HIV\AIDS. In the first round of the SlamJam the slam poets will express themselves on the spread of HI\AIDS in the province and the country, focusing on the numbers of people living with HIV\AIDS, the mortality rate of people living with HIV\AIDS, the number of HIV\AIDS orphans and child-headed families in the province. In round two they will articulate themselves on pro-active initiatives and choices people can make to combat the spread of the disease, and in round three they will focus on how to help people living with HIV\AIDS to cope in society, focusing on de-stigmatization of the disease, support and care, life skills and access to treatment and other social services. In round four the audience will choose a topic for each poet and the poets will do impromptu performances\recitals on the topic suggested by the audience.

The choice of the medium of entertainment to pass the message is in itself a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit and aimed at emphasizing that people living with HIV\AIDS can still enjoy life and live long if, they choose to live positively and have the support of the society and the government. The interactive format of the Slamjam will be helpful in getting the community to have a sense of ownership of this project geared at increasing the participation of the community in initiatives aimed at halting the spread of HIV\AIDS.

Issued by the SPOT on 08\11\06
For more information contact:
Wandile: 0723092411
Cool fire: 0733511405
Mphutlane: 0765586123\ 031 306 24

INVITATION TO WORLD AIDS DAY CEREMONY

The Slam Poetry Operation Team cordially invites you to the “Be Positive, Stay Negative Slamjam” hosted in celebration of World Aids on 1 December 2006 at 17:00 at the Open Air Theatre, Drama Department, Howard College-University of Kwazulu-Natal.

The SlamJam will address the theme of HIV\AIDS focusing on the spread of the disease in KZN, pro-active measures to combat the spread of the disease, and initiatives towards ameliorating the conditions of People Living with HIV\AIDS. It will feature Spoken Word and Hip Hop performances by Miracle, Bullet, Blaq Hitla, and the Uninvited Guests, and a SlamJam featuring Leo Jansen, Soul Ink, Ayanda, Perfect Stranger, and Neftali Dread. Donation (Admission fee) is R10, 00. Proceeds will be donated to an organization dealing with issues of children affected by HIV\AIDS.

For more information contact:
Wandile: 0723092411
Cool fire: 0733511405
Mphutlane: 0765586123\ 031 306 2427

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Global: Native Groups Mourn on Thanksgiving Day

2006-11-23

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1121-03.htm

On the annual Thanksgiving holiday, commemorated this Thursday (23 November 2006), millions of U.S. families gather to eat turkey and sweet potatoes. Another crowd, distinctly less festive, assembles in the state of Massachusetts to mourn. This gathering overlooks Plymouth Rock, where European settlers landed in 1620, and is called yearly to condemn continuing violence and discrimination against Native American people.

Global: Rejoicing in Genocide and White Supremacy

2006-11-23

http://www.blackagendareport.com/005/005a_gf_the_american_thanksgiving.html

Nobody but Americans celebrates Thanksgiving. It is reserved by history and the intent of “the founders” as the supremely white American holiday, the most ghoulish event on the national calendar. No Halloween of the imagination can rival the exterminationist reality that was the genesis, and remains the legacy, of the American Thanksgiving. It is the most loathsome, humanity-insulting day of the year – a pure glorification of racist barbarity.

Africa: Chad prepares to fight rebels

2006-11-22

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3B1DDF97-24FD-4BAC-9EDC-019872E41D06.htm

The prime minister of Chad has announced plans to send troops to its southern neighbour Central African Republic to fight rebels allegedly backed by Sudan. Pascal Yoadimnadji, the prime minister, on Friday (17 November 2006)also called for the "general mobilisation" of Chad's people against what he called "a generalised war imposed by the Sudanese government".

DRC: For Congo, a New Beginning

2006-11-21

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611200841.html

After two devastating civil wars, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has successfully conducted historic elections which is expected to usher in a new era. But this is just the beginning of the search for stability, writes Constance Ikokwu in Kinshasa.

Somalia: A question of balance

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56440

After more than a decade of brutal factional fighting, the road-blocks and gunmen have been cleared off the streets of the Somali capital, business is thriving and Mogadishu is being rebuilt. But strict standards of religious and behavioral discipline are being introduced, and questions are being asked about the vision of the new authority, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

Sudan: African leaders discuss Darfur

2006-11-22

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB6CA8AF-B17D-4621-BE7A-57FFC48FF944.htm

Six African leaders, including the presidents of Sudan and Chad, have begun in Libya a mini-summit on Sudan's Darfur region, where internal strife is spilling over into Chad and the Central African Republic. Tuesday's meeting (21 November 2006), aimed at carving out Libya's wish for a "radical solution", comes amid rising impatience from both the US and the UN.

Sudan: Annan opens talks on Darfur

2006-11-21

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56400

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened a high-level meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday (16 November 2006) as rebels accused the Sudanese government and allied militias, known as Janjawid, of continuing attacks on civilians, and called on the international community to help prevent the violence.

Uganda: UN Should Stress Peace

2006-11-22

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/11/16/uganda14611.htm

In its upcoming presidential statement on the Juba peace talks, the United Nations Security Council should call on Uganda’s government, the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army and the international community to continue to work toward a peace agreement that respects human rights, and includes prosecutions of those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in accordance with international standards, Human Rights Watch said today (16 November 2006).

Africa: Airlines Asked to Invest More in E-Tickets

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611201856.html

African airlines have been challenged to embrace electronic ticketing to continue accessing the global market. International Air Transport Association senior vice president and a member of government relations, Mr Thomas Windmuller said only ten airlines were issuing e-tickets while the other 31 were yet to.

Africa: Chinese Swerves Areeba After Dumping Tigo

2006-11-22

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611210834.html

As rapidly as news filtered through of their interest in buying out MTN, the cellular phone company, the Chinese telecommunications giant, China Telecom over the weekend denied news reports that it might buy the sub-Saharan Africa's cellphone operator MTN.

South Africa: Growth expected in broadband market

2006-11-22

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=290610&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__business/

Market intelligence and consulting company BMI-T has upwardly revised its previous forecasts for the broadband market. Releasing its latest wireless access and broadband report on Monday (20 November 2006), BMI-T said while ADSL is still expected to lead the way in terms of revenue growth, much of the new growth in terms of subscriber numbers is expected to come from wireless connectivity, with cellular operators likely to exploit this opportunity most significantly.

Africa: Africa International Trade Review

2006-11-21

http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm2/africa_international_trade_review.html

The Africa International Trade Review is a bi-annual peer-reviewed journal published jointly by the University of Pretoria, the University of Western Cape and the Plato Institute, a non-profit think-tank based in Kenya, through PULP.

Africa: Agenda Feminist Media

2006-11-23

http://www.agenda.org.za/index.php

Agenda Feminist Media in collaboration with Heinrich Boll Stiftung and Open Society Foundation invite you to the launch of its TRAFFICKING Journal. Visit the website for more information.

Africa: Chimurenga Vol 10

2006-11-22

http://www.chimurenga.co.za/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=4

The new issue of Chimurenga is, yes, about football. And politics. But no, we are not talking about soccer as a capitalist apparatus, or as a substitute for war, or about South Africa’s ability to successfully host the 2010 World Cup, or about Fifa’s global developmentalist rhetoric – the writing and art actively side-step football clichés and branded discourses.
Chimurenga Vol 10: “Futbol, Politricks and Ostentatious Cripples”

Issue Release date: November 30, 2006

The new issue of Chimurenga is, yes, about football. And politics. But no, we are not talking about soccer as a capitalist apparatus, or as a substitute for war, or about South Africa’s ability to successfully host the 2010 World Cup, or about Fifa’s global developmentalist rhetoric – the writing and art actively side-step football clichés and branded discourses.

We chose instead to scope the stadia, markets, ngandas and banlieues to spotlight narratives of love, hate and the wide and deep spectrum of emotions and affiliations that the game generates. Because, after all, if you want to pitch it hardcore political, the playing field is the only area that Fifa does not and can not fully control – everything else is board-room approved.

But. Power, board-roomed or otherwise, must be confronted. Hence the issue is framed by two perspectives from Latin America, sure to inject some criticality in 2010 euphoria: the reader will enter the Argentinean fish-tank (where militants disappeared for death or brainwashing) during the 1978 World Cup, for an ethical exploration with activist Graciela Daleo, and emerge for a deep breath with Gustavo Esteva, who extracts the essence of the Zapatista movement as a radicalisation of democracy.

Between these you will find Of Fabric and Football – a travelogue in 5 parts that delivers idiosyncratic and powerful points of view on the ‘beautiful game’.

Binyavanga Wainaina, with an acerbic tongue and an ironic eye, captures the chaos and transactions, the passions and textures of Togo, Ghana, and the Entire Continent Everywhere during the 2006 World Cup. Knox Robinson (The African Game) writes of the relationship between player and space; Diouf and Leopold Sedar Senghor stadium in Dakar; Eto’o and Yaounde’s drinking spots; Drogba and Houphouet Boigny airport in Abidjan (read an excerpt in today’s Sunday Times Lifestyle). Simon Kuper (Football against the Enemy) conducts an off-centre interview with bush war veteran, Liverpool great and droll football manager Bruce Grobbelaar (and other Whitemen who run football in Kaapstad). Peter James Hudson time-travels to 16thC Spain and its infamous Catholic-inspired inquisition. Novelist Patrice Nganang establishes, in Camfranglais, football violence (and the rivalry between the country’s top teams Canon and Union) as a metaphor to explore political violence in Cameroon in the early 90s.

In a stand-alone piece Peter Alegi (Laduma! Soccer, Politics and Society in SA), investigates the 2001 Ellis Park football disaster in Johannesburg, concluding with a meticulous indictment of the soccer bosses’ and the government’s roles before, during and after the tragedy.

Poetry finds its expression in two poems by Adriano Sousa (against futebol coaches who should be bullfighters) and a poem by Molara Wood (for Marc-Vivien Foe). Filmmaker Lindiwe Nkutha gives a nuanced short story of hate in the dusty locale of a South African township while Julia Napier evokes the bodylove for the game in her short story about a female footballer.

There is a Tricolour Triptych – head, body and corpses.

Firstly, Grant Farred produces a Derridean reading of Zidane’s world-stopping head butt. Secondly, a conversation between Achille Mbembe and Zidane’s teammate Lilian Thuram in the aftermath of the famous coup de boule. Thirdly, in a story of bones, Dominique Malaquais relocates the remains of Frantz Fanon.

There’re two pieces on football and cinema (sort-of):
First, maverick Serbian filmmaker, Emir Kusturica (Time of the Gypsies; Underground), in a conversation with Diego Maradona, the best player EVER and the subject of Kusturica’s documentary-in-progress, about Bush Jr, Castro, John Paul II and the poor of Argentina. And Philippe Parreno, co-maker of the acclaimed Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, talks with Cyril Neyrat about the conceptual, political and technical motivations and processes in the making of the film.

The art and photography are delivered by Buyaphi Mdledle, Gerd Rohling, Andrew Dosunmu, Phillipe Niorthe, Joseph Francis Sumegne, Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah, Kate Simon, Nicola Schwartz, Joel-Peter Witkin and the Cuban Ministry of Information.

The cover is “Table Head (Evora, Portugal)” by Nicola Schwartz

Writing. Art. Politics. Who no know go know.

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Africa: Human Rights, Peace and Justice in Africa

2006-11-21

http://www.chr.up.ac.za/pulp/reader.html

This Reader contains materials on human rights, peace and justice relevant to Africa, extracted from academic writings, reports from the United Nations and non-governmental organisations, speeches, official documents, national constitutions and human right cases.

Africa: ICC-Africa

2006-11-21

http://www.iccnow.org/index.php?mod=download&doc=5096

The third issue of ICC-Africa is available now on the CICC's website. This issue is a "Special ASP" issue prepared for the fifth session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court which starts on 23 November 2006.

Global: Armed Non-State Actors and Landmines

2006-11-22

http://www.genevacall.org/news/testi-press-releases/gc-16nov2006-nsanews.htm

Geneva Call is launching its new report on mine action involving armed non-state actors (NSAs) within the framework of the Third Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons in Geneva, Switzerland.

Africa: Elimination of Violence Against Women

2006-11-21

http://peacejournalism.com/details1.php?article_id=1521

The UN Population Fund is organizing a film festival on gender-based violence. Filmmakers from around the continent of Africa have been invited to submit films and documentaries for a film festival in Dakar devoted to ending violence against women in Africa.

Africa: Papers on the Draft Charter on Democracy

2006-11-21

http://www.afrimap.org/paperinvitation.php

AfriMAP is pleased to launch its fourth call for papers, focusing on the draft African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance, that has been the subject for debate at recent African Union summits. The draft Charter will be discussed again at the AU summit to be held in Addis Ababa in January 2007.

Africa: Workshop on Writing for Scholarly Publishing

2006-11-21

http://www.codesria.org/Links/new06/writing_workshop06_maputo.pdf

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the 2006 edition of its Annual Writing Workshop for Scholarly Publishing. Three sessions of the workshop have been scheduled, one to be held in English, another in French and the third one in Portuguese.

Global: Justice Initiative Fellows Program

Central European University

2006-11-22

http://www.justiceinitiative.org/

The Open Society Justice Initiative, an operational program of the Open Society Institute (OSI), joins with Central European University (CEU) to announce the Justice Initiative Fellows Program for 2007-2009. The aim of the program is to support and further develop a network of lawyers and activists working on human rights related issues internationally.

Global: Rethinking Rights in Africa

2006-11-22

http://caas.concordia.ca/htm/call-e07.htm

The ultimate challenge and objective of this conference is to encourage Africanists across the disciplines to think about rights in ways more consonant with local struggles over power and its meaning, and to consider how they might establish more meaningful conversations among the academic world, the world of international and non-governmental agencies, and the worlds in which people strive to imagine, define, create, and defend their rights in Africa and its diasporas.

South Africa: Development & Human Rights

2006-11-21

http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ggp/dev_hr.html

The course focuses on the following issues: Definitions of development, including the rhetorics of development, classic versus radical definitions, Western and African definitions, and the World Bank and IMF models of development, as well as the rights-based, village-based and other models of development.

Africa: Programme Director - Education for Social Justice

2006-11-23

http://www.fahamu.org/jobs.php

Fahamu, Networks for Social Justice, is seeking a dynamic, entrepreneurial and socially committed educator to join us as Programme Director of Fahamu’s Education for Social Justice programme. Based in Nairobi, you will have national, continental and international responsibilities for developing, managing and expanding distance-learning and other capacity building initiatives

Africa: Quaker International Affairs

2006-11-23

http://www.afsc.org/jobs/blurbs/256.htm

Summary: Responsible for the overall management, program direction, legal obligations, interpretation, and stewardship of all AFSC resources in Central Africa. The Representative serves as official representative of the AFSC; manages contacts in Central Africa with government ministries, UN agencies, and local and international NGOs; supervises staff.

Education Specialist - Governance

2006-11-24

http://www.col.org/opportunities

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is seeking an Education Specialist to develop and manage initiatives related to good governance in the public sector, the educational system and NGOs. Knowledge and expertise in open and distance learning (ODL) and in its applications to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in governance and education is essential. Applicants should have a minimum of 10 years of professional experience including 5 years of related international work experience. The position requires proficiency with office technology and a readiness to travel internationally.

South Africa: Africa Researcher

2006-11-23

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/38516

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the international charity tracking the social & environmental conduct (positive & negative) of over 3200 companies worldwide, is seeking a highly-motivated person to be its Africa Researcher & Coordinator.
Job announcement
Africa Researcher & Coordinator (3 days per week) - based in South Africa

Fees (in South Africa Rand): R144,000-180,000 per year for 3 days per week work (depending on experience and education). Fees are equivalent of R240,000-300,000 per year for full-time work.

closing date: 13 December 2006

Applicants must have:
• excellent English language skills;
• the right to work in South Africa; and
• previous work or volunteer experience in a non-profit organization addressing human rights, labour rights, development, environment, or other social issues.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the international charity tracking the social & environmental conduct (positive & negative) of over 3200 companies worldwide, is seeking a highly-motivated person to be its Africa Researcher & Coordinator.

As the first person in Africa working for the Resource Centre, you will be responsible to the Director and the Training Manager (both based in London), working with them and the other four staff members to further develop the organization and its website: www.business-humanrights.org The site is recognised internationally as the leading information hub on this subject. Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, chairs the Resource Centre’s International Advisory Network.

You will be our second regional researcher. Our East Asia Researcher, appointed in April 2006, is based in Hong Kong. We plan to recruit others in Francophone Africa, Latin America, South Asia, etc.

Your responsibilities will include:
• Daily online research and input of information onto the Resource Centre website;
• Representing the Resource Centre at meetings & conferences;
• Building contacts with, and seeking information from, a broad range of people working on relevant issues in African NGOs, companies, media, investment firms, universities, governments, etc;
• Making a special effort to draw attention to under-reported issues & cases in the region;
• Assisting with the organization’s Weekly Updates, which draw attention to breaking news and important developments; inviting companies to reply to concerns raised about their conduct, so that their responses can be included in the Updates.

You must have an ability to represent the organization in Africa and build a broad range of contacts. You will need strong research & analytical skills to identify relevant materials for the website, categorise the information, and compose brief summaries. You will need to be willing to do a significant amount of online input to help keep the website updated. Rigorous attention to detail, sound political judgment, and the ability to present information objectively and impartially are also required.

You must have good word processing skills, and the ability to function under pressure and manage a heavy workload. Good organizational, communication & interpersonal skills, and a strong commitment to human rights, are essential. You must be willing to work on your own initiative, prioritise with minimal supervision, and work independently as well as function as part of a team. You must be self-servicing in terms of administrative tasks.

As we will not be setting up office premises in South Africa, you must be willing & able to work from home and/or from a hosting institution (e.g. if a South African university or NGO is willing to provide office space).

Further details about this post (including job description & application form) can be found via a link at the top of our homepage: www.business-humanrights.org The application form is required; we cannot accept CVs. If you need to contact us, please e-mail: contact@business-humanrights.org

Further information about the Resource Centre can be found in the “About us” section of the website.

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South Africa: Communications Officer

Centre for Public Participation

2006-11-22

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/38476

The Centre for Public Participation (CPP) is a section 21 company working towards strengthening public participation in governance. Our vision is of an informed and empowered civil society engaging actively with accessible and accountable structures and processes of government, to develop and implement policies and programmes that improve people’s quality of life.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER (R120,000 – R150,000 p.a)

The Centre for Public Participation (CPP) is a section 21 company working towards strengthening public participation in governance. Our vision is of an informed and empowered civil society engaging actively with accessible and accountable structures and processes of government, to develop and implement policies and programmes that improve people’s quality of life.

The organization has a vacancy for a Communications Officer in its offices in Durban.

The incumbent’s Key Perfomance Areas (KPAs):
- Manage information dissemination on policy and governance developments
- Maintain and update CPP’s website and list-serve
- Develop partnership relationships with media stakeholders
- Compile regular press releases and submit commentaries to the media
- Manage community radio station information provision
- Participate in radio talk shows and submit comments to the media
- Organize dialogues and briefings
- Implement internal and external communication strategies
- Perform administrative duties
- Render support and services to CPP programmes
- Assist in building CPP’s profile
Requirements:
- Possession of a degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism or related qualification from a recognized institution
- The ability to act and think strategically
- Two years experience
- Computer literacy
- Solid understanding of NGO sector

Interested candidates should send a letter of application and CV to lungi@cpp.org.za <mailto:lungi@cpp.org.za> or fax to (031) 261 9059, no later than 04 December 2006. For enquiries, contact Lungi on (031) 261 9001. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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