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Pambazuka News Editors

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/38741

FEATURE: Jody Kollapen argues that the main challenge to the human rights framework is how society makes a connection between social values and human rights. We must interrogate whether that connection is obvious, and what prevents it, writes Kollapen.
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Although Cape Town is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, it is a city characterized by inequality. Gael Reagon argues that Cape Town is being “enslaved and stratified according to who has material wealth and who does not.”
- In most African states, homosexuality is illegal. Juliet Victor Mukasa writes that in Africa, transgender people are punished and ostracised for being who they are.
- Joel Bisina explains that ecological devastation on the one hand, and neglect arising from crude oil production on the other hand, have left much of the Niger Delta desolate, uninhabitable, and poor.
OBITUARY: The incomparable Joseph Ki- Zerbo
PAN AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem cautions that we need to stop criminalizing other Africans as smugglers’, ‘aliens’, or ‘illegal immigrants’.
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine reports on the actions of multinational mining companies operating in Ghana.
BOOKS & ARTS: Female sex practices in Africa
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: WSF registration deadline extended
AFRICAN UNION MONITOR: Ministers propose 2007 as ‘year of science’ in Africa
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Chad and the DRC
HUMAN RIGHTS: Army to probe human rights abuses in northeast Uganda
WOMEN AND GENDER: Creation of new UN agency for women
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Angolan refugees flee camps in Zambia for fear of repatriation
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: President Kabila sworn in
DEVELOPMENT: Diamonds, the curse of Africa
CORRUPTION: More needs to be done to fight South African corruption
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Ugandan HIV/Aids campaign in crisis
EDUCATION: Africa’s hidden histories
ENVIRONMENT: First Horn of Africa regional environment meetings opens
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Grappling with land pressure
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Chad’s media goes on strike
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: World AIDS day, the free trade way
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops

Mobile phones for social justice: Call for expressions of interest

Fahamu

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/38731

Mobile phone technologies have taken Africa by storm. The technology has raised new possibilities for activism by human rights and social justice organisations and for service delivery in fields such as health care, banking and agricultural information.

In 2007, Fahamu and Tactical Tech will hold a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, that will aim to enable those using mobile phone technologies in activism or service delivery work to exchange their experiences of using the technology in the African context and plan strategies to support their work. The conference will explore areas related to the use of mobile technology in the African context, future trends, best practice and available tools and resources.

If you have used mobile phones in your work, Fahamu would like to hear from you. Please click on the link for more details.
Mobile phones for social justice: Call for expressions of interest
Fahamu
www.fahamu.org

Mobile phone technologies have taken Africa by storm. The technology has raised new possibilities for activism by human rights and social justice organisations and for service delivery in fields such as health care, banking and agricultural information.

In 2007, Fahamu and Tactical Tech will hold a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, that will aim to enable those using mobile phone technologies in activism or service delivery work to exchange their experiences of using the technology in the African context and plan strategies to support their work. The conference will explore areas related to the use of mobile technology in the African context, future trends, best practice and available tools and resources.

The conference will establish an African regional network of those who use mobile phone technologies and facilitate an ongoing support network. The meeting will also lead to the development of a toolkit on mobile phones put together by an international team of practitioners with relevant expertise.

As part of the development of this initiative, Fahamu is conducting research to consult widely and involve as many interested parties as possible in the network and 2007 conference.

Fahamu would like to hear from you if you have:

- Used, are currently using, or planning to use, mobile phone technology in human rights and social justice work in Africa;
- Used or are currently using mobile phones in service delivery work in Africa;
- Developed or are in the process of developing technologies related to mobile phones;
- Plan to use mobile phone technologies in the future in Africa.

Interested individuals and organisations are asked to send an expression of interest not longer than one page to fahamumobile@gmail.com with the following information:

- Name of organisation or individual
- Contact Details
- Country
- Nature of past, existing or planned work involving mobile technology, including a description of the project, the problem it sought to address and its successes or failures. Alternatively, we would welcome seeing any reports you may have produced (any such information will be treated confidentially if that is your preference).

If you would like to discuss this on the phone (preferably using something like Skype) please let us know.

It is envisaged that the conference will be held in May 2007. Funds will be available for travel, accommodation and limited expenses of invited participants.

Further information about Fahamu can be found at www.fahamu.org and www.pambazuka.org

Affirming a culture of values in the human rights framework

Jody Kollapen

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/38725

If human rights have come to assume such dominance in our society, why do we still witness oppression and intolerance? Does this necessarily reflect the inadequate human rights framework we have in place? Jody Kollapen writes that the main challenge to the human rights framework is how society makes a connection between social values and human rights.


There’s hardly a discussion that is not characterised by the language of human rights. It was central in the struggle for democracy in freeing our country, it was seen as a struggle issue in the struggle for human rights. It is in the architecture of our Constitution, the commitment for human rights.

And virtually anybody in society will not speak on any critical issue without using the language of human rights. It plays a central role in policy making processes, in legislation, in judicial pronouncements, so clearly on the face of it, it occupies a dominant role. And former Chief Justice Ismail Mohammed spoke to the human rights values in this context in the Makwanyane case5 and I’ll just quote briefly. He said:

“All constitutions seem to articulate with differing degrees of intensity in each level; the shared aspirations of a nation, the values which bind its people and which discipline its government and international institutions, the basic premises upon which judicial, legislative and executive power is to be wielded, the constitutional limits and the conditions upon which that power is to be exercised, the national ethos which defines and regulates that exercise, and the moral and ethical direction which the nation has identified for its future.”

Now if human rights have come to assume such dominance in our society then it must beg the question: why are they not embraced as dominantly in our society as one must assume that they play such a dominant role? The available evidence suggests that it is not being embraced as widely as expected. We still witness intolerance and see violence on a daily basis in our society.

Yesterday, the National Religious Leader’s Forum couldn’t reach agreement on a statement when they went to see the President with regard to the issue of HIV/AIDS. This suggests that as much as we want to say that there’s a glue that binds this nation, we must question what that glue is and indeed, how strong that glue is, because very often we seem to be falling apart.

There are two components of human rights, there’s the legal component. The legal component is relatively easy; it defines the parameters of the right, what will happen if the right is not observed.

But we assume that there’s also a value content to that right. For thousands of years communities have lived and identified who they are, have structured relationships in relation to their community, their government, in relation to value systems, shaped by culture, shaped by religion, shaped by their own experiences of those communities, and those value systems have existed, and continue to exist.

What you saw happening in the last 50 years, perhaps more pronounced is the development quite substantially over International Human Rights Framework, and there’s an assumption that the value systems that have developed now speak to the Human Rights Framework.

Do they speak to that framework in the value system? We think they do. And let’s examine that critically.

I have no doubt that there are lots of similarities in the value systems that different societies have developed. But there are also differences, and questions have been asked about whether human rights are universal or whether they’re relative, whether they’re Eurocentric. And we can answer those questions quite glibly by saying, surely they’re not, but we need to examine quite critically some of the issues that
have come up from this discourse.

Let me present an example of how the choice of value can determine the nature of the human rights framework, and I’ll give two examples. In the area of justice, there are various notions of justice and there are various values that shape how we see a justice system.

The Western notion is by and large a retributive notion of justice. The African notion is by and large a restorative restitutive notion of justice. Now depending on the choice you make, will determine the kind of system you put in place, the kind of rules and procedures, the kind of human rights guarantees that you put in place.

And thus we asked ourselves the question: does the human rights framework then that governs the justice system, the right to a fair trail is something we all agree to, but the rules currently of the right to a fair trial by and large imitate the objectives of an adversarial retributive system of justice?

I think it does. So the question then is: If our value system is one of restorative justice, and one that takes us away from the adversarial system, there’s an inconsistency with the system it put in place. That’s one example.

The second example which throws up this issue is around the issue of what you may call communalism versus individualism. Now many people will tell me that the kind of societies that existed in this geographical context and elsewhere, were characterised by the notion of communalism, a notion of sharing of resources and sharing of responsibility, the relationship of individuals to their communities, and the sense of duty to that community, and vice versa.

If you take that down to then how you construct your economic system, does your economic system then reflect the value of communalism or the value of individualism? If it does reflect the value of individualism then people are entitled to ask; does the system then speak to our values?

They’re not rejecting the system but they’re asking the fundamental question; and therein I’m hoping you can begin to see some of the fault lines between our values.

In the South African context, we speak of the founding values of the Constitution, equality, human dignity and the advancement of human rights, and we assume that we all understand it in the same way. We assume that we interpret it in the same way and that it’s manifested in the same way, and I’m not quite sure if that’s always the case.

Take the Christian Schools case, for instance, the Christian educators would say that the infliction of corporal punishment for us is a matter of affirming the dignity of the child because it informs respect, the structure of the family, etc. I don’t agree with it, but they would argue that perspective.

Others would say, to inflict a system of corporal punishment is a violation of the child’s dignity. Now they may use the language of rights but they come from a different value perspective, and I think that is what is emerging so often in our own society.

Referring to the concept of Ubuntu, Chief Justice Pius argues that: “The concept is of some relevance to the values we need to uphold. It is a culture, which places some emphasis on communality and on the interdependence of the members of the community. It recognises a person’s status as a human being entitled to unconditional respect and dignity, value and acceptance from the members of the community, if such person happens to be part of it.”

It also entails the converse, however. The person has a corresponding duty to give the same respect, dignity, value and acceptance to each member of that community. More importantly, it regulates the exercise of rights by the emphasis it lays on sharing and co-responsibility, and mutual enjoyment of rights by all.

So the sense again of communality, of sharing and co-responsibility. Now if we proudly proclaim Ubuntu as a foremost value of society, then we must ask the question: does that value reflect itself in the policy processes, in the legal processes in the jurisprudence that is being developed?

I’m not going to answer that question now, but there is genuine concern whether in fact it does, or whether it’s simply something that it sounds nice to say but hasn’t been imbibed and hasn’t been ingrained into the processes.

Rosalind English has also raised relevant questions regarding the concept of Ubuntu. She asked, cynically, whether it has suddenly become, and I quote: “A marketing device designed to put an African imprimatur on a set of civil liberties forged largely out of Western instruments.”

She further asks: “Is Ubuntu then a genuinely useful jurisprudential tool or does it simply mean all things to all men?”

I think we’ve come to the point where we must recognise that we don’t necessarily share the same value system and we must find the way in which we can put those differing interpretations on the table, debate it, synthesise it, if we are serious in going forward.

And without a doubt we speak of the human rights challenges that we need to escalate, but it’s clear to us that you can’t escalate it and you can’t give it a sense of impetus and momentum, unless we get this understanding of values right.

There’s also a real danger, people, that in looking at the different values and in constructing a society where we say we respect difference, and we create space for difference and we celebrate difference, that we actually are not sincere about it, that subconsciously we do it in a way that says, but we’ll celebrate difference, but sooner or later they will become like us, because that’s what we actually want them to be. And when I say “them” I don’t speak of women or black people or whatever, I speak
of “the other”.

In conclusion I think that the way in which we construct the human rights debate and the way in which we have placed it at the central place in the transformation of our country is critical that it cannot fail and it hasn’t failed. But I think it faces some considerable challenges at the current time in terms of how we make the connection between values and human rights, and we can’t make the connection simply on the assumption that there’s an obvious connection.

Why do you ask what’s the connection? It’s obvious, it speaks naturally. We must interrogate whether that connection is as obvious, and what prevents it. And that requires in a sense for each of us to look at our own values, to look at our own individual transformation and to ask, how did that transformation relate to what we want to see and achieve as a country.


• This paper was presented at a seminar on ‘Affirming A Culture Of Values In The South African Human Rights’, organized by the South African Human Rights Commission in April this year (2006). Jody Kollapen is with the SA Human Rights Commission.
• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Our Mother City is Motherless

Gael Reagon

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38726

Cape Town, also known as the ‘Mother City’, is one of the top tourist destinations in the world. The city is also one of the most racially segregated cities in the world, and, further, the city is characterized by inequality. Gael Reagon argues that Cape Town is being “enslaved and stratified according to who has material wealth and who does not. The mother city is motherless.”


"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so." Mahatma Gandhi

On 7 December 2006, the city of Cape Town will vote on a bylaw which, if passed or not, will be an acute measurement of our morality. The By Law Relating to Streets, Public Places and Prevention of Nuisances is a slim invidious document that outlines the strategic management of the central city’s spaces and of its people.

It is the social dimension of the ‘nuisances’ bylaw that concerns me heavily on the reasoning that the one operates in relation to the other – that how we treat each other in the same space (our public and natural resources) will indicate who or perhaps more cogently, what we are. In that a society is measured by its treatment of its least.

A reading of the new proposed consolidated nuisances bylaw reveals a political premise and ethical ethos that regard the poor as social untouchables to be driven legally and economically from the centre to the gods know where, the desolate dustbowl of Happy Valley seems the favoured destination. Having in the last few months been walking at all hours the city streets with a crew of thinking caring people - Nombulelo, Mimi, Buyaphi, Wasefa and Sibusiso - we can attest via personal experience and witnessing, that our city is in anomie, an advanced state of lawlessness that benefits the rich and beleaguers the poor.

Rohinton Maistry, in his astute novel, A Fine Balance, set in the crazed schism of the post- independence India/Pakistan split, intones it succinctly, that ‘when they said they would clean the streets of poverty, they meant clean out the poor’.

Here my children who live on the streets are unlawfully arrested daily and nightly; their takings via hustling, begging or work are taken from them by security forces; they are constantly shoved around by the police who will arrest them on the most fragile of pretences for “loitering” or for “riotous” behaviour; here, one of my children was dropped on the mountain for no reason and broke his leg trying to come down; here the peace officers have become pimps, taking the earnings of sex workers under threat of arrest; here my children are woken by boots and pepper spray at any time of day or night; here my disabled street friend Envor Mac was arrested two weeks ago for taking a duvet and sent to Pollsmoor Prison for 2 years; here the excessive needs of tourists and the native greedy ones are given priority over care, shelter and education for my children.

This blessed piece of the planet, in the embrace of two oceans and Table Mountain, a world heritage site; this mother city, our top tourist destination and earner; this city of hybridity , of all colours and tongues; this city is being enslaved and stratified according to who has material wealth and who does not. The mother city is motherless.

But let’s rewind to the legislative birth of this new proposed bylaw that faces us today. It reared its gorgon head four years ago when it was lopped off with the double-edged sword of NGO-led public resistance coupled with a change of city administration with the installment of Nomaindia Mfeketo as mayor. By all accounts, Mfeketo, who in her 2005/6 budget pledged nearly R18 billion to provide shelter and jobs for all the city’s citizens in the next decade, did not have the courage of her conviction (that the bylaw is inherently prejudiced towards the poor) and simply did nothing – she did not facilitate a vote for or against, instead launching her Smile-A-Child publicity campaign.

This suspended status of the bylaw changed this year when the current incumbent, Helen Zille slipped on the mayoral mantle and chain and inaugurated an aggressive revival of the nuisances bylaw.

In May this year, the bylaw was passed by majority vote in a full sitting of council (the ANC voted against it) whose R900 000 social spending budget allocates a third for street people according to Bantry Bay councillor Jean-Pierre Smith. On its promulgation through the Provincial Gazette on 23 June 2006, street people and civil society organizations, largely under the auspices of a 20-member NGO Task Team again registered their protest on the basis that there had been no public participation. The bylaw was withdrawn 3 days later and a 2-week public participation process, inviting the submission of written comments on the bylaw, instituted in late September. According to the NGO Task Team 115 submissions were sent to the city management: 32 from organizations of which 7 support the proposed bylaw and 25 reject it; the rest are from individuals, 14 of whom are neutral, 19 are against it and 43 are in favour of it.

Now, the city managers are ready to vote. They have also just adopted a draft policy on adult street people, developed by Jean-Pierre Smith and entitled A Foot in the Door, which shows some measure of concern for the city’s nearly 10 000 homeless but locates its concerns in a kind of pathological paternalism that brands street people as insane, as drunkards or as drug addicts. Furthermore this draft policy is pretty much the theory that informs the actions proposed in the bylaw.

I have to let you know that though the bylaw will again be formally voted on Thursday (7 December 2006), it has, in effect been law any way. This new ‘nuisances’ bylaw is actually just a consolidation and refinement of a collection of nearly 30 municipal bylaws in existence from Tygerberg to Fish Hoek to the City that have, in amended and non-amended forms, existed from 1903 to now. The 1917 bylaw for the city, last amended in 1944, for instance, prevents spitting in public spaces. This proscription co-incidentally, is still nestling in the new bylaw, the infringement of which will elicit a fine of R100.

Since there are no substantive changes and reformulations in the new proposed nuisances bylaw as it stands, and since the 115 written submissions - most from individuals living in wealthy suburbs - can hardly be viewed as a vigorous, comprehensive and inclusive public input (with much respect to those who made submissions in the limited time-span); our city managers will be voting on a bylaw which is already law.

That’s the complicated statutory position. The social implication is simple: the city, like all cities claiming the appellation world class through the capitalist discourse of economic development and its concomitant strategy of urban renewal or regeneration, is shaping itself as a home, boardroom and playground for the black-chip empowered and the dollar rich.

Since the document is in the public domain – you can access it via NGO Task Team members Anna Weekes (021 448 7875) or Patric Solomons (021 762 5423) – I am not going to outline its clauses and sub-clauses except to say that Sub-section 2, which deals with prohibited behaviour, is unashamedly targeted at the mother city’s homeless, jobless and youth subculture.

It proposes severe fines or imprisonment for, amongst others, washing and drying clothes in public, aggressive begging, selling goods or washing cars without permission, shouting, touching someone’s property without consent, dancing and drumming without consent, rollerblading or skateboarding, and for sex work. Fines are anything between R50 – R500.

And, since I do not own an SUV, I will propose to be your GPS and finesse some moral calibration in relation to law, and its bona fide, justice.

This post-fascist bylaw is fundamentally and constitutionally unjust. It denies the underclass the rights to work, live and play in the city. Resistance to this legislative and social deprivation is then criminalized and punished.

This is the law of rapacity. My city is being raped by the men and women who manage it and own it via the Cape Town Partnership – a private/public partnership between the City of Cape Town, property owners and business sealed in 1999 – led by Shaun Johnson, the chief executive of the Mandela/Rhodes Foundation.

It’s property namesake, the plush new Mandela/Rhodes Place in St George’s Mall owned by Eurocape, houses apartments that can be bought for anything between R1- R7 million.

The CTP manages the Central City Improvement District (CCID) which employs a private security firm, g4s, to implement its strictures to clean the streets of the homeless in a relentless campaign of low-intensity terror and petty avarice.

On the street and in the parliamentary session Patricia de Lille (Member of Parliament) held last week with street people the word is informed and unambiguous: NO. No, the street people are saying, we will not be treated like non-citizens and non-human beings because a few want too much.

Marwaan Abrahams aka ‘Kakkies’ says that the bylaw is “how they fight us”. “All they see is criminal, but they don’t know what is going on inside. All the wrong things that you did that you went to prison for, when you come out you are hunted and still treated the same. Me, I am on a level. I am transformed, they are not. We are in a war. A total war”.


• This article first appeared in the Cape Argus, and it is republished here with a kind permission of the author. Gael Reagon is a freelance journalist and is based in Cape Town.
• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

On Transgender Human Rights Issues in Africa

Juliet Victor Mukasa

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38727

In most African states, homosexuality is illegal. Juliet Victor Mukasa writes that in Africa, transgender people are punished and ostracised for being who they are. “While still with my parents, I was always beaten by my father for “behaving” like a boy. In school, the same story. While peeing one day my neighbour’s daughter found me peeing while squatting and she screamed like she had seen a monster.”


As a transgender person who is attracted physically and emotionally to other women, issues that African women and trangenders face are of particular concern to me. The one thing that all transgender people have in common is that we do not fit into traditional gender categories.

We’re taught that that a human being must behave, present themselves, dress and so on in only two ways…male or female. There are rules that govern genders, unfortunately. Such gender rules include:

-How a man should dress in order to appear masculine;
-What types of jobs are fitting for a woman
-That a woman must only be in a relationship with another man, not with a woman

These rules to govern our behaviour are socially constructed, meaning that they are not “natural”. They are rules made up by people, sometimes with horrible punishments for not following them.

In Africa, transgender people are seriously punished for being who they are. While still with my parents, I was always beaten by my father for “behaving” like a boy. In school, the same story. While peeing one day my neighbour’s daughter found me peeing while squatting and she screamed like she had seen a monster. I became the laughing stock of the village and I expelled myself because of the humiliation. I could speak the whole day about the discomforts I have suffered in life more because I am a transgender person.

All trans-people that I have interacted with mention such, or even worse, moments in their lives. It can be a very deep violation of our being to be forced to perform our gender differently to who we feel it for ourselves.

Some people, like myself, are born with a sense of ourselves as male in some ways, even though we are biologically female.

As a transgender person, it is constantly demanded of me to explain and justify why I do not fit into other people’s ideas of what a woman or a man should be.

As a Human Rights defender, I am working to protect a space for people to exist freely without facing harassment, threats, or violence for not fitting into traditional gender categories.

I can give specific examples of human rights abuses and violations of transgender people in Africa:

- Raped to prove that you are really a woman
- At school and public assembly - humiliation and beatings
- Thrown out of the family home
- Thrown out of subsequent homes by landlords
- Losing jobs because of feeling violated wearing a skirt
- Psychological Effects of Abuse: Depression, Anger, Drinking, Suicide
- Holding a full bladder for 12-18 hours daily
- Being undressed and humiliated
- Being abused by government when trying to get a passport
- In church – I was once stripped naked before a multitude of people. The pastor ‘saw’ the spirit of a young man inside me and they burnt my clothes and shoes in order to kill the male spirit.
- By Police: humiliation, mocking, mistreatment

However, transgender people have also been successful in overcoming these abuses.

In Uganda there is tremendous energy and anger on the part of activists. Many LGBTs are ready to rise up. For example, some transgender men are dressing up in drag and declaring that they have had enough.

Another victory is the establishment of the first specifically Transgender organization on the continent: Gender DynamiX, located in Cape Town, South Africa.

We are now claiming language and claiming spaces. Sometimes it is even difficult for us to understand ourselves because the world has been constructed to make us completely invisible. But now we are finding words to use for urselves such as He She Che.

As an illustration of why we need your support, I would like to highlight the work of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). SMUG is an organization made up of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Human Rights Defenders. Many of us in leadership in this organization are women and several of us are transgender. We face many challenges such as inUganda, on a weekly basis, gay men are arrested and face detention if they do not pay a bribe to be released. This has become a business from which the police benefit. The basic Human Rights of LGBT people are completely disregarded in this process as the police abuse our rights.

Many of us do not receive protection from the police when we face violations of our rights by the surrounding community. One of SMUG’s primary emphases in our workplan for this year is sensitising the police and creating a better working relationship with them.

By having the support, awareness, and protection of international Human Rights bodies, we will be much more effective in this endeavour.Through our work, we aim to help people realise the ways in which we are all connected, whether straight or LGBT, the societal rules governing what a woman has to be like and what a man has to be like hurt us all.

However, we still have many needs. We are an invisible population when it comes to protection. There is almost NO research to understand transgender people’s lives in Africa.We have an undocumented history and are still invisible.

The secrecy and covert nature of our work in Africa also makes us invisible to the larger gender and human rights sector, and to each other. There is almost NO action in this area to protect people who do not fit into traditional gender categories. At the same time we are highly visible and therefore highly vulnerable to discrimination.

Transgender people have the potential to radically challenge discriminatory practices in a way that helps to free all people from sexism. People who cross gender boundaries make transformation of society more possible, and make gender transgressions more acceptable and enable societal gender transformation. We - the transgender community - have the right to tell our stories and have them heard, and to have our lives protected.

Mainstream Human Rights organizations, for the most part, are not accepting or protecting us on any level. As people from all over the world who are concerned about human rights and gender injustice, we need to work together to protect our most vulnerable Human Rights Defenders.


WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. Research and understand the complex self-identification of transgender people in Africa.

2. More effectively monitor human rights situations abuses and violations against Transgender People (such as systematic rape, intimidation, forced undressing, and economic exclusion).

3. Educate the UN bodies and its partners about transgender concerns.

4. Provide training, support, and protection to transgender Human Rights Defenders and allies.

5. Put pressure on local governments, donors, economic powers and human rights institutions toprovide protection for those who do not fit into traditional gender categories and to recognize the way in which transgender people add to the freedom of expression and quality of life of all people.


• This paper was presented at the World International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) PANEL AT 2ND UNCHR SESSION. Juliet Victor Mukasa is the Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Mukasa is also in the ILGA Board of Representatives
• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Environmental Degradation in the Niger Delta

Joel Bisina

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38728

It is reported that across large areas of Nigeria’s southeastern rainforest belt, hundreds of communities are threatened by erosion because of decades of uncontrolled deforestation and other types of pressure on the land. Joel Bisina explains that whereas both natural and human interventions can result in environment degradation, environmental destruction is a product of peoples’ unhealthy and unfriendly interaction with the environment.


The violence of the last ten years in the Niger Delta has brought to the front burner the issue of the environment, and its implication on regional peace and security. For four decades, ecological devastation on the one hand, and neglect arising from crude oil production on the other hand, have left much of the Niger Delta desolate, uninhabitable, and poor. The unholy contraception, or “joint venture partnership”, fraudulently contrived between the Nigerian state and the oil multinationals to the criminal exclusion of the inhabitants of the region presents a case study for now and the generations unborn.

Ours is a case of the goose that lays the golden egg. The Delta holds the bulk of the economic resources that sustains the public treasury in Nigeria. Yet, years of neglect and ecological devastation have left much of the Niger Delta despoiled and impoverished. This contradiction of riches is a constant refrain in most conflicts in the Delta. I cannot but agree with the summation contained in the UNDP human development report, “a delicate balance exists between the human population in the Niger Delta and its fragile ecosystem. There is a strong feeling in the region that the rate of environmental degradation is pushing the region towards ecological disaster.”

Conflicts in the region have often been blamed on among other things, neglect by government and oil companies, unemployment, military rule, the minority question, and a badly structured Nigerian federalism, especially as it concerns finances. While these factors separately or jointly bear on the conflict dynamics in the region, what has been lacking is their integration into an explanatory system in the addendum called environmental degradation.

I prefer to call it environmental destruction as against degradation. Whereas both natural and human interventions can result in environment degradation, destruction is a product of man’s unhealthy and unfriendly interaction with the environment. Okechukwu Ibeanu questioned if the factors are causal or only mediatory? (Ibeanu, 2000). He went further to query that if they are causal factors, are they principal, secondary, or tertiary, are they triggers, pivotal, mobilizing, or aggravating factors?

I will respond by saying that the environment factor is primary and is pivotal to the Niger Delta regional peace and conflict dynamics.

In attempting to underpin environmental degradation and its implication on peace and conflict dynamics in the Niger Delta, it will be necessary to try to examine the various contextual environments that present themselves and how they singularly or collectively interact to define the peace conflict spiral. Attempt will also be made to examine how this interaction dictates and reorders the peace security dynamics in the Niger Delta.

Natural Environment

Dr Egunjobi Layi in his paper published in Springlink Journal writes that “The relatively under-developed condition of the Delta Area of Nigeria is mainly due to its difficult natural environment. This is with particular reference to the mass, and complex maze, of water which floods the region, causing erosion and pollution, all of which adversely affect agricultural practice, transportation and other human activities.”

While I want to agree with the scholar to some extent, I beg to differ a little and state that attributing the under-development in the delta to a difficult natural environment is just over simplifying the problem. The natural Niger Delta environment we inherited from our forebears was an environment rich in bio diversity, varied species of wild life, dense population of marine and aquatic life, in fresh and salt water bodies, with rich mangrove and fresh water vegetation, flamboyant raffia and shrubs.

However, what we are now bequeathing for future generations is a natural environment whose lushness has disappeared completely, altered and degraded. This is due to canals that have been dredged, rivers and rivulets that have been blocked, streams and ponds that have silted to make way for oil drilling and exploitation. The resulting scenario is mass migration of fish species, destroying traditional livelihood systems. We now have polluted fresh water streams and rivers, fresh water vegetation completely wiped out by salt water encroachment caused by a combination of dredging and high tidal currents resulting from melting ice in the Arctic. The consequences of all these changes in the natural environment are poverty and frustration, resulting in tribes lashing out at one another or at the multi national corporations.

The Physical Environment

Our generation inherited a physical environment that was characterized by natural clean long stretch of sand beaches, fresh and healthy water lettuce that add their beauty and flavor to the environment. It is sad to say that we are bequeathing to our children an environment that is completely eroded or silted in some cases. We are bequeathing communities whose shorelines have been washed away or eroded due to the high volume of deep-sea exploration and exploitation activities. Once hilly and highland environments have been reduced to below sea level. Navigable creeks which once supported socio-economic activities among local dwellers have been silted with dredge dump, washed top surface soil arising from erosion and blocked canal of water ways to make way for oil activities; thus making them difficult for navigation.

We are beginning to find deserts in the delta due to pollution and oil spills, or forests that have been wiped out by bush fires caused by spills of petroleum products from aged or burst pipelines. The situation continues to reduce the land available for farming and infrastructural development. This has created unhealthy competition for available land space, further heightening cases of land related conflicts.

Our skylines are lit up with flares from gas, fumes and smoke associated with gas flare. In some of our communities it is difficult to differentiate between day and night.

Social Environment

The social safety nets of extended family system, communal labour, and communal ownership have broken or been replaced by greedy self-seeking and self-promoting values. I remember growing up as a child in the very strong sense of community that sustained peace and security for the environment.

There was this particular occasion, in 1971 when a stranger passerby pulled into our community in one of the evenings with a very small canoe. The stranger was in the middle of his small canoe, sitting on top of a huge red snapper because he does not want the fish to escape. Immediately when he got to our village he started asking who had set the fishing trap to the south of our community, and my elder sister came out and said, I am the one.

He pulled into our waterfront and said, please come take this fish, I saw it in one of your traps, it was almost escaping so I decided to rescue it and look for the owner. My mother was so moved by the act of courage, honesty and kindness that she told the stranger that he should wait so that they can butcher the fish to enable him to have some portion of the fish. As far as mama was concerned, the fish would have escaped from the trap, but for the resilience of the human spirit of honesty and kindness displayed by the man that rescued the fish. The man simply said, mama thank you for your kind gesture, but let it be next time because my journey is far before I get to my final destination, the portion would have decayed.

In another incident my mother lost her boat with the entire foodstuff she had bought for sale because the boat was not well tied to the shore. The next morning we went out looking for mama’s boat and her foodstuff. If you like, call it going out to search for mama’s shop or stall, because that mobile boat was the shop we had. In every community we got to, we would ask whether they found the boat or not. We finally located mama’s shop at the 8th community from our own. A hunter who had gone out in the night from that community found this strange boat shop and decided to take it to his water front hoping that the owner would show up. When we got there the entire content of mama’s shop boat was intact. The man did not remove a pin. My mother thanked him and we took our shop boat back without paying a dime.

The most exciting aspect of it was that the man even gave a portion from a bush pig he had killed that night, saying that mama’s shop boat brought him good luck that night. He claimed that for the past one week he had been going hunting without success, but that when he saw mama’s floating shop boat, he decided to bring it ashore and tie it firmly to his water front. He then decided to continue his hunting, and that not quite two kilometers away he ran into these bush pigs which by his explanation were mating and he was lucky to kill one of them, but the second one escaped. So not only did we recover our shop boat and its contents, we also had a very fresh portion of bush pig for meal that day.

These were the social settings that existed in our communities then. Communities that were driven by deep values of kindness, honesty and transparency, a communal philosophy of giving and sharing, where the haves have and keep for, on behalf of the whole not self. Societies where you could go to bed with your doors open; houses where there were no doors.

But today caution has been thrown to the wind and people brazenly even appropriate to self that which belongs to all. The social formations now create societies where some live in squalor and abject poverty, while others live in affluence at the expense of the whole. Today words that were alien to our lexicon have started to find their way into dominant pages. We now hear of sea piracy, hostage taking and kidnapping targeted at locals and strangers, highway and sea way robbery, heavily armed criminal gangs in our water ways who wreak all sorts of havoc, all in the name of the Niger Delta struggle. There is no longer trust for one another, not even at the community level.

Religious /Traditional Environment

The clash of traditional and western cultures, religions and belief systems also has opened up sacred shrines and places of worship for drilling and exploration for oil. Ancient landmarks have been pulled down and in some cases destroyed. We are now like a people without a past.

Legal Environment

By decrees, oil and gas became owned by the federal government, and progressively the region’s entitlements by way of derivation-based allocations declined from 50% to a mere 1½% in 1984 and later 3% in 1999 (Augustine Ekelegbe, The Economy of Conflict in the Oil Rich Niger Delta Region, p. 214).

The Northern hegemony taking advantage of military dictatorship began a regime of near total appropriation of the region’s oil resources through an intense over centralization and concentration of power and resources in the federal government. Oil resources were a major target. Various decrees and enactments were made to completely take away control of oil from the locals.

Under the Petroleum Act 1969, the entire ownership and control of all oil and gas in place within any land in Nigeria, under its territorial waters and the continental shelf, is vested in the state of Nigeria. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 further emphasized the state ownership in section 40(3), which provides that "the entire property in and control of all mineral oils and natural gas in, under or upon the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria shall vest in the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and shall be managed in such manner as may be established by law."

The implication of these laws is that the land available to the locals or people in the Niger Delta is further taken away from them on a daily basis as more oil is found in the land. As the land space gets smaller the struggle for its ownership and control increases and at the same time potential conflict over ownership of land increases.

The Local and International Economic Environment

Nigeria is a major player in the world energy market. It is the seventh largest producer of oil in the world. It supplies a fifth of United States oil imports. It is further becoming an important supplier in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. Instability in world oil supplies and the critical link of oil to the international economy has made Nigerian and more generally African oil to be more strategic than ever.

The irony is that the local economic environment is determined and driven by powers and economic forces that transcend beyond our borders - the IMF, the World Bank, Paris Club, Creditors Club, and so on.

We do not have any control over the oil we produce, the quantity to be produced, the price at which to sell, who to sell to and at what price to refine it. Nor do we have the powers to determine at what price we should sell to ourselves.

Other factors at the fore of regional conflicts are strong economic considerations, desperation and the need to amass wealth. Economies of crisis and war in the region have largely been underpinned by greed and high levels of corruption. There is also the profiting from conflicts by youth militias, rebels, armed gangs and even government soldiers. This involves plundering, bunkering, looting, and extortion, imposition of tolls, and robbery of local people, traders and farmers. Most youth militias are driven by the opportunity to acquire properties and riches. The economy underpins an extensive proliferation of arms and the pervasiveness of crime, violence and communal/ethnic conflicts.

The challenges of creating and ensuring access to these benefits have fuelled a deadly struggle among the ethnic and community leaderships, the elites, businessmen and politicians, youths, women and various other groups in the region. It has also fuelled deadly and violent conflicts as each group struggles to prove their relevance and capacity to disrupt the oil economy.

Individuals and groups struggle to control and dominate access and actual opportunities and benefits. The emerging greed, corruption and distributive conflicts underpin numerous incidents of community disturbances and criminal violence in the region.

Ibeanu (2002: 165) describes the situation as a ‘matrix of concentric circles of payoffs and rewards built on blackmail and violence.’ He continues:

The closer a person is to the centre, the greater his/her capacity to blackmail oil companies and therefore the greater his/her payoff. In time, members of the raucous inner circle fade away in a whimper and silence as a new core of vocal community leaders emerge: more blackmail, more payoffs.

Historical / Political Environment

The history of protests and conflicts of acrimony by the Niger Delta peoples against forced union and exploitation dates back to 1957 when testimonies were made in respect thereof before the Willink Commission of Inquiry into Minority Fears. What were those fears? They were fears of marginalization, neglect and the politics of exclusion, by the ethnic majority-based ruling political parties and governments of the then Eastern and Western Regions. Subsequently, several protests and clamors for justice have been registered to no avail.

Characteristically, both military and civilian governments have ignored clamors for equitable remedies, and forcibly smothered protests through use of overwhelming military might and other documented acts of state sanction and political violence.

The prevailing concept of federalism in Nigeria today falls short of expectations in both definition and practice. To the extent that it is being practiced as quasi-federalism, there has been an overly centralized control of resources by the Federal Government. This aberration continues to generate perpetual conflicts with indigenous rights; hence, it has become a major cause of conflicts in the Niger Delta Region, especially from notorious derivation principles for revenue allocation to states in the region.

The Way Forward

• Institutions of government and development interventionist agencies should, as a matter of urgency, fast track the process of environment remediation and ecosystem restoration.
• The issue of transparency and accountability should be taken more seriously.
• Legislations, decrees and enactments that are disempowering should be reviewed and where necessary abrogated as they continue to serve as an impediment to peace and security.
• Development priorities should be set by local communities.
• Local community participation in the resource mobilization, management and allocation should be given the attention it deserves. At least 30% of oil revenue should go directly to oil bearing communities.
• The political process should be made transparent and fair for free entry and exit of those with integrity and men whose vision and values are driven by the desire to serve not to be served.

• This paper was presented at the Niger Delta Environmental Roundtable at the Hotel Presidential Port Harcourt November 16, 2006.

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


Reference:
[1] Augustine Ikelegbe - The Economy of Conflict in the Oil Rich Niger Delta Region
[2] Oke Ibeanu - Oiling the Friction; Environmental Conflict Management in the Niger Delta of Nigeria
[3] CYRIL Obi - Globalised Images of Environmental Security in Africa
[4] Actionaid - Policy Watch (Perspective on Peace Building)
[5] UNDP - Niger Delta Human Development Report
[6] Actionaid - Conflict and Human Security
[7] Joel Bisina - Oil and Corporate Recklessness in Nigeria
[8] Dr. Walter Abeng Mboto - Regional Resources Versus Environmental Conflict in the Niger Delta.
[9] Zak Harmon- World Bank, Big Oil and the Niger Delta.

Africa without borders

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/38729

Rwanda and Burundi were recently admitted as full members of the East Africa Community. It is both historic and timely. We criticize our leaders a lot, and most of the time justifiably. However, when they do good things we should also have the integrity to say well done.

It is historic in beginning to right some of the injuries inflicted on Africa that turned us into Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone and all the phony phones in spite of the fact that majority of our peoples do not have access to any phone! And if we are to be phonic, why should it not be Africaphone?

Whenever Pan Africanists talk about colonialism critics always say we are too focused on the past, escapist and blaming colonialism when, in their view, colonialism ‘finished’ long time ago. My retort has always been: How I wish! The impact of colonialism is so pronounced in our lives that even our physical geography is determined by this shameful past. For instance, go to any of the fancy hotels on the continent and ask for the breakfast menu. The option you will be given in many places is ‘continental breakfast’ but the continent will not be referring to the African continent. If you ask for African meals (Nigerian hotels being exceptions in terms of always having African foods) many of them will tell you that they needed ‘24 or 48 hours’ notice yet they can offer you all kinds of so called ‘international’ cuisine. In ‘Francophone’ countries, choices of cheeses and wines from particular regions of France are available on demand!

Leave the foods and let us look at traveling on the continent. If you travel from Kampala to Kigali by road and it is raining in Mbarara, it is likely that it will rain all the way to Kabale and from there to Kigali. Similarly the physical geography, topography, the lush greenery, hills, valleys, all remain the same, only increasing in density as you move on. Then you reach Kabale, the last major city on the Uganda side, about 20 kilometers from where you come to the border post, Gatuna (to Ugandans) or Katuna (to the Rwandese).

Nothing has changed in the geography, the looks of the people and even the languages they speak are mutually intelligible. You will see the peasants, petty traders, carrying their wares through panya panya roads parallel to the formal border roads, while those of us with passports are waiting to cross over on either side in our vehicles. These peasants just carry on as good Pan Africanists ignoring the tarred road and officials.

After you clear border bureaucracy, your first challenge will be to change from driving on the left (as in Britain) to the right (as in France). Before you recover from the driving change you also have to adjust your watch by one hour! I am not a geographer but I am not persuaded that between Kabale and Kigali or Kampala there is an hour time difference, exactly the same time difference between Paris and London! I think this has more to do with history than geography, and that history is colonialism. Those who claim colonialism ended have definitely been quick to forget. However there is a part of the criticism that I do accept. The responsibility for keeping these mental and physical borders rests with Africans and our leaders. It does not excuse you and I, because these leaders came from among us and we are the ones who through our action, inaction or indifference keep them in power.

They enjoyed keeping us divided so that they can remain big fishes in the tiny ponds bequeathed to them by colonialism. They talk regional integration but engage in national disintegration politics. They talk Pan Africanism but preside over sectarian political systems of ‘tribalism, ‘clannish’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘regionalism’, ‘religiosity’ and other kinds of divisive politics. Since they could not hold the country together it became impossible to aspire to regional integration or Pan African unity.

The Cold War also gave some of our leaders the false confidence that they could survive as client states of the West or the East without bothering about their neighbours.

Hence the first East Africa community collapsed under the twin pressures of internal political disagreements between state elites and their external alliances. But the peoples of the region continued cooperating irrespective of what happened in the state lodges. The governments are now listening to the people and reconciling themselves to reality.

In the past few years Africa has returned to the agenda of regional integration and Pan Africanism because globalization is making most of the states irrelevant. Also with the end of the Cold War many of our states and leaders ceased to be of strategic importance and lost their opportunistic levers of playing the West against the East.

The larger point is the fact that in spite of the many challenges, our democratic struggles are succeeding. Most of the leaders are not able to rule in the old ways again. The quality of leadership is improving across this continent.

In addition to the Cold War, the old colonial rivalry especially between the British and their French cousins endured for a long time in Africa and militated against regional cooperation, integration and Pan-Africanism.

Two regions of Africa - East Africa and West Africa - suffered most the consequences of this European tribalism. As the European Union became a reality the Francophone countries suddenly became aware that they were in Africa after all because France could not take them into the Euro Zone.

What makes Rwanda and Burundi, Central Africa? Geograhically and historically if they are central to anything it is East Africa. However because the French had to distinguish their looted territories from those of their British cousins, the geographic misnomer came about. This misnomer groups Cameroon, which is in West Africa, with Rwanda, the real Central Africa, the two Congos and Gabon as Central Africa!

By formally admitting Rwanda and Burundi into the East Africa Community the political leaders are finally reconciling history with geography and snatching victory from the jaws of colonial defeat.

It is a sign of a region slowly coming to terms with itself. The biggest contribution of the two countries to the region is their peoples as workers and producers. The Banyarwanda are easily the largest ethnic group in the region. They live in their millions in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and DRC. But historically they have been badly treated in their own countries and treated as either refugees or long-term migrants with no permanent rights as citizens no matter how many generations they may have lived there. Genocide and irresponsible leadership drove many away from their homes, and xenophobia prevents them from becoming full citizens in the countries of their refuge.

Xenophobia is so strong in the region that in Uganda two popular ways of discounting the claims of your political opponent is to call them ‘Banyarwanda’ (meaning Tutsi) or Nubian (meaning Sudanese).

The expanded East Africa now provides opportunity for regional citizenship and with it the right of every citizen of the region to live, settle, work in any part of the region. With progress towards a political federation this will include the right to vote and be voted for.

For Africa as a whole we want our peoples to have the right to move, settle, work, and live without visas or passports from Cape Town to Cairo. As steady progress is being made at regional level it makes this Pan African dimension inevitable. West Africans have been free to move across their region for two decades now, and this has not led to everyone moving to Nigeria. The peoples of the Old East Africa have been free to move around and adding Rwanda and Burundi to the region does not mean that all the people will move to Kenya or Tanzania or Uganda. It just means that they are free to do so if they wish without any security or police always harassing them as ‘foreigners’.

Similarly, other East Africans could go to Kigali or Bujumbura as and when they please.

South Africa and Southern Africa need to learn from these two experiences to assure them that freedom of movement does not mean that everyone wants to come to Joburg. The majority of Africans live and would like to remain in their villages in peace, security and prosperity. Those who need to move will do so one way or the other. We need to stop criminalizing them as ‘smugglers’, ‘aliens’, or ‘illegal immigrants’. Most of them are Pan-Africanist entrepreneurs delivering goods and services to our peoples, as and when needed in the true spirit of ‘Africa sans Frontiers’ or ‘Africa without borders’.

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

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

Africa: The UmNyango Project

2006-12-07

http://www.fahamu.org/

Rural women in KwaZulu Natal will be using mobile phones to report on violations of their human rights. The UmNyango Project, which is implementing this initiative, was established by Fahamu, a pan African organisation based in Cape Town, Nairobi, Dakar and Oxford.
Rural women to report human rights violations against them using mobile phones

Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa – 6 December 2006
Rural women in KwaZulu Natal will be using mobile phones to report on violations of their human rights.

The UmNyango Project, which is implementing this initiative, was established by Fahamu, a pan African organisation based in Cape Town, Nairobi, Dakar and Oxford.

The UmNyango Project will use SMS technology for rural women and men to access information to and report incidences of violence against women and children, as well as violations of women’s right to land.

This initiative will be tested out in Dondotha, KwaDlangezwa, KwaGcwensa, Limehill and Muden, and if successful, will be rolled out on a wider scale.

As well as using text messaging, the project will be enable women in these areas to produce their own radio programmes which will be made available to local radio stations, as well as being distributed over the internet as ‘podcasts’.

Adv. Anil Naidoo, Project Team Leader said: “We have successfully tested the use of SMS technology for rural women farmers in KwaZulu Natal to access agricultural extension information. There is every indication that this technology will also work for rural women reporting on human rights abuse, including domestic violence.”

Fahamu, the organisation behind this initiative, has already won international awards for its ground-breaking use of new media to support the pan African campaign on the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.

“We are delighted to be implementing this project in association with the Centre for Public Participation, Community Law and Rural Development Centre, Domestic Violence Assistance Project, Indiba-Africa Development Alliance, Participatory Development Initiative and the Rural Women’s Movement,” said Fahamu’s Director, Dr Firoze Manji.

The Project is funded by the Dutch International Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos).

Clickatell, a company that provides global mobile messaging services, has donated free SMS credits so that relevant information on human rights may be transmitted to rural women and men. Patrick Lawson, managing director of Clickatell SA, said: “We are proud to be able to contribute to the promotion of women’s human rights’.

The partners are hopeful that there will be sufficient interest from other donor agencies, government and the private sector to enable this initiative to continue in a more sustainable manner beyond May 2007.
# # #
For further details contact:
Adv. Anil Naidoo, Trustee
Fahamu SA
+27-(0)82-5795431
+27-(0)84-1970033
anil@fahamu.org.za
www.fahamu.org.za
Dr Firoze Manji
Director, Fahamu - Networks for Social Justice (http://www.fahamu.org/)
Editor, Pambazuka News (http://www.pambazuka.org/)
2nd Floor, 51 CORNMARKET STREET, OXFORD OX1 3HA
Cellphone: +44 (0) 77 86 62 86 86
Tel: +44-(0)1865-727006
Fax: +44-(0)1865-727909

About Fahamu:
Fahamu (www.fahamu.org) supports the struggle for human rights and social justice in Africa by supporting social justice advocacy through the innovative use of information and communication technologies; stimulating debate, discussion and analysis;
distributing news and information; developing training materials and running distance-learning courses Fahamu focuses primarily on Africa, although it works with others to support the global movement for human rights and social justice. The word Fahamu means ‘understanding’ or ‘consciousness’ in Kiswahili. Fahamu comprises a small core of highly skilled and experienced staff based in Oxford (UK), Cape Town (South Africa), Dakar (Senegal) and in Nairobi (Kenya).

The organisation publishes the prize winning weekly electronic newsletter ‘Pambazuka News’ (www.pambazuka.org), voted in 2005 ad 2006 as one of the 10 websites changing the world of politics and the internet.
About Clickatell, Inc.
Clickatell is the premier global mobile messaging operator with over 6,000 customers across 578 networks spanning 192 countries. As the world’s leading multimodal messaging provider, the company allows any business to connect customers, employees, and suppliers anywhere, with any message, across any device. Headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, the company has offices in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

For more information, please go to: https://www.clickatell.com/central/campaigns/redir.php?cid=2672

Global: Dirty aid, dirty water

2006-12-07

http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/aid/index.htm

British aid money is being used to push water privatisation on poor countries -making it less likely that clean water will ever get to the poorest people. And while poor people lose out, a group of big UK companies are profiting from this aid.

Zimbabwe: Mission to Zimbabwe

African Solidarity Visit to Zimbabwe

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/38738

We, the members of the African Solidarity team visiting Zimbabwe from seven African countries, express our strong support to all the citizens and civil society of Zimbabwe who are struggling to realize their fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression, association and assembly and the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.
Communiqué

African Solidarity Visit to Zimbabwe
27 November - 1 December 2006


We, the members of the African Solidarity team visiting Zimbabwe from seven African countries, express our strong support to all the citizens and civil society of Zimbabwe who are struggling to realize their fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression, association and assembly and the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.

During our visit, we met with representatives of civil society including those from non-governmental organisations, women, students, business, trade unions and faith-based groups, as well as individuals in government and opposition parties. They informed us about the high levels of serious violations of human rights, such crimes as rape and torture and the struggles of ordinary Zimbabweans to attain a decent standard of living. We were also informed of the efforts of the courageous human rights defenders who are challenging the system and demanding respect for and restoration of basic human rights, despite ongoing intimidation and arrests. We observed considerable mistrust of government by civil society and general intolerance of opposing views, even among civil society.

We are concerned, shocked and alarmed at the impact of repressive laws and at the severe human rights abuses by the state machinery that have resulted in deepening poverty, torture and rape, especially amongst women and children. A lady whose business was demolished through Operation Murambatsvina captured the situation as thus: ‘The Zimbabwe of today – typified by ongoing wide-spread demolitions, crushing of peaceful dissent and a spiraling standard of living – is not the country we once prayed for and envisioned’.

Despite the frequent human rights abuses by the Government of Zimbabwe on its people, there has been insignificant intervention from governments and civil society in the region and beyond.

Recommendations:

Based on our observations, we recommend that the Government of Zimbabwe:


 Begin building, along with the people of Zimbabwe, the spirit of dialogue, tolerance and peace in order for them to enjoy and realise basic freedoms and socio-economic development.

 Be accountable to its nationals by ensuring that it promotes and protects the human rights of its people through the establishment of an enabling democratic environment.

 Heed the recommendations of the 2005 UN Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe by Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka regarding Operation Murambatsvina, and ensure the housing promised to those whose homes were destroyed is made available.

 Repeal all the repressive laws that impinge on the enjoyment of fundamental human rights - such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the Public Order and Security Act, Constitutional Amendment No. 17, and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, as well as the pending NGO Bill.

 Work with the people of Zimbabwe to review the current constitution to make it conform with accepted standards and best practice.

 Establish independent democratic governance institutions such as the Human Rights Commission and Anti-Corruption Commission that will, in a transparent manner, promote and protect the enjoyment of human rights.


In addition, we urge international partners to support the democratic reform of governance institutions in Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, we commit ourselves, and further urge regional governments and civil society institutions, to continue to offer practical solidarity and tangible assistance to the government and people of Zimbabwe.

Signed in Harare on November 30, 2006:

John Kapito (Malawi)

Don Deya (Kenya)

Jeremias Langa (Mozambique)

Hannah Forster (The Gambia)

Don Mattera (South Africa)

Luckson Chipare (Zimbabwe)

Fatoumata Toure (Uganda)

The War on HIV/AIDS

Leslie London

2006-12-06

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/38693

The last edition of Pambazuka News carried an interesting and challenging article (entitled ‘HIV/AIDS in Northern Uganda: A New War’, www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/38635) about efforts to address HIV/AIDS in Uganda in the context of war.

The experience of 'resource-poor' settings in turning around desperation and hopelessness into a prospect of life fulfilled is inspiring indeed. While acknowledging the very serious challenges, these 'rooted' accounts are important to counter the disillusionment and despair generated by images of "Darkness on the Continent" type of claims.

However, in closing the narrative, Odoi Charles of TASO is cited as saying: “We are now going to begin another war: the HIV/AIDS war.” In fact, this provides the title to the article.

So, this got me thinking. War metaphors are very, very common when people talk about addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But do we need a 'war' to address HIV? Is a 'war-like' approach the best way to conceive of responses to HIV? What does a 'war' imply? And, ultimately, do the words used to describe our efforts matter?

If you think about 'war', it is really a signal of the failure of peoples and states to manage conflict. We resort to violence because other options are either not available or are perceived to be ineffective. It is the ultimate expression of power in unequal societies.

And, furthermore, what happens in war is the complete suspension of the rights we consider protected outside of war. The consequences for health and well-being are huge, such that the international community has fashioned humanitarian law to serve as 'rules of war' to protect innocent and vulnerable people. In practice, we know that these rules are abused, misused, ignored, or sometime, simply don't work for certain kinds of conflicts. Only non-derogable human rights are protected from a state of emergency declared during a war but many, many rights are suspended when national security is threatened.

So, should we want a 'war' on HIV/AIDS? And, if we have a 'war' on HIV/AIDS, does the notion of making 'war' constrain or shape our efforts in ways that we may not really want?

Well, let's think about HIV/AIDS as a social dilemma/conflict. Have we exhausted all the 'peaceful' non-warlike methods to address HIV/AIDS? Why are our efforts not effective? In principle, I think it's the lack of political leadership and willingness to tackle serious economic and social injustice that underlies our failures in regard to HIV/AIDS. So, whom should we wage 'war' on? Do we wage war on the political leadership who have not provided the will to do what is needed? I suspect that is not what is being marshalled when activists and governments lay claim to making 'war' on AIDS.

Do we wage war on a virus? Or on the people whose (wanton) behaviour is judged to spread the epidemic? The former is not a form of war that makes any social sense and the latter would be deeply counter to our commitments to human rights and respect for human dignity. So, what does waging 'war' on HIV/AIDS potentially do? It provides us with a sense that there is an enemy and we can join in fighting that (unspecified) enemy, but it doesn't really speak to the underlying power inequalities that drive the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In fact, a government or elite whose policies are fuelling the epidemic can invoke the rhetoric of 'war' to harness a range of social forces to a seemingly benign project (often a national project), when, in fact, the war does not address the real power imbalance that drives the epidemic.

Secondly, in wars, we suspend human rights because of the extreme measures we are forced to take for survival. If we are waging a 'war' on HIV/AIDS, do we suspend rights to privacy, to confidentiality, to freedom from discrimination in the interests of this greater good? The language of 'war' and 'fight' and 'battle' are all about power exercised in ways that are potentially harmful, justified by a utilitarian calculation. But if we want to provide a rights-based approach to HIV, these analogies are all painfully wrong.

I believe that at some level, this preoccupation with the 'war' metaphor is not just about words. It is also about how people unconsciously see the epidemic and what needs to be done. A war is not a space where you guarantee access to health care, or respect for human dignity. It allows unspeakable things to be done to other humans in the name of security and state interests. I think it is part of the cognitive dissonance that political leadership sometimes exercises in viewing themselves as entirely removed from the problem, and placing themselves on the side of the solution, when in fact, they are the problem, or part of it. Having a war on your hands means you need not ask hard questions about your own accountability for human rights.

I would like to see the 'war' metaphor heaved onto a dustbin of global HIV/AIDS discourse. I think it takes us backwards, not forwards. It opens opportunities for bad practice, not good practice. It is not just about words, but about how we view struggles for social justice and human rights.

Breakthrough in combating HIV/AIDS?

Mangi Ezekiel

2006-12-06

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/38694

HIV/ AIDS is a complex problem posing social, political, medical and technological challenges to humankind today, both in those countries known to be most affected and those that are less affected.

The article by Salma Maoulidi (www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/38636) among other things, highlights issues of access to anti-retroviral drugs for treatment of opportunistic infections among HIV infected persons. Much as she would give a thumbs up to the local pharmaceutical company which is championing local production and distribution of ARVs, it should be borne in mind that the East African Treaty on Common market is weak and rather powerless in the face of the World Trade Organisation.

Drugs are controlled by patents, and are a big business employing a huge number of people in powerful multinational companies who basically have business interests in mind. The public health approach to business is something they would not embrace. Concepts of corporate social responsibility have a long way to go before they enter the minds of multinational drug companies, which also happen to be in the forefront in manufacture and distribution of life saving drugs, including ARV’s. Therefore concerted efforts at a regional level need to take account of the WTO trade rules and regulations which are not in favour of East Africans suffering from AIDS related illnesses.

On the social front Maoulidi has challenged the patriarchal system which has increased women’s vulnerability to AIDS. There have been efforts by civil society in Tanzania to try to redress this situation, although surely it might take time but I believe their efforts are not futile. I would rather advise that such changes should begin at household level in the way we raise our children. In this way they will learn to respect their gender differences, and this attitude might be continued in their day-to-day lives and further in their sexual relations.

Lastly, I would advise readers to consult the UNESCO guidelines on the use of language related to HIV/AIDS. There are a number of new concepts that have been suggested in place of those we commonly use.

The Darfur Crisis

David Rubenstein

2006-12-06

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/38695

I've just returned from a trip to meet survivors of the Darfur genocide at refugee camps in Chad. What I saw horrified and saddened me, but it also inspired me.

Accompanied by acclaimed actress Mia Farrow, I travelled to the region to learn about the lives of those displaced by the violence, to tell them that the world will not forget them, and to gather their stories to share with you.

We've posted photos and documentary film footage from the trip on our web site – visit the link below to view them. www.savedarfur.org/pages/report_from_chad

In the Gaga camp, we met refugees who had just arrived after a ten-day walk from Darfur and were too shocked to speak in anything other than three- or four-word sentences.

At the Habile camp, we met the village chief of Louboutigue whose 300-person community was still waiting for grain rations eight days after their homes were burned and their food supply looted.

In the Goz Beida hospital, we met three men whose eyes were gouged out simply for being on their own land - land that someone else wanted.

In the Djabal camp, we met a woman who showed us a terrible wound on her back, caused by a bullet that had first killed the daughter she had been carrying as she tried to escape an attack by the Janjaweed.

And yet all the people we met believed that the world community would end the violence and allow them to recover their lives and return to their homes.

We met real people struggling to get through each day, grinding grain, and taking care of children. The children wanted to meet us and play with us. The adults had smiles for us. Most of all, they wanted us to tell the world that they were waiting to go home.

We must not let them down.

Upon our return, Mia Farrow and I held a briefing with media in Washington to share our experiences along with photos and video footage from Chad. The briefing and footage were also distributed by satellite to international media outlets to tell the stories of the people we met.

Please use the link below to visit our web site to see photos and film footage from our trip and the press briefing. Then share these stories in your communities so the people of Darfur can go home. www.savedarfur.org/pages/report_from_chad

Will Bill Gates’ Millions Save Us?

DR.C.S.Mishra

2006-12-06

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/38696

The article “Will Bill Gates’ Millions Save Us? (www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/37900) is brilliant and exposes the stark reality of the failure of public health as well as the failure in prevention of communicable diseases, particularly in Nigeria. This has resulted in very low life expectancy. The life expectancy in Nigeria is 50 years, the lowest expectancy rate even in most developing nations in Asia, Africa & Latin America. The local government must channel increased percentages of its GDP into health promotion. It must subsidise the training of its medical and paramedic staff as well and introduce grassroots health programmes, like multi-purpose health worker schemes, to decrease overall mortalities.

The Great Iroko has Moved On

Adebayo Olukoshi

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/obituary/38740

The Great Iroko has Moved On: Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 1922 – 2006

The Council for the development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) regrets to announce the death in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 04 December, 2006, of one of Africa’s most illustrious citizen-intellectuals, the incomparable Joseph Ki- Zerbo.

Academic historian of the very first order, life-long pan- Africanist by instinct and by choice, unrelenting crusader for social change and justice, untiring advocate of African collective self-reliance, teacher to at least three generations of African social researchers, an unflagging source of inspiration to many who were lucky to encounter him, a great example in selfless service to the community, the giant Iroko, king of the tropical rain forest, standing tall in dignity and majesty: That was the quintessential Ki-Zerbo who, after 84 years of sojourn amongst us, has now moved on, leaving his indelible foot prints in the sand of time – all time – and challenging us, in honour of his memory, to take the baton with courage and commitment until Africa is truly liberated.

Born to a father who was reputed to be the first convert to Christianity in the area that was known at the time as Upper Volta, Ki-Zerbo was to define an early and unambiguous trajectory for himself as a committed historian with a deep and abiding interest in the twin projects of democracy and development in Africa. As a young academic, he invested himself in the study of the history of Africa, helping through his original works both to enrich the historical method and to challenge the fallacies of the day about Africa, not least among them, the widespread racist discourse of the period that Africa had no history. Together with other nationalist historians of the time, they were to build a corpus of literature that came to constitute the core of African History as a field of knowledge, complete with its methods and tools.

An important part of that effort was to be synthesized into the UNESCO General History of Africa of which he was a directing editor. But his role as a doyen of African historians also included the dedication of his time to the construction of the institutional basis of the production and reproduction of historical knowledge in and about Africa. His paramount role in the building of the African Association of Historians was but one of his engagements in this regard.

For Ki-Zerbo, retrieving and documenting the history of Africa may have been an important pre-occupation to which he applied himself completely. But in and of itself, it was not sufficient if that history – its high points and low moments – did not serve as a point of departure for the creation of an autonomous foundation for the political, economic, social and cultural emancipation of Africa and its peoples. And it was in this pre-occupation that he came to immerse himself as scholar and activist, in the struggles for national liberation, democracy, social justice and development, doing so without any apologies to those who might have felt that he went too far beyond his scholarly calling to immerse himself in local and global political contestations.

Thus it was that he was to assume various roles at the same time: prolific university professor, indefatigable activist in various social movements, party leader – mostly in opposition – and, ultimately, conscience of the African nation: That was the inimitable Ki-Zerbo, a man who was passionate about his convictions and who was prepared to pay the price when it became necessary, including leaving his professorial post in France to volunteer in the newly independent state of Guinea under a Sekou Toure who had successfully mobilized the populace to reject Charles de Gaulle’s neo-colonial project of an enlarged French federation; he was also to spend time in exile from Burkina Faso in the 1980s.

Few were the intellectuals of Ki-Zerbo’s generation who emerged to become a living encyclopedia of human history, including detailed recollections of many landmark events in the 20th century history of Africa and the world which he himself witnessed first hand or participated in directly. He had formal and informal sessions with many of the leaders of the African independence project, including Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Frantz Fanon, Modibo Keita, Amilcar Cabral, Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya, and Julius Nyerere, to cite a few.

He shared in all the key debates on the future of pan- Africanism as independence dawned, as well as in the reflections that occurred on the development alternatives that the continent could explore. But through all these experiences, he never sullied his reputation for intellectual integrity and personal honesty, a fact which earned him a moral high ground to reproach – publicly and privately – the first generation nationalists as many of them began to abandon the ideals of nationalism in pursuit of personal projects of power maximization. His voice was the voice of authority and throughout his life, as the first generation leaders gave way to succeeding generations, he reserved his right, exercised in his uniquely magisterial manner, to counsel, to remind, to criticize and to condemn as the need arose.

The membership of CODESRIA was fortunate to enjoy glimpses of the rich experience embodied in Ki-Zerbo when he delivered one of the three keynote addresses to mark the grand finale conference of the
30th anniversary celebrations of the Council in December 2003 in Dakar, Senegal. It was also an occasion at which, in recognition of his contribution, he was honoured by the African social research community with a life membership of CODESRIA, alongside Archie Mafeje, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ali Mazrui.

None amongst the nearly 500 African scholars who were assembled in Dakar for his speech left the venue of the conference without feeling inspired as much by the richness and clarity of his message as by the coherence and lucidity with which, despite his nearly 82 years, he delivered his message: That was our Joseph Ki-Zerbo, the ageless Iroko who, for the African social research community, was the mentor for all seasons. But, beyond Africa too, he was also celebrated as a rare gift to humanity as evidenced by the many laurels he won, including the Alternative Nobel Prize awarded by grassroots social movements to distinguished world figures.

We can only be grateful as an institution that in the last month of his life, and with the support of his widow, Josephine, and children, CODESRIA was given the privilege of recording interviews with him on his life, his work, his times as part of the Council’s initiative documenting the contributions of leading African scholars in a digital format that could become a veritable pedagogical tool for present and future generations. Ki-Zerbo and his family could not have given the CODESRIA membership and the wider African social research community a better gift to bequeath to the world.

And now, as we express our regret that he has had to move on, we also feel inspired to celebrate his life and to rejoice that while he lived, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, was among us and we were the happier for it. For, truly great scholars of his standing are rare - and human beings do not come better than him.

Long live Joseph Ki-Zerbo.

Members of CODESRIA interested in sending messages of support and solidarity to the Ki-Zerbo family are invited to do so by e-mail to:executive.secretary@codesria.sn and the Council will arrange to have their messages delivered.

Africa: Female Sex Practices in Africa

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612061135.html

This book is a compilation of articles on the experiences of lesbian women in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. The stories were born out of the African Women's Life Story Project where researchers and activists from different parts of Africa came together to document the life stories of lesbian women in their respective countries.

Review of African blogs

Sokari Ekine

2006-12-06

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/38686

'African Shirts' - African Shirts (http://africanshirts.blogspot.com/2006/11/nigerias-finest.html) points to a report by Amnesty International on the rape of Nigerian women by the Nigerian police force:

“What do Nigerian police do when they're not killing innocent people, taking bribes, and doing nothing? They rape Nigerian women. An Amnesty International report is doing the rounds…”

Nothing new here. The Nigerian Police, their paramilitary brethren, the Mobile Police locally known as the hated MOPO and the Nigerian Army have been raping and beating women and girls in the Niger Delta for the past 15 years. Hardly any of these acts of violence have been reported in the Nigerian or foreign media despite numerous reports by Human Rights Watch.

'The Concoction' - The Concoction (http://theconcoction.blogspot.com/2006/11/i-should-have-used-pankhurst.html) compares the different organisational structures of traditional organisations in Northern Ethiopia with those of Western and Western like NGOs.

“I examined the organizational structures of the traditional organizations in one region in Northern Ethiopia and selected NGOs working in the country. Surprisingly, the traditional organizations are democratic, with the members on top of the organizational chart and the CEO all the way down. NGOs have the opposite - never mind the 'we-are-governed-by-our-contributors' marketing line. My recommendation to the organization that sponsored the research was you're damn fool if you don't make traditional organizations your development partners, especially in the program design stage."

Her point is that it is unfortunate that Western NGOs have failed to learn from traditional knowledge systems, not just in Ethiopia but throughout the Global South. Instead they work on the premise that their knowledge and organisational structures are superior and transferable to other cultures and systems.

'The African Uptimist' - The African Uptimist (http://agbe.typepad.com/the_african_uptimist/2006/08/putting_water_i.html) writes on the possibilities of producing and using hydrogen as a fuel in Africa.

“In a few years, we could be seeing hydrogen fueled cars, public mini-buses and other vehicles on African roads, running with nothing more than water in their fuel tanks. That was one possibility that came to mind upon reading David Adam's interesting piece ‘A fuel tank full of water’ (New Scientist, July 29, 2006). He reports that Tareq Abu-Hamed of the University of Minnesota, and colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel have developed a practical approach to producing hydrogen from water.

"This approach, which relies on simple, high-school chemistry (as described below), overcomes many of the obstacles that till now have prevented the dream of a hydrogen-powered car becoming reality."

'Jangbalajugbu' Jangbalajugbu (http://www.edwardpopoola.com/blog/?p=71) congratulates a young Nigerian student blogger, Edward Popoola, for winning the Top ICT Educator in Africa, an award by Forgeahead, a South African based ICT research and consulting house.

“I got to the final rounds and was mentioned among the top three finalists. At that point, it got more interesting and I was happy with myself. I googled Forgeahead and from their loud profile all over the Internet as a respected firm in South Africa, it was not enough for me to be just among the finalists, I hoped to be the winner…I got invited to the award ceremony, but as a result of the lateness of my visa application, I couldn’t make the award night in J’burg. Though it was not a case of visa denial, I was not happy all the same. I was however able to get Titi Akinsanmi, my sister from another mother, who is based in SA to accept the award for me.”

It was unfortunate that due to visa problems Edward was unable to attend the ceremony. Interesting that it is harder to enter South Africa with an African passport than with a European one. Nigeria is probably one of the most difficult passports to hold when it comes to getting a visa to travel anywhere!

'Friends of Ethiopia' - Friends of Ethiopia - (http://friendsofethiopia.blogspot.com/2006/12/hazardous-hand-me-downs-under.html) reports on an environmental conference held in Nairobi last week - The Basel Convention - a treaty which regulates the movement of toxic waste across national boundaries. Friends refers specifically to the recent dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast.

“On Thursday the Nairobi conference convened a high-level World Forum on E-Wastes to confront the growing reality that, in addition to its many benefits, the global consumer goods revolution is generating massive quantities of end-of-life computers and other obsolete electronic equipment…Some 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste. When the millions of computers purchased around the world every year (183 million in 2004) become obsolete they leave behind lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazardous wastes…Similarly, the use and disposal of mobile phones - which like PCs barely existed 20 years ago - is increasing dramatically. By 2008 the number of cell phone users around the world is projected to reach some two billion. Leading cell phone manufacturers are collaborating through the Basel Convention's Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative to find better ways to reduce and manage this growing waste stream.”

'Black Looks' - Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/12/mining_violations_in_ghana.html) reports on the actions of multinational mining companies operating in Ghana. They are destroying the local ecological system as well as committing acts of violence against local communities. Only last week activists were arrested for meeting with local community leaders and are presently in prison having been refused bail.

“Ghana is presently on the edge of a biodiversity disaster as mining companies such as Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA), Bogoso Gold Limited (BGL) and Newmont Gold Ghana (NGG). The use of toxic chemicals from the mining has led to contaminated water supplies. The forests which have been reduced from 8.3 million hectares in 1957 have been depleted to a mere 1.2 million with over 700 varieties of trees, plants, birds and animals all at risk of being destroyed forever. The Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) has been monitoring the activities of both the multinationals and the EPA. One of the main problems is the weakness of the environmental laws plus the Ghanaian governments unwillingness (like in the Niger Delta) to insist on the multinationals meeting international standards in their mining activities. Protests by WACAM and local communities are met with violence and intimidation.”

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

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

A personal story of living with HIV/AIDS from South Africa

Mpho

2006-12-07

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

Mpho is a 24 year old lesbian identified woman who was raped last October and as a result is now HIV+. She discovered she was positive in April this year and started on ARVs in August because her CD4 count was very low at 90. Like many women in a similar position in South Africa, Mpho is struggling not only with additional medical complications such as diabetes and thyroid problems but the side affect of the drugs, the stigma and having to find the sheer mental will to get through each day. In this interview she talks about how being raped and contracting HIV has impacted on her life. She also discusses her dreams for the future of being a photo journalist and living her life.

Africa: Year of science in Africa

2006-12-05

http://www.scidev.net/content/news/eng/ministers-propose-2007-as-year-of-science-in-africa.cfm

African science ministers have backed a set of measures to promote science and technology across the continent, four of which will be recommended for endorsement at next month's African Union summit of heads of African states.The ministers, who met last week in Cairo, Egypt, will ask the heads of state to create a Pan-African Intellectual Property Organisation, and to designate 2007 as a year for science, technology and innovation in Africa.

Africa: I was tortured, raped and beaten up

2006-12-05

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=292106

Jeanne fled the Democratic Republic of Congo after being repeatedly raped and tortured by rebels. She had been working for a non-government organisation in the east of the country and the rebels accused her of being a spy. "My life was in great danger and I was very near to death. I was detained for at least two months," she says.

Africa: Sexual violence denounced

2006-12-05

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-6W3TTM?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, today (1 December 2006) denounced the use of rape as a weapon of war and called upon the authorities in one of the most affected countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to ensure that rape victims - including those traumatized by fistula - no longer find themselves ostracized in their communities, as is now so often the case.

Global: Creation of New UN Agency for Women

2006-12-05

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612010598.html

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon has welcomed the proposed creation of a new United Nations agency dealing with women's issues. The new body will serve as a multilateral agency to support women's rights, UN's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis told Mr McKinnon during his visit to the Commonwealth Secretariat's headquarters in Marlborough House in London, UK, on 29 November 2006.

Nigeria: Rape,When Will Victims Get Justice?

2006-12-05

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612040096.html

Forcing women or girls to submit to sexual acts has been described as a form of gender-based violence against women. Reports say that rape causes severe physical and psychological pain and suffering. Rape also can have serious physical, psychological and reproductive consequences for the victims, including death, unwanted pregnancies, complications in childbirth, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

South Africa: 'Sex pest' ambassador guilty

2006-12-05

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=291968

Former ambassador Norman Mashabane is guilty of sexual harassment, the Pretoria High Court found on Friday (1 December 2006). More than three years after Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma overturned a guilty verdict against Mashabane, the court decided otherwise.

Tanzania: FGM on the decline, study shows

2006-12-05

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56606

The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is on the decline in Tanzania, according to the results of a study by the country's Ministry of Health. Released on 1 December, the Tanzania Demographic Health Survey showed that FGM prevalence had declined from 18 percent in 1996 to 15 percent in 2005, when the survey was carried out.

Africa: Darfur is priority before leaving UN

2006-12-04

http://www.polity.org.za/pol/home/?show=98806

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he would make the killings in Sudan's Darfur region his priority until the day he leaves office on December 31, according to an interview to be aired on Monday (4 December 2006). "It's very tragic and painful, not only (to me) as secretary-general but as a human being and as an African," Annan said.

Côte d’Ivoire: Police patrol streets after protests

2006-12-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56645

Anti-government protests in Cote d’Ivoire have intensified in recent days and the most recent left two people dead with no apparent end in sight to a political impasse that has pitted the president against his prime minister. The country was calm on Wednesday (6 December 2006) but police maintained street patrols.

Global: Charges for Torture

2006-12-07

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/12/06/usint14777.htm

The US Department of Justice today took a major step against impunity for atrocities in bringing its first-ever criminal charges for torture committed outside the United States, Human Rights Watch said today (6 December 2006). The Justice Department indicted Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr., son of the former Liberian president and currently in custody in Miami, for torture committed in Liberia.

Global: UN to discuss child abuse claims

2006-12-05

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6197370.stm

The United Nations has said it will hold a conference in New York on Monday to address the issue of the sexual abuse of children by UN peacekeepers. The issue was highlighted in a BBC report earlier this week, with claims of children being subjected to rape and prostitution in Haiti and Liberia.

Somalia: Fears of humanitarian crisis

2006-12-07

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ACIO-6W8HWU?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed concern over reports of imminent war in Somalia, as increased insecurity could worsen the humanitarian crisis in the war-scarred country.

Uganda: Army to probe human-rights abuses in northeast

2006-12-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56591

A military tribunal has been appointed to probe allegations of abuses by Ugandan soldiers during a forced disarmament programme in which 55 people, including women and children, were killed, a senior official said on Friday (1 December 2006).

Global: Authorities deport 122 Ethiopian migrants

2006-12-05

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/ec36fc51a21df4d47910ebb283cffcba.htm

Ethiopian consulate officials in Yemen said they had been concerned for the welfare of 122 Ethiopian migrants after Yemeni authorities had detained them for nearly a week before deporting them. "We were worried about why they were arrested and what condition they might be in, but then the authorities told us it was because they entered the country illegally, and were not political refugees, and that they were being well looked after," Abebe Biazen, Consul of the Ethiopian Embassy, said.

Global: Consultations with Non-Governmental Organizations

2006-12-05

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900SID/AMMF-6W6KB4/$FILE/UNHCR-Dec2006.pdf?OpenElement

This report provides highlights of the Annual Consultations with NGOs, which this year brought together some 329 representatives of 166 national and international NGOs, UN, and international organizations from 72 countries. Structured around four broad themes – Durable Solutions; the UN Reform; ExCom Conclusions; and the Asylum-Migration Nexus – the forum featured twelve Working Sessions and five Regional Sessions with the active involvement of some 83 resource persons from NGOs, academia, member states, and international and UN organizations.

Global: Development of programme strategies for integration of HIV

2006-12-04

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900SID/AMMF-6W3EKU/$FILE/UNAIDS-May2006.pdf?OpenElement

In 2003, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a joint effort to develop, through multi-site field research in refugee communities in Africa, a set of strategies for using food and nutrition-based interventions to support HIV prevention, care, treatment and support for people living with HIV.

Senegal: Migration tops talks

2006-12-05

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6208744.stm

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is in Senegal for talks which are expected to centre on the issue of illegal immigration.He may confirm reports that over the next two years some 4,000 Senegalese will be allowed to work in Spain. Spain's Canary Islands are a tempting destination for many Senegalese.

Sudan: Refugees face enormous challenges

2006-12-05

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/8dc512d2c84694c923bad2d8a6a330a9.htm

There are still some 350,000 refugees outside South Sudan waiting to go home, as well as an estimated 4 million internally displaced people. Many of them cite the lack of schools, water, sanitation, health care and other infrastructure for their reluctance to return to Sudan after 21 years of civil war.

Zambia: Angolan refugees flee camps

2006-12-05

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6W6K8Y?OpenDocument

Some Angolan refugees are fleeing from refugee camps in Zambia for fear of being repatriated to their countries of origin, the Times of Zambia has reported. The Angolan voluntary repatriation from Zambia started in 2003, one year after the 27 year civil war ended in the country. Since then a total of 64,000 refugees have been safely repatriated to their motherland while about 29,000 Angolan refugees remain in Zambia.

Africa: Mauritania poll ushers in coalition

2006-12-05

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C8742250-7549-4DC9-974C-9A49197DA67B.htm

A coalition of former opposition parties and independent candidates has won Mauritania's parliamentary elections, after a second round of voting on Sunday. Of the 95 seats in the new national assembly, an alliance of ex-opposition parties has won 41, seats while independent candidates have taken 39 others.

Africa: Poll lead for Madagascar president

2006-12-05

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3454FF43-123F-46B2-A328-1B44BBFE7D7F.htm

First results from elections on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar have showed Marc Ravalomanana, the millionaire president, is on course to win a second term. The election was the first since the political crisis in 2001-2002 which brought one of the world's poorest countries close to civil war before Ravalomanana won power.

DRC: Last rebel groups sign peace deal in Ituri

2006-12-05

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ACIO-6W6GPB?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

The Congolese government has signed a deal with the last rebel groups in the northeastern district of Ituri to disarm 3,500 militiamen and release 700 child soldiers. Wednesday's (29 November 2006)agreement came two days after the Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed the result of the 29 October elections proclaiming Joseph Kabila as president.

DRC: President Kabila sworn in

2006-12-06

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AE3004B3-9FBA-41DE-B69C-CF7D952D8978.htm

Joseph Kabila has been sworn in as the Democratic Republic of Congo's first freely elected leader as fighting continued in the east of the country. At least 12,000 people have fled across the border into southwest Uganda to escape clashes between government forces and rebel soldiers, a Ugandan army spokesman said.

Southern Africa: Zambezi Plan's Problems Not Unique

2006-12-05

http://www.ipsnews.org/africa/nota.asp?idnews=35692

While the recent stakeholders' conference on the Zambezi River Basin saw many good intentions expressed, it also served as a reminder of the persistent challenge posed by weak co-operation between Southern African states. At the conference, held in Windhoek, Namibia, on Nov. 22 and 23, participants from civil society raised concerns about the lack of a united driving force to develop the Zambezi watercourse.

Zimbabwe: Prison term for selling expensive bread

2006-12-05

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56611&SelectRegion=Southern_Africa&SelectCountry=ZIMBABWE

As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) kicks of its assessment mission in Zimbabwe this week, the country's courts sent two officials of a well-known bakery to prison for breaking the price control law. The IMF has repeatedly called for price deregulation, among other measures, to manage the economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Global: World's richest 2% own half global wealth

2006-12-07

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleid=292476

The world's richest 2% of adults own more than half of global household wealth, while half the world's population own only 1%, a United Nations report published on Tuesday (5 December 2006) showed. "The study finds wealth to be more unequally distributed than income across countries."

Liberia: Ex-ministers in court

2006-12-05

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6209326.stm

Three former ministers in Liberia's transitional government have been charged with stealing millions of dollars of public funds. Former deputy Finance Minister Tugbeh Doe spent the night in custody after problems with his bail. Former Finance Minister Lusinee Kamara and ex-Minister of Commerce Samuel Wlue were also charged.

South Africa: 'More needs to be done' to fight corruption

2006-12-07

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=292491

A total of 2 296 cases of alleged corruption have been reported to the national anti-corruption hotline (NACH) since its inception in September 2004, the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF) said on Tuesday (5 December 2006).

Africa: Diamonds, the Curse of Africa

2006-12-05

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612040762.html

Edward Zwick's movie brings to the fore Africa's diamond curse, reports Koigi in the Daily Nation. Diamonds are forever, so it is said, and so it seems, are movies themed on them. On December 8, the latest Hollywood depiction of this iconic symbol of love and the role it has played in fanning conflict in Africa will open in American theatres.

Africa: Russia, Too, Out for a Stake in Africa

2006-12-05

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612041178.html

Moscow recently played host to the seventh meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum (APF) signalling growing relations between Russia and Africa. The APF is a unique interface of relations between Africa and external partners.

Africa: South African Property Group Eyes East Africa

2006-12-05

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612041737.html

South Africa's largest property group-Pam Golding Properties (PGP) will enter the East African market beginning early next year. PGP chief executive officer Mr. Andrew Golding told Business Week from Cape Town, South Africa last week that the group had highlighted Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Angola, Zambia, Lesotho, Morocco, Rwanda, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and the rest of Africa as important growth areas.

Global: Humanitarian agencies appeal for $3.9 billion

2006-12-05

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YSAR-6W2N7Z?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

At United Nations headquarters today (30 November 2006), Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Humanitarian Appeal 2007 -- thirteen consolidated appeals for specific emergencies -- seeking $3.9 billion to help 27 million people in 29 countries. Some 140 non-governmental organisations, United Nations agencies, and other international and local organizations are appealing for funds through the Humanitarian Appeal this year.

Global: Money spent on funding body for privatisation

2006-12-07

http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/30millionaidonconsultants26112006.htm

Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) has channelled over £30 million of its aid through an institution designed to pay consultants to push privatisation in poor countries according to a report released today (Sunday 26 November 2006) by the World Development Movement.

West Africa: ADF supports cotton science

2006-12-05

http://www.afrol.com/articles/23071

Cotton growers, scientists and textile businesspeople in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad have been supported by the African Development Fund (ADF) with a loan of US$ 51.9 million. Regional scientific cooperation and the sharing of genetic material is emphasised in the project.

Africa: Compensation Needed After Culling

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612060826.html

To stop deadly strains of bird flu from mutating and infecting humans, millions of infected poultry will have to be culled as soon as an outbreak is reported and farmers must be compensated, agriculture specialists said on Wednesday (6 December 2006).

Global: diabetes hits more children

2006-12-05

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=292411

Diabetes is striking growing numbers of children around the world as parents and doctors fail to diagnose a disease that until recently was associated mostly with middle-aged and elderly people, experts said on Tuesday (5 December 2006). "Diabetes has become a chronic and common disease among children ... and often these children die."

Global: Scientists launch an online global map of malaria

2006-12-05

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3263&language=1

Scientists have created an online global map of communities at high risk of malaria, which could prove a valuable tool for policymakers targeting resources to fight the disease. The map links data collected by population surveys to Google Earth's online map of the world designed using satellite photographs.

Malawi: Migrating nurses costs country up to US$26 million

2006-12-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56618

Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, is losing up to US$26 million for every nurse who leaves the country in search of greener pastures, according to a new research paper. "Better salaries and good working conditions are among the contributing factors for these nurses' migration."

Swaziland: The fight against AIDS

2006-12-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56629

The Swazi government expressed cautious optimism after a survey found that 39.2 percent of women visiting antenatal clinics tested positive for HIV, indicating that the infection rate was dropping. Medical data from pregnant women is used as a barometer of HIV/AIDS prevalence among the country's about one million people and although the figure was above the 38.6 percent recorded in 2002, it was down from the 42.6 percent reached in 2004.

Uganda: An HIV/AIDS campaign in crisis?

2006-12-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56604

Uganda's success in lowering its HIV/AIDS level, lauded as a rare African achievement, could be unravelling. The latest UNAIDS statistics show rising prevalence, and questions are being asked about the government's commitment to fighting the epidemic. The 2006 UNAIDS epidemic update revealed that Uganda's prevalence rose marginally to 6.7 percent in 2005.

Africa: Adjustment Problems of African Students

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612061039.html

This links through to a review of the book 'Adjustment Problems of African Students at Public Universities in America': "The basis and rationale for this book is great. It is mean to be a tool for African students wishing to study in the United States. The book begins with steps to take after one has been admitted into a university. The book explains the important steps that need to be taken before you leave for the U.S. and the work of international student offices upon your arrival."

Africa: Africa's Hidden Histories

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612061217.html

The ability to read and write was considered essential for educated persons, and Africans from all walks of life strove to participate in the new literary culture. Karin Barber and an international group of Africanist scholars have uncovered a trove of personal diaries, letters, obituaries, pamphlets, and booklets stored away in tin-trunks, suitcases, and cabinets that reveal individuals involved in the new occupation of the colonial era - putting pen to paper.

Nigeria: Inside Nigeria's football 'ghettos'

2006-12-05

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6182004.stm

Young people in the Nigerian state of Kano have been turning the region's big cities into what one resident has termed "Premiership football ghettos". Kano is densely populated and predominantly Muslim - and with its long standing history of conservative traditional values, some would think European football would be the last focus for young people.

Zimbabwe: Government bans human rights education

The Zimbabwean

2006-12-07

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm

The Zimbabwean government has suspended the teaching of human rights and democracy in secondary schools and announced the setting up of the Chitepo Ideology College, poised to indoctrinate youths in Zanu (PF)'s socialist policies. This is in addition to Border Gezi youth militia training - already a prerequisite for admission to tertiary institutions, including the Journalism School at the Harare Polytechnic.

Africa: Floods affected population in the Horn of Africa

2006-12-07

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YSAR-6W7LQG?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

Excessive rains in October and November in the Horn of Africa have resulted in the worst flooding in many years in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. The floods have severely damaged infrastructure and housing and caused crop, livestock and asset losses. By early December, heavy rains persisted in several areas, particularly in Kenya, and weather forecasts predict continued precipitation until the end of the year.

Africa: Global Warming And the Opposition to Kyoto Protocol

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612040553.html

The recently concluded United Nations Climate Change Conference in Nairobi, Kenya adopted a wide range of decisions designed to mitigate climate change and help countries adapt to the effects of global warming. The conference that was attended by more than 100 ministers, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, two heads of state and a host of participants delivered on its promise to support the needs of developing countries as revealed by the conference president and Kenyan minister for Natural Resources and Environment Kivutha Kibwana.

Africa: Lake Victoria Water Levels Rise

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612040234.html

The water level of Lake Victoria has risen by four centimetres due to the heavy rains of the past month in the three countries sharing Africa's largest lake. A water expert in the Ministry of Water and Environment told The New Vision the heavy rains benefited the water levels, while causing problems in areas prone to floods, cholera and landslides.

East Africa: Regional Environment Meet Opens

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612051481.html

The 1st Horn of Africa Regional Environment Meeting was opened here yesterday (4 December 2006) to officially announce a plan to establish the Horn of Africa Regional Environment Network and Centre. Opening the meeting' Coordinator Dr. Araya Asfaw of the Addis Ababa University said that the objective of the meeting was to exchange knowledge and experience among professionals of the region in the field and to officially launch the network.

Tanzania: Grappling with land pressure

2006-12-05

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56602

Elibariki Isaya, a pastoralist in northern Tanzania’s Kiteto District, has been caught in clashes between farmers in the area. "We are regarded as refugees in our own country," he said. "Farmers have thrown us off the land. We now have nowhere to take cattle, goats and sheep for grazing and drinking water."

Africa: Chad's media goes on strike

2006-12-07

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2EA38F15-F48D-4EEF-9A0D-96B2AB0EFAE4.htm

Journalists in Chad have begun a strike to protest state censorship under a six-month state of emergency imposed by the government of Idriss Deby, the president. Six private newspapers will not publish over the next two weeks, while several private radio stations will observe a three-day period of "silence".

Africa: Digital Radio Takes an Ambitious Step

2006-12-05

http://www.ipsnews.org/africa/nota.asp?idnews=35698

Broadcasters from across Africa will gather in Rwandan capital Kigali this week to propose new plans to bring digital sound to their hundreds of millions of listeners. The first-ever Pan-African Conference on Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), and the system they have developed to bring digital radio to the world, will open Wednesday and continue until the end of the week.

Guinea: Newspaper journalist assaulted

2006-12-05

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/79599/

On November 16, 2006 Alpha Camara, a reporter for "L'Observateur", a privately-owned weekly newspaper, was attacked by a police officer from the criminal investigations department in Kaloum district, southwest of Conakry, the capital. The journalist was detained for an hour in custody and was released on the intervention of the chair of the National Council for Communication.

Libya: Outspoken critic of government detained

2006-12-05

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/79615/

Libya's internal security agency has held an outspoken critic of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi in incommunicado detention for almost a month, Human Rights Watch said. Libya's Internal Security Agency detained Idrees Mohamed Boufayed, a doctor who had been living in Switzerland for the past 16 years, on November 5 during a visit to Libya, his family and Libyan organizations abroad report.

Nigeria: Armed government agents raid radio station

2006-12-05

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/79605/

On 2 December 2006, agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nigeria's anti corruption agency, raided the privately owned radio station Cosmo FM, based in Enugu in south-eastern Nigeria. They arrested some staff, took away documents belonging to the station house and shut the station down for about two hours.

Senegal: Journalists decry death threats

2006-12-05

http://www.afrol.com/articles/23102

The executive arm of the Senegalese journalist union, Bureau Executive National (BEN), was forced to convene an emergency extra-ordinary session today to shame and condemn waves of death threats against their members in the country.

Tunisia: Harassment of human rights defenders and journalists

2006-12-05

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/79616/

IFEX-TMG members have called on the Tunisian President to cease harassment of human rights defenders and journalists: “We, the undersigned members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG), again call on Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to stop persecuting human rights defenders and journalists.”

Global: World AIDS day, the free trade way

2006-12-07

http://www.blackagendareport.com/007/007c_bd_world_AIDS_day2006.php

In the bubble of the American media universe, we are protected from many news stories the whole rest of the world knows about. If we paid close attention on World AIDS Day we do know for instance, that 40 million people now carry the HIV virus worldwide. 25 million are dead from it, with 3 million more deaths each year, and 5 million new infections occurred in 2005 alone. But one thing we might not know is that something less than half the planet's HIV-AIDS cases receive any treatment at all.

Nigeria: School Day 24: Nigeria-UK

2006-12-05

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6194630.stm

The BBC's Africa Have Your Say programme is linking students at a school in Abuja with a school in London to discuss migration and explore the realities of life through the eyes of young people.

Chad: Rebels launch attack in east Chad

2006-12-06

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/548F96E2-7E75-4F2C-8803-E75A0B0A2390.htm

Rebels in Chad have attacked government positions at Guereda, in the far east of the country close to the border with Sudan. Fighting began early in the afternoon when a rebel coalition including the Rally of Democratic Forces [RAFD] and three other groups attacked soldiers in the area, a military source said on Friday (1 December 2006).

DRC: Over 150 rebels killed in recent fighting

2006-12-06

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/STED-6W7QPV?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

More than 150 rebels were killed when U.N. peacekeepers fought off a rebel offensive in east Congo last week, officials said on Tuesday (5 December 2006), adding that the heavy losses had led to surrenders among the divided insurgents. The casualty figure was the highest recorded from fighting involving U.N. troops in Democratic Republic of Congo, where the U.N. has its largest peacekeeping mission in the world.

Global: General Assembly backs Kimberley Process

2006-12-06

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KHII-6W7ACG?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

The General Assembly today (4 December 2006) passed a resolution Open Document backing the Kimberley Process, a global initiative involving governments, the international diamond industry and civil society aimed at preventing so-called “conflict diamonds” from funding warfare and civil unrest.

Somalia: Somalis rail against UN resolution

2006-12-06

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E0DF4833-889D-42FB-A822-C755356D9353.htm

Thousands of Somalis have protested against US-backed plans to send foreign peacekeepers into the country in support of the interim government. Protesters, including women and children, gathered in a football stadium in Mogadishu, the capital, on Monday (4 December 2006) chanting anti-American slogans and accusing Ethiopia of planning to invade.

Somalia: UN votes for Somalia force

2006-12-07

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1AEA896A-88E7-48DD-89AB-358FB489367E.htm

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to authorise a regional force to protect the Somali government - which is under increasing pressure from the Union of Islamic Courts - and also lifted an arms embargo to allow the force to be equipped.

Sudan: Attack on North Darfur town

2006-12-06

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/STED-6W7NML?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

Tension has mounted in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State in western Sudan, amid fears that rebels may launch an offensive on government forces being reinforced to defend the town, humanitarian sources said on Tuesday (5 December 2006). Militias attacked the cattle market on Monday and clashed with former rebels of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), according to African Union (AU) sources.

Uganda: Escalating violence in North Eastern Uganda

2006-12-05

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/LZEG-6VZQNW?OpenDocument&RSS20=18-P

UNICEF in Uganda, in view of the continued violence linked to the ongoing process of disarmament in areas of northern Kotido District, expresses its serious concern about the impact of escalating insecurity on the lives of children and families in those locations.

Africa: Icann Conference in Sao Paulo

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612050555.html

This week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned names and Numbers or ICANN is holding its Annual General Meeting in Sao Paulo, the largest commercial hub in South America, where incidentally it has been raining almost continually for the past ten days or so. ICANN is the body that coordinates addresses on the internet.

Africa: IT Industry Enjoys Fruits of Co-Operation

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612051116.html

When Peter Ulanga was invited to visit Brazil, last year, he knew that something was going to change in the management of dot Tz country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD). Ulanga, and a colleague, Peter Shilla, benefited from training offered by the Brazilian government on management of domain name registries using open source software.

Nigeria: UN Moves to Tackle Growing E-Waste Menace

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612060832.html

The United Nations (UN) has initiated moves to curb inherent dangers posed in donations of developed countries of old possibly toxic computers, mobile phones and televisions, which could pose a hazard to the environment of poor countries.

Southern Africa: Technical Dependence in Statistics Field

2006-12-07

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612060976.html

SADC specialists in the field of statistics analysed on Tuesday (5 December 2006), in Luanda, the problem of the dependence of this activity on international technical assistance, concerning the new and not so frequently used technologies.

Africa: EQUINET Africa

2006-12-07

http://www.equinetafrica.org/

EQUINET, the Regional Network on Equity in Health in Southern Africa, is a network of professionals, civil society members, policy makers, state officials and others within the region who have come together as an equity catalyst, to promote and realise shared values of equity and social justice in health.

Africa: ReConnect December Issue

2006-12-06

http://www.reconnectafrica.com/

ReConnect Africa is a unique online publication, network and portal with essential information about careers, enterprise and jobs for African professionals around the world. Offering a range of careers services for job seekers in Africa and in the Diaspora, recruitment specialists and people managers, ReConnect Africa brings together the best of Africa.

Global: December 2006 Special Theme

2006-12-07

http://www.alliancemagazine.org

The moon has a shadow side but since we always see only the bright side we could only guess what the other side was like and we had to go on a journey to outer space to really see it. As for philanthropy, we do see its shadow side almost as often as the bright one, but we don’t often talk about it.’ So writes guest editor Nilda Bullain. The December 2006 edition of Alliance focuses on this neglected ‘shadow side’ of philanthropy.
DECEMBER 2006 SPECIAL THEME

The shadow side of philanthropy

‘The moon has a shadow side but since we always see only the bright side we could only guess what the other side was like and we had to go on a journey to outer space to really see it. As for philanthropy, we do see its shadow side almost as often as the bright one, but we don’t often talk about it.’ So writes guest editor Nilda Bullain. The December 2006 edition of Alliance focuses on this neglected ‘shadow side’ of philanthropy.

‘The purpose of exploring the shadow of philanthropy is to help us do better philanthropy,’ writes guest editor Michael Lerner. Gender, caste and racism are some of the issues examined in this issue of Alliance, along with the waste of resources and the failure to redistribute. How do you survive spiritually as a funder? How do you keep fresh ideas flowing in foundations? How do you overcome the corrosive effects of power on relations with grantees? These are some of the questions we attempt to answer. Also in this special feature is a plea for intuition and trust in face of the current mania for metrics and a discussion of some issues raised by donor site visits.

Also in this issue of Alliance: Sylvia Borren of Oxfam Novib argues that if funders want to be intelligent, they must also be more humble, while Carolyn Reynolds Mandell examines the prospects for World Bank engagement with civil society under Paul Wolfowitz’s leadership.

For more information and to read some articles from this issue of Alliance, visit www.alliancemagazine.org

Africa: Ideas…Words…Markets

KWANI LITFEST 2006

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/38706

Join an eclectic group of internationally-renowned authors, editors, publishers and agents in a week-long literary festival in Nairobi that includes writing workshops, panel discussions, readings and public lectures. Thursday, 14 December 2006.
KWANI LITFEST 2006

Ideas…Words…Markets

Join an eclectic group of internationally-renowned authors, editors, publishers and agents in a week-long literary festival in Nairobi that includes writing workshops, panel discussions, readings and public lectures.


Thursday, 14 December 2006

6 p.m
Alliance Francaise
Kwani? Open Mic featuring readings by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and

8 p.m.
Club Afrique
Launch of Kwani Litfest 2006
Guest speaker: Hon. Rafael Tuju, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Featuring artist Richard Onyango and DJ Ntone Edjabe, host of South Africa’s acclaimed music show “Soul Mokassa”
Entry fee Shs.500 per person

Friday, 15 December 2006

4 p.m.
Taifa Hall, University of Nairobi
“African Writers on the Global Stage”
Public lectures by award-winning African authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Doreen Baingana and Binyavanga Wainaina

Saturday, 16 December 2006

12 noon to 4 p.m.
Nu Metro Media Store, The Junction
Book signings by authors M.G. Vassanji, Doreen Baingana and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

7.30 p.m
Allan Bobbe’s Bistro
“In Conversation with Authors”
Featuring novelists M.G. Vassanji,, Jonathan Ledgard, among other authors
Tickets Shs.1,500 per person to include dinner and welcome drink

Monday, 18 December 2006

4 p.m.
Taifa Hall, University of Nairobi
“Nations and the Pen”
Public lecture by former child soldier and author Ishmael Beah


Tuesday, 19 December 2006
4 p.m.
Taifa Hall, University of Nairobi
Public lecture by award-winning author M.G Vassanji

15-20 December 2006
Writing workshops will be held at Nairobi’s Heron Court Hotel from 9 a.m to 4 p.m everyday. To register, please contact:
Kwani Trust on 4451383 or 4450490 or e-mail info@kwani.org

Sponsored by Kwani Trust, Ford Foundation and the Open Society

Global: A two-day conference on the novel

2006-12-07

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=154003

This is a call for papers for "The Novel: Democracy's Form?", a two-day conference to be held over the 13th and 14th of April 2007 at the University of Sussex. The core purpose of the conference is to explore the contemporary status of the novel within the fields of literary theory, history and philosophy.

Global: Film Exhibition

2006-12-07

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=154008

Join a group that has gathered annually since 2000 to discuss research accomplishments for the year and to participate in an area that always welcomes newcomers with fresh ideas on exhibition history and the future of film exhibition today.

Global: Four Doctoral Scholarships

2006-12-07

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=153927

The Graduate Program "Formations of the Global: Globalization and Cultural Studies" is offering four doctoral scholarships for international students (beginning April 1, 2007). Applicants are expected to write interdisciplinary dissertations within the thematic framework of the program.

Global: LLM in Human Rights Law

2006-12-06

http://www.ulster.ac.uk/transitionaljustice/new_postgraduate_programmes.html

The Transitional Justice Institute, in conjunction with the School of Law, offers an LLM in Human Rights Law. The LLM in Human Rights Law covers both core human rights law but also has an emphasis on transitional justice issues. This new and innovative programme commenced in September 2005 and has attracted a broad range of students, both international and local.

Global: Purdue American Studies 2008 Conference

2006-12-07

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=153853

American Studies will sponsor an international conference in 2008 titled “American Studies and Imperial Designs: New Scholarship and Perspectives on the U.S. in the World.” The conference will be held September 11-14, 2008 at Purdue.

Nigeria: Historical Society of Nigeria

2006-12-07

http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=153868

Historical Society of Nigeria, 52nd Annual Congress Call for Papers Date: 14th to 17th October, 2007, Venue Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa, State Theme: Federalism in Historical Perspective.

Global: Italian Government to support WSF2007

2006-12-05

http://www.wsf2007.org/italian-government-to-support-wsf2007-process

The Italian Government has decided to support a range of media related activities for the WSF2007 event in Nairobi. Representatives of the Italian Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, representatives of the WSF Secretariat and IPS Director General, met in Rome on November 16th, 2006.

Global: registration deadline extended

2006-12-05

http://www.wsf2007.org/activity-registration-deadline-extended-till-december-13-2006

The activity registration deadline for the WSF has been extended till December 13, 2006. All organizations that want to register activities for the WSF2007 event in Nairobi should do this at the World Social Forum Process website. An announcement will be made on the modalities and deadlines for payment within the next few days. Please note that there is no deadline for registration of organizations or individuals.

Press Release by Bro. George M. Muchai

2006-12-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wsf2007/38742

The 7th World Social Forum will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from January 20th - 25th, 2007 at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. This is an important event that will bring the world to Africa. Activists, Social and Labour Movements, Networks, Coalitions and other progressive forces from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe and all corners of Africa will converge in Nairobi, Kenya for five days of cultural resistance and celebration, panels, workshops, symposia, processions, film nights and much more.

Despite the importance that the country's trade union movement attaches to this event, we as leaders in the Trade Union movement have been kept at bay as far as the planning and organization of the event is concerned.

The World Social Forum's anti-capitalist and neo-liberal globalization agenda carries with it the workers' aspirations and it will be a futile exercise for anybody to dare believe that such an event could be organized, planned and executed without its core subjects, namely the workers.
Press Release by Bro. George M. Muchai, COTU(K) Deputy Secretary General, on the forthcoming World Social Forum, 5th November, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Press,

The 7th World Social Forum will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from January 20th - 25th, 2007 at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.

This is an important event that will bring the world to Africa. Activists, Social and Labour Movements, Networks, Coalitions and other progressive forces from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, Europe and all corners of Africa will converge in Nairobi, Kenya for five days of cultural resistance and celebration, panels, workshops, symposia, processions, film nights and much more.

Despite the importance that the country's trade union movement attaches to this event, we as leaders in the Trade Union movement have been kept at bay as far as the planning and organization of the event is concerned.

The World Social Forum's anti-capitalist and neo-liberal
globalization agenda carries with it the workers' aspirations and it will be a futile exercise for anybody to dare believe that such an event could be organized, planned and executed without its core subjects, namely the workers.

Whereas we do not, as the umbrella workers' body, wish to cast aspersions to the importance the event holds for the world workers, it would be prudent that workers ought to take a central role in this event as opposed to the current cat-and-mouse-game that the local organizing committee housed in a local NGO office is playing.

The World Social Forum Secretariat is charged with co-coordinating the Social Forum process working in close collaboration with the International Organizing Committee consisting of 129 organizations globally.

In Africa, the African Social Forum Council co-ordinates the Social Forum process and for the year 2007 forum, the Eastern Africa Organizing Committee is hosting supported by the World Social Forum Kenya Secretariat.

Interestingly, NGOs have hijacked this important process pushing the core stakeholders of the process, namely the workers, to the periphery as they grab the chance for their own selfish ends attracting huge sums of donor funds that have since ended up in individuals' pockets.

These individuals remain elusive to us despite our efforts to reach them and whereas we would not wish to sabotage this event, we demand that it should not be used as a conduit to siphon money from foreign donors for selfish individuals ends but let it be an event creating an opportunity to showcase Africa together with her social and Trade Union movement partners.

The local team of individuals purporting to own the process and who have opted to shut the doors to everybody should own up soonest lest the Kenyan workers will rise up against their underground dealings and with consequences that may cost the forum a great deal.

We understand the amorphous structures that such event elsewhere holds, however, for purposes of achieving its goal and successfully reaching out to all, necessary mobilization is required as opposed to only a click of individuals meeting in hotels purportedly to meet on behalf of the rest with no clear view as to which direction the event should take.

We remain open to consultations and any individual who subscribes to the forum's ideologies is free to join us, but we will not allow a small cartel of self appointed individuals answerable to themselves and their accomplices to take the workers at ransom shifting positions for conveniency purposes at the expense of its' subjects.

To this, we say NO!

Thank you.

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2006-12-05

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