Back Issues

This week's highlights

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/41465

FEATURES: Ronald Wesso on the challenges for solidarity with Zimbabwe activists
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Book reviews and commentary on child soldiers by Lansana Gberie
- SMS election monitoring report from Nigeria
- Kavaljit Singh discusses Southern transnationals
- Pastor Barry Wuganaale says no to Shell in Ogoniland
LETTERS: Mordecai Mahlangu on being assaulted by Mugabe
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem on Wolfowitz, the World Bank and the hypocrisy of the West
BLOGGING AFRICA: A round up of the African blogosphere
BOOKS AND ARTS: Raising funds for Zimbabwean activists

WOMEN AND GENDER: Is violence against women on the HIV/Aids donor agenda?
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Bomb kills four peacekeepers in Somalia
HUMAN RIGHTS: 20,000 poor Angolans evicted from capital
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: Nigerian lawyers boycott courts
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Coast guard saves 35 illegal immigrants
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Controversy ahead of Congo elections
AFRICA AND CHINA: Calls for wider Sino-African cooperation
CORRUPTION: Wolfowitz resigns
DEVELOPMENT: Making a case for debt relief with no strings attached
HEALTH AND HIV/Aids: Nevirapine price-cut for developing world
EDUCATION: Zimbabwe’s teachers go AWOL
LGBTI: Frontline grants for human rights defenders at risk
ENVIRONMENT: Continent pays price for climate change
LAND & LAND RIGHTS: Agrarian reform in South Africa comes down to earth
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Kenya’s FoI bill tabled in parliament
NEWS FROM THE DIASPORA: Very British coup for African francophone
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: New laws to regulate Ghana’s ICT industry
PLUS: e-newsletters and mailings lists; fundraising and useful resources; courses,
seminars and workshops, jobs and books and publications

*Pambazuka News now has a Del.icio.us page, where you can view the various websites that we visit to keep our fingers on the pulse of Africa! Visit http://del.icio.us/pambazuka_news

Submitting articles to Pambazuka News

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/Announce/41487

We continue to receive excellent articles for publication in Pambazuka News. If you wish to submit articles for consideration, please make sure that you place the word 'SUBMISSION' in the subject line and send the article to editor@pambazuka.org. This will help us make sure that your submissions don't get lost in the thousands of other mails that comes to that address.

The Editors

Zimbabwe: Challenges for solidarity

Ronald Wesso

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/41422

Ronald Wesso argues that international solidarity with Zimbawean activists, particularly from South Africa, is crucial.


The Zimbabwean situation raises the importance of international solidarity to extraordinary levels.

Many stomachs fell through the floor when people heard President Mbeki and his Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state after their recent summit in Dar es Salaam.

The most these presidents and prime ministers are willing to do are express concern and encourage dialogue.

It is not even clear whether they are concerned for President Mugabe and his violent, power hungry, oppressive regime; or for the victims of the violence, power and oppression.

They are just concerned. So much so that they want sanctions directed against the Zimbabwe government to be softened or lifted.

It is also not clear how Mugabe’s victims are supposed to dialogue with him, while his regime is starving, demonising, beating, raping, jailing and killing them.

Two things are however abundantly clear. President Mbeki and his SADC counterparts will not act against the Mugabe regime in defence of the Zimbabwean people.

They are hoping for an ‘elite transition’ similar to the ones in South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where those with the power and wealth, or who at least have the backing of the rich and powerful, work out amongst themselves how to divide up power and money.

The popular masses are excluded from the process. Inevitably the resulting system leaves them at the mercy of the oppressors and exploiters, trapped in poverty and social crisis. For the vast majority therefore, the SADC solution is no solution.

Zanu-PF is momentarily even dead set against this ‘solution’. Their social base seems to have shrunk to a very tiny business elite and the security apparatus of the state.

Their electoral base among the rural population is shrinking fast. They are not at all confident that any semblance of greater democracy will allow them to satisfy their power hunger.

As for the MDC, both factions want the same transition that the SADC leaders think will emerge from dialogue. They just want more of it and they want it more urgently.

The same could be said of a number of civil society formations such as the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and the Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights.

Of course these groups are not as vile in their betrayal of the Zimbabwean masses as the men who run SADC, but they are politically orientated to work with these men for an ‘elite transition’.

Therefore despite their obvious bravery, courage and dignity that contrast so sharply with the cowardice and selfishness of the region’s rulers, these groups do not really point to a solution for the majority.

So what about other activist forces?

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has led a number of strikes and protests for higher wages and workers’ rights. But politically they are a support for the MDC not an alternative to it.

Civil society formations such as the Women of Zimbabwe Arise, the Zimbabwe Social Forum, the Combined Harare Residents Association and the Feminist Political Education Project have organised campaigns and actions to demand social services that meet the basic needs of the masses. They have initiated and taken part in discussions aimed at envisioning and facilitating a political alternative based on freedom and justice for the currently oppressed.

These groups face enormous odds. Even the strongest among them, the ZCTU, operate as a trade union in a situation where 80 per cent and more of people are unemployed. It is easy to understand how this undermines their bargaining power.

Then there is repression. Just recently the ZCTU had to cancel four rallies they were planning to celebrate Workers’ Day because government supporters (agents) threatened to attack and kill unionists if they go ahead.

All of the activists in these civil society groups have had to face similar arrests, violence, threats and insults. Being an activist in Zimbabwe requires levels of bravery and commitment that few are able to muster right now. It is no criticism of these heroines to say that on their own they will not be able to significantly shift the balance of power from the Mugabe regime, and from the SADC/MDC type of elite transition.

This is where international solidarity becomes so important. From South Africa’s history we know that international solidarity is helpful and necessary.

We also know that there are certain periods when it becomes decisive. After the repression of the Sharpeville era in the early 1960s, the struggle went through a long period where international solidarity was one of its most important mainstays.

Zimbabwe is in a similar period now. International solidarity, particularly from people in South Africa, can play a decisive role in this period and opening up the way for future mass movements in favour of emancipation from patriarchy, state power and capitalism.

Activists in South Africa have been taking up the challenge in various ways. COSATU has been openly critical of both the Mugabe and Mbeki governments and have also organised protests at the border.

Among other things the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) and the Social Movements Indaba (SMI) went on solidarity visits to groups in Zimbabwe and have hosted such groups on visits to South Africa.

Abahlali base Mjondolo (Abahlali) has also expressed solidarity and shown a willingness to take up issues, as has the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and some other groups such as the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

In Cape Town, the Building Women’s Activism Forum led a public demonstration in solidarity with sisters in Zimbabwe dealing with state and male violence.

This demonstration, as well as others like those initiated by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, attracted relatively small number of people, though not significantly smaller numbers than many demonstrations about ‘South African’ issues such as water cut-offs and the housing crisis.

Clearly, despite widespread xenophobia, and despite numerous grinding social crises in South Africa itself, a number of people are willing to act in solidarity with the oppressed and exploited masses of Zimbabwe. The challenge is to find ways making solidarity actions stronger and more effective.

Broadly it would seem we need to move from protests that express our outrage to direct support.

Take the Building Women’s Activism Forum for example. These are worthy sisters that did a great thing. They had an effective public demonstration against gender violence in Zimbabwe that attracted significant support, including from men. But what next? More demonstrations? Bigger, more militant ones?

Yes, of course. However it would certainly be helpful if the sisters could identify women’s groups in Zimbabwe to support politically, educationally and financially. Such support could mean the difference between surviving or not for women’s groups in Zimbabwe trying to live a feminist agenda.

It is certainly within the capability of activists in South Africa to support their Zimbabwean counterparts with political and educational materials as well as with money. Not only are we better funded and face less repression, the exchange rate means that money we raise can sustain activities in Zimbabwe.

In order to do this kind of work, activists in South Africa will have to identify specific individuals and groups in Zimbabwe to work with.

Generalised, abstract declarations of solidarity will not do the job. High levels of trust will be required as some of the activities will be illegal in Zimbabwe and will be frowned upon by the quiet diplomats of the South African government.

This would need the development of a shared political orientation. It does not mean having the same ideology or even the same strategy. But it needs broad agreement on the major issue whether to seek forms of struggle that create the possibility of going beyond the horrors of today as well as avoiding the pains of an elite transition to slightly different forms of patriarchy, state power and capitalism.

In fact if we take the case of COSATU, we can argue that it is their refusal to take a political position that has constrained their activism on Zimbabwe. They have been careful to avoid the question of who represents the possibility of a Zimbabwe free of state oppression, male domination and capitalism.

When they have been pressed, their closeness to the ZCTU has brought them to a seemingly pro-MDC position. But they have never really acted on supporting the development of an emancipatory political movement in Zimbabwe.

If the TACs and the Abahlalis and the SMIs do not engage in this kind of direct political solidarity with activists in Zimbabwe, they will similarly miss opportunities to contribute to the making of an emancipatory movement and a liberated society.


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

Ledum Mitee does not believe that Shell should go

Pastor Barry Wuganaale

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/41480

Pastor Wuganaale, of the Ogoni Solidarity Front in Nigeria maintains that the Ogoni people wish to be free of 'indigenous colonisaton' and will not make a deal with Shell.


Barely 48 hours after the 'spiritual cleansing' service that was held in Ogoniland, the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) in Cape Town hosted Rev. Fr. Mathew Hassan Kukah for a public talk entitled 'Nigerian Election: Is the country no Longer at Ease?'

The news of his visit to Cape Town, ostensibly to polish the image of the Obasanjo government and create a platform of acceptability for the incoming government, filtered into the office of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum about 24 hours before the programme.

Rev. Fr. Kukah summarily said that the Nigerian election is acceptable, considering the history of Nigeria and within the context of its politics, because there had been no credible election in the past. He emphasised that the George Bush election was as much fraud as the Nigerian election. 'But because it is America, things are still moving on' he said.

Kukah said the criticism of Nigeria’s own electoral charade is like describing the poor as thief. The Nigerian election is painted as fraudulent because it is Nigeria. This done to justify the mindset, perception and public opinion held of the country.

He argued that if the elections were as bad as the international observers claimed, 'why is it that there is calm in the country; the military should have taken over by now'.

Kukah went as far as to say that a fraudulent election is not the problem of the average Nigerians: 'what the people are looking for service delivery, no matter who is in power or how such person came to power'.

Kukah contradicted himself, even though he reaffirmed some of the things that are known facts.

For instance, he stated that the National Constitution Reformation Conference was aimed at elongating the period of Obasanjo in power. When it failed Obasanjo has to seek means of remaining relevant by becoming the power behind the power.

He also said that Shehu Musa Yar’Adua is not as clean as he has been portrayed. Stating that it is not practically possible for anybody to contest the position of the presidency in Nigerian without spending as much as 100,000,000 dollars he asked: 'who paid for all the planes that were used for the campaigns of Yar’Adua?'

His extensive presentation ended with the call that the Nigerian incoming government should be accepted, while at the same time he described Olusegun Obasanjo as the main disease that has bedeviled the country.

To his shock, the first person that intervened was an Ogoni, the project coordinator of Ogoni Solidarity Forum, Pastor Barry Wuganaale. He asked Kukah, 'if you know this much of Obasanjo and the fact that he runs a highly centralized state that masquerade as democracy, why have you been working with him to force the Ogoni people back into the failed state you describe Nigeria to be?'

The chairperson of the Anti-War Coalition of Western Cape followed with another question: 'Why is your committee aligning with the imperial force – Shell, that is behind the suffering of the people?'

The hall was dominated by the pro-Ogoni struggle activists. It turned the discussion to focus on Ogoni. Kukah flared in demonstration of his enragement and consequently made a lot of revelations. He was obviously stirred with the number of placards carried up from that moment till the end of the programme.

Some of the placards read:

'Rev. Fr. Kukah, what is your interest in Ogoni oil?'

'Kukah, what happened to the Oputa Panel?'

'If oil was in Kaduna would you allow it to be stolen?'

'Your Committee didn’t respond to the petition of the refugees in Benin!'

'Ogoniland does not need spiritual cleansing” “Ogoniland need environmental cleansing.'

'Don’t force Ogoni people to negotiate with HELL.'

'Kukah! Shell means HELL, what kind of clergy advocate for HELL for a people?'

'Ogonis are not ‘Nigerians.’

'Ogonis want to be free from indigenous colonization.'

'Ogonis are not your slaves.'

'Kukah; the time of slavery is over.'

'If you have no deal with Shell, hands off Ogoniland.'

In responding to the questions on Ogoni, which took over the whole discussion, Kukah said, it was Ledum Mitee that actually initiated the invitation of the United Nation Environmental Programme (UNEP) and that he has never been to Nairobi to have discussion with the UNEP.

On this matter, there seem to be a kernel of truth in Kukah’s statement. During the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Pastor Barry who was in Nairobi narrowly missed Ledum Mitee who left on the day of the opening of the WSF. Legborsi Pyagbara confirmed to Barry that Ledum was in Nairobi solely for a meeting with UNEP. After the WSF, Legborsi stayed behind for almost two weeks to follow up with meetings with the UNEP.

Kukah told the audience under suppressed anger that 'money had been given to your president, Ledum, on several occasion by the governor of Rivers state and he did not utilize them'.

Kukah made a staggering revelation that when Ledum Mitee was asked to say what should be given to the families of the eight other Ogonis that were hanged with Ken, that he 'suggested five hundred thousand or at most one million naira to each family'.

Kukah stated that the 5,000,000 naira that was given to each of the families of the deceased were out of the magnanimity of Peter Odili. From that point, the heat was turned to Mitee, he asserted that if MOSOP is fighting for democracy, why is it that Ledum Mitee has ruled MOSOP for ten years without an election and set outside the constitution of the organisation?

Kukah reiterated that the problem of the Ogoni people is the prominent Ogoni people that collect contract from the back door from Shell and the government, that countless number of opportunities had been given to the Ogoni through their elites but they were squandered by their representatives in government and the MOSOP.

Kukah went on to openly say that even Mitee does not believe that Shell should be driven out of Ogoniland because 'as your president, Ledum, puts it, Shell is not a chicken that can just be driven away like that.'

The most important revelation that Kukah made to the audience is that the Ogoni people are already being antagonised, because, 'other tribes are worried that the Ogoni is cheating them for not allowing Shell to drill from their land, so whose oil would be used to develop your own land?'

Kukah implied that the Ogoni people must allow themselves to be part of the corrupt Nigerian system because the time of carrying placards over. Communism he said is death. 'Placards or guns had never enabled any people to form a government in the world, you have to join to the government because no matter how good your voice is, you can never sing anywhere except in the choir.'

He explained in no uncertain terms that the several Ogonis had been begging for appointment and departing from the Ogoni Bill of Rights. In apparently referring to struggle for resource control by the Ogoni people, he said:

'No ethnic group has ever had control over oil, it is the right of the federal government to mine and control oil and your people cannot achieve that.'

Mathew Kukah concluded by saying that the prayer and dedication of Ogoniland that was organised on 14 May was initiated by the Christian leaders of Ogoniland. 'If the Ogoni people say they want to pray and cleanse their land, l am not an Ogoni man and l cannot oppose it.'

* Pastor Barry Wuganaale is from the Ogoni Solidarity Front, Cape Town, South Africa.

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

Writing on child soldiers

Lansana Gberie

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/41428

Lansana Gberie reviews two books on child soldiers: Allah is Not Obliged by Ahmadou Kourama and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, which is now being sold in Starbucks coffee shops across America.


The most difficult ones to deal with, the earnest UN official told me, are the 'teenage ruffians'. I was talking to him in Monrovia, capital of Liberia in 2004.

A large UN force, 15,000 strong, was desperately trying to disarm the mostly deranged combatants who ravaged the place for over a decade. Many people had thought that the disarmament would be fairly easy because a large number of the Liberian militias have gone through such a process before, some of them twice.

There had been the incomplete process, supervised by ECOMOG (the West African intervention force) just before the shambolic 1997 elections. Some of the Liberian fighters had actually been disarmed as fighters in Sierra Leone during that country’s (earlier) UN-supervised disarmament process.

But the first attempted demobilisation turned chaotic after the militias, desperate for the small cash incentive to hand in their weapons before Christmas, stormed Monrovia. At least eight people were killed in the ensuing violence. In the event, the UN paid 12,000 soldiers but received only 8,000 weapons.

The UN official calmly told me about a two-hour long meeting he had had with '48 Generals'. 'Most of them were children, of course', he added. 'And the trouble is that these bush Generals are absolutely jealous of their ranks! It makes the word ‘feral’ meaningless.'

The official suggested that I go with him to Gbarnga to see for myself. With some reluctance I agreed. Gbarnga was once the headquarters of Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), which started Liberia’s war. It had become an immense ruin. The pathos of its decrepitude was that it had now edged itself, once again, towards the centre of Liberia’s woes: the militias encamped there had become frighteningly restive and violent.

By the time we got there, a long line of them had formed at the cantonment site to hand in old AK 47 rifles and collect their money. Things seemed to be going well when suddenly a scrawny teenage fighter with a bandana around his head jumped ahead of the queue, raised his old rifle and started shouting abuses at the UN officers. 'Mother fucker. Give us our money now or we’ll go to Sierra Leone, to Guinea, to Ivory Coast, and start fighting all over again.' I sneaked quietly away.

I was reminded of this chilly incident recently when I started reading Ahmadou Kourama’s haunting novel Allah is Not Obliged. Its obscenely loquacious central character, Birihima, an ex-child fighter who has seen service in the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, happily describes himself as 'rude as a goat’s beard', and given to swearing 'like a bastard'.

He continues: 'I don’t give two fucks about village custom any more, 'cos I’ve been in Liberia and killed lots of guys with an AK-47 (we called it a ‘kalash’) and got fucked-up on kanif [cannabis] and lots of hard drugs.' He is now, he says, stalked by 'the ghosts of many innocent people I killed'. This is not 'an edifying spectacle'.

The novel was first published in France in 2000. Its Ivorian author died three years later. It was a huge success in France, but its English edition, published by William Heinemann last year got a few respectable mentions and then was quickly forgotten.

The novel’s liberal and somewhat foolish use of the word ‘nigger’ was probably too off-putting. Doubtless it makes the story – a powerful psychological exploration of the terrible phenomenon of child soldiery – less exalted for a reader of the English translation than it actually is.

The narrator says at the outset in the novel that 'the full, final and completely complete title of my bullshit story is Allah is not obliged to be fair about all things he does on earth.' It is an insight of sort, capturing the kind of cynicism that has, until recently, surrounded the phenomenon of child soldiery.

The use of children in armed combat is probably as old as warfare itself. It has never been limited to irregular armies. Even Clauswitz, the great theoretician of conventional warfare, joined the Prussian army at age 13. There were hundreds of thousands of children in all the major armies that fought the two world wars.

After much foot-dragging, in 1989 193 countries signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which sets 15 years as the minimum age for recruitment into armed forces.

Incidentally the US (and Somalia, no doubt because it didn’t have a government) signed, but refused to ratify the convention. The convention was largely ignored even by those who signed it There was no legal instrument to enforce it.

In the 1980s Renamo, a uniquely brutal (and mercenary) rebel group in Mozambique, which anticipated Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in the use of amputations as a war tactic, had made widespread recruitment of children into its militia (also anticipating the RUF) a core part of its insurgency.

Other African rebel groups, also markedly mercenary, followed this pattern. The spectacle of drug-addled children armed with AK 47 rifles and gamely inflicting terror against defenceless civilians became a ubiquitous part of African warfare: a metaphor for the continent’s underdevelopment and mindless brutality.

After an intense campaign – led by Graca Machel, the Mozambican wife of Nelson Mandela, with the active support of then Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy – against this appalling new reality, the UN Security Council in 2000 passed the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, which made no distinction between formal militaries and non-state militias, and which defined the recruitment of children under 18 (instead of 15) years of age as a war crime.

Since then, UN-sponsored war crimes trials, like the one in Sierra Leone, have included recruitment of children into armed groups as a crime against humanity.

As I write, however, it is estimated that 300,000 children are serving in various armies or militia groups around the world. During Sierra Leone’s war, the RUF would have its child recruits branded with red-hot bayonets: the figures R-U-F were literally carved on their body, making defection – because RUF fighters caught by government troops and sometimes by civilians were often summarily executed – almost impossible. These children – hysterical, flagellant, and immensely lethal – would then roam the countryside, destroying every living thing they encounter.

Shortly before the Optional Protocol was issued, I attended a conference about child soldiers, organised by Axworthy in the Canadian city of Winnipeg in 2000.

In one of the sessions, I attempted to make a distinction between children kidnapped and inducted into militias (like the RUF did) and those who, orphaned and left homeless by the terror campaigns of insurgents voluntarily join armies or pro-government forces, finding for themselves a home and some kind of security.

The Liberian activist/politician Conmany Wesseh, who was actively engaged with the problem in West Africa, took me aside and remarked: 'This issue does not admit of such a fine distinction. Recruitment of children into any armed group is bad, full stop. You provide a loophole for all kinds of opportunists by fudging: what moral and professional difference is there between some armies and all these rebel groups?' His point was unanswerable, and I kept quiet about the issue henceforth.

Ishmael Beah’s phenomenally successful A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007) makes this same point in another way. Though his pained but fluent account does not exactly resolve the central dilemma.

Beah served as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone army during the country’s decade-long war. His book, which recounts his traumatic experiences during the period, has been on the top of the New York Times bestseller list for several weeks now, and it is being offered by Starbucks in its thousands of coffee shops in North America. It has been a sensation.

While reading my copy on the plane during the short flight from Chicago to New York City recently, a handsome teenage girl leaned over my seat. Giggling, she asked me whether I found it interesting. 'I heard him [Beah] speak yesterday and I bought a copy there and then', she said. 'I am so excited about it!'

It was the most unalloyed compliment that can be made of a recently-released book, pure in its curiosity and innocence. It almost made me – someone who has also written about the war of which Beah’s memoir is concerned – green with envy. I found Beah’s astonishing story both unsettling and hugely satisfying: the author, who is now 27, emerges as a highly intelligent young man with remarkable literary flair. But his account has obvious flaws.

Beah was just ten when the war in Sierra Leone started. He was attending school in a village in southern Sierra Leone, which became one of the key theatres of the bloody conflict. At that age, he had already read Shakespeare. He could quote passages from Julius Caesar from memory. He had also become interested in American hip hop.

The book is a sustained study in such contrasts: high culture versus low, a Shakespeare-loving teenager committing barbarous atrocities, frightened civilians versus red-eyed murderers, a friendly people versus brutal politics, demented cruelty versus pure kindness, poverty-stricken Sierra Leone versus affluent New York.

It is soon clear that the book is aimed, first and last, at an American readership. No problem with that: for Beah tells us early on that he intends to address the curiosity of his former schoolmates who had always suspected that he was not telling them all about his past.

This past, therefore, comes to include his memory of some 'nice summer days' in Sierra Leone – the torrential rains in the country, which should surely form one of the most vivid of experiences for a barefoot straggler in the bush there, is barely mentioned (and when mentioned only perfunctorily).

Hip Hop is evoked throughout – and why not? It can be readily associated with gun violence and drugs in America, core aspects of Beah’s experience as a boy soldier. One should not quibble too much here, even when Beah calls Yele 'a big village with more than ten houses' – it is actually a small town with over a hundred houses.

The area that Beah lived in, somewhere in Moyamba District in southern Sierra Leone, was largely unaffected by the war in its early stages. But then rebels – aided by rogue government troops – attacked the Sierra Leone Rutile Mines, where Beah’s father worked, in 1994.

They killed some of the people, apparently including Beah’s parents, and kidnapped some European ex-patriate workers and Sierra Leonean senior staff.

Beah was then living in a village not far away, and soon his village was also attacked. He fled with a few friends. Then he began a traumatic trek through the bush to virtually nowhere.

Beah devotes a lot of space to this depressing bush trek – the night spent in the forest living bare, grim encounters with the rebels in some places, the death and destruction they encountered along the way, the occasional kindness he and his friends got along the way, the more general fear that people they met had for child stragglers who could well have been rebels, the debilitating hunger and near-collapse into insanity – about three times more space, in fact, than for his actual experience as a child fighter.

The intention is plain. Without this background, without knowledge of the hopelessness of Beah’s situation, one would be far less prepared for this:

'My face, my hands, my shirt and gun were covered with blood. I raised my gun and pulled the trigger, and I killed a man. Suddenly, as if someone was shooting them inside my brain, all the massacres I had seen since the day I was touched by war began flashing in my head. Every time I stopped shooting to change magazines and saw my two young lifeless friends, I angrily pointed my gun into the swamp and killed more people. I shot everything that moved, until we were ordered to retreat because we needed another strategy.'

Beah is describing his first real battle with the rebels after his recruitment into a contingent of Sierra Leone Army by an officer who, like Beah, would quote Shakespeare for fun. The recruitment, unlike those into the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), was not coerced. But it was not voluntary either.

It was also ad hoc: the new recruits were not registered as government soldiers, and were not paid. They accounted only to the officer, acting on his own whim, who had recruited them.

After the months trekking in the bush, the starving young boys having completely run down to seeds, Beah and his friends really had no choice when, after spending some days in the village where the army had occupied in some comfort, they along with everyone else in the village were asked to help defend the village from the rebels who had started mounting attacks against it. Two of Beah’s very young friends were killed at the first encounter with the rebels. A line had been crossed. Beah becomes a killing machine. He tells us:

'I grabbed [a] man’s head and slit his throat in one fluid motion. His Adam’s apple made way for the sharp knife, and I turned the bayonet on its zigzag edge as I brought it out.'

All this may be true, but what one remembers about one’s past is always a choice – a choice partly conditioned by what one feels one’s audience expects. It is hard not to feel, on reading this, that Beah is keen on playing to all those voyeurs after adolescent terror and mindless African violence.

This may be a curious judgment, but one thinks that Beah is perhaps guilty of a chilling excess of candour. Killing people becomes a way of life, an obligation: in war you have to kill to remain alive. The lieutenant who recruited Beah tells him: 'Visualise the enemy, the rebels who killed your parents, your family, and those who are responsible for everything that has happened to you.'

He would add: '...[the rebels] have lost everything that makes them human. They do not deserve to live. That is why we must kill every single one of them…It is the highest service you can perform for your country.'

Beah takes the message to heart – so much so in fact that he is made an officer, having command over his own troop of child fighters. W.H Auden’s famous poem, 'September 1, 1939', about that 'low dishonest decade' of 'darkened lands of the earth' comes readily to mind:

I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return

It was terribly traumatic for Beah, all the same. For months after his rescue from this murderous life by the UN and an NGO dedicated to rehabilitating ex-child soldiers, he suffered from nightmares and frequent bouts of migraine (the side effects of the heavy drugs they fed on daily).

The rehabilitation turns out to be far more difficult than his induction into the army, and there were moments of extreme violence – fights broke out between child soldiers who had served with the Sierra Leone and those who had fought with the RUF, leading to loss of lives.

On arriving at the camp, Beah encounters another ex-child soldier who looked to him like a RUF rebel. Beah, who had hidden a grenade in his pocket, took it, and the boy pulled out a bayonet. Beah asked who the boy was. 'We are from Kono district', the boy replied. 'Ah, the diamond district!', Alhaji, Beah’s friend, responds.

Finally the boy says: 'I fought for the army. The rebels burned my village and killed my parents, and you look like one of them'. A deadly fight was averted. It is a telling moment, but quickly Beah relates another encounter which seems to make another, more profound point. He and his other friend, Mambu, accost another ex-child soldier who looks different in appearance. 'What kind of army person wears civilian clothes?' Mambu asks of the boy. The boy responds: 'We fought for the RUF; the army is the enemy. We fought for freedom, and the army killed my family and destroyed my village.' A nasty fight breaks out immediately, and several people are killed.

It does not really matter, in other words, on what side one fought during the war: all sides had reasonable claims to have been wronged: all the armed groups in the country committed atrocities, and all should be held to account on the same level. There is no difference, this incident seems to suggest, in the methodology of recruitment and induction into the various fighting forces. The problem is that this is not true, and it is clear from Beah’s account overall that this point is absurd: it looks like a sop to the campaigners against child soldiery.

It is a noble campaign, but as I said at the Winnipeg conference, there was a marked difference in how the RUF recruited its child fighters and how the army and the Civil Defence Force (CDF) did. The end result may have been pretty much the same, but I doubt whether any official – UN or NGO – could have ventured in a RUF camp (as they did to many army and CDF camps, including Beah’s) to take away child soldiers for rehabilitation camps. The RUF fighters in the rehabilitation camps were, before the war ended, very few, and they certainly were not handed over by their commanders.

Beah’s book does not provide a history of the war or the background to the conflict. Its singular value is that it gives an insight into the thinking of the child soldiers, and it shows – in the subsequent career of Beah – that rehabilitation is eminently possible.

Beah left Sierra Leone after a bloody in 1997 coup. He had earlier acted as a spokesman at a UN conference in New York on child soldiery. He returned to New York and was adopted by an American woman he had met during his first visit. There he attends college, earns a degree, and has now provided us this valuable memoir. For this reason alone, the book deserves the recognition it has been accorded.

* Lansana Gberie is a writer and journalist from Sierra Leone. He is the author of A Dirty War in West Africa: The RUF and the Destruction of Sierra Leone (Indiana University Press 2006).


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

SMS election monitoring from Nigeria

Network of Mobile Election Monitors

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/41423

The Election Monitoring Report compiled by the Network of Mobile Election Monitors (NMEM) on the Nigerian presidential elections held on 21 April 2007.


Introduction
The idea of using mobile phones to monitor elections was developed by NMEM. We are proud to announce to the world that is was extremely successful. We also recommend that other organisations and countries study our project, and plan to use it in their own future elections.

The primary goal of the project was to use technology to give the ordinary citizen an opportunity to tell the world what really happened in their area on election day.

The spread and reach of mobile telephony in Nigeria is mind boggling: in the last four years more than 30,000,000 Nigerians have become mobile phone users.

Traditionally Eeection observers and monitors deemed credible are often foreign diplomats, bureaucrats and professionals who are sent to visit as many polling stations as they can and inform the world of their impression of the polls.

Their effectiveness is limited to the number of places they can visit in a just one day: in a country as vast as Nigeria with a land mass of 925,000 square kilometres and a population of 140,000,000; without maps or road signs to use in navigation, these foreign observers often limit their activities to Abuja, the capital, Lagos and a few major state capitals. Places like the Niger Delta with its reputation for violence and kidnapping of foreigners are no-go areas.

Most election observers especially in Africa are very conspicuous with their UN or EU branded 4-wheel drive jeeps, 'branded' t-shirts with 'observers' boldly printed on it and large ID tags around their necks.

This is often necessary for security reasons which allows them to move around freely on election day where movement is often restricted. This, however, reduces their effectiveness as people are prone to act properly when they know they are being watched, especially by foreigners.

This is why we decided to use ordinary citizens of Nigeria, all voters themselves to report back to our SMS hub on what really happened on election day from their own polling stations.

The use of ordinary Nigerians to observe and report on the election, we believe, encourages participation by people that would be apathetic as well as provide timely, accurate and impartial information on the conduct of the elections.

It is ultimately the same ordinary citizens who validate the credibility and legitimacy of the eventual electoral outcome. Our monitoring is peculiar because people knew that if they try to rig the election there could be someone behind them that may send a text message reporting the incident.

The network, and how it works
The Network of Mobile Election Monitors (NMEM) is organised by the Human Emancipation Lead Project (HELP) Foundation. With the assistance of Professionals for Humanity (PROFOH), another Nigerian NGO, the network started out with 54 associates resident in each of the 36 states of the country, and Abuja.

These associates were trained to recruit volunteers from their states and instruct them to forward our SMS text invitation to as many people as possible to create a nationwide spread.

Technology
The technology behind this project was made possible using a SMS hub called FrontlineSMS, developed by kiwanja.net, to keep track of all of the texts.

The system allows mass-messaging to mobile phones and crucially the ability for recipients to reply to a central computer.

Thanks to the system we could acknowledge receipt of the text (SMS) and even make specific enquiry to individual volunteers and associates in any area to confirm the authenticity of reports received.

The software also was able to alert us when a report came in from our associates or hitherto unknown volunteer allowing us to rank the accuracy of the information received.

Although the software performed brilliantly we would have loved it to have the ability to make allowance for multimedia service (MMS) as a few of our associates took pictures on camera phones and could only forward them to us via the internet.

Election Day
Election day started out for the technical support staff at 8:30am. Our first task was to send a reminder SMS alert to our associates urging them to personally go to their designated polling stations and to file their report by 12 noon.

The first SMS (text) report to come through the network was on the eve of the presidential election at 11:06pm, alerting NMEM of skirmishes between soldiers of the Nigerian army and unknown militants around government house Yenengoa, Bayelsa state.

The first positive reports started to arrive at 2pm with reports of calm and orderliness in Ibiono Ibom L.G.A in Akwa Ibom State, and also from Kano GRA, Kano state.

From then on, we were flooded with reports from Nigerians who reported as events unfold during the election.The observations below represent a mix of text messages sent in by respondent:

Calm and orderliness; Late arrival of polling materials; Absence of names of registered voters on official voter lists; Early arrival INEC officials and members of the Civil Defense Corp; Voting without proper documents and identification; Extension of voting hours to augment for late opening; Absence of polling booths for voters confidentiality; Stuffing of ballot boxes; Casting away of voting materials; Poor voter turnout; Harassment and intimidation of voters; Ill-equipped security personnel.

Our analysis indicates that extensive fraud and rigging were perpetrated by participating political parties in their areas of control. In total over 10,000 messages were received into the SMS hub.

Observer feedback
The need to readily communicate with the Nigerian electorate was the prime motivation in choosing text messaging as the communications method for our work.

Following the announcement of the presidential election result on Monday the 23 April 2007, text messages were sent out to our respondent asking for their reaction on the acceptability of the result and the president-elect.

While about a fifth of our respondents wanted the results cancelled, the majority, about 80 per cent, reacted that Nigeria could not afford cancellation and re-run. Rather Nigerians want those who are aggrieved to seek peaceful redress at the election tribunals.

Curiously, some of the respondents that reported electoral fraud in their locations believe that the President-elect should be given a chance. One message, which was typical of a number we received, indicated:

'Gov.Yar Adua is generally acceptable as President mainly because of his lack of military antecedence, relative record of transparency as Governor of Katina State and the calibre of opposition he had.'

It is our belief that with adequate funding we can educate and inform the public to take part in exit polls at future elections. Due to inadequate funding we were unable to have our associates follow up at the ward collation center, or Local Government Areas and INEC state offices, where the tallies were added up. Most of our observations were limited to the polling stations.

Sample text messages - below are a few selected messages received from our observers:

'At ward 4 and 5 of Calabar Municipality materials arrived at about 9:45am. Voting started by 10am prompt. All the security agencies and party representatives were all present and voting was conducted orderly though the electorate turn out was low.'

'Almost all result sheets diverted by PDP stalwarts and INEC ad-hoc staff on the way to wards polling stations in Nsukka Enugu State.'

'EVERYWHERE IS CALM VOTING IS ON. MOVEMENT IS RESTRICTED FOR EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ELECTION PROCESS.'

'I want to commend the efforts of INEC and for making this election come to pass in the face of every challenge.'

'Dear Mobile Election Monitor team I am sending this text from UK. There is a huge irregularity of voting at Gwande Karfa ward. In Bokkos LGC. TAKE NOTE. NAPHTALI.


Conclusions
The just concluded election and subsequent handing over of power on 29 May will mark the first time in Nigerian history that power has been transfer from one elected president to another.

Our report indicates fraud and other irregularities in the elections, and this has been collaborated by report of foreign and other domestic observers.

However, there were pockets of hope in places where elections where orderly, free and fairly conducted as earlier mentioned in this report. These area needs to be commended for their vigilance and commitment to their civic responsibilities.

We however believe that the wish of the people was honoured and the most popular candidate returned. Though the election was flawed, many Nigerians shared their views with us, and we believe that this practice will greatly assist in determining the legitimacy of this and future elections in this country. We are very happy we helped give the people a voice via text messaging.

Recommendations
The government must make every effort not to be overly partisan in the electoral process. INEC must be made totally autonomous as regards its finances, appointment of its managerial personnel and its powers, and all aspects of the electoral process must be well articulated.

The political parties must be provided with irrevocable standards and timeline to present to their candidates. The judiciary must be sacrosanct about the laws of the land and be sensitive to the integrity of candidates before clearances to run in the elections. The legislator must be pro-active in its monitoring of the electoral process, and the election commission.

The Nigerian people require more sensitization on their civic responsibility, which should not be restricted to election period only Post-election NMEM project NMEM is convinced that elections and good governance are fundamental and sacrosanct in the democratic process. As such the monitoring and evaluation of an elected government by the governed becomes essential to the process.

In developing countries like Nigeria the challenges of the lack of institutionalised agencies to monitor and ensure good governance or its access and optimal engagement by the ordinary citizens is of great concern due to the almost malignancy of the abuse of office by the political elites. Intervention in the democratic process should therefore not wane after elections but become more resolute in the delivery of democratic dividends to the citizenry.

NMEM has started a process which aims to provide Nigerians a platform to express their aspirations, monitor and evaluate the performances of the elected government and the public office holders in the bid to ensuring good governance. NMEM has created templates of enquiry regarding Nigerians aspirations and expectations of the newly elected government and public officers.

Good Governance Monitoring Project
This phase of the NMEM project has two sub-divisions and is being developed to provide Nigerians with the channels to express aspirations and expectation of the incoming government, and engage directly in the assessment of the government and the performance of the public office holders.

The essence of this phase is to check the abuse of public trust
by political office holders. Firstly, NMEM will reach out to Nigerians via the mass media for Nigerians to articulate their aspirations/expectations through SMS to NMEM computer hub. Messages will be catalogued and presented to the political office holders of respective constituencies.

NMEM hopes this will strengthen the already established covenant between the representatives and their constituencies as already contained in their manifestos.

Although NMEM is challenged by the enormity of the project, the project hopes to identify partners who would share in this commendable intervention - to ensure good governance in Nigeria as a model of true democracy to other developing nations of the world.

For further information on the Good Governance Monitoring Project please contact:

Human Emancipation Lead Project
210 Olusegun Obasanjo Way Uyo Akwa Ibom State Nigeria Telephone: +234-8777-8051 Email: helping@gmail.com Acknowledgements We are thankful most especially to Ken Banks of kiwanja.net for providing the technology backbone of our system, and technical assistance, free of charge.

USEFUL LINKS
1. BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6570919.stm
2. kiwanja.net: http://www.kiwanja.net
3. FrontlineSMS: http://www.frontlinesms.com
4. NMEM: http://www.mobilemonitors.org
5. BBC Digital Planet: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4849402.stm BBC NEWS | Technology | Texts monitor Nigerian elections http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi..
1 of 2 03/05/2007 18:57


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

Southern transnationals: The new kids on the block?

Kavaljit Singh

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/41426

Since the 1990s there has been an emergence of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the developing world. Kavaljit Singh assesses the economic and environmental impact on the both the host countries and the outflows between the South-South multinationals.

The mid-1990s witnessed the dramatic emergence of transnational corporations from the developing world.

Although much of the investment by these corporations is concentrated in other developing countries, South-South, they are increasingly investing heavily in developed countries, South-North, as well.

The South-South and South-North FDI (foreign direct investment) flows are growing much faster than the traditional North-South FDI flows.

However, 87 per cent of the total outward FDI flows in 2004 originated from just ten developing countries.

In terms of foreign assets, the majority of top 50 Southern TNCs are headquartered in Asia (32), followed by Latin America (11) and Africa (7, all of them in South Africa).

What is interesting to note is that the increase in FDI outflows is concentrated in many of the same countries that receive the bulk of FDI inflows to developing countries such as China, Brazil, India, South Africa, and Mexico. Outward FDI from China increased from a meagre $400 million in 1980 to $38 billion by the end of 2004.

China is also the second largest investor in Africa, after the US. In the case of India, there were 136 outward investment deals valued at $4.3 billion in 2005. The value of outward foreign investment by Indian firms almost nears the level of inward foreign investment.

With the lifting of international sanctions and the relaxation of capital controls, South African TNCs such as the Anglo American Corporation, De Beers, and SABMiller have become dominant players in the African region. In the words of Graham Mackay, CEO of SABMiller, 'If there was any more of Africa, we would be investing in it. The return on investments here (Africa) has been fantastic.' [1]

The motivations behind cross-border investments by Southern TNCs are not different from others. To a large extent, competition pressures arising from globalisation processes (such as liberalisation of imports and inward FDI) drive Southern corporations to invest abroad.

Like their Northern counterparts, the Southern TNCs are investing abroad to gain access to natural resources, markets, skills, and technology. In some recent cases, acquiring brand names (such as the acquisition of IBM’s personal computer division by China’s Lenovo) seems to be the prime motive.

To a large extent, the expansion of South-South and South-North investment flows reflects the increasing integration of developing countries into the world economy. A number of important factors including regional integration through trade and investment agreements, trade and financial liberalisation, increasing wealth as well as limited market size and resource base at home have encouraged Southern TNCs to invest abroad.

Instead of investing in greenfield projects, however, Southern transnationals are increasingly undertaking investments through acquisitions. Recently announced buyout deals (such as Beijing-based Lenovo’s purchase of IBM’s PC business and the acquisition by Mexican company Cemex of the UK’s RMC) suggest that Southern TNCs are more actively engaged in M&A deals.

The bulk of India’s outward FDI is in the form of mergers and acquisitions, mainly in telecommunications, energy and pharmaceuticals. Even though most of the buyouts by Southern TNCs may still be under the billion dollar range, they portray an increasing outward orientation of big business in the developing world.

According to Joseph Battat and Dilek Aykut of the World Bank, South-South FDI increased from $15 billion in 1995 to $46 billion in 2003, accounting for some 35 per cent of total FDI flows in developing countries [2]. Despite their small size, South-South FDI flows are significant to many poor countries such as Lesotho, Mongolia, and Nepal. As far as South-North FDI flows are concerned, OECD countries received $16 billion of FDI in 2001, up from a mere $1 billion in 1995.

The bulk of South-South FDI flows are regional. For instance, nearly two-thirds of FDI into China originates in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Similarly, transnational corporations from Chile, Brazil, and Argentina operate largely in the Latin American region. Russian investments abroad have primarily been in the countries of the former Soviet Union while South African investments are almost completely located in Southern Africa.

In addition, the majority of South-South FDI flows are concentrated in the infrastructure and extractive sectors such as oil and gas. It is mainly state-owned corporations that dominate investments in these sectors. State-owned oil companies from China and India are rapidly acquiring oil and gas fields in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, and Latin America. For instance, almost half of China’s outward FDI went to acquire natural resource projects in Latin America in 2004. Similarly, India’s state-owned firm, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, invested heavily in oil and gas fields in the Russian Federation and Angola.

Given that state-owned corporations are a significant source of South-South FDI flows (particularly in extractive industries and infrastructure), such investments may be driven not only by economic but also by political, strategic and diplomatic factors. The billions of dollars worth of investment by China in Africa is a case in point. The Chinese companies are involved in the building of oil refineries, dams, roads, and big infrastructure projects in several African countries including Sudan, Liberia, Angola, Chad, and Central African Republic.

However, China’s investments in Africa are not purely driven by economic factors. To some extent, such big investments also help China in earning international goodwill and securing political support for its own agenda, particularly to isolate Taiwan diplomatically (out of total 26 countries that have full diplomatic relations with Taiwan, seven belong to Africa).

It is interesting to note that outward investments by Southern TNCs are also supported by their respective governments through removal of capital controls, fiscal incentives, and investment protection measures. China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore have created special mechanisms to provide preferential treatment and insurance against risks through credit guarantees schemes.

For instance, the Chinese government adopted a policy ('Go Global') in 2000 to encourage its firms to invest abroad. China’s Export-Import Bank provides loans to firms for outward investments in resource development and infrastructure.

If the investment is undertaken in an aid-recipient country, Chinese firms also receive preferential loans. Fiscal incentives are also provided to firms which bring machinery, plant, and equipment to their overseas ventures.

Some regional arrangements, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), also provide various incentives (including lower tax and tariff rates) for outward investment within the regions. Apart from fiscal and financial support, bilateral investment treaties and double taxation treaties between developing countries are growing.

To secure access to strategic assets, some Southern TNCs have also invested in developed countries such as Australia and Canada. In addition to the extractive and infrastructure sectors, there are also a few cases of large-scale South-North investments involving M&As (mergers & acquisitions). In particular, Chinese corporations have been active in acquiring several well-known consumer brand names, such as Thompson, RCA, and IBM.

Interestingly, tax havens are favorite destinations for many Southern TNCs as they are for Northern TNCs. The Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Cyprus are the main destinations for Brazilian, Indian, and Russian outward FDI. Hong Kong plays an important role for the overseas expansion of Chinese corporations.

However, it needs to be emphasised here that some South-North investment deals have been subjected to intense political backlash in Northern countries. Several recent cross-border investment bids by Southern TNCs (for instance, the proposal by a Chinese company, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to take over US oil company, Unocal) reflect growing unease among policy makers in the North.

Given the fact that most developing countries are usually capital importers, the rise of Southern TNCs poses new policy dilemmas. The policy makers in the developing world are increasingly finding it difficult to strike a balance between the country’s interest as a host country and its newly-found interests as a home country.

How should the new and growing phenomenon of outward FDI from the South be assessed? Are South-South FDI flows favorable to the host economy? Are the strategies and behaviors of Southern TNCs different from their Northern counterparts? Do Southern TNCs maintain better transparency, environmental, and labor standards than their Northern counterparts? What are the developmental impacts of investments by Southern TNCs? Who benefits from South-South investments? Who loses? Should South-South investment be promoted as an alternative to North-South investment flows?

Unfortunately, the answers to such pertinent questions are hampered by the lack of in-depth studies and reliable data on South-South and South-North FDI flows. Despite such information gaps, one thing is certain: this new and growing phenomenon is going to play an important role in the global economy in the coming years.

Notes:

1. Remarks made by Graham Mackay at Africa Economic Summit 2005, Cape Town, June 1-3, 2005.

2. Joseph Battat and Dilek Aykut, “Southern Multinationals: A Growing Phenomenon,” note prepared for the conference, Southern Multinationals: A Rising Force in the World Economy, Mumbai, November 9-10, 2005.

* Kavaljit Singh is Director of Public Interest Research Centre, a policy research institute, based in New Delhi. He is the author of widely published books, Questioning Globalization (Zed Books, 2005), Taming Global Financial Flows (Zed Books, 2000), and The Globalization of Finance: A Citizen's Guide (Zed Books, 1998). His previous publications on foreign investment include The Reality of Foreign Investments (Madhyam Books, 1997) and TNCs and India (with Jed Greer, PIRG, 1995).

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

Wolfowitz and the hypocrisy of the West

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/41451

When Paul Wolfowitz was nominated by Bush to become the president of the World Bank there was a lot of anger and opposition from both development lobbyists and economists.


What is a Wolf doing in a bank that was supposed to be ‘helping’ poorer countries of the world? What is a war-mongerer with blood of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis dripping from every pore doing in a development bank?

A man who believed in destruction as a policy of subjugation was put in charge of reconstruction of global economy.

But the appointment was not surprising. It was typical of the 'I don’t care' attitude of Bush and his fundamentalist clique. They do not give a damn about the rest of the world, not even to their allies. Before the Wolf was sent to the bank, another hawk had been sent to the UN. Do you remember Bolton? He was made US representative to the UN, an organisation he held in deepest contempt and was determined to destroy.

For Bush, might is right. The rest of the world can go hang if they cannot put up with him.

The appointment of Wolfowitz showed yet again the undemocratic power relations in most of the so-called global institutions. In theory, the IMF, World Bank, WTO and UN are global institutions to which we all belong. They are meant to serve all the members. But in reality they are controlled by powerful countries, predominantly Western Europe and the US.

In the case of the IMF and World Bank the convention is that the Europeans get to nominate who heads the former; and their American cousins choose the latter. Despite the fact that many of the European countries were politically and ideologically hostile to The Wolf they had to put up with him.

In spite of raving noises and lobbying from their INGOs, asking them to veto the appointment, they simply wrung their hands because they did not want to lose their entrenched and privileged hold of to the IMF position.

The same unprincipled lack of transparency has bedevilled UN reforms. Europe and America hold undemocratic sway in the UN security council. They are unwilling to lose or even share bits of it with the vast majority of the world.

However, with Bush in the White House, the Europeans have developed a perfect ‘blame Bush' default as a foil for their own lack of commitment to a fundamental reform of these global institutions. Self-interest is essentially what is holding them back. But they blame an uncooperative, unilateralist White House.

So despite the fact that Europe along with Japan holds majority shares and has majority voting power in the bank, they continue to blame the US for blocking reforms and policies friendlier to the poor.

Wolfowitz’s current travails offer these hypocritical countries another chance to redeem their timid liberal pastures. If Wolfowitz is heading a normal private bank his board would have sacked him by now. Since he is not unwilling to jump, he must be pushed, and very fast.

The suggestion that Wolfowitz has support from African countries or other developing countries is an unoriginal excuse. Since when has the bank listened to these poor countries?

They are saying this because they are not yet sure what the US will do. Wolfowitz has lost the confidence of his colleagues and the trust of the Bank’s customers. So what is the board waiting for? It is about integrity, credibility and legitimacy.

The bank and the IMF have made themselves the apostles of good political and economic governance, lecturing poor countries on good practice, due process and transparency, even when their policies have wrecked whole economies and destroyed many lives. They never accept responsibility because they always claim that their policy prescriptions were correct, and that country A or B did not apply them well!

In the case of Wolfowitz, he arrived with the triumphalist glee of other mass murderers of the people of Baghdad to ‘shock and awe’ the bank. He was particularly determined to ‘root out corruption’ and crossed swords with many of his senior colleagues who found his arrogant style unacceptable.

So his current problems have become music to the ears of most of his colleagues, who had become exasperated with his management style. Like Tony Blair who promised to be ‘whiter than white’, and is now to be remembered for blood of the innocent Iraqis and the stench of running a government that awarded national honours to the highest bidders, Wolfowitz is going down for not practising what he preached.

It will be correct that Wolfowitz is hung out immediately. But his pillow mortgage is just the tip of the iceberg and a symptom of allegedly technocratic global institutions whose officials are not elected, who are mostly unelectable, and not accountable to those they serve. They do not even take responsibility for the consequences of their ideologically driven policies, which hurt the poor and marginalised peoples of the world, whom they claim they are in business to serve.

It is not just the personal hypocrisy of Wolfowitz that is on display, but the hypocrisy of the powers that control these institutions.

* Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is the deputy director of the UN Millennium Campaign in Africa, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He writes this article in his personal capacity as a concerned pan-Africanist.

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

Assulted by Robert Mugabe

Mordecai P Mahlangu

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/41406

To those of you who care about human rights, the rule of law and human decency:

I was one of the lawyers assaulted by Mugabe's thugs in Harare on 8 May 2007.

Our crime: we sought to present to the minister of justice and commissioner of police a petition by Zimbabwe lawyers protesting the unlawful arrest and detention of two of our colleagues, and the defiance by the police of court orders requiring their release and declaring their arrest and detention unlawful.

We assembled outside our high court. Before we could exercise our constitutional right, we were ordered by a senior police officer to disperse - or else. We sought to comply. As we were trooping away some of the police thugs in plain clothes said we were moving too slowly and in the wrong direction.

In actual fact we were going to our offices. They then set upon us with rubber truncheons and baton sticks. I tried to assist one of the female lawyers as she was close to being hit. For my chivalry, I was singled out.

I was hit twice on the head and back, and four times on my arms by a female who seemed to relish assaulting an unarmed defenceless lawyer. I ended up with a swollen head and badly bruised and marked arms and back.

Other of my legal colleagues were hit in varying degrees. The president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe Mrs Beatrice Mtetwa was arrested with three others, driven away in an open truck, and assaulted severely. She needed medical attention. By comparison, I probably got off lightly though I am still in pain.

None of us were charged with any offence, for we committed none. All we wanted was to assert the rule of law and persuade the Mugabe regime to respect laws and the rights of citizens.

For our efforts we were violated and humiliated. But we cannot give up on our country. We cannot yield to a despot or succumb to this lawlessness. While we do not plan to be martyrs, we will nevertheless stand for what is right.

For all its brutality, the government of Mugabe and its instruments of oppression have lost the battle of ideas and values. They rely on brute force to assert themselves. In the long term this is not sustainable, as history amply demonstrates.

Some of you may ask: how can we help? Well I have no great ideas in this regard. The least you can do is pray for the people of this land and for good to triumph over evil. You may also also document these atrocities so that those responsible may know that they will one day be required to account for their misdeeds. You may assure us you care about our battles.

I suspect that I might get into trouble for this email. But others in my country have made greater sacrifices than any I have so far contemplated.

Regards and many thanks for reading this.

Call for contributions for Pambazuka's Culture and Arts section

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/41453

Pambazuka News invites submissions of poetry, and literature, film and music reviews for our Culture and Arts section. Please send submissions to: pambazukaeditor@gmail.com with the subject 'SUBMISSSION' in capitals.

Call for poetry

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/41400

Call for poetry for the journal Agenda's 20th anniversary edition Poetry about women, their lives, successes, struggles and rights in all sectors of society is welcomed.

Length of poetry contributions:
Poems to fit a full page of the Agenda journal (19cm x 24cm)

Deadline: 27 May 2007

Submission requirements:
All submissions must be emailed to editor@agenda.org.za.All

Music: Henry Olonga: The right to demonstrate

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/41452

Zimbabwe born singer song writer Thabani and The Thabani band are releasing their song 'Right 2 demonstrate' on Ditto Music featuring Henry Olonga, former cricketer and political activist who famously wore a black armband demonstrating the death of Zimbabwe.

The musicians have teamed up with UK based Zimbabwean Charity Wezimbabwe to help raise funds for Human Rights Defenders working with women activists, students movements and children's rights.

'Right 2 demonstrate' is an emotive song which demands the right for people to speak their minds in a free democratic society, striking at the heart of Robert Mugabe's violent government which has been stopping people peacefully demonstrating by issuing savage beatings before a disbelieving world.

Pre-order the single today and help the single break into the official UK top 40!! Our goal is to reach 7500 downloads in order to raise £10,000.

The release date is 3 June. But by pre-ordering you raise the profile of the record and its charitable cause and help to get it into the charts. Every penny from the sale will go to organisations who work with groups in Zimbabwe to help rebuild their lives. Please help us today by downloading today.


http://www.wippit.com/Thabani
http://www.easymusic.com/Thabani

Zimbabwe: Poetry submissions

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/41403

This is a call for poetry reflecting on experiences in Zimbabwe, past and present. Poets must also reflect on the spirit of this country's people through words that survive and vibrate.

For further information: write to Tinashe Mushakavanhu: tinashem@mazwi.net

Review of African blogs

Sokari Ekine

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/41421

Pius Adesanmi of The Zeleza Post writes an open letter to France’s new president, Sarkozy with particular reference to the commonalities i.e. both share 'common roots in immigration'. However unlike Pius, Sarkozy goes to 'inhuman lengths to deny his origin'.

'These differences in our attitudes to our mutual roots in the third world notwithstanding, I am saying that we understand each other not because as Minister of the Interior, you rampaged and hounded Arab and Black African immigrants with unequaled inhumanity; not because you abused them from the roof tops; not because you are one of the most hated “westerners” in the communities of dregs from the global south who litter the beautiful metropoles you are trying to keep spick and span; we understand each other because you are one of us! We understand each other because, every time you see your Dad or your brothers and sisters, the mirror shows you the immigrants you just hounded off the streets of Paris for the day. Your visceral hatred of the very conditions of your own emergence is not something we should discuss here.'

Pius goes on to warn Sarkozy not to get ahead of himself over the congratulatory messages from various right wing leaders and politicians around the world and end up a poodle of George Bush. Because unlike Sarkozy’s France – in the US you cannot go around calling

'predominantly hopeless Arab and Black African youths “racaille” (scum), no problem! Since race, racism, and discrimination are not allowed to exist in the République, no one can be injured! Call Azouz Begag, novelist, public intellectual of Algerian origin, and until recently your fellow minister, a “sale connard” (stupid idiot), no problem! There is no discrimination in the République. Call Africans moving to France “toute la misere du monde” (all the world’s misery), no problem. There can be no injury. Call gays and lesbians names that my North American context of political correctness won’t allow me to repeat here, no problem. There can be no harm done on account of things that do not exist. Call Arabs dirty people who keep “moutons dans la baignoire” (sheep in the bath tub), no problem. Again there can be no injury.'


Cairo Freeze posts a cartoon showing Sarkozy’s support for Israel.

Africa Media reports on a study that says African women are portrayed more positively in the magazine Marie Claire. However AM writes:

'Despite certain positive images, the study confirms that the magazine does include some stereotypical portraits of suffering of African women. In addition, the magazine also infrequently includes coverage of visits to the continent by movie stars such as Drew Barrymore who sobs over the horrors of Africa. (What, she couldn't find a baby to take home as a souvenir?)'

The full report will be published later this month but it sounds more of the same sobs over the horrors of Africa.

Timbuktu Chronicles has report on the construction of a wind pump in rural Kenya made from “old bicycle parts and roofing materials” which is being used to power the water supply from wells.

'Evidence suggests that in rural development, initiatives often take a stronger root when they have been “discovered” locally, rather than introduced from elsewhere. That shouldn’t mean an end to the propagation of sustainable technologies, but it does perhaps suggest that stimulating people to solve their own problems may lead to more lasting solutions.'

It also shows what can be done with a creative mind and using recyclable materials, one more thing that the West can learn from Africa.

Kubatana Blogs from Zimbabwe - Bev Clark comments on the cancellation by the Australian cricket team of it’s tour of Zimbabwe. While she supports the boycott she states that other options need to be considered in the light of

'...fact that the US$2 million fine will be going into the coffers of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. Normally one would think that the money would be put to good use, like in the development of facilities and coaching of youngsters like this playing dusty township cricket. But a more likely scenario is that the money will be sucked up by the “chefs” of Zimbabwe cricket for their own misuse. And clearly we don’t want that to happen.'

In addition the Mugabe government has already stated that it feels the boycott is racially motivated as for the first time there is a predominantly African team. Bev suggests that by admitting that sport and politics “can and do mix” the Australians should continue with the tour but instead of the usually fun & hunting do some good whilst in the country such as:

'Maybe individual players can meet with activists who have been abused as a show of support and respect? Or they can visit Harare’s government hospitals and check out the conditions that Zimbabweans seeking medical treatment have to experience. Or they can deliver a petition to the Minister of Sport & Culture asking for the rights of Zimbabweans to be respected.'

The Fishbowl comments on the latest addition to the list of potential ANC presidents in 'The big men roll in'.

'As we near the ANC AGM, the big guns are starting to roll into town. Tokyo Sexwale has officially "announced" his arrival on the presidential nominations board...expect more to follow...Cyril Ramaphosa, paging Cyril Ramaphosa.'

Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen..of Ghana asks why 'Ecowas officals lost their lives' on the Trans West African Highway which is fast becoming the Trans West African road to death.

'In effect, the so-called Trans-West African Highway Network has been comprehensively completed since last week, prompting joys that the ECOWAS link-up is becoming more of a reality.

Sadly, it's coming at a cost, as exemplified by last Thursday's eerie accident that involved two articulators travelling at top speed in opposite directions; the helping of Ghanaian motorists of passengers of an overturned bus (comprising West Africans from Cote d' Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, Nigeria and Togo) resulting in their deaths as the second articulator hit them at top speed (after having lost control). Altogether, seven vehicles were involved in the very sad loss of lives that claimed 40 people.'

Black Star Journal is one of the few bloggers to consistently report on the conflict in Guinea (Conakry)

'Disaffected soldiers in Guinea have erupted in an orgy of rioting and looting in recent weeks…Soldiers claim that wages have been withheld since 1996, when an army mutiny-cum-attempted coup costs hundreds of lives, and wants the re-integration of troops who were sacked after those events…Over the weekend, soldiers went on the rampage in Conakry, causing panic in the capital…The head of state, Gen. Lansana Conté, conceded to the demands of the mutineers by sacking the army chief and the defense minister. But troops continued to run amock.'

This is Zimbabwe on the “colonisation of Zimbabwe” from the British to Gaddafy to the Chinese and now Equatorial Guinea? It is possible I missed something on this one but here it is:

'There is worse to come. A country whose name did not feature in the Zimbabwean press for over twenty five years is now flavour of the year: Equatorial Guinea. We bet 99% of the population would be hard pressed to locate Equatorial Guinea on the map. This little backwater led by a tyrant with impressive credentials in the top ten hit-parade of dictators and mad men is waiting in the wings to become Zimbabwe’s next coloniser. It is fashionable.'

Sudan Reeves writes an open letter to Darfur activists and advocates on China and the 2008 olympic games.

'The full-scale launch of a large, organized campaign to highlight China's complicity in the Darfur genocide appears likely to begin soon. But it's past time to start thinking about how to tap the creative power of students and other Darfur advocates in this critical initiative. Enough of selling green bracelets and writing letters to those who are content with posturing or avoiding the central challenge of the moment: changing the international diplomatic dynamic in ways that will result in deployment of an international peace-support operation to Darfur, one that can provide adequate protection to civilians and humanitarians.

It's time, now, to begin shaming China-demanding that if the Beijing government is going to host the premier international event, the Summer Olympic Games of 2008, they must be responsible international partners. China's slogan for these Olympic Games- 'One world, one dream'-is a ghastly irony, given Beijing's complicity in the Darfur genocide (see the website for China's hosting of the Olympic Games at http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp) The Chinese leadership must understand that if they refuse to use their unrivalled political, economic, and diplomatic leverage with Khartoum to secure access for the force authorized under UN Security Council Resolution 1706, then they will face an extremely vigorous, unrelenting, and omnipresent campaign to shame them over this refusal...'

Ijebuman's Diary More excellent satire from ID. This week it’s 'Naija DemoCrazy for DUMMIES'.

'A friend wanted to know about naija's democracy, so i've decided to do a dummies style tongue-in-cheek explanation of democracy naija style.

According to the 1999 constitution (which is sometimes used as a "guide" and is probably used as a door stopper in the presidential villa) Nigeria is a "democracy" and operates a presidential system of government where there's a true separation of powers (i.e Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary)...'

* Sokari Ekine is online editor of Pambazuka News and author of Black Looks blog (on a recess).

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

Africa: Calls for wider Sino-African Cooperation

2007-05-17

http://www.afrol.com/articles/25425

Delegates began the 42nd annual meetings of the board of governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Shanghai, China, with calls for wider and mutually beneficial cooperation between Africa and China. China is also hosting the 33rd annual meetings of the board of governors of the African Development Fund (ADF). The opening ceremony was graced by Presidents of Cape Verde, Madagascar and Rwanda – Pedro Pires, Marc Ravalomanana and Paul Kagame.

Africa: China not to repeat the West's mistakes in Africa

2007-05-17

http://tinyurl.com/38naa6

As the African Development Bank convenes in Shanghai for its annual meeting, African and international civil society groups call for greater public accountability in China’s relations with Africa. China’s expanding role in Africa may represent a great opportunity for development, but only if China is careful not to repeat the errors that Western powers made in the past.

Africa: China rejects its Africa critics

2007-05-17

http://tinyurl.com/yuq9ce

The Chinese premier has rejected accusations that his country is taking resources from Africa without considering the development of the continent's own industries. Speaking in Shanghai at the opening session of the African Development Bank's annual meeting, Wen Jiabao said China was "sincere" about its commitment to Africa.

Zambia: Chinese mine shut down over air pollution

2007-05-18

http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=14195

Zambia has shut down a Chinese-run mine because of its contribution to air pollution which threatens the health of hundreds of residents of nearby townships, an official said on May 14. Chiman Manufacturing Limited, which mines manganese, was indefinitely closed on May 11 for failing to put in place air pollution control mechanisms, said Justin Mukosa, spokesman of the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ), a statutory regulator.

Nigeria: China launches Nigerian communications satellite

2007-05-18

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2007/05/15/2003360893

China launched a domestically produced communications satellite for Nigeria this week, marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware, Xinhua news agency reported. The launch coincides with the opening of the African Development Bank's annual board meeting in Shanghai this week, reflecting growing African-Chinese ties.

Côte d'Ivoire: China writes off 40% of debt

2007-05-18

http://www.mg.co.za/articledirect.aspx?articleid=308354

The government of Côte d'Ivoire said on Monday that China has written off 40% of the debt it was owed by the West African state, during a visit by the Ivorian foreign minister to the Asian economic giant. The cancelled debt amounted to €18-million and Beijing also extended a new €10-million gift to the country, the Ivorian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Global: Is violence against women on the HIV&AIDS donor agenda?

2007-05-17

http://tinyurl.com/2hop9f

This research report from the Women Won’t Wait Campaign highlights the lack of priority given to tackling gender-based violence against women by the major international HIV funding organisations. The research found that the funding bodies continue to treat violence against women as a supplementary issue rather than as something integral to all aspects of their work on HIV.

Africa: Women’s vital role in Africa’s food crisis

2007-05-17

http://www.igtn.org/pdfs//Report-Women_and_Food_Crisis_Paper300.pdf

Women hold the key to breaking the vicious cycle of ill health, reduced productivity and deepening poverty in Africa. This ActionAid discussion paper lays out some of the key issues in modern food crises and explores some opportunities for engaging women more actively in the quest for more effective answers. The paper also finds that rural women are not only among those most vulnerable to food shortages, but more importantly, they are the driving force behind African agriculture.

Global: Why women leaders rise from ashes of tragedy

Wene Owino

2007-05-17

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143968661

This might sound unpalatable, even harsh, but it is a fact. Ever since Nina Bang (Danish Minister of Education 1924-26) became the world’s first female Cabinet minister, democracy has been hostile to women with ambition for higher political office.Instead, the best ally for such women has been dictatorship, bloodshed and conflict! This is the message driven powerfully home once more by the recent presidential elections in France.

Global: Young Women, Livelihoods and HIV - New report

2007-05-17

http://www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/674_filename_change.pdf

The urgency of addressing the vulnerability of young women and adolescent girls of all backgrounds, but particularly the poor, cannot be over stated. Innovative, far-reaching and rapid responses are needed to impact whole generations so that the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty can be within reach. This new UNFPA/IPPF report sets out to explore the relationship between economic independence, vulnerability to HIV infection, the level of sexual and reproductive health among women and adolescent girls, and gender-based violence.

South Africa: Sexual abuse of schoolgirls rife - report

2007-05-18

http://tinyurl.com/3bdur8

Schoolgirls across the country are sexually abused and harassed almost daily by teachers and schoolboys. This was according to a Human Rights Watch report in 2001 - and in 2007 the situation remains the same. According to a presentation by Danaline Franzman of the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), on behalf of Judith Cohen, teenage girls in different provinces and townships have similar experiences at school.

Angola: 20,000 poor evicted from capital

2007-05-16

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=37735

The Angolan government forcibly evicted 20,000 poor people, including small-scale farmers, and destroyed 3,000 homes between 2002 and 2006 in the capital, Luanda, "to facilitate development and 'beautification' in the public interest". Human Rights Watch, an international lobby group, and SOS Habitat, an Angolan non-governmental organisation that focuses on housing, have published these findings in a report released Tuesday titled '"They pushed down the houses" - Forced evictions and insecure land tenure for Luanda's poor'.

Global: The fatal footprint of cluster munitions on people and communities - new report

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/2vrshj

The vast majority of cluster bomb casualties occur while victims are carrying out their daily livelihood activities, according to Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities. This groundbreaking report by Handicap International documents the lasting economic and social harm these weapons bring upon communities, adversely impacting families for decades to come.

Botswana: Government restricts UN access

2007-05-16

http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=2432

The Botswana government has announced that access to the country for the top UN human rights spokesman for indigenous peoples will be restricted. In an astonishing move, the government has invoked a special clause of the country’s constitution to slam visa restrictions on the UN’s special rapporteur on indigenous peoples, Mexican Rodolfo Stavenhagen.

Global: "Equality at work: Tackling the challenge" - New ILO report

2007-05-17

http://tinyurl.com/ys3tp6

The second Global Report on discrimination under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work examines emerging issues in patterns of workplace discrimination and inequalities and recent policy responses, and outlines the ILO’s experience and achievements to date and the challenges it faces.

Burundi: Armed banditry, sexual violence increasing, says watchdog

2007-05-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72172

Human rights violations, including executions by armed bandits and sexual violence against women and children, have continued in Burundi despite an improvement in the political landscape, a national watchdog has said. At the launch of its annual report, Jean-Marie Vianey Kavumbagu, head of the Burundi human rights group, ITEKA [Ligue Burundaise des Droits de l'Homme], said the inauguration of the government in 2005 should have helped to improve the situation.

Zimbabwe: Open letter to SADC leaders

2007-05-17

http://www.mmegi.bw/2007/May/Monday14/106.php

This letter comes from the children of a small nation called Zimbabwe. We are not as old as you are nor are we as wise as you are. We are only children, poor children for that matter. This we say because we believe we do not have the right to be addressing you, rather it would be more than a privilege if this letter passes through your hands, let alone enter your incoming-mail baskets.

Tunisia: Coastguard patrol saves 35 illegal immigrants

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/35p5ac

Magharebia news reports that a Tunisian coastguard boat rescued 35 illegal African migrants trying to reach Italy from Libya. The rescue operation took place near the coast of Sfax on Friday, when a broken motor caused a small boat carrying sub-Saharan immigrants from Libya towards the Italian island of Lampedusa to drift off course.

Somalia: Displaced trickling back to calm areas

2007-05-16

http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/46448a7b4.html

People displaced by the recent fighting in Mogadishu are trickling back to areas of the Somali capital that were unaffected by the clashes, but UNHCR local staff said the city remains tense. Civilians from areas affected by the fighting, and now reportedly patrolled by Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces and Ethiopian troops, are too scared to go home because they fear being caught in crossfire if fresh clashes erupt.

Somalia: Somalis risk all on voyage to Yemen

2007-05-17

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13290333.htm

Some eke out a living in a dusty shanty town on the edge of Yemen's main port of Aden. Others try crossing into wealthier Gulf Arab states in search of work. The poorest end up in a refugee camp deep in the desert. Fleeing conflict and poverty in their homeland, thousands of Somalis risk their lives to cross the Gulf of Aden each year, crammed into rickety boats in search of a better life.

Southern Africa: The stateless are "life's passengers"

2007-05-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72154

Thousands of children who fled across the border to Zimbabwe during Mozambique's 17-year civil war are stranded in a stateless existence, without access to identity documents and social services in their adopted country. Most Mozambican nationals have settled in northeastern Zimbabwe's Mashonaland Central Province along the border with Mozambique, where they have set up their own homesteads or were adopted by local families.

Global: Code of ethics for refugee legal representation developed

2007-05-17

http://www.amera-uk.org/files/Nairobi%20Code.pdf

With funding from the US Institute for Peace, AMERA (Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance), organized a conference in Nairobi in January this year to promote legal aid for refugees in the global south. At the conference, the participants revised the Charter for membership for a network of such NGOs and law clinics and a professional code of ethics for those representing refugees, the 'Nairobi Code'.

Nigeria: Lawyers boycott courts

2007-05-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/41519

Nigerian lawyers are expected to boycott the courts on 18 May 2007. This was the resolution adopted by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at its meeting of 11 May 2007. The boycott is to register the displeasure of the Association over several irregularities during the elections, which led to effective disenfranchisement of large sections of the electorates at the April 14 and 21 general elections in Nigeria.
Nigerian lawyers are expected to boycott the courts on 18 May 2007. This was the resolution adopted by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) at its meeting of 11 May 2007. The boycott is to register the displeasure of the Association over several irregularities during the elections, which led to effective disenfranchisement of large sections of the electorates at the April 14 and 21 general elections in Nigeria. Based on the said elections, Nigeria can be called a one-party state. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which controls the central government 'won' the elections in majority of the 36 states of the Federation. It also 'won' majority of the seats in the Bi-cameral National Legislature.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the major central labour organisation in the country has rejected an invitation by the Federal Government to participate in a committee to arrange the swearing-in of a new President on 29 May. The Congress has issued threats of mass action to protest the controversial elections as well as demand the implementation of a new salary structure, which is based mainly on 15% increase on basic pay.

Global: Film benefit for Abahlali base Mjondolo

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/41460

Despite the victory against apartheid in South Africa in 1994, millions of people still live in shacks in the townships in South Africa. The Freedom Charter which called for decent housing has been unimplemented. The award winning film "Breyani and The Councillor" made last year shows the struggle for decent housing and jobs in a township in Durban. The residents begin to struggle for justice and are met with repression.
Despite the victory against apartheid in South Africa in 1994, millions of people still live in shacks in the townships in South Africa. The Freedom Charter which called for decent housing has been unimplemented. The award winning film "Breyani and The Councillor" made last year shows the struggle for decent housing and jobs in a township in Durban. The residents begin to struggle for justice and are met with repression.

Twelve years after the fall of apartheid the loyal and patient shack dwellers all over the country are mobilizing against what they perceive to be a new oppression. The shackdwellers movement ­Abahlali base Mjondolo evolved in Durban, a city on the east coast of South Africa. It incorporates various informal shacklands in and around the city. Using the might of their united numbers, Abahlali is mobilizing against slow delivery and relocations planned by Municipal councillors. Their struggle is ongoing. In order to repress this struggle, the government has framed 5 housing activists in Durban and the Durban Kennedy Five Defense Campaign is ongoing. Fazel Khan, one of the directors of the film "Breyani And The Councillor" has been not only an activist around the housing issue but for union and democratic rights and an organizer against privatization at the KwaZulu-Natal University in Durban. As a result of his union leadership with COMSA and community activism he has recently been fired and there is an international defense campaign ongoing. A website in support of Fazel Khan has also been established at http://fazel.shackdwellers.org You can find out more about the housing issue by going to www.abahlali.org For an audio interview about the housing issue go to http://www.pambazuka.org/media/PZ0028.mp3

DETAILS

Durban Kennedy 5 Housing Activist Group & Fired S.A. UKZN Lecturer Fazel Khan Breyani and The Councillor South Africa 2006 (26 min.) By Sally Giles & Fazel Khan Six Percent or Nothing A Video about UKZN¹s 2006 Strike By Giles and Khan.
& Other Labor Videos From South Africa Sunday, May 20, 2007 7:00 PM. 522 Valencia Street/16th St. San Francisco $5.00 Donation (No one turned away due to lack of funds)

Congo: Controversy ahead of legislative elections

2007-05-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72065

Barely two months before legislative elections in the Republic of Congo, a row is raging between the government and opposition over the composition of the electoral commission that will oversee the polls. The national assembly, dominated by members of President Denis Sassou-Nguesso's party, in April adopted a motion stipulating that members of the independent electoral commission be nominated by presidential decree.

Algeria: Political parties bring campaigns to a close

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/23a2bx

The curtain has come down on a two-week election campaign in Algeria, during which candidates in the country’s upcoming legislative elections announced their programmes and attempted to win over voters.

Nigeria: Election aftermath

2007-05-17

http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/nig0705a.php

Militant groups in the Niger Delta have stepped up attacks on oil installations following last month's election. Since the beginning of May, pipelines have been sabotaged and at least 29 foreign oil workers have been kidnapped. A spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) warned that attacks would continued until the government opened a dialogue about restoring the oil wealth to the people in the region.

Africa: Leaders mull idea of continental government

2007-05-17

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=308487

African leaders will meet in Ghana in July to discuss the idea of creating a united government for the continent. This would be a legacy of the dreams of pioneering post-colonial leaders, such as Kwame Nkrumah, and would see current states surrender certain powers to the superior entity.

West Africa: West Africans expect new relationship with France

2007-05-18

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=9465

Wary eyes in French-speaking West Africa are being directed towards France as Nicolas Sarkozy begins his presidency. Babacar Gueye, political science professor at Dakar's Cheikh Anta Diop University, says most Africans were hoping for a different outcome. The May 7 run-off election pitted Sarkozy, a business-oriented conservative with a reformist agenda, against Senegal-born socialist Segolene Royal.

Global: Wolfowitz resigns

2007-05-18

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnBAN822979.html

Paul Wolfowitz resigned as World Bank president, ending turmoil over his leadership, but the next battle loomed for the United States over how and if it should continue to appoint the head of the institution. Wolfowitz's resignation on Thursday, forced by his handling of a high-paying promotion for his companion, takes effect on June 30.

Global: Wolfowitz discusses resignation with WB board

2007-05-17

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-05/17/content_6110661.htm

Besieged World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is negotiating an agreement with the bank board to resign, World Bank sources said on Wednesday. The sources said Wolfowitz, former U.S. deputy defense secretary, insisted that he will resign voluntarily and the bank should share some responsibility for his pay-and-promotion package for Shaha Riza.

Africa: Shoe on the other foot as Africa chides Wolfowitz

2007-05-17

http://www.monitor.upeace.org/innerpg.cfm?id_article=425

The scandal hanging over World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has damaged his ability to preach against corruption in Africa, but Africans say the bank's anti-graft message must remain whether he stays or goes. The bank is due to give its final decision soon on Wolfowitz's future, which is now clouded over a pay and promotion deal he approved for his companion, World Bank Middle East expert Shaha Riza.

Zambia: Government may seize ex-leader's funds in graft case

2007-05-16

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnBAN638793.html

Zambia will seize funds and properties belonging to ex-president Frederick Chiluba and his associates if they fail to pay back $46 million siphoned from the Treasury, a minister said on Wednesday. Chiluba said last week that a British judge's order that he personally return $41 million stolen while he was in office "bordered on racism". Chiluba has denied the charges.

Global: Report on conduct of Wolfowitz

2007-05-17

http://go.worldbank.org/L2HWJP0VY0

The World Bank has made the entire report of this ad hoc group of its Executive Board available online. The report concludes that Mr. Wolfowitz violated World Bank rules and had a de facto conflict of interest when he directed that a salary increase be made to Ms. Riza in excess of those allowed by World Bank organizational policies.

Africa: Making a case for debt relief with no strings attached

Badumile Duma

2007-05-17

http://tinyurl.com/yr7qn8

Although third world debt has long been recognized as a major obstacle to sustainable human development, poor countries are still paying money to rich countries and institutions at great cost to their domestic development. Responding to the gravity of the situation, 16 May 2007, World Debt Day, reminds us of the millions of people living in poverty as a result of unpayable world debt - notwithstanding the fact that poverty increases the power relations between the north and the south.

Angola: Angola records high economic growth

2007-05-17

http://www.afrol.com/articles/25428

Between 2002 and 2006, Angola’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reached 89.6 percent, a General Programme Performance Report approved by the cabinet council reveals. The fourth extra-ordinary cabinet council meeting chaired by the Angolan President, José Eduardo dos Santos, approved the report. And in a statement, the council said agriculture, transforming industry and commercial services recorded unexpected growth – more than what has been planned.

Africa: WTO: Aid-for-Trade and Africa’s Development

2007-05-17

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=78235

Aid-for-Trade (A4T) initiative is a new concept introduced as part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s package to make the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) truly development oriented. Specifically, A4T is aimed at promoting development in low-income countries, especially the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) weak and vulnerable economies, given that these economies cannot profit from increased market access and trade liberalisation without supply-side capacity support in terms of production of goods, improved infrastructure, and enhanced human and institutional capacity.

Africa: ADB concludes meeting in Shanghai

2007-05-17

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-05/17/content_6115382.htm

The African Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday concluded its two-day annual board meetings in Shanghai, boosting Africa-China ties in the process. ADB President Donald Kaberuka hailed the meetings as "a success". He said the discussions on a wide range of issues were constructive and the organization flawless. Around 2,000 people attended the meetings, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, President of Cape Verde Pedro Pires and Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana.

Global: Winners and losers of globalization

2007-05-18

http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/5760

Globalization, widely perceived as the growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide, is a mixed blessing to the world's three billion poverty-stricken people living on less than two dollars a day. There are both winners and losers in globalization, says a new study from the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER), an affiliate of the U.N. University in Tokyo.

Global: Boehringer cuts nevirapine price for developing world

2007-05-16

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/85FD9CD1-7DC2-4614-8D03-28F4CFE7B045.asp

Boehringer-Ingelheim is to cut the price of its antiretroviral drug nevirapine (Viramune) by 50% in low-income countries, the company’s chairman said today. However, the concessionary price offered by Boehringer will still be four times higher than the price offered by Indian generic manufacturers through the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative’s purchasing consortium.

Africa: Study shows no HIV risk increase in pregnant women

2007-05-16

http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/449961F2-B9C0-4CE3-87BE-C4BDBCE56AE0.asp

Pregnancy or breastfeeding do not place women at an increased risk of HIV-1 infection, according to the findings of a prospective study published in the May edition of AIDS. The study recommends that antenatal and postnatal programs must continue to emphasise condom use to protect both mother and baby from HIV infection. A team of US investigators addressed this issue by re-examining the data of a prospective study of hormonal contraception and HIV-1 acquisition in Ugandan and Zimbabwean women.

Central Africa: HIV/AIDS a threat to indigenous forest communities

2007-05-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72155

The indigenous forest people of central Africa have been largely isolated from the rest of the world, but as they become more integrated into mainstream society the risk of sexual exploitation and HIV/AIDS is a growing threat. Central Africa's pygmy populations, numbering a total of 300,000 to 500,000 people, have lived as hunter-gatherers in the forests of Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Republic of Congo (ROC) since time immemorial.

Southern Africa: State-sponsored homophobia spreading HIV

2007-05-17

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72132

The legalisation of same-sex marriages in South Africa in 2006 was expected to speed up the liberation of gays and lesbians in neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe and Namibia, where homosexuality is still illegal, but international and local experts believe the battle for recognition in Africa is far from over.

Ethiopia: Rural HIV - time to wake up and smell the coffee

2007-05-17

http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72178

Like his neighbours in the southern Ethiopian district of Yirgacheffe, Birhanu Gizamu is a smallholder coffee farmer. Unlike the rest of the community, however, he has no hesitation in whipping out a crumpled blue card from the clinic which proclaims his HIV status. "I tested negative," the 42-year-old proudly noted, handing over the card for verification. "I went for [an HIV] test in 2005 after my wife pushed me, so we went together; I'd been in the military before becoming a coffee farmer, so I knew I was at risk."

Zimbabwe: Government schools deserted as 10,000 teachers go AWOL

2007-05-18

http://zimdaily.com/news/117/ARTICLE/1675/2007-05-18.html

The ministry of education in Zimbabwe is panicking amid reports that over 10 000 teachers are missing after going AWOL when government schools opened for the second term last Tuesday. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) revealed to ZimDaily that the situation in the ministry has reached alarming levels and ministry officials were in panic mode after the discovery that thousands of teachers were absent without official leave from their stations since schools opened a week ago.

Liberia: Big boost for Liberian education

2007-05-17

http://www.afrol.com/articles/25427

Liberian authorities have been taking opportunity to provide education to thousands of its children denied by several years of civil war. Chief Executive Officers of RLJ Companies and G-III Apparel Group, Robert L. Johnson and Morris Goldfarb, pumped $100,000 into the Liberian Education Trust this month, a charitable trust created to harness American support for the restoration of basic education in post-civil war Liberia.

Botswana: Rural children's access to books

2007-05-17

http://www.mmegi.bw/2007/May/Monday14/104.php

Children can grow up without ever holding, let alone owning, a colourful illustrated children's book. Years ago Botswana embraced the idea of a "Book Flood" to primary schools through trunks of books and trying to start school libraries. This has helped, but it has not yet turned the tide. The availability of books for pupils to read is only one step in the process of transformation. Molefe, Pansiri and Weeks address availability of reading materials in rural Africa.

Africa: Singer launches school fund

2007-05-17

http://tinyurl.com/2peq5k

Angelique Kidjo, the Afro-pop singer and UN goodwill ambassador, has launched a foundation to pay for girls' education to give them a chance to escape poverty, according to a report by Al-Jazeera. Kidjo, who is from the impoverished nation of Benin, said the Batonga Foundation would grant scholarships to nearly 400 girls completing primary school in five countries

Ghana: Get ready for universal ICT education

2007-05-18

http://developingtelecoms.com/content/view/893/26/

Ghana’s Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Papa Owusu Ankomah, has announced that his country’s government will introduce universal ICT education into Ghana’s core educational system in September. The minister took the opportunity to make the annoncement while opening an ICT training workshop for researchers from both Ghana and neighbouring countries to consider his country’s future policy on ICT. He was able to declare a major change - in the very near future.

Front Line Grants for Human Rights Defenders at risk

2007-05-17

http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/front-line-small-grants-and-fellowships

Grants are given to organisations working for human rights as well as to individual human rights defenders at risk and are for amounts up to a maximum of €6,000. As part of this program, we welcome grant applications for security and protection of LGBT rights defenders.

Africa: Continent pays price for climate change

2007-05-17

http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/news05165.php

Rising temperatures in Africa are blamed for droughts, floods and storms while the continent's fabled wildlife is struggling to adapt to shifting ecosystems that could lead to mass extinctions. Scientists say Africa -- the world's poorest continent -- is already paying a high price for global climate change and must now figure out what it can do itself to slow the transformation.

Kenya: EU funds Mau forest conservation

2007-05-17

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143968693

The European Union (EU) has donated Sh24 million for the conservation and management of Mau forest, Lake Nakuru’s main catchment area. The money was given to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the communities living near the forest as part of KSh430million EU has set aside for development projects across the country.

Africa: African Parliament blames West for environmental mess

2007-05-17

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=308357

Deputies and experts attending the Pan African Parliament on Monday called for Western countries to help reverse the environmental damage to the continent that they had helped create. "This problem is generated by countries in the West," said the African Union Commission's rural development and agriculture commission director Babagana Ahmadu.

Kenya: Green Belt Movement fights deforestation

2007-05-17

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/civilsociety?intcmp=

Kenyan 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement is one of the most prominent women’s civil society organizations, based in Kenya, advocating for human rights and supporting good governance and peaceful democratic change through the protection of the environment.

South Africa: IT companies to declare impact on environment

2007-05-18

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1521

For the first time South Africa's top 40 listed companies, which includes Telkom and MTN, have been asked to make available information on their greenhouse gas emissions and their responses to environment-related business trends by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the secretariat for a grouping of more than 250 institutional investors from around the world with $41-trillion under management.

South Africa: Agrarian reform comes down to earth

2007-05-17

http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/TarkArticle.aspx?ID=2775866

The South African government has a dilemma: it is constitutionally and morally compelled to redress the past injustices of land ownership, but, by its own determination, its agrarian reform programme will fail if it does not also achieve economic success. For that reason, agrarian reform in SA was more than the transfer of land, Deputy Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Dirk du Toit told a media briefing at the start of a tour of land-reform projects near Bloemfontein at the weekend. “We have to ask: Did we contribute to poverty reduction?” he said.

Nigeria: “Highway going to nowhere…”

2007-05-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72151

Daniel Wegwa, elder in the village of Mbodo Aluu says: You ask me what we’ve gotten from all the oil here in Aluu? I tell you: nothing. We know that the pumping station that the oil company has on our land, which they call Agbada 1, pumps 30,000 barrels a day. But the oil company uses our land and gives us nothing for it; and the government gives us nothing either.

Namibia: Giving the land back to the people

2007-05-17

http://www.newera.com.na/page.php?id=2097

Amidst calls from all corners of the political divide to return to the drawing board on the land reform issue, the Namibia Farm Workers Union recently concluded its land conference, entitled ‘Give the Land Back to the People’. This was possibly the first broad-based platform that has dealt exclusively with the land issue since the seminal National Land Conference in 1991 that resulted in the development of policies and legislation to direct the land reform programme adopted by the Government of Namibia.

Kenya: FOI Bill tabled in Parliament

2007-05-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/41528

The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists and the entire Freedom of Information Network celebrates the dawn of an era in Kenya marked by the introduction of the Freedom of Information Bill, 2007 in Parliament Yesterday 17th May 2007 by Hon. Gideon Moi on behalf of Hon. Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o.
THE KENYAN SECTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS

PRESS STATEMENT - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

18TH MAY 2007

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, 2007

The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists and the entire Freedom of Information Network celebrates the dawn of an era in Kenya marked by the introduction of the Freedom of Information Bill, 2007 in Parliament Yesterday 17th May 2007 by Hon. Gideon Moi on behalf of Hon. Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o.

The painstaking efforts of the Freedom of Information Network of drafting and publicizing the Freedom of Information Bill have finally come to fruition through the tabling of the Bill. This has been an on-going campaign since the year 2000 spearheaded by ICJ-Kenya in consultation with various stakeholders, members of the Freedom of Information Network and supported by many Kenyans countrywide. This Ninth Parliament has brought us to the peak of the Right to Know Campaign by embarking on the legislative process.

We are happy to note that even the Government is keenly committed to this cause as evidenced by the publication of the recent Draft Kenya Freedom of Information Bill 2007. Indeed all stakeholders are reading from the same script, the Government, the Media, the Civil Society, the Members of Parliament and all Kenyans of good will. We therefore envisage a smooth passage of the Bill long before elections.

The Published Bill has very progressive provisions and promises to usher in an era of openness, transparency and accountability in Kenya. Enactment of the Freedom of Information of Act will confirm Kenya a leading democracy in Africa, being among the top five countries to have an FOI Law. Only South Africa, Angola and Uganda have access to information regimes.

We are now on the finishing line towards having a Freedom of Information Act in Kenya. The clock is ticking and we urge all members of the Ninth Parliament both in Opposition and Government to rise to the occasion and put the interests of this Great Nation forward by enacting the Freedom of Information Bill, 2007 in its entirety.


GEORGE KEGORO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
gkegoro@icj-kenya.org
Tel: 3875981

Tunisia: Government promises increased media co-operation

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/35prt3

One week after the Association of Tunisian Journalists (AJT) released a report calling for increased access for all media to the nation’s news sources, the Ministry of Communications responded by promising improvements in the media sector.

Somalia: Ambush claims lives of two journalists

2007-05-17

http://www.afrol.com/articles/25424

An ambush on the convoy of a provincial Governor in Somalia claimed the lives of two journalists of the country’s privately-owned Radio Jowhar, Abshir Ali Gabra and Ahmed Hassan. The two journalists were travelling with the Governor of the central province of Middle Shabelle, Mohammed Omar Deele, when the ambush took place.

Somalia: ARTILCE 19 on Somaila's draft media law

2007-05-17

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/83331/

Although the move to normalise the legislative environment for the media in Somalia is welcome, ARTICLE 19 is concerned that the Draft Law strays into areas of regulation and registration that will seriously hinder freedom of expression. Furthermore, ARTICLE 19 believes the proposed law goes well over the top "with strict obligations of accuracy to be enforced through imposition of harsh criminal penalties."

Egypt: Judge asks courts to block 29 additional websites

2007-05-17

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/83327/

Hrinfo has expressed dismay that Egypt's Judge Abdel Fatah Murad has asked the Administrative Judiciary Court to block 29 websites, in addition to the 21 he had previously requested be made inaccessible. The judge amended his original list of websites following a 5 May 2007 investigation of the case by the court, resulting in a total of 50 websites presently vulnerable to closure as a result of the judge's request.

Nigeria: Obasanjo's refusal to sign Freedom of Information law a set-back for West Africa - MFWA

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/media/41494

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is disappointed by the refusal of Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo to sign into Law the Freedom of Information Bill sent to him for assent by the National Assembly last March. We view the President's action as a major set back for West Africa region in the struggle to ensure popular participation in democratic processes.
Press Release



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



President Obasanjo's Refusal to Sign Freedom of Information Law a Set-back for West Africa



ACCRA, GHANA, Wednesday, 9 May 2007: The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is disappointed by the refusal of Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo to sign into Law the Freedom of Information Bill sent to him for assent by the National Assembly last March. We view the President's action as a major set back for West Africa region in the struggle to ensure popular participation in democratic processes.



Governments and civil society organizations in West Africa, particularly in countries such as Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, which have already initiated similar processes to grant their citizens access to public records and documents, had looked to Nigeria for leadership on this issue. It is regrettable that President Obasanjo lost this great opportunity to provide leadership for the rest of the region.



In so doing, he has betrayed his lack of commitment to transparency and accountability in public service and has once again called into question the sincerity of his much touted war against corruption.



President Obasanjo's action has also resulted in Nigeria's failure to meet its regional and international obligations on this issue. Nigeria has an obligation to adopt a legal instrument to give its citizens access to public records and documents under Article 4 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, which was adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2002 and subsequently endorsed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union; Article 9 of the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, adopted by the AU in 2003; as well as under Article 19 of the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted in 1966; the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Principles, adopted in 1999; UN's Principles on Freedom of Information, adopted in 2000; and Articles 10 and 13 of the UN Convention Against Corruption, adopted in 2003.



The MFWA expresses its solidarity with ordinary Nigerians and civil society organizations in the country who have clamoured for this Law over the last eight years. We are confident that their struggles will be rewarded and that the Bill will become Law in the near future.



We commend members of Nigeria's National Assembly for their courageous work on the Freedom of Information Bill so far. We assure them that the international community recognizes their valiant efforts to entrench democracy in Nigeria and uplift the lives of their citizens. We call on the legislators to again demonstrate this courage by invoking their powers under the Nigerian Constitution to countermand the President's vetoing of the Bill. This will put Nigeria on the part of compliance with its international obligations, freely entered into, and enhance the capacity of Nigerian citizens to participate in governance.





Prof. Kwame Karikari

Executive Director

Global: Very British coup for an African francophone

2007-05-17

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2071919,00.html

When a headhunter phoned Tidjane Thiam, then working in Paris, to discuss a job with Britain's biggest insurer, Aviva, he laid down a condition. "I said, 'well, I am very happy to interview. But frankly, you need to tell them that you found someone who is black, African, Francophone and 6ft 4'," he laughs, his mouth shut tightly and his broad shoulders shaking at the recollection.

Somalia: Bomb kills four peacekeepers

2007-05-17

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16622572.htm

A remote-controlled bomb killed four Ugandan peacekeepers and a civilian in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday as Islamist militants followed through on a threat to wage an Iraq-style insurgency. Five peacekeepers and two children were also wounded in the attack on the African Union convoy, which an AU security source said was the first of its kind against the 1,600-strong Ugandan contingent -- who had previously only been shot at.

Africa: New fund to support peacekeepers

2007-05-17

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72169

The African Union (AU) and donors, including the G8 countries, have agreed to set up a fund to support underfunded peacekeeping missions on the continent, officials said. To be funded as part of the AU’s Complementary Peace Facility, it is expected to augment the existing European Union-Africa Peace Facility (EU-APF) and increase resources available for Africa-led peace support operations.

Uganda: Security improved in the north - UN aid chief

2007-05-17

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/WAL563416.htm

The security situation in northern Uganda has improved beyond recognition since peace talks to end 20 years of civil war began last July, the new U.N. aid chief has said. John Holmes is on his first visit to the region ravaged by an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands and driven some 1.7 million more into squalid camps.

Sudan: UN accuses Sudan of 'disproportionate' attacks

2007-05-17

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=308189

The United Nations human rights chief has said recent air raids by Sudanese forces on at least five Darfur villages appeared to be "indiscriminate and disproportionate", and violated international law. The attacks between April 19 and 29 have already been condemned by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, although Khartoum says they never took place.

DRC: UN extends peace force mandate to year-end

2007-05-18

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15411756.htm

The U.N. Security Council has voted to keep its 17,000 peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at least until the end of the year. The 15-nation council unanimously approved a resolution that also called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to submit by mid-November a timetable for the gradual reduction of the force, the largest the United Nations maintains anywhere. The new mandate expires on Dec. 31, 2007.

Ghana: New ICT laws to regulate industry

2007-05-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/41530

Ghana is bringing on board four laws to sanitise the national Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) environment. The bills, which are: The National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Electronic Transactions, Electronic Communications, New Telecommunications Amendment bill have undergone all the legislative rituals awaiting the approval of Cabinet.
Highway Africa News Agency

Ghana is bringing on board four laws to sanitise the national Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) environment.

The bills, which are: The National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Electronic Transactions, Electronic Communications, New Telecommunications Amendment bill have undergone all the legislative rituals awaiting the approval of Cabinet.

The National Communications Authority (NCA) currently regulates the telecommunications industry, but according to the Chief Director Mr Kweku Adarkwah:"The functions of the Authority need to be expanded and institutionally focused to make the sector attractive to all investors."

"It has become necessary to revise the legislation that established the Authority in order to achieve a clear separation of regulation matters and institutional matters, hence the shift in focus," he said.

A memorandum attached to the NCA Bill (2006) says the move has become necessary in view of the development of novel ICT legislation. It would also strengthen the New National Telecommunications policy.

The new Telecommunications Policy (2005) advocates a stronger and transparent NCA that would promote competition, universal access and a more enabling environment to attract investments into ICT.

The NCA bill would empower the Authority to deal with matters, that are purely institutional in nature such as strategic planning, policy implementation, monetary and adherence to the principles of corporate governance.

The Electronic Transaction bill forms part of the e-legislation package, which targets statutory authority for the new national telecommunications policy to provide legal framework for electronic transactions and other processes.

The objective for the drafting of the bill was to facilitate the use of electronic media to speed up government and private businesses in recognition of the need to provide a framework for the preparation, process, storage transmissions and receipt of electronic data in a secure, efficient and trustworthy manner.

The Electronic Communications bill is derived from the e-legislation legal framework for transaction, computer misuse, cyber security, data protection and electronic funds transfer which are the associated features of e-communications.

The bill seeks to regulate electronic communication and broadcasting services in accordance with the national electronic communication and broadcasting policies. It also seeks to regulate and control electronic communication and broadcasting matters in the public interest and to create an independent regulatory environment designed to achieve this objective.

The bill repeals the telecommunications (frequency registration and control) decree, 1977 (SMCD 71), which include services regulations.

NITA, which would operate under the e-transactions bill, (2006) is expected to promote the provision of quality information technology and promote standards of efficiency and ensure a high quality of service.

Provisions under the Electronic Transaction bill include the criminalisation of acts contravening transparency and security, laws of prosecution, provision for domain name registry, the establishment of a registry, its functions, duties, license registrations and a governing body.

It also contains provisions on consumer protection that include cyber offences, inspections, tribunal, industry form, a certifying agency, prohibited acts, e-government services and cyber inspectors.

The e-communications bill also provides for access to spectrum management, testing inspection, and the power to request for information, rural communications services and monitoring, evaluation and tariffs for rural communications.

Kenya: Market gets ready for cheaper bandwidth

2007-05-16

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

The Kenyan Internet market is set for a big change as the players transform their strategies to take advantage of new opportunities. With legal VoIP, they are now no longer looking at just offering Internet access. Once the long-delayed interconnect agreements are sorted out, these newcomers will start making inroads into the voice market. With the arrival of cheaper, plentiful international bandwidth in 2008, those who will flourish in a competitive market will no longer primarily sell bandwidth.

Africa: Kenya hosts pan-African ICT conference

2007-05-17

http://www.afrol.com/articles/25419

The second pan-African conference on ICT for development, education and training is scheduled to take place in the Kenyan capital Nairobi from 28 to 30 May year. It is expected to be graced by over 1,200 delegates from 81 countries around the world. Organised by ICWE GmbH and Hoffmann & Reif in collaboration with the Kenyan government, the annual conference focuses on ICT for development, education and training in Africa.

South Africa: Expo highlights link between education and Digital Freedom

2007-05-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/41531

The Digital Freedom exposition has highlighted the relationship between education and a culture of digital freedom. The South African government spoke of the policy decisions which favour an approach that includes Open Source Software, and attempts to harness the digital revolution. A number of the keynote speakers highlighted areas that digital freedom could enable progress, but there was a resounding agreement that education stands to benefit enormously from digital freedom.
Highway Africa News Agency

The Digital Freedom exposition highlighted the relationship between education and a culture of digital freedom. The South African government spoke of the policy decisions which favour an approach that includes Open Source Software, and attempts to harness the digital revolution.

A number of the keynote speakers highlighted areas that digital freedom could enable progress, but there was a resounding agreement that education stands to benefit enormously from digital freedom.

Derek Keats, executive director of Information and Communication services at the University Western Cape (UWC) outlined the strategy UWC had taken to integrate information technology within campus life, providing capactiy building for students, while engaging with digital culture. Keats highlighted the UWC initiated African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources (AVOIR) project.

The AVOIR project utilises digital technologies to connect groups across Africa, providing common resources and training via it's online portal, and enthusiastic staff. AVOIR has an increasing presence in Africa, with multiple institutions in multiple countries forming partnerships. AVOIR has been operating for 3 years, and is starting to bear fruits, building capacity across the continent, powered by free and open source software.

The Deputy Minister of Education, Mr. Enver Surty discussed the real challenges a digitally supplemented education at primary and secondary level faces in South Africa. Approximately 30% of schools currently use computers for teaching and learning, with only 2% of those schools actually connected to the Internet. The Gauteng province is at the forefront to enable schools to engage in the digital age, but still faces a severe lack of infrastructure. The reality in South Africa is that most schools need to construct solid buildings before they can even consider putting ICT infrastructure in, hence the need for an integrated development strategy. The government has mandated that by 2013 no child will leave a government school in South Africa without basic computer literacy; and there is obviously a long road ahead.

President Thabo Mbeki has challenged the education department to be more aggressive in it's ICT policies, to push reform forward.

The minister discussed the new guidelines the South African government has in place for utilising Free/Open Source Software within schools. The policies provide a framework for both Proprietary and Open source software within schools, but does not force schools to either side of the argument. The department plans to use ICTs to promote basic literacy and numeracy.

While open source software was the golden child of the conference, the need for free and open educational content was stressed heavily. A number of initiatives are currently operating both globally and locally, but there is still a long road before local teachers will truly be able to access free content, to use, to re-invent it, and remix it. Without freedom to do so, teachers will always be hindered by content that restricts their rights to change, improve and republish content in the same way that Wikipedia allows.

The South African education portal (Thuthong) was postured as a significant leap forward, providing digital content like lesson plans, course outlines and other resources, with forums for teachers to discuss topics, interact with other teachers and the department.

Barbara Kurshan from a revolutionary project called Curriki suggests a complete change in how we approach education and qualifications. The Curriki project hopes to succeed by building content that is globally applicable, and localisable by teachers and educators. She suggested the concept of stitching a qualification together from multiple courses taken across the globe. She called on the audience to imagine receiving a qualification which had components from universities and institutions across the globe. She highlighted a South African project to compile high school textbooks free from license restrictions, which will hopefully empower learners and teachers alike.

What was clear from all the speakers was the imperative need for open content coupled with capacity development, including staff development and training. The South African government has a number of policies in place to get technology to schools, but technology is useful if it comes with the skills and resources that are useful to teachers. Content free from license restrictions would allow for teachers to constantly improve existing resources, and share in the benefits collectively.

Digital freedom for teachers and educators would vastly improve the quality and quantity of content used in schools and learning institutions.

Uganda: World Telecommunication Day

2007-05-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/41532

On May 17 Uganda joined other countries in commemorating that 142nd anniversary of the International Telecommunications Information Society day held at the Hotel Africana. At the function the acting Permanent Secretary in the Information Communication Technology (MOICT) ministry, Dr. Godfrey Kibuuka announced that the Ugandan government has started laying a 2000sq.km national transmission backbone cable that will be ready for the CHOGM to be held in November.
Highway Africa News Agency

On May 17 Uganda joined other countries in commemorating that 142nd anniversary of the International Telecommunications Information Society day held at the Hotel Africana.

The half day function that was held in Kampala had a number of speakers on Uganda?s progress in the telecommunications sector, including the Acting Permanent Secretary in the Information Communication Technology (MOICT) ministry, Dr. Godfrey Kibuuka who said that the Ugandan government has started laying a 2000sq. km national transmission backbone cable that will be ready for the CHOGM to be held in November.

"In the first stage, we are putting up a 2000sq km of the cable that is intended to ensure high quality and low cost services and will reach all the major towns of Uganda by November this year," said Kubuuka.

"This project would introduce office automation, video conferencing, electronic mail and reduce the cost of doing business," he said in a paper he presented to the half-day workshop. He also pointed out that the present Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) infrastructure coverage has reached 745 sub-counties out of the 926.

The ICT Minister, Dr. Ham Mulira said the youth in particular will benefit from the backbone by having access to affordable voice and data services like E-learning, telemedicine, E-commerce, and out-sourcing.

The rapid growth of the sector has brought many opportunities for the youths by the creation of jobs and innovations. "Today many ICT companies employ mainly the youths because of their easy adaptability to ICT's," said Dr. Mulira "The project however is to complement the private sector but not to compete with it and the private sector should concentrate their efforts and investments on using the infrastructure to provide several varieties of services to the public," he said.

He said the government will also develop district information centres after the establishment of the national backbone.

"The centres will act as information sharing and distributing points in the districts, these developments however require Ugandans to have the necessary skills to benefit fully from the ICT?s," he said.

Meanwhile, Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) executive director Eng. Patrick Masambu said that while we strive to achieve an equitable information society, it must be based on sustainable economic and social development.

"Market led solutions alone cannot automatically lead to equitable service or lower cost, particularly in less profitable areas or low income social groups," he said In order to balance commercial objectives with the principle of equitable access to service, we should focus on public-private partnerships, said Masambu "ICTs are enablers and not an end in themselves, our challenge is to harness ICT?s for human development, this requires awareness raising and consensus building across all levels of society," he concluded

Ghana: University takes the lead

2007-05-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/41533

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has become the first tertiary institution in Ghana to acquire the services of e-campus network facility to support learning and research work among students and lecturers. The facility would also serve as a platform for distance learning and enhance research between the university and other academic institutions in Europe and North America through advanced technologies such as the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) aided communications.
Highway Africa News Agency

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has become the first tertiary institution in Ghana to acquire the services of e-campus network facility to support learning and research work among students and lecturers. The facility would also serve as a platform for distance learning and enhance research between the university and other academic institutions in Europe and North America through advanced technologies such as the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) aided communications.

The KNUST authorities clinched the deal after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Universal Telephone Exchange, a subsidiary of the service provider, Engineering Systems and Services (ESS). The service would offer university lecturers and researchers a platform to collaborate with their global counterparts while the students would have access to material in foreign libraries and lecturers. Dr Ben Adu, the Chief Executive Officer of ESS, said the network would create a new educational environment and learning experience in Ghana. By the close of 2007 the University of Cape Coast and the University for Development Studies would be hooked to the network.

The network, which is based on the Internet technology, would allow students to take online courses with minimal supervision. The network uses broadband technology to meet voice, Internet and data needs of students and lecturers and offer access to the best electronic education resources both human and material within and outside Ghana. Broadband connection in Ghana is used mainly for Internet access but the e-campus facilitators say the network would exploit the advantages of broadband infrastructure to provide value-added online services to enhance the quality of university education. Dr Adu noted that the government is yet to lend support to the programme, which he described "as a revolutionary change in teaching and learning environment in our educational institutions."

Under the first phase of the e-campus network, beneficiaries would enjoy the premium-rated services to educational institutions at subsidized rates. The facilities include broadband wireless internet access to all members of the university community, including faculty members and students, in-room, video conferencing and on-campus voice telephony in tertiary institutions and their immediate environs. The next phase of the project would ensure that students and lecturers are provided with access to the latest digital telephony services and resources, which will include a voice mail accessible from anywhere. University teaching or learning is becoming increasingly challenging in the face of limited resources and increasing demand for enrollment. Physical facilities and lecturers are in short supply while access to quality learning and education resources is limited.

The gap between the quality of education in the developed economies and that in developing countries will widen if steps are not taken to address the problem. Developing countries will spend more of their scarce foreign exchange to acquire foreign expertise if their educational institutions cannot produce them. Distance education and e-learning can help to ameliorate the situation but not without equal access to quality communications infrastructure. Therefore, our challenge is to harness ICTs for human development, this requires awareness raising and consensus building across all levels of society," he concluded.

Africa: Country health profiles

2007-05-17

http://www.afro.who.int/home/countryprofiles.html

This World Health Organization page provides detailed information on country health profiles.

Global: Directory of development organizations 2007

2007-05-16

http://www.devdir.org/

The directory of development organizations, listing 51.500 development organizations, has been prepared to facilitate international cooperation and knowledge sharing in development work, both among civil society organizations, research institutions, governments and the private sector.

Global: IGF Community Site

2007-05-16

http://igf2006.info/

The IGF Community Site has been built and designed to get the most possible out the Internet during its first-ever worldwide meeting. The Internet Governance Forum, or IGF, is a remarkable experiment in knowledge and experience sharing across the Internet by all the people that use it, including business, governments, organisations and you, the individual.

Ghana: 4th International Gender Conference - Invitation and call for papers

2007-05-18

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/41529

Papers are invitied for the 4th International Gender Conference. The conference theme is "Sexual and Gender-Based Violence A Social Nightmare Provoking Action". The theme for this conference has been chosen because Sexual and Gender-Based Violence is a major Public Health and Human Rights problem throughout the world.
4TH INTERNATIONAL GENDER CONFERENCE THEME: SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE A SOCIAL NIGHTMARE PROVOKING ACTION

17TH TO 21ST SEPTEMBER, 2007 ELMINA, GHANA

Dear Colleague,

INVITATION AND CALL FOR PAPERS

On behalf of the Management and Board of the Gender Development Institute (GDI) and on my own behalf, I have the honour and the privilege to invite you to join us for the 4th International Gender Conference.

The theme for this conference has been chosen because Sexual and Gender-Based Violence is a major Public Health and Human Rights problem throughout the world. There is the call on Governments and all other Stakeholders to take concerted action and make recommendations for the Health, Education and Criminal Justice sectors of society to take the problem seriously.

It is our conviction that no positive and sustainable change can occur unless the problems of Gender Equity are analysed within the framework of Public Health, Human Rights and Human Security. It is only when all aspects of society have equal rights and mutual recognition of these rights, that there can be an all encompassing and equitable development for all.

OBJECTIVES OF CONFERENCE

Create a Forum to Deliberate and Share Experiences on Human Rights Issues from a Gender Perspective; To Understand what Sexual and Gender- Based Violence is; Bring to the Fore, Discussion and Debate of Gender Equity; Increase Awareness among Men about the Gender Dynamics of Sexual and Gender -Based Violence.
Recognise Gender - Based Violence against Men; Initiate a Process of Collaboration and Networking between Gender Equity Advocates and Human Rights Promoters.

PARTNERS & PARTICIPANTS

The issue of gender based violence is not the preserve of only one organisation or any individual. It requires a multidisciplinary approach to make an impact. In this regard, some organisations have pledged their support to the Conference. They include African Centre for Human Development, Voices of African Women in Crisis, Women for Women International, Sankofa International, among others. Participants will be drawn from:

International and Local NGOs Civil Society Organisations Multilateral and Bilateral Development agencies State and Para-Statal Organisations UN Agencies CONFERENCE FORMAT The Conference will consist of:
Presentation of Papers Workshops Group Discussions Parallel Panel Sessions Socialisation Nites Community Outreach Programmes Excursions.

DURATION

The Conference will start from Monday, 17th to Friday, 21st September 2007. International participants are expected to arrive on the 16th and depart on the 22nd of September, 2007.

FEES

An all-inclusive Fee of $1500 will be charged per person. This includes; Conference Registration fee Single Accommodation in a Three-Star Hotel Full Board and Lodge for 4 days (Breakfast, Lunch, Supper and Snacks)
Participation in Conference tours Meeting upon arrival and transport to and from conference venue Conference Souvenirs Conference Report VENUE The venue of the conference is Elmina Beach Resort. It is located near very important historical and cultural monuments such as Forts and Castles. It is indeed an ideal place for serious discussion and dialogue, the balmy Atlantic breeze will provide the conducive atmosphere needed for fruitful discussion and dialogue.

We hope that you will join us at the 4th International Gender Conference and look forward to welcoming you to Elmina, home of important historical sites and cultural monuments.

We wish a fruitful trip to Ghana.

Sincerely, Wilbert Tengey (Chief Executive Officer)

Global: Africa/Asia/Latin America Scholarly Collaborative - call for papers

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/41476

The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are pleased to announce the Africa/Asia/Latin America Scholarly Collaborative initiative encompassing joint research, training, publishing and dissemination activities by researchers drawn from across the global South, and to call for applications to participate in the third South-South Summer Institute they are organizing within the framework of the initiative.
AFRICA / ASIA / LATIN AMERICA SCHOLARLY COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM

SUMMER INSTITUTE

Democracy, Social Movements and Governance in the South

6 - 31 August, 2007

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia



CALL FOR APPLICATIONS



The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) are pleased to announce the Africa/Asia/Latin America Scholarly Collaborative initiative encompassing joint research, training, publishing and dissemination activities by researchers drawn from across the global South, and to call for applications to participate in the third South-South Summer Institute they are organizing within the framework of the initiative. The theme of the second summer institute is: Democracy, Social Movements and Governance in the South The Summer Institute will be held in Kuala Lumpur, from 6-31 August 2007.

Within the ambit of the APISA-CLACSO-CODESRIA collaboration, a series of activities and programmes have been scheduled for implementation over the period to the end of 2007, among them an annual summer institute. The institutes are designed to offer research training to younger scholars on the diverse problems and challenges facing the countries of the South. In doing so, it is hoped also to promote a revival of comparative thinking and cross-regional networking among a younger generation of Southern scholars. The institutes are rotated among the three continents where the lead collaborating institutions are located. This way, participants in the institutes who will also be drawn from all three continents will be exposed to the socio-historical contexts of other regions of the South as an input that will help to broaden their analytical perspectives and improve the overall quality of their scientific engagements.



1. OBJECTIVES

The underlying objective of the institutes is to offer research training opportunities to participants on various key issues relevant to the South, and on the theoretical and methodological perspectives that might be appropriate for gaining a full understanding of the specific situation of countries and peoples located outside the core of the international system such as it is presently structured. The main premise of this effort is the glaring inadequacy of the theories and methodologies developed in the North, crystallized in the mainstream social sciences, to provide the required instruments for the attainment of a sound understanding of the problems confronting – and, in many cases, overwhelming the countries of the South. Through the institutes, it is hoped to be able to mobilize young scholars from across the South to reflect on the alternatives that are available for overcoming the present situation. This way, the institutes will contribute to the promotion of a better knowledge and understanding of the theories and methodological approaches developed in different regions of the South as alternatives to the dominant, Northern-biased paradigms that have shaped the social sciences. It is also expected that participants will become acquainted with the local intellectual environment in the regions where different sessions of the institutes are hosted, and strengthen their comparative research capacities in the process. In sum, the institutes are structured to serve as a unique forum for enhancing a deeper understanding among a younger generation of Southern scholars of the history, politics, economy and culture of the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, and offer an opportunity to participants to develop long-lasting collaborative relationships with their counterparts from other Southern countries.



2. ELIGIBILITY FOR PARTICIPATION AS LAUREATES

Younger scholars resident in countries of the South and who are pursuing active academic careers are eligible to apply for a place in the institute. Each applicant should have a university education, preferably a doctorate in the social sciences and humanities. Selection for participation will be on the basis of a competitive process. All together, 36 people will be selected for participation in the institute on the basis of 12 each from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The full participation costs of the selected laureates will be covered, including their travel costs (economy return air tickets), accommodation and subsistence.



3. FACULTY AND STAFF

The Summer Institute will be led by a faculty of four experienced Southern scholars who have made some of the most original contribution to an understanding of the particular theme for which they have been selected to give lectures. In this way, just as the young scholars who will be identified to be laureates will be drawn from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the composition of the faculty that will lead the sessions of the institute will also be tri-continental, underscoring a joint and mutual learning process that should enhance the overall goal of building alternative southern perspectives to dominant discourses that tend to reflect uneven international power relations and deepening South-South comparative insights. Each of the four members of the faculty for the institutes will be allocated five days to deliver his/her lectures and to mentor the laureates on those aspects of their academic preoccupations that are directly connected to the expertise they bring to the programme.



4. THE 2007 SESSION OF THE INSTITUTE

For the 2007 session of the South-South Summer Institutes, it has been decided by APISA, CLACSO and CODESRIA to host it in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. APISA will assume overall responsibility within the tri-continental partnership for the session. The Summer Institute will run from 6 – 31 August 2007. The faculty for the institute will deliver a series of lectures over a period of five days each. Additionally, round-table discussions will be organized with scholars from Asia.. For the 2007 session of the Summer Institute, it is a requirement that prospective laureates should have a demonstrable working knowledge of the English language. APISA, CLACSO and CODESRIA will work together to facilitate the procurement of entry visas to Malaysia for the prospective laureates whose applications are successful.



5. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Every researcher wishing to be considered for selection as one of the 36 laureates to be invited to participate in 2007 Summer Institute in Kuala Lumpur organized within the framework of the APISA-CLACSO-CODESRIA tri-continental partnership is required to submit an application which will comprise the following key items of documentation:

a) An outline research proposal, written in English, on the subject on which the prospective laureate would like to work during the Summer Institute. The topic selected must be related to the theme of the 2007 Summer Institute in which the laureate is interested in participating. Such proposals should not exceed 10 pages in length and should have a clearly defined problem statement.

b) A covering letter, of one-page, which should indicate the motivation of the prospective laureate for wanting to participate in the institute and explain how they envisage that they and their institution will benefit from the institute.

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

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

e) A letter from the applicant’s institution (university department/faculty) or research center supporting his/her candidature. This statement of institutional support should be done on the institutional letter-headed stationary and must be duly signed and stamped.



In order to receive the certificate of participation in the institute, each laureate will be required to draw on the lectures delivered and the course material provided to revise the original proposal on the basis of which they were admitted and, in so doing, produce an essay of up to 20 pages for consideration for joint publication and dissemination by APISA, CLACSO and CODESRIA in the South-South Occasional Papers series.



6. APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND DEADLINE

As the institutes will involve the participation of laureates and faculty from Africa, Asia and Latin America, it has been decided that applicants resident in Africa should submit their applications to CODESRIA, those resident in Asia to APISA and those resident in Latin America to CLACSO. The full contact details for APISA, CLACSO AND CODESRIA are reproduced below for the attention of all prospective applicants. The deadline for the receipt of applications is 30 June 2007. Applications found to be incomplete or which arrive after the deadline will not be taken into consideration.

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



Applicants from Latin America and the Caribbean should send their applications to:

CLACSO,

Callao 875, 3º (1023) Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

Tel: (54 11) 4811-6588 / 4814-2301; Fax: (54 11) 4812-845

E-mail: stordoni@campus.clacso.edu.ar

Website: http://www.clacso.org



Applicants from Asia should send their applications preferably by email to:

APISA,

Strategic Studies and International Relations Program

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, MALAYSIA

Tel: 603- 89213647; Fax: 603-89213332

E-Mail: secretariat@apisanet.com

Website: http://www.apisanet.com



Applicants from Africa should send their applications to:

CODESRIA,

BP 3304, CP 18524, Dakar, SENEGAL

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

E-mail: south.institute@codesria.sn

Website: http://www.codesria.org

Global: Call for Papers: Critical Perspectives on Travel and Privilege

2007-05-16

http://bruinator.googlepages.com/home

What compromises do activists, organizers, and those actively pursuing social justice make when traveling internationally? How does the experience of living in a global super power, either "legally" or "not", affect our reception in countries that make up the global south?

Global: Call for Papers: Gender and Transitional Justice

2007-05-16

http://oxford-journals.msgfocus.com/c/13cay9K47TFKYY

The International Journal of Transitional Justice invites submissions for an upcoming thematic issue on 'Gender and Transitional Justice'. This issue will be jointly co-edited by Justice Navi Pillay of the International Criminal Court and will be published in November 2007. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2007.

Global: E-Learning - Armed Conflict & Human Rights

2007-05-16

http://www.hrea.org/courses/15E.html

Armed conflicts, in their various forms, remain rampant in today's world. Old wars and new wars, including the 'war on terror', continue to be fought, and armed violence from Iraq to Darfur impacts on the lives of civilians. Does law offer protection in armed conflicts? The course will be held from 17 September-16 December 2007).

Global: Strengthening policy and practice

2007-05-17

http://www.respond.org/spp.asp

Responding to Conflict is offering a course on Strengthening Policy and Practice. This is a one week workshop run twice a year. the aims of the workshop are to increase participants awareness of the link between policies which are made and what actually happens in practice; and to assist participants in finding constructive methods for engaging with unpredictable and changing circumstances. The course will run from 16 - 20 July 2007 and 19 - 23 November 2007.

Global: The Post-Graduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution Skills

2007-05-17

http://www.respond.org/ccr.asp

Run in partnership with the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Coventry University, this course aims to provide a greater conceptual understanding of conflict, violence and peace and the forces of conflict dynamics. It provides a range of practical skills-based training in the handling of conflict situations, including conflict analysis, communication, negotiation, active listening, strategy building and evaluation. The course runs from 2 - 14 September 2007.

South Africa: HIV Training

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/41449

The Centre for Economic Governance and AIDS in Africa (CEGAA) and the International Budget Project (IBP), kindly sponsored by the FORD Foundation, are offering a two-week training to civil society organizations (NGOs)/ research agencies in: “Monitoring of budgets and tracking expenditure for health and HIV/AIDS” The training is to take place from the 18th to the 30th June 2007, venue still to be confirmed. For further information please contact: teresa@cegaa.org

New titles from James Currey Publishers

2007-05-16

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/publications/41411

Pambazuka News is pleased to be bringing to you selected new title information from James Currey Publishers, the leading Oxford-based publishers of academic books on Africa.

James Currey Publishers works closely on co-publication with African publishers as well as university and academic presses in the US.

Each week, we shall bring you information from the African Issues series; books on subjects such as literary criticism, film, theatre and slavery. Further details of most titles and contacts can be found on their website: www.jamescurrey.co.uk

Basil Davidson: Black Star. A View of the Life and Times of Kwame Nkrumah

New titles from James Currey Publishers

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/37qkqa

Fifty years after Ghana's independence, it is now clear that Kwame Nkrumah was 'a black star'. Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah seized opportunities to lead the countries of sub-Saharan Africa away from from colonialism. In 1957, he became the first Prime Minister of Ghana. By the time, he was overthrown in a coup in 1966 most African countries, outside the settler-dominated South, had also achieved independence.
ISBN: 9781847010100, 236pp. publ. June 2007, £14.95

Fiona Magowan: Melodies of Mourning: Music & Emotion in Northern Australia

New titles from James Currey Publishers

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/ysy6ox

This work presents a theoretically rich and ethnographically vivid account of the way that song, dance and musical sensitivity weave into the lives of an aboriginal community of Australia. It focuses upon the song and associated emotional experience of women, and the way in which children are socialized into the musical and imaginative discourses and practices of the adult world. It makes a distinctive contribution to the tradition of anthropological analysis which focuses on the located nature of human sensual experience.
ISBN: 978-0-85255-992-5, 288pp, publ. May 2007, £17.95, paperback
ISBN: 978-0-85255-993-2, £50.00, cased

William Wolmer: From Wilderness Vision to Farm Invasions

New titles from James Currey Publishers

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/2tb3sj

African people were written out of the landscape in many parts of colonial Zimbabwe. The uses, perceptions and experiences of this landscape by African people have been ignored. Land reform has failed to take account of the way the landscape is bound up with identity through its embodiment of ancestral spirits and function as a repository of social memories.
ISBN: 978-0-85255-436-4, 320pp. publ. 2007 £17.95
Contents
- I LOWVELD LANDSCAPES - Landscapes of the imagination - The wilderness vision
- colonial perceptions of the lowveld landscape & its inhabitants - Socialised, sacred & contested spaces
- African landscapes in the lowveld II THE PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPE - Lowveld livelihoods
- the 'suitability' of dryland cropping in the landscape - 'Backwater to breadbasket'
- irrigated agriculture in the lowveld - Cattle country
- livestock management in the ranches & reserves III THE 'NATURAL' LANDSCAPE - Manufacturing wilderness
- wildlife conservation in the lowveld IV THE POLITICS OF LAND(SCAPE) - Reclaiming the wilderness? Farm invasions in the lowveld.

Africa: Director of African Union Advocacy - Open Sopciety Institute

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/41475

The Open Society Institute, the headquarters of a network of foundations working throughout Africa and the world, seeks outstanding candidates for a new position, Director of African Union Advocacy. The position will be based at the offices of the Open Society Institute for East Africa in Nairobi, with eventual relocation to Addis Ababa. The Deadline for Applications is May 25, 2007.
Job Announcement: Director of African Union Advocacy


Deadline for Applications: May 25, 2007


The Open Society Institute, the headquarters of a network of foundations working throughout Africa and the world, seeks outstanding candidates for a new position, Director of African Union Advocacy. The position will be based at the offices of the Open Society Institute for East Africa in Nairobi, with eventual relocation to Addis Ababa. The purpose of the position is to increase awareness in the network of the value of AU advocacy; to strengthen the capacity of the network to identify advocacy needs and opportunities related to the AU; to deliver advocacy content and contacts to the network’s staff in Africa and outside of Africa; to engage directly in advocacy at the AU on behalf of the network, on regional as well as national issues; and to assist with related advocacy efforts around the world.

Requirements

Master’s degree or equivalent in appropriate field (e.g., law, government, regional studies);
Extensive knowledge of the African Union system and a strong ability to articulate the possibilities and challenges of African continental governance;
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English;
Working knowledge of other language of regional utility desirable (French, Portuguese, and widely spoken African languages);
Minimum ten years’ work experience in government, international organization, non-governmental organization or media organization;
Broad knowledge of “open society” issues in Africa;
Proven advocacy experience.

Please send cover letter and CV via email to: Virginia Moracho, vmoracho@sorosny.org
Additional information about the Open Society Institute and its foundation network can be found at www.soros.org

Africa: Education Project Manager, ActionAid

2007-05-16

http://www.actionaid.org/pages.aspx?PageID=12&ItemID=13

Located in either Tanzania, Nigeria or Kenya and reporting to the International Head of Education, and also accountable to the Country Director of the host country, the Education Project Manager will be expected to manage a 5 year Comic Relief funded project on Transforming Education for Girls that will be implemented in Tanzania and Nigeria. Application deadline is May 24 2007.

Africa: Senior Program Officer, Africa - AJWS

2007-05-17

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/41503

AJWS is seeking to recruit a Senior Program Officer. The Senior Program Officer for Africa will be based in New York and responsible for shaping and implementing the strategic direction of AJWS’ grant making in Africa and directly managing grants in Southern Africa. S/he will represent AJWS’ Africa program at international forums as well as AJWS Board and donor meetings.
Senior Program Officer, Africa

Program Overview:

AJWS’ Grants Department supports non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) undertaking grassroots community development and human rights initiatives in select countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. In the context of the communities where we work, grassroots refers to the organized poor, who undertake the planning, implementation, and evaluation of projects and mobilize to seek access to power and resources for their own development.

AJWS supports organizations working in the areas of agriculture, economic development, education, and health. We prioritize organizations comprised of, or working on behalf of, vulnerable and marginalized communities. This work includes advocacy efforts that link local struggles for development to wider cultural, economic and social rights struggles.

The Senior Program Officer for Africa will be based in New York and responsible for shaping and implementing the strategic direction of AJWS’ grantmaking in Africa and directly managing grants in Southern Africa. S/he will represent AJWS’ Africa program at international forums as well as AJWS Board and donor meetings. S/he will manage the work of the two Africa Program Officers and consultants in the field. S/he will also work as part of a closely knit Grants Department and with other AJWS programs including advocacy, volunteer programs, and communications.

Responsibilities:
1. Refine and implement a strategic plan for AJWS grantmaking in Africa that incorporates relevant and current regional human rights and development issues.
2. Manage two Program Officers and in-country consultants in East and West Africa.
3. Manage existing grants in Southern Africa and deepen AJWS’ funding relationships in the region.
4. Extensive travel throughout Africa conducting site visits for evaluation and relationship buildin—approximately 8 weeks in the field per year.
5. Develop and monitor the Africa department budget in conjunction with Grants Administration team.
6. Collaborate with all Grants Department staff on articulation and implementation of overall grantmaking strategies and practices.
7. Remain up-to-date on issues, strategies, and funding within the international human rights and development communities.
8. Work with grantees and resource people to conduct evaluation and technical assistance programs benefiting African grantees.
9. Coordinate with the Senior Program Officer for Emergencies and Conflicts on all disaster response and preparedness efforts in Africa.
10. Represent AJWS at key conferences, grantmaker affinity groups and donor meetings; write abstracts for panels and workshops featuring AJWS’ work.
11. Coordinate with AJWS’ Development and Communications Departments to provide content for fundraising, PR Initiatives and the organization’s website.
12. Coordinate with AJWS’ Service Department to develop African host sites for AJWS volunteers.

Requirements:
• BA/BS required, Masters strongly preferred;
• Minimum of five years of experience working at a foundation, international development or human rights organization;
• Strong writing and analytic skills; experience writing or reviewing grant proposals; strategic planning and other organizational development skills a plus;
• Minimum of 2 years living and working in an African country;
• Ability to work in and with diverse communities;
• French or local Southern African local language proficiency preferred;
• Minimum two years of staff management experience;
• Familiarity with the UN human rights system, development theory and social movement building;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Self starter and independent thinker;
• Strong interpersonal skills and team player; and
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.

Additional Qualifications:
• Flexible work style and an interest in being a part of a dynamic and evolving team and organization;
• Commitment to social justice and human rights;
• Experience with social change efforts preferred;
• Commitment and passion for the work of AJWS.


How To Apply:
For immediate consideration, please forward your resume and cover letter to opportunities@ajws.org and indicate your name and "Senior Program Officer, Africa" in the subject line.

CAR: Gender Based Violence Coordinator, International Rescue Committee

2007-05-16

http://www.hri.ca/jobboard/viewJob.asp?ID=1053

The Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordinator will be responsible for the design, implementation and management of the GBV Program in CAR working in collaboration with the Field Coordinator, Operations Coordinator, and Finance Controller. The GBV Coordinator will be based in Kaga Bandoro, with limited travel to Bangui for coordination purposes. Closing Date: 6/21/2007

Global: Executive Director - BIC

2007-05-17

http://www.bicusa.org/en/Page.Jobs.aspx#1

The Bank Information Center (BIC) is seeking to fill the position of Executive Director. BIC partners with civil society in developing and transition countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs) to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, beginning on June 25. The job will stay open until filled.

Global: Interns - Justice Africa

2007-05-16

http://www.justiceafrica.org/internships/

Justice Africa offers an internship programme for young professionals and those studying at, or recently graduated from University. The aims of the internships are to develop the next cohort of policy researchers and activists, and to equip them with the research and professional skills necessary to develop their careers.

Global: Programme Coordinator - Institute of Development Studies

2007-05-16

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobfiles/KE893.html

This is an exciting opportunity to become involved in a global programme to increase the effectiveness of microfinance in reducing poverty. The Imp-Act Consortium has launched a three-year programme to scale up social performance management (SPM) in the microfinance industry. Deadline for applications is June 5 2007.

Global: Social Inclusion Specialist - The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) UK

2007-05-16

http://tinyurl.com/2hymuk

The Social Inclusion Specialist will join a motivated, results-orientated, multicultural team. S/he will work in a complex and demanding environment and will work closely with the Aga Khan University Institute of Muslim Civilisations, The Global Centre of Pluralism in Canada, the AKDN units in Canada, Portugal and USA and draw on experience and expertise from other organisations in Europe, including those of the European Union. Application deadline is 10 June 2007.

Fahamu